Hidden Chronicles Chapter 3
The Cure All
You might imagine that Filibert Diggle settled quite easily into his new and unsought for role as schoolmaster in the mysterious hobbit village of Hidden. After all, he had been well enough educated himself and, let’s face it, pretty much anyone who has experienced school for themselves in their younger years should be able to teach, shouldn’t they?
The truth is that those first few weeks in the classroom had their ups and downs, and it is likely that the learning curve was steeper for Filibert than it was for his pupils. The thirty or so young hobbits who attended the school were of different ages and abilities and, of course, came with differing degrees of enthusiasm for schoolwork. Filibert was fortunate that some of the older children were able to assist, especially young Rose Buggins who was always ready to help younger children with their work, hand things out or put things away.
At the end of his first three days Filibert went to visit Aunty Prue at ‘The Shop’ and mentioned that the little classroom library could do with a few more books, if that were possible. It presently consisted of a single bookshelf containing a few dog-eared reference books and a few thin volumes with titles like ‘Tales of the Shire’ and ‘The Naughtiest Hobbit’, many with torn pages. Imagine his astonishment when a few days later Gumbo Hamfist arrived at the school gate pushing a cart filled with two large bookshelves and several boxes which, on closer inspection, were found to be filled to the brim with seemingly brand new books of every kind you could imagine.
Gumbo, assisted by Ricbardo, the school caretaker, carried the shelves and the boxes to the back of the classroom where Filibert gave young Rose Buggins the job of arranging them on the shelves, a task she set about at once with great enthusiasm.
Gumbo held up one of the books, the cover of which depicted a giant hobbit wielding a huge club as he confronted an ugly goblin. “Falco made the bookshelves specially,” he said, “but I reckons Aunty sent for these from The Outside.” He inspected the illustration with wonder, then picked up another and leafed through the pages. Filibert noticed as he did so that he was holding the book upside down.
The arrival of the books made Filibert’s job a lot easier, for most of the children were able to find something that interested them there. Someone had clearly selected the collection of books with great care, for not only did they include factual books on a wide range of subjects, but there were many books of tales and stories too, some easy to read, with pictures, for the younger hobbits. Some children even asked to stay behind to read the books after class.
One such was a quiet, dark-haired child by the name of Juniper Willowy. She didn’t appear to mix with the other children and Filibert had hardly heard her utter a word in class. He had noticed her though, for she arrived late for school on most days and when he had asked for a reason he was met with a sullen shrug. Unlike most of the other children, who arrived at school scrubbed and brushed by their mothers, or maybe fathers, in freshly laundered outfits, Juniper arrived with uncombed locks and her dress, which hung loosely about her thin body, looked like it hadn’t been washed or pressed for weeks.
Filibert had discovered that his best source of information about the children’s families was the school caretaker, Ricbardo Goodchild. He seemed a little uncomfortable when asked about Juniper, but the fellow was ever eager to please and this is what Filibert learned. Juniper’s mother, Jasmine Willowy, lived alone with her only daughter in a poor, rundown cottage just outside the village on the other side of the stone bridge across the river. She used to do odd jobs for folk around the village but these days she seldom left her cottage and when people called, she wouldn’t answer the door. Some said that she spent most of her days in bed. A few kind folk left food, or even meals on the doorstep, at least out of consideration for the daughter, but many said she was lazy and didn’t deserve help and some said she spent her days drinking. As for the girl’s father, no-one really knew, but plenty were happy to spread the worst kind of rumours.
Filibert decided to try to call on the mother and found that the cottage was indeed in a very poor state. He knocked loudly on the door several times but received no reply. A hobbit woman passing by on the road called to him.
“No point knocking there. She never answers!”
One day at the end of school Filibert saw that Juniper had stayed behind and was seated by the bookshelf, her head bowed as she pored over the book she held. Filibert saw that it was ‘An Illustrated Guide to Legendary Herbs and Plant Remedies’. Filibert was a little surprised that it had been included in the selection of books sent to the school, as it seemed more like something a scholar rather than a child would read, but it had clearly aroused Juniper’s interest.
