# embedding_metadata

key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the Ring-wraiths had met his doom. 
     'What did I tell you? Something's happening!'  cried Sam. '  (The  war's 
going well,(  said Shagrat; but Gorbag he  wasn't so sure. And  he was right 
there too. Things are looking up, Mr. Frodo. Haven't you got some hope now?' 
     'Well  no,  not much,  Sam,'  Frodo  sighed. 'That's  away  beyond  the 
mountains.  We're going east not west. And I'm  so tired. And the Ring  is so  
heavy, Sam.  And  I begin to  see it in my mind  all the time, like a  great 
wheel of fire.' 
     Sam's  quick  spirits  sank again  at  once. He  looked  at  his master  
anxiously, and he took his hand.  'Come, Mr.  Frodo!' he said. 'I've got one 
thing  I  wanted: a bit of light. Enough  to help  us, and yet I guess  it's 
dangerous too. Try a bit further,  and then we'll lie close and have a rest. 
But take a morsel to eat now, a bit of the E lves' food; it may hearten you.' 
     Sharing  a  wafer of   lembas, and  munching it as  best they could with


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-stern  and kingly face  it  saw, and for  a while it gave  little thought to 
other things;  and  all its great  stronghold, gate on  gate,  and tower  on 
tower, was wrapped in a brooding gloom. 
     Frodo and Sam gazed out in  mingled loathing and wonder on this hateful 
land. Between them and  the smoking mountain, and about  it north and south, 
all seemed ruinous and dead, a  desert burned  and choked. They wondered 
how 
the Lord of  this realm maintained  and  fed his  slaves and his armies. Yet 
armies he had.  As far as their  eyes could reach, along the  skirts  of the 
Morgai and away southward,  there were camps, some  of tents,  some  ordered 
like small towns. One of the largest of these was right below them. Barely a  
mile  out into  the  plain it clustered like some huge nest of insects, with 
straight dreary streets of huts  and  long low drab buildings. About it  the 
ground  was  busy  with folk  going  to and  fro; a  wide  road  ran from it


key: chroma:document
string_value:
At length they came to the door upon the outer court, and they  halted. 
Even  from where they stood they felt the malice  of the Watchers beating on 
them, black silent shapes on either side of the gate through which the glare


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-I've  still  got  to do the best I can. At  present that  is to avoid  being 
captured  as long as possible.  So we must still go northwards, I think, and 
see what it is like where the open plain is narrower.' 
     'I guess what it'll be like,' said  Sam. 'Where it's narrower the  Orcs 
and Men will just be packed closer. You'll see, Mr. Frodo.' 
     'I dare say I shall, if  we ever get so  far,'  said  Frodo  and turned 
away. 
     They  soon  found that it was impossible  to  make their way  along the 
crest of  the Morgai, or anywhere along its  higher levels, pathless as they 
were  and scored with deep ghylls. In the end they were  forced to  go  back  
down the ravine that they had  climbed and seek for a way  along the valley. 
It was  rough going,  for  they  dared not  cross  over  to the  path on the 
westward side. After a mile or more  they  saw,  huddled in a  hollow at the 
cliff's foot,  the orc-hold that  they had guessed  was near at hand: a wall


key: chroma:document
string_value:
another day; but Frodo sighed.  His sleep had been uneasy, full of dreams of 
fire, and  waking  brought  him no comfort.  Still  his sleep  had not  been 
without  all healing virtue: he was stronger, more able  to  bear his burden 
one stage further. They did not know the time, nor how long  they had slept;  
but after a morsel of food and a sip of water  they went  on up  the ravine, 
until it ended in a sharp slope of screes and sliding stones. There the last  
living things gave up their struggle; the tops of the Morgai were grassless,  
bare, jagged, barren as a slate. 
     After much wandering and search they found a way that they could climb, 
and with a last hundred feet  of clawing scramble they were up. They came to 
a cleft between two dark crags, and passing through found  themselves on the 
very edge of the last  fence of Mordor. Below them, at the  bottom of a fall 
of  some fifteen hundred feet,  lay  the inner plain stretching away into  a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
But take a morsel to eat now, a bit of the E lves' food; it may hearten you.' 
     Sharing  a  wafer of   lembas, and  munching it as  best they could with 
their parched  mouths. Frodo and Sam  plodded on. The light,  though no more 
than a grey  dusk, was now enough for them to see that they were deep in the 
valley  between  the mountains. It sloped  up gently  northward,  and at its 
bottom  went the bed  of a now dry  and  withered stream.  Beyond  its stony 
course  they saw a beaten  path that  wound  its way under the  feet of  the 
westward cliffs. Had they known,  they could have reached it quicker, for it 
was a track that  left the main Morgul-road at the  western  bridge-end  and 
went down  by  a long stair cut in the rock to the valley's  bottom.  It was 
used  by  patrols  or  by  messengers going  swiftly  to  lesser  posts  and 
strongholds north-away, between Cirith Ungol and the narrows of  Isenmouthe, 
the iron jaws of Carach Angren.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
still for a while.' 
     Crouched under  a great  boulder they sat facing back  westward and did 
not speak  for some  time. Then  Frodo  breathed  a  sigh of  relief.  'It's 
passed,' he said.  They  stood up, and then they both stared in wonder. Away 
to their left, southward, against a sky that was turning grey, the peaks and 
high  ridges  of  the great range began  to appear  dark and black,  visible 
shapes. Light  was growing behind them.  Slowly it crept towards the  North. 
There  was battle far above  in  the high spaces of the  air. The  billowing 
clouds of Mordor were being driven back, their edges tattering as a wind out 
of  the living world came up and swept the fumes and smokes towards the dark 
land of their home. Under  the lifting skirts of the dreary canopy dim light 
leaked into Mordor like pale morning through the grimed window of a prison. 
     'Look at it, Mr. Frodo!'  said  Sam. 'Look  at it!  The wind's changed.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the briar-thickets clouds of hungry midges danced and reeled. 
     'Orc-gear's no  good,' said Sam, waving his  arms. 'I  wish I'd  got  an 
orc's hide!' 
     At  last Frodo  could  go  no further.  They had  climbed  up  a narrow 
shelving ravine, but  they still had a long way to go before they could even 
come in sight of the last craggy ridge. 'I must rest  now, Sam, and sleep if 
I can.' said Frodo.  He looked  about, but there seemed  nowhere even for an 
animal to crawl into  in this  dismal  country.  At length,  tired out, they 
slunk  under a  curtain  of brambles that hung  down  like a  mat over a low 
rock-face. 
     There  they sat and  made such a meal as they could. Keeping  back  the 
precious  lembas for the evil days ahead, they ate the half of what remained 
in Sam's bag of Faramir's provision: some  dried fruit, and a small  slip of 
cured meat; and they sipped some water. They  had drunk again from the pools


key: chroma:document
string_value:
straight dreary streets of huts  and  long low drab buildings. About it  the 
ground  was  busy  with folk  going  to and  fro; a  wide  road  ran from it 
south-east to join the  Morgul-way, and along it  many  lines of small black  
shapes were hurrying. 
     'I don't like the look of things at all,' said Sam. 'Pretty hopeless, I 
call it  - saving that where there's such  a lot of folk  there must be wells 
or water, not to mention  food. And these  are Men not Orcs,  or  my eyes are 
all wrong.' 
     Neither  he nor Frodo knew  anything of  the great slave-worked  fields 
away south  in this wide realm, beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark 
sad waters  of Lake  N®rnen; nor of  the great roads that ran away  east and 
south to tributary lands, from which the soldiers of the Tower  brought long  
waggon-trains of goods  and booty and fresh  slaves. Here  in  the northward 
regions were the mines and forges, and the musterings of  long-planned  war;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-don't even know what you're looking for.' 
     'Whose  blame's that?'  said the  soldier. 'Not mine. That  comes  from 
Higher Up.  First they  say  it's a great Elf in bright armour, then  it's a  
sort of small dwarf-man, then it must be a pack of rebel Uruk -hai; or  maybe  
it's all the lot together.' 
     'Ar!' said the tracker. 'They've lost their  heads, that's what it  is.  
And some of the bosses are going to lose their skins too, I guess, if what I 
hear is true: Tower raided and all, and hundreds of your  lads done in,  and 
prisoner got  away.  If that's  the  way you fighters  go on,  small  wonder 
there's bad news from the battles.' 
     'Who says there's bad news?' shouted the soldier. 
     'Ar! Who says there isn't?' 
     'That's cursed rebel-talk, and I'll  stick  you, if  you don't shut  it 
down, see?' 
     'All right, all right!' said  the tracker. 'I'll say  no more and go on


key: chroma:document
string_value:
used  by  patrols  or  by  messengers going  swiftly  to  lesser  posts  and 
strongholds north-away, between Cirith Ungol and the narrows of  Isenmouthe, 
the iron jaws of Carach Angren. 
     It was  perilous for the hobbits to use  such  a path,  but they needed 
speed, and  Frodo felt that he could not face the  toil of  scrambling among 
the boulders or in the trackless glens  of  the Morgai. And  he  judged that 
northward was, maybe, the way that their hunters would least expect them  to 
take.  The  road east  to the plain, or the pass back westward,  those  they 
would first search most thoroughly. Only when he was well north of the Tower  
did he mean to turn and seek for some way to take him east, east on the last 
desperate  stage of his journey. So now  they crossed the stony bed and took  
to  the orc-path, and  for some time  they  marched along  it. The cliffs at 
their left  were overhung, and they could  not be seen  from above; but  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
very edge of the last  fence of Mordor. Below them, at the  bottom of a fall 
of  some fifteen hundred feet,  lay  the inner plain stretching away into  a  
formless gloom beyond their sight. The wind  of the world blew now from  the 
West, and  the great clouds  were lifted  high,  floating away eastward; but 
still only a grey  light came to the dreary fields of Gorgoroth. There smokes 
trailed on the ground and lurked in hollows, and fumes  leaked from fissures 
in the earth. 
     Still far away, forty  miles  at least,  they  saw Mount Doom, its feet 
founded in  ashen ruin, its huge cone rising  to  a great height,  where its 
reeking  head was swathed in cloud. Its fires were now  dimmed, and it stood 
in smouldering slumber, as threatening and  dangerous as a  sleeping  beast.  
Behind it there hung a vast shadow, ominous as a thunder-cloud, the veils of 
Barad-dyr  that was  reared far  way upon a long spur of the Ashen Mountains


key: chroma:document
string_value:
waggon-trains of goods  and booty and fresh  slaves. Here  in  the northward 
regions were the mines and forges, and the musterings of  long-planned  war; 
and  here the  Dark  Power, moving its armies like pieces on the  board, was 
gathering them together. Its first moves, the first feelers of its strength, 
had been  checked  upon  its western  line, southward and northward. For the 
moment  it withdrew  them,  and  brought  up new forces, massing  them about 
Cirith Gorgor for an avenging stroke. And if it had also been its purpose to 
defend the Mountain against all approach, it could scarcely have done more. 
     'Well!' Sam went on. 'Whatever they have to eat and drink, we can't get 
it. There's no way down that I can see. And we couldn't cross  all that open 
country crawling with enemies, even if we did get down.' 
     'Still  we  shall  have to  try,'  said  Frodo.  'It's  no worse than I 
expected. I never hoped to get across. I can't see any  hope  of it now. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
in Sam's bag of Faramir's provision: some  dried fruit, and a small  slip of 
cured meat; and they sipped some water. They  had drunk again from the pools 
in the valley, but they were very, thirsty again. There was a bitter tang in 
the air of Mordor  that dried the mouth. When Sam thought of water  even his 
hopeful spirit quailed.  Beyond  the Morgai there was the dreadful plain  of 
Gorgoroth to cross.  
     'Now  you go to  sleep first, Mr. Frodo,' he said.  'It's getting  dark 
again. I reckon this day is nearly over.' 
     Frodo sighed and was  asleep almost before  the words were  spoken. Sam 
struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodo's hand; and there he sat 
silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled 
from  the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking  and 
cracking and sly noises, but there was  no  sound of  voice or  of foot. Far 
above the  Ephel D®ath  in the West  the night-sky  was still dim and  pale.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
to  the orc-path, and  for some time  they  marched along  it. The cliffs at 
their left  were overhung, and they could  not be seen  from above; but  the 
path made many bends, and at each  bend they  gripped their  sword-hilts and 
went forward cautiously.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
leaked into Mordor like pale morning through the grimed window of a prison. 
     'Look at it, Mr. Frodo!'  said  Sam. 'Look  at it!  The wind's changed. 
Something's happening. He's not having it all  his own way.  His darkness is 
breaking up out in the world there. I wish I could see what is going on!' 
     It was  the morning  of the fifteenth of  March,  and over the  Vale of 
Anduin the Sun was rising  above the eastern shadow, and the south-west wind 
was blowing. Thjoden lay dying on the Pelennor Fields.  
     As Frodo and Sam stood and gazed, the rim of light spread all along the 
line  of the Ephel D®ath, and then they saw a shape, moving at a great speed 
out of  the West, at first only a  black speck against  the glimmering strip 
above the mountain-tops, but  growing, until it plunged like a bolt into the 
dark canopy and passed high above them. As it went it sent out a long shrill  
cry, the voice of a Nazgyl; but this cry no longer held any terror for them:


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Behind it there hung a vast shadow, ominous as a thunder-cloud, the veils of 
Barad-dyr  that was  reared far  way upon a long spur of the Ashen Mountains 
thrust down from the North. The Dark Power was deep in  thought, and the Eye 
turned inward, pondering tidings of doubt and danger: a  bright sword, and a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'That's cursed rebel-talk, and I'll  stick  you, if  you don't shut  it 
down, see?' 
     'All right, all right!' said  the tracker. 'I'll say  no more and go on 
thinking.  But what's  the black  sneak got to do with  it all? That gobbler  
with the flapping hands?' 
     'I  don't know. Nothing, maybe.  But he's up to no good, nosing around, 
I'll  wager. Curse him! No sooner had  he slipped us and run  off than  word 
came he's wanted alive, wanted quick.' 
     'Well,  I hope they  get  him and  put him  through  it,'  growled  the 
tracker.  'He  messed up  the  scent  back  there,  pinching  that  cast -off 
mail-shirt  that he  found,  and paddling all round the place before I could 
get there.' 
     'It  saved his  life anyhow,' said  the soldier. 'Why, before I knew he 
was wanted I shot him, as neat as neat, at fifty  paces  right in the  back; 
but he ran on.' 
     'Garn!  You missed him,' said the  tracker. 'First you shoot wild, then


key: chroma:document
string_value:
into  the dust. Here it came out of  the rock in a little falling streamlet, 
and  flowed  across the path, and turning south  ran away swiftly to be lost  
among the dead stones.  
     Sam sprang towards it. 'If ever I see the Lady again, I will tell her!' 
he cried . 'Light  and now  water!' Then he stopped. 'Let me  drink first Mr. 
Frodo,' he said. 
     'All right, but there's room enough for two.' 
     'I didn't  mean  that,'  said  Sam.  'I  mean:  if it's  poisonous,  or  
something  that will  show  its  badness quick, well,  better me  than  you, 
master, if you understand me.' 
     'I do. But I think we'll trust our luck together, Sam; or our blessing. 
Still, be careful now, if it's very cold!' 
     The water was cool but not icy, and it had an unpleasant taste, a t once 
bitter and  oily, or  so they would have said at home. Here it seemed beyond 
all  praise, and beyond fear  or  prudence. They  drank their  fill, and Sam


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-steadily dwindled as it climbed upwards, and the inner ridge was now no more 
than a shelf in the steep faces of the Ephel D®ath; but to  the east it fell 
as  sheerly as  ever down into Gorgoroth. Ahead the water -course came  to an 
end in broken steps of rock; for out from the main range there sprang a high 
barren spur, thrusting  eastward like a wall. To meet it there stretched out 
from the grey and misty  northern  range  of Ered Lithui a long jutting arm; 
and between the ends there  was a narrow gap: Carach Angren, the Isenmouthe, 
beyond  which lay the deep  dale of Udyn.  In that dale  behind the Morannon 
were the tunnels and deep armouries that the servants of Mordor had made for  
the defence of the Black Gate of their  land; and there now  their  Lord was 
gathering in haste great forces to meet the onslaught of the Captains of the 
West. Upon the out-thrust spurs forts and towers were built, and watch-fires


key: chroma:document
string_value:
was wanted I shot him, as neat as neat, at fifty  paces  right in the  back; 
but he ran on.' 
     'Garn!  You missed him,' said the  tracker. 'First you shoot wild, then 
you run too  slow, and then you  send for the poor trackers. I've had enough 
of you.' He loped off. 
     'You come back,' shouted the soldier, 'or I'll report you!' 
     'Who to? Not to your precious Shagrat. He won't be captain any more.' 
     'I'll  give  your  name and  number  to the Nazgyl,'  said  the soldier  
lowering his voice to a hiss. 'One of them's in charge at the Tower now.' 
     The other halted, and his voice was  full of fear and rage. 'You cursed 
peaching sneakthief!' he yelled. 'You can't do  your job, and you can't even 
stick by your own folk. Go to your filthy Shriekers, and may they freeze the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
dark canopy and passed high above them. As it went it sent out a long shrill  
cry, the voice of a Nazgyl; but this cry no longer held any terror for them: 
it was a cry of woe and dismay, ill tidings for the Dark Tower. The Lord  of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     It  was difficult and dangerous moving in  the  night  in the  pathless 
land; but slowly and with much  stumbling the two hobbits  toiled on hour by 
hour northward along the eastern edge of the stony valley. When a grey light 
crept back over the western  heights, long after day had opened in the lands 
beyond, they went into hiding again and slept a little, turn by turn. In his 
times  of waking  Sam  was busy  with thoughts  of food. At  last when Frodo 
roused himself and spoke of eating and making ready for yet  another effort, 
he asked the question that was troubling him most. 
     'Begging your pardon, Mr. Frodo,' he said, 'but have you any notion how 
far there is still to go?' 
     'No, not any clear notion, Sam, ' Frodo answered. 'In Rivendell before I 
set out I was shown a map of Mordor that was made before the Enemy came 
back 
here; but I only remember it  vaguely. I remember clearest  that there was a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-flesh off you! If the enemy  doesn't get them  first. They've done in Number  
One, I've heard, and I hope it's true!' 
     The big orc, spear in hand, leapt after him. But the tracker, springing 
behind  a  stone,  put an arrow in  his eye as he ran up, and he fell with a  
crash. The other ran off across the valley and disappeared. 
     For a while the hobbits sat in silence. At length  Sam stirred. 'Well I 
call  that  neat as neat,'  he said. 'If this nice friendliness would spread 
about in Mordor, half our trouble would be over.' 
     'Quietly,  Sam,' Frodo whispered. 'There  may be  others about. We have 
evidently had  a very narrow escape,  and the  hunt was hotter on our tracks 
than we guessed. But that is the spirit of Mordor, Sam; and it has spread to 
every corner of it. Orcs have always behaved like that, or so all tales say, 
when they are on their own. But you can't get much hope out of it. They hate


key: chroma:document
string_value:
set out I was shown a map of Mordor that was made before the Enemy came 
back 
here; but I only remember it  vaguely. I remember clearest  that there was a  
place in the north where the western  range and the  northern range send out 
spurs that nearly meet. That must be twenty leagues at least from the bridge  
back by the  Tower.  It might be  a  good point at which  to cross.  But  of 
course, if we get there, we shall be further than we were from the Mountain, 
sixty miles from it,  I should think. I guess that we have gone about twelve 
leagues  north from the bridge now.  Even if  all goes  well, I could hardly 
reach  the Mountain in  a week. I am afraid, Sam, that the  burden  will get 
very heavy, and I shall go still slower as we get nearer.' 
     Sam  sighed. 'That's just as I feared,' he said. 'Well,  to say nothing 
of water, we've got to eat less, Mr.  Frodo,  or else move a bit quicker, at 
any rate while we're still in this valley. One more bite  and all the food's


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-can't hold up my lids much longer.' 
     'Bless you, Sam!' said Frodo. 'Lie down  and take your pr oper turn! But 
I'd rather have Gollum than orcs. At any rate he  won't give us away to them 
- not unless he's caught himself.' 
     'But he might do a bit of robbery and murder on  his own,' growled Sam.  
'Keep your eyes open,  Mr. Frodo! There's  a bottle full of water. Drink up. 
We can fill it again when we go on.' With that Sam plunged into sleep. 
     Light was fading when  he  woke.  Frodo sat  propped  against  the rock  
behind, but he  had fallen asleep. The water-bottle  was empty. There was no 
sign of Gollum. 
     Mordor -dark  had returned, and the watch-fires on  the  heights  burned 
fierce and red, when the hobbits  set out  again on the most dangerous stage 
of all  their  journey.  They  went first  to  the  little  spring, and then 
climbing warily up they  came to the road at the  point  where it swung east


