A Study in Ponies

One of the most fascinating things that I discovered during our exercise on the natural vs. unnatural objects/creatures in the Hobbit was Tolkien's take on ponies. In the majority of Middle Earth, ponies are, for the most part, completely normal. They allow good people to ride them and will carry their extra gear, particularly when they are trained well. However, when Thorin and Company go to the house of Beorn, they encounter some different ponies. Not only will they take people places and carry their belongings, but they will set the table and bring the food. They don't even eat the food along the way, but place it carefully onto the table and leave it there for other creatures to eat. The dogs do this as well, but I'll come back to this later. How on earth, well Middle Earth, did Beorn train them to do that? Ponies just don't do that sort of thing. It would be one thing if ALL ponies behaved this way in Middle Earth, but they don't. Any other ponies would eat the food themselves and leave the plate and silverware where they were. So what makes these ponies special? I don't really have an answer except that maybe Tolkien was trying to put an emphasis of the magic around Beorn. Beorn just seemed really connected to the land and the animals that resided there.

Now, back to the dogs. The dogs also complete similar tasks, but this seems slightly less impressive to me. Yes, it is impressive, but dogs can also be trained to do similar things in the real world. Service dogs can do extraordinary things like fetching water bottles, turning on the lights, and many many more amazing things. Beorn's dogs in the Hobbit do go over the top a little, but it doesn't feel quite as impressive, nor the impression quite as lasting as it does with the ponies. There may not be a big reason for Tolkien doing this, but I thought it was splendid and thought it provided food for thought.

Goldberry