by Blondo Butterchurn
Schoolmaster of Merrydale
with approved text suitable for use
in all classrooms across the Several Shires.
The Great Peace
The dawn of the Seventh Age brought Great Peace to the Dales and all the Folk of Erenth were forced to leave the people alone, under pain of death. As surety for this peace it was Drofo Drumbeater and Bobben Bradagoon who brought three Wyrmtokens to the Dales to keep them under guard. To this day, the peace persists and has never been broken. Great is the fear of the Hobbits among the Folk of all nations and great is the power of the Wyrmtokens.
The Second Emptying of Dalefir
In the days when Drado Drumbeater and his brothers were accounted Reeves of the Shires, the news of the Nicotia could not be kept secret. It’s pleasing aroma was noised abroad and soon all manner of Folk were coming to the Dales and clamoring for whatever of the crop they might obtain. Then a sharp disagreement broke out among the people after what action might be taken to appease the other Folk. For some held, and still do, that the other Folk are worthy of only the uncultured strain called Pipeweed. They hope that this bitterest blossom might discourage further traffic and noise upon the roads of the Dales. There were others, however, who wanted to share the Stoor Leaf and reap the wealth that might be brought from such trade.
So sharp was the division between the People that even the sons of Drofo could not agree. One remained with his father’s grave in Dalefir, another re-settled in the far South and would not come North even on Grimgoreniht. So the Wyrmtokens were divided among the three sons and each kept one in each of the places which was to be his home.
With the Wyrmtoken in hand, Hairfoot Drumbeater gathered the like-minded farmers with him. They took what crop they could upon boats, in the manner of Boblo of old and so laden, they committed themselves to the river which they rode to the sea. After many weeks of travel they came to another Land and to a distant place and called it Hillsdale, though it was not known to those in Dalefir at the time. So the people of Hillsdale kept to themselves but made trade with the humans regarding Nicotia.
The Coming of the Big Folk
The Seventh Age also brought the Big Folk to the many shires of Dalefir, seeking trade and knowledge. Many of the wise debated whether the Big Folk were people or beasts, for their language was rough and sounded like the barking and whining of dogs. Some held that the Big Folk were the Hunamir foretold by the Elves and promised by the Ere of All, others felt that this could not be the case. In time the Big Folk proved themselves to be capable of learning and planting and some became people of note and the sort that all would like to have for tea. But by in large, most of them seemed to be given to anger and greedy. It was decided by all that Big Folk was the most accurate name that could be given and any others would have to be earned over time.
The Splintering of the Shires and the Last Emptying of Dalefir
Three years after the coming of the Big Folk, Drofo Drumbeater, Reeve of the Shires of Dalefir was called upon to make war, for a conflict had broken out among the Big Folk and it threatened the peace of the Shires. So, together with his militia Drofo left the Shires to walk and fight among the Big Folk and to bring his peace among their kind. When he returned a decade later he purposed that we Hobbits should live apart from the other Folk. He is famous for having uttered the words, "What does it prosper a soul to gain a neighbor; if his garden is lost?"
So the Hobbits of that age left Dalefir in three pilgrim waves and again emptied Dalefir, so that none remained there when they were done. The First Pilgrims, calling themselves the Stout, journeyed over the mountains and settled on the other side. They called that home Lochdale. The Second Pilgrims, calling themselves Tallfellows, journeyed over the mountains and upon finding their kin waiting, traveled another day before founding Merrydale. The Third Pilgrims journeyed by sea and would not settle in either Lochdale or Merrydale, but continued East. Some say that they became wanderers upon the face of Erenth, but they have not been heard from since.
The Discovery
Firol Chubb, also known as the Explorer was the Tallfellow who discovered Hilldale-across-the-Sea. And though those Hairfoots were a peculiar strain of Hobbit to those of Lochdale and Merrydale, they were nonetheless treated as family. So it was that on Grimgoreniht of 3565, as the Elf Folk reckon time, the Hobbit were one people again. Though since that time we have remembered those who became wanderers and those who were lost, and we wait for the day when all the Hobbits might live together again in the home sealed by Yomallor. Thus we ever say, "Next year in Dalenas."
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