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     He gave  Frodo  water  and an additional wafer of the  waybread, and he 
made  a pillow of his cloak for his master's  head. Frodo  was too  weary to 
debate the matter, and Sam did not tell  him that he had drunk the last drop 
of  their water, and eaten Sam's share of the food as well as  his own. When 
Frodo was asleep Sam bent over him and listened to his breathing and scanned 
his  face. It  was  lined and thin, and yet in  sleep it looked  content and 
unafraid. 'Well, here goes, Master!' Sam muttered  to himself. 'I'll have to 
leave you for a bit  and trust to luck. Water we must have, or we'll  get no 
further.' 
     Sam  crept  out,  and flitting  from  stone to  stone  with  more  than 
hobbit-care, he went down to the water -course, and then followed it for some 
way as it climbed  north, until he came to the rock -steps where long ago, no  
doubt,  its spring had come gushing  down  in  a little  waterfall. All  now


key: chroma:document
string_value:
westward side. After a mile or more  they  saw,  huddled in a  hollow at the 
cliff's foot,  the orc-hold that  they had guessed  was near at hand: a wall 
and a cluster of stone huts set about the dark mouth of a cave. There was no  
movement to be seen, but the hobbits crept by cautiously, keeping as much as 
they  could  to the thorn-brakes that  grew thickly at this point along both 
sides of the old water -course. 
     They went two or three miles further, and  the orc-hold was hidden from 
sight behind them; but  they had hardly begun  to breathe  more freely again 
when harsh and loud they heard orc-voices. Quickly  they  slunk out of sight 
behind a brown and stunted bush.  The voices drew nearer. Presently two orcs 
came  into view. One was  clad in ragged  brown and was armed with a  bow of 
horn;  it was of  a small  breed, black -skinned,  with  wide  and  snuffling 
nostrils:  evidently  a   tracker  of  some  kind.  The  other  was   a  big


key: chroma:document
string_value:
bitter and  oily, or  so they would have said at home. Here it seemed beyond 
all  praise, and beyond fear  or  prudence. They  drank their  fill, and Sam 
replenished his water -bottle. After that Frodo felt easier, and they went on 
for several miles, until the broadening of the road and  the beginnings of a  
rough wall along its edge warned them that they were drawing near to another  
orc-hold. 
     'This  is  where  we  turn aside, Sam,' said  Frodo. 'And we  must turn 
east.'  He  sighed as he looked a t  the gloomy ridges across the  valley. 'I  
have just about  enough strength left to find  some hole  away up there. And  
then I must rest a little.' 
     The river -bed  was now some way  below the path. They scrambled down to 
it,  and began to cross  it. To their surprise they came upon dark pools fed 
by  threads  of water trickling down from some source  higher up the valley.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-dark, swiftly growing. Now Sam too bowed his head, hoping that it  would hide 
his face when the  torches reached  them; and he  set  their  shields before 
their knees to hide their feet. 
     'If only  they  are in a hurry and will let a couple of tired  soldiers 
alone and pass on!' he thought. 
     And so it  seemed that they would. The leading  orcs came loping along, 
panting, holding their  heads down. They  were  a gang of the smaller breeds 
being driven unwilling to their Dark Lord's wars; all they cared for  was to 
get the march over and escape the whip. Beside them, running up and down the 
line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting. File 
after file passed, and the tell-tale torchlight was  already some way ahead. 
Sam held his  breath. Now more than half the line had gone by. Then suddenly 
one of the slave-drivers spied the two figures  by the road-side. He flicked


key: chroma:document
string_value:
every corner of it. Orcs have always behaved like that, or so all tales say, 
when they are on their own. But you can't get much hope out of it. They hate 
us far  more,  altogether  and all the time. If  those two had seen us, they 
would have dropped all their quarrel until we were dead.' 
     There was another long silence. Sam broke it again,  but with a whisper  
this time.  'Did you hear what they  said  about  that gobbler, Mr.  Frodo? I 
told you Gollum wasn't dead yet, didn't I?' 
     'Yes, I remember. And I wondered  how you knew,' said Frodo. 'Well come 
now!  I think we had better not move out from here again,  until it has gone 
quite dark. So  you shall tell me how you know, a nd all about what happened. 
If you can do it quietly.' 
     'I'll try,' said Sam, 'but when I think of  that Stinker I get so hot l 
could shout.' 
     There the hobbits sat under the  cover  of  the  thorny bush, while the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
gathering in haste great forces to meet the onslaught of the Captains of the 
West. Upon the out-thrust spurs forts and towers were built, and watch-fires 
burned;  and all  across  the gap an earth-wall had been  raised, and a deep 
trench delved that could be crossed only by a single bridge. 
     A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched 
away from the main range, stood the old castle  of Durthang, now one of  the 
many orc-holds  that  clustered about  the dale of  Udyn.  A  road,  already 
visible in the growing light, came winding  down from it, until only a  mile 
or two from where the hobbits  lay it turned east and ran along a  shelf cut 
in the side of the  spur, and so went  down  into the plain,  and  on to the 
Isenmouthe. 
     To  the hobbits as  they  looked  out it seemed that all their  journey 
north had been useless. The plain to their right was dim and smoky, and they


key: chroma:document
string_value:
of water, we've got to eat less, Mr.  Frodo,  or else move a bit quicker, at 
any rate while we're still in this valley. One more bite  and all the food's 
ended, save the Elves' waybread.' 
     'I'll try  and be  a  bit  quicker, Sam,'  said  Frodo,  drawing a deep 
breath. 'Come on then! Let's start another march!' 
     It was not yet quite dark again. They plodded along, on into the night. 
The hours passed in  a weary stumbling trudge with a few brief halts. At the 
first  hint of grey light  under the skirts of the canopy of shadow they hid 
themselves again in a dark hollow under an overhanging stone. 
     Slowly  the  light  grew, until it  was clearer than it yet had been. A 
strong wind from the West was now driving the fumes of Mordor from the 
upper 
airs. Before long the hobbits could make out the shape of the land for  some 
miles  about  them.  The trough  between the  mountains  and  the Morgai had


key: chroma:document
string_value:
horn;  it was of  a small  breed, black -skinned,  with  wide  and  snuffling 
nostrils:  evidently  a   tracker  of  some  kind.  The  other  was   a  big 
fighting-orc, like those of Shagrat's company, bearing the token of the Eye. 
He  also had  a  bow at his back and carried  a short broad-headed spear. As 
usual they  were  quarrelling, and  being of  different breeds they used the 
Common Speech a fter their fashion. 
     Hardly  twenty  paces  from where the  hobbits  lurked  the  small  orc 
stopped. 'Nar!' it snarled. 'I'm going  home.' It  pointed across the valley 
to  the orc-hold. 'No good wearing my nose out  on  stones any more. There's 
not a  trace left, I say. I've lost the scent through  giving way to you. It 
went up into the hills, not along the valley, I tell you.' 
     'Not  much use  are you,  you little snufflers?' said the  big  orc. 'I  
reckon eyes are better than your snotty noses.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-your camp. Do you good. Don't you know we're at war?' 
     They had gone some miles, and the road was at  last running down a long  
slope into the plain, when  Frodo's  strength began to give out and his will 
wavered. He lurched and stumbled. Desperately Sam tried to help him and hold 
him up,  though  he felt  that he could  himself hardly  stay  the pace much 
longer.  At any moment now he knew that the end would come: his master 
would 
faint or fall, and  all would be discovered, and  their bitter efforts be in 
vain.  'I'll have that big slave-driving devil anyway,' he thought. 
     Then just as  he  was putting his hand  to the hilt of his sword, there 
came an unexpected relief.  They were out on the plain now and drawing  near 
the entrance to Udyn. Some  way in  front  of it,  before  the  gate  at the 
bridge-end, the  road  from the  west converged with others coming from  the 
south, and from Barad-dyr.  Along all the roads troops were moving; for  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Isenmouthe. 
     To  the hobbits as  they  looked  out it seemed that all their  journey 
north had been useless. The plain to their right was dim and smoky, and they 
could  see  there  neither camps nor troops moving; but all  that region was 
under the vigilance of the for ts of Carach Angren. 
     'We have  come to a dead end, Sam,'  said Frodo. 'If we go on, we shall 
only come up to that orc-tower, but the only  road to take is that road that 
comes down from it - unless we go back. We can't climb up westward, or climb 
down eastward.' 
     'Then we must take the road, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. 'We must take it and 
chance our luck,  if there is  any  luck in  Mordor. We  might as  well give 
ourselves up as wander  about any more,  or try  to go back. Our  food won't  
last. We've got to make a dash for it!' 
     'All right, Sam,' said Frodo. 'Lead me! As long as  you've got any hope 
left. Mine is gone. But I can't dash, Sam. I'll just plod along after you.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
went up into the hills, not along the valley, I tell you.' 
     'Not  much use  are you,  you little snufflers?' said the  big  orc. 'I  
reckon eyes are better than your snotty noses.' 
     'Then what  have  you  seen with them?' snarled the  other.  'Garn! You


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Sam held his  breath. Now more than half the line had gone by. Then suddenly 
one of the slave-drivers spied the two figures  by the road-side. He flicked 
a whip at them and yelled:  'Hi, you! Get up!' They did not answer, and with 
a shout he halted the whole company. 
     'Come on, you slugs!' he cried.  'This is  no time  for  sl ouching.' He 
took a step towards them, and even in the gloom he recognized the devices on 
their shields.  'Deserting,  eh?'  he snarled.  'Or thinking of it? All your 
folk  should  have been inside Udyn before yesterday evening. You know that. 
Up you get and fall in, or I'll have your numbers and report you.' 
     They  struggled to their  feet, and keeping bent, limping like footsore 
soldiers, they shuffled back towards the rear  of  the line. 'No, not at the 
rear!' the slave-driver shouted.  'Three files up. And stay there, or you'll 
know it,  when I come down the line!' He sent his  long  whip-lash  cracking


key: chroma:document
string_value:
of all  their  journey.  They  went first  to  the  little  spring, and then 
climbing warily up they  came to the road at the  point  where it swung east  
towards  the Isenmouthe  twenty miles away. It was not a broad road, and  it  
had  no wall  or parapet along the edge and as it ran on the sheer drop from 
its brink became deeper and deeper. The hobbits could hear no movements, and 
after listening for a while they set off eastward at a steady pace. 
     After doing some twelve miles, they halted. A short  way back the  road 
had  bent a  little northward and  the stretch that they had passed over was 
now screened  from  sight.  This proved  disastrous. They  rested  for  some 
minutes and then went on; but they had not taken many steps when suddenly in 
the stillness of  the  night they  heard the  sound that all along  they had 
secretly dreaded: the   noise of marching feet. It was still some way  behind


key: chroma:document
string_value:
last. We've got to make a dash for it!' 
     'All right, Sam,' said Frodo. 'Lead me! As long as  you've got any hope 
left. Mine is gone. But I can't dash, Sam. I'll just plod along after you.' 
     'Before  you start  any more  plodding,  you need  sleep and food,  Mr. 
Frodo. Come and take what you can get of them!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
bridge-end, the  road  from the  west converged with others coming from  the 
south, and from Barad-dyr.  Along all the roads troops were moving; for  the  
Captains  of  the  West  were  advancing  and the Dark Lord was speeding his 
forces  north.  So it  chanced that  several companies came together at  the 
road-meeting, in the dark beyond the light of  the watch-fires on the  wall. 
At once there was great  jostling  and  cursing as  each troop  tried to get 
first to the gate and the ending of  their march.  Though the drivers yelled 
and plied  their whips, scuffles broke out and  some blades  were  drawn.  A 
troop of heavy-armed uruks from Barad-dyr charged into the Durthang line and 
threw them into confusion. 
     Dazed as he  was with  pain and weariness, Sam woke up, grasped quickly 
at his chance, and  threw  himself to the  ground, dragging Frodo down  with  
him. Orcs fell over them, snarling and  cursing. Slowly on hand and knee the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-a new dark thought  grew in his mind. Never  for long had  hope died in  his 
staunch  heart, and  always until now he  had  taken some thought  for their 
return.  But the  bitter  truth  came  home to him  at  last:  at best their 
provision  would take them to  their goal; and when the task was done, there 
they would come to  an end,  alone, houseless, foodless  in  the midst  of a  
terrible desert. There could be no return. 
     'So that was the job I felt I had to  do when  I started,' thought Sam: 
'to help  Mr. Frodo to the last step and then die with him? Well, if that is 
the job then I must do it. But I would dearly like to see Bywater again, and 
Rosie Cotton and her brothers, and the Gaffer and Marigold  and all. I can't 
think somehow that Gandalf would have sent Mr. Frodo on this errand if there 
hadn't a' been  any hope  of his  ever coming back at all. Things  all  went 
wrong when  he went  down  in Moria.  I  wish he hadn't. He  would have done 
something.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
way as it climbed  north, until he came to the rock -steps where long ago, no  
doubt,  its spring had come gushing  down  in  a little  waterfall. All  now 
seemed dry and silent; but refusing to despair Sam stooped and listened, and 
to his  delight he caught the sound of  trickling. Clambering a few steps up 
he found a tiny stream of dark water that came out  from the  hill -side  and 
filled a  little bare pool,  from which again it spilled, and vanished  then 
under the barren stones. 
     Sam tasted the water, and it seemed good enough. Then  he drank deeply,  
refilled the  bottle,  and turned  to go back.  At that  moment he caught  a  
glimpse of a black form or shadow flitting among the rocks away near Frodo's 
hiding-place.  Biting  back  a cry, he leapt  down from the spring and  ran, 
jumping from stone to stone. It was  a  wary creature, difficult to see, but 
Sam had little doubt about it: he longed to get  his hands on its  neck. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
rear!' the slave-driver shouted.  'Three files up. And stay there, or you'll 
know it,  when I come down the line!' He sent his  long  whip-lash  cracking  
over their heads; then with another crack  and a yell he started the company 
off again at a brisk trot. 
     It was hard enough for poor Sam, tired a s he was;  but for Frodo it was 
a torment, and soon a nightmare. He set his teeth and tried to stop his mind 
from  thinking, and he struggled  on. The stench of the sweating  orcs about 
him was stifling, and he began to gasp with thirst. On, on they went, and he 
bent  all  his will to draw his breath and to make  his legs keep going; and 
yet to  what evil end  he toiled and endured he did not dare to think. There 
was no hope of falling out  unseen: Now and  again the orc-driver fell  back  
and jeered at them. 
     'There now!' he laughed, flicking at their  legs. 'Where there's a whip 
there's a  will, my slugs. Hold up! I'd give you a nice freshener  now, only


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Once more they started, crawling from hollow to hollow, flitting behind 
such  cover  as they could find,  but moving always in  a slant towards  the 
foothills of the northern  range. But as they went the  most easterly of the 
roads followed them, until it ran  off, hugging the skirts of the mountains, 
away into a wall of black shadow far ahead. Neither  man  nor orc now  moved 
along its flat grey stretches; for the Dark Lord  had almost  completed  the 
movement of his forces, and even in the  fastness of his own realm he sought 
the secrecy of night, fearing the winds of the world that had turned against 
him, tearing aside his veils, and troubled with  tidings of  bold spies that 
had passed through his fences. 
     The hobbits had  gone a few weary  miles when they halted. Frodo seemed 
nearly  spent. Sam saw that he could not  go much further in  this  fashion, 
crawling, stooping, now picking  a doubtful way very slowly, now hurrying at 
a stumbling run.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
If you can do it quietly.' 
     'I'll try,' said Sam, 'but when I think of  that Stinker I get so hot l 
could shout.' 
     There the hobbits sat under the  cover  of  the  thorny bush, while the 
drear light of  Mordor faded slowly into a deep and starless night; and  Sam 
spoke into Frodo's  ear  all  that he  could  find  words  for  of  Gollum's 
treacherous  attack, the  horror of Shelob, and his  own adventures with the 
orcs. When  he  had finished,  Frodo said nothing  but  took  Sam's hand and  
pressed it. At length he stirred. 
     'Well, I  suppose  we  must be going on  again,' he said. 'I wonder how 
long it will be before  we really are  caught  and all the  toiling and  the 
slinking will be over, and in vain.'  He stood up. 'It's dark, and we cannot 
use the  Lady's glass. Keep it safe  for me, Sam. I  have nowhere to keep it 
now, except in my hand, and  I shall need both hands in the blind night. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
at his chance, and  threw  himself to the  ground, dragging Frodo down  with  
him. Orcs fell over them, snarling and  cursing. Slowly on hand and knee the 
hobbits  crawled  away  out of  the  turmoil, until  at last unnoticed  they 
dropped  over the  further edge of the road. It  had a  high kerb  by  which 
troop-leaders could  guide  themselves  in black night or  fog,  and it  was 
banked up some feet above the level of the open land. 
     They  lay still   for a while.  It  was too dark to  seek  for cover, if 
indeed there was any to  find; but Sam felt that  they ought at least to get 
further away from the highways and out of the range of torch-light. 
     'Come on, Mr. Frodo!' he whispered.  'One more  crawl, and then you can 
lie still.' 
     With a last despairing effort Frodo  raised  himself on  his hands, and 
struggled on for maybe twenty yards. Then he pitched down into a shallow pit 
that opened unexpectedly before them, and there he lay like a dead thing.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Sam put his ragged orc-cloak under  his master's head, and covered them 
both with the grey robe of Lurien; and as he did so his thoughts went out to 
that fair land, and to the Elves, and he hoped that the cloth woven by their 
hands  might  have some virtue to keep them  hidden beyond all hope  in this 
wilderness of fear. He heard the  scuffling and cries die down as the troops 
passed  on through the Isenmouthe. It seemed that in the confusion  and  the 
mingling of many  companies of various  kinds  they had not been missed, not 
yet at any rate. 
     Sam  took a sip of water, but pressed Frodo  to  drink,  and  when  his 
master had recovered a little he gave  him a whole  wafer of their  precious 
waybread and made  him  ea t it. Then, too worn out even to  feel  much fear,  
they stretched themselves out. They slept a little in uneasy fits; for their 
sweat grew chill on  them, and the  hard stones bit them, and they shivered.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
hadn't a' been  any hope  of his  ever coming back at all. Things  all  went 
wrong when  he went  down  in Moria.  I  wish he hadn't. He  would have done 
something.' 
     But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to  die, it was turned to a new 
strength. Sam's  plain  hobbit-face  grew stern,  almost  grim, as  the will 
hardened in him, and he felt through  all his  limbs a thrill,  as if he was 
turning into  some  creature  of   stone  and steel  that neither despair nor  
weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue. 
     With  a new sense of responsibility he  brought  his  eyes  back to the 
ground  near at hand, studying the  next move. As the light grew a little he 
saw  to  his  surprise  that  what  from  a  distance  had  seemed  wide and 
featureless  flats  were in fact  all broken  and tumbled. Indeed the  whole 
surface of the plains of Gorgoroth was pocked with great holes, as if, while


key: chroma:document
string_value:
jumping from stone to stone. It was  a  wary creature, difficult to see, but 
Sam had little doubt about it: he longed to get  his hands on its  neck. But 
it heard him coming and  slipped quickly away.  Sam  thought he  saw a  last  
fleeting  glimpse  of  it,  peering  back  over  the  edge  of the  eastward 
precipice, before it ducked and disappeared. 
     'Well, luck did not let me  down,' muttered Sam,  'but that was a  near 
thing! Isn't it enough  to have orcs by the  thousand  without that stinking 
villain coming nosing round? I wish he had been  shot!' He sat down by Frodo 
and did not rouse him; but he did not dare to  go to  sleep himself. At last  
when he felt his eyes closing and knew that his struggle to keep awake could 
not go on much longer, he wakened Frodo gently. 
     'That  Gollum's  about   again,  I'm  afraid,  Mr.  Frodo,'   he  said. 
'Leastways, if  it wasn't  him, then there's two of him. I went away to find


key: chroma:document
string_value:
use the  Lady's glass. Keep it safe  for me, Sam. I  have nowhere to keep it 
now, except in my hand, and  I shall need both hands in the blind night. But 
Sting I give to you. I have  got an orc-blade, but I do not think it will be 
my part to strike any blow again.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
and jeered at them. 
     'There now!' he laughed, flicking at their  legs. 'Where there's a whip 
there's a  will, my slugs. Hold up! I'd give you a nice freshener  now, only 
you'll get  as much lash as your skins will  carry when you come in late  to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
they stretched themselves out. They slept a little in uneasy fits; for their 
sweat grew chill on  them, and the  hard stones bit them, and they shivered. 
Out of  the north from the  Black Gate  through  Cirith  Gorgor there flowed 
whispering along the ground a thin cold air. 
     In the morning a  grey light came again, for  in  the high regions  the 
West Wind  still blew, but down on the stones behind the fences of the Black 
Land the air seemed almost dead, chill  and yet stifling. Sam looked  up out 
of the hollow.  The land  all about was  dreary, flat  and drab-hued. On the 
roads nearby nothing was moving now; but Sam feared the watchful eyes on 
the 
wall  of  the  Isenmouthe,  no  more   than   a   furlong   away  northward. 
South-eastward, far off like a  dark standing shadow. loomed  the  Mountain. 
Smokes  were  pouring from  it and while those that rose into  the upper air 
trailed away  eastward, great rolling clouds  floated  down  its  sides  and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'That  Gollum's  about   again,  I'm  afraid,  Mr.  Frodo,'   he  said. 
'Leastways, if  it wasn't  him, then there's two of him. I went away to find 
some water and  spied  him nosing  round just as I  turned back. I reckon it 
isn't safe  for us  both to sleep  together,  and begging your pardon, but I


key: chroma:document
string_value:
nearly  spent. Sam saw that he could not  go much further in  this  fashion, 
crawling, stooping, now picking  a doubtful way very slowly, now hurrying at 
a stumbling run. 
     'I'm  going  back on to the road while the light lasts, Mr.  Frodo,' he 
said. 'Trust to  luck again! It nearly failed us  last time,  but  it didn't 
quite. A steady pace for a few more miles, and then a rest.' 
     He was taking a far greater risk  than he knew; but  Frodo was too much 
occupied  with his burden and with the  struggle in  his mind to debate, and 
almost too hopeless  to care. They climbed  on to the  causeway and  trudged 
along, down the hard cruel road that led to the Dark Tower itself. But their 
luck held, and for the rest of that day they  met no living or moving thing; 
and when night fell they vanished into the darkness of Mordor. All  the land 
now brooded as at the coming of a  great storm: for the Captains of the West


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Frodo looked again towards the Mountain. 'No,' he said, 'we shan't need 
much on that road.  And  at its  end  nothing.' Picking up his orc-shield he 
flung it away and threw his helmet after it. Then pulling off the grey cloak 
he undid  the  heavy  belt and let it fall to the ground,  and  the sheathed 
sword with it. The shreds of the black cloak he tore off and scattered. 
     'There, I'll be  an orc  no more,' he  cried, 'and  I'll bear no weapon 
fair or foul. Let them take me, if they will!' 
     Sam did likewise, and put aside his  orc-gear; and he took  out all the 
things  in  his pack.  Somehow  each of them had become dear to him, if only 
because he had borne them so far with so much toil. Hardest of all it was to 
part with  his cooking-gear.  Tears welled in  his eyes  at  the thought  of 
casting it away. 
     'Do you  remember that  bit  of  rabbit, Mr. Frodo?' he  said. 'And our


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     There  came at  last a dreadful nightfall; and even  as the Captains of 
the West drew near to the end of the living lands, the two wanderers came to  
an  hour of blank despair. Four days had passed since they had  escaped from 
the orcs,  but the  time lay behind  them like an ever -darkening  dream. All 
this  last  day Frodo  had not  spoken,  but had  walked  half-bowed,  often 
stumbling, as if his eyes no longer saw the way before his feet. Sam guessed 
that  among  all their  pains he  bore the worst, the growing weight  of the 
Ring, a  burden on  the  body and a torment  to his  mind. Anxiously Sam had 
noted  how his master's left hand would often be raised  as if to ward  on a  
blow,  or to  screen his shrinking eyes from a dreadful  Eye that sought  to 
look  in them.  And sometimes  his right  hand  would creep  to  his breast, 
clutching, and  then  slowly,  as  the will recovered mastery, it  would  be 
withdrawn.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Smokes  were  pouring from  it and while those that rose into  the upper air 
trailed away  eastward, great rolling clouds  floated  down  its  sides  and 
spread over the land. A  few miles to the north-east the  foothills  of  the 
Ashen  Mountains stood  like  sombre grey  ghosts, behind  which  the  misty 
northern heights rose  like  a line of distant cloud hardly darker than  the 
lowering sky. 
     Sam  tried to  guess the distances and to decide what way they ought to 
take.  It looks every step  of fifty miles,' he muttered gloomily staring at 
the threatening mountain, 'and that'll take a week, if it takes  a day, with 
Mr. Frodo as he is.' He shook his  head,  and as he worked things out, slowly


