It wasn't fair. Not one bit of it. Just because they were war-heroes,
they come back and the Thain and the Master of Buckland let their sons pick
any bride they choose, provided they live in the regions of Tuckborough and
Buckland. The Mayor, sensible hobbit that he is, would have none of this
nonsense, so he denied the two strapping (hah!) lads a chance at the lovely
lasses in Hobbiton and the surrounding smials and villages.
I really did consider up and moving to Hobbiton.
I was the youngest of three other sisters. Emerald, the oldest, was already married and a mother of three little girls, Angelica, Basil, and Clover. The next youngest, Ruby, was not married, but she had a temper like none other, so none other would have her. Ruby was my model, my idol, and I fashioned my very life after her. I could not change my temperament, so I remained "sweet, compassionate, innocent Diamond." My next-to sister, who had just come of age, Peridot, was a romantic girl who was passionate about everything. She flirted and giggled like a ninny as far as Ruby and I were concerned, and if it were up to us, we would have disowned her.
Ruby and I were as close as "two pippins in a barrel" as the saying went. This saying, of course, was fashioned ages before Pippin Took and his scheming cousin Merry were born (they were the war-heroes I mentioned earlier) and they had devastated the region so much that the Thain had very much so considered changing the idiom to "two apples in a barrel" which would have suited me fine. I cared not a whit how they worded the saying, so long as it meant Ruby and I were inseparable, which we were. We would spend hours either at my small house or hers (families in Tuckborough generally got larger houses than single hobbits) planning out our free lives together, happily independent members of a hobbit-community which valued our existence as cart-keepers at the market, not as brides who bore hobbit children for husbands. Life was wonderful, and I had no intention of getting married at any time.
If Mother and Father had been alive, then that would be a different story. But they died before Ruby came of age, so we were both free to do as we pleased. Emma was married off, to a disgusting hobbit thirty years older than her, and she was soon pregnant. Emma didn't look pleased about the marriage, and so it left Ruby and I to wonder if she was forced into pregnancy as well as marriage. That was the reason I wanted freedom most of all. Because of Emma, and her horrible marriage.
But everything changed the day that the edict came into the town of Long-Cleeve, that all maidens were to attend a special celebration in honour of Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, who were celebrating their coming of age (at least, Pippin was) the coming week. All eligible maidens were to attend, in their best attire, in order to make themselves approachable to the young heirs. This all made me wonder if maybe Messrs Peregrin and Meriadoc weren't exactly the most pleasing husbands, and that thought discouraged me all the more.
I really did consider up and moving to Hobbiton.
I was the youngest of three other sisters. Emerald, the oldest, was already married and a mother of three little girls, Angelica, Basil, and Clover. The next youngest, Ruby, was not married, but she had a temper like none other, so none other would have her. Ruby was my model, my idol, and I fashioned my very life after her. I could not change my temperament, so I remained "sweet, compassionate, innocent Diamond." My next-to sister, who had just come of age, Peridot, was a romantic girl who was passionate about everything. She flirted and giggled like a ninny as far as Ruby and I were concerned, and if it were up to us, we would have disowned her.
Ruby and I were as close as "two pippins in a barrel" as the saying went. This saying, of course, was fashioned ages before Pippin Took and his scheming cousin Merry were born (they were the war-heroes I mentioned earlier) and they had devastated the region so much that the Thain had very much so considered changing the idiom to "two apples in a barrel" which would have suited me fine. I cared not a whit how they worded the saying, so long as it meant Ruby and I were inseparable, which we were. We would spend hours either at my small house or hers (families in Tuckborough generally got larger houses than single hobbits) planning out our free lives together, happily independent members of a hobbit-community which valued our existence as cart-keepers at the market, not as brides who bore hobbit children for husbands. Life was wonderful, and I had no intention of getting married at any time.
If Mother and Father had been alive, then that would be a different story. But they died before Ruby came of age, so we were both free to do as we pleased. Emma was married off, to a disgusting hobbit thirty years older than her, and she was soon pregnant. Emma didn't look pleased about the marriage, and so it left Ruby and I to wonder if she was forced into pregnancy as well as marriage. That was the reason I wanted freedom most of all. Because of Emma, and her horrible marriage.
But everything changed the day that the edict came into the town of Long-Cleeve, that all maidens were to attend a special celebration in honour of Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, who were celebrating their coming of age (at least, Pippin was) the coming week. All eligible maidens were to attend, in their best attire, in order to make themselves approachable to the young heirs. This all made me wonder if maybe Messrs Peregrin and Meriadoc weren't exactly the most pleasing husbands, and that thought discouraged me all the more.