Tianwen·Magweth Pengolodh

Eat that kind of thing, we can get some elf food too? "At the end, Alfwine's tone contained worry.

"Fruit is already very suitable for elves, as for other things - I ate elf food on the boat for a month. Dry food, dry food, fish, and more dry food. If there is a change, I would like to ask for it." There was a sound from the street outside. A small bell rang, Pengolod turned, and the shop door creaked open.

The bell followed the people through the door. "Sponge cake, sponge cake. Writer, don't you want to open the door to ventilate the store and get some fresh air?—Jesus!" The newcomer stopped on the porch.She was a little, wrinkled, but hale-faced, rosy old woman, wearing a blue turban, with a large round basket hanging by a strap around her neck.

Alfwine showed no signs of lameness in the work area.He jumped up from the table, took the necessary three steps to stand behind the counter in the shop, and said: "This is the widow Azeran. Widow, this new lodger is Pengolod of Linton. , a member of the beautiful race."

"Valar be kind!" Ezelan called back, "are you really an elf?"

Pengolod raised his hand and touched the side of his head, and then touched his chin: "There is no beard, there are pointed ears, and the person is too tall. It cannot be a Kazad - I can only be an elf."

Ezelan was amused by his antics: "It's nothing, it's the first time I've seen an elf standing still. They're always on boats, or they're just walking around, going somewhere prettier than here. I I guess you won't buy a sponge cake, right?" Pengolod said he would buy it, but he wasn't quite sure what he was buying.

As it turns out, trifle cakes are plump, filling dough-based pastries infused with spices and fruit.The sponge cake that Ezeran took out from the basket still carried the heat from the oven.In any case, she waited for him to take a bite and announced that they were as delicious as elf bread, and then she smiled: "Actually, I didn't bake these this morning. The stove hasn't been changed for five years, but I've sold all the tricks and baskets and recipes of this little business. These muffins are baked by a newcomer, the widow Rosenzil."

"Is she still going to take over tomorrow?" Alfwine asked.

"That's right, it is. She will first follow my method of selling goods, and wait until she finds a method she likes to use. As for me, I can't wait to rest for a few years until I am properly buried in the soil. I'm going to tell all the taverns and restaurants the names of those bad guys," she added, wagging a finger at Alfwine.

"Tell them I paid extra," said Alfwine, handing her a few coppers.

"Then they'll think you're my sweetheart, and call me—cough, cough! My lord elf, don't blame me for being unrestrained, I must go, I must. If Rosenzil is not suitable, Just tell me." Ezelan went out through the front door, at this time Ah Tang came in through the back door, holding another pot-bellied bottle, and poured out a kind of tea.The tea taste is bitter and strong, but the astringency is just right with the sweet and creamy pastry.

Pengolod stayed for a while while drinking tea, and asked Alfwine about the source of the material.His hands itched at the sight of the transcribing table, laid out and ready for work, and the tantalizing pages of fine parchment waiting.He learned that Alfwine's ink was made from the sap of Frosta's oak, and that the vellum came from the pastureland of Emeril, and it made his hands itch even more.He decided to surrender: "Maybe I can help you today, so as to make up for the time lost yesterday?" Alfwine declined politely, and asked Pengolod to give a copy Underline the ledger and write the title.This is the job of an expert.Tom was there to provide them with enough ink, quills, and fine sand for the finished pages, and took the finished pages aside to dry.Pengolod couldn't help snickering when he saw Ah Tang practicing calligraphy on the shredded paper during his busy schedule.Apprentice to a scholar, some things never change.

The first half of the morning was quiet and productive in the bright store.After a while, Pengolod looked up and saw the old woman selling cakes peeping in from the mullioned window in front of the shop.He nodded to her, she waved happily, and walked away lightly.Pengolod commented: "It looks like she's sold out this batch." Soon, the three of them discovered that her mouth was never idle all the way selling cakes.As soon as she left, the door began to be opened, and a steady stream of people ushered in the store.

