The Ballad of the Dwarves and Smaug, 2008-03-19**

Sorry for not posting anything new for so long - she's had me on a recording ban again since the last story I posted (of course no excuse for not clearing the backlog though...). She's been still pouring out many stories a day though, just not allowing me to record anything... until last night.

She's in a new phase at the moment - inventing her own poetry! Her current great obsession is all things Tolkien - this has been going on for more than a month now, maybe closer to two. It's a completely immersive obsession on a grand scale - involves his books, related movies, pretend play, searching for background information on Middle Earth... the whole works. She's memorized all the poems in The Hobbit and sings them daily.

Yesterday she moved from singing memorized poetry to ad-libbing her own. She's been spouting this stuff nonstop since yesterday evening. Yesterday it was "The Song of the Ringwraiths" supposedly by Bilbo and Legolas. I only got a short recording of that and will add it later when I have time, although in fact she went on for the entire evening ad-libbing all sorts of new lines, but not letting me record much at all.

Today it was all about "The Ballad of the Dwarves and Smaug", supposedly sung by Legolas again (can you tell he's her favourite character at the moment?) She went on for almost 45 minutes while we were traveling somewhere in the car. I've transcribed about 3.5 minutes of this and am posting it here, along with the excerpted recording (audio only).

YOU CAN LISTEN TO HER RECITING THIS POEM HERE
p.s. for whoever's not familiar with The Hobbit - this is her own idea of what should have happened to Smaug, not what really happened in the book!

(Chants/Sings)

This pines was roaring like its ‘ind,
The pits was brought the dwarves of night,
The dwarves killed Smaug,
They planned of sword,
They stormed and sung and heard dwarves plan;

The flecks and flat to fled them did,
They died of it in bitter storm,
They killed a dragon done and dead;

They killed a spot through bend of dawn,
They bend and bled,
Through dent in sped,
They killed a bads and tortured me.

(Stops to explain to me: Actually the dwarves.... they killed Smaug!)
(Continues chanting/singing)

The pines was roaring on the height,
The wind was blown in on the night,
The dragon’s fire,
More tough than skyer(?),
Hootch had blowned an bend of elves;

They died for war when all their height,
They planned and pond through end of night,
They under the mist,
The mist had fought,
Far over the flat, far over;

They fanned and fled, through ‘fraid of them,
To Sauron’s bed,
To sometimes sped,
They sped and aimed a might of him;

They took no more of him, and elves,
They took war torn,
The sand of Dhun,
Their arms and ems(?) and ‘fessed and fussed;

They fanned and fanned for more of dead,
They dug them bed,
To days and died,
They died for Ann, beneath Hoon’s feet;

But as they touched the dam they aimed,
They aimed of dead,
They came, so fled,
Mm hmm, the day, the day no more;

The mountain’s cold beneath the moon,
They aimed and banged through chant of doom,
They hear, they sped,
They sped and fled,
To teach the pat(?) and Hoon bite the spat(?);

Hootch bite elves and dwarves bite the dragon,
And aimed a might of ford of stead,
They died and fought,
They bite the Smaug,
They spawned(?) a tongue and ate the tongue;

They banged and watched two fat jaws beat,
They ate foul deck(?),
They ate... the vultures was been,
And born to die there,
Vultures died and men looked at...

(interrupted, but continued after brief conversation...)

The pines were roaring on the height,
The wind was blown in on the night,
The bed was dead,
They bled and drag,
The dragon was dead,
They haps instead;

The bled and took their noise and told
They took no more,
They took in more gold,
And pressed a span(?),
And planned of them;

They aimed a might of for themselves,
The dragon was dead,
The burns of stead,
They aimed a tight of throne and thorn;

Then elves came behind them,
And other things had burned...
(interrupted...)