A lesson to learn

Lithonion, Maeglin, Saelbeth and Galdor sit together on a table at the Gray Havens, ready to sail. Saelbeth complains about chores he has to do at home, after coming from Erestor's library where he worked hard the whole day. Maeglin agrees with him, that an ellon should not have to do anything at home. Galdor is rather quiet.

Lithonion listened the whole time then he says.
" You know, Lachiel my wife, told me something loooong ago. I got to tell you:

An ellon was sick and tired of going to battle every other century while his wife
stayed home.
He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed:
"Dear Valar! I go to war, I hunt and fight, I serve my Woodland king every day and my wife
merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through, so please allow
her body to switch with mine for a day.

The Valar, in their infinite wisdom, granted the ellon's wish.

The next morning, sure enough, the ellon awoke as an elleth.
He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, awakened the elflings, set out their robes for school at Erestor, fed them lembas, packed their lembas for school, rode them in the carriage to Imladris, came, home and picked up the formal robes at Figwit's river cleaning, and stopped at the forge to stand in line to get kitchen and shirt knives to be sharpened, went to the forest to pick berries and mushrooms, then walked home to put away the goods, paid the bills for horseshoeing and cleaned out pantry, where lots of Mirkwood spiders had found their home.

He cleaned the chicken pen and fed the hounds.

Then it was already 1 P.M. and he hurried to make the beds, do the
laundry, dust and sweep and mop the talan floor. Ran to Erestor
to pick up the elflings and got into an argument with one on the
way home. Set out goat milk and lembas and got the kids organized to do their
homework with ink, quill and parchment, then set up the ironing board , made fire to heat up iron and listend to the lament for Gandalf while flattening the robes.

At 4:30 he began peeling beets and washing mushrooms for salad,
breaded the venison and snapped fresh fir sprouts for supper.
After supper, he cleaned the kitchen, washed the dishes, folded
laundry, bathed the elflings, and put them to their hammocks.

At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't
finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to
get through without complaint.

The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said:"
Valar! I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my
wife's being able to stay home all day. Please, oh please, let us trade
back."

The Valar, in their infinite wisdom, replied: "My son, I feel you have
learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the
way they were.You'll just have to wait an elvish year, though. You got
pregnant last night."