X-Originating-Host: 209.180.6.218 Organization: http://www.remarq.com: The World's Usenet/Discussions Start Here Subject: The Great Bagsby (Or: Frodo, Tool of the Valar) Lines: 80 From: Prembone Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Message-ID: <0ff3d48c.8f05768c@usw-ex0102-084.remarq.com> Bytes: 3177 X-Wren-Trace: eJ+6kpOKzYfMz5mSl92RmIisjZ+bj9KIk5/en5mGxo3AwJHPyY/Ex93MysI= Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 10:55:24 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.0.2.84 X-Complaints-To: wrenabuse@remarq.com X-Trace: WReNphoon3 959882846 10.0.2.84 (Thu, 01 Jun 2000 11:07:26 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 11:07:26 PDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!sn-inject-01!WReNclone!WReNphoon3.POSTED!WReN!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:20648 THE GREAT BAGSBY (OR: FRODO, TOOL OF THE VALAR) The aftermath of the life and passing of Fro Bagsby: *** One afternoon late in October I saw Gandalf. I'd thought he'd sailed with Bagsby, but there he was, walking ahead of me along the Bywater Road in his alert, shifty way, his hands clutching his staff as if ready to fight off interference in the machinations of Maiar and Valar, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless beady eyes. Just as I slowed up to avoid succumbing to a sudden urge to stab him, he stopped and began frowning into the windows of the tobacconist's. Suddenly he saw me and walked back, holding out his hand. "What's the matter, Sam? Do you object to shaking hands with me?" "Yes. You know what I think of you now." "You're daft, Sam," he said quickly. "Daft as a daffy-down-dilly. I don't know what's the matter with you." "Gandalf," I inquired, "what did you say to Bagsby that afternoon at Rivendell?" He stared at me without a word, and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours. I started to turn away, but he took a step after me and grabbed my arm. "I told him the truth," he said. "He came to my room while we were getting ready to leave, and when I gave him word that he was doomed to sail, he tried to force me to recant. He was mad enough to kill me if I hadn't quickly assured him I was speaking in jest, that of course he had a choice--" He broke off defiantly. "What if I did trick him? That fellow had it coming to him. The Valar had him marked as their pawn from the moment he was born. Oh, he was a tough one, resisted longer than I expected, but in the end he wisely came to accept his doom with a serene resignation that was beautiful to behold." There was nothing I could say, except the one unutterable fact that, as usual, Gandalf was lying like a rug. "And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering--look here, when I watched from behind the hedge and saw him saying his last farewell to Bag End, I sat down and cried like a baby. By Eru it was awful--" I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confusing. They were careless beings, the Maiar and the Valar--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their blessed land or their vast timelessness, or whatever it was that kept them aloof, and left us mortals to clean up the mess they had made.... I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the tobacconist's to buy a pipe--or perhaps only a dime-bag of pipeweed--rid of my provincial squeamishness forever. *** Prembone "They're a rotten crowd!" I shouted to Bagsby across the Havens. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." -- God was my co-pilot, but our plane crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him. * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free! ###### From: "Jonas Thorell" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: <0ff3d48c.8f05768c@usw-ex0102-084.remarq.com> Subject: Re: The Great Bagsby (Or: Frodo, Tool of the Valar) Lines: 14 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6700 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 19:26:14 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 195.178.166.16 X-Complaints-To: news@bahnhof.se X-Trace: dummy.bahnhof.se 959887574 195.178.166.16 (Thu, 01 Jun 2000 21:26:14 MET DST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 21:26:14 MET DST Organization: Bahnhof Customer News Posting Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!News.Amsterdam.UnisourceCS!skynet.be!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!bignews.mediaways.net!news.icm.edu.pl!uw.edu.pl!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!newsfeed.bahnhof.se!dummy.bahnhof.se!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:20626 Prembone wrote: > and confusing. They were careless beings, the Maiar and the > Valar--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated > back into their blessed land or their vast timelessness, or > whatever it was that kept them aloof, and left us mortals to > clean up the mess they had made.... Seems like a very fitting description of the Ainur if you ask me. /Jonas ###### X-Originating-Host: 209.180.6.218 Organization: http://www.remarq.com: The World's Usenet/Discussions Start Here Subject: Re: The Great Bagsby (Or: Frodo, Tool of the Valar) Lines: 28 From: Prembone Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Message-ID: <34b73edb.bfd4f409@usw-ex0102-084.remarq.com> References: <0ff3d48c.8f05768c@usw-ex0102-084.remarq.com> Bytes: 910 X-Wren-Trace: eB04EBEITwVOTRsQFV8TGgouDx0ZDVAKER1cHRsERA9CQhNNSw1GRV9OSEA= Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:38:29 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.0.2.84 X-Complaints-To: wrenabuse@remarq.com X-Trace: WReNphoon4 959895608 10.0.2.84 (Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:40:08 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:40:08 PDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!News.Amsterdam.UnisourceCS!skynet.be!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!sn-inject-01!WReNclone!WReNphoon4.POSTED!WReN!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:20653 In article , "Jonas Thorell" wrote: >Prembone wrote: > >> and confusing. They were careless beings, the Maiar and the >> Valar--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated >> back into their blessed land or their vast timelessness, or >> whatever it was that kept them aloof, and left us mortals to >> clean up the mess they had made.... > >Seems like a very fitting description of the Ainur if you >ask me. Heh. ;-) The extent to which I was in fact concealing acerbic commentary beneath a veil of humor, I will leave to the individual reader to determine. Prembone -- God was my co-pilot, but our plane crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him. * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!