Chronicled in Buckland in Eriador,
On this the 48th day of Firith in the Year 3018 of the Third Age.
Late this morning did I set out from the Golden Perch Inn, and nigh midday I crossed the Brandywine Bridge over the golden waters of the Baranduin into Buckland and the threshold of Bree-land. Here it was, I later learned, that Gorhendad Oldbuck had also crossed over from the Eastfarthing more than six and a half centuries before, and entered into this land hitherto unpopulated by Hobbits; and in the year 740 by Shire Reckoning he began the building of Brandy Hall in Buck Hill. This is yet the abode of the Master of Buckland, named Saradoc "Scattergold" Brandybuck, and thus I set off for the town of Bucklebury forthwith to offer my respects to this most important of Hobbits in the Eastfarthing.
I found him enjoying the afternoon sunshine on the steps outside his Hall ("sunning his toes," quoth he), and he courteously bade me welcome and enquired politely of my journey through the Shire. He listened with interest to my tale, but seemed somewhat distracted throughout, and at length admitted that he had a troubled mind; for his only child and heir, Merriadoc, had departed some two months before on a journey also, but whither he could not say. Nonetheless, he encouraged me to visit, for he said it would be a welcome distraction from his cares.
And so he told me how it came to pass that he inherited his title after his father's demise a decade before, and that as head of the Brandybuck family he is also called the Master of the Hall. Though he has but nominal authority, it extends across the Baranduin into the Eastfarthing - that is between the villages of Stock and Rushey - for much trade is done between Buckland and the Marish; however, Buckland is not officially part of the Shire, but the Shire-hobbits regard it as its frontier.
Now there is a common opinion in the Shire that "there's queer folk in Buckland", and proud is Master Saradoc of this sentiment, for it pleases the Brandybucks to have Fallohidish blood and most Bucklanders claim Stoorish ancestry; hence their bold natures and love of rivers and boating , which is frowned upon by Shire-hobbits. Indeed, some can even swim, and it is not uncommon for Bucklanders to wear boots for their riverside endeavours. Also, abiding nigh the Old Forest as they do, the Bucklanders are hardier and more suspicious than their kin in the Shire, and are well organised to deal with danger through the famous 'Horn-call of Buckland', and they keep their doors locked at night, which is foreign to Shire-folk.
Of his appellation 'Scattergold' I was most curious, and so Master Saradoc explained that it has long been a tradition - since Gormadoc 'Deepdelver' Brandybuck, six generations past - for the Masters of the Hall of Buckland to be given such bynames; and that his describes both his wealth and his generosity.
But yet his thoughts turned towards his adventuring son, for he is clearly anxious about the well-being of Meriadoc (who is by most called Merry), and his tale is mysterious indeed. For it came to pass that in the year S.R. 1380 Master Saradoc's aunt Primula Brandybuck and her husband, Drogo Baggins, were drowned in a boating accident and so their twelve-year-old son, Frodo, came to live at Brandy Hall. He befriended Meriadoc, and being something of a rascal, the two cousins - along with with their friend, Peregrin Took - were prone to cause trouble wherever they went.
To the relief of the Master of the Hall, nigh thirty years ago Frodo was taken in by his cousin, Bilbo Baggins (of whom I briefly mentioned in these chronicles) and removed to Bag End in Hobbiton. There he abode until he bought a house in nearby Crickhollow this past summer, and Meriadoc went there to receive him one day in late Halimath and did not return. But in a note left for his father, he told that he and Peregrin were to accompany their friend Frodo on an unspecified journey eastwards for an undetermined length of time, and Master Saradoc has heard no word from him since. Indeed, he had much hoped that I, as a traveller, had mayhap encountered their small party before he learned that I had journeyed from the west.
Great is his distress, for in the early hours soon after their departure, three 'Black Riders' came to the house in Crickhollow. But the Hobbit left to attend it, Fredegar Bolger, escaped and ran to the nearest house whereupon he raised the Horn-call of Buckland so to spread news of the invasion, which traveled swiftly to Brandy Hall and resulted in the rousing of the Hobbits of Buckland.
Now who - or what - these fell Black Riders could be I cannot say, but I reckon it bodes ill for the company of Meriadoc.
Tonight I camp beneath the eaves of the Old Forest, which has a dangerous reputation with the Bucklanders; but here under the boughs of the diffused ancient trees upon its edge, I feel naught but a lingering yearning within them for the days of old when this land was yet primeval and untamed. But when I walked in a furlong deeper, where the trees grow ever closer and the undergrowth thickens, there can be felt a distant malice emanating from the forest's heart, and I fear that not even Elves would be welcome there.
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