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-There was no hope of any more. 
     At last  wearied with his cares Sam drowsed, leaving the morrow till it 
came; he could do no more. Dream and waking mingled uneasily. He saw  
lights 
like gloating yes, and dark creeping shapes, and he heard noises as of  wild 
beasts  or  the dreadful cries of tortured things; and he would start  up to 
find the world all dark and only  empty b lackness all about him. Once  only,  
as he stood and stared wildly round,  did it seem that, though now awake, he 
could still see pale lights like eyes; but soon they flickered and vanished. 
     The hateful night  passed  slowly  and  reluctantly. Such  da ylight  as 
followed was dim; for here as the Mountain drew near the air was ever mirky, 
while  out  from the Dark Tower  there crept the veils of Shadow that Sauron 
wove about himself. Frodo was lying on his back not moving. Sam stood 
beside 
him, reluctant  to speak, and yet knowing that the word now lay with him:  he


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-own. 
     Now  at  last  they turned  their faces to  the Mountain  and  set out, 
thinking no more of concealment,  bending  their weariness and failing wills 
only  to the  one task of going on. In  the dimness  of  its dreary day  few 
things even  in  that land  of  vigilance could have espied them, save  from 
close  at hand. Of all the slaves of  the  Dark  Lord, only the Nazgyl could 
have warned him of the  peril  that crept, small  but  indomitable, into the 
very  heart of his  guarded realm. But the Nazgyl and their black wings were 
abroad on another errand: they  were  gathered far away, shadowing the march 
of  the Captains of the West, and thither the  thought of the Dark Tower was 
turned . 
     That day it seemed to Sam that his master  had found some new strength,  
more than could be explained by the small lightening of the load that he had 
to carry.  In  the first marches they  went  further and faster than he  had


key: chroma:document
string_value:
and when night fell they vanished into the darkness of Mordor. All  the land 
now brooded as at the coming of a  great storm: for the Captains of the West  
had passed  the Cross-roads and  set  flames  in  the deadly fields of Imlad 
Morgul. 
     So  the  desperate  journey  went  on, as the Ring went  south and  the 
banners of the  kings rode  north. For the hobbits each day,  each mile. was 
more  bitter than the one before, as  their  strength lessened and  the land 
became more  evil.  They met no enemies by day. At times  by night,  as they 
cowered or drowsed uneasily in some hiding beside the road, they heard cries 
and the  noise  of  many  feet or the swift passing of some  cruelly  ridden 
steed. But far  worse than all  such  perils was the ever -approaching threat 
that  beat  upon them as they went: the  dreadful menace of  the  Power that 
waited, brooding in  deep thought and sleepless malice behind  the dark veil


key: chroma:document
string_value:
look  in them.  And sometimes  his right  hand  would creep  to  his breast, 
clutching, and  then  slowly,  as  the will recovered mastery, it  would  be 
withdrawn. 
     Now as the blackness of night  returned Frodo sat, his head between his 
knees, his arms  hanging wearily  to the ground where  his hands lay  feebly  
twitching. Sam watched him, till  night covered them both and hid them  from 
one another. He could no longer find any words to say;  and he turned to his 
own dark thoughts. As for himself, though weary and under a  shadow of fear, 
he still  had some strength left. The lembas had a virtue without which they 
would  long  ago have  lain down to die. It did  not satisfy desire, and  at 
times Sam's mind  was filled with the memories of food, and the  longing for 
simple  bread  and meats.  And yet this waybread of the  Elves had a potency 
that increased as travellers  relied on it alone and did  not mingle it with


key: chroma:document
string_value:
part with  his cooking-gear.  Tears welled in  his eyes  at  the thought  of 
casting it away. 
     'Do you  remember that  bit  of  rabbit, Mr. Frodo?' he  said. 'And our 
place under the warm bank in  Captain  Faramir's  country, the  day I saw an 
oliphaunt?' 
     'No, I  am afraid not,  Sam, '  said Frodo. 'At  least, I know that such 
things happened,  but I cannot see them. No taste of food, no feel of water, 
no sound of wind,  no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or  
star  are left to me. I am  naked in  the  dark.  Sam, and there is  no veil 
between me  and  the wheel  of fire. I begin to see  it even  with my waking 
eyes, and all else fades.' 
     Sam went  to him and kissed his hand. 'Then the sooner we're rid of it, 
the sooner  to rest,'  he said  haltingly, finding no  better  words to say. 
'Talking won't mend nothing,' he muttered to himself,  as he gathered up all 
the  things  that they had chosen to cast away. He was  not willing to leave


key: chroma:document
string_value:
wove about himself. Frodo was lying on his back not moving. Sam stood 
beside 
him, reluctant  to speak, and yet knowing that the word now lay with him:  he 
must set his  master's will to work for another effort. At  length, stooping 
and caressing Frodo's brow, he spoke in his ear. 
     'Wake up, Master!' he said. 'Time for another start.' 
     As   if roused by a sudden  bell,  Frodo rose quickly,  and stood up and 
looked away southwards; but when his eyes beheld the Mountain and the desert 
he quailed again. 
     'I can't manage it, Sam,' he said. 'It is such a weight to carry,  such 
a weight.' 
     Sam knew before he spoke, that  it was vain, and that  such words might 
do more harm than good, but in his pity he could not  keep silent. 'Then let 
me carry it a bit  for you, Master,' he said. 'You know I would, and gladly, 
as long as I have any strength. ' 
     A wild light came  into Frodo's  eyes. 'Stand away! Don't touch me!' he


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the stillness of  the  night they  heard the  sound that all along  they had 
secretly dreaded: the   noise of marching feet. It was still some way  behind 
them, but looking  back they could see  the twinkle of torches  coming round 
the  bend less  than  a mile away,  and they  were moving fast: too fast for  
Frodo to escape by flight along the road ahead. 
     'I feared  it, Sam,' said Frodo. 'We've  trusted to luck,  and  it  has 
failed  us.  We're trapped.' He looked wildly up at the frowning wall, where 
the road-builders of old had cut the rock sheer for many fathoms above their  
heads. He ran to the other side and looked over the brink into a dark pit of 
gloom.  'We're trapped at last!' he said He sank to the  ground beneath  the 
wall of rock and bowed his head. 
     'Seems so,' said Sam. 'Well, we can but wait and see.' And with that he 
sat down beside Frodo under the shadow of the cliff. 
     They did  not have  to wait long. The orcs were going at a  great pace.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Where to? ' 
     'To the Mountain, of course.' 
     'But what then, Sam Gamgee, what then? When you get there, what are you  
going to do? He won't be able to do anything for himself.' 
     To his dismay Sam realized that he  had not  got an answer  to this. He 
had no clear idea  at all. Frodo  had not spoken much to him  of his errand, 
and Sam only knew vaguely that the Ring had somehow to be put into the fire. 
'The Cracks of  Doom,' he muttered, the old name rising  to his mind. 'Well, 
if Master knows how to find them, I don't.' 
     'There you are!' came the answer. 'It's  all quite useless.  He said so 
himself. You are the fool, going on hoping and  toiling. You could have lain 
down and gone to sleep  together days ago, if you hadn't been so dogged. But 
you'll die just the same, or worse. You might just as well lie down  now and 
give it up. You'll never get to the top anyway.' 
     'I'll get there, if  I leave everything but my bones behind,' said Sam.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Talking won't mend nothing,' he muttered to himself,  as he gathered up all 
the  things  that they had chosen to cast away. He was  not willing to leave 
them lying open in the wilderness  for any eyes  to see. 'Stinker picked  up 
that  orc-shirt,  seemingly,  and he  isn't going to add a sword  to it. His 
hands are bad enough when  empty. And he isn't going to mess  with my pans!' 
With  that he carried all  the gear away to  one of the many gaping fissures 
that scored  the land and thr ew them in. The clatter of his precious pans as 
they fell down into the dark was like a death-knell to his heart. 
     He came back to Frodo, and then of his elven -rope he  cut a short piece 
to  serve his master  as a girdle and bind  the grey cloak close  about  his 
waist. The rest he carefully coiled and put back in his pack. Beside that he 
kept  only the remnants of  their waybread  and the  water -bottle, and Sting


key: chroma:document
string_value:
more than could be explained by the small lightening of the load that he had 
to carry.  In  the first marches they  went  further and faster than he  had 
hoped. The land was rough  and hostile, and yet they made much progress, and 
ever the Mountain drew nearer.  But as the  day wore on and all too soon the  
dim light began to fail,  Frodo stooped again, and  began to stagger, as  if 
the renewed effort had squandered his remaining strength. 
     At  their last halt he sank down and said: 'I'm thirsty,  Sam,' and did 
not speak  again. Sam gave him  a mouthful  of water; only one more mouthful 
remained. He went without himself; and now as once more the  night of 
Mordor  
closed over  them, through all his thoughts there came  the memory of water; 
and every brook  or  stream or fount  that he  had  ever  seen, under  green 
willow-shades or twinkling in  the sun, danced  and rippled for his  torment 
behind the blindness of his eyes. He felt the cool mud about his toes  as he


key: chroma:document
string_value:
simple  bread  and meats.  And yet this waybread of the  Elves had a potency 
that increased as travellers  relied on it alone and did  not mingle it with 
other foods. It fed the will, and  it gave strength to endure, and to master  
sinew  and limb beyond the measure of mortal  kind. But  now a  new decision 
must be  made. They could not follow  this road any  longer; for  it went on 
eastward  into  the  great Shadow, but the Mountain  now  loomed  upon their 
right, almost due south, and they must turn towards it. Yet  still before it 
there stretched a wide region of fuming, barren, ash-ridden land. 
     'Water, water!'  muttered  Sam.  He had  stinted  himself,  and in  his 
parched mouth his tongue seemed thick and swollen; but for all his care they  
now  had  very little left, perhaps half  his bottle, and  maybe there  were 
still days to go.  All would long ago have been spent, if they had not dared


key: chroma:document
string_value:
that  beat  upon them as they went: the  dreadful menace of  the  Power that 
waited, brooding in  deep thought and sleepless malice behind  the dark veil  
about  its  Throne.  Nearer  and nearer it drew,  looming blacker, like  the 
oncoming of a wall of night at the last end of the world.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
me carry it a bit  for you, Master,' he said. 'You know I would, and gladly, 
as long as I have any strength. ' 
     A wild light came  into Frodo's  eyes. 'Stand away! Don't touch me!' he 
cried. 'It is mine,  I say. Be off!' His hand strayed to his sword-hilt. But 
then quickly his voice changed.  'No, no,  Sam,' he said sadly.  'But you must  
understand. It is my   burden,  and no  one  else can bear it. It is too late 
now, Sam dear. You can't help me in that way again. I am almost in its power  
now. I could not give it up, and if you tried to take it I should go mad.' 
     Sam  nodded. 'I understand,'  he  said.  'But  I've been thinking,  Mr. 
Frodo, there's other things we might do without. Why not lighten  the load a  
bit? We're going that way now, as straight as we can make it.' He pointed to  
the Mountain. 'It's no good taking anything we're not sure to need.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
waist. The rest he carefully coiled and put back in his pack. Beside that he 
kept  only the remnants of  their waybread  and the  water -bottle, and Sting 
still hanging by his belt; and hidden away in a pocket of his tunic next his 
breast the ph ial of Galadriel and the  little box that  she gave him for his


key: chroma:document
string_value:
willow-shades or twinkling in  the sun, danced  and rippled for his  torment 
behind the blindness of his eyes. He felt the cool mud about his toes  as he 
paddled in the Pool at Bywater with Jolly Cotton and Tom and Nibs, and their 
sister  Rosie. 'But that was years  ago,'  he sighed, 'and far away. The way 
back, if there is one, goes past the Mountain.' 
     He could not sleep and he held a  debate with himself. 'Well, come now,  
we've done better than you hoped,' he said sturdily.  'Began  well anyway. I 
reckon we  crossed half the distance before we stopped. One more day will do 
it.' And then he paused. 
     'Don't  be a  fool, Sam Gamgee,' came  an answer  in  his own voice. 'He 
won't go another day like that, if he moves at all. And you can't go on much  
longer giving him all the water and most of the food.' 
     'I can go on a good way though, and I will.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-debates disturbed  his mind.  He knew all the arguments of despair and would 
not listen to them. His wi ll was set, and only death would break it. He felt 
no longer either desire  or need of sleep, but  rather  of  watchfulness. He 
knew  that all the hazards and perils were now  drawing together to a point: 
the next day would  be a day of doom, the day  of final  effort or disaster, 
the last gasp. 
     But when  would it come? The night seemed endless and  timeless, minute 
after  minute  falling dead and adding up to  no  passing hour,  bringing no 
change. Sam  began to wonder if a second darkness had begun and no day 
would 
ever  reappear. At  last he  groped  for  Frodo's  hand.  It  was  cold  and 
trembling. His master was shivering. 
     'I  didn't ought  to have left  my blanket  behind,' muttered Sam;  and 
lying down he tried to comfort Frodo with his arms and body. Then sleep took  
him,  and the dim light of  the last day of  their  quest found them side by


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-than if he were carrying a hobbit-child pig-a -back in some romp on the lawns 
or hayfields of the Shire. He took a deep breath and started off. 
     They had reached the Mountain's foot on its northern side, and a little 
to the westward; there its long grey  slopes, though broken, were not sheer. 
Frodo did  not speak,  and so Sam  struggled on as best he could, having  no  
guidance but the will to climb as high as might be  before his strength gave 
out  and his will broke. On he toiled, up and up, turning this way and  that 
to lessen  the slope, often stumbling forward, and at the last crawling like 
a snail  with  a  heavy burden on its back. When his will could drive him no 
further, and his limbs gave way, he stopped and laid his master gently down.  
     Frodo opened his eyes and  drew a breath.  It was easier  to breathe up 
here  above the reeks that coiled and drifted down below. 'Thank you,  Sam,' 
he said in a cracked whisper. 'How far is there to go?'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
now  had  very little left, perhaps half  his bottle, and  maybe there  were 
still days to go.  All would long ago have been spent, if they had not dared 
to follow the  orc-road. For at long intervals on that highway  cisterns had 
been built  for  the use  of troops  sent in  haste  through  the  waterless 
regions. In one  Sam had found some water left, stale, muddied by  the orcs,  
but still sufficient  for their desperate case. Yet that was now a  day ago.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
give it up. You'll never get to the top anyway.' 
     'I'll get there, if  I leave everything but my bones behind,' said Sam. 
'And I'll carry Mr. Frodo up myself, if it breaks my back and heart. So stop 
arguing!' 
     At  that moment Sam felt a  tremor in the  ground  beneath  him, and he 
heard or  sensed a deep remote rumble as  of  thunder  imprisoned  under the  
earth. There was a brief  red flame that flickered under the clouds and died 
away. The Mountain too slept uneasily. 
     The last stage of their journey to  Orodruin came, and it was a torment 
greater than Sam had ever thought that he could bear. He was in pain, and so  
parched that he could no longer swallow even a mouthful of food. It remained 
dark, not  only because of the  smokes of the Mountain: there seemed to be a  
storm  coming  up,  and  away  to  the  south-east there  was  a  shimmer of 
lightnings under the black skies. Worst of all,  the air  was full of fumes;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-then he held them gently  between his own. The thought came suddenly to him: 
'He's spotted us! It's all  up, or it soon will be. Now, Sam Gamgee, this is 
the end of ends.' 
     Again  he  lifted Frodo  and drew  his  hands down to  his  own breast. 
letting his master's legs  dangle. Then he bowed his  head and struggled off 
along the climbing road. It was  not as easy a way to take as it had  looked 
at first.  By fortune the fires that had poured  forth in the great  turmoils 
when Sam stood upon  Cirith Ungol had flowed down mainly on the southern 
and 
western slopes,  and the road  on  this  side  was not blocked.  Yet in many 
places it had crumbled  away or was crossed  by gaping rents. After climbing 
eastward for some time it bent back upon itself at a sharp  angle  and  went 
westward fox  a space. There at the bend it  was  cut deep through a crag of 
old weathered  stone once long  ago vomited  from the  Mountain's  furnaces.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Chambers of Fire. Out from the Dark Tower's huge western gate it came over a  
deep abyss by a vast bridge of iron, and then passing  into the plain it ran 
for a league between  two smoking  chasms,  and so  reached  a  long sloping 
causeway that led up on to the Mountain's eastern side.  Thence, turning and  
encircling all  its wide girth from south to north, it climbed at last, high 
in the upper cone, but still far from the reeking summit, to a dark entrance 
that  gazed back  east  straight  to  the  Window  of  the  Eye  in Sauron's 
shadow-mantled fortress. Often blocked  or destroyed by  the tumults  of the 
Mountain's furnaces, always  that road was repaired and cleaned again by the 
labours of countless orcs.  
     Sam drew a deep breath. There was a path, but how he was to get  up the 
slope to it he did not know. First he must ease his aching back. He lay flat 
beside Frodo for a  while. Neither spoke. Slowly the light  grew. Suddenly a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
storm  coming  up,  and  away  to  the  south-east there  was  a  shimmer of 
lightnings under the black skies. Worst of all,  the air  was full of fumes;  
breathing was painful and difficult, and  a dizziness  came on them, so that 
they staggered and often fell. And  yet their wills did not  yield, and they 
struggled on. 
     The  Mountain crept  up ever nearer, until, if they  lifted their heavy 
heads, it  filled all  their sight, looming vast before them: a huge mass of 
ash  and slag and burned stone, out  of which a  sheer -sided cone was raised 
into  the clouds. Before the  daylong dusk ended and true  night  came again 
they had crawled and stumbled to its very feet. 
     With a gasp  Frodo cast  himself on  the ground. Sam sat by him. To his 
surprise he felt tired but lighter, and his head seemed clear again. No more


key: chroma:document
string_value:
here  above the reeks that coiled and drifted down below. 'Thank you,  Sam,' 
he said in a cracked whisper. 'How far is there to go?' 
     'I don't know,' said Sam, 'because I don't know where we're going.' 
     He looked back, and then he looked up; and he was amazed to see how far 
his last effort had brought him. The Mountain standing ominous and alone had 
looked taller than it was. Sam saw  now that it was less lofty than the high 
passes of the Ephel D®ath which  he and Frodo had  scaled. The  confused and 
tumbled shoulders of its great base rose for maybe three thousand feet above  
the plain,  and above them was  reared half as  high again its  tall central 
cone, like a vast oast  or chimney capped with a jagged  crater. But already 
Sam was  more than half way up  the base, and the pla in of Gorgoroth was dim 
below him, wrapped in fume and shadow. As he looked up he would have 
given a  
shout. if his parched throat had allowed him; for amid the rugged humps  and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
westward fox  a space. There at the bend it  was  cut deep through a crag of 
old weathered  stone once long  ago vomited  from the  Mountain's  furnaces. 
Panting under his load Sam turned the bend;  and even  as he did  so, out of 
the corner of his  eye, he had a glimpse of something falling from the crag, 
like a small piece of black stone that had toppled off as he passed. 
     A sudden weight smote him and he crashed forward, tearing the backs  of 
his hands that still clasped his master's. Then  he knew what had  happened,  
for above him as he lay he heard a hated voice. 
     'Wicked masster!' it hissed. 'Wicked masster cheats us; cheats Smjagol, 
gollum. He musstn't go that  wa y. He  musstn't hurt  Preciouss. Give  it  to 
Smjagol, yess, give it to us! Give it to uss!' 
     With a  violent heave Sam rose up.  At once  he drew his  sword; but he 
could do nothing.  Gollum and Frodo were locked together. Gollum was tearing


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-beneath  the cover  of his  leather shirt  he clasped  the Ring.  'Down  you  
creeping  thing,  and out of  my path!  Your time is at an  end.  You cannot 
betray me or slay me now.' 
     Then  suddenly, as  before under the eaves of the  Emyn Muil,  Sam  saw 
these  two rivals  with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely  more than 
the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet  
filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern,  untouchable 
now by pity, a figure robed  in white, but at its breast it held a  wheel of 
fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. 
     'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again,  you shall  
be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.' 
     The crouching  shape  backed away, terror in its blinking eyes, and yet 
at the same time insatiable desire. 
     Then the vision  passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-unable  to find peace or relief ever in  life again. But Sam had no words to 
express what he felt. 
     'Oh, curse you, you stinking thing!' he said. 'Go away! Be off! I don't  
trust you, not as far as I could kick you; but be off. Or I  shall hurt you, 
yes, with nasty cruel steel.' 
     Gollum got up on all fours, and backed away for several paces, and then 
he turned, and as  Sam aimed a kick at him  he fled away down the  path. Sam 
gave no  more heed  to him. He suddenly remembered his master. He looked  
up 
the  path and could not see him. As fast as he could he trudged up the road. 
If he had looked back, he might have seen  not  far below Gollum turn again, 
and then with a wild light of madness glaring in his eyes come,  swiftly but 
warily, creeping on behind, a slinking shadow among the stones.  
     The  path climbed on.  Soon  it bent again  and. with a  last  eastward 
course passed in a cutting along the face of the  cone  and came to the dark


key: chroma:document
string_value:
With a  violent heave Sam rose up.  At once  he drew his  sword; but he 
could do nothing.  Gollum and Frodo were locked together. Gollum was tearing 
at  his master,  trying to  get at the chain and the Ring. This was probably 
the only thing  that could have roused the dying embers of Frodo's heart and  
will:  an  attack,  an attempt to wrest his  treasure from him by force.  He 
fought back with a sudden  fury  that  amazed Sam, and Gollum  also. Even so 
things  might have  gone far  otherwise,  if  Gollum  himself  had  remained 
unchanged;  but whatever dreadful paths, lonely and hungry and waterless, he 
had trodden, driven by a devouring desire and a terrible fear, they had left  
grievous marks on him. He was a lean, starved, haggard thing, all  bones and 
tight-drawn sallow skin. A wild light flamed in his eyes, but his malice was 
no longer matched by his old griping strength. Frodo flung him off and  rose 
up quivering.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
slope to it he did not know. First he must ease his aching back. He lay flat 
beside Frodo for a  while. Neither spoke. Slowly the light  grew. Suddenly a  
sense of urgency which  he did not understand  came to Sam. It was almost as 
if he had been called: 'Now, now, or it will be too late!' He braced himself 
and  got up. Frodo also seemed to have felt  the  call. He struggled to  his 
knees. 
     'I'll crawl, Sam,' he gasped. 
     So foot by foot, like small grey insects, they crept up the sl ope. They 
came to the path and found  that it was broad, paved with broken rubble  and  
beaten  ash.  Frodo clambered on  to  it,  and  then  moved  as  if by  some 
compulsion he turned slowly to face  the East. Far off the shadows of Sauron 
hung; but  torn by some gust of wind out of the world, or else moved by some 
great  disquiet within,  the mantling  clouds swirled, and for a moment drew 
aside; and  then he saw,  rising  black,  blacker and  darker than  the vast


