I resumed narrating my 'Hidden Chronicles' stories at The Green Dragon roleplaying event on 24th January 2025 with this tale.
Author’s Note:
Now, it has been quite some time since I brought you news of cousin Filibert, and that’s because I hadn’t received any more of those letters from him which arrive at dead of night and which I find pinned to my front door. Well, I did wonder, but I can tell you straight away that he’s still there! It may be that whoever delivers them took some time off over Yule, but whatever it is they’ve started arriving again and I’m getting round to catching up with the goings on in that mysterious village and putting some of it into stories for you.
You may remember that the villagers had recruited Filibert as their new schoolmaster and in my last story I told you how he discovered that one of his pupils, Juniper Willowy, had been looking after her sick mother. Well, I am very pleased to tell you that her mother, Jasmine, with the help of the village healer, Araminta Digroot, is getting much better and that Juniper now arrives at school on time every day in clean clothes and she has started to make friends with some of the other children.
Hidden Chronicles Chapter 4
The Path that Ne’er Runs Smooth or What’s Wrong with Peppermint? – Part 1
This story will be told in four parts and mostly it concerns the folk who live up on Hereward Muckle’s farm. It lies in the far southwest corner of the village and extends from the fertile fields which lie next to the southern stretch of the Hedge, which forms an impassable boundary to the village, right down to the pastures and muddy fields, close to that place where the River Swashing empties into the boggy reaches of The Slue itself.
Muckles have farmed there for as long as anyone can remember. In his letter cousin Filibert was at pains to remind me of how important a part the farm plays in the economy of a village which is, of necessity, self-sufficient in so many things, save for a few choice items from the outside which Aunty Prue is able to procure for The Shop. By what means she does this no one in the village has ever discovered.
The Muckle family live together in a rambling old farmhouse similar in architecture to many such which may commonly be seen across The Shire. It is set on a ridge and from the windows of the upper rooms on one side might be viewed fields planted with wheat, barley or oats and others with taters and vegetables of various sorts, depending on the season. From the other side one can see pasture sloping down towards the river where cows graze and further away still pig sties where fat oinkers wallow contentedly in mud.
The head of the family is Hereward Muckle, a sturdy and hard-working hobbit of few words and a kind heart, devoted to his farm and his family. His wife, Ada, is ever-busy in her kitchen, cooking not just for the family but often too for any number of the farm workers who are welcomed at her table at busy times – and there are few times which are not busy in a farming year!
The rest of the family consists of Hereward and Ada’s two grown-up sons and their young wives. Lambert Muckle is a stocky, dark-haired fellow who says little, but like his father he’s a kindly fellow and honest as the day. He is the farm’s cowman, tending the farm’s dairy herd, and his pretty wife Ruby works in the dairy churning butter and making cheese. The other son, Digbert, works the fields. He is tall for a hobbit, a cheerful, fair-haired lad, always ready to help out. His wife, Daisy, is a strapping lass who loves animals and runs the stables on the farm – the only stables in the village, so always much in demand. As well as the horses she cares for a team of oxen which Digbert uses for ploughing.
And then there is Peppermint! She is much younger than her two brothers, still in her late tweens. Of course, she was the apple of her father’s eye and held an extra special place in her mother’s heart, for she had arrived as a joyful surprise to the couple at a time when they had thought their family to be complete. She sports a shock of flame-red hair which it seems has a mind of its own, for despite any amount of brushing her locks soon spring forth again in every direction. Growing up, she was a lively, and some would say a cheeky, child, but her antics were always accompanied by peals of ringing laughter and usually brought smiles to the faces of those who witnessed them.
Now I do have to tell you that she has her faults too – I suppose every one of us does, and in Peppermint’s case it is her tempers. We all get frustrated from time to time and can become angry – but when she was younger if Peppermint wanted something really badly her rages were quite something to behold, and she really wasn’t fun to have around. The family learned to keep out of her way as far as possible until the storm died down. Old Gammer Bracegirdle – the schoolmistress before Cousin Filibert was ‘recruited’ to that post – described her as ‘A lively student with potential, but she must learn to concentrate in class’. Enough said!
Once she left school Peppermint’s character started to change, which is of course quite usual in tweens. But as was the case with her tempers, Peppermint didn’t do things by halves and over time she became quite unpredictable, spending days moping around the house and barely speaking then, in a flash, falling into a violent rage over something quite trivial. Of course, eventually she would be expected to pick up a role on the farm or in the village, but hobbits are in the habit of allowing their tweens time to let off some steam before they are expected to take on adult responsibilities and adopt a more sober mien (well, sober for some of the time!). I am sorry to say that at first her parents didn’t spot the change in her – or if they did, they just put it down to normal tween behaviour. They led such busy lives – work on the farm never stopped and there was a never-ending flow of carters and carriers and tradesmen coming and going at all times of the day. It was only when she started playing her tricks that they had to sit up and take notice.
For whatever reason, her chief victim was Ivo Mudd, the Muckle’s pigman, a young hobbit lad barely older than Peppermint herself. You may remember that Cousin Filibert met him when he and Dudo were searching the village for that missing lad, Waldo Buggins. Now Ivo loves his pigs, that no one can deny – no one could care for them better than he and he often spent nearly every waking hour attending to their needs. I should explain too that Ivo is a farm boy – so when I say that he loves his pigs it is in that unsentimental way that country folk love their animals, even knowing that one day they may end up on their dinner plate – something, I think, those brought up in towns cannot always understand.
As he went about his work Ivo was given to singing, and his serenade could often be heard from within one of the pigpens. Had you peeked inside you might see him seated and staring into space, crooning love songs surrounded by a group of oinkers gazing up at him devotedly. In some of her darker moods Peppermint often took herself down to the pigpens and from the first time she heard him singing she started to mock Ivo mercilessly. She would sneak up to where he sat and then burst in crying
‘Oh, Ivo, which one’s yer girlfriend? Ivo loves Miss Piggy…!”
On another occasion she put on her very best and smartest dress and ran in, sat down with the pigs, gave a loud grunt and demanded,
‘Ooh, Ivo, which one of us do you think is the prettiest?’
The poor lad was left speechless and could only stare and blush before making a hasty departure, leaving her sitting in the mud.
On another occasion when Ivo had joined them at the family dinner table – he often did, and was treated as one of the family by Peppermint’s parents – Lambert’s wife Ruby sat down at table wearing a new dress she had had made by the Threadgold sisters, Topaz and Opal, and Ada Muckle happened to comment on how pretty she looked in it. Now Ivo, who was a very polite lad, added,
“Aye, you is looking very pretty indeed, Miss Ruby.”
Peppermint’s reaction to this astonished everyone. She picked up a handful of mashed tatties from her plate and flung them straight at Ivo, catching him full in the face. Without a word she rose from her place and flounced out of the room.
Hereward Muckle looked up from his plate, a puzzled frown across his face.
“What’s wrong with Peppermint?” he asked.