The first to enter was a woman with three children in tow.Alfwine received her calmly.Pengolod frowned.Of course, she can only bring in the baby that cannot be separated from her arms, but there are valuable paperwork and other items in the store, and she, a working woman, can definitely keep the oldest - who looks like eight years old - in the shop. Are you taking care of the four-year-old outside?The two children seemed a little too lively.Pengolod just thought that they looked like they were going to be mischievous, when the woman said in heavily accented Adunak: "Look, there's an elf in this store, you'd better be more honest with me point, or he'll tell Vera that you're all naughty bastards!" Then she turned to Alfwine, "Morning, owner. Are you still in the elf name business?"

"Yes, I'm still doing it. Is it to name this little guy?" Alfwine asked, nodding at the baby.

The older kid squirmed, as if he couldn't hold it anymore, and then yelled, "I want one too! We've got what you promised!"

The mother nodded, "All three." She said to the two children again, "Once you have Elvish names, you have to behave yourself to be worthy of those names. Hello." , you two understand?" Pengolod put his pen next to the inkwell, trying to get Alfwine's attention.

Alfwine noticed.Seeing Pengolod's expression, he said in Sindarin: "The people here have a custom to name their children not only in Adunak or similar languages, but also in Elvish. People Think it's honorable. But most of us here don't speak Elvish at all these days, so they ask people who know Elvish to come up with names. I thought if I charged a little more people wouldn't come As a result, more people came." While talking, he took out an old notebook from under the counter, then switched back to Adunak, and said enthusiastically: "Okay, who is this beautiful little doll? "

The mother proudly put the big, lively baby on the counter: "The family calls her Judo." The baby immediately took off one small shoe from the chubby foot, then took off the other, and held it in his hand. Waving and laughing. "No, Zudo! Don't take off your clothes!" the mother scolded.

"What do you think, how about calling her 'Lorraine Dahl'?" Alfwine suggested, "It means 'Golden Feet'."

The mother nodded immediately: "I like this one. I hope she can marry a good man thanks to those feet. Hey, it's your turn. Stand up straight, don't wipe your nose with your sleeves, and talk to a learned man." People talk!" After talking to the other two children, Alfwine named the quieter younger one "Manjumin" (meaning "blessed soft-voiced one") and the louder one. That one was named "surpalan" (meaning "wind that roams the four directions").

Alfwine wrote down these names in the notebook, and added the children's birthdays at the back.He explained to Pengolod next to him that if he changed his name, people would complain.While writing the three names on the paper, he told the woman how much they would charge.She seemed to want to bargain, but after one glance at Pengolod, she said, "Okay." Her two children seemed to be glued to the counter, staring at Pengolod openly.He got the impression that she probably felt that as long as her children could stay still, even for a while, it would be worth the price.

Alfwine watched them leave with a sigh of relief, then looked at the counter, and found that there was a piece of damp where the baby's butt was just now, he couldn't help shaking his head: "Ah Tang, wipe the counter, be sure to hurry. Soap and scrub well."

"Is this kind of thing common?" Pengolod finally said.

"Once or twice a week. If they are proud enough to spend the money for their children, they usually bring the baby in swaddling. The one you saw just now is not so common." Alfwine put the coin in his hand Clink them and tuck them into the purse on your belt.

It didn't take long for them to realize that the old pastry woman had spread the word that there was an elf in Alfwine's shop.A few people came in and bought some blank notebooks, or the few maps in stock.A wealthy businessman dressed in gaudy and contrasting colors came in pretentiously, but Alfwine refused to sell him what he called "the exquisite big book you are writing over there", which annoyed him very much.The woman who came first was quick to think, and probably quick to spread rumors, for that afternoon it seemed that every father or mother who had a child in the cradle felt obliged to give the baby It is impossible to have an elf alias.

Pengolod watched and listened with delight.There was no need for him to go out and see Romenna, because all of Romenna came here.There are people who work for a living, and there are idlers, with tanned skin and hair