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| Second Mum by Larner | 14 Review(s) |
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| Calien | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 9/4/2017 |
| Another interesting chapter! I can see Frodo like a real teenager, with his rebellion an his desire of independence... and I'm almost shocked, some actions are very thoughtless! It's a pity that he "wasted" his freedom, doing stupid things and pranks! But I think that Menegilda won't allow him to continue like this! And she will expect too much, I bet... Maggot is sensible, wow! He showed a lot of patience. Little Merry is so sweet and I love his relationship with Frodo. I'm sorry, but I need a lot of time for reading english stories :( | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/26/2007 |
| (She realized with an unexpected thrill that Buckland had become home to her more than either the farm at Whitwell or the Great Smial in Tookland.) It's an odd feeling when that happens to a person and you realize that what you consider to be home has actually changed. (Esme realized that she wasn’t the only one who realized Frodo was hurt about not being allowed to ride, and that Merry was seeking to distract his cousin, and she found herself proud of the little lad she’d given birth to.) Merry does know Frodo very well already doesn't he? ( Farmer Maggot gave a final nod. “All right. And when you’re certain as he’ll understand, you can tell him I really admire him. He’s right smart, he is.”) I did love this line. It says a great deal about Maggot. I loved the way Frodo tried to keep Merry from worrying. Oh, and I do love the pranks. I always enjoy a well-thought-out prank! : ) Author Reply: We do come to see that other places displace "home" in our hearts, and I wanted to show this truth in Esme. She and Merry are both able to appreciate much of Frodo's feelings, and I believe that Merry would have found several times when he'd try his best to distract Frodo from his frustrations. And, again, Maggot was respected by Tom Bombadil, and for that to be true, I think he'd be far more understanding than Frodo gave him credit for when he was running in terror from the dogs. Frodo would seek to protect Merry as much as the child would seek to reassure and distract him, I think. Am am SO glad you like the pranks--again, do look at "Raiding" in "Moments in Time" when you have the chance--I think you particularly will appreciate it. | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/16/2007 |
| Maybe the other boys will see Frodo as less of "a mam's lad " now.Children can be so cruel to anyone a bit different. Author Reply: Oh, don't I know it, Linda. I was exceptionally short and bookish as a child and was a frequent target for bullies; and many of my students and clients have experienced the same phenomenon. | |
| Queen Galadriel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/13/2007 |
| LOL! I love Frodo's pranks! Just great! Poor boy has to have *some* kind of outlet, after all. It's good to see him being allowed to help more around the Hall, and I don't blame him at all for taking his freedom too far. Can I venture so far as to assume that the glue on Lalia's chair was his idea--if not his doing? Ha! :) I would so love to have a nice little chat with Menegilda. She's being so ridiculous! It's so obvious that isn't her reason for keeping Frodo away from the ponies. Did her gaffer really die in that way, I have to wonder? If so, it was probably either because he didn't know what he was doing or for some other reason. Her true ideas about Frodo and ponies are the opposite of reason. Horses and ponies are wonderful. I know I enjoyed riding while I did it (till I found out I was allergic to horses) and I love to hear a friend of mine tell the stories of the people she does riding therapy with. I agree with everyone else about Maggot. This is one of the best accounts of this event I've ever read. But oh, that was foolish--really foolish of Frodo, considering the--delicate situation with his aunt. My rule number one for dealing with people like that: DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER ENCOURAGE THEM, whether that means not running wild or simply not telling them certain things (in Frodo's case, things like riding the bull). He didn't exactly tell her, but still...I so hope he hasn't undone all that has been accomplished where she's concerned. *sighs* Poor kid. God bless, Galadriel P.S. I was thinking after I read and reviewed last night, my quick judgment on Timono wasn't really fair. No, I don't like him or pity him any more than I did, but as for his "you have to feel sorry for me" junk, I have no room to talk, because I went through a big phase of that when I was about eight. At least he had a logical reason. My reason for feeling sorry for myself was I wanted a twin. Out of all the crazy things I might have picked, I had to pick something that ridiculous! LOL Author Reply: Yes, once Frodo's learned how to play a prank and figure out how to distract others he'd do it up right, I think, and take it to rather interesting extremes--until as must happen he got caught. As for the glue on Lalia's chair, he's not telling, and neither am I! (Snort!) The full story of Menegilda's gaffer and the pony is still to be revealed, at which time I hope her fears may be a bit more understandable. No one else had told had told Gilda about the rides on the bull, which is a nod to a story here about how Frodo earned the title "The Terror of Buckland": she's just learning about it from others and is most upset by it, I fear. As for Timono and "You have to feel sorry for me"--I went through my personal bout of that also at age eight, when I felt everyone should indulge me first because my father had died (when I was a baby, so I grew up with a perfectly serviceable stepdad who'd been there for us as long as I could remember, but he wasn't MY father--my, I was an ungrateful child!), and because we'd moved from a city neighborhood where I was within minutes of many classmates to a new home on the remains of a farm in the country where the only two kids my age within walking distance lived a half mile in each direction, and I couldn't stand the one and didn't meet the other until we went to junior high together as we went to different grade schools. So, I can partly appreciate Timono's situation at the same time I find I, too, don't particularly like him. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/13/2007 |
