Tales From the Garden

By: Elemmírë

Summary: The century-old gardens of Bag End are flowering with their own tales to tell …

Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings does not belong to me, nor am I making any profit off either its story or characters.

~Prologue: In the Beginning … ~

The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him. ~J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party

The Hill, Hobbiton

Forelithe 7th, 1279

On the day of his coming of age, Bungo Baggins climbed atop The Hill overlooking the village of Hobbiton where his family had resided since the forebears of Grandfather Balbo had once bought acres upon acres of the lush and pristine land with its gently rolling hills. Upon their wedding day, each of Balbo’s five children (three sons and two daughters) had been gifted with an equal share of the land to dig and build smials of their own.

If Bungo looked hard enough he could just make out his father’s own smial in the far distance near a copse of stately willow trees. It was the smial he himself had grown up in with its cheerily painted bright red door set into the small hillock a fair distance from The Water.

The Baggins family flourished in Hobbiton and soon much of the land belonged to them. They were very well-respected hobbits throughout the West Farthing, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected. It was soon said that you could tell what any Baggins would say on any question or subject without the bother of asking him or her. Although also well-known for their stubborn streak, the Bagginses were in addition well-reputed to be one of the nicest and most generous of the gentry families to be found in all of the Shire. And this, naturally, sat well with nearly all.

Bungo was all of this and more, for he although he was generally a quiet hobbit, he was also highly ambitious and hopeful and one of the hardest working around. For it was Bungo’s dream to one day lay claim to The Hill upon which he now stood, for no other Baggins had yet lay claim to the lush land encompassing or surrounding it. He wished to build the biggest smial--rival only to Brandy Hall of the Brandybucks or to the Great Smials of the Tooks.

Ahh, the Tooks.

Bungo smiled in thought as the lass of his dreams danced before his brown eyes, a twinkle of mischief dancing in her own wider than norm green eyes. Belladonna was six years his younger and a free spirit, her head of thick russet curls flowing wildly in the breeze whereas the other lasses would be tempted to tie them back with a ribbon or hide them under a bonnet. All in the Hobbiton, Bywater, and Tuckborough areas knew that it was this reserved and most-predictable of hobbits who in particular had fallen head over furry heels in love with the most comeliest (and adventurous) of The Took and Thain’s daughters, Belladonna. Bungo was positively smitten with her, as anyone would have to be blind not to see, although there were many whom thought it quite strange that one of the most of the predictable and boring Bagginses would fall so very hard for a thrill-seeking Took of all hobbits--especially a lass that was known to devise raids to the Cotman farm in Bywater just to let the pigs run free of their pens, or follow that foolish old man, Gandalf, about when he visited her father. Indeed, the Bagginses as a whole tended to gravitate toward the more … sedate and dull family lines representing the gentry such as the Boffins, Bolgers, or Hornblowers. Only one other Baggins (Bungo’s first cousin, Rosa) had married a Took … and one of the more sedate Tooks at that; she and Hildigrim were expecting their first child sometime next year.

But Bungo thought the world of Belladonna since he had first laid eyes on her. Other hobbits had oohed and aahed at Gandalf’s seemingly magical display of fireworks, but he himself had found the beauty of Belladonna Took to be more breathtaking.

Bungo was also a very realistic hobbit and knew that he must first own this land before he could even approach the Thain in regards to asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The love-struck hobbit did not yet possess enough money with which to purchase The Hill with its oak tree, whose roots delved deeply, or the surrounding land. His Grandfather Balbo had died in 1268 when Bungo was a tween of 22. Already a widower, his grandfather’s vast inheritance was divided into half according to his will, the first of which was split evenly between his five children. The second half was divided evenly between his fourteen grandchildren of which Bungo was the eldest.

Bungo was not worried, however. He had worked hard during his tween years at the apprenticeship set up with his father’s best friend, a master planner and builder from Michel Delving; and now that he was of age, he could make known and promote his own business. His grandfather’s inheritance having been wisely invested so that it was now triple its worth, would easily provide enough seed money for young Bungo to set forth his dreams of owning The Hill … and building a life there with his beloved.

Bungo laid a hand against the ever-growing oak tree adorning The Hill, clutching the worn parchment depicting his future plans in the other. “One day Bella, I’m going to own this Hill and all the land surrounding it. I shall build you the most luxurious and grandest private smial ever to grace the Shire, with room aplenty for our children to live and grow. And I’m going to paint our front door the most loveliest shade of green to match your beautiful eyes, my dearest.

“There is room enough at the base of The Hill there for at least three more smials that I can rent out or perhaps use as a guesthouse for when your many brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews come to visit us from the Tooklands if they do not wish to impose upon us and our many children.”

Bungo’s rich brown eyes scanned the series of smaller hills to the north of The Hill. “And over yonder shall be room enough for an apple orchard and over to the west, a vineyard would do nicely, I think … although my Uncle Togo will have to help as I know little about the growing of grapes or making them into wine. He is a Goodbody after all and comes from a long-standing tradition of producing some of the Shire’s finest wine.

“And here where the land is most fertile will be your garden, for I wish you to have the most beautiful garden in all of the Shire ….”