the fellowship of the ring

     at one point of extreme boredom in my life, i randomly decided to mark every pippin moment in the entire lord of the rings series as i read through the novels. later, when this site started coming into existence, i knew, finally, my page-marking had not been in vain and had in fact had a predestined fate. i was to list them out for all to see, right here, right now. contented sigh.
     not every moment shall be listed here, of course, as it would ruin the fun of reading the books themselves, and some moments were just too short, "while pippin fidgeted nervously" i mean, really.
     additional replacements in the text (mainly adding a character's name so you know who is speaking) are marked by [ ] brackets, and exclusions (again, nothing drastic, just omissions of description etc. not necessary when trying only to highlight sections of quotations) are marked ... with an ellipses.
     here follows excerpts and quotes from the first novel of the lotr series, the fellowship of the ring. if you haven't read the books, and do not wish to spoil surprises for yourself, i highly suggest you stop reading this page at this time.
     all this text is copyrighted specifically to the 1965 ballantine book series, and consequently to the estate of j.r.r. tolkien, if there be a problem, heavens, contact me.

[frodo] lived alone, as bilbo had done; but he had a good many friends, especially among the younger hobbits (mostly descendants of the old took) who had as children been fond of bilbo and often in and out of bag end. folco boffin and fredegar bolger were two of these; but his closest friends were peregrin took (usually called pippin), and merry brandybuck (his real name was meriadoc, but that was seldom remembered).

'i am sure you have given me all the heaviest stuff,' said frodo. 'i pity snails, and all that carry their homes on their backs.'
'i could take a lot more yet, sir. my packet is quite light,' said sam stoutly and untruthfully. 'no, you don't, sam!' said pippin. 'it is good for him. he's got nothing except what he ordered us to pack. he's been slack lately, and he'll feel the weight less when he has walked off some of his own.'
'be kind to a poor old hobbit!' laughed frodo.

at first they talked or hummed a tune softly together, being now far from inquisitive ears. then they marched on in silence, and pippin began to lag behind. at last, as they began to climb a steep slope, he stopped and yawned.
'i'm so sleepy,' he said. 'that soon i shall fall down on the road. are you going to sleep on your legs? it is nearly midnight.'
'i thought you liked walking in the dark,' said frodo.

'wake up, hobbits!' [frodo] cried. 'it's a beautiful morning.'
'what's beautiful about it?' said pippin, peering over the edge of his blanket with one eye. 'sam! get breakfast ready for half-past nine! have you got the bath-water hot?'
sam jumped up, looking rather bleary. 'no, sir, i haven't, sir!' he said. frodo stripped the blankets from pippin and rolled him over, and then walked off to the edge of the wood.

'"it's a dangerous business, frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "you step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. do you realize that this is the very path that goes through mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the lonely mountain or even further to worse places?" he used to say that on the path outside the front door at bag end, especially after he had been out on a long walk.'
'well, the road won't sweep me anywhere for an hour at least,' said pippin, unslinging his pack.

'then you know or guess something about this rider?" said pippin, who had caught the muttered words.
'i don't know, and would rather not guess,' said frodo.
'all right, cousin frodo! you can keep your secret for the present, if you want to be mysterious. in the meanwhile what are we to do? i should like a bite and a sup but somehow i think we had better move on from here. your talk of sniffing riders with invisible noses has unsettled me.'

... mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
away shall fade! away shall fade!
fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
and then to bed! and then to bed!
the song ended. 'and now to bed! and now to bed!' sang pippin in a high voice.

after a while pippin fell fast asleep, and was lifted up and borne away to a bower under trees; there he was laid upon a soft bed and slept the rest of the night away.

'they have left us fruit and drink, and bread,' said pippin. 'come and have your breakfast. the bread tastes almost as good as it did last night. i did not want to leave you any, but sam insisted.'
frodo sat down beside sam and began to eat. 'What is the plan for today?' asked pippin.
'to walk to bucklebury as quickly as possible,' answered frodo, and gave his attention to the food.
'do you think we shall see anything of those riders?' asked pippin cheerfully. under the morning sun the prospect of seeing a whole troop of them did not seem very alarming to him.
'yes probably,' said frodo, not liking the reminder. 'but i hope to get across the river without their seeing us.'
'did you find out anything about them from gildor?'
'not much- only hints and riddles,' said frodo evasively.
'did you ask about the sniffing?'
'we didn't discuss it,' frodo said with his mouth full.
'you should have. i am sure it is very important.'
'in that case i am sure gildor would have refused to explain it! i don't want to answer a string of questions while i am eating. i want to think!'
'good heavens!' said pippin. 'at breakfast?' he walked away towards the edge of the green.
from frodo's mind the bright morning- treacherously bright, he thought- had not banished the fear of pursuit; and he pondered the words of gildor. the merry voice of pippin came to him. he was running on the green turf and singing.

frodo finished his breakfast in silence. then standing up he looked over the land ahead and called to pippin. 'all ready to start?' he said as pippin ran up. 'we must be getting off at once. we slept late, and there are a good many miles to go.'
'you slept late, you mean,' said pippin. i was up long before; and we are only waiting for you to finish eating and thinking.'
'i have finished both now. and i am going to make for bucklebury ferry as quickly as possible. i am not going out of the way, back to the road we left last night. i am going to cut straight across country from here.'
'then you are going to fly,' said pippin. 'you won't cut straight on foot anywhere in this country.'

