A Bluestocking Knits

We are delighted to publish these fragments of a Third-Age Shire diary, now housed in the Gormadoc Brandybuck Collection at the University of Bryngwyrdd. The manuscript is in a fragile and at times sadly damaged condition but is unique and fascinating not only for its descriptions of a hobbit’s daily life in the Westfarthing, but also for the paintings which the diarist included on almost every page. We thank Dr. T.S. Bracegirdle, archivist at Bryngwyrdd, for bringing the manuscript to our attention, and for generous help in translating and transcribing the entries.

Sunday.

First day in Bywater.  Met the local postman, Orlo Proudfoot, a stout fellow with an amiable, earnest countenance.  He pointed out his own home, just down the hill a little ways, across a little footbridge, & therefore he is my nearest neighbour.

He showed me around Old Ruby’s place – well, my new home.  Was very kind about Ruby – “Lovely, she was,” he said, “I have a lot of happy memories.”  So do I – & though I miss her dreadfully, I feel hopeful about making her home my own new one. 

We looked around – Ruby had boarded up many of the rooms, there being only herself, & so there is at present only a kitchen & pantry to one side of a sort of hall, with a sitting/dining-room & a small bedroom each leading off that.  The pantry is huge – & not completely empty at all, but with a few things brought, I suspect, by Proudfoot – beans, taters, an onion, some rhubarb, &c. &c.  Was suddenly famished, & made a rhubarb porridge for second breakfast – I remember Old Ruby cooking it for us younglings when she visited us – shared it this time with Proudfoot.

There was a note in my letter-box from a Farmer Cotton, inviting me to meet at the Green Dragon.  The note was clearly dictated to Proudfoot, as it read, “Make sure you write Green Dragon, Orlo, & not the Ivy Bush, or he’ll get confused.  Then write ‘From Farmer Cotton.’  Stop writing everything I say, Orlo!”  We went at once to the Green Dragon, met a very nice lady who turns out to be Mrs Farmer Cotton – I mean Mrs Cotton – who also runs the inn.  “You won’t find a more cosy & cheerful place in the whole Westfarthing!” she said proudly.  She gave me a chicken to cook for my supper – very kind, indeed.

Oh – & there was a bit of a kerfuffle going on between Farmer Cotton & the miller – something about Bywater being or not being a proper village, & someone else – I forget who, now, so very many new faces – said something about a Rule Book that Old Ruby had had, that should help to settle the question.  Miss Burrows – I think it was she – said that she thought she’d given it to Old Noakes, something about fish – dear me, perhaps I should carry my pocket-book to note things down.

Felt like having a nap after luncheon, but spent some time tidying up instead, & looking around.  The garden is much larger than mother’s & father’s back home in Bree.  But no – this is my home now.  My own garden!  Wonderful sweet flowers?  Fine vegetables?  Vegetables first, I should think – the pantry will get empty awfully quickly.  To be sure, there’s lots of work to be done!

Met Mr. Noakes in the afternoon.  He is an old & rather dishevelled fellow, browned from the sun, with a halo of grey hair around a bald pate.  He was a bit, well, grumpy.  “Answer me this,” he demanded, “How can you tell where Mister Fishie is swimming in the river?”  I thought for a moment & replied, “Erm, swirling shapes in the water?” wh. it seems was the correct answer!  He gave me an old fishing rod – “it was cluttering up the place,” he said & I can well believe that – & took me to Old Ruby’s pond, just a hop, skip, & jump down the hill from my front gate.  “The fish are all stupid there.  You’ll get along well with them,” Mr. Noakes growled, & said that when I’d caught three fish I was to come back & tell him about it – then, with a brief bit of instruction, left me to it.  To my utter amazement, I caught – three fish!

Am quite exhausted – time for bed!

Monday, Second day of Summer.  Fine.

Woke early, I guess from the unfamiliar sounds of the house & the birds outside. 

Went to show Old Noakes yesterday’s catch, with wh. I was unconscionably pleased.  Two Stone Loach – “Those live down at the bottom of the water, eating whatever’s going on between the rocks. Got no meat on them, so not much use. You hear me? Throw ‘em back!” – & a Bywater Bleak.  He was somewhat less disparaging about the latter, saying, “It’s small but there’s usually more around. Try again, get more. One’s rubbish. Pretty blue colouring, though.”  I wonder if he is like this with everyone. 

In the Village Square, Farmer Cotton asked me if I’d found that missing Rule Book yet – Old Noakes had said that he’d had it but it was all wet & so he’d given it to someone called Daphne – no, Delphinium – because it had pictures of flowers in it.  This Delphinium lives across the stream to the east of my house, on the edge of the Forest, & so I dashed up there – she said she’d tried to press some flowers in it, but that didn’t work because the pages were all wet (!), & she’d given it to Willow Took because the book had a picture of an Oliphaunt in it. 

