Tollomac was strange, even by Brandybuck reckoning (which is saying something). As a small hobbit lad, he had taken to collecting stones—bright ones, shiny ones, odd ones that caught his fancy—all of which he would polish by hand, or leave in a special net in the sandy bottom of a stream or river.
As Tollo grew, so did his collection, such that his companions and relations (both friendly and otherwise) had taken to calling him names like Stonebag, Pebblehead, and Sack-o'-Rocks. But Tollo didn't mind; he had a tendency at any rate towards foolishness and merry-making, and used this to his advantage by turning such jests round upon himself, to the point that they made him all the more likeable instead of less so.
Still, despite his humour with hobbits his own age in Buckland, Tollo was considered quite odd amongst the older folk. It wasn't natural for a young hobbit—even one from Brandy Hall—to pay more attention to stones than to cakes; to scour the ground in search of minerals instead of mushrooms; or to spend his afternoons by the creek with his hands in the water, when a fishing rod was more the norm.
But of all his relations—and of course, being a Hobbit, these were numerous—it was perhaps old Rorimac Brandybuck, Tollo's illustrious grandfather, who understood him best.
Shortly after the marriage of his only daughter Hyacinth to the much-respected (if less well-known) Togo Boffin, Old Rory insisted that the newlyweds make their home in Buckland—and indeed invited them, should they wish, to keep their burrows on the westerly side of Brandy Hall—to which Togo whole-heartedly agreed; pride notwithstanding, there was great generosity of wealth amongst the Brandybucks, and the abundance of victuals within the Hall was nothing short of legendary.
And so it came to pass that, in the year 1384 of the Shire—precisely one year after Togo and Hyacinth had placed the last bit of furnishing in their burrow (an ancient and decorative ale keg, which had been passed down to Togo from an old uncle on the Took side of his family)—Tollomac Boffin-Brandybuck was born under the proud and watchful eye of Rorimac 'Goldfather', Master of Brandy Hall.
