A tale for slug children everywhere!
Growing up in Brockenborings, few children’s tales were as popular as the ones about Sammy the Slug. Here is another one, about the time Sammy wanted something new for breakfast. I shared it at the Story Night in Hobbiton earlier today.
If you want to know more about Sammy and Henry and Kitty and Diggy and Fred and Monty, have a look at the first Sammy the Slug story.
Sammy the Slug and The Breakfast Bacon
Once upon a time, Sammy the Slug woke up and felt like something different than neeps for breakfast.
“Neeps are grand”, Sammy thought, “but I am sure there is a lot of other great things a hungry slug could eat.” So he wriggled into the fields, looking for his friends to see if they had any suggestions.
First, he came across Henry the Horse, munching on his morning oats. Sammy asked for a taste, but he spat them out as soon as he tried them. “Yuck, too grainy”, he said and slithered on.
Next was Kitty the Cat, who was lapping up her morning milk. Sammy begged for a taste, but well, he spat it out as soon as he tried it. “Yuck, too wet”, he whined and slimed off.
Diggy the Dog was busy gnawing on his morning marrow bone when Sammy came by. Sammy demanded a taste, but he had hardly bit into it before he spat it out. “Yuck, too marrowy”, he complained and crawled away.
He passed by Monty the Mill Snake devouring a whole morning shrew. Sammy didn’t ask for a taste… But he said “yuck” anyway.
After a long search and many sluggy complaints because he was so hungry, Sammy visited Fred the Farmer. “Ho Sammy”, said Fred, “have you come for more neeps”?
“No Fred, I was looking for something else for breakfast today. But everything I try tastes awful”, Sammy sighed. “Perhaps you have any suggestions for your favourite slimy sidekick?”
Fred the Farmer pondered on this while Sammy’s belly growled. Finally, Fred said: “Well, there is one thing that every hobbit loves, and that even slugs ought to try when they are tired of neeps”. Sammy perked up. Now he was getting somewhere.
Fred opened the door and told Sammy to come into the kitchen. Half an hour later, after Sammy had wriggled his way inside, Fred put out a small plate with something that smelled delicious. Sammy munched and munched and couldn’t stop. This in slug heaven on a plate, he thought, devouring everything on the plate as quick as any slug had ever cleaned a plate.
“This is bacon”, said Fred the Farmer, “every hobbit’s favourite food, and it looks like slugs like it too.”
Sammy licked the last bacon fat from the plate, burping happily. “Where, oh where can I get more of this?”, he said and looked at Fred with expecting slug-eyes.
“It comes off pigs”, Fred said, “so you should visit Pinto the Pig Farmer”.
Sammy was out of Fred’s kitchen quick as a slug flash, worming his way towards Pinto’s farm. A bounder lying behind a rock nearby said she had never seen a slug move that fast before, because Sammy was gone before she had finished her nap.
Several hours later, Sammy slinked into Pinto’s yard. There he saw Pippa the Pig sleeping by the fence. More bacon, Sammy thought, so he slugged over to Pippa and wriggled his little slug nose. Then he wrinkled his little slug nose. “Pippa doesn’t smell as nice as Fred’s bacon”, he thought.
Sammy was a clever slug, though, so he concluded there was more things involved in getting bacon than just smelling the pig. “Fred said it comes off pigs, so I just have to wait and see what comes off this pig”, he nodded, congratulating himself on his sound slug logic.
A little later, Pippa the Pig woke up and let out a morning grunt. Then she let off something completely different, which landed just nearby Sammy.
Right, this must be it, Sammy thought as Pippa walked away looking piggily relieved. So he cheered for himself and bit into the thing that had come off Pippa.
After that day, Sammy the Slug never ate bacon again. But Henry the Horse, Kitty the Cat and Diggy the Dog all howled with laughter when they heard of it. Even Fred the Farmer couldn’t contain himself, near toppling over as he gasped for air, which made Sammy very cranky. But Fred gave Sammy a lot of consolation neeps, so they remained best friends forever afterwards too.
And so ends the story of the one time ever that Sammy the Slug ate bacon.
Bonus preview
If you have made it this far, here is a preview of the Pig in a Blanket, the free housing item which you can redeem in the LOTRO store before April 30th by using the code SLEEPINGPIG.
Pig in a Blanket preview