Of Mushrooms (O62)

[arwen75]

B2MeM Challenge Beasty:Goose, Botany:Common Mushroom & Rangers of the North:Arador (O62)
Format: Ficlet
Genre: General
Rating: G
Warnings:  None
Characters: Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry Pippin
Pairings: NA
Summary: Memory of a story about the Shire
Authors Notes: Ok not sure why the muse gave me this but it did…..

Sat at a quiet dinner with just people he considered as friends the King found himself reminiscing about a tale told amongst the Rangers of the North. This was inspired by the goose that had been prepared so wonderfully by Sam.

“You know Sam that there is a tale amongst my kindred in the North about a goose, some mushrooms, my grandfather and some Hobbits.”

“Do tell us Aragorn,” came the demand from Pippin. “I like to hear your tales about the times we hobbits have met up with the Rangers.”

“Well it was after the Fell Winter when wolves invaded the Shire and Gandalf and the Rangers provided food to the Hobbits. Once the Shire had recovered the Thain insisted on giving a feast to thank those that had helped in their time of need. Gandalf was invited of course and apparently Gerontius insisted that he brought some of the men who had helped defend and feed the Shire during that time. Gandalf insisted that my grandfather go as he had been the leader of the men stationed at the Shire. By this point his father had died so he was also Chieftain of the Dúnedain. Not that he was introduced as such – just simply as the leader of the men who had helped. Even then the Heir if Isildur was kept as secret as possible as the Enemy was rising again in Dol Guldur.

So Arador and some of his men entered the Shire and apparently a great feast was held in their honour – outside so no-one had to deal with entering the Smials. Amongst the dishes served was goose which the men knew well and several dishes made with mushrooms. Now, the Dúnedain at the time apparently knew little of mushrooms and by all accounts Arador was suspicious of anything he did not know. Several hobbits insisted that he try some stewed mushrooms alongside his roast goose, and he being a polite guest did so. He was cautious but found that the mushrooms were very good. So much so that he apparently begged the Hobbits to tell him how to find them and then how to cook them. They were surprised that the men who had protected and supplied them during the winter did not know about such delicacies as the common mushroom. Arador found himself being given a wealth of knowledge much to the amusement of his men.

So it was the Hobbits introduced the joys of stewed mushrooms to the Dúnedain and taught us about a new food to forage for in the Wilds.”

“I am surprised that the Rangers did not know of such things before. After all mushrooms are served in Bree much as they are in the Shire” came the comment from Merry.

“They are at that, but it appears the Rangers did not eat them until after Arador had been forced to out of politeness. So we Rangers have another thing to be thankful to the Hobbits for on top of the many kindnesses you have shown us over the long years. From the time of Arvedui when you sent troops to support Arnor against Angmar through to the deeds of Bilbo and you four.”

Frodo grimaced a little at the King’s words as he still believed that he had failed in letting himself be taken by the Ring at the end. Sam looked bashful and Merry and Pippin just smiled slightly. Then all gathered turned their attention back to the roast goose which was of course accompanied by stewed mushrooms.

Comments

[dreamflower]

What a cute story! I can even imagine the reason the Dunedain might have been suspicious of mushrooms: what it that was something that did not grow in Numenor, or if there were only unwholesome ones growing there?

At any rate I adore any story that shows the ancestors of our hobbits interacting with the ancestors of Aragorn!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I loved this and you used your prompts far more imaginatively than I did!

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to catch up with my reading and comments. This was really sweet - and just thinking about no mushrooms would bring tears to my eyes, I love them so.

- Erulisse (one L)

[zdenka]

Aww! That is a sweet and entertaining story.