I-22 Four Word Drabbles Bingo Card

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge: I-22 Four Word Drabbles Bingo Card, Words used: Small, Cascade, Dogwood, Order
Format: Drabble
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Characters: Treebeard and OC
Pairings: None
Title:  "News of the Entwives"
Summary: A messenger arrives with news for Treebeard





“Where have you come from?” Treebeard boomed.

The small tree before him, shook as if a great wind were blowing its branches.

“From the forest near the Shire.  There, I have flowered ten times.”

“Why are you here?” Treebeard asked.

“I bring news of the Entwives.  We heard you were seeking them.”

Treebeard looked skeptical.  He leaned down closer.

The dogwood looked up, watching the moss cascade forward from the top-most branches of the old Ent. He cleared his throat and began.  “I shall not be hasty.  I shall tell the tale in proper order.”

“A good beginning,” Treebeard smiled.

GW

03-04-2012

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I loved this! Great use of the prompts!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I am enjoying the drabble card far more than I thought I would when I selected it.

[almaheart.livejournal.com]

Oh I like this! Especially your description of Treebeard; he sounds so ancient and old and treeish that I can hear the moss rustling when he moves. And they absolutely deserve to hear of the Entwives again. Well done! (Reads it again again and smiles)
~Alma

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I just adore Treebeard but I rarely write him. And thank you for reading and then reading again. : )

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I do like! And this little entling is a proper one, apparently! And from the perfect place for them!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. I enjoyed having a dogwood Entling. LOL Probably not too likely but it was still fun to imagine a little tree like that speaking with Treebeard.

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

I'm loving this whole B2Mem challenge - it's introducing me to some new writers, and to characters I wouldn't normally read.

I really like Treebeard here – he’s very much in character with his booming voice, and still frightfully tree-ish – but I like the young dogwood as well, who already knows the correct Entish behaviour: ”I shall not be hasty. I shall tell the tale in proper order.” That’s the way to get Treebeard’s attention!

It’s a very clever use of the prompt words as well. I didn’t attempt that particular card, but you’ve managed to include all the words without them feeling as if they’ve been shoe-horned in to fit. The drabble still feels very natural. Well done!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I'm having fun with the challenges too and you're right. You do find all sorts of writers that you had no idea where out there. Everyone tends to stay in their own little circle and this tossing us all in together. More fun that way.

Thank you for this lovely review. I appreciate all the encouraging words. I adore the Ents and it was lovely to have a chance to put them into a fic. Thanks so much for reading.

[alasse-mirimiel.livejournal.com]

Short (of course, it's a drabble :P), but you didn't need long descriptions to portray the entish feeling in this drabble. It's in the way Treebeard voice boomed, in the way the young tree shook 'as if a great wind were blowing its branches' (I particularly liked that line) and in the way the dogwood says his age. I loved how the young tree knew how to make a good start :D Not being hasty must win a lot of points in one's favour when dealing with ents, especially those as old as Treebeard.

Very effective use of the words, and you managed to fit them all seamlessly. Well done!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much for the encouraging review. I'm so pleased that you liked it. I took the drabble card for the practice because I tend to be too long-winded. It's been fun trying to get to the point in a short time with fewer words. I'm glad you liked it. : )

[hhimring]

I’m glad that the Review Prompt for today made me check the posts here for ents, as I had missed this post of yours earlier. I think you’ve done extremely well here in picking up that thread from Two Towers when Tolkien makes Treebeard ask the hobbits about the Shire, saying it sounds like the kind of place the Entwives would like. So the little tree (I suppose it can’t actually be an enting, although it behaves almost like one, but has to be a limb-lithe tree) comes from near the Shire—and it seems very appropriate that it should be a little tree, a dogwood, both because it comes from hobbit territory and because dogwoods are the kind of tree that also might grow in an entwife’s garden. You’ve worked out nicely both the contrast between the Treebeard and the dogwood and the common ground between them: the one is tall and ancient and powerful, the other small and young and weak, but both are thoroughly treeish and both adhere to the same entish traditions (and you managed to put all the prompts into a very treeish or entish context). I like the way you’ve used entish manners to keep the information from us what the news the dogwood is bringing actually is, leaving us to speculate—because clearly that would be quite another story and one you wouldn’t want to squeeze into the tail end of a drabble.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this lovely review. For some reason, the minute I saw the word dogwood, among the four drabble prompts, this little snippet came to mind. Treebeard's story of the Entwives has always interested me. I too, wonder where they went. : )

There really weren't enough word to allow for a proper tale, and in a way, I was glad. The mystery of the Entwives is one I enjoy thinking about, but I'm never completely satisfied with the answers I invent. : )

Thank you so much for your encouraging words.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Lovely and very Ent-like. :D

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I tried not to be hasty.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I also came past because of the prompt on today’s review card, and I am very glad I did! What a charming drabble! You’ve been extremely clever with the prompts. There’s so much to enjoy here: I particularly like the thought that Merry and Pippin were indeed giving Treebeard their full attention when he sang and talked to them about the Entwives, and didn’t hastily forget his tale after leaving him, given all the other terrifying and marvellous things that happened to them afterwards. I wonder whether they engaged the help of Farmer Maggot or Tom Bombadil: they strike me as likely candidates for knowing whether or not the Entwives ever came to the Shire. And now a young tree has come with news from the north... Treebeard’s hunch that the Entwives would like the hobbits’ country seems to be bearing fruit (sorry!) and I hope that the news the young tree brings is what Treebeard wants to hear. Their encounter is beautifully done, with the differences between the young tree and the old Ent sweetly drawn. I also like the idea that whoever has been responsible for bringing up this young dogwood has taught him proper Entish manners. Thank you for a lovely read!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much for this lovely review. I'm glad the prompts led people here because I've received such lovely feedback for those of you using that card. I love the bearing fruit comment too btw. Gave me a smile. Thank you again.