"The Shores of the Lune" photo by John Lindorfer

The world has changed. I taste it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all the creatures of Middle Earth. Seven to the Dwarf-lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine...nine were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power! For in each ring was contained the strength and will to govern each race.

But they were all of them deceived!

For another Ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord, Sauron, forged in secret a master Ring to rule all the others. And into this Ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. "One Ring to rule them all." One by one, the free lands of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring.

But there were some who resisted. A Last Alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Doom they challenged Sauron for the freedom of Middle Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the Ring could not be undone.

It was in this moment, when all hope faded, that Isildur, son of the fallen King, took up his father's sword, and with his last strength cut the Ring from Sauron's hand. Sauron, the enemy of the free peoples of Middle Earth, was defeated!

Thus the Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever by casting the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged. But the hearts of men are easily corrupted, and the Ring has a will of it's own!

It betrayed Isildur to his death, and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.

History became legend, and legend became myth. And for two and half thousand years, the Ring passed out of all knowledge until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer. The Ring came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels under the Misty Mountains, and there, in the darkness, it consumed him!

The Ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind. And in the gloom of Gollum's cave, it waited!

Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the east, whispers of a nameless fear. And the Ring of Power perceived that its time had now come! It abandoned Gollum!

But then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable, a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. For the time will come when hobbits will shape the fortunes of all.

Hobbits are a little people without beards, smaller than the bearded dwarves. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quickly and quietly when large, stupid folk come along. They are inclined to be fat and dress in bright colors, chiefly green and yellow. They wear no shoes, because their huge feet grow natural leathery soles and thick, warm brown hair like that on their heads, which is curly. They have long, clever fingers and laugh deep, fruity laughs.

Hobbits do not like any machines more complicated than a forge bellows, water mill or hand loom, although they are skillful with tools. They are quick and sharp-eyed and do not hurry unnecessarily, but are nontheless nimble and deft in their movements. A love of learning, other than geneological lore, is far from general among them. Though slow to quarrel, and for sport killing nothing that lives, hobbits are difficult to daunt or kill, and can survive rough handling by grief, foe or weather in a way that often astonishes those who look no further than their bellies and well-fed faces. They are keen-eyed and sure at the mark, and if a hobbit stoops for a stone, it is well for wild beasts and enemies to get quickly under cover.

Hobbits have been living and farming in the Shire for hundreds of years, quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the "big folk," as they call us. The wider world is, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count, and the world of hobbits must seem of little importance to others. Hobbits have never been among the great warriors, nor counted among the very wise.

In fact, it has been remarked by some that hobbits' only real passion is food, which is an unfair observation, as they have also developed a keen interest in the brewing of ales and the smoking of "pipeweed." But where their hearts really lie is in peace, quiet, and good, tilled earth, for all hobbits share a love of things that grow!

Yes, no doubt to others, their ways seem quaint, but now, as always, as has been often brought home to them, it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.