I Give You This Toast: "To the Hobbits!"

"May they outlast the Sarumans and see spring again in the trees." (Tolkien's toast at the Hobbit Dinner in Rotterdam, March 28th, 1958.)

Today is the birthday of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and as all good Tolkienists do, I celebrated with right good cheer. I prepared a most satisfactory, and hobbit-like repast of sausage and mushrooms, which I consumed while listening to music inspired by the Professor's subcreation. More to the point, in a couple of hours, I shall join legions of Tolkien admirers around the world by standing up at 9 pm, raising a cup of cheer (in my case, Talisker) and saying with great enthusiasm "To the Professor!"

In honour of the great philologist, philosopher and subcreator, you get the following Christmas song, which I am ridiculously pleased to be posting. Several years ago, when I first discovered Tolkien's poem, Noel, I posted it on my blog with the comment, "it seems the sort of thing that ought be set to melody, and sung by people who are glad to sing and do so heartily." And lo and behold, when I did my daily searching after songs, I found that people who are glad to sing, did indeed set it to song, and here it is:

Yes, yes, it is in Polish, and they use the introductory preamble from Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring to start it out, but it actually sort of works, and it is quite a hearty rendition of the poem. I rather love it..... it rather made me cry. (The disclaimer is that I am inclined to happy tears these days. No reason. I just am. It is rather novel after years of not doing that....me that always cried in deep emotion.)

And for those of you who would prefer a more traditional Christmas tune for the day (sure and I don't blame you) here's The Boar's Head Carol, because it is associated with Oxford, and what could be more hobbit-like than a carol about a procession of food?

Happy Hobbit Day

Aye, It is late in the day for this.... nor as splendid a well-wishing as I had originally intended. But, better late than never. (I am sure Sam's Gaffer must have said that at some point.) and it is the thought that counts - even if the thought only ended up being a doodle on the back of an index card, with computer lettering applied on top of it. The curlicues turned out nicely though!

In Keeping With The Middle Earth Theme

Happy Hobbit Day!

Today is the birthday of that most estimable hobbit, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, and of his equally redoubtable nephew, Master Frodo:

It is also Hobbit Day, and - this year at any rate - the first day of Tolkien Week. The actually dates of Tolkien Week vary from year to year, but it is always the week that encompasses the twenty-second. Of course, a great Tolkien fan, such as yours truly, cannot let so auspicious a celebration go by without marking it, so I present to all of you, this recording of J.R.R Tolkien reading aloud Riddles in the Dark from The Hobbit. 

The story behind the recording is rather interesting. In 1952, Tolkien recorded a series of excerpts from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring. This was before The Lord of the Rings had even been published, and the poor man was getting quite discouraged about his book. His good friend, George Sayer, came up with the idea, and the amateur recordings were made in George's own study. Tolkien notes in on of his Letters, that he was favourably impress by them, and it went a long way to restoring his confidence in the stories. (All struggling writers should take The Good Professor as an inspiration. He re-wrote The Lord of the Rings at least twice, struggled with his plot, got side-tracked by research on such matters as moon phases, and how to roast rabbit, was confronted with characters he liked, but wanted to go away, as they were holding up the narrative. It took him 10 years to finish the thing, but what a tremendous finish it was!)

That, my dear readers, is the first line of the Happy Birthday Song, translated into one of Tolkien's elvish languages - Quenya, to be exact - and written in Tengwar. Today is J. R. R. Tolkien's birthday.

And that is a nifty card, which I just whipped out, containing all the lyrics to the Happy Birthday Song, as the High Elves would sing it, supposing, of course, that High Elves indulge in such things. (I didn't translate it myself, I am sorry to say. I have not worked at my Tolkien languages in a while. I got it from this site here.)

I have not quite decided what I shall do to celebrate such an auspicious occasion. Hopefully, it will involve mushrooms as part of dinner. Perhaps tomatoes, sausages and nice, crispy bacon too. If my memory has not utterly foresaken me (and, alas, that is always a strong possibility) I do believe there might be such a thing as a bottle of Irish lager lurking in the refridgerator. And, of course, I will have to read something by the good man. I am thinking one of his short stories. I have not indulged in Farmer Giles of Ham in quite a while, nor Smith of Wootton Major either, for that matter.

*Marqueture is the Elvish translation of the name, Ronald, which is the name by which the good Professor was most commanly known during is life time.



Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold....

I have had the Misty Mountains song from The Hobbit running through my head for days now. I've lost count of the number of times I've listened to Thorin and Company singing it. I cannot seem to get enough if it. My only complaint is that it is not long enough. Two verses is not enough of such splendid music. It should be longer. Much longer. Ideal, I would love to hear Thorin and Company do all 27 seven verses of it.

This is not quite that, but it is the best cover of the song I've come across. And the video that goes with it tells a story too. One can almost imagine Thorin sitting and thinking, and singing like just like that, when he decided to retake Erebor from Smaug.

PS. I have just noticed that this is my  eleventy-first post! You may all may all now cheer me in proper hobbit fashion.

The World Did Not End Today

So, those of you that were hiding away in you Apocolypse-proof caves, it is safe for you all to come out
again now.

There was a great storm blowing in this morning, though, so I work to a red sky. I could see it burning through the twining black boughs of pine outside the window. Nerd that I am, I looked at it and thought, "A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night." The wind was sweeping down the mountains, and roaring through the pines.... So I have had this song stuck in my head all day:

I spent most of the day humming it to myself, and singing it in as deep a voice as I could manage. I sounded nothing like a dwarf, of course, but what with the wildness of the wind and the roaring of the trees, I wanted very much to run away from work, and go adventuring.

It Was A Hobbit-Hole, And That Means Comfort

Hip, hip hurray! The Hobbit comes out tomorrow! I am in the middle of re-reading the book before going to see the movie. It is such a delightful book. I always forget how funny Tolkien can be.

So I totally want to own a house just like this one here:

CREDIT  -  AP

Granted, my own wee cabin is only about as big as this one, and it is quite cosy and rather Hobbit-like. It is panelled with honey-coloured knotty-pine, and filled with books, pictures and mathoms in true Hobbit fashion. However, the doors and windows are earnestly rectangular and the exteriour is Log Cabin In the Clearing style, and not Hobbiton. It is sufficient as a Hobbit dwelling, but it is not this house!

A few more pictures of the Hobbit House can be found here.