key: chroma:document
string_value:
sat down beside Frodo under the shadow of the cliff. 
     They did  not have  to wait long. The orcs were going at a  great pace. 
Those in the foremost files  bore torches.  On they  came, red flames in the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
The crouching  shape  backed away, terror in its blinking eyes, and yet 
at the same time insatiable desire. 
     Then the vision  passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his 
breath coming in great gasps,  and Gollum at his feet, resting  on his knees 
with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground. 
     'Look  out!' cried Sam. 'He'll spring!' He stepped forward, brandishing 
his  sword. 'Quick, Master!' he gasped. 'Go on! Go on! No time to lose. I'll 
deal with him. Go on!' 
     Frodo looked at him as if at one now far away. 'Yes, I must  go on,' he 
said. 'Farewell, Sam!  This is the  end at last.  On  Mount  Doom doom shall 
fall. Farewell!'  He  turned and went on,  walking slowly  but  erect u p the 
climbing path. 
     'Now!' said Sam. 'At last  I can deal with you!' He leaped forward with 
drawn blade ready for battle. But  Gollum did not spring. He fell  flat upon 
the ground and whimpered.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
below him, wrapped in fume and shadow. As he looked up he would have 
given a  
shout. if his parched throat had allowed him; for amid the rugged humps  and 
shoulders above him he saw plainly a path or road.  It climbed like a rising 
girdle from the west and wound snakelike about the Mountain, until before it 
went  round out of  view it reached the foot  of the  cone upon its  eastern 
side. 
     Sam could  not see  the course  immediately above  him,  where  it  was 
lowest, for a steep slope went up from where he stood; but  he  guessed that 
if he could only struggle on just a little way further up, they would strike 
this path. A gleam of hope returned to  him. They might conquer the Mountain 
yet. 'Why, it might have  been put there a -purpose!' he said to himself. 'If 
it wasn't there, I'd have to say I was beaten in the end.' 
     The path was not put there for the purposes of Sam. He did not know it,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
lying down he tried to comfort Frodo with his arms and body. Then sleep took  
him,  and the dim light of  the last day of  their  quest found them side by 
side. The wind  had fallen  the day before  as it shifted from the West, and 
now  it came from the North  and began  to rise; and slowly the light of the 
unseen Sun filtered down into the shadows where the hobbits lay. 
     'Now for it! Now  for the last  gasp!' said Sam as he  struggled to his 
feet.  He bent over Frodo, rousing  him gently.  Frodo groaned; but  with  a  
great effort of will he staggered up; and then he fell upon his knees again.  
He raised his eyes with difficulty to the dark slopes of Mount Doom towering 
above him, and then pitifully he began to crawl forward on his hands.  
     Sam looked at him and wept in his heart, but  no tears came to his  dry 
and stinging eyes. 'I said I'd carry him, if it broke my back,' he muttered, 
'and I will!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
The  path climbed on.  Soon  it bent again  and. with a  last  eastward 
course passed in a cutting along the face of the  cone  and came to the dark 
door in the Mountain's side, the door  of the  Samma th  Naur. Far  away  now 
rising  towards  the  South the  sun, piercing  the  smokes and haze, burned 
ominous, a dull  bleared  disc of red; but all Mordor lay about the Mountain  
like a dead land, silent, shadow-folded, waiting for some dreadful stroke. 
     Sam came to the gaping mouth and peered in. It was dark and  hot, and a  
deep rumbling shook the  air.  'Frodo!  Master!'  he  called. There  was  no 
answer. For a  moment he stood, his heart beating with wild fears,  and then  
he plunged in. A shadow followed him. 
     At first he could see nothing. In his great need he drew  out once more 
the phial of Galadriel, but it  was pale and cold in  his trembling hand and 
threw no light  into that stifling  dark. He was come  to the  heart of  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
great  disquiet within,  the mantling  clouds swirled, and for a moment drew 
aside; and  then he saw,  rising  black,  blacker and  darker than  the vast  
shades  amid which it  stood,  the  cruel pinnacles  and  iron  crown of the 
topmost tower of Barad-dyr. One moment  only it stared out, but as from some 
great window immeasurably high there stabbed northward  a  flame of red, the 
flicker of  a piercing Eye;  and then the shadows were furled  again and the 
terrible vision was removed. The Eye was not  turned to them:  it was gazing 
north to where the Captains of  the West  stood at bay, and thither  all its 
malice was now bent, as the Power moved to strike its deadly blow; but Frodo 
at that dreadful glimpse fell as  one stricken mortally. His hand sought the 
chain about his neck. 
     Sam knelt  by him. Faint, almost  inaudibly, he heard Frodo whispering: 
'Help me, Sam! Help me, Sam! Hold  my hand! I can't  stop it.' Sam took  his


key: chroma:document
string_value:
tight-drawn sallow skin. A wild light flamed in his eyes, but his malice was 
no longer matched by his old griping strength. Frodo flung him off and  rose 
up quivering. 
     'Down,  down!' he gasped,  clutching his hand  to his  breast,  so that


key: chroma:document
string_value:
climbing path. 
     'Now!' said Sam. 'At last  I can deal with you!' He leaped forward with 
drawn blade ready for battle. But  Gollum did not spring. He fell  flat upon 
the ground and whimpered. 
     'Don't kill us,'  he wept. 'Don't hurt us with  na ssty cruel steel! Let 
us live,  yes,  live just a little longer. Lost lost!  We're lost. And  when 
Precious goes we'll die, yes, die into the  dust.' He clawed up the ashes of 
the path with his long fleshless fingers.  'Dusst!' he hissed. 
     Sam's hand wa vered. His mind was hot with wrath and the memory of evil. 
It would be just to slay this treacherous, murderous creature, just and many 
times deserved;  and also it  seemed the  only safe thing to do. But deep in 
his heart there was something that restrained him: he could not strike  this 
thing  lying  in the  dust, forlorn, ruinous,  utterly wretched. He himself, 
though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-still as if he had been turned to stone. 
     'Master!' cried Sam. 
     Then Frodo stirred  and  spoke with a  clear voice, indeed with a voice 
clearer and more powerful than Sam had ever heard him use, and it rose above 
the throb and turmoil of Mount Doom, ringing in the roof and walls.  
     'I have come,' he said. 'But I  do not choose now to do what I  came to 
do. I will not do this  deed. The Ring is mine!' And suddenly, as he set  it 
on  his finger,  he  vanished  from Sam's sight.  Sam gasped,  but he had no 
chance to cry out, for at that moment many things happened. 
     Something struck Sam violently in the back,  his legs were knocked from 
under him and he was flung aside, striking his head against the stony  floor, 
as a dark shape sprang  over him. He  lay still  and for a  moment  all went 
black. 
     And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even 
in  Sammath Naur the  very heart  of his realm, the Power  in  Barad-dyr was


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Sam looked at him and wept in his heart, but  no tears came to his  dry 
and stinging eyes. 'I said I'd carry him, if it broke my back,' he muttered, 
'and I will!' 
     'Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry 
you and  it as well.  So  up you get! Come on, Mr. Frodo dear! Sam will give 
you a ride. Just tell him where to go, and he'll go.' 
     As Frodo clung upon his back, arms loosely about his neck, legs clasped 
firmly under his arms, Sam staggered to his  feet; and then to his amazement  
he felt the  burden light. He had feared that he would  have barely strength 
to lift  his  master alone, and beyond that he had expected to share in  the 
dreadful dragging weight of the  accursed  Ring.  But it was not so. Whether  
because Frodo  was so worn by his  long pains, wound  of knife, and venomous 
sting,  and  sorrow, fear, and homeless wandering, or  because some  gift of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
it wasn't there, I'd have to say I was beaten in the end.' 
     The path was not put there for the purposes of Sam. He did not know it, 
but he was looking at Sauron's Road  from Barad-dyr to the Sammath Naur, the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the while he hissed but spoke no words. 
     The fires below  awoke in  anger,  the  red  light  blazed, and all the 
cavern was  filled with  a great glare  and heat. Suddenly  Sam saw Gollum's 
long hands  draw  upwards  to  his mouth; his white fangs gleamed,  and then 
snapped as  they bit. Frodo  gave a cry, and there he was, fallen  upon  his 
knees at the chasm's edge. But Gollum, dancing  like a mad thing, held aloft  
the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily 
it was wrought of living fire. 
     'Precious,  precious,  precious!'  Gollum  cried. 'My  Precious!  O  my 
Precious!'  And with that, even as his eyes were lifted  up to gloat  on his 
prize, he  stepped  too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and 
then  with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came  his last wail Precious, 
and he was gone. 
     There was a roar  and a great confusion  of noise. Fires leaped  up and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
black. 
     And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even 
in  Sammath Naur the  very heart  of his realm, the Power  in  Barad-dyr was 
shaken, and  the Tower trembled from its foundations to its  proud and bitter  
crown.  The  Dark Lord was suddenly  aware of him, and  his Eye piercing all 
shadows  looked  across the plain to  the door  that he had  made;  and  the 
magnitude of  his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all 
the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare.  Then his wrath blazed in 
consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For 
he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung. 
     From all his policies and  webs of  fear  and treachery, from  all  his 
stratagems and wars his mind shook  free; and throughout his realm  a tremor 
ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies  halted,  and his captains  suddenly


key: chroma:document
string_value:
thing  lying  in the  dust, forlorn, ruinous,  utterly wretched. He himself, 
though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed 
the  agony of  Gollum's  shrivelled  mind and body,  enslaved to tha t  Ring,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
because Frodo  was so worn by his  long pains, wound  of knife, and venomous 
sting,  and  sorrow, fear, and homeless wandering, or  because some  gift of 
final  strength was given to  him, Sam lifted Frodo with no more  difficulty


key: chroma:document
string_value:
then  with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came  his last wail Precious, 
and he was gone. 
     There was a roar  and a great confusion  of noise. Fires leaped  up and 
licked the  roof.  The throbbing  grew to a great tumult,  and the  Mountain 
shook. Sam ran to Frodo and picked him up and carried him. out to the  door. 
And there upon the dark threshold of the Sammath Naur, high above the plains 
of Mordor, such wonder and terror came on him that he stood still forgetting 
all else, and gazed as one turned to st one. 
     A brief vision he had of  swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers 
and battlements, tall as  hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above 
immeasurable pits;  great  courts and  dungeons, eyeless  prisons  sheer  as 
cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant: and then  all passed.  Towers 
fell  and  mountains slid;  walls crumbled and melted,  crashing down;  vast 
spires  of  smoke and  spouting  steams  went  billowing  up, up, until they


key: chroma:document
string_value:
stratagems and wars his mind shook  free; and throughout his realm  a tremor 
ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies  halted,  and his captains  suddenly 
steerless,  bereft of will, wavered and  despaired. For they were forgotten. 
The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent  
with 
overwhelming  force  upon  the Mountain.  At his  summons,  wheeling with  a  
rending cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster than the winds, the 
Nazgyl the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled southwards to 
Mount Doom. 
     Sam got up. He was dazed,  and blood streaming from his head dripped in 
his eyes. He groped  forward, and then  he saw a strange and terrible thing. 
Gollum on the edge of the abyss was fighting like a mad thing with an unseen 
foe. To and fro he swayed, now  so near the brink that almost he tumbled in, 
now dragging back, falling to the ground, rising, and falling again. And all


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-weapons down and sued for mercy. 
     Then Gandalf, leaving all such matters of battle and command to Aragorn 
and the  other  lords, stood  upon the hill-top  and called; and down to him 
came the great eagle, Gwaihir  the Windlord, and stood before him. 
     'Twice you have  borne me,  Gwaihir my friend,'  said  Gandalf. 'Thrice 
shall pay for all, if you  are willing. You will  not find  me a burden much 
greater than when  you bore me from  Zirak-zigil, where  my  old life burned 
away.' 
     'I would  bear you,' answered Gwaihir, 'whither you will, even were you  
made of stone.' 
     'Then  come, and let your  brother go with us,  and some other of  your 
folk who is most  swift! For we have need of  speed greater than  any  wind,  
outmatching the wings of the Nazgyl.' 
     'The North  Wind blows, but we  shall outfly it,' said Gwaihir. And  he 
lifted up Gandalf and  sped away south, and  with  him  went Landroval,  and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
fell  and  mountains slid;  walls crumbled and melted,  crashing down;  vast 
spires  of  smoke and  spouting  steams  went  billowing  up, up, until they 
toppled  like  an overwhelming  wave, and  its  wild  crest  curled and came 
foaming down  upon the land. And then at last  over  the miles between there 
came a rumble, rising to a deafening  crash  and roar;  the earth shook, the 
plain heaved and  cracked, and Orodruin reeled. Fire belched from its   riven 
summit.  The  skies  burst  into  thunder seared  with lightning. Down  like 
lashing whips fell a torrent of black rain. And into the heart of the storm, 
with a cry that pierced all  other  sounds, tearing the clouds asunder,  the 
Nazgyl came, shooting  like  flaming bolts, as  caught in the  fiery ruin of 
hill and sky they crackled, withered, and went out. 
     'Well,  this  is the end, Sam Gamgee,'  said a  voice by his side.  And 
there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Then all the Captains  of  the West cried aloud, for their hearts  were 
filled  with a  new hope in the midst of darkness. Out  from the beleaguered 
hills   knights  of   Gondor,  Riders  of  Rohan,  D®nedain  of  the  North, 
close-serried  companies, drove against  their wavering  foes, piercing  the 
press with the thrust of bitter spears. But  Gandalf lifted up his arms  and 
called once more in a clear voice: 
     'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.' 
     And even  as he spoke  the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising 
swiftly  up,  far  above the  Towers  of  the  Black  Gate, high  above  the 
mountains,  a vast soaring  darkness  sprang into the sky,  flickering  with 
fire. The  earth  groaned  and quaked.  The  Towers  of  the  Teeth  swayed, 
tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart  crumbled;  the Black  Gate  was 
hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to 
the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-was  swiftly  ebbing.  They  had  reached  a low ashen  hill  piled  at  the 
Mountain's foot; but from it there was no more escape. It was an island now,  
not long to  endure, amid the torment  of Orodruin. All about  it the  earth 
gaped, and from  deep rifts and pits smoke and fumes leaped up. Behind  them 
the Mountain was  convulsed. Great rents opened in  its side. Slow rivers of 
fire came down the  long slopes towards them. Soon they would be engulfed. A 
rain of hot ash was falling. 
     They stood now; and Sam still holding his master's hand caressed it. He 
sighed. 'What a  tale we have been in, Mr. Frodo, haven't  we?' he said.  'I  
wish I could hear it told! Do you think they'll say:  Now comes the story of 
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom? And then everyone  will hush, like 
we  did,  when  in Rivendell they told us the tale of Beren One-hand and the 
Great Jewel. I wish I could hear  it!  And I wonder how it will go on  after  
our part.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
outmatching the wings of the Nazgyl.' 
     'The North  Wind blows, but we  shall outfly it,' said Gwaihir. And  he 
lifted up Gandalf and  sped away south, and  with  him  went Landroval,  and 
Meneldor young and swift. And they passed over  Udyn and  Gorgoroth  and 
saw 
all  the land in  ruin and tumult  beneath them, and before them Mount  Doom 
blazing, pouring out its fire. 
     'I am glad that you are here with me,' said Frodo. 'Here at the end  of 
all things, Sam.' 
     'Yes, I  am with  you, Master,' said Sam, laying  Frodo's  wounded hand 
gently to his breast. 'And you're with me.  And  the journey's finished. But 
after  coming all that way I don't  want to give  up  yet. It's not like me, 
somehow, if you understand.' 
     'Maybe not, Sam,' said Frodo; 'but  it's like things  are in the world. 
Hopes fail. An end comes.  We have only  a little  time to wait  now. We are 
lost in ruin and downfall, and there is no escape.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
All about the hills the hosts of Mordor raged. The Captains of the West  
were foundering in a gathering sea. The sun gleamed red, and under the wings 
of the Nazgyl  the shadows of death fell dark upon the earth. Aragorn  stood 
beneath his  banner,  silent and stern, as one lost in thought of things long 
past or far away; but his eyes gleamed like stars that shine the brighter as 
the  night deepens.  Upon the hill-top stood Gandalf,  and  he was white and 
cold and no shadow fell on him. The onslaught of Mordor broke like a wave on 
the beleaguered hills,  voices roaring like a tide amid the  wreck and crash 
of arms.  
     As  if to his eyes some sudden vision had  been given, Gandalf stirred; 
and  he turned, looking back north where the skies were pale and clear. Then 
he lifted up his hands and cried in  a loud voice ringing above the din: The 
Eagles are coming! And many voices answered crying:  The  Eagles are 
coming!


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Well,  this  is the end, Sam Gamgee,'  said a  voice by his side.  And 
there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there 
was peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor any fear. His burden


key: chroma:document
string_value:
tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart  crumbled;  the Black  Gate  was 
hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to 
the 
clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous 
noise. 
     'The  realm of  Sauron is ended!'  said  Gandalf.  'The Ring-bearer has 
fulfilled his Quest.' And as the Captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, 
it seemed to them that, black  against  the pall of cloud, there rose a huge 
shape of shadow,  impenetrable,  lightning-crowned,  filling  all  the  sky. 
Enormous it reared above the world,  and stretched  out towards  them a vast  
threatening hand, terrible but  impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a  
great wind took it, and  it was  all blown away, and passed; and then a hush 
fell. 
     The Captains  bowed their heads; and when they looked up again, behold! 
their enemies were flying and  the power of Mordor was scattering  like dust


key: chroma:document
string_value:
featureless  flats  were in fact  all broken  and tumbled. Indeed the  whole 
surface of the plains of Gorgoroth was pocked with great holes, as if, while 
it was still a waste of soft mud,  it had been smitten with a shower of bolts 
and huge slingstones. The largest of these holes  were rimmed with ridges of 
broken  rock, and broad fissures ran out from them in all directions. It was 
a land in which it would be possible to  creep from hiding to hiding, unseen 
by all but the most watchful eyes: possible at least for one  who was strong 
and had no need for speed. For the hungry and worn, who had far to go before 
life failed, it had an evil look. 
     Thinking  of all  these things Sam went back to his  master.  He had no 
need to rouse  him.  Frodo was lying on his  back with eyes open, staring at 
the  cloudy sky. 'Well, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, 'I've been having a look round 
and thinking a bit. There's  nothing on the roads, and we'd best  be getting


key: chroma:document
string_value:
we  did,  when  in Rivendell they told us the tale of Beren One-hand and the 
Great Jewel. I wish I could hear  it!  And I wonder how it will go on  after  
our part.' 
     But even while he spoke  so, to keep fear away until the very last, his 
eyes still strayed north,  north  into the eye of the wind, to where the sky 
far off was  clear,  as the cold  blast, rising to  a  gale, drove  back the 
darkness and the ruin of the clouds.  
 
     And so  it was that Gwaihir  saw them with his keen far-seeing eyes, as 
down  the  wild  wind he came,  and  daring the great peril of the skies  he 
circled in  the  air: two small dark figures,  forlorn, hand  in hand upon a  
little  hill, while the  world  shook under them, and  gasped, and rivers of 
fire drew near. And even as  he  espied them and came swooping down, he  
saw 
them  fall, worn out,  or  choked  with  fumes and heat, or stricken down by 
despair at last, hiding the ir eyes from death.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
he lifted up his hands and cried in  a loud voice ringing above the din: The 
Eagles are coming! And many voices answered crying:  The  Eagles are 
coming! 
The Eagles are  coming! The hosts of Mordor looked up and wondered what 
this 
sign might mean. 
     There came Gwaihir the Windlord, and Landroval his brother, greatest of  
all the Eagles of  the North, mightiest of the descendants of old Thorondor, 
who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the  Encircling  Mountains 
when Middle-earth was young. Behind  them in long swift lines came all their 
vassals  from the northern mountains, speeding on a gathering wind. Straight 
down  upon the Nazgyl they bore, stooping suddenly out of the high airs, and 
the rush of their wide wings as they passed over was like a gale. 
     But the  Nazgyl  turned and  fled, and vanished into  Mordor's shadows, 
hearing  a sudden terrible  call  out of the  Dark Tower; and  even  at that


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-was taken away. There was the dear master of the sweet days in the Shire. 
     'Master!' cried  Sam. and fell upon his knees. In all that ruin  of the 
world for the momen t he  felt only joy, great joy. The burden  was gone. His 
master had  been  saved;  he was  himself again, he was free. And  then  Sam 
caught sight of the maimed and bleeding hand. 
     'Your poor hand!'  he said.  'And I have nothing to  bind it  with,  or 
comfort it.  I would have  spared him  a whole hand of mine rather. But he's 
gone now beyond recall, gone for ever.' 
     'Yes,'  said Frodo. 'But do  you remember Gandalf's words: Even  Gollum 
may  have something  yet to do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed 
the Ring. The Quest would  have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let 
us forgive  him!  For the Quest  is achieved, and now all is over. I am glad 
you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.' 

