Shepherd Princess by Himring
Fanwork Notes
For the Epic 80s Challenge, for the following prompt: the edition of Unfinished Tales, by JRR Tolkien (author), Christopher Tolkien (editor).
Recently, I came across a discussion on TolkienGuide by Druss, that analysed how Christopher Tolkien had left out a passage on Numenorean dogs in excerpting A Description of the Island of Númenor for the publication of Unfinished Tales in 1980 so that the dogs of Numenor had to wait another 41 years before finally seeing publication in The Nature of Middle-earth. So, of course, my drabble features a sheepdog of Emerie. Totally canonical (their training is mentioned explicitly in NoME), but glaringly absent from the epic 1980s!
My dog is called Gobi (Gnomish gôbi). This is my Middle-earth approximation of the last name of Charlie B. Barkin, protagonist of All Dogs Go to Heaven (that film was another Challenge prompt), as Gnomish gôbi (an early Elvish word for "large hound") derives from gab-, meaning "to bark, bay (of dogs)”, according to Eldamo.
No special warnings, except for Ancalime's canonical discomfort with some aspects of court life in Armenelos.
- Fanwork Information
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Summary:
A princess and her sheepdog. (Drabble featuring a young Ancalime.)
Major Characters: Tar-Ancalimë
Major Relationships:
Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Challenges: Epic 80s
Rating: General
Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 102 Posted on Updated on This fanwork is complete.
Shepherd Princess
Read Shepherd Princess
Ancalime sighed, stretching out her legs in the shade of the tree. Beside her, Gobi lay, panting gently, but always watchful. The sheep were dotted all about, motionless or ambling in a leisurely fashion in the midday sun.
‘I wish I could take you with me,’ said Ancalime to Gobi, who twitched his ears.
Well, she could, but she would never do it. Gobi was a well-trained, hard-working sheepdog. At court, he would go crazy, with nothing to do and no sheep to herd, the way she sometimes felt herself in Armenelos! Seemingly, there was no way to herd courtiers…
Chapter End Notes
Additional note on a prompt:
Full disclosure: I have never seen that film. But, according to Wikipedia, Barkin is a German shepherd mixture, so that sort of fits...
