Well, I'm back, after almost two years. I got the LotR SEE DVD's for Christmas and I feel quite ready for another adventure in Hobbit land. As always, all hobbit names mentioned are taken from the official family trees.
"But you won't have any luck in the Old Forest," objected Fredegar. "No one ever has luck in there. You'll get lost. People don't go in there."
"Oh yes they do!" said Merry. "The Brandybucks go in—occasionally when the fit takes them. We have a private entrance. Frodo went in once, long ago. I have been in several times…"
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, chapter 5: "A Conspiracy Unmasked"
Three weeks later, on a balmy summer evening, Saradoc Brandybuck finished his supper, stood up, stretched his arms over his head, and announced he was going to take a walk. His fellow diners shot knowing glances at each other when he invited young Merry to accompany him. Feeling slightly apprehensive, and more than a little annoyed that at least a quarter of his own supper still lay untouched, Merry followed his father outside, conscious of the eyes of dozens of Brandybucks following him with various degrees of curiosity and amusement.
Once outside, Saradoc led Merry to a garden bench and sat him down. Merry gazed up at his father, and took a deep breath, knowing what was coming. He had been able to think of nothing else since the revelation three weeks ago that his first encounter with the world beyond the Hedge was fast approaching. Questions constantly filled his head—how far in would they go? Who else would watch them? Would it be at night or in broad daylight? But most pressing of all—what was out there? There were all sorts of rumours—trees that talked to each other and moved—strange animals, a world away from the cuddly woodland wildlife found within the Shire—a magical river, far down the valley they called the Withywindle—a beautiful lady, clothed in white, who lived in pools of water and could turn you into a tree with only a song—Merry's musings were interrupted by his father's voice at his side.
"Your Adventuring takes place in two days, Merry. It is time I told you exactly what it entails."
Merry listened eagerly—finally his questions would be answered! But the name…
"Adventuring?"
Saradoc smiled and cut in before his son could finish his sentence. "Adventuring is what we Brandybucks have always called the ceremony of a young hobbit's first journey beyond the Gates. And it happens, year after year, like this..."
Merry found it hard to concentrate through all the questions buzzing around his brain, but he knew that whatever his father was saying was probably important and he did his best to listen carefully.
"Now, I know you have a thousand questions, so ask away," said Saradoc at last, with a slight twinkle in his eyes. Saradoc remembered his own Adventuring well, and Merry was as curious as his father had ever been.
"Is it true the trees can talk?" asked Merry breathlessly.
"Ah, well now, you wouldn't want me to spoil a surprise as big as that, now would you?"
Merry felt a bit cheated, but continued asking anyway. "Has anyone ever died in there?"
"Not as I can recall, no," said Saradoc.
"What about that crazy magician who lives in the Withywindle valley? Berry said he could talk to the trees and things."
"I've heard of him, Merry, but hobbits come up with all sorts of things. Brandybucks have been going inside for years, and we still don't know the half of what's inside that Forest. Old Tom and his songs may exist, and then again they may not. Maybe you will be the one to find out the truth of it, eh?" Saradoc ruffled his son's hair fondly. "Come on, time for bed. We've got a lot to do tomorrow, if you want to be properly prepared."
Although he knew it would be near impossible, Merry tried his best to sleep soundly that night and the next, after a long day of meetings, discussions, and preparing supplies. The night before the Adventuring, he was quite unable to sleep, no matter how hard he tried. His pack squatted in the corner of the room, looking like an old troll, stumpy and menacing. Merry blinked hard, but the vision didn't change. Suddenly it moved! It was shuffling towards him, closer and closer, raising its club, its troll-voice laughing with the groan of wood on wood—like tree branches, thought Merry in the middle of his panic, tree branches swayed by the wind outside his bedroom window…
The leaves rustled. Moonlight glanced in through a chink in the curtains and fell on the worn canvas bag sitting solidly in the corner of the room. The nightlight by the bed burned steadily on as Merry blinked, sighed, and lay back down to be drawn into dreams of adventure.
His father woke him early the next morning. Holding his finger to his lips, he motioned to Merry to get dressed and hoist the pack onto his back. The two hobbits stepped outside and Saradoc stopped, said "Listen carefully," and sent a bird's call rippling into the silver air three times. As Merry watched wide-eyed, similar calls came floating from the bushes all around them and dozens of hobbits stepped silently out and surrounded them. They were a diverse group, old and young, male and female, but with two common traits—none of them was under twelve years old, and all of them were Brandybucks. Merry found he recognised them all—by sight if not by name; but as he glanced around at the many smiling faces, his gaze suddenly fell on two that he knew particularly well. The eyes of his cousin Berry twinkled cheerfully as he grinned broadly and waved. Next to him, a tall tweenaged hobbit with an intelligent face gave Berry an admonishing sort of shove. Frodo Baggins, son of Drogo Baggins and Primula Brandybuck, smiled widely at the look of astonishment on his young cousin's face and winked.
Saradoc nodded at the group, and they moved off down the path. To Merry's surprise, the small crowd of hobbits used almost the exact same path that Merry himself had used on his second visit to the Hedge. The other inhabitants of Buckland were still asleep at this early hour, but secrecy appeared to be an important part of the ceremony. Merry supposed it all added to the mystique of the proceedings. He and his father walked in the middle of the group, but it wasn't long before Berry and the surprise guest had caught up with them. Merry stopped for a moment and quickly embraced his cousin. "It seems you're happy to see me," said Frodo, still grinning.
"How on earth did you get here? I had no idea you were even in Buckland!"
"Old Rory kept me informed of events, and I smuggled myself up here last night. They have all been keeping me a secret so as to give you a surprise today."
"Well, I must say, that wasn't very sporting of them. To think it's been six months since you last came to visit and nobody breathed a word!" Merry looked pointedly at Berry, who usually jumped at the chance to spread rumours and cause trouble. Of course he'd been in on it—hadn't he?
But Berry shrugged his shoulders. "I only found out this morning when I bumped right into him in the dark. He thought it was enormous fun, of course."
"Come on, lads!" The call came floating back to them from the rest of the group, of which they were now at the rear end. Saradoc had stopped and was beckoning to them to hurry up. They quickened their pace. Merry suddenly thought of something.
"Did you have an Adventuring too, Frodo? I thought you were an official Baggins."
"Well, I am now," Frodo replied. "But when I was your age I was still living here, and as much a Brandybuck as you ever were. So, when I was twelve, the family took advantage of my being here and I had my Adventuring like everyone else. Not that I've ever been in again since," he added with a grimace. "Once was quite enough for me. It must have been the Baggins side showing itself."
"But who went in with you? If you don't mind me asking," Merry amended hastily. Being new to this sort of thing, he wasn't sure how far confidentiality extended. And Frodo's parents, though by now long gone, had always been a bit of a touchy subject. But Frodo was in a cheerful mood that day and didn't seem to mind, much to Merry's relief.
"You remember I used to live with Berry's family? Uncle Merimac took me in when I was small, so, naturally, when I grew older he took care of Adventurings and things. That was two years before you were born," said Frodo, smiling fondly.
Berry had suddenly gotten very agitated; he was dancing about in the path and poking them both.
"Shut up, both of you! Look! We're here! There's the hedge, right up ahead!"
So it was. Only the top of it was lit by the sun; the rest was still in shadow in the early morning. Birds were flitting in and out of it, calling to each other in slightly subdued tones, as if aware of the shadowy disapproval of the Forest just behind them. The small crowd of hobbits was moving down the line of the hedge to the depression in the ground where the gate lay; the Shire's last frontier.