####- 
 

Chapter 4. The Field of Cormallen


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Hopes fail. An end comes.  We have only  a little  time to wait  now. We are 
lost in ruin and downfall, and there is no escape.' 
     'Well,  Master, we could at  least go further from this dangerous place 
here, from this Crack of Doom,  if  that's its name. Now couldn't  we? Come, 
Mr. Frodo, let's go down the path at any rate!' 
     'Very  well,  Sam. If you wish to go, I'll come,' said  Frodo; and they 
rose and went slowly down the  winding road; and even as they passed towards 
the  Mountain's  quaking  feet, a  great smoke and steam  belched  from  the 
Sammath Naur, and the side  of  the cone was riven open,  and  a  huge fiery 
vomit rolled in slow thunderous cascade down the eastern mountain-side. 
     Frodo and Sam could go no further. Their last strength of mind and body


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the  cloudy sky. 'Well, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, 'I've been having a look round 
and thinking a bit. There's  nothing on the roads, and we'd best  be getting 
away while there's a chance. Can you manage it?' 
     'I can manage it,' said Frodo. 'I must.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
fell. 
     The Captains  bowed their heads; and when they looked up again, behold! 
their enemies were flying and  the power of Mordor was scattering  like dust  
in the wind. As when death  smites the swollen brooding thing  that inhabits 
their crawling hill and holds them all in sway, ants will wander witless and 
purposeless and then feebly die, so the creatures of Sauron, orc or troll or  
beast  spell-enslaved,  ran  hither  and  thither  mindless;  and  some slew 
themselves, or  cast themselves  in pits,  or  fled wailing  back to hide in 
holes and dark lightless  places far  from hope. But the Men of  Rhyn and of 
Harad, Easterling and  Southron, saw  the ruin of their war  and  the  great 
majesty and glory  of the Captains of the West. And those  that were deepest  
and longest in evil servitude,  hating the West, and yet were men  proud and 
bold,  in their turn now gathered  themselves for a  last stand of desperate


key: chroma:document
string_value:
But the  Nazgyl  turned and  fled, and vanished into  Mordor's shadows, 
hearing  a sudden terrible  call  out of the  Dark Tower; and  even  at that 
moment  all the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts,  their 
laughter  failed, their hands shook  and their limbs were loosed.  The Power  
that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will  
was removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they 
saw 
a deadly light and were afraid.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the day when he  had  lit  his little  fire under  the sunny bank; and for a  
moment all else  between was out of  waking  memory. He stretched and drew 
a 
deep breath. 'Why, what a dream I've had!' he muttered. 'I am glad to wake!' 
He sat  up and then he  saw  that  Frodo  was  lying  beside  him, and slept 
peacefully,  one  hand  behind  his  head, and  the other  resting  upon the 
coverlet. It was the right hand, and the third finger was missing. 
     Full memory flooded back, and Sam cried aloud: 'It wasn't a dream! Then 
where are we?' 
     And a  voice spoke softly behind:  'In the land of Ithilien, and in the 
keeping of the King; and he awaits you.' With that Gandalf stood before him, 
robed in white, his beard now  gleaming like  pure snow in  the twinkling of 
the leafy sunlight. 'Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?' he said. 
     But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-always now begin upon  the twenty -fifth  of March when Sauron fell, and when 
you were brought out of the fire to the King. He has  tended you, and now he 
awaits you. You shall eat and drink with him. When you are ready I will lead 
you to him.' 
     'The King?' said Sam. 'What king, and who is he?' 
     'The King of Gondor and Lord  of the Western Lands,' said  Gandalf 'and  
he has taken back all his ancient realm. He will ride soon  to his crowning, 
but he waits for you.' 
     'What shall  we  wear?' said Sam; for all he could  see was the old and 
tattered clothes that  they  had journeyed  in, lying  folded  on the ground 
beside their beds.  
     'The clothes that you wore on your way  to Mordor,' said Gandalf. 'Even 
the orc-rags that you bore in the black land;  Frodo, shall be preserved. No 
silks  and linens, nor any armour or heraldry  could be more honourable. But 
later I will find some other clothes, perhaps.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-forth, and knelt, and begged leave to sing. And behold! he said: 
     'Lo! lords and knights and  men of valour unashamed, kings and princes,  
and fair people of Gondor, and Riders of Rohan,  and ye sons of  Elrond, and 
D®nedain  of the North, and Elf and Dwarf, and greathearts of the Shire, and 
all free folk of the West, now  listen to my lay. For  I will sing to you of 
Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom.' 
     And when  Sam  heard that he laughed aloud for  sheer delight,  and  he 
stood  up and cried:  'O great glory and  splendour! And all my wishes  have  
come true!' And then he wept. 
     And all  the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment 
and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all 
men  were hushed. And he  sang to them, now in the  Elven-tongue, now in the 
speech  of  the  West,  until   their  hearts,  wounded  with  sweet  words,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
and longest in evil servitude,  hating the West, and yet were men  proud and 
bold,  in their turn now gathered  themselves for a  last stand of desperate 
battle. But the most part fled eastward  as  they could; and some cast their


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the leafy sunlight. 'Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?' he said. 
     But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between 
bewilderment  and great  joy,  he  could  not  answer.  At  last  he gasped: 
'Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was  dead myself. Is 
everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?' 
     'A great Shadow  has departed,' said  Gandalf, and then he  laughed and 
the  sound was like music,  or  like  water in  a  parched land; and  as  he 
listened  the thought came to  Sam  that he had not heard laughter, the pure 
sound of merriment, for days upon days without count.  It fell upon his ears 
like  the echo of all the joys he had ever  known. But he himself burst into 
tears. Then, as a  sweet rain will pass down a wind of  spring  and the  sun 
will shine out the  clearer, his  tears  ceased, and his laughter welled up, 
and laughing he sprang from his bed.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
silks  and linens, nor any armour or heraldry  could be more honourable. But 
later I will find some other clothes, perhaps.' 
     Then he held out his hands to  them, and they  saw that one shone  with 
light. 'What have you got there?' Frodo cried. 'Can it be - ? ' 
     'Yes, I  have brought your two treasures.  They  were found on Sam when 
you were rescued.  The  Lady Galadriel's gifts: your glass,  Frodo, and your 
box, Sam. You will be glad to have these safe again.' 
     When they were washed and clad, and had eaten a light meal, the Hobbits 
followed  Gandalf.  They  stepped out of  the beech-grove in which  they had 
lain, and passed on to  a long green  lawn, glowing in sunshine, bordered by 
stately dark-leaved trees laden with scarlet blossom. Behind them they could  
hear the  sound of falling water, and a stream  ran down before them between 
flowering banks, until it came to a greenwood at the lawn's foot and  passed


key: chroma:document
string_value:
men  were hushed. And he  sang to them, now in the  Elven-tongue, now in the 
speech  of  the  West,  until   their  hearts,  wounded  with  sweet  words, 
overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to 
regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the  ver y wine of 
blessedness.  
     And at the last, as the Sun fell from the  noon and the  shadows of the 
trees lengthened,  he  ended. 'Praise them  with  great praise!' he said and 
knelt. And then Aragorn stood up, and all the host arose, and they passed to 
pavilions made ready, to eat and drink and make merry while the day lasted. 
     Frodo and Sam were led apart and brought to a tent, and there their old 
raiment was taken off, but folded and set aside with honour; and clean linen  
was  given  to them. Then  Gandalf came and in his  arms,  to the  wonder of  
Frodo, he  bore  the sword and the elven-cloak and the mithril-coat that had


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the Prince Imrahil and all the chief captains; and there also were Gimli and 
Legolas.  
     But  when, after the  Standing Silence, wine was brought there came  in 
two esquires to  serve  the kings; or  so they seemed to be: one was clad in 
the silver and sable of the Guards  of Minas Tirith, and the other  in white 
and green. But Sam wondered  what such young boys were  doing in an  army 
of 
mighty men. Then suddenly  as they  drew near and he could see them plainly, 
he exclaimed: 
     'Why, look Mr. Frodo! Look here! Well, if it isn't Pippin. Mr. Peregrin 
Took I should say, and Mr.  Merry! How they have grown! Bless  me! But I 
can 
see there's more tales to tell than ours.' 
     'There  are indeed,' said Pippin turning towards him. 'And  we'll begin 
telling them,  as soon  as this feast is ended. In the meantime you  can try 
Gandalf. He's not so close as he used to be,  though he laughs now more than


key: chroma:document
string_value:
tears. Then, as a  sweet rain will pass down a wind of  spring  and the  sun 
will shine out the  clearer, his  tears  ceased, and his laughter welled up, 
and laughing he sprang from his bed. 
     'How do I feel?' he cried. 'Well, I don't know how to say it. I feel, I 
feel' - he waved his arms in the air  - 'I feel like spring after winter, and 
sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever  
heard!' He stopped and he turned towards his  master. 'But how's Mr. Frodo?' 
he said. 'Isn't it a shame about  his poor hand? But  I hope he's all  right 
otherwise. He's had a cruel time.' 
     'Yes, I am all right otherwise,' said Frodo, sitting up and laughing in 
his turn. I fell asleep again waiting  for  you, Sam,  you sleepyhead. I was 
awake early this morning, and now it must be nearly noon.' 
     'Noon?' said Sam, trying to calculate. 'Noon of what day? ' 
     'The fourteenth  of the New Year,' said Gandalf; 'or  if you like,  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
was  given  to them. Then  Gandalf came and in his  arms,  to the  wonder of  
Frodo, he  bore  the sword and the elven-cloak and the mithril-coat that had 
been taken from him in Mordor. For Sam he brought a coat of gilded mail, and 
his elven-cloak all healed of  the soils and hurts that it had suffered; and 
then he laid before them two swords. 
     'I do not wish for any sword,' said Frodo. 
     'Tonight at least you should wear one,' said Gandalf. 
     Then Frodo took the small sword that had belonged to Sam, and had  been 
laid at his side in Cirith Ungol. 'Sting I gave to you Sam,' he said. 
     'No, master!  Mr. Bilbo gave it  to you,  and  it goes with his  silver  
coat; he would not wish anyone else to wear it now.' 
     Frodo gave way; and  Gandalf, as if  he  were their esquire, knelt  and 
girt  the sword-belts about them, and  then rising he set circlets of silver  
upon their heads. And when they were arrayed  they went  to the great feast;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Noon?' said Sam, trying to calculate. 'Noon of what day? ' 
     'The fourteenth  of the New Year,' said Gandalf; 'or  if you like,  the 
eighth day of April in the Shire reckoning.( But in Gondor the New Year will


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-approached swords were  unsheathed, and  spears  were  shaken, and horns and 
trumpets sang, and men cried with many voices and in many tongues:  
     'Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise! 
     Cuio i Pheriain anann! Aglar'ni Pheriannath! 
     Praise them with great praise, Frodo and Samwise! 
     Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annyn! Eglerio! 
     Praise them! 
     Eglerio! 
     A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet! 
     Praise them! 
     Cormacolindor, a laita tbrienna! 
     Praise them! The Ring-bearers, praise them with great praise!'  
     And  so the  red blood blushing in their faces  and their eyes  shining 
with wonder, Frodo  and Sam went forward  and saw  that amidst the 
clamorous 
host were set three high-seats  built of green turves. Behind the seat  upon 
the right floated, white on green, a great horse running free; upon the left  
was a banner, silver upon  blue, a ship swan-prowed faring on  the sea;  but


key: chroma:document
string_value:
telling them,  as soon  as this feast is ended. In the meantime you  can try 
Gandalf. He's not so close as he used to be,  though he laughs now more than 
he talks.  For the present Merry and I are busy.  We are knights of the City 
and of the Mark, as I hope you observe.' 
     At  last the glad day ended; and  when  the Sun  was gone and the  round 
Moon  rode  slowly  above  the  mists of  Anduin  and flickered through  the 
fluttering  leaves,  Frodo and  Sam sat under the whispering  trees amid the 
fragrance of fair Ithilien; and they talked deep into the  night  with Merry 
and Pippin  and Gandalf, and after  a  while Legolas  and Gimli joined them. 
There Frodo and  Sam learned much  of all that had happened to  the  Company 
after their fellowship was broken on the  evil day  at Parth Galen by Rauros 
Falls; and still there was always more to ask and more to tell. 
     Orcs, and talking  trees, and leagues of  grass,  and galloping riders.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
girt  the sword-belts about them, and  then rising he set circlets of silver  
upon their heads. And when they were arrayed  they went  to the great feast; 
and  they sat at the King's table with Gandalf, and King Jomer of Rohan, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Ent-draughts?' said Sam. 'There you go about Ents again; but what they 
are beats me. Why, it  will take weeks before we  get all these things sized 
up!' 
     'Weeks indeed,' said Pippin. 'And then Frodo will have  to be locked up 
in a tower in Minas Tirith and  write it  all down. Otherwise he will forget 
half of it, and poor old Bilbo will be dreadfully disappointed.' 
     At length  Gandalf rose. 'The hands of the King  are  hands of healing, 
dear friends,' he  said.  'But you  went  to the very brink of death ere  he 
recalled  you,  putting forth all his power,  and  sent you  into the  sweet 
forgetfulness of sleep. And though you have indeed slept long and blessedly, 
still it is now time to sleep again.' 
     And not  only Sam and Frodo  here, said  Gimli, but you too, Pippin.  I 
love you, if only because of the pains you have cost me, which I shall never  
forget. Nor shall I forget  finding you on the hill of  the last battle. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
hear the  sound of falling water, and a stream  ran down before them between 
flowering banks, until it came to a greenwood at the lawn's foot and  passed 
then on under an archway of trees, through  which they saw  the  shimmer  of 
water far away. 
     As they  came  to the opening in the wood, they were surprised  to  see 
knights in bright mail and tall  guards in silver and black  standing there, 
who greeted them with honour and bowed before them. And then one blew a 
long 
trumpet, and  they  went on through the  aisle of trees  beside  the singing 
stream. So they came  to  a wide green land, and beyond it was a broad river  
in a silver haze, out of which rose  a  long wooded isle, and many ships lay 
by its shores. But on the field where they now stood  a great host was drawn 
up,  in  ranks  and  companies glittering  in  the  sun.  And as the Hobbits


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Falls; and still there was always more to ask and more to tell. 
     Orcs, and talking  trees, and leagues of  grass,  and galloping riders. 
and  glittering caves, and white towers and  golden halls, and  battles, and 
tall  ships  sailing,  all  these  passed  before  Sam's  mind until he felt 
bewildered.  But  amidst  all  these  wonders  he  returned  always  to  his 
astonishment at the size of Merry and Pippin; and he made them stand back to 
back with Frodo and himself. He scratched his head. 'Can't understand it  at 
your  age!' he  said. 'But there it is: you're three  inches taller than you  
ought to he, or I'm a dwarf.' 
     'That you certainly are not,' said  Gimli. 'But what did I say? Mortals 
cannot go drinking ent-draughts and expect no more to come of them than of a  
pot of beer.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Then the others also departed, and Frodo and Sam went to their beds and 
slept. And in the morning they  rose again in hope and peace; and they spent 
many days  in  Ithilien. For the Field of Cormallen, where the host was  now 
encamped was near to Henneth  Annyn,  and  the stream that  flowed  from its 
falls could be heard  in the night as it rushed down through its rocky gate, 
and passed through the flowery meads into the tides of Anduin by the Isle of  
Cair Andros. The hobbits wandered here  and there visiting again the  places  
that  they had passed before; and Sam hoped always  in  some shadow  of  the 
woods or secret glade to catch, maybe, a glimpse of the great Oliphaunt. And 
when he learned that at the siege of Gondor there had been a great number of 
these beasts but that they were all destroyed, he thought it a sad loss.  
     'Well, one  can't be everywhere  at once, I  suppose,'  he said. 'But I 
missed a lot, seemingly.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the phial of Galadriel, but it  was pale and cold in  his trembling hand and 
threw no light  into that stifling  dark. He was come  to the  heart of  the 
realm  of  Sauron  and  the  forges  of  his   ancient  might,  greatest  in 
Middle-earth;  all other powers  were here  subdued. Fearfully he took a few 
uncertain steps in the dark, and then all at once there came a  flash of red 
that leaped upward, and smote the high black roof. Then Sam saw  that he was 
in a long cave or tunnel that bored into the  Mountain's  smoking cone.  But 
only a short way ahead its floor and the walls on either side were cloven by 
a great fissure, out of which the  red glare came, now leaping u p, now dying 
down  into  darkness; and all the while  far  below there was a rumour and a  
trouble as of great engines throbbing and labouring. 
     The light sprang up  again, and there on the brink of the chasm, at the 
very Crack of Doom, stood Frodo,  black against the glare, tense, erect, but


key: chroma:document
string_value:
love you, if only because of the pains you have cost me, which I shall never  
forget. Nor shall I forget  finding you on the hill of  the last battle. But 
for Gimli the Dwarf you  would have been lost  then. But at least I know now 
the look of a  hobbit's foot, though it be all that can be seen under a heap 
of bodies.  And when  I heaved that  great  carcase off you, I made sure you  
were dead. I could have.  torn out my beard. And it is only a day  yet since 
you were first up and abroad again. To bed now you go. And so shall I.' 
     'And  I,'  said  Legolas, 'shall walk in  the woods of this  fair land, 
which is rest enough. In days to come, if my Elven-lord allows, some of  our 
folk shall remove hither; and when we come it shall be blessed, for a while. 
For a while: a month, a life,  a hundred years  of Men.  But Anduin is near, 
and Anduin leads down to the Sea. To the Sea! 
     To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-armies? And it  is not  always good  to be healed in  body. Nor is it always 
evil to die in battle, even  in bitter pain. Were I permitted,  in this dark 
hour I would choose the latter.' 
     The Warden looked at her. Tall she stood there, her eyes  bright in her  
white face, her hand clenched as she turned and gazed out of his window that 
opened to the East. He sighed and shook his head. After a pause  she  turned 
to him again. 
     'Is there no deed to do?' she said. 'Who commands in this City?' 
     'I do not  rightly know,' he  answered. 'Such things are  not my  care. 
There is a marshal over the Riders  of Rohan; and the Lord H®rin, I am told, 
commands the men of Gondor. But  the Lord Faramir is by right the Steward of 
the City.' 
     'Where can I find him?' 
     'In this house, lady. He was sorely  hurt,  but is now set again on the 
way to health. But I do not know--' 
     'Will you not bring me to him? Then you will know. '


key: chroma:document
string_value:
these beasts but that they were all destroyed, he thought it a sad loss.  
     'Well, one  can't be everywhere  at once, I  suppose,'  he said. 'But I 
missed a lot, seemingly.' 
     In the meanwhile  the host made  ready for  the return to Minas Tirith. 
The weary rested and the hurt were healed. For some had laboured and  fought 
much with the remnants  of  the  Easterlings  and Southrons, until  all were 
subdued. And, latest of  all, those returned who had passed into  Mordor and 
destroyed the fortresses in the north of the land. 
     But  at the last when the month of May was drawing near the Captains of 
the West set out a gain; and they  went  aboard ship with all  their men, and 
they  sailed  from  Cair Andros  down Anduin to  Osgiliath; and  there  they  
remained for one day; and the day after they came to the green fields of the 
Pelennor and saw again the white  towers  under tall Mindolluin, the City of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
For a while: a month, a life,  a hundred years  of Men.  But Anduin is near, 
and Anduin leads down to the Sea. To the Sea! 
     To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying, 
     The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying. 
     West, west away, the round sun is falling. 
     Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling. 
     The voices of my people that have gone before me? 
     I will leave, I will leave the wo ods that bore me; 
     For our days are ending and our years failing. 
     I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing. 
     Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling, 
     Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling, 
     In Eressla, in Elvenhome that no man can discover, 
     Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!'  
     And so singing Legolas went away down the hill.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'In this house, lady. He was sorely  hurt,  but is now set again on the 
way to health. But I do not know--' 
     'Will you not bring me to him? Then you will know. ' 
     The Lord  Faramir was  walking  alone in  the garden  of the  Houses of 
Healing, and the sunlight warmed him, and he felt life run new in his veins; 
but his heart  was heavy, and he looked  out  over the  walls  eastward. And 
coming, the Warden  spoke his name, and he turned and saw the Lady  Jowyn 
of 
Rohan; and he  was  moved with pity, for  he saw that she was hurt,  and his 
clear sight perceived her sorrow and unrest. 
     'My lord,' said  the Warden, 'here is the Lady Jowyn of Rohan. She rode 
wi th the king and  was sorely hurt, and dwells now in my keeping. But she is 
not content, and she wishes to speak to the Steward of the City.' 
     'Do not misunderstand him, lord,'  said Jowyn. 'It is not lack  of care 
that  grieves me.  No  houses  could be  fairer, for those who  desire to be


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-in battle. 
     'What  do you wish?' he said again. 'If  it lies in my power, I will do 
it.' 
     'I would have  you  command this  Warden, and bid him  let me go,'  she 
said; but though her words were still proud, her heart faltered, and for the 
first time she doubted herself. She  guessed  that this tall man, both stern 
and  gentle, might think  her merely wayward, like a child that has not  the 
firmness of mind to go on with a dull task to the end. 
     'I myself am  in the Warden's  keeping,' answered Faramir. 'Nor  have I 
yet taken  up my authority in the City. But  had I done so,  I  should still 
listen to  his counsel,  and should  not cross  his will in  matters of  his 
craft, unless in some great need.' 
     'But I do not desire healing,' she said. 'I wish to ride to war like my 
brother Jomer, or better  like  Thjoden the king, for he  died  and has both 
honour and peace.' 
     'It  is too late, lady,  to follow the Captains, even  if you  had  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
remained for one day; and the day after they came to the green fields of the 
Pelennor and saw again the white  towers  under tall Mindolluin, the City of 
the  Men of Gondor, last memory  of Westernesse, that had passed through the 
darkness and fire to a new day. 
     And there in the  midst of the fields they set up  their pavilions  and 
awaited the morning; for it was the Eve of May, and the King would enter his 
gates with the rising of the Sun.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Over  the city of Gondor doubt and  great  dread had hung. Fair weather  
and clear  sun had seemed but a mockery to men whose days  held  little hope, 
and  who  looked each  morning  for  news  of doom. Their lord was  dead and 
burned, dead lay the King of Rohan in their citadel,  and the  new king that 
had  come to them in the night was gone again to  a war with powers too dark 
and terrible for any might or valour to conquer. And no news came. After the 
host left Morgul Vale and  took the northward road beneath the shadow of the 
mountains no messenger had  returned nor any rumour  of what was passing  in 
the brooding East. 
     When the Captains were but two days gone, the Lady Jowyn bade the 
women 
who tended her  to  bring her  raiment, and she would  not  be gainsaid, but 
rose; and when they had clothed her and set her arm in a sling of linen, she 
went to the Warden of the Houses of Healing.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Would you have my plain answer?' he said. 
     'I would.' 
     'Then, Jowyn  of Rohan, I say to  you  that you  are  beautiful. In the 
valleys  of our hills there are flowers fair  and bright, and maidens fairer  
still; but neither flower nor lady have I seen till now in Gondor so lovely, 
and so sorrowful. It may be that only a few days are left ere darkness falls 
upon our world,  and when it comes I hope to  face it steadily; but it would 
ea se my heart, if while the Sun yet shines, I  could see you  still. For you  
and I have both passed under the wings of the Shadow, and the same hand drew 
us back.' 
     'Alas, not me, lord!' she said. 'Shadow  lies on me still.  Look not to 
me for healing! I am a shieldmaiden and my hand is ungentle. But I thank you  
for this at least, that I need not keep to my chamber. I will walk abroad by 
the grace of the Steward of the City.' And she did him a courtesy and walked


