Attercop, by Himring
Sep. 19th, 2021 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hhimring posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tolkienshortfanworksTitle: Attercop
Characters: Beren
Pairing: n/a
Text type / Format: ficlet
Source / Fandom: Silmarillion, The Hobbit
Rating: PG
Warnings: brief references to mental health, spiders, violence against spiders.
Word Count: 120
Summary: Beren in Nan Dungortheb
Author notes: This does not do what the formal challenge for September asked for, as I ended up simply quoting a bit of Bilbo's poetry. I decided to finish and post it anyway. The piece probably falls into the category of "crack taken halfway seriously".
Beren felt his mind begin to fray. It had been difficult enough to maintain a degree of sanity fighting the encroachments of the Enemy as the sole survivor in Dorthonion, but there at least he had had the support of the dwindling number of friendly animals who remained his allies in that fight. In Nan Dungortheb, the battle against Unlight had been lost long ago.
Still, sane or no, he would not let that stop him. He would not let any overgrown spider bar his way, no matter how much malice it exuded.
‘Attercop, attercop, down you drop!’ he howled and charged.
Since that day, no spider has liked being called attercop. It has, they explain, unpleasant associations for them.
A/N: As others have noted, attercop is simply an old word for a spider in English, especially for a venomous one. As spiders are presumably not ashamed of their venom, it becomes an insult in The Hobbit merely because Tolkien decided it was, and that suggests there could be an origin story for that.
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Date: 2021-09-19 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-19 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-20 12:15 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2021-09-20 10:20 pm (UTC)Thank you, Erulisse!
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Date: 2021-09-20 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-20 10:21 pm (UTC)(I haven't got around to cross-posting this one anywhere else yet.)