Day Seven: Beer and Mushrooms...and a Deep Breath Before We Plunge

We read all of Chapter Four last night: “A Short Cut to Mushrooms.”  It’s been several years since my last read through of LOTR, and I’d forgotten just how long Tolkien has us linger in the Shire. Knowing what’s coming, I’m grateful that we get this grounding. The early hike from Hobbiton to Buckland, with as-yet-barely-understood evil Riders in pursuit (and danger feeling real but somehow nebulous) feels like a warm-up for the long journey to come.

This whole chapter feels like a deep breath before we take the plunge into deeper waters. There’s a sighting of a Rider on the ridge above the Hobbits as they strike out into the bushes and brambles of their short cut to the Ferry (they’re trying to avoid the main road) and there’s an unearthly shrieking sound, like an angry, other-worldly bird call, that frightens them momentarily. Frodo, with his penchant for understanding other languages, seems to sense this sound is communication, that it has words in it that he doesn’t understand.

But most of what they come across is thankfully ordinary. When they realize they’re trespassing on Farmer Maggot’s land, Frodo is anxious because he remembers the Farmer’s ferocious dogs and the beating the Farmer gave him in his youth when he used to trespass to snitch mushrooms. They run into the Farmer and his dogs again, but it turns out that the remembered terrors of mischievous youth are nothing in comparison to the real dangers pursuing them.

The Farmer turns out to be another friend to the trio (still just Sam, Frodo, and Pippin thus far, though they will be joined by Merry by chapter’s end). Like Gildor, the Farmer provides sustenance for them – though of an earthier kind. They eat sausages and mushrooms and drink home-brewed beer, a nice contrast to the golden, honey-tasting liquid given to them by the Elves. And like Gildor, Farmer Maggot understands that something bad is stirring, but doesn’t press Frodo for more details than Frodo is willing to give him. One of the Black Riders has been trespassing on his land, asking for “Baggins.” I’m moved by how both Farmer Maggot and stalwart Sam are ready to take on the Riders in defense of Frodo, little knowing what kind of evil they’re actually facing.  There’s something even a little comical in the notion that Farmer Maggot is ready to turn his dogs on these shadowy riders. We need those bits of comedy, and the homespun kindness of the Farmer and his wife sending Frodo off with more mushrooms, showing his youthful transgressions are long ago forgiven and forgotten.

Sam is the surprise of this chapter. His first brush with Elves has left him thoughtful and more tender than usual, but though one big desire of his heart has now been satisfied, he’s not ready to head home. In fact, he tells Frodo that he’s going with him no matter what, even though he knows there’s a long road and much danger ahead. There’s a touch of the prophet in prosaic Sam. He sounds positively prescient here, as though he’s been given a glimpse, albeit a far-off glimpse, of just how hard it’s going to be. And given a sense that he has something important to do in all this. His intuition and valor surprise Frodo and surprise us too. It won’t be the last time Sam surprises us.