She also told me, by the way, that there is much foraging to be had in Bywater.  “The fields & forests are full of riches,” she said, “Look after the land & all the animals in it.  That’s how you pay for what the land gives you” – a pleasing thought.

Willow Took’s place is not far away & so I legged it over there in search of that book, but no joy, as it seems that she gave it to Mrs. Cotton because it had some recipes in it.  Willow Took lives with her little girl Daisy just across from my garden gate, the tumble-down blocked one that I can see straight out from the kitchen door-yard.  It seems there is no Mister Took.  (& no, I am not looking for romance, thanks to that jilt Lobelia Brockhouse back in Bree.)

Tuesday.  Rain.

Another busy day!  Had the Burrowses here for breakfast.  Very complimentary of my efforts at a dish of Cool Taters & Beans & another of Very Good (if I may say so myself) Fish Cakes. 

They – the Burrowses – used to come here when they were little, for Ruby to teach them their letters – Proudfoot, too, but Miss Burrows said that he preferred fishing to reading & writing!  I had thought that they were husband & wife, but they are in fact brother & sister.  I like them both – will certainly ask them here again.  Miss Burrows says that new memories of this old place will push away the sad ones of missing Old Ruby.  As we talked at my gate, she was fiddling with an old key in her apron pocket – her brother twitted her about still carrying it around.  It meant a lot to young Nora, that key, she said, because Old Ruby had given it to her to keep her from fidgeting during lessons.  I think I gasped aloud – an old key of Ruby’s! – what about that locked drawer in the desk? 

And so it proved to be just the thing to open the drawer, & there it was.  The Book of Rules.  It is an absolutely massive book – I can hardly believe it fit into that drawer.  Went out directly & nearly ran straight into Proudfoot just coming up the path from the Mill.  I showed him the book, & he thought I ought to take it to Miss Burrows.  Felt a bit like a bouncing ball! 

Caught some more fish in the afternoon – saw Old Noakes, who demanded to know what I was doing with his fishing rod!  His rod – I like that!  “What’s your name?” he wanted to know.  I remembered what he had said when we met the other day, & replied, perhaps a bit pertly, “Newcomer!”  This seemed to amuse him a little, & he gave me some more tips about fishing, especially to keep at it, for practice will tell.  “Then you can say you’re a proper Fisher-hobbit.”  Pause.  “You can say it.  I won’t.”

Remembered a note that was in my post-box this morning, Mrs. Cotton asking if I would be so kind as to check on her lad Tom, & so I stopped by the Village Square just as the stalls were closing for the evening.  Young Tom is indeed a bit upset, as Farmer Cotton’s prize cow is missing.  Tom was hoping to keep his dad from discovering this before Tom had a chance to go & look for her, & so I offered to do the looking while Tom distracts him – I wandered about for quite some time & at last found her lying contentedly smack in the middle of the East Road, quite at the opposite end of Bywater from the Cottons’ farm.  No wonder Young Tom couldn’t find her!  Nothing would shift her, not even my sweetest entreaties, but luckily some Puffball mushrooms I’d put in my pocket did the trick!  Got her home eventually, for wh. Young Tom was exceedingly grateful, & he gave me some eggs as a thank-you.

Wednesday.  Fine.

Letter box full this morning – thank-yous from each of the Burrowses for yesterday’s meal, a second from Fosco offering some furniture for my place.  Had Proudfoot & Mrs. Cotton here for elevenses – cooked Fish Cakes again, as it was pretty much all I had available.  Note to self: Stock pantry!  Mrs. Cotton gave me the recipe for her Amazing Autumn Tart (sic!), wh. does sound delicious – must try it soon.

Bought some vegetable seeds off Farmer Cotton – got turned around on my way back & went up the wrong path, but found a package on the steps to my blocked gate, & thus clearly not for me.  Couldn’t read the direction, but it was from the Mathom-house in Michel Delving, wh. made me think of Fosco Burrows, & so I took it down & found him in the Green Dragon.  It was indeed his package – something he’d meant to give his sister, & so he thanked me profusely. 

He says, by the by, that I should smarten my place up a bit.  This had not occurred to me.  “My dear Hobbit” – I suspect that he talks this way all the time! – “of course you do.  Old Ruby was lovely, but she was also very old & didn’t need a lot of furniture”! & so he sent round a tall candlestick & a rather handsome sofa (!) with blue cushions.  Quite generous!

Got home as the sun was going down – knocked my head against the roof bracket beside the kitchen door as I dashed by – stuck the seeds into the old garden beds, but am a bit at a loss as to what to do next.

[To be continued …]