The Lord of the Rings: A Shortcut to Mushrooms

The Tale

Frodo wakes up the next morning to find that the elves are gone but have left them some fruit and bread and drink. The other hobbits are already up and about. While Frodo eats Pippin tries to interrogate him about what Gildor told him last night, but Frodo is evasive and asks to be left alone while he eats breakfast. Pippin walks off. Frodo has decided that he must leave his young cousins in the dark and behind him; he doesn’t want to lead them into suffering. Then he notices Sam watching him.

Frodo asks if he still means to go with him, now the road seems to be growing more dangerous.  Sam tells him that the elves told him not to leave Frodo, and that he told them he never meant to, Black Riders or no. Frodo asks him what he thinks of Elves, now that he’s met some. Sam thoughtfully remarks that they seem above his likes and dislikes. Frodo then asks if now that his dream has been fulfilled if he feels any need to leave the Shire. But Sam has been changed by his elvish encounter and he seems ‘to see ahead, in a kind of way’ and he has ‘something to do before the end’, and that it lies ahead. Frodo looks at this new Sam in wonder and says that Gandalf chose him a good companion for his journey.

Pippin returns, and to his dismay Frodo says that they’re cutting across country, staying off the Road to avoid those searching for them. At first this seems unnecessarily difficult, but when they look back and they see a black figure on the road behind them, it seems they left it just in time.

Their shortcut, however, is making a long delay, and is hard to navigate. When they finally stop for lunch, they find that the elves have filled their flasks with a mead-like drink. This leads to laughing, then humming, and finally a burst of singing. Their song is interrupted by a sudden desolate cry afar off, that is answered by similar wail in another direction. It is no call of any animal they’ve ever heard. It is plain now that they are being hunted by more than one Rider. They shoulder their packs and move on.

They travel through a line of woods for a while, but suddenly have to cross more open land, where they feel exposed. When they come to some farmland Pippin realizes where they are: the fields of Farmer Maggot. This perturbs Frodo. When he was a young lad in Buckland, he used to raid Maggot’s farm for mushrooms, a food specially loved by Hobbits. The farmer had caught him once, beat him, and threatened to set the dogs on him. Pippin says since Frodo’s coming to live nearby, he might as well make it up with him. Besides, Pippin knows him well enough.

They draw near to the farmhouse, and sure enough three ferocious, wolf-like dogs come out barking at them. They seem to remember Pippin, but stop and growl at Frodo and Sam, who freeze. Farmer Maggot strides up, angry and scowling, but calms down when he sees Pippin and recognizes the young Took. He apologizes. He's already had problems with trespassers today and is riled up. He calls off the dogs, and Pippin introduces Sam and Frodo. The farmer starts at the name of Baggins and invites them inside for some beer and talk.

It turns out he does remember Frodo, but he’s already heard the name of Baggins earlier that day. A tall black stranger on a black horse came trespassing over the fields and asked Maggot if he had seen Baggins in a strange, stiff voice. The dog Grip takes one sniff of him and runs off howling. When the farmer tells him the Bagginses live over in Hobbiton, the stranger says Baggins has left and that he knows he is now in the area. He promises Maggot gold for information when he returns, but the farmer turns down the offer and tells him to leave. The stranger rides off like a bolt of thunder.

Farmer Maggot makes some shrewd guesses that this is connected with old Mr. Bilbo’s business and says that Frodo should never have gone messing about with those ‘queer folk’ in Hobbiton. Sam bristles a bit. The people in Hobbiton have always thought it was folks in the marshy Marish and Buckland who were the odd ones. But the farmer has a plan.

They stay at his house undercover until nightfall, eating a hearty meal of bacon and mushrooms among other solid farmhouse fare. Then Farmer Maggot hides them in a ‘waggon’ and drives them to Bucklebury Ferry under cover of darkness. The farmer’s wife tells him to be careful and not to go arguing with no foreigners.

As they clop slowly through the five miles to the ferry, the night is still and quiet, and there is a chill in the air. The fog comes creeping in as they draw nearer to the river. Everyone’s nerves are strained as they listen for any sign of trouble. They finally reach the ferry lane and are starting to scramble out when the sound of approaching hooves stops them.

A dark, cloaked figure seems to loom out of the fog, coming towards them. Farmer Maggot stoutly challenges it to stop and asks what it wants. A voice comes back asking for Mister Baggins – but it is Merry Brandybuck on a pony, his figure magnified by the darkness. They are late getting to Frodo’s new house in Crickhollow and he has ridden out to make sure they haven’t lost their way in the fog.

Farmer Maggot hands over Frodo, Sam and Pippin, and gives Frodo a large basket, with Mrs. Maggot’s compliments. As they watch him drive away, Frodo laughs. From the covered basket he holds comes the rising scent of mushrooms.

Bits and Bobs

Tolkien once attended a dinner given by Dutch fans, that included ‘Maggot Soup’, which of course turned out to be mushroom soup. ‘Maggot’ is a word that can refer to worms in general, and suggests something that delves in the earth, as well as a flesh-eating grub.

Farmer Maggot’s farm is named Bamfurlong (‘Bean-field’?) and lies in the Marish (Marsh) area near Buckland. Because of the flat nature of the area the Hobbits there live mostly in houses. In one early draft the three travelers have a discussion about the weird and dizzying custom of sometimes having a second floor!

Also, in an earlier draft Frodo’s youthful encounter with Farmer Maggot’s dogs is when he is on a walking tour with Bilbo, who, in an uncharacteristically violent act, splits the attacking dog’s skull with a stone, killing it.

In that draft, ‘Bingo’ (Frodo) puts on the Ring to avoid the farmer while ‘Frodo’ (Pippin) goes inside to talk with him. Bingo pulls a few ‘invisible man’ tricks on Maggot before they leave, including drinking off his beer. These kinds of shenanigans were of course abandoned as Tolkien’s conception of the Ring grew more serious.

In the Peter Jackson films, Farmer Maggot is reduced to an unidentified hobbit with a dog who seems to be ratting out Frodo to a Black Rider, and then to an angry voice and a scythe waving over a field of corn. A rather shabby treatment for a character that Frodo eventually calls ‘a good friend’ in the book.