'all right!' said pippin. 'i will follow you into every bog and ditch. but it is hard! i had counted on passing the golden perch at stock before sundown. the best beer in the eastfarthing, or used to be: it is a long time since i last tasted it.'
'that settles it!' said frodo. 'short cuts may make for long delays but inns make longer ones. at all cost we must keep you away from the golden perch! ...'

'which order shall we go in?' said frodo. 'eldest first, or quickest first? you'll be last either way, master peregrin.'

the voice of pippin was suddenly lifted up above the others in one of bilbo's favorite bath-songs.

sing hey! for the bath at the close of day
that washes the weary mud away!
a loon is he that will not sing:
o! water hot is a noble thing!
o! sweet is the sound of falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain of rippling streams
is water hot that smokes and steams.
o! water cold we may pour at need
down a thirst throat and be glad indeed;
but better is beer, if drink we lack
and water hot poured down the back.
o! water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did a fountain sound so sweet
as splashing hot water with my feet!

there was a terrific splash, and a shout of whoa! from frodo. it appeared that a lot of pippin's bath had imitated a fountain and leaped on high.
merry went to the door: 'what about supper and beer in the throat?' he called. frodo came out drying his hair.
'there's so much water in the air that i'm coming into the kitchen to finish,' he said.
'lawks!' said merry, looking in. the stone floor was swimming. 'you ought to mop all that up before you get anything to eat peregrin,' he said. 'hurry up, or we shan't wait for you.'

frodo returned [strider's] gaze but said nothing; strider made no further sign. his attention seemed suddenly fixed on pippin. to his alarm frodo became aware that the ridiculous young took, encouraged by his success with the fat of mayor of michel delving, was now actually giving a comic account of bilbo's farewell party. he was already giving an imitation of the speech, and was drawing near to the astonishing disappearance.

pippin yawned. 'i am sorry,' he said, but i am dead tired. in spite of all the danger and worry i must go to bed, or sleep where i sit. where is that silly fellow, merry? it would be the last straw, if we had to go out in the dark to look for him.'

strider sat silent for a while, looking at the hobbits, as if he was weighing up their strength and courage. '.... how much are you willing to carry on your backs?'
'as much as we must' said pippin with a sinking heart, but trying to show he was tougher than he looked (or felt).

'i am being eaten alive!' cried pippin. 'midgewater! there are more midges that water!'
'what do they live on when they can't get hobbit?' asked sam scratching his neck.

the path went on again from the door, and turning to the right again across the level space plunged down a thick wooded slope. pippin, not liking to show strider he was still afraid, went on ahead with merry. sam and strider came behind, on on each side of frodo's pony, for the path was now broad enough for four or five hobbits to walk abreast. but they had not gone very far before pippin came running back, followed by merry. they both looked terrified.
'there are trolls!' pippin panted. 'down in the clearing in the woods not far below. we got a sight of them through the tree-trunks. they are very large!'

'hurray!' cried pippin, springing up. 'here is our noble cousin! make way for frodo, lord of the ring!'
'hush!' said gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. 'evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. the lord of the ring is not frodo, but the master of the dark tower of mordor whose power is again stretching out over the world! we are sitting in a fortress. outside it is getting dark.'
'gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that,' said pippin. 'he thinks i need keeping in order. ...'

'it's most unfair,' said pippin. 'instead of throwing [sam] out, and clapping him in chains, elrond goes and rewards him for his cheek!'
'rewards!' said frodo. 'i can't imagine a more severe punishment. you are not thinking what you are saying: condemned to go on this hopeless journey, a reward? ...'

'that's what i meant,' said pippin. 'we hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. i shall go unless they chain me up. there must be someone with intelligence in the party.'
'then you certainly will not be chosen, peregrin took!' said gandalf, looking in through the window, which was near the ground.

'but that will leave no place for us!' cried pippin in dismay. 'we don't want to be left behind. we want to go with frodo.'
'that is because you do not understand and cannot imagine what lies ahead,' said elrond.

