The Green Helmet

“A human boy that can fly?”

“That’s right.”

“Fly out of the window into the stars?”

“Yes, Merry.”

“Does he have a pair of wings?”

“No, Merry. He simply flaps both of his hands and—”

“—and floats up to the air,” Merry nodded, completing Frodo’s sentence.

Swallowing a smile, Frodo regarded Merry’s serious face with a similar look in his eyes. Nevertheless he felt amused. Merry always took everything too seriously for a wee hobbit his age. But that only made Frodo want to tell him all the tales he knew because then they could have interesting discussions.

But then Frodo saw how Merry’s lips pursed. Uh-oh. This was not a good sign. This only meant Merry had some important thing in his mind and Frodo braced himself for the difficult question he knew was coming.

“But Frodo, how can a human fly? He is not a bird, a moth, or a fairy!”

Frodo sighed inwardly in relief. This was not that difficult. The story itself said the reason why. Frodo leaned forward from the low branch of the tree he was sitting in and rested his elbows on his knees. Merry watched him with vested interest; he himself was sitting on the thick bed of grass under the tree with both of his legs folded. Frodo felt as if he were about to reveal the deepest mystery of Middle-earth.

“You want to know why?” Frodo’s lips curled into a smile.

Merry nodded eagerly.

“Because he does not want to grow up. He wants to stay a small boy. He wants to live in the world where he can do whatever he likes, playing, flying, listening to stories, meeting fairies…”

“So he truly meets a fairy!” Merry cried out.

“He does, indeed,” Frodo agreed. “It is the fairy who takes him to a number of beautiful, magical, but sometimes scary places: a waterfall, deep in the forest, a snowy mountain, and a shipwreck.”

“A shipwreck?” Merry’s eyes went round. Frodo nodded.

“That is true. Scary, eh?”

Merry went solemn. Once again Frodo dreaded the thing the boy might be contemplating.

“I want to be like him.”

“What is it, Merry?” Merry’s voice had been so small Frodo hardly caught it.

“I want to be able to fly. I want to go to those places—”

“Of course, Merry, you can go. I can take you or your dad might too. You may also ask Uncle Bilbo. He told you about his adventures with the dwarves, didn’t he?”

Merry was nodding but Frodo felt something was wrong. Merry looked a bit tense.

“I – I don’t want to grow up, Cousin Frodo, not when you are not here with me.”

There was a sudden pang in Frodo’s heart but he chose to ignore it. He did not want Merry to lament abut that either.

“Oh, Merry?”

“Yes?” A prick of curiosity gleamed in Merry’s voice.

“Would you like it if I make you something?” Frodo forced a smile.

“What is that?” Merry leaped up.

“The boy in the story, he is wearing this hat made of leaves. Would you like it?”

“Ooh,” Merry literally cooed in excitement. “Would you make one for me, Cousin Frodo, please?”

Frodo threw his head back, laughing openly now.

“Let us make it together.” He rose and looked around. “Why don’t you collect some leaves, Merry. Pick the ones that are still fresh and quite wide. I’m going to gather several vines to tie them up.”

Merry bounced happily and his feet brought him running here and there, climbing up the short branches, picking up the best leaves he could reach. Frodo sometimes felt as though his heart would jump out of his throat at that.

“Merry!” shouted Frodo once when Merry failed to find purchase as he climbed up and almost slipped down.

“Not to worry, Cousin Frodo!” Merry waved at him, breath panting as he eventually managed to get his footing.

Then for the next several moments nobody made a sound as they both sat on the grass and worked on the hat. Hats, to be exact, since Merry managed to get more than enough leaves and, Frodo also, with the vines. They made several different-sized hats and Merry put one on his head, grinning widely at Frodo.

“This is mine! My green helmet. Thank you, Cousin Frodo.”

“For nothing, cub.” He fastened the two lengths of vines below Merry’s chin. “There. Now you can take a journey everywhere. But remember, no flying or floating in the air.”

Merry chuckled cheerily.

“With you, Cousin Frodo?”

“Definitely. Every time I visit here or you go to Bag End.”

Frodo tried to suppress his shock when Merry suddenly took off, thankfully with his green helmet. Frodo could see perfectly well why Merry did that, but he could not stop it. He would not, for things had been settled and there was nothing Frodo could do about it.

Merry still would not talk to him during dinner, raising an eyebrow from Aunt Esmeralda which was responded to with a shrug from Frodo. He did not try to talk to Merry. The lad would be all right when he was all right. Frodo knew Merry like he did the back of his hand.

“Cousin Frodo?” Merry’s quiet voice followed a narrow slit of light coming from the door breaking the utter dark of Frodo’s bedroom.

Frodo tilted himself up on his elbows from his position lying beneath the sheets.

“What is wrong, Merry?” he blinked.

Merry shifted inside and closed the door, drenching both of them back in darkness.

“I – I can’t sleep, Frodo.”

Frodo heard the shuffles of Merry’s long nightgown against the furry rug and the boy was climbing into Frodo’s bed. Frodo caught Merry’s profile briefly before he dipped under the coverlet and made himself comfortable on Frodo’s pillows. The lad took a deep breath, buried his face in Frodo’s neck, and from the sound of it, started to drift off already. Frodo said nothing and he smiled to himself as warmth filled his eyes. He would miss all this in Bag End.

~~~