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Do not misunderstand him, lord,'  said Jowyn. 'It is not lack  of care 
that  grieves me.  No  houses  could be  fairer, for those who  desire to be 
healed.  But I  cannot  lie  in sloth,  idle,  caged. I looked  for death in 
battle. But I have not died, and battle still goes on.' 
     At a sign from  Faramir, the Warden bowed and departed. 'What would you  
have me do, lady?' said Faramir.  'I also am a prisoner of the healers.'  He 
looked  at her, and being a man  whom pity deeply stirred,  it seemed to him 
that her loveliness amid her grief would pierce his heart. And she looked at 
him and saw the grave tenderness in his eyes, and yet knew, for she was bred 
among men of war, that here was one whom no Rider of the Mark would 
outmatch


key: chroma:document
string_value:
brother Jomer, or better  like  Thjoden the king, for he  died  and has both 
honour and peace.' 
     'It  is too late, lady,  to follow the Captains, even  if you  had  the 
strength,'  said Faramir.  'But death  in battle  may  come  to  us all yet, 
willing  or unwilling. You will be  better prepared to  face it in your  own 
manner, if while there is still time you do as the Healer commanded. You and 
I, we must endure with patience the hours of waiting.' 
     She  did not answer, but  as  he looked  at her it  seemed to  him that 
something  in her  softened, as though  a bitter frost  were yielding at the 
first faint presage of Spring. A  tear sprang in her  eye  and fell down her  
cheek, like  a  glistening rain-drop.  Her proud head drooped a little. Then 
quietly, more as if speaking  to herself than to him: 'But the healers would 
have me lie abed seven days yet,'  she said. 'And  my  window does not  look 
eastward.' Her voice was now that of a maiden young and sad.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
rose; and when they had clothed her and set her arm in a sling of linen, she 
went to the Warden of the Houses of Healing. 
     'Sir,' she  said, 'I am in great  unrest,  and  I cannot lie longer  in 
sloth.' 
     'Lady,' he answered, 'you are  not  yet  healed, and I was commanded to 
tend you  with especial care. You should  not  have risen  from your bed for  
seven days yet , or so I was bidden. I beg you to go back.' 
     'I am  healed,' she said,  'healed at  least in body, save  my left arm 
only, and  that is at ease. But I shall sicken anew, if there is naught that 
I can do. Are there no tidings of war? The women can tell  me nothing.' 
     'There are  no tidings,' said the Warden,  'save  that  the  Lords have 
ridden to Morgul Vale; and men say that the new captain out  of the North is 
their chief. A great lord is that, and a  healer;  and it is a thing passing 
strange to me that  the healing hand should  also wield the sword. It is not


key: chroma:document
string_value:
for this at least, that I need not keep to my chamber. I will walk abroad by 
the grace of the Steward of the City.' And she did him a courtesy and walked 
back to the house. But Faramir for a long while walked  alone in the garden,  
and his glance now strayed rather to the house than to the eastward walls. 
     When he returned to his chamber he called for the Warden, and heard all  
that he could tell of the Lady of Rohan. 
     'But I doubt  not,  lor d,'  said the Warden, 'that you would learn more 
from the Halfling that is with us; for he was in the riding of the king, and 
with the Lady at the end, they say.' 
     And so Merry was sent to Faramir, and while that day lasted they talked 
long  together, and  Faramir  learned  much, more  even  than Merry put into 
words; and  he  thought  that he understood now  something of the grief  and 
unrest of Jowyn of Rohan. And in the  fair evening Faramir and  Merry walked 
in the garden, but she did not come.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-too, was  bright  no  longer. It was cold. A wind  that had sprung up in the 
night was  blowing  now keenly from  the North, and it was  rising; but  the 
lands about looked grey and dr ear. 
     They were clad in warm  raiment and heavy cloaks, and over all the Lady  
Jowyn wore a  great blue  mantle of  the colour of deep summer -night, and it  
was set with silver stars  about hem and  throat. Faramir had  sent for this 
robe and had wrapped  it about her;  and he thought that  she looked fair and  
queenly indeed as  she stood there at  his  side. The mantle was wrought for  
his  mother,  Finduilas of Amroth,  who died untimely, and was  to him but a 
memory of loveliness in far days and of his first grief; and her robe seemed 
to him raiment fitting for the beauty and sadness of Jowyn. 
     But  she  now  shivered  beneath the  starry  mantle,  and  she  looked 
northward, above the grey hither lands, into the eye of the  cold wind where


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-mountain of darkness  rose, towering up like a wave  that  should engulf the 
world, and about it  lightnings flickered; and then a tremor ran through the 
earth, and they felt the  walls of the City quiver. A sound like a sigh went 
up from all the lands about them; and their hearts beat suddenly again. 
     'It  reminds me of N®menor,' said Faramir, and wondered to hear himself 
speak. 
     'Of N®menor?' said Jowyn. 
     'Yes,' said Faramir, 'of the land of Westernesse that  foundered and of 
the great dark wave climbing  over the green lands and above the hills,  and 
coming on, darkness unescapable. I often dream of it.' 
     'Then  you  think that the  Darkness is coming?' said Jowyn.  'Darkness 
Unescapable?' And suddenly she drew close to him. 
     'No,' said Faramir, looking into her face. 'It was but a picture in the 
mind. I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells 
me


key: chroma:document
string_value:
have me lie abed seven days yet,'  she said. 'And  my  window does not  look 
eastward.' Her voice was now that of a maiden young and sad. 
     Faramir  smiled, though his heart was  filled with  pity.  'Your window 
does not look eastward?'  he said. 'That  can be  amended.  In  this I  will 
command  the Warden. If  you will stay in this  house in our care, lady, and 
take your rest, then you  shall walk in this garden in the sun, as you will; 
and you shall  look east, whither all our hopes have gone. And here you will  
find me, walking and waiting, and also looking east.  It would ease my care,  
if you would speak to me, or walk at whiles with me.' 
     Then she raised her head and looked him in the eyes again; and a colour 
came in her  pale face.  'How should I ease your care,  my  lord?' she said. 
'And I do not desire the speech of living men.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
their chief. A great lord is that, and a  healer;  and it is a thing passing 
strange to me that  the healing hand should  also wield the sword. It is not 
thus  in Gondor now,  though once it was  so, if old tales be  true. But for  
long years we healers have only sought to patch the rents made by the men of 
swords. Though we should still have enough  to do without them: the world is 
full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.' 
     It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two,  Master  Warden, answered 
Jowyn. 'And those who  have not swords can  still die  upon them. Would  you  
have  the folk  of Gondor gather you herbs  only, when the Dark Lord gathers


key: chroma:document
string_value:
But  she  now  shivered  beneath the  starry  mantle,  and  she  looked 
northward, above the grey hither lands, into the eye of the  cold wind where 
far away the sky was hard and clear. 
     'What do you look for, Jowyn?' said Faramir. 
     'Does not the Black Gate lie yonder?' said she. 'And must he not now be 
come thither? It is seven days since he rode away.' 
     'Seven days,' said Faramir. 'But think not il l of me, if I say  to you: 
they have brought me both a joy and a pain that I never thought to know. Joy 
to see you; but pain, because now the fear  and doubt  of this evil time are 
grown dark  indeed. Jowyn, I would  not have this world end now, or lose  so 
soon what I have found.' 
     'Lose what you have found,  lord?' she answered; but she looked at  him 
gravely and her eyes  were  kind. 'I know  not what in  these days you  have 
found that you could lose. But come, my friend,  let us not speak of it! Let


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'No,' said Faramir, looking into her face. 'It was but a picture in the 
mind. I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells 
me 
that great evil  has befallen and we  stand at the end of days. But my heart 
says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that 
no reason can deny. Jowyn, Jowyn, White Lady of Rohan, in this hour I do not 
believe that any darkness will endure!' And he stooped and kissed her brow.  
     And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor,  and a great wind 
rose and blew, and  their hair, raven  and golden, streamed out  mingling in 
the air. And the Shadow departed, and the Sun was unveiled, and light leaped 
forth; and the waters of Anduin shone like silver, and in all  the houses of 
the  City  men  sang for  the joy that welled  up in their hearts  from what 
source they could not tell. 
     And before the Sun had fallen far  from the noon out of  the East there


key: chroma:document
string_value:
words; and  he  thought  that he understood now  something of the grief  and 
unrest of Jowyn of Rohan. And in the  fair evening Faramir and  Merry walked 
in the garden, but she did not come. 
     But in the morning, as Faramir came from the Houses, he saw her, as she 
stood upon the walls; and she was clad all in white, and gleamed in the sun. 
And he called to her, and she came down, and they walked on the grass or sat 
under a green  tree  together , now in  silence, now in speech. And  each day 
after they did likewise. And the Warden looking  from his window was glad in 
heart.  for  he was a healer. and his care was lightened; and certain it was 
that, heavy as was the dread and foreboding of those days upon the hearts of 
men, still these two of his charges prospered and grew daily in strength. 
     And so the  fifth day came since the Lady Jowyn went  first to Faramir; 
and they stood now together once more upon the walls of  the City and looked


key: chroma:document
string_value:
saw 
them  fall, worn out,  or  choked  with  fumes and heat, or stricken down by 
despair at last, hiding the ir eyes from death. 
     Side by side they lay; and  down swept Gwaihir, and down came Landroval 
and  Meneldor the swift; and in a dream, not  knowing what fate had befallen 
them,  the wanderers were  lifted up and borne far away  out of the darkness 
and the fire. 
     When Sam awoke, he found that he  was lying on some soft bed, but  over 
him  gently swayed wide  beechen boughs,  and  through  their  young  leaves 
sunlight glimmered, green and gold. All the  air was full of a sweet mingled  
scent. 
     He  remembered that smell: the  fragrance  of Ithilien. 'Bless  me!' he 
mused. 'How long have I been  asleep?' For the  scent had borne  him back to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
gravely and her eyes  were  kind. 'I know  not what in  these days you  have 
found that you could lose. But come, my friend,  let us not speak of it! Let 
us not speak at all! I  stand  upon some dreadful  brink,  and it is utterly 
dark in the abyss before my feet, but whether there is any light behind me I 
cannot tell. For I cannot turn yet. I wait for some stroke of doom.' 
     'Yes, we wait for the stroke of doom,' said Faramir.  And  they said no 
more; and it seemed to them as  they stood upon the wall that the wind died,  
and the light failed, and the Sun was bleared, and all sounds in the City or  
in the  lands about were hushed: neither wind, nor voice , nor bird-call, nor  
rustle  of leaf,  nor  their own breath could  be heard; the very beating of 
their hearts was stilled. Time halted. 
     And as they stood so, their hands met and  clasped, though they did not 
know  it.  And still  they waited for they   knew not what. Then presently it


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####- 
     Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West, 
     for your King shall come again, 
     and he shall dwell among you 
     all the days of your life. 
 
     And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed, 
     and he shall plant it in the high places, 
     and the City shall be blessed. 
 
     Sing all ye people! 
     And the people sang in all the ways of the City. 
     The  days  that followed were golden,  and Spring and Summer joined and 
made revel  together in  the fields of Gondor. And tidings now came by swift 
riders from Cair  Andros of all  that  was done, and the City made ready for  
the coming of the King. Merry was summoned and rode away with the wains 
that 
took store  of  goods to Osgiliath and thence by  ship  to Cair  Andros; but 
Faramir did not go,  for now being healed he took upon him his authority and 
the  Stewardship, although it was only for a little while, and his duty  was 
to prepare for one who should replace him.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-heir, in his triumph would now bring you no joy. Or because I do not go, and 
you  desire still to be near me. And maybe for both  these reasons,  and you  
yourself cannot choose between them. Jowyn, do  you not love me, or will you  
not?' 
     'I wished to be loved by another,' she answered. 'But I desire no man's 
pity.' 
     'That I know,' he  said. 'You  desired  to  have  the love  of the Lord 
Aragorn. Because he was high and puissant, and you wished to have renown 
and 
glory and to be  lifted far above the  mean things that crawl on  the earth. 
And as a great captain may to a young soldier  he seemed  to you  admirable. 
For so he is, a lord among men,  the greatest that  now is. But when he gave  
you only  understanding and pity, then you desired to have nothing, unless a  
brave death in battle. Look at me, Jowyn!' 
     And Jowyn  looked at Faramir long and  steadily; and Faramir  said: 'Do


key: chroma:document
string_value:
their hearts was stilled. Time halted. 
     And as they stood so, their hands met and  clasped, though they did not 
know  it.  And still  they waited for they   knew not what. Then presently it 
seemed to them that above the ridges  of the distant  mountains another vast


key: chroma:document
string_value:
brave death in battle. Look at me, Jowyn!' 
     And Jowyn  looked at Faramir long and  steadily; and Faramir  said: 'Do 
not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Jowyn! But I do not offer  
you my pity. For  you  are  a lady high  and valiant  and  have yourself won 
renown that shall not be forgotten; and you  are  a lady  beautiful, I deem, 
beyond even the words of  the Elven-tongue  to tell. And I love  you. Once I  
pitied your sorrow. But now, were you sorrowless, without fear  or any lack, 
were you the blissful Queen of Gondor, still I would love you. Jowyn, do you 
not love me?' 
     Then the heart of Jowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And 
suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her. 
     I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,  she  said; and behold the 
Shadow has departed! I  will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor  vie  with the  
great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Faramir did not go,  for now being healed he took upon him his authority and 
the  Stewardship, although it was only for a little while, and his duty  was 
to prepare for one who should replace him. 
     And Jowyn did not go, though her brother sent  word begging her to come 
to  the  field of  Cormallen.  And Faramir  wondered at this, but he saw her  
seldom, being  busy  with many matters; and she dwelt still in the Houses of 
Healing and walked alone in the garden, and her face grew pale again, and it  
seemed that  in  all the City she  only  was ailing  and sorrowful.  And the 
Warden of the Houses was troubled, and he spoke to Faramir. 
     Then Faramir came and sought her, and once more they stood on the walls 
together; and he said to  her: 'Jowyn, why  do you tarry here, and do not go 
to the rejoicing in  Cormallen beyond Cair Andros, where your brother awaits 
you?' 
     And she said: 'Do you not know?'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the right floated, white on green, a great horse running free; upon the left  
was a banner, silver upon  blue, a ship swan-prowed faring on  the sea;  but 
behind the highest throne in the midst of all a great standard was spread in 
the  breeze,  and there a white  tree flowered upon a sable  field beneath a  
shining crown and seven glittering stars. On the throne sat a mail-clad man, 
a great sword was laid  across his knees, but he wore no  helm. As they drew 
near he rose. And then they knew him, changed as he was, so high and glad of 
face, kingly, lord of Men, dark-haired with eyes of grey. 
     Frodo  ran to meet  him, and Sam  followed close behind. 'Well, if that 
isn't the crown of all!' he said. 'Strider, or I'm still asleep!' 
     'Yes, Sam, Strider,'  said Aragorn. 'It is a long way, is  it not, from 
Bree, where you did not like the look of me? A long way for us all but yours 
has been the darkest road.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Yes, Sam, Strider,'  said Aragorn. 'It is a long way, is  it not, from 
Bree, where you did not like the look of me? A long way for us all but yours 
has been the darkest road.' 
     And then to Sam's surprise and utter confusion he bowed his knee before 
them; and taking them by the hand,  Frodo upon  his  right and Sam upon  his 
left, he led them to the throne, and  setting them upon it, he turned to the 
men and captains who stood by and spoke, so that his voice rang over all the 
host, crying: 
     'Praise them with great praise!' 
     And  when  the glad shout had swelled up and died away  again, to Sam's 
final and  complete satisfaction  and pure joy, a  minstrel of Gondor  stood


key: chroma:document
string_value:
to the rejoicing in  Cormallen beyond Cair Andros, where your brother awaits 
you?' 
     And she said: 'Do you not know?' 
     But he answered: 'Two reasons there may be, but which is true, l do not 
know.' 
     And she said: 'I do not wish to play at riddles. Speak plainer!' 
     'Then if you  will have it so, lady,' he  said: 'you do  not go, because 
only your brother called for you, and to look on the Lord Aragorn, Elendil's


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-now the  Steward of this Realm! Behold! one has come  to  claim the kingship 
again at last. Here is Aragorn son of Arathorn, chieftain of the D®nedain of  
Arnor,  Captain of the Host of  the West,  bearer of the  Star of the North, 
wielder of  the Sword  Reforged, victorious  in  battle,  whose hands  bring 
healing,  the Elfstone,  Elessar  of  the line of Valandil,  Isildur's  son, 
Elendil's son of N®menor. Shall he be king and enter into the City and dwell 
there?' 
     And all the host and all the people cried yea with one voice. 
     And Ioreth  said  to her kinswoman: 'This is just a ceremony such as we 
have in the City, cousin; for  he has already entered, as I was telling you; 
and he said  to me--' And then again she was obliged to silence, for Faramir 
spoke again. 
     'Men of Gondor, the loremasters tell that it was the custom of old that 
the king should receive the  crown from his father ere  he died; or if  that


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-for he has been the mover of all that has been accomplished, and this is his 
victory.' 
     Then Frodo  came forward and took the crown from Faramir and bore  it to 
Gandalf; and Aragorn  knelt,  and Gandalf set the White Crown upon his head, 
and said: 
     'Now  come  the days  of the  King, and may  they be blessed  while the 
thrones of the Valar endure!' 
     But when  Aragorn arose  all that beheld him  gazed in  silence, for it 
seemed to them  that he was revealed to them now for the first time. Tall as 
the sea -kings of old, he stood  above all that were near; ancient of days he 
seemed and yet in  the fl ower of manhood; and wisdom sat upon his brow,  and 
strength and healing were in his hands, and a light was  about him. And then 
Faramir cried: 
     'Behold the King!' 
     And  in that moment all the trumpets  were  blown, and the King Elessar  
went  forth  and came to the barrier, and  H®rin  of the Keys thrust it back;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
And so the  fifth day came since the Lady Jowyn went  first to Faramir; 
and they stood now together once more upon the walls of  the City and looked 
out. No tidings  had  yet come, and all hearts  were darkened. The  weather,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the  City  men  sang for  the joy that welled  up in their hearts  from what 
source they could not tell. 
     And before the Sun had fallen far  from the noon out of  the East there 
came a great Eagle flying, and he bore tidings beyond hope from the Lords of 
the West, crying: 
     Sing now, ye people of the Tower of Anor, 
     for the Realm of Sauron is ended for ever, 
     and the Dark Tower is thrown down. 
 
     Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard, 
     for your watch hath not been in vain, 
     and the Black Gate is broken, 
     and your King hath passed through, 
     and he is victorious.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-return for him; but here let him sleep a while.' 
     And Jowyn  said to Faramir: 'Now I must go back to my own land and look  
on it once again, and help my brother in his labour;  but  when  one  whom I  
long loved as father is laid at last to rest, I will return.' 
     So  the  glad days  passed; and on the  eighth day o f May the Riders of 
Rohan made ready, and rode off by the North-way, and with them went the 
sons 
of Elrond. All the road  was lined with people to do them  honour and praise 
them, from the Gate of the City  to  the  walls of the  Pelennor.  Then  all 
others that dwelt afar went back to their homes  rejoicing; but in the  City 
there was  labour of many willing hands to  rebuild  and renew and to remove 
all the scars of war and the memory of the darkness.  
     The hobbits still remained in Minas Tirith, with Legolas and Gimli; for  
Aragorn  was  loth for the fellowship  to be dissolved. 'At  last  all  such


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and gave  to them all the lands about Lake N®rnen to be their own. And there 
were  brought  before him many to  receive  his praise and reward  for their 
valour; and  last the  captain  of the Guard brought to him  Beregond  to be 
judged. 
     And  the  King said  to  Beregond: 'Beregond, by  your sword blood  was 
spilled  in the Hallows, where that  is forbidden.  Also  you left your post  
without leave of Lord or of Captain. For these things, of old, death was the 
penalty. Now therefore I must pronounce your doom. 
     'All penalty  is remitted  for  your valour in battle,  and still  more 
because all that you  did was for the love of the Lord Faramir.  Nonetheless 
you must leave the Guard of the Citadel, and you must go forth from the City 
of Minas Tirith.' 
     Then the blood left Beregond's face, and he was stricken to  the  heart 
and bowed his head. But the King said.: 
     'So it must be,  for you are  appointed to the White Company, the Guard


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-choose?(' 
     'I  would,'  said  Faramir. And he took her in his arms and  kissed her  
under  the  sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls 
in  the  sight  of many. And many indeed saw  them  and the light that shone 
about them as they came down from  the  walls  and went hand in hand  to the 
Houses of Healing. 
     And to the Warden of  the Houses Faramir said:  'Here is the Lady Jowyn 
of Rohan, and now she is healed.' 
     And the  Warden  said: 'Then I release her from  my charge and bid  her  
farewell, and may she suffer never hurt nor sickness again. I commend her to 
the care of the Steward of the City, until her brother returns.' 
     But Jowyn said:  'Yet  now that I have leave to depart, I would remain. 
For this House has become to me of all dwellings  the most blessed.' And she 
remained there until King Jomer came. 
     All things  were  now  made  ready  in  the City; and there  was  great


key: chroma:document
string_value:
spoke again. 
     'Men of Gondor, the loremasters tell that it was the custom of old that 
the king should receive the  crown from his father ere  he died; or if  that 
might not be, that  he should  go alone and  take  it from the hands  of his 
father  in the tomb  where  he was  laid.  But since things must now be done  
otherwise,  using the authority of the Steward, I  have today brought hither 
from Rath Dnnen the  crown of Edrnur the last king, whose days passed in the 
time of our longfathers of old.' 
     Then the  guards stepped forward, and Faramir opened the casket, and he 
held up an ancient  crown. It was shaped like the helms of the Guards of the 
Citadel, save  that it was loftier, and it was all  white, and the  wings at 
either side were wrought of pearl and silver in the likeness of the wings of 
a sea -bird, for it was the emblem of kings  who came over the Sea; and seven 
gems  of adamant  were  set  in  the circlet, and upon  its summit was set a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Shadow has departed! I  will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor  vie  with the  
great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, 
and love all things that  grow and are not barren.' And again  she looked at 
Faramir. 'No longer do I desire to be a queen,' she said. 
     Then Faramir laughed merrily.  'That is well,' he said; 'for I am not  a  
king. Yet I will wed with the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will. And if 
she  will, then let us cross  the  River and in happier days let us dwell in 
fair Ithilien  and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there, 
if the White Lady comes.' 
     'Then must I leave my own people, man of Gondor?' she said. 'And  would 
you have  your proud  folk say of you: (There  goes a  lord who tamed a wild 
shieldmaiden  of the North! Was  there  no woman of the race  of N®menor  to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Faramir cried: 
     'Behold the King!' 
     And  in that moment all the trumpets  were  blown, and the King Elessar  
went  forth  and came to the barrier, and  H®rin  of the Keys thrust it back; 
and amid the music of harp and of viol and of flute and the singing of clear 
voices the  King passed through  the flower -laden streets,  and  came to the 
Citadel,  and  entered  in;  and the banner  of  the Tree and the Stars  was 
unfurled  upon the topmost tower,  and  the reign of King Elessar began,  of 
which many songs have told. 
     In his time  the City was made more fair than it had ever been, even in 
the  days of  its first  glory;  and it  was  filled  with  trees  and  with 
fountains, and its gates were wrought of mithril  and steel, and its streets 
were paved  with white marble; and the Folk of the Mountain laboured in  it,  
and the Folk of the Wood rejoiced to come there; and all was healed and made


key: chroma:document
string_value:
The hobbits still remained in Minas Tirith, with Legolas and Gimli; for  
Aragorn  was  loth for the fellowship  to be dissolved. 'At  last  all  such 
things must end,' he said, 'but I would have you wait a little while longer: 
for  the end  of the deeds  that you have  shared in has not yet come. A day 
draws near that  I have looked for in all the years of my manhood,  and when 
it comes I would have my friends beside me.' But of that day he would say no 
more. 
     In those days the Companions of the Ring dwelt together in a fair house 
with Gandalf,  and  they went to and fro as  they  wished. And Frodo said to 
Gandalf:  'Do you know what this  day is that  Aragorn speaks of? For we are 
happy here, and I don't wish to go; but the days are running away, and Bilbo  
is waiting; and the Shire is my home.' 
     'As for  Bilbo,' said Gandalf, 'he is waiting for the same day, and  he 
knows what keeps you. And as for the passing of the days, it is now only May


key: chroma:document
string_value:
a sea -bird, for it was the emblem of kings  who came over the Sea; and seven 
gems  of adamant  were  set  in  the circlet, and upon  its summit was set a  
single jewel the light of which went up like a flame. 
     Then Aragorn took the crown and held it up and said: 
     Et  Edrello  Endorenna  ut®lien.  Sinome  maruvan  ar  Hildinyar  tenn' 
Ambar-metta! 
     And those were the  words that Elendil spoke when he came up out of the 
Sea on the wings  of  the wind: 'Out of  the Great Sea to  M iddle-earth I am 
come.  In this place will I abide,  and  my heirs, unto  the  ending of  the 
world.' 
     Then to the wonder of many Aragorn did not put the crown upon his head, 
but  gave it back to Faramir, and  said: 'By the labour and valour of many I 
have come into my inheritance. In token of this I would have the Ring-bearer 
bring the crown to me,  and let Mithrandir set it upon my  head, if he will;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-wondered what was going forward. But Gandalf took Aragorn  out from the 
City 
by night, and he brought him to the  southern feet  of Mount Mindolluin; and 
there they found a path made  in ages  past that few now dared to tread. For  
it led up on to the mountain to a high hallow where only the kings had  been 
wont to go. And they went up by steep ways,  until they came to a high field 
below  the  snows that clad the  lofty peaks, and it  looked down  over  the 
precipice that stood behind the  City. And standing there they  surveyed the 
lands, for the  morning  was come; and they saw the towers  of the  City far 
below  them  like white pencils touched by the sunlight, and all the Vale of 
Anduin was like a  garden, and  the  Mountains  of Shadow  were veiled in  a 
golden mist. Upon the one side their  sight reached  to the grey Emyn  Muil,  
and  the  glint of  Rauros was like a star twinkling far  off; and upon  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
were paved  with white marble; and the Folk of the Mountain laboured in  it,  
and the Folk of the Wood rejoiced to come there; and all was healed and made 
good, and  the  houses were filled with men  and women  and  the laughter of 
children,  and no window was blind nor any courtyard  empty;  and after  the 
ending  of  the Third  Age of  the world into the  new  age it preserved the 
memory and the glory of the years that were gone. 
     In the days  that  followed his crowning  the King sat on his throne in 
the Hall of the Kings and pronounced his judgements. And embassies came 
from 
many lands and peoples, from the East and the South, and from the borders of 
Mirkwood,  and  from  Dunland  in  the  west.  And  the  King  pardoned  the 
Easterlings that had  given themselves up, and sent them  away free, and  he 
made peace with  the peoples of Harad;  and the slaves of Mordor he released


