Tolkien Fan Fiction
| 9 |
| Advice |
Day 19 prompt: three pieces of "wisdom" for the next generation. Summary: see title. |
| “Be ever mindful,” his father would say. “The Enemy's snares are many.” “Be patient,” his mother had said. “Haste so often ends badly.” “Be strong,” advised his brother, who was entirely too young to counsel but cared not where Faramir was concerned. “War is coming.” The old man looked upon the anxious, frowning boy with his books and his head full of stories and heart full of cares, and a pair of shoulders that would some sad day stiffen and broaden under years and toil under a sword's edge, and he laughed. “Lad,” Mithrandir said kindly, “it does you no harm to listen to your elders, for 'tis all well-said, and right. But you shan't hear it rightly, unless you learn to listen well – there is a trick to it, you see.” Leaning on his staff, he hunched down, and looked the seven year-old straight from eye to eye. “Be fearless,” he said. “See to that” – a gnarled pair of fingers against a skinny breastbone, right over the boy's heart – “and the rest will come, and you'll laugh the better, too, and more often.” |