Anastasia and the plot are the only part of this which belongs to me. Everything else belongs to their respective owners; namely J.R.R. Tolkien.

Italics – Thoughts/Thinking

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Chapter 5: Meet the Hobbits

Frodo

Sam sat down and scratched his head, and yawned like a cavern. He was worried. The afternoon was getting late, and he thought this sudden sleepiness uncanny. 'There's more behind this than sun and warm air,' he muttered to himself. 'I don't like this great big tree. I don't trust it. Hark at it singing about sleep now! This won't do at all!'

He pulled himself to his feet, and staggered off to see what had become of the ponies. He found that two had wandered on a good way along the path; and he had just caught them and brought them back towards the others, when he heard two noises; one loud, and the other soft but very clear. One was the splash of something heavy falling into the water; the other was a noise like the snick when a door quietly closes fast.

He rushed back to the bank. Frodo was in the water close to the edge, and a great tree-root seemed to be over him and holding him down, but he was not struggling. Sam gripped him by the jacket, and dragged him from under the root; and then with difficulty hauled him on to the bank. Almost at once he woke, and coughed and spluttered.1

Anastasia's POV

Again I woke to sharp rocks and sticks digging into my cheek, as well as men talking. Are they men? They are too short unless their children. Maybe it's dwarfism.

"Do you know, Sam," he said at length, "The beastly tree threw me in! I felt it. The big root just twisted round and tripped me in!"

"You were dreaming I expect, Mr. Frodo," said Sam. 'You shouldn't sit in such a place, if you feel sleepy." It is not a dream, Sam, I silently replied as I quietly watched, the tree had every intention of drowning Mr. Frodo, as you called him.

"What about the others?" Frodo asked. "I wonder what sort of dreams they are having." What others? I asked as my eyebrows furrowed, oh, right, the two who lain up against the tree. Lain up against the tree! UH-OH!

Frodo

They went round to the other side of the tree, and then Sam understood the click that he heard. Pippin had vanished. The crack by which he had laid himself had closed together, so that not a chink could be seen. Merry was trapped: another crack had closed about his waist, his legs lay outside, but the rest of him was inside a dark opening, the edges of which gripped like a pair of pincers.

Frodo and Sam beat upon the tree-trunk where Pippin had lain. They then struggled frantically to pull open the jaws of the crack that held poor Merry. It was quite useless.1

Anastasia's POV

Frodo kicked the tree and a hardly perceptible shiver ran through the stem and up into the branches; the leaves rustled and whispered, but with a sound now of faint and far-off laughter. As Sam and Mr. Frodo talked about frightening the tree I moved through the bramble, avoiding stepping in spots which would make a noise and alert the small people of my presence. This isn't going to end well. These four short men, two which have already been caught, are up against the tree which is angry and full of hatred.

As I got closer they gathered dry grass and leaves, and bits of bark; and made a pile of broken twigs and chopped sticks. These they heaped against the trunk on the far side of the tree from the prisoners.

Once they set the fire the dry fuel they had gathered quickly went up in flames and scorched the tree. A tremor ran through the willow. The leaves seemed to hiss above their heads with a sound of pain and anger.

Frodo

A loud scream came from Merry, and from far inside the tree they heard Pippin give a muffled yell.

"'Put it out! Put it out!' cried Merry. 'He'll squeeze me in two if you don't. He says so.'

'Who? What?' shouted Frodo, rushing round to the other side of the tree.

'Put it out! Put it out!' begged Merry. The branches of the willow began to sway violently. There was a sound as of a wind rising and spreading outwards to the branches of all the other trees round about, as though they had dropped a stone into the quiet slumber of the river valley and set up ripples of anger that ran out over the whole Forest. Sam kicked at the little fire and stamped out the sparks.1

Anastasia's POV

The great big, hoary willow tree reacted violently to the fire and was threatening to cut one of them in half. You shouldn't have done that, I thought with a shake of my head, but the question now is: do I help? After pondering for a moment and watching Sam try to put out the fire I came to the conclusion: yes. With a sudden powerful movement, I launched myself from the ground cover and snatched up a pan from one of the back packs. Scooping water out of the river I dumped it onto the fire, effectively putting it out. Water, sand, salt and baking soda are good at putting out fires. Don't you know anything? I questioned at Sam's astounded expression.

Quickly I darted around the tree to where the man was yelling "Put it out" earlier. He had been pulled in farther and only his hairy feet stuck out. Sam had followed me around the tree and dumbly stood there as I pulled the crack wider.

I couldn't hold the crack and pull out the little man, and Sam and Frodo weren't helping. Frodo had wandered up the path yelling for help and I could faintly hear signing coming from that direction, and then there was, Sam who was still in shock from my help earlier. What are you doing, I thought as I threw Sam a look which clearly said 'help!" and continued to pull the crack open. My own strength was far superior to that of the two men, so I could pull the crack open when they could not. It was difficult for me, but I had a feeling the tree was letting me. It did leave me alive after all.

Sam got the message, grabbed the feet and pulled his friend, or maybe his companion, to safety. Well, relative safety. Now how do I get the other one out? I made a face at the tree as I walked to where the other one had lain and knocked on the tree.

Frodo

There was a tearing creak and the other crack split open, and out of it sprang Pippin, as if he had been kicked. Then with a loud snap both cracks closed fast again. A shudder ran through the tree from root to tip, and complete silence fell.

"Thank you, Miss" all four of them thanked the big person profusely over and over. She was dirty, covered with blood and dirt, and her clothing was ripped in many placed. Her clothing was ripped in so many places that it was hanging off her body and showed much skin.

"I'm Samwise Gamgee," began Sam, "And this is-"

"And I'm Pippin!" The small man who sprang out of the tree when I knocked intervened. "Peregrin Took actually, but all my friends call my Pippin!"

"I'm Meriadoc Brandybuck, or Merry to my friends" said the one who was yelling 'Put it out!" to Sam and Mr. Frodo.

"And this is Frodo Baggins!" Sam cut in again pointing to the one who was wet.

"Were hobbits!" cried Pippin trying to catch the attention of the girl.

Once Pippin cried out the girl finally looked down at them. She had spent most of their conversation looking over their heads and further up the trail where singing could be heard. Suddenly out of a long string of nonsense-words (or so they seemed) the voice rose up clear and loud. The girl in front of the hobbits quickly twisted and launched herself into the undergrowth. As she was flying through the air she became a blur and the last thing they saw was a spotted tail disappearing between the leaves.

Hey dol! Meery dol! Ring a dong dillo!

Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow!

Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. London: Allen & Unwin, 1954. Print.

These direct quotes came from the chapter called The Old Forest.

It you spot any errors or have any question, please notify me. I will do what I can.

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~ Do you like that I have included sections of Tolkien's book to give the where abouts of the hobbits?

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