“Are you interested in herbs and flowers and such?” he asked.
Startled, the girl turned to him, shook her head, put the book back on the shelf and fled.
Two days later little Rose Buggins came up to his desk and whispered conspiratorially,
“Sir, one of the books is missing.”
Dudo at once had an idea which book that might be, and he was not wrong. He knew that he would have to report it eventually but decided to wait a few days to see if it reappeared.
Now I should have told you that in Hidden the children attend school on just the middle three days of the week. The rest of their time is spent with their families, working with animals or on the land or at crafts, learning from mothers, fathers, older siblings and other relatives about the kind of work they may undertake when they are older, and learning all about the community in which they will spend their lives.
On the day before school started each week Filibert would spend his day planning the week’s lessons, but this left him three days on which he could do much as he pleased. Now although he had settled into something like a routine, he had never accepted that he could not leave and in those first weeks he walked every inch of the village bounds, carefully examining the High Hedge for any sign of a gap, but to no avail. He even stared speculatively at the high cliffs at the western end of the village and wondered whether there might be a way to climb them, but quickly realised that it was impossible. He waded far into the Slue in the east, but when he was almost sucked into a swampy quagmire, he knew that there was no escape for him there.
One evening he even ventured into the High Woods, heedless of the stories about the creature that lurked there, but he was soon lost and thought himself lucky to find his way out. It was almost dusk and as he made his way back towards the village, he spotted a faint glow moving across the fields before it disappeared. His curiosity aroused, he made his way towards where he had seen it, but night was closing in rapidly and he realised that he had foolishly come out without a lantern. He stumbled around for the best part of an hour hoping to find the path again and was relieved when he saw a light a little way off. He called out in the night and the light came closer until a hobbit woman stood before him, lit by the lamp she held.
She wore a long robe and a pointed hat from beneath which long tresses of salt and pepper hair hung about her shoulders. She had a thin face with sharp features but in the lamplight Filibert saw a pair of kindly eyes staring at him in surprise.
“Thank goodness I found you,” he said. “I saw your light earlier but then I got lost in the dark.”
“Not my light,” she replied. “I am Araminta Digroot. I am a healer, and I was out collecting herbs in the dusk earlier. I saw a light too – and something else. A young girl, I think. I went back to my hut over by the trees to fetch my lantern.”
Filibert bowed politely and introduced himself.
“Ah, the newcomer,” she said. “Well, if a young girl’s out in these fields at night we’d best find her, don’t you think?”
It took an hour to find her, and by the time they did a pale moon had risen. They spotted a dull glow in a patch of long grass next to a rowan bush. There, lying asleep, was the thin figure of a young girl whom Filibert immediately recognised as his pupil, Juniper Willowy. Beside her a small lantern guttered and there lay a book, its pages open at an illustration of a white flower. Araminta picked up the book and smiled.
“The Moonflower,” she said. “I wonder if that’s what she was looking for. It’s said to cure all ills and it only blooms at night, in the light of the moon. It’s a legend, of course – if it does exist there’s no chance of finding it round here – and I’d know. Now, we’d best wake her and get this young lady home.”
Two hours later they were seated around a rickety wooden table in Jasmine Willow’s cottage. Juniper had a key and had let them in. Jasmine Willowy appeared wan and drawn as Juniper tearfully explained that she feared her mother was going to die. She had become tired all the time and some days she had barely been able to get out of bed and she couldn’t work any more. Juniper had cared for her as best as she could, helping her to wash and making sure that she ate, which is why she had been late for school. When she had read about the Moonflower in the book she thought if she could find one it would make her mother better. She was always going to take the book back, but she needed the picture to identify the flowers.
Araminta examined Jasmine carefully and asked her a few questions. Finally, she said,
“I’m going to come here tomorrow and bring you some special tea. It won’t cure you straight away, but I’m pretty sure that given time things are going to get better for both of you.”