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Mark; and upon either  side of  the Gate was a great press of fair people in 
raiment of many colours and garlands of flowers.  
     So now there was a wide space before  the walls of Minas Tirith, and it 
was hemmed in upon all sides by the knights and the  soldiers of Gondor  and 
of Rohan, and by the people of the City and of all parts of the land. A hush 
fell upon all as out from the host stepped  the D®nedain in silver and grey; 
and before  them  came  walking slow the Lord Aragorn. He was  clad in black  
mail  girt  with silver, and  he wore a long mantle of pure white clasped at 
the throat with a great jewel  of green that shone  from afar;  but his head 
was bare  save for a star  upon his forehead bound  by a  slender fillet  of 
silver.  With him were Jomer of Rohan,  and the Prince  Imrahil, and Gandalf 
robed all in white, and four small figures that many men marvelled to see. 
     'Nay,  cousin! they are  not  boys,' said Ioreth to her  kinswoman from


key: chroma:document
string_value:
is waiting; and the Shire is my home.' 
     'As for  Bilbo,' said Gandalf, 'he is waiting for the same day, and  he 
knows what keeps you. And as for the passing of the days, it is now only May 
and high summer is not yet in; and though all things may seem changed, as if 
an  age of the world had gone by,  yet to the trees and the grass it is less 
than a year since you set out.' 
     'Pippin,' said Frodo, 'didn't you say  that Gandalf was less close than 
of old? He was weary of his labours then, I think. Now he is recovering.' 
     And Gandalf said: 'Many  folk  like to know beforehand what is to be set 
on the table; but those who have laboured  to prepare the feast like to keep 
their secret;  for  wonder makes the words of  praise  louder.  And  Aragorn 
himself waits for a sign.' 
     There came a day when  Gandalf could not  be  found, and  the Companions


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and cold!' said Gandalf.  
     Then Aragorn  turned. and there was  a  stony  slope behind him running  
down from  the skirts of the snow; and as he looked he  was aware that alone 
there in the waste a growing thing stood. And he climbed to it, and saw that 
out of  the very edge  of the snow there sprang a sapling tree no  more than 
three  foot  high. Already it had  put forth young  leaves long and shapely, 
dark above and silver beneath,  and upon its slender crown it bore one small  
cluster of flowers whose white petals shone like the sunlit snow.  
     Then Aragorn cried:  'Yj! ut®vienyes! I  have found it!  Lo! here is  a  
scion  of the Eldest of Trees!  But how comes it here? For it  is not itself 
yet seven years old.' 
     And Gandalf coming  looked at it, and said: 'Verily this is a sapling of 
the line of  Nimloth the fair; and that was a seedling  of Galathilion,  and 
that a fruit of Telperion of  many names, Eldest of Trees. Who shall say how


key: chroma:document
string_value:
golden mist. Upon the one side their  sight reached  to the grey Emyn  Muil,  
and  the  glint of  Rauros was like a star twinkling far  off; and upon  the 
other  side they  saw  the River like  a ribbon  laid down to Pelargir,  and 
beyond that was a light on the hem of the sky that spoke of the Sea. 
     And Gandalf said: 'This  is  your realm, and  the heart  of the greater  
realm that shall be. The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is 
begun; and it is your  task to order its beginning  and to preserve what may 
be preserved. For though much has been  saved, much must  now pass away; 
and 
the power  of the Three Rings also is ended. And all the lands that you see, 
and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of Men. For the time 
comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.' 
     'I  know it well, dear  friend,' said Aragorn; 'but I would still  have 
your counsel.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Upon the very Eve of Midsummer, when  the sky  was blue as sapphire and 
white stars opened in the East,  but the West was still  golden  and the air 
was  cool and  fragrant, the riders came down the North-way to the gates  of 
Minas Tirith. First rode Elrohir  and  Elladan with a  banner of silver, and 
then  came Glorfindel  and Erestor  and  all the household of Rivendell, and  
after them came the Lady Galadriel and Celeborn,  Lord of Lothlurien, riding 
upon white steeds and with  them many fair folk of their land,  grey-cloaked 
with  white  gems in their hair; and last came Master  Elrond, mighty  among 
Elves and Men, bearing the sceptre of Ann®minas,  and beside him upon a 
grey 
palfrey rode Arwen his daughter, Evenstar of her people. 
     And Frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on 
her brow and a sweet fragrance about her,  was moved with  great wonder, and 
he said to Gandalf: 'At  last I  understand why we  have waited! This is the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
For this House has become to me of all dwellings  the most blessed.' And she 
remained there until King Jomer came. 
     All things  were  now  made  ready  in  the City; and there  was  great 
concourse of  people, for the tidings had gone out into all parts of Gondor, 
from Min-Rimmon even to Pinnath Gelin and the far coasts of the sea; and all 
that could  come to the  City made haste  to come.  And the City  was filled 
again with women  and fair children  that returned to their homes laden with 
flowers;  and from Dol Amroth came the harpers that harped most skilfully in 
all the land; and there  were players upon viols and  upon  flutes and  upon 
horns of silver, and clear-voiced singers from the vales of Lebennin. 
     At last an evening came when from the walls the pavilions could be seen 
upon  the field, and all night lights were  burning as men  watched for  the 
dawn. And when the sun rose in  the clear morning above the mountains in the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Havens; for mine is the choice of L®thien, and as she so have I chosen, both 
the  sweet  and the bitter. But in  my stead you shall go, Ring-bearer, when 
the time  comes, and if you  then desire it. If your hurts grieve you  still 
and the memory of  your  burden is heavy, then  you may pass  into the West, 
until all your wounds and weariness  are hea led. But wear this now in memory 
of Elfstone and Evenstar with whom your life has been woven!' 
     And she took  a white gem like a star that lay upon her  breast hanging 
upon a silver chain,  and she  set the chain  about Frodo's neck.  'When the 
memory  of the  fear  and  the darkness troubles you,'  she said, 'this will 
bring you aid.' 
     In three days, as the King had said, Jomer  of Rohan came riding to the 
City, and with him came an  jored of the fairest knights  of the Mark. He was 
welcomed; and when they sat all  at table in Merethrond,  the  Great Hall of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
her brow and a sweet fragrance about her,  was moved with  great wonder, and 
he said to Gandalf: 'At  last I  understand why we  have waited! This is the 
ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but  night too shall be beautiful 
and blessed and all its fear pass away!' 
     Then  the  King welcomed  his  guests, and  they  alighted;  and Elrond 
surrendered  the sceptre, and  laid the hand of  his daughter in the hand of 
the King, and together they went up into  the  High City,  and a ll the stars 
flowered in the sky.  And  Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undumiel 
in 
the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer, and  the tale of their long 
waiting and labours was come to fulfilment.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.' 
     'I  know it well, dear  friend,' said Aragorn; 'but I would still  have 
your counsel.' 
     'Not for long now,' said Gandalf. 'The Third Age  was my age. I was the 
Enemy of Sauron; and my work  is finished. I shall go soon. The  burden must  
lie now upon you and your kindred.' 
     'But I  shall die,' said Aragorn. 'For  I  am a mortal man, and  though 
being what I am and of the race of the West unmingled, I shall have life far 
longer than other  men,  yet that is but a little while;  and when those who 
are now in the wombs of women are  born and have grown old, I too shall grow 
old.  And who then shall govern Gondor and those who look to this City as to 
their queen,  if my  desire be  not  granted? The Tree in the Court  of  the 
Fountain is still withered and barren. When shall  I see a sign that it will 
ever be otherwise?'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
robed all in white, and four small figures that many men marvelled to see. 
     'Nay,  cousin! they are  not  boys,' said Ioreth to her  kinswoman from 
Imloth  Melui,  who stood beside  her. 'Those  are Periain , out  of the  far 
country of  the Halflings, where they are princes of great fame, it is said. 
I should know, for I had one to tend in the Houses. They are small, but they 
are valiant. Why, cousin, one  of them went  with only his esquire  into the 
Black Country and fought with the Dark Lord all by himself, and set fire  to  
his  Tower,  if  you can believe it. At least that is  the tale in the City. 
That will be the one that walks with our Elfstone. They are dear friends,  I 
hear.  Now  he  is  a marvel, the Lord Elfstone: not too soft in his speech, 
mind  you, but  he  has a golden heart,  as  the saying is; and  he has  the 
healing hands. (The hands  of the king are  the  hands of a healer(, I said;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the line of  Nimloth the fair; and that was a seedling  of Galathilion,  and 
that a fruit of Telperion of  many names, Eldest of Trees. Who shall say how 
it comes here  in the appointed hour? But this is an ancient hallow, and ere 
the kings  failed or the Tree  withered in the court, a fruit must have been 
set here.  For it is said that, though the fruit of the Tree comes seldom to 
ripeness, yet the life within may then lie sleeping through many long years, 
and none can foretell the time in which it will awake. Remember this. For if 
ever  a fruit ripens,  it should  be planted, lest  the  line die out of the 
world. Here it has lain. hidden on the mountain, even as the race of Elendil 
lay hidden in the wastes of the North. Yet the line of Nimloth is older  far 
than your line, King Elessar.' 
     Then Aragorn laid his hand  gently to the sapling, and lo! it seemed to 
hold only lightly to the earth, and it was removed without hurt; and Aragorn


key: chroma:document
string_value:
than your line, King Elessar.' 
     Then Aragorn laid his hand  gently to the sapling, and lo! it seemed to 
hold only lightly to the earth, and it was removed without hurt; and Aragorn 
bore it back  to  the Citadel. Then the withered tree was uprooted, but with 
reverence; and they did not burn it, but laid it  to rest in the silence  of 
Rath Dnnen. And Aragorn planted the new tree in the  court by the  fountain, 
and swiftly and gladly it began to grow; and when the month  of June entered 
in it was laden with blossom. 
     'The sign has been given,'  said Aragorn, 'and the day is not far off.' 
And he set watchmen upon the walls.  
     It was the day  before Midsummer  when messengers came from Amon D(n 
to 
the  City,  and  they said that there was a  riding of fair folk out of  the 
North,  and they drew near now to  the walls of the Pelennor. And  the  King 
said: 'At last they have come. Let all the City be made ready!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
upon  the field, and all night lights were  burning as men  watched for  the 
dawn. And when the sun rose in  the clear morning above the mountains in the 
East, upon which shadows lay no more, then  all  the bells rang, and all the 
banners  broke  and  flowed in the wind;  and upon  the White  Tower  of the  
citadel the standard of  the Stewards,  bright argent like snow  in the sun, 
bearing no charge nor device, was raised over Gondor for the last time. 
     Now the Captains of the West  led their host towards the City, and folk  
saw them advance in line upon line, flashing and glinting in the sunrise and 
rippling  like silver.  And  so they came  before the Gateway and  halted  a  
furlong from the walls. As yet no gates had been set up again, but a barrier  
was laid across the entrance  to the City, and  there  stood men at  arms in 
silver  and  black with long swords drawn.  Before the barrier stood Faramir


key: chroma:document
string_value:
mind  you, but  he  has a golden heart,  as  the saying is; and  he has  the 
healing hands. (The hands  of the king are  the  hands of a healer(, I said; 
and  that was how  it  was all  discovered. And  Mithrandir,  he said to me: 
(Ioreth, men will long remember your words(, and--' 
     But  Ioreth  was  not  permitted  to  continue the instruction  of  her  
kinswoman  from  the country,  for a single trumpet rang, and a dead silence 
followed. Then forth from the Gate went  Faramir with H®rin of the Keys, and 
no  others, save  that behind  them  walked four men  in  the high helms and  
armour of the Citadel, and they bore a great casket of black lebethron bound 
with silver. 
     Faramir met  Aragorn in  the  midst  of those there  assembled, and  he 
knelt,  and said: 'The last  Steward of Gondor begs  leave to  surrender his 
office.' And he held out a  white rod; but Aragorn took the  rod and gave it


key: chroma:document
string_value:
City, and with him came an  jored of the fairest knights  of the Mark. He was 
welcomed; and when they sat all  at table in Merethrond,  the  Great Hall of 
Feasts, he beheld the beauty of  the ladies that he  saw and was filled with 
great  wonder. And before  he went to his rest he sent for Gimli  the Dwarf, 
and he said to him: 'Gimli Gluin's son, have you your axe ready?' 
     'Nay,  lord,' said Gimli, 'but  I  can  speedily fetch it, if there  be 
need.' 
     'You  shall  judge,'  said  Jomer.  'For  there are  certain rash words 
concerning the Lady in the Golden  Wood that lie still between us. And now I 
have seen her with my eyes.' 
     'Well, lord,' said Gimli, 'and what say you now?' 
     'Alas!'  said Jomer. 'I will not say that she  is the fairest lady that 
lives.' 
     'Then I must go for my axe,' said Gimli. 
     'But first I will  plead this excuse,' said Jomer. 'Had  I seen  her in 
other company, I would have said all that you could wish. But now I will put


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and his banner borne before; and Merry being Thjoden's esquire rode upon the 
wain and kept the arms of the king. 
     For  the  other  Companions steeds  were furnished  according to  their 
stature; and Frodo and Samwise rode at Aragorn's side, and Gandalf rode upon 
Shadowfax, and Pippin rode with the knights of Gondor; and Legolas and 
Gimli 
as ever rode together upon Arod. 
     In that riding went  also Queen  Arwen, and Celeborn and Galadriel with 
their  folk,  and Elrond  and his sons; and the princes of Dol Amroth and of 
Ithilien, and many captains and knights. Never had any king of the Mark such 
company upon the road as went with Thjoden Thengel's  son to the land of his 
home. 
     Without haste and at peace they passed into Anurien,  and they came  to 
the  Grey  Wood under Amon  D(n; and  there they heard a sound  as  of drums 
beating in the hills, though no living thing could be seen. Then Aragorn let 
the trumpets be blown; and heralds cried:


key: chroma:document
string_value:
was laid across the entrance  to the City, and  there  stood men at  arms in 
silver  and  black with long swords drawn.  Before the barrier stood Faramir  
the Steward, and H®rin Warden of the Keys, and other captains of Gondor, and 
the  Lady  Jowyn of Rohan with Elfhelm the Marshal and many  knights of  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
their queen,  if my  desire be  not  granted? The Tree in the Court  of  the 
Fountain is still withered and barren. When shall  I see a sign that it will 
ever be otherwise?' 
     'Turn your face from the  green world, and look where all seems  barren


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the  Grey  Wood under Amon  D(n; and  there they heard a sound  as  of drums 
beating in the hills, though no living thing could be seen. Then Aragorn let 
the trumpets be blown; and heralds cried: 
     'Behold  the King  Elessar is come! The Forest  of Dr®adan he  gives to 
Ghvn-buri-ghvn and to his folk, to be their own  for ever; and hereafter let 
no man enter it without their leave!' 
     Then the drums rolled loudly, and were silent. 
     At length after fifteen days of journey the wain of King Thjoden passed 
through the green  fields of Rohan and  came to Edoras;  and  there they all 
rested. The  Golden Hall  was arrayed  with fair hangings and it was  filled 
with light, and there was  held the highest feast that it had known since the 
days of its building. For after three days the Men  of the Mark prepared the 
funeral  of Thjoden; and  he was laid in a  house of stone with his arms and 
many  other  fair things that  he had possessed,  and over him was raised  a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Then the blood left Beregond's face, and he was stricken to  the  heart 
and bowed his head. But the King said.: 
     'So it must be,  for you are  appointed to the White Company, the Guard 
of Faramir,  Prince of Ithilien, and you shall  be its captain  and dwell in 
Emyn  Arnen in  honour  and peace, and in  the service of him  for whom  you  
risked all, to save him from death.' 
     And then Beregond, perceiving the mercy  and justice  of the  King, was 
glad,  and kneeling kissed his hand, and  departed  in joy  and content. And 
Aragorn gave to Faramir Ithilien to  be his princedom, and bade him dwell in 
the hills of Emyn Arnen within sight of the City. 
     'For,' said he, 'Minas Ithil in Morgul Vale shall be utterly destroyed, 
and though it may in time to come be made clean,  no man may dwell there for  
many long years.' 
     And last of  all Aragorn greeted Jomer of Rohan, and they embraced, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-mountains, until the Darkness  came and King Thjoden arose  and rode through 
the Shadow  to  the fire,  and died in splendour, even as the Sun, returning 
beyond hope, gleamed upon Mindolluin in the morning. 
     Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day's rising 
     he rode singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. 
     Hope he rekindled, and in hope ended; 
     over death, over dread, over doom lifted 
     out of loss, out of life, unto long glory. 
     But Merry stood at the foot of the green mound,  and he wept, and  when 
the song was ended he arose and cried: 
     'Thjoden King, Thjoden King!  Farewell! As a father you were to me. for  
a little while. Farewell!' 
     When the burial  was  over and the  weeping of  women was stilled,  and  
Thjoden was  left  at  last alone in his barrow, then folk gathered  to  the 
Golden Hall for the great feast and  put away sorrow;  for Thjoden had lived 
to full years  and ended in  honour no  less than the greatest of his sires.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
knelt,  and said: 'The last  Steward of Gondor begs  leave to  surrender his 
office.' And he held out a  white rod; but Aragorn took the  rod and gave it 
back, saying:  'That  office is  not ended, and  it shall be thine  and  thy 
heirs' as long as my line shall last. Do now thy office!' 
     Then Faramir stood up and spoke in  a clear voice:  'Men of Gondor hear


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Steward  of  Gondor, and Prince of  Ithilien, asks that  Jowyn Lady of Rohan 
should be his wife,  and she grants it full willing. Therefore they shall be 
trothplighted before you  all.' 
     And Faramir and Jowyn stood  forth and set hand in  hand; and all there 
drank to them  and were glad. 'Thus,'  said Jomer, 'is the friendship of the 
Mark and of Gondor bound with a new bond, and the more do I rejoice.' 
     'No niggard are you, Jomer,' said Aragorn, 'to give  thus to Gondor the 
fairest thing in your realm!' 
     Then Jowyn looked in the eyes of Aragorn, and  she said: 'Wish  me joy,  
my liege-lord and healer!' 
     And he answered: 'I have wished  thee joy  ever since first I saw thee. 
It heals my heart to see thee now in bliss.' 
     When the feast was over, those who were to go took leave of King Jomer. 
Aragorn and his knights, and  the people  of Lurien  and of Rivendell,  made 
ready  to  ride;  but Faramir  and Imrahil  remained  at  Edoras; and  Arwen


key: chroma:document
string_value:
When the days of rejoicing were over at last the Companions  thought of 
returning to their own homes.  And Frodo went to the  King as he was sitting 
with the Queen Arwen by  the fountain, and she sang a song of Valinor, while 
the Tree grew and blossomed. They welcomed Frodo  and rose to greet him; 
and 
Aragorn said: 
     'I  know what you have come to say, Frodo: you wish to  return to  your 
own  home. Well, dearest friend,  the tree grows  best  in the  land of  its 
sires; but  for  you in  all  the lands of the  West  there will  ever  be a  
welcome. And though your people have had little fame in the  legends  of the 
great, they will  now have  more renown than  any wide  realms that  are  no 
more.' 
     'It  is true that  I  wish to  go back to the Shire,' said Frodo.  'But 
first I must  go to Rivendell.  For  if there could be anything wanting in a  
time so  blessed,  I missed Bilbo;  and  I was  grieved when  among all  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'But first I will  plead this excuse,' said Jomer. 'Had  I seen  her in 
other company, I would have said all that you could wish. But now I will put 
Queen Arwen Evenstar first, and I  am ready to do battle on my own part with 
any who deny me. Shall I call for my sword?' 
     Then  Gimli bowed low.  'Nay, you are excused  for my  part, lord,'  he 
said. 'You have chosen the Evening; but my love is given to the Morning. And 
my heart forebodes that soon it will past away for ever.' 
     At last  the day of departure came, and a  great and fair  company made 
ready to ride  north from the City. Then the kings of Gondor and Rohan  went 
to the Hallows and they came  to the tombs in Rath Dnnen, and they bore away 
King Thjoden upon  a golden  bier,  and passed through the City  in silence.  
Then they laid the bier upon a great wain with  Riders of Rohan all about it


