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Trust a Brandybuck and a Took!  by Grey Wonderer

“Merry Says”

(Pippin is six and Pearl is twenty)

“Peregrin Took, what do you think you’re doing with that jam?” Pearl demanded. Her little brother was kneeling in his chair with his elbows on their kitchen table and the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he concentrated on his task.

He didn’t look up at his sister as he spread some of the jam in question over one of the biscuits on his plate. “I’m puttin’ jam on my biscuits, Pearl,” he declared.

“I can see that,” Pearl sighed with a slight smile. “Why are you putting jam on your biscuits? They already have sugar on them. Don’t you think that they are sweet enough just the way they are?” She sat down on the chair next to his and watched him coat the other biscuit.

He surveyed his efforts and then put his knife down on the white tablecloth leaving a raspberry stain. Before Pearl could object to this he grinned up at her and said, “Merry says that biscuits are better with jam on them.”

“Oh he does, does he?” Pearl said frowning at the two biscuits, which were dripping with raspberry jam. Pearl noticed that there was also a generous amount of the jam around Pippin’s smile.

“Merry says that he eats his biscuits like this all the time,” Pippin continued. “The last time that I was at Merry’s smial, him and me ate our biscuits just like these ones here.” He picked up one of the biscuits and bit into it. As jam filled his mouth and dribbled down his sharp chin he said, “These biscuits are much improved by jam.”

Pearl snickered. “They are?”

“Have one if you want,” Pippin said picking up his remaining biscuit and offering it to her with sticky fingers and a winning smile. “It’s my last one but Merry says I should share more so I don’t get selfish.”

“Well, if Merry says so,” Pearl replied and gingerly took a small bit of the biscuit, which was so sweet that it nearly made her choke. “It’s very good, dearest but since it is your last then maybe you should finish it.”

Pippin grinned at her. “You’re sharing just like Merry says.” He quickly crammed the biscuit into his mouth in case she changed her mind and chewed noisily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Pippin is seven and Pervinca is twelve)

“Merry says that if it rains when it’s cold outside that the rain will turn to snow,” Pippin said knowingly to Pervinca. “Do you think it’s cold enough now?” He pressed his nose against the window pane and peered out at the rain.

“Pippin, it’s spring time,” Pervinca said. “It doesn’t snow ever this late in the year and it isn’t cold enough for snow. Flowers are already blooming in mum’s garden.” She frowned at her little brother.

“Well, Merry says that’s why it snows,” Pippin said still looking out at the rain. “Merry says that the rain gets too cold to be water anymore and it just is snow then. If it gets that cold out while it’s raining then maybe the rain will be snow and then we can go outside and play in it. If it stays rain then we have to stay in here.”

“You’re just being silly,” Pervinca said in an annoyed tone. “It won’t snow.”

“Merry says that it will if it’s cold,” Pippin replied. He blew out a breath against the glass of the window and fogged it over. “I can make my name on here, Vince. Wanna see me?” He held one finger up and looked at her hopefully.

“You can not,” she frowned.

“I can so,” Pippin said. “Merry showed me.” He quickly turned away from her and carefully ran his finger across the glass in the foggy section. Slowly a rather shaky looking P-I-P appeared and he threw his older sister a triumphant glare. “See it says my name.”

“Where’s the rest of it?” Pervinca asked leaning forward and looking at the three letters.

“That’s all of it,” Pippin said proudly. “Peregrin Took!”

“That only says Pip,” Pervinca corrected. “It’s only part of your name and not even your whole nickname. It just says Pip.”

He continued to smile at her. “Merry says that I’m Pip and that everyone knows it, so if they see Pip on something they know it means Peregrin Took, so there! That’s what Merry says!”

“Merry doesn’t know everything,” Pervinca said hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed as she leaned down into his face.

“You would say that!” Pippin said smugly.

“Why would I say that?” Pervinca frowned not sure if this was an insult or not.

“Because Merry says that you don’t know anything so how could you know if Merry knows everything or not?” Pippin said.

Pervinca growled and stalked out of the room calling for their mother in loud, angry tones as Pearl came into the parlor. She saw Pippin looking out at the rain and grinning. “Pippin, what are you doing?” Pearl asked.

“Watching for this rain to get cold and turn into snow so I can go outside.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Pippin is eight and Pimpernel is nineteen)

“Look, Nell!” Pippin crowed as he pointed to the garden. “We got fire flies!”

Nell looked over at the little points of light winking in and out over the garden and smiled at her little brother. “We certainly do, Pippin,” she said.

