To my mind, this chapter serves two purposes. One is more Hobbit time (because, as Tolkien emphasizes, this really is a story about Hobbits). The other is giving Frodo his first real preview of the journey ahead. The first is pretty self-explanatory, as we get to meet Farmer Maggot. The second I’ll explain.
So they wake up to find the Elves have gone, but left food and drink. Frodo sits to think (“at breakfast?!” says Pippin) and the truth of the journey hits home:
‘It is one thing to take my young friends walking over the Shire with me, until we are hungry and weary, and food and bed are sweet. To take them into exile, where hunger and weariness may have no cure, is quite another – even if they are willing to come. The inheritance is mine alone. I don’t think I ought even to take Sam.’
Naturally he can’t talk about this with Pippin, who is ignorant of what is really going on (...ahem), but he can discuss it with Sam. And Sam, naturally, refuses to even consider letting Frodo go off alone, and has some words rather heavy with foreshadowing:
‘I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.’
So, in order to avoid the Riders, Frodo proposes going cross country. That way they’ll avoid the road and the riders, and also cut off a big bend in the road and save some distance. Pippin (who is much more sensible than in the movies) tells Frodo this is a ridiculously stupid idea - the road may bend out of the way, but it’s still a road, and they’re not going to save time struggling through bogs and brush, even assuming they can keep to the line they want to travel, which they can’t and won’t. Turns out they are both right. They short-cut makes for a long, weary, muddy delay, but they also hear cries of the Black Riders in the distance. So this is another preview of the journey: a struggle through rough terrain (even if the Marish isn’t exactly the Eymn Muil or the Dead Marshes), with danger lurking.
And then they make their way into more civilized lands, and find themselves crossing the land of one Farmer Maggot. Frodo as a young Hobbit-lad had a habit of trespassing on his land and stealing mushrooms, and he’s been terrified of Farmer Maggot ever since. Luckily, it turns out that Farmer Maggot is in fact a friend of Merry and Pippin, and a real fun-gi with high morel standards.
(I regret nothing)
And this is a preview of another major feature of the journey: finding friends in unexpected places. Farmer Maggot might not be Treebeard or Faramir (though he is an important person in his own way, as we’ll find out when we meet Bombadil), but he gives help and shelter when needed. He’s tough and brave (enough to stand up to a Black Rider without backing down), and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. Enough so as to make Frodo rather uncomfortable with how shrewd his speculations are, though Maggot doesn’t press Frodo once it’s clear that Frodo doesn’t want to talk:
‘Mark my words, this all comes of those strange doings of Mr. Bilbo’s. His money was got in some strange fashion in foreign parts, they say. Maybe there is some that want to know what has become of the gold and jewels that he buried in the hill of Hobbiton, as I hear?’
And as night falls, he offers Frodo, Sam, and Pippin a ride to the ferry in his wagon, which will save them both a significant amount of walking and quite possibly trouble from Black Riders. Along the way they meet Merry, who was looking for the trio having grown worried over how late they are.
Next week, chapter 5: “A Conspiracy Unmasked.” It’s one of my favorite chapters, and though I want this read along to be about the books rather than the movies, this’ll be where I address some of the key changes made to Merry and Pippin that I’ve been biting my tongue on.