'then, master elrond, you will have to lock me in a prison, or send me home tied in a sack,' said pippin. 'for otherwise i shall follow the company.'

'well if that isn't a plague and a nuisance!' said pippin. the news: no fire, and a move again by night, had been broken to him as soon as he woke in the late afternoon. 'all because of a pack of crows! i had looked forward to a real good meal tonight: something hot.'
'well, you can go on looking forward,' said gandalf.

'but how are we to get down there, even if you cut the through the drift?' said pippin voicing the thought of all the hobbits.
'have hope!' said boromir. 'i am weary, but i still have some strength left, and aragorn too. we will bear the little folk. the others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. come, master peregrin! i will begin with you.'
he lifted up the hobbit. 'cling to my back! i shall need my arms,' he said and strode forward. aragorn with merry came behind. pippin marveled at his strength, seeing the passage he had already forced with no other tool than his great limbs.

'we still have our journey and our errand before us,' answered gandalf. 'we have no choice but to go on, or to return to rivendell.'
pippin's face brightened visibly at the mere mention of return to rivendell.

'i too once passed the dimrill gate,' said aragorn quietly, 'but though i also came out again, the memory is very evil. i do not wish to enter moria a second time.'
'and i do not wish to enter it even once,' said pippin.

'i wish i had taken elrond's advice,' muttered pippin to sam. 'i am no good after all. there is not enough of the breed of bandobras the bullroarer in me: these howls freeze my blood. i don't ever remember feeling so wretched.'
'my heart's right down with in my toes, mr. pippin,' said sam 'but we aren't eten yet, and there are some stout folk here with us. whatever may be in store for old gandalf, i'll wager it isn't a wolf's belly."

'if you wish to know, i will tell you that these doors open outwards. from the inside you may thrust them open with your hands. from the outside nothing will move them save the spell of command. they cannot be forced inwards.'
'what are you going to do then?' asked pippin, undaunted by the wizard's bristling brows.
'knock on the doors with your head, peregrin took,' said gandalf. 'but if that does not shatter them, and i am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, i will seek for the opening words.'

there were fissures and chasms in the walls and floor, and every now and then a crack would open right before their feet. the widest was more than seven feet across, and it was long before pippin could summon enough courage to leap over the dreadful gap.

pippin felt curiously drawn by the well. while the others were unrolling blankets and making beds against the walls of the chamber, as far as possible from the hole in the floor, he crept to the edge and peered over. a chill air seemed to strike his face, rising from invisible depths. moved by a sudden impulse he groped for a loose stone, and let it drop. he felt his heart beat many times before there was any sound. then far below, as if the stone had fallen into deep water in some cavernous place, there came a plunk, very distant, but magnified and repeated in the hollow shaft.
'what's that?' cried gandalf. he was relieved when pippin confessed what he had done; but he was angry, and pippin could see his eye glinting. 'fool of a took!' he growled. 'this is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance. now be quiet!'

pippin sat miserably by the door in the pitch dark; but he kept turning round, fearing that some unknown thing would crawl up out of the well. we wished he could cover the hole, if only with a blanket, but he dared not move or go near it, even though gandalf seemed to be asleep.
actually gandalf was awake, though lying still and silent. ... after an hour he rose and came over to pippin.
'get into a corner and have a sleep, my lad,' he said in a kindly tone. 'you want to sleep i expect. i cannot get a wink, so i may as well do the watching.'

pippin went on talking for a while. 'i hope, if i do go to sleep in this bed-loft, that i shan't roll off,' he said.

when this slender bridge had been made, the companions passed over, some cautiously and slowly, others more easily. of the hobbits pippin proved the best for he was sure-footed, and he walked over quickly, holding only with one hand; but he kept his eyes on the bank ahead and did not look down.

for a little while the travelers talked of their night before in the tree-tops, and of their day's journey, and of the lord and the lady...
'what did you blush for, sam?' said pippin. 'you soon broke down. anyone would have thought you had a guilty conscience. i hope it was nothing worse than a wicked plot to steal one of my blankets.'

'are these magic cloaks?' asked pippin, looking at them with wonder.

'... if [frodo] screws himself up to go, he'll want to go alone. mark my words! we're going to have trouble when he comes back. for he'll screw himself up all right, as sure as his name is baggins.'
'i believe you speak more wisely than any of us, sam,' said aragorn. 'and what shall we do, if you prove right?'
'stop him! don't let him go!' cried pippin.
'i wonder,' said aragorn. 'he is the bearer, and the fate of the burden is on him. i do not think that it is our part to drive him one way or the other. nor do i think that we should succeed, if we tried. there are other powers at work far stronger.'
'well, i wish frodo would "screw himself up" and come back, and let us get it over with,' said pippin. 'this waiting is horrible! surely the time is up?'

... x