Middle-earth Journeys

Oh Yay! This will be FUN! But where is the "humble example," Riv? Were you planning to connect us to some of our previous poems and essays, or do you have your own "ficlet" to share? Hmmmm?

Here's one to kick us off. I sat down yesterday without a clue what to write, and then it just came to me . Must be the Christmas Muse.


This entry isn't in the competition. It's to inspire you to get those pens out (AKA: start typing ).

December 25th: Bilbo, Gandalf and Beorn have a strange guest.


The ride that day had been long and the wind cold and keen, blowing in from the bitter North. Bilbo thought its piercing breath would never end but that night, as they prepared their camp, the wind suddenly dropped and a strange calm settled around them as they huddled near the fire. Then all about them fell the tiny stars of a thick, quiet snow, softly brushing their cheeks and covering their drawn cloaks with sparkling white. As the snow thickened they could dimly see each other, huddled near the leaping flames with their great black shadows dancing behind them. Suddenly Beorn stiffened.

‘There is someone here,’ he said, ‘just outside the circle of the fire! I can smell them.’ He pointed across the leaping flames to something behind Bilbo. Bilbo was instantly alarmed, but quickly unsheathing Sting he could see that the blade was cold and no blue light flickered along its edge. He turned around and peered through the falling flakes and he thought he could see a large shape! It seemed formed from the very snow itself.

‘Gandalf!’ he cried, ‘There is someone… or something, there!’ But to his amazement Gandalf laughed. ’Come forward, Friend,' he called 'and join us around our fire!’

The snow gathered shape and a huge white form emerged from the shadows and slowly came towards them.

‘A bear!’ cried Bilbo. ’A White Bear! Whoever saw such a thing.’ Both Gandalf and Beorn stood and bowed low, and now Bilbo saw that while he had been watching the White Bear, Beorn had now taken the shape of a bear himself, his great shaggy head bent almost to the cold ground. ‘Bilbo, may I introduce the North Polar Bear. This must be a special night indeed for him to be roaming abroad, south of the Ered Mithrin.’ ‘I’m honoured to meet you‘, said Bilbo, also bowing low. ‘You are very welcome to share our fire.’

The Bear laughed and his laugh was like a deep growl that bubbled and rolled.

‘I will share your fire, for I’ve had a long journey and have brought you gifts because this is a night of gifts and always will be.’ They then saw that he carried a white cloth pouch, slung around his great neck. ‘Take it, Gandalf, my friend’ he said ‘and you will all see what I have brought.’

Gandalf lifted the pouch from around the North Polar Bear’s neck and carefully opened it. The first thing he took out of the pouch was an axe made of some fine, bright metal and wrought in a style Bilbo had never seen.

‘This is for you, my Brother, Beorn,’ said the North Polar Bear. ‘The day comes soon when you will be building many halls for a great people. Protect the roads so the good may journey safely through the wild.’ Gandalf carefully placed it on the ground before Beorn‘s feet and Beorn bowed his shaggy head again. The next thing out of the pouch was a fine pipe, sparkling white like snow in bright sunlight.

‘This is for you, Gandalf, as a promise of things to come when you’ve have lost your old grey one.‘ Gandalf looked at the North Polar Bear and raised an eyebrow as he loved his old grey pipe. Gandalf then took the final gift out of the pouch and looked up at Bilbo, and his eyes twinkled. ‘This must be for you, dear Bilbo,’ he said. ‘Indeed it is,’ said the North Polar Bear. ‘The last gift and not the least.’ Bilbo looked at Gandalf’s outstretched hand and saw a beautiful quill pen there, made from the finest feather he had ever seen. He couldn’t imagine what bird it had come from but as soon as he saw it, Bilbo wanted to hold it.

‘Use it, Bilbo, and write the tales of what you have seen and tales of the things you have yet to see. This is the greatest gift to Middle-earth and all who live after. There is nothing more powerful than the word.’ ‘I will,’ said Bilbo, amazed. ‘I will. Though what I will have to write about after this I can’t imagine.’

The North Polar Bear laughed his deep, growly laugh again. ‘You will see, Bilbo, there are many tales yet to tell before the Great Tale is done.’ Then he shook the falling snow off his thick white fur and turned away from the fire. ‘It is getting too hot for my coat and I must be getting back to the North and my home. Farewell, friends and fellow travellers. Safe journey and look after your gifts.’ With that he reared up on his hind legs to an enormous height and Bilbo realised, for the first time, what a very Great Bear he was. Then he left them, heading back into the ever deepening snow.

As they watched him grow dim through the falling flakes they suddenly saw him as a tall man, dressed in a rich fur-trimmed red, a hat like the dwarves wear perched at a jaunty angle on his head and the flash of a long white beard. Bilbo rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

‘A skin-changer!’ said Beorn, ‘I knew it. It is long since I met one of my brothers, scattered as we are across Middle-earth.’ He raised a paw and called: ‘Farewell, my brother, travel well and bring my greetings to the North. It is good to know we have such hope at the edges of the world beyond the Grey Mountains and the great Northern Wastes.’

Through the thickening snow they heard a deep, rolling, growly laugh and a fading ‘Farewell…. Farewell… there is always…. hope…’ then all was silence and swirling, starry snow.

Love it, Iolanthe! and even though it's not a competiton entry, the bar is set high already . . .

