"Fall-der-all the riddle-o' the re-do, fa la la, the riddle o' the day."
"What is thirty-five divided by seven?" Diamond Took asked her son, Faramir, as they chopped carrots early one autumn afternoon.
In his mind he started counting out sevens: 7, 14, 21,...
"...Eleven nine seven five three and one! Fall-der-all the riddle o' the re-do..." sang out his little sister Fimbrethil as she played with the cat, and Faramir lost count.
"I don't know."
"Keep trying, if there are 35 hobbits at a party and seven cakes, how many pieces should you cut each cake into?"
Faramir actually liked mathematics, but he replied cheekily, "just cut them in eight or ten and let everyone take what they please."
Diamond countered, "What if someone doesn't get as much as the others?"
"Then they were too slow!" said Faramir, and dodged a playful swoosh with a kitchen towel.
"How about this, Ferry: there are seven wolves at the border, and the Thain has 35 soldiers. How many should he send after each wolf?"
Now that was a pressing question! Faramir began counting again: 21, 28...
"Daddy, daddy! There are thirty-five wolves at the border and you have seven soldiers!" Shouted Fimbrethil happily as her father, Peregrin Took, came in. He scooped her up and looked at Diamond with mild concern.
She smiled and shook her head, "Mathematics. How was your morning?"
"Well enough. Harvest Inventories...Trade reports...lots of mathematics." He said.
"It's good of you to help Samwise with all of that."
"I don't mind, as long as there aren't thirty-five wolves at the border!"
"Sit down and have some tea!"
"I'll take a butter roll, thank you darling, but then I'm going out to clear the pasture spring."
"Couldn't Pete do it?" she asked. The Took and Thain didn't often do his own yard work, not because Peregrin cared about his status, but because his civil duties left him little time. Every now and then, though, it was refreshing to give his mind a rest and use his muscles.
"I need the fresh air." He said through a mouthful of butter roll. "I will take a couple more of these in my pockets though."
Peregrin saw Faramir's disappointed look, "I'll only stop to rake the leaves away. I shan't be gone long." Then he considered, and said, "you come, too."
Faramir gave the carrots a final victory chop, grabbed two butter rolls, and rushed to the coat-hooks for his jacket and bag.
Diamond picked up a blue ceramic bowl from the counter and handed it to Peregrin with a kiss. "Would you like to ride over and return this to Merry and Estella? I'm sure they would welcome you for dinner. Ferry, put on a scarf and hat. Off you go, lads, be home for supper!"
As he left the kitchen, Faramir called back, "Five!"
notes:
The "fall-der-all" counting song is a folk song. I don't know a source for it.
Credit to Robert Frost's "Pasture" poem for some of Pippin's dialogue.
Credit to Tolkien, obviously.
Fimbrethil is the name of Treebeard's entwife. Since Pippin names his son after someone amazing from his adventures, I thought he should name his daughter likewise.
I haven't abandoned "Eldarion Dwarfed." It still has a couple chapters coming; I have just been more excited about this one :)
