grammaboodawg
Immortal
This is a "relatively" easy Book Spoiler that looks at some of Sam's family... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
..."'Queer things you do hear these days, to be sure,' said Sam.
... 'Ah,' said Ted, 'you do, if you listen. But I can hear fireside-tales and children's stories at home, if I want to.'
... 'No doubt you can,' retorted Sam, 'and I daresay there's more truth in some of them than you reckon. Who invented the stories anyway? Take dragons now... ...what about these Tree-men, these giants, as you might call them? They do say that one bigger than a tree was seen up away beyond the North Moors not long back.'
... 'Who's they?'
... "'My cousin Hal for one. He works for Mr. Boffin at Overhill and goes up to the Northfarthing for the hunting. He saw one.'
... 'Says he did, perhaps. Your Hal's always saying that he's seen things; and maybe he sees things that ain't there.'
... 'But this one was as big as an elm tree, and walking--walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch.'
... 'Then I bet it wasn't an inch. What he saw was an elm tree, as like as not.'
... 'But this one was walking, I tell you; and there ain't no elm tree on the North Moors... ...you can't deny that others besides our Halfast have seen queer folk crossing the Shire--crossing it, mind you: there are more that are turned back at the borders. The Bounders have never been so busy before.'"
... "When this slender bridge had been made, the Company passed over, some cautiously and slowly, others more easily. Of the hobbits... ...Sam shuffled along, clutching hard, and looking down into the pale eddying water as if it was a chasm in the mountains.
... He breathed with relief when he was safely across. 'Live and learn! as my gaffer used to say. Though he was thinking of gardening, not of roosting like a bird, nor of trying to walk like a spider. Not even my uncle Andy ever did a trick like that!'"
... Sam did not laugh. 'I may not be much good at climbing, Mr. Frodo,' he said in injured tones, 'but I do know something about rope and about knots. It's in the family, as you might say. Why, my grand-dad, and my uncle Andy after him, him that was the Gaffer's eldest brother, he had a rope-walk over by Tighfield many a year. And I put as fast a hitch over the stump as any one could have done, in the Shire or out of it.'"
From The Shadow of the Past: FotR
Cousin Hal ..."'Queer things you do hear these days, to be sure,' said Sam.
... 'Ah,' said Ted, 'you do, if you listen. But I can hear fireside-tales and children's stories at home, if I want to.'
... 'No doubt you can,' retorted Sam, 'and I daresay there's more truth in some of them than you reckon. Who invented the stories anyway? Take dragons now... ...what about these Tree-men, these giants, as you might call them? They do say that one bigger than a tree was seen up away beyond the North Moors not long back.'
... 'Who's they?'
... "'My cousin Hal for one. He works for Mr. Boffin at Overhill and goes up to the Northfarthing for the hunting. He saw one.'
... 'Says he did, perhaps. Your Hal's always saying that he's seen things; and maybe he sees things that ain't there.'
... 'But this one was as big as an elm tree, and walking--walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch.'
... 'Then I bet it wasn't an inch. What he saw was an elm tree, as like as not.'
... 'But this one was walking, I tell you; and there ain't no elm tree on the North Moors... ...you can't deny that others besides our Halfast have seen queer folk crossing the Shire--crossing it, mind you: there are more that are turned back at the borders. The Bounders have never been so busy before.'"
From Lothlórien: FotR
Uncle Andy ... "When this slender bridge had been made, the Company passed over, some cautiously and slowly, others more easily. Of the hobbits... ...Sam shuffled along, clutching hard, and looking down into the pale eddying water as if it was a chasm in the mountains.
... He breathed with relief when he was safely across. 'Live and learn! as my gaffer used to say. Though he was thinking of gardening, not of roosting like a bird, nor of trying to walk like a spider. Not even my uncle Andy ever did a trick like that!'"
From The Taming of Sméagol: Two Towers
... "To the complete surprise of both the hobbits it came loose. Sam fell over, and the long grey coils slithered silently down on top of him. Frodo laughed. 'Who tied the rope?' he said. 'A good thing it held as long as it did! To think that I trusted all my weight to your knot!' ... Sam did not laugh. 'I may not be much good at climbing, Mr. Frodo,' he said in injured tones, 'but I do know something about rope and about knots. It's in the family, as you might say. Why, my grand-dad, and my uncle Andy after him, him that was the Gaffer's eldest brother, he had a rope-walk over by Tighfield many a year. And I put as fast a hitch over the stump as any one could have done, in the Shire or out of it.'"
]
