Drabble: Stellar Navigation

[fileg]

for the Astronomy challenge at tolkien_weekly



They were two days out from Bree.

To lighten their mood and encourage them to see him as less frightening and strange, Strider lit his pipe and lingered awhile at the campfire, pointing to the various constellations and telling them elven stories.

Sam, however, seemed more ill at ease than ever, and whispered cautiously to Frodo at the edge of the firelight.

“I’ll admit, he seems trustworthy after all. But can he be much of a guide? He’s got the stars all wrong, he has! Imagine, calling the Frying Pan a butterfly, or thinking the Hoe is a sword!”




Chris and I always meant to write this as a longer story, but we never got around to it

Comments

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like this. How very Sam--to be suspicious of someone who uses the wrong words for familiar things.

[fileg.livejournal.com]

Chris and I originally invisioned an argument over a constellation called "The Potato" while riding home from the diner one night.

I am always a little unsure writing in Hobbit voice, but the timing seemed good here. If Elves had told Sam the same story, I expect he would have embraced that as their elven-ness. But his early problem with Strider seems to be not knowing whether he is fish or fowl....

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

I was a stargazer in my childhood and a lot of the constellations looked far more like potatoes than figures from Greek mythology. I suppose one would skate dangerously close to parody, but I like the idea nonetheless. :D

[notarysojac.livejournal.com]

Whahoo! Thomson & Thompson just before Captain Haddock has to have at their mounds of hair with shears!

Great icon!

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Made by satinelune. Aren't they wonderful! :D

[avon7.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like this. I always feel that Sam is less suspicious of Strider because he si than because he feels he should be to safeguard Frodo. It's a very English nanny attitude, I feel. He knows that Frodo has all the book learning and brains he feels he lacks - but would he have enough sense to distrsut those nasty furriners if Sam wasn't around? I love this too because of my own Hobbit-like surprise at discovering in late childhood that my dear old Saucepan, still the only constellation I can reliably identify, actually had a fancy name.

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

Saucepan! If I had remembered that story, I would have gone for that name.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

How very homely and hobbitish! And lovely, right-on-the-spot characterization, of course. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

Ah, I am so relieved it worked. I am so grounded in the voice of men - yet the truth is, I write hobbits with them a fair ammount. I just ecpect to be exposed as a fraud when I do it.

[shirebound]

No wonder Sam didn't trust Strider! Silly Ranger.

*grins*

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

Even the best have to prove themselves - and I can just see this being a big black mark against our poor ranger at the moment

[kortirion.livejournal.com]

Love it!

Especially the nuance that gives Sam's constellations good solid 'Hobbit' characteristics, while Strider's are poetical, or of the warrior.

...thinking the hoe is a sword!

Absolutely defining difference between Hobbits and Dunedain! Spot on!

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

I almost had to change that, because I could not stop thinking about "Sams Ho"

[kortirion.livejournal.com]

*giggle!!*

[maureenlycaon.livejournal.com]

*laughter* Oh, that's adorable! I like this a lot!

It makes sense -- the hobbits giving constellations the commonplace, homely names of household and farming implements, while the Dunedain give them poetic names. Hobbits are really too down-to-earth . . .

A minor point of concrit: constellation names are "proper" names, with capitalization: thus, the Big Dipper, the Lion, etc. So that should probably be "the Frying Pan" and "the Hoe".

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

thanks, I got them. My typing would lead one to believe I own no grammar or spelling at all. My keyboard is dyslexic, I swear.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well it's a lovely drabble, anyway! And I love Sam's suspsicions -- not to mention the hobbity choices of topic for the constellations!

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

I hope he gets his own constellation someday - perhaps the mythology of the Frying Pan can come to include his valiant fighting style

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

The hobbity names of the constellations just *make* this.

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

thanks! I had to take most of them out to hit my 100, so I'm glad the ones that got to stay did the job.

[gookachu.livejournal.com]

i loved this. it's just so hobbity and sam-ish.

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

Thanks! I am always a little afriad of hobbit voice, but sometimes one of them speaks to me so clearly, I can't but take the chance.

[edoraslass.livejournal.com]

I can just see Sam furtively keeping track of where they are,just in case they get lost due to Strider's incorrect names for the stars. Very nice!

[http://users.livejournal.com/fileg_/]

me too, and feeling like a complete ninnyhammer about it later

[notarysojac.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Glad to see this bit we knocked around in print at last.