The Hobbit - An Unexpected Pleasure ( and some riddles to boot )

Well,  I was warned by Carolyn about the alluring, dragon-talk  nature of the riddle. That was just before the Unexpected Pleasure hit.  Now  I happily rise to her riddle challenge. I’m guessing that the first riddle is punctuation  and  the second one is autumn.

Now,  it’s only fair, as Gollum would hiss,  that we be permitted  to reciprocate ( or is that ressssssiprocate ? )

    So....  a couple from way up here in  Cain-a dah.

Softly , loudly and all ways in between

I signal happiness, confusion, discovery or dismay

I am medicine and relief

What am I ?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I move your limbs and your lips

I shake you mindlessly and make you think

I speak clearly in all languages

What am I ?

 I had not expected to be doing  this so soon after I left last week. Then  I was about 50 pages into things and just starting to tell myself “ Hey, this isn’t  bad! “  As a life-long fan of  swashbuckling, wise-cracking, ray-gun toting, gadget sporting  supersonic good guys, I was initially wincing inside at the prospect of a slow slog  through The Hobbit .

 Boy, was I wrong! I  haven’t had this kind of joyful, can’t put it down sense of discovery about a book for  quite awhile - I don’t mind admitting that I enjoyed my ass off reading this story. Almost  50 years after my first attempt I think I’ve finally grown up enough to appreciate this 75 year old children’s book. 


Some observations from the rest of the journey:

One trick  ponies. Being a pony in this neck of the woods is a dead-end gig, like the expendable crewman on Star Trek who beams down to the unknown planet with Kirk and Spock.  The fabulous 14 went through more than a couple of dozen of them in their travels.  Even Beorn the Bruinish Middle Earth Dr. Dolittle has them waiting tables. No respect for ponies here.

Glamdring Envy. I  admit that I felt like Will Smith in Independence Day  test-driving the resurrected alien space fighter when I first saw “ The Foehammer” in action. “ I have got to get me one of these !”  Even the name is very cool. The Foehammer - sounds absolutely  Mr. T.

 " I pity the foe who faces the foehammer." 

Already had my dose of  riddle-in  up top, but I was  surprised to hear  Tolkien backhandedly slamming the whole riddle thing when he noted that “ No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.” Maybe the author was having a crappy day. How can any time spent in wordplay be wasted?






Bilbo is as Bilbo does. Even while flying on the back of an eagle on a crisp clear day well above the danger and with wondrous vistas to behold,  Bilbo still finds the idea of  “ a warm bath and a late breakfast on the lawn afterwards “ preferable to this airborne once in a hobbit lifetime experience. Truly,  leisure is its own reward. 




The next time I find spiders being a nuisance I must roust them with the magic words “ Attercop”  and “ Tomnoddy”  Unless they’re as big as I am, that is.



I did enjoy this read !!





Don