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Gimli laughed uproariously as the rest of the Fellowship chuckled, their fears of the dark mines being eased slightly by the hobbit's tales.
"This 'Shire' certainly is interesting, as were you halflings when you were young." Legolas said, eyes sparkling merrily.
"Aye, with that I can agree!" Gimli said, "Come! Tell us more!"
The hobbits grinned, each one with different funny stories popping into his head (and Merry sighed in relief that Frodo was done plotting to destroy him). Sam spoke up first.
"Well, since we're one the topic of wagons..." he glanced at Frodo, "May I?"
"You didn't seem to have a problem with bringing up that last topic, Samwise," Frodo laughed, "so I don't see why you should hesitate now!"
Sam flushed slightly. "Beggin' your pardon, Mister Frodo." He turned to the rest of the Fellowship to give them some background information. "Well, you see, Bag End is built towards the top of a rather large hill, and so outside the road is a pretty steep slope. Now, when Mister Frodo was little, he had a nice big wagon that he liked to be pushed around in.
"It was a very fine day when Mr. Frodo walked up to me and asked if he would like to join me in going down the hill with him in his wagon. I said no, for it didn't seem a very safe thing to do, you see?" He paused here and most of the company nodded in understanding, except for Frodo, who pointedly avoided eye contact with anyone. "Well then Mister Frodo said that that was fine, but he was going to do it himself and that he needed my help in giving him a starting push. I protested and told him that he should do it, but he assured me that it was perfectly fine, and then next thing I know he's off down the hill goin' faster and faster.
"I started to get worried, but told myself that knew what he was doing- he'd told me so before. So that made me calm down a little, but the next moment he was starting to swerve! The wagon went flying off the road and flipped over and landed upside-down in a pile of rocks in someone's garden." Here Sam added that he believed that the rocks were there because the hobbits in question were going to put in a little rock bed, but it hadn't been made yet and so they were just sitting there, and he had heard his Gaffer talking about it that morning. Pippin gave a little cough and Sam got back on track.
"I really didn't know what to do," he continued, "I went running down there as fast as I could, and found crawling out from under the upturned wagon, laughing and telling me to help him pull the wagon back up the hill so he could do it again. Well, after I checked to make sure he was alright, which by some miracle he was, I gave him a right scolding for putting himself in danger like that and told him not to do it again." The hobbit nodded his head astutely, light curly hair bouncing up and down.
"I really was fine." Frodo said, "It was just that I had been planning on slowing myself down by putting my foot outside the wagon and on the ground, but once I was actually there, it seemed like that would hurt. Then, of course, Bilbo took away that wagon and wouldn't get me a new one for years, and by that time I had outgrown them."
"Ah, one is never too old for a nice wagon." Merry said.
"I agree, Merry." Pippin piped up. "Though I now believe that it is time for you to tell a story, seeing as we all already have, and you're the only one who hasn't."
"Mm, I have been gathering my wits-"
"Well that shouldn't take too long, now should it! After all, there's really not that much to gather!" Pippin cried, beaming.
Merry scowled and continued. "I have been gathering my wits and have decided to tell the wonderful story that the three of you seem to have forgotten.
"It was one of the times when Pip and I were visiting Frodo for Yule, and we went outside the day after our arrival to see that it had snowed over night and there was a good 6 inches worth of snow on the ground. Naturally, the first thing we did was make a snow hobbit, but after that we decided to go play a game in our little 'fort.'"
"I remember that!" Frodo cried, "It wasn't a proper fort, just a spot behind some bushes, but we did play there a lot when we were younger, didn't we."
"Aye, Mister Frodo," Sam's eyes sparkled as he spoke, "There are certainly some interesting stories revolving around their."
"Ahem!" Pippin cleared his throat loudly. "I do believe that-"
"Peregrine Took! If you are incapable of talking quietly than do not talk at all!"
Pippin winced at Gandalf's voice. "Sorry..." he mumbled, then continued in a loud whisper. "I do believe that you all have forgotten something very important- we're supposed to be listening to Merry."
"Thank you, Pip." Merry replied, and went on with his story. "As I was saying, it had snowed a good bit and we were all squeezed into our fort listening to Frodo tell one of his stories. Then suddenly, Folco, Odo, and Fatty came bursting through the bushes, snowballs in hand, shouting and screaming like no tomorrow. Well, we scattered quickly enough, and soon an all-out snowball fight was going on. It was rather hard though, because they were all so much older than us, well, older than me and Pip, at least, I'm not as sure about Frodo and Sam, but anyways, it wasn't going too well. So we retreated into Bag End.
"Luckily, Bilbo had anticipated soggy, snow-covered, hobbits coming into the house, and had laid down sheets all over the floors so we wouldn't do that much damage. Well, then we realized that we were stuck. We couldn't go back out the front door, because Folco and them were sure to get us if we did, and there wasn't any back door we could get out through, either. That was when Frodo suggested we go into his room, which was on the opposite side of the hill, and climb out the window."
"Climb out the window?" Gimli asked, "Hah! You certainly had some spirit, Frodo-lad!" Frodo laughed.
"Yes, I did sometimes use that window as a get away whenever anyone whom I did not particularly want to see came by. My uncle would go to my room, knock, and open the door only to find me gone. I would show up an hour or so later saying that I went on a walk. It was a great way to avoid the S.B.s." He paused and smiled, remembering when Bilbo had told him about the looks on Lobelia's face when she came by complaining about wanting to have a word with Frodo, only to find him missing.
"Well, anyway," Merry kept going, "We went into Frodo's room and first Frodo went out, to show how it was done, then Sam went, then me, and then Pip. Of course, by the time Pip was getting out, Frodo, Sam, and I were already racing towards the front of the smial to ambush the others. We actually were doing fairly well, and were forcing Folco and the others back towards the main road. We got so involved, that we didn't notice that Pip was missing. That is, until we heard a loud 'Hey!' from the side. All six of us turned towards the sound, to see 10 year-old Pip holding the biggest snowball I had ever seen over his head. It had to have been at least half his size! That did it. Soon Folco, Odo, and Fatty were running off down the road screaming their heads off, all because of little Pip."
Pippin grinned. "It's a good thing they ran then, too, because that was so heavy there was no way I could have thrown it!"
"Ah!" Gimli cried, "Winning through trickery- a battle tactic still used by experts to the day!"
"Are you suggesting that Pippin is a battle tactics expert, Master Dwarf?" Gandalf asked, smiling. The fellowship all turned to look at the hobbit in question, who had stopped listening a while ago and started to think about his next meal. He suddenly realized that there were eight pairs of eyes focused on him.
"W-what? Did my stomach growl? I am hungry..."
The fellowship immediately felt foolish for even considering the thought.