I really enjoyed that! And I read it with real anticipation for what would happen next. Wonderful combination of many Tolkien elements, Iolanthe.

Glad you both liked it . I had huge fun writing it.

Very nice, Io! I have an idea up my sleeve as well. Just need some time to develop it a little and rattle it into the old computer.

Riv, the elder Miss L (now 12) has written a little story. You may recall that she wrote a poem and drew a picture for our first Yule contest back when she was 9. Could I post her story as a non-entry from our young honorary member? I need to find out if she plans to create an illustration as well.

We would be delighted and honored to have her post.

BTW...I do have a story of my own hatching away in my brain right now.

I'm glad some of you have ideas brewing . This is fun!

Here is the elder Miss L's story. Riv, I'll e-mail you a pencil sketch she drew to accompany her tale. Enjoy!


Christmas Day with Bilbo

© Miss L: All Rights Reserved

Bilbo and Gandalf had been traveling with Beorn for 15 days when they decided to rest for the night in a cave between the forest, the Wilderland River, and Mount Gundabad. That night when Beorn went off to find food, Bilbo awoke after having a quite upsetting dream about coming home to his hobbit hole and discovering that many of his belongings had been stolen.

Bilbo was quite upset about this dream, and so while Gandalf was still asleep, Bilbo explored parts of the cave he was visiting to forget about the frightening nightmare. “Oh, bother,” Bilbo thought, “I do believe I will be missing second breakfast tomorrow. Oh, dear. How I wish I could just go home and forget about all this nonsense of orcs and trolls, and oh, the lot of it. Right now I could be home in my cozy hobbit hole and not in a dark and cold cave.” As Bilbo stumbled through the cave muttering about the fact that this trip had not been well thought-out, his lantern shined on many birds hanging upside down from the ceiling. “Oh, dear, what on Earth are those?” he said aloud, “they look like birds hanging upside down!” Bilbo had no idea that these “birds” were bats, and to his misfortune, all his wondering about them awoke them all and the bats soon were chasing the group out of the cave. After quite a chase, and the words “Oh, my” coming out of Bilbo’s mouth a million times, Gandalf stared at Bilbo awhile and then said, “My, you have caused some trouble, haven’t you?” To this, Bilbo responded, “I thought they were birds.” Beorn ignored the comments and suggested that they all try and find somewhere else to stay for the night. “Yes, indeed,” Bilbo said, “surely I do not want to be grumpy tomorrow morning.”

After the disruption the night before, Bilbo and his friends continued the journey. Bilbo was upset that he had to awake earlier than usual, and so for quite a few hours, he thought about what would be happening if he were in The Shire instead of walking along nearing an orc fortress. Soon, Bilbo became bored, so out of the blue, he asked, “When are we having breakfast? I am still quite famished, because the last time I ate was over eight hours ago.” Gandalf answered, “Dear Bilbo, we do not have time for overeating. We have lots to do and tasks to be done. Many have survived not eating for days. Stopping to eat now would be foolish and would be doing nothing but wasting our resources.” “But it would be satisfying my hunger!” Bilbo responded. Beorn did not pay much attention to the conversation.

Before Bilbo could continue complaining, there was an awful screeching sound. “What on Earth was that?” Bilbo asked. Gandalf looked over toward the dark clouds to the East. “I’m afraid we have a storm coming,” he said, “and this storm may have powers we aren’t aware of.” “What ever do you mean?” Bilbo asked. Gandalf advised Bilbo to look around the tree. Bilbo stared in horror at what he saw--it was nothing like he’d never seen before. Bilbo rubbed his eyes and looked again. It was still there.

What Bilbo saw he described as a tall spinning cloud that reached all the way down to the ground from the sky. He was even more frightened at what it was doing. Everything behind its path was in major destruction. “Is this some sort of destructing device?” Bilbo asked. “I have heard about these,” Beorn said, “it is a spinning wind column that travelers around here call ‘twisters.’ They destroy everything in their path. We must take shelter immediately!” he warned. “What a horrible noise it makes!” Bilbo exclaimed in total panic. Poor Bilbo thought he was going to lose his hearing to the awful “twister.”

Bilbo, Beorn, and Gandalf all took shelter under a pile of rocks until the disastrous thing had left. Eventually, it wound back up in the clouds, but after it was gone, the thunder and lightning started up, and the cold and shivering Bilbo was back up on his feet to continue his adventure. They walked through the blustery winds and the freezing rain until they finally reached a point where the storm had diminished. The cold and wet Bilbo looked up and said “D-d-don’t ev-v-er make me do th-th-this ag-g-gain!” Gandalf laughed and patted Bilbo on the back. “Well, Mr. Baggins,” he said, “I must congratulate you. You made it through a twister and now we must face things that could be a lot worse.”

What a lovely adventure, Miss L! You have the makings of a very talented writer!

Will add the sketch when it comes.

Well done, indeed, Miss L! You have a good ear for how these characters speak.

Great story - poor Bilbo, blundering into the bats and meeting a terrific storm. And the way the characters talk is absolutely spot on. I can just hear Gandalf saying “My, you have caused some trouble, haven’t you?” and Bilbo, ever the Hobbit grumbling about the lack of food and trying to speak through chattering teeth .

I'm looking forward to the drawing!

What a lovely story from the elder Miss L!! surely a talented writer in the making. . . and possibly an artist too!