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Halflings, or Hobbits, ’tis said, hail originally from across the Hithaeglir, from the valley of the Anduin.  Hither they came into Eriador, hurrying away from famine and fire, or so it’s told.  Their homes they hollow in banks and hillsides, finding holes more comfortable than houses.  And fields they farm and tend, growing all forms of herbiage, looking to huge harvests to feed their hungers.  Great heed they give their fields and flocks and their handiwork, and much help they give one another as it is found needful.

Hearty eaters they prove, the Halflings.  And hearty drinkers also, for they grow hops and barley in profusion to brew ales and beer in huge vats and barrels.  ’Tis said that no one who visits a Hobbit’s home, either a humble hole or a great smial, comes out without having hunger for food, fellowship, and comfort met.  Hospitality rules in the Shire.  They have as healthy an appetite for happiness as they do for food, and will sing in harmony, play, and dance with abandon.

Hobbits are almost all great-hearted, and ’tis said that even their great ones still retain a delightful humility, refusing titles such as Sir or Lord that are so coveted in other peoples and lands.  And, although rarely do they produce heroes, still such as they do are among the most greatly honored in all of Middle Earth.