| Farmer Maggot gave a final nod. “All right. And when you’re certain as he’ll understand, you can tell him I really admire him. He’s right smart, he is.” Oh Larner, I really like your farmer Maggot. He has a lot of common sense and he saw at once that Frodo's answers were honest. So, Stripe only wanted to play, but Frodo didn't realise it and fled? That sounds familiar! The same thing happened to me when I was 9 or 10 years old. No, I did not steal mushrooms ;-) The dog (a German shepherd) came running towards me, and I thought it would attack me. So I fled and the dog followed. It seemed an eternity until someone was able to stop the dog and to assure me that it only wanted to play. Last but not least, I'm right glad that Frodo finally was allowed to do (nearly) all things the other lads did. And he earned himself a title! "The rascal of Buckland" - I like that title much more than "The terror of Buckland" which is slightly exaggerated ;-) Author Reply: I'm trying to match the younger Farmer Maggot to the one who welcomed Frodo Baggins into his home once he realized the younger Hobbit was being pursued by the Black Rider and whose wife presented that dish of mushrooms contained in the basket Frodo carried from there to Crickhollow. He obviously held a degree of respect for the one who used to raid his mushroom patch, after all; it was obvious to me that Frodo had totally misjudged the farmer, particularly as Pippin obviously knew and deeply respected him and had visited his place alongside Merry, not to mention Bombadil's estimation of the fellow stated later. Few who haven't had much experience with dogs are able to tell much about the animals' true moods. My niece constantly misread the true state of mind of our dogs, and as a result her daughter has developed an aversion to them that is quite exaggeratedly silly. For Frodo to believe that the dog chasing him meant the dog intended to do him harm when in reality it only wanted to play seemed very likely. And in the minds of some there's not a good deal of difference between being accounted a rascal or a terror. So glad you appreciate how I've tried to picture Maggot. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/13/2007 |
| Naughty Frodo! He's being too clever for his own good, here. No wonder he ended up with a dramatic reputation for mischief. It's surprising, really, that he got away with it for as long as he did. And getting caught in the end was inevitable. Author Reply: Oh, yes, too clever by half; and of course he'd get caught in the end. But I bet it was great fun while it lasted. | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/13/2007 |
| It was about time Sara and Esme stood up to Gilda on Frodo’s behalf. She’d coddle him to death, if she’d be allowed to continue that. But I certainly don’t agree with Gilda that he isn’t to go to the ponies. For ponies are wonderful animals and certainly not more dangerous than other beasts, and I think her gaffer did something wrong if he was killed there *glares at Gilda* And besides, how many people are having to do with ponies, and how many of them are hurt? Truly, she ought to be a bit more realistic, even if I can understand her fear. But accidents happen – and are even more likely to happen if someone doesn’t know how to handle animals. The best protection is always to learn as much as possible about them. Ah, that was fun, to learn how Frodo put one over Gomez and his bullies. And no matter how one thinks about the raiding in itself, one has to appreciate the intelligence behind the way it was done. Though of course Frodo shouldn’t have taken so much. Author Reply: As you'll realize, Gilda's concerns are less regarding the ponies themselves being dangerous than how the excitement of being around ponies might affect Frodo. But you are certainly right about how inexperience makes it more likely someone will have an accident around an animal in the future. I certainly agree with your comments here. I still am certain that whatever Frodo did throughout his life would have been done with a great deal of flair and thoroughness, whether it's taking revenge on bullies or raiding the farms of the Marish. Thanks so much for the comments, Kitty. | |
| Lily | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/12/2007 |
| My, that lad has been running quite wild. I fear all parties have to find the right balance between "completely free" and "completely limited". But he is clever. I liked how Maggot reacted. True, Frodo needed a lesson taught and that's all he got. But it is also good that Maggot seeks out the Master to discuss matters. I can't stand it when Maggot is portrait as cruel and shows unnecessary brutality. Author Reply: Yes, the genie got out of the bottle, and had a good time while free; but had his comeuppance. Perhaps if he hadn't been so badly repressed he would have found that balance earlier in his life. But I like the idea Frodo did things with flair from early on, and was in it more for the thrill of figuring out how to distract folks rather than for just stealing. In FOTR Farmer Maggot appeared to welcome the ex-master of Bag End warmly; and no matter how upset he might be about his mushrooms being stolen, I think he'd realize that young Frodo has completely overreacted to being caught and might indeed be in great distress about it. So I have him doing only what he feels needful to deal with a kid who hasn't learned to do no more than enough, and his dogs aren't really vicious but are protective within limits. And I think he'd indeed go to Rory more to express concern rather than to get righteously angry, really. | |
| Armariel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/12/2007 |
| Heheh.......he got caught....NOW what's going to happen? Clever rogue! ~~~{~@ Author Reply: Well, we know he got caught by Maggot at least the once; I just thought we ought to see it from Maggot's own point of view. Yes, clever rogue--too much so, of course! Heh! | |
| elanor winterflowers | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/11/2007 |
| It's always sort of tragi-comic when a really good child breaks loose like that. It's hard to know how to punish them, and so difficult to see them suffer, especially since so much of the suffering is self-inflicted by conscience! Farmer Maggot is absolutely splendid here! I so enjoyed his recital of what happened when he caught Frodo at last in his field, and set the dogs on him, as Frodo said later. That was just a great read. And little Merry: "My Frodo!" Volumes in that little greeting. Well done! Author Reply: Yes, first he breaks loose, and then, as happens again later in life, his own conscience becomes his greatest enemy. Frodo was obviously a pretty intelligent and capable Hobbit; that he'd become far too clever for his own good at some point in his life seemed likely. We know that Bombadil held a good deal of respect for Farmer Maggot; therefore the fear held for years by an adolescent Frodo toward one honored not only by Iarwain but by Merry and Pippin as well must have been exaggerated by the fear of having been caught and then pursued by the dogs; and it seemed likely that as even the adult Frodo realized the dogs were unlikely to have harmed him had they caught him that he had while running from the Farmer's presence misread them, too. Am so glad you appreciated it, Elanor. | |