The Revived Tolkien Trivia

12 mile cousin.

In the Shire etiquette, at the date of the Party,'expectation of receiving' was linited to second cousins or nearer kin, and to residence within 12 miles.*

*(footnote) Hence the Hobbit expression 'a twelve-mile cousin' for a person who stickled for the law, and recognised no obligations beyond its precise interpretation .....

Letters: 214: To A.C. Nunn (draft)
 
Yay! And we quoted The Letters at last! If that don't deserve two bells, nothing does! *sews bells to cap*
 
Ok, then -
Which two of Gollum's riddles did JRRT not make up himself?
 
I just read it a few days ago, but I'm at a mate's now; don't have The Letters here...
 
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][FONT=arial,][FONT=arial,][FONT=arial,]No-legs lay on one-leg, two legs sat near on three legs, four legs got some.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
I think that one and this one.
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][FONT=arial,][FONT=arial,][FONT=arial,]Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking
[/FONT]
[/FONT]
[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Both were guesses. Its just I think that they don't sound very Tolkienish.
 
As for the Riddles: they are 'all my own work' except for 'Thirty White Horses' which is traditional, and 'No-legs'.
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: 110: From a letter to Allen & Unwin
 
I was half right, I think thats the best I have done so far in this thread. Also I have never read the Letters so I am a bit of a disadvantage to you two.
 
If you are interested in the circumstances around the creation of LotR, and you can get the Letters, Maj, I thoroughly recommend reading it. Not just for this thread :)p) but to get some idea of what the man was like.

Carpenter's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography is also a good book to read if you are interested in JRRT.
 
What's with the hastiness there? Speaking off that... who was the hasty ent?
 
Bregalad, or Quickbeam
(Fangorn) Hm, hm, he is the nearest thing among us to a hasty Ent
(Bregalad) They have called me that (Quickbeam) ever since I said yes to an elder Ent beforehe had finished his question.
TT: Book III: Ch IV: Treebeard
 
Thanks, Cat! (Ooh, there's coloured ones in here as well ..... Ahem!)

What would you need to write Moon-letters?

 
Well according to my sources (my head) they say it requires silver pens.


"'Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them.' said Elrond, 'not when you look straight at them.
They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the most cunning sort
it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written.
The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you.
These must have been written on a midsummer's eve in a cresent moon, a long while ago.'"
- The Hobbit (There And Back Again, A Hobbit's Tale), A Short Rest. I couldn't tell you what page it is on though.
 

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