“We could catch them if you help me and if we have a jar for them and if we make holes in the top so they can get their breath and if we promise to let them go after we look at them for long enough,” Pippin said all in a rush while bouncing on his toes.

Nell laughed. “I suppose we can since you know all of the rules for fire fly hunting.”

“Merry told me,” Pippin said.

“I might have guessed that,” Nell sighed. “I’ll get a jar. You wait right here and I will be right back.”

“I’ll watch them so they don’t go away,” Pippin said fixing his gaze on the fireflies. He was still looking at them when Nell returned with the jar, tiny holes already poked into the cheesecloth that they would use for a lid.

“Now, you have to be careful when you catch them so that you don’t squish them, Pippin,” Nell advised.

“I know,” Pippin said. “Merry says that if you squish them the fire comes out of their bums and they won’t light up no more.”

Nell put her hand over her mouth to hold back a giggle as Pippin ran off to try and catch the tiny glowing insects, his hands held high over his head and snatching at the air as he went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Pippin is nine and Frodo is thirty-one)

“It’s a cow now but it used to be a pony,” Pippin said. “I wish it were still a pony. Cows aren’t as much fun as ponies are.”

Frodo laughed gently and ruffled his small cousin’s hair. “Pippin that cow was not a pony. It was a calf when it was a baby but it was never a pony,” Frodo explained. The little lad was usually very clever but Frodo supposed that Pippin was confused about cows and ponies.

“No, it was a pony but then a wizard like Gandalf fed it some magic hay and it turned into a cow ‘cause Papa and Momma needed the milk for us children,” Pippin said. He reached a tiny hand through the slats in the fence and touched the cow’s nose gently. “It’s a good ole cow and I like milk but I wish it would be a pony again.” He sighed.

“Pippin, who told you that this cow was once a pony?” Frodo asked.

Pippin turned to face Frodo and said, “Just someone. Merry says that I shouldn’t tell you who it was.”

Frodo grinned. “He did?”

Pippin pressed his lips together and nodded. “I promised.”

“You did?”

More nodding.

“Can you tell me the story about the magic hay if you don’t tell me who told you the story?” Frodo asked.

Pippin cocked his head to the side and considered this. “I think so,” he decided.

“Excellent, because this sounds like a very interesting story,” Frodo said.

“It is,” Pippin said. “I can tell it really good too. Merry says that I tell it almost as good as,” he paused for a minute and then said, “Almost as good as the someone who telled it to me tells it.”

“Then I would love to hear you tell the story about this cow,” Frodo said and he sat down in the grass next to the fence.

Pippin dropped down onto his stomach in the grass and rested his chin on his hands and began. “Once on a time when I was too little to know it, Momma and Pappa were worried because we didn’t have any cow and so we didn’t have any milk to pour over our porridge at first breakfast or at second breakfast either,” Pippin said making his little face look very sad. “All we had was this one pony and ponies don’t have any milk coming out of them so it wasn’t any help at all really.”

Frodo tried not to laugh as he looked into Pippin’s serious little face. “What did your Momma and Pappa do?” Frodo asked.

“Nothing,” Pippin said as if surprised by this question. “They can’t do any magic because they’re only hobbits.”

“Oh,” Frodo said smiling.

“But one night after dark when everyone was sleeping except Merry who saw everything cause he was in the barn when he was supposed to be in bed which was a lucky thing or no one would know about any of this,” Pippin said.

“That was very lucky indeed,” Frodo agreed.

“Merry is in the barn and he sees this Wizard who might have been Bilbo’s Wizard,” Pippin said. “The Wizard goes right up to our pony and gives it a handful of this magic hay that-“

“How could Merry tell that it was magic hay?” Frodo asked.

Pippin frowned. “You aren’t supposed to inturpt, Frodo. Merry says that sort of thing spoils the story.”

“He’s right about that at least,” Frodo said. “I’m sorry, Pippin. It’s just such an exciting story that I got carried away.”

Pippin sat up and grinned. “That’s all right, Frodo. I can finish the story even though you did rupt me while I was right to the good part.”

“Thank you, Pippin,” Frodo said.

“Anyway, Merry sees the Wizard give our pony this magic hay that Merry knows was magic but he didn’t tell me why he knows. He just does,” Pippin said and waited to see if Frodo might interrupt again. Frodo didn’t and so Pippin continued. “Our pony eats the hay until it is all gone and then the Wizard winks at Merry and puts his finger on his mouth like this.” Pippin demonstrated. “Like when you makes a shhhhhh noise so someone will be quiet.”

