At the very end of the Council Sam Gamgee jumped up from a hidden corner declaring his intent to aid Frodo on his journey to destroy the Ring. Elrond was a but surprised, however, he had no intentions of separating Sam and Frodo, as it was they could hardly be separated evidenced by Sam sneaking into the secret Council. The other hobbits were incredulous that Sam was permitted to go with Frodo. Pippin and Merry were plotting how they might go with Frodo, openly or secretly, when Gandalf told them nothing had been decided about the journey yet. It seemed the quest to destroy the Ring would not begin for some time. Elrond sent Elves to gather news from the Rangers and Thranduil's folk. Plus Aragorn had set out on a journey with Elrond's sons.
Gandalf explained that the primary reason for the sending of scouts was to obtain news of the Ringwraith's; for they must have news of them before setting out. However, in the conversation Gandalf also revealed to Frodo that he was considering joining the quest as well. This made Frodo quite happy but the wizard cautioned that Elrond would have much to say about who would join the quest. Frodo wondered to Bilbo how long he would have in Rivendell before beginning. "'...quite long I should think. We can have many a good talk. What about helping me with my book, and making a start on the next? Have you thought of an ending?' 'Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant,' said Frodo" (p. 286, The Fellowship of the Ring).
Through the month of November the Hobbits stayed in Rivendell forgetting for a while the burdens that were inevitable. I am sure that Frodo spent a fair amount of time with Bilbo during this respite and they most likely worked on his book, later known as the Red Book. It would contain the tale of Bilbo's journey known as "There and Back Again" as well as "The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings" narratives. But it also contained much other writings. There are two poems in the Red Book directly attributed to Bilbo: Errantry, which was similar to the poem he recited at Elrond's feast, and "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late". The latter was a sort of nonsensical jest that Hobbits enjoyed. I'll give the opening stanza: "There is a inn, a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill, And there they brew a beer so brown That the Man in the Moon himself came down on night to drink his fill" (p. 218, The Tolkien Reader). What I appreciated most in the poem was the consistency with Middle-earth mythology as the Moon was given a male reference and the Sun portrayed as female.
One other poem in the Red Book "...also depends on the lore of Rivendell, Elvish and Númenorean, concerning the heroic days at the end of the First Age; it seems to contain echoes of the Númenorean tale of Túrin and Mim the Dwarf" (p. 193, The Tolkien Reader). This poem is called The Hoard and chronicles Even treasure and it is possessed by a Dwarf, a Dragon, and a Man. I do like the bit about the dragon: "To his belly's slime jewels stuck thick, silver and gold he would snuff and lick: he knew the place of the least ring beneath the shadow of his black wing. Of thieves he thought on his hard bed, and dreamed that on their flesh he fed, their bones crushed, and their blood drank: his ears dropped and his breath sank" (p. 241, The Tolkien Reader). Perhaps with their interest in all things Elvish Bilbo and Frodo penned this lore for the Red Book while in Rivendell.
Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 3018, October 25th-November 30th
Today's reading comes from: The Fellowship of the Ring, page 286; and The Tolkien Reader, pages 191-193, 218-220, and 240-243
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