Frodo nodded.

“Merry knew that the Wizard had done some magic to our pony and that he didn’t want Merry to ever tell anyone about it,” Pippin said. “After the Wizard left, Merry looked at our pony and he saw that it wasn’t a pony any more. It was this cow right here!” Pippin stood up quickly and pointed his finger at the cow, his eyes wide as if just hearing this story for the very first time.

“That’s amazing!” Frodo said hoping that this remark would not be thought of as an interruption.

“I know!” Pippin said. “So Merry sneaked back into his bed in our smial cause he was staying over with me when this happened to our pony and he pretended to be surprised when we had milk for our porridge the next day!”

“But didn’t Merry ever want to tell anyone about the magic?” Frodo asked.

Pippin spun in a circle and then faced Frodo. “He might have wanted to tell me about it on account of how he knows that I want a pony,” Pippin said. “But he wouldn’t have told me because that Wizard didn’t want him to so he couldn’t or he’d be turned into something.”

“That seems reasonable,” Frodo said. “But if Merry didn’t tell you and he is the only one who knows then who told you this amazing story about your cow?”

Pippin spun around again, fidgeted for a bit and then said, “I can’t tell you that, Frodo. I can only tell you the story of how our pony is a cow.”

“Oh,” Frodo said with a shrug.

“And you can’t tell anybody that I told you,” Pippin said seriously. “I don’t want to get Merry in trouble with any Wizards even if it is Bilbo’s wizard.”

“Maybe if the Wizard thought that Merry had told you, then the Wizard would turn Merry into a pony,” Frodo said.

Pippin’s eyes widened and he considered this. Frodo watched as Pippin struggled with his desire to keep his older cousin’s secret and his desire to have his own pony. Finally, Pippin said, “I couldn’t do that to poor Merry unless it was only for a week or so.” He looked over at the cow that was now eating grass and swishing her tale. Pippin sighed. “I sure wish that cow was a pony again though.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Pippin is twenty, Merry is twenty-eight and Frodo is forty-two)

“Pippin!” Merry shouted. “Sit still or you’ll tip us all into the Brandywine.” The little rowboat rocked wildly as Pippin sat down quickly. “How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t stand up in a boat?”

Pippin scowled. “I was only getting comfortable. I was going to sit back down.”

Frodo, who was sitting in the stern of the little boat eating an apple smiled over at his two bickering cousins.

“Just sit still,” Merry said sounding annoyed.

“I am,” Pippin said folding his arms over his chest and glaring at Merry.

“If you’d ever listen to anything that I say the first time, then I wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself,” Merry grumbled as he picked up his fishing pole and prepared to cast the line into the water. “I don’t know why I say anything at all to you. You never hear a word of it and if you do, then you promptly ignore all of it and do as you please.”

“I might listen to you if you ever said anything important,” Pippin retorted. “Which you don’t.”

“Go ahead and fall into the Brandywine then you stubborn Took,” Merry said. “Just don’t scare off the fish while your splashing about and yelling for help.”

“If I fall in, I’ll just swim to the bank,” Pippin said. “You taught me that.”

Frodo smirked and Merry turned his glare on him now. “You’d be annoyed too if everything you said fell on deaf ears,” Merry complained. “The only reason Pip remembers my name is because someone other than me told it to him. He doesn’t listen to me.”

“I’m sitting right here listening to you now,” Pippin objected. “As usual, you aren’t saying anything important.” Pippin put a hand into the water and swished it around gently. “How can anyone listen to you prattle on for hours on end about nothing important?”

“You would know a thing or two about prattling on,” Merry snorted. “The Tooks invented prattling on.”

Pippin frowned and splashed a bit of the Brandywine at Merry. “Who told you that one?” he scoffed.

“No one had to tell me,” Merry smiled. “Spending the last twenty years in your company taught me that.”

Instead of making a reply Pippin hopped to his feet and pointed toward Merry’s line in the water as it jerked about. “Merry! You’ve got a fish! Pay attention or you’ll lose him,” Pippin shouted. “You always tell me to watch the line so that I know when to pull the fish into the boat so watch!”

Frodo chuckled softly as Merry gave his full attention to his fishing. No, Pippin didn’t simply listen to what Merry said. Pippin memorized every single word that left Merry’s mouth, believed most of what Merry said and then repeated the wit and wisdom of his older Brandybuck cousin for the whole Shire to hear every chance that he got. Pippin Took was the leading authority on what Merry had to say even if Merry didn’t realize it.

The End

G.W. 12/03/2005





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