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and come to him.' 
     Then Merry  took  the  horn, for it could not be refused, and he kissed 
Jowyn's hand; and they embraced him, and so they parted for that time. 
     Now the guests were  ready,  and  they drank the stirrup-cup, and  with 
great praise  and friendship they departed, and  came at  length  to  Helm's  
Deep, and there they rested two  days. Then Legolas  repaid  his  promise to 
Gimli and went with him to the  Glittering Caves;  and when they returned he 
was silent, and  would  say only that Gimli  alone could find fit  words  to 
speak of them. 'And never  before has  a Dwarf claimed a victory over an Elf 
in a contest of words,' said he. 'Now therefore let us go to Fangorn and set 
the score right!' 
     From  Deeping-coomb  they rode to Isengard,  and saw  how the Ents  had 
busied  themselves. All the stone-circle had been  thrown down and  removed, 
and  the land within was made into a garden  filled with orchards and trees,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
funeral  of Thjoden; and  he was laid in a  house of stone with his arms and 
many  other  fair things that  he had possessed,  and over him was raised  a  
great mound, covered with green turves of grass and  of white evermind.  And 
now there were eight mounds on the east -side of the Barrowfield. 
     Then the Riders of the King's House  upon white horses rode round about 
the barrow and sang together a song of Thjoden Thengel's  son that  Gljowine 
his minstrel made,  and he made no  other song after. The slow voices of the 
Riders stirred the hearts even of those who did not  know the speech of that 
people; but the words of the song brought a light to the eyes of the folk of 
the Mark as they heard again afar the thunder of the hooves of the North and  
the voice of Eorl crying  above the battle upon the  Field of Celebrant; and 
the  tale  of  the kings rolled on, and the  horn  of Helm  was  loud in the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
first I must  go to Rivendell.  For  if there could be anything wanting in a  
time so  blessed,  I missed Bilbo;  and  I was  grieved when  among all  the 
household of Elrond I saw that he was not come.' 
     'Do  you wonder at that,  Ring-bearer?' said  Arwen.  'For you know the 
power  of that thing  which is now destroyed; and  all that was done by that 
power is now passing away. But your kinsman possessed this thing longer than 
you.  He is ancient in years now, according to his kind; and  he awaits you, 
for he will not again make any long journey save one.' 
     'Then I beg leave to depart soon,' said Frodo. 
     'In seven days we will go,' said Aragorn. 'For we  shall ride  with you  
far on the road, even as far as  the  country  of Rohan.  In three days  now 
Jomer will return hither to bear Thjoden back to rest  in  the Mark, and  we 
shall ride  with  him to honour  the fallen.  But now before  you go  I will


key: chroma:document
string_value:
and though it may in time to come be made clean,  no man may dwell there for  
many long years.' 
     And last of  all Aragorn greeted Jomer of Rohan, and they embraced, and  
Aragorn said: 'Between  us there can be no word of giving or taking,  nor of 
reward; for we are brethren. In happy hour did Eorl ride from the North, and 
never has  any league of peoples been more blessed, so that neither has ever  
failed the other, nor shall fail. Now, as you know, we have laid Thjoden the 
Renowned in a tomb in the Hallows, and there he shall lie for ever among the 
Kings of Gondor, if you will. Or if you desire it, we will come to Rohan and 
bring him back to rest with his own people.' 
     And Jomer answered: 'Since the day when you rose before me  out of  the 
green grass of the downs I have loved you , and that love shall not fail. But 
now I must depart  for a while to my own realm, where there is much  to heal


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-have played  their  part. And  not  only in  dealing with that,  hoom,  that 
accursed tree-slayer that dwelt here. For there was a great inrush of those, 
burbrum,   those  evileyed  -  blackhanded  -  bowlegged  -  flinthearted  - 
clawfingered  - foulbellied  -  bloodthirsty,  morimaite -  sincahonda,  hoom, 
well, since  you are  hasty folk and their full name is as long as  years of 
torment, those vermin  of orcs; and they came  over  the River a nd down from 
the  North and all round the wood of  Laurelindurenan, which they could  not 
get into, thanks  to the Great ones who  are here.' He bowed to the Lord and 
Lady of Lurien. 
     'And these same foul creatures were more than  surprised to meet us  out 
on the Wold, for they had  not heard of us before; though that might be said 
also of better folk. And not many  will remember us, for not many escaped us 
alive, and the River had most of those. But it was well for you, for if they


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Golden Hall for the great feast and  put away sorrow;  for Thjoden had lived 
to full years  and ended in  honour no  less than the greatest of his sires.  
And when the time  came that in the  custom of the Mark they should drink to 
the memory of the kings, Jowyn  Lady of Rohan came  forth, golden as the sun 
and white as snow, and she bore a filled cup to Jomer. 
     Then a minstrel and loremaster stood up and  named all the names of the  
Lords of the Mark in their  order: Eorl the Young;  and Brego builder of the  
Hall; and Aldor brother of Baldor the hapless;  and Frja, and  Frjawine, and 
Goldwine, and Djor, and Gram; and Helm who lay  hid in Helm's Deep when  
the 
Mark was overrun; and so ended the nine mounds of the west-side, for in that 
time the  line  was  broken,  and after came  the  mounds of the  east-side: 
Frjalaf,  Helm s sister -son, and  Ljofa, and Walda, and Folca, and Folcwine,  
and Fengel, and Thengel, and Thjoden the latest. And when Thjoden  was 
named


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Aragorn and his knights, and  the people  of Lurien  and of Rivendell,  made 
ready  to  ride;  but Faramir  and Imrahil  remained  at  Edoras; and  Arwen 
Evenstar remained also, and she said farewell  to her brethren. None saw her  
last meeting with Elrond  her father, for  they went up into the  hills  and 
there  spoke long together, and bitter was  their parting that should endure 
beyond the ends of the world. 
     At the last  before the guests set oat Jomer and  Jowyn came to  Merry, 
and  they said: 'Farewell now, Meriadoc of the  Shire  and Holdwine  of  the 
Mark! Ride to good fortune, and ride back soon to our welcome!' 
     And Jomer said: 'Kings of  old would  have laden you  with gifts that a  
wain could not bear for your deeds upon the fields of Mundburg; and yet  you 
will take  naught,  you say, but the  arms that  were given to you.  This  I 
suffer, for indeed I have no gift that is  worthy; but my sister begs you to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
busied  themselves. All the stone-circle had been  thrown down and  removed, 
and  the land within was made into a garden  filled with orchards and trees,  
and a stream  ran through  it;  but in  the midst of all there was a lake of 
clear  water, and out of it  the  Tower  of  Orthanc  rose  still, tall  and 
impregnable, and its black rock was mirrored in the pool. 
     For a while the travellers sat where once the old gates of Isengard had 
stood, and there were now two tall trees like sentinels  a t the beginning of 
a green-bordered path that ran towards Orthanc; and they looked in wonder at 
the work that had been done, but no living thing could they see far or near. 
But presently they heard a voice calling hoom-hom, hoom-hom;  and there 
came 
Treebeard striding down the path to greet them with Quickbeam at his side. 
     'Welcome to the  Treegarth of Orthanc!' he said. 'I  knew that you were 
coming, but I was at work up the valley; there is much still to be done. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
green grass of the downs I have loved you , and that love shall not fail. But 
now I must depart  for a while to my own realm, where there is much  to heal 
and set in order.  But as for  the Fallen,  when  all is made ready we  will


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'l  observe, my good  Fangorn,' said Gandalf,  'that with great care you  
say dwelt, was, grew. What about is? Is he dead?' 
     'No, not dead, so far as I know,' said Treebeard. 'But he is gone. Yes, 
he is gone seven days.  I let him go.  There  was little left of him when he 
crawl ed  out,  and as  for  that worm-creature of his,  he was  like  a pale 
shadow. Now do not tell me, Gandalf, that I promised to keep him safe; for I  
know it.  But things have changed since then.  And  I kept him until  he was 
safe, safe from doing any  mor e harm. You should know that above all  I hate 
the  caging of live things, and I will not keep even such creatures as these 
caged beyond great need. A snake without fangs may crawl where he will.' 
     'You may be right,'  said Gandalf; 'but this snake  had still one tooth 
left, I think. He had the poison of his voice, and I guess that he persuaded 
you, even you Treebeard,  knowing the soft spot in your heart.  Well,  he is


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Welcome to the  Treegarth of Orthanc!' he said. 'I  knew that you were 
coming, but I was at work up the valley; there is much still to be done. But 
you  have  not been idle  either away in the south and the east, I hear; and 
all that I hear is good, very good.' Then Treebeard praised all their deeds,  
of which he seemed to have full knowledge; and at last he stopped and looked 
long at Gandalf. 
     'Well, come  now!' he said.  'You  have proved mightiest,  and all your 
labours have gone well.  Where now would you be  going? And why  do you 
come 
here?' 
     'To see how your work goes, my friend,' said Gandalf, 'and to thank you  
for your aid in all that has been achieved.' 
     'Hoom, well, that is fair enough,' said Treebeard; 'for to be sure Ents


key: chroma:document
string_value:
also of better folk. And not many  will remember us, for not many escaped us 
alive, and the River had most of those. But it was well for you, for if they 
had  not met us,  then the king of the grassland would not have  ridden far, 
and if he had there would have been no home to return to.' 
     'We know it  well,' said Aragorn, 'and never  shall it be forgotten  in 
Minas Tirith or in Edoras.' 
     'Never is too long a word even for me,' said Treebeard. 'Not while your 
kingdoms last, you mean; but they will have to last long indeed to seem long  
to Ents.' 
     'The New Age begins,' said Gandalf, 'and in this age it may  well prove 
that the  kingdoms of Men shall outlast you, Fangor n my friend. But now come 
tell me: what of the task that I set you? How is Saruman? Is he not weary of 
Orthanc yet? For I do  not suppose that he will think you  have improved the 
view from his windows.' 
     Treebeard gave Gandalf a long look, a most cunning look, Merry thought.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Frjalaf,  Helm s sister -son, and  Ljofa, and Walda, and Folca, and Folcwine,  
and Fengel, and Thengel, and Thjoden the latest. And when Thjoden  was 
named 
Jomer drained the  cup. Then Jowyn bade those  that served to fill the cups, 
and all  there assembled rose  and  drank to the  new  king, crying:  'Hail, 
Jomer, King of the Mark!' 
     At the  last when the  feast drew to an end Jomer arose and  said: 'Now 
this is the funeral feast of Thjoden the King; but I will speak ere we go of 
tidings of joy,  for  he would not grudge that I should do so, since he  was 
ever a father of Jowyn my sister. Hear then all my guests, fair folk of many 
realms, such  as  have never before  been gathered  in  this  hall! Faramir,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
will take  naught,  you say, but the  arms that  were given to you.  This  I 
suffer, for indeed I have no gift that is  worthy; but my sister begs you to 
receive this small thing, as a memorial of Dernhelm and of the horns  of the  
Mark at the coming of the morning.' 
     Then  Jowyn gave to Merry  an ancient horn, small but cunningly wrought 
all of fair silver with a baldric of green; and wrights had engraven upon it 
swift horsemen riding in  a  line  that  wound about it from the tip  to the 
mouth; and there were set runes of great virtue. 
     'This is  an  heirloom of  our house,' said Jowyn. 'It was made  by the 
Dwarves, and came from the hoard of Scatha the  Worm. Eorl the Young 
brought 
it from the North. He that blows it  at need shall set fear in the hearts of 
his enemies and joy in the hearts of  his friends, and they  shall hear  him


key: chroma:document
string_value:
left, I think. He had the poison of his voice, and I guess that he persuaded 
you, even you Treebeard,  knowing the soft spot in your heart.  Well,  he is 
gone, and there is no more to be said.  But the Tower  of  Orthanc now  goes 
back to  the King, to whom it belongs. Though maybe he will not need it.' 
     'That  will  be seen later,' said Aragorn. 'But I will give to Ents all 
this valley  to  do with as they will, so long  as  they  keep a watch  upon 
Orthanc and see that none enter it without my leave.' 
     'It is locked,' said Treebeard. 'I made Saruman lock it and give me the 
keys. Quickbeam has them.' 
     Quickbeam  bowed like a tree bending in the wind and  handed to Aragorn 
two great black keys of intricate shape, joined by a  ring of steel.  'Now I 
thank you once more,' said Aragorn, 'and I bid you farewell. May your forest 
grow again in peace. When  this valley is filled there  is room and to spare 
west of the mountains, where once you walked long ago.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-nowhere  else  to be found in Middle-earth. You  shall come with me and keep 
your word; and thus we will journey on together to our own lands in Mirkwood 
and beyond.' To this Gimli agreed, though with no great delight, it seemed. 
     'Here  then  at last comes the ending of the Fellowship  of  the Ring,' 
said Aragorn. 'Yet I hope that ere long you will  return to my land with the 
help that you promised.' 
     'We will come, if our own lords allow it,' said Gimli. 'Well, farewell. 
my hobbits! You  should  come safe to your own homes now, and I shall not be 
kept  awake for fear  of your peril. We will send word when we may, and some 
of us  may yet meet at times; but I fear that we shall not all  be  gathered 
together ever again.' 
     Then Treebeard  said farewell to  each of  them  in turn, and  he bowed 
three times slowly and with great reverence to Celeborn and  Galadriel.  'It 
is long,  long since we  met by stock  or by  stone, A  vanimar,  vanimblion


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Orthanc yet? For I do  not suppose that he will think you  have improved the 
view from his windows.' 
     Treebeard gave Gandalf a long look, a most cunning look, Merry thought. 
'Ah!'  he said.  'I thought you would come to  that. Weary of  Orthanc? Very 
weary  at last; but  not so weary of his tower as he  was weary of my voice. 
Hoom! I gave  him some long tales, or at least what might be thought long in 
your speech.' 
     'Then why  did he  stay  to  listen?  Did  you go into  Orthanc?' asked 
Gandalf. 
     'Hoom,  no, not  into Orthanc!'  said  Treebeard. 'But he came  to  his 
window and listened,  because he could  not get news in any  other  way, and 
though he hated the news, he was greedy to have it; and  I saw that he heard 
it all. But I added a great many things to the news that it was good for him 
to think of. He grew very weary. He always was hasty. That was his ruin.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Well Saruman!' said Gandalf. 'Where are you going?' 
     'What is  that to  you?' he answered. 'Will you  still  order my goings,  
and are you not content with my ruin?' 
     'You know the  answers,' said Gandalf: 'no and no. But in  any case the 
time of my labours now draws to an end. The King has taken on the burden. If 
you had waited at Orthanc, you would have seen  him, and he would have 
shown 
you wisdom and mercy.' 
     'Then all the A more reason  to have left sooner,' said Saruman; 'for I 
desire  neither  of  him.  Indeed if  you wish for  an answer  to your first 
question, I am seeking a way out of his realm.' 
     'Then once  more you are going the wrong way,' said Gandalf, 'and I see 
no hope in your journey.  But  will  you scorn our help?  For we offer it to 
you.' 
     'To  me?' said  Saruman. 'Nay, pray do not smile  at me! I prefer  your 
frowns. And as  for the Lady here, I do not trust her:  she always hated me,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     The beggar  turned and slouched past  whimpering: 'Poor old Grnma! Poor  
old Grnma!  Always beaten and cursed. How  I hate him!  I wish I could leave 
him!' 
     'Then leave him!' said Gandalf.  
     But Wormtongue only shot a glance of his bleared eyes full of terror at 
Gandalf, and then shuffled quickly past behind Saruman. As the wretched pair 
passed  by the  company they came  to the hobbits, and Saruman  stopped  and 
stared at them; but they looked at him with pity. 
     'So you have  come  to  gloat too, have you, my urchins?' he said. 'You  
don't care what a beggar lacks, do you? For  you have all you want, food and 
fine clothes, and the best weed for your pipes. Oh yes, I know! I know where 
it comes from. You would not give a pipeful to a beggar, would you?' 
     'I would, if I had any,' said Frodo. 
     'You can have what I have  got left,' said Merry,  'if you will wa it  a  
moment.' He got down and searched  in  the bag at his saddle. Then he handed


key: chroma:document
string_value:
grow again in peace. When  this valley is filled there  is room and to spare 
west of the mountains, where once you walked long ago.' 
     Treebeard's face became sad. 'Forests may  grow,' he  said.  'Woods may 
spread. But not Ents. There are no Entings.' 
     'Yet maybe there is now more hope in your search,' said Aragorn. 'Lands 
will lie open to you eastward that have long been closed.' 
     But  Treebeard shook his head and said: 'It is far to go. And there are 
too  many Men there in these days. But I am forgetting  my manners! Will you  
stay here and rest a  while? And maybe there are  some that would be pleased 
to pass through Fangorn Forest and so shorten their road home?' He looked at 
Celeborn and Galadriel. 
     But  all  save Legolas said  that they  must  now take  their leave and 
depart, either south or west. 'Come, Gimli!' said Legolas. 'Now by Fangorn's 
leave I will visit the deep places of the Entwood and  see such trees as are


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Hobbits were grieved at this parting; for Aragorn had never failed  them and 
he had been their guide through many perils.  
     'I wish  we  could have a Stone that  we could see all our friends in,' 
said Pippin, 'and that we could speak to them from far away!' 
     'Only  one  now remains  that you could use ,'  answered Aragorn for you  
would not wish to see what the Stone of Minas Tirith would show you. But the 
Palantnr of Orthanc the King will keep, to see what is passing in his realm, 
and what his servants are doing. For do not forget, Peregrin Took, that  you  
are a knight  of Gondor, and I do not release you from your service. You are 
going now on leave, but I may recall you.  And remember, dear friends of the 
Shire, that my realm  lies  also in the  North, and I shall  come there  one 
day.' 
     Then Aragorn took leave of Celeborn and Galadriel; and the Lady said to 
him: 'Elfstone,  through  darkness  you have come to your hope, and have now


key: chroma:document
string_value:
three times slowly and with great reverence to Celeborn and  Galadriel.  'It 
is long,  long since we  met by stock  or by  stone, A  vanimar,  vanimblion 
nostari!' he said. 'It is sad that we should meet only  thus at  the ending. 
For the world is changing: I  feel it in the  water, I feel it in the earth, 
and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again.' 
     And Celeborn said: 'I do not know, Eldest.' But Galadriel sa id: 'Not in 
Middle-earth, nor  until the lands  that lie  under the wave  are lifted  up 
again. Then in the  willow-meads  of  Tasarinan we may meet in  the  Spring. 
Farewell!' 
     Last of all Merry and Pippin said good-bye to the  old Ent, and he grew 
gayer as he looked at  them. 'Well, my merry folk,' he said, 'will you drink  
another draught with me before you go?' 
     'Indeed we  will,' they said,  and he took them aside into the shade of 
one  of the trees, and there they saw that  a  great stone jar had been set.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-some mischief still in a small mean way.' 
     Next day they went on into  northern Dunland, where  no men now  dwelt, 
though  it was  a green and pleasant country. September came  in with golden 
days  and  silver  nights, and they  rode  at  ease  until  they reached the 
Swanfleet  river, and  found the  old ford, east of the  falls where it went 
down suddenly into the lowlands. Far to the west in a haze lay the meres and 
eyots through which it wound its way to the Greyflood: there countless swans 
housed in a land of reeds. 
     So  they  passed into  Eregion,  and at last  a  fair  morning  dawned, 
shimmering above gleaming mists;  and looking from their camp on a  low hill 
the travellers saw away in the east the Sun catching three peaks that thrust  
up into the sky through floating clouds: Caradhras, Celebdil, and Fanuidhol.  
They were near to the Gates of Moria. 
     Here  now  for  seven  days they tarried, for the  time was at hand for


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and saw far below the lamps  shining  in Elrond's house. And they went  down 
and crossed the bridge and came to  the doors,  and all  the house was filled 
with light and song for joy at Elrond's homecoming. 
     First of  all, before  they  had  eaten or  washed  or even shed  their 
cloaks, the hobbits went in search of Bilbo. They found him all alone in his 
little room. It was littered with papers and pens and pencils; but Bilbo was 
sitting in  a  chair before  a small  bright fire. He looked  very old,  but 
peaceful, and sleepy. 
     He  opened his eyes and  looked up as they came in. 'Hullo, hullo!'  he 
said. 'So you've  come back? And  tomorrow's my birthday, too. How clever of 
you! Do you know,  I shall  be one hundred and twenty-nine? And  in one year 
more, if I am spared, I shall equal the Old Took. I should like to beat him; 
but we shall see.' 
     After the celebration  of  Bilbo's birthday  the four hobbits stayed in


key: chroma:document
string_value:
day.' 
     Then Aragorn took leave of Celeborn and Galadriel; and the Lady said to 
him: 'Elfstone,  through  darkness  you have come to your hope, and have now 
all your desire. Use well the days!' 
     But  Celeborn  said: 'Kinsman,  farewell! May  your doom be  other than 
mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end!' 
     With that they parted,  and  it was then the  time  of sunset; and when 
after  a  while  they turned and looked back,  they saw the King of the West 
sitting upon his horse with his knights about him; and the falling Sun shone 
upon them and made all  their harness to gleam like red gold,  and the white 
mantle of Aragorn  was turned  to a flame. Then Aragorn took the green stone 
and held it up, and there came a green fire from his hand. 
     Soon the dwindling company, following the  Isen,  turned west  and rode 
through  the  Gap  into  the  waste  lands  beyond,  and  then  they  turned


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'You can have what I have  got left,' said Merry,  'if you will wa it  a  
moment.' He got down and searched  in  the bag at his saddle. Then he handed 
to Saruman a leather pouch.  'Take what there is,' he said. 'You are welcome 
to it; it came from the flotsam of Isengard.' 
     'Mine, mine, yes and dearly bought!' cried  Saruman,  clutching  at the 
pouch. 'This is only a repayment in token; for you took more, I'll be bound. 
Still,  a beggar must  be grateful,  if a thief returns him even a morsel of 
his own. Well, it  will serve you right  when you  come  home,  if  you find 
things  less good in  the Southfarthing than you  would like. Long  may your  
land be short of leaf!' 
     'Thank you!' said Merry. 'In that case I will have my pouch back, which 
is not yours and has journeyed  far with me.  Wrap the weed in a rag of your  
own.' 
     'One thief  deserves  another,' said  Saruman,  and turned his back  on


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Jomer will return hither to bear Thjoden back to rest  in  the Mark, and  we 
shall ride  with  him to honour  the fallen.  But now before  you go  I will 
confirm the words that Faramir spoke to you, and you are made free  for ever 
of the realm of Gondor; and  all your companions likewise. And if there were 
any gifts that I could give to match with  your deeds you  should have them;  
but whatever you  desire you  shall  take  with you, and  you shall ride  in 
honour and arrayed as princes of the land.' 
     But the  Queen  Arwen  said:  'A  gift I will give  you.  For I  am the 
daughter  of Elrond. I shall not  go  with  him now when  he departs to  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
you.' 
     'To  me?' said  Saruman. 'Nay, pray do not smile  at me! I prefer  your 
frowns. And as  for the Lady here, I do not trust her:  she always hated me, 
and schemed  for your part. I do not doubt that she has brought you this way 
to have the pleasure of gloating over my poverty. Had  I been warned of your 
pursuit, I would have denied you the pleasure.' 
     'Saruman,' said Galadriel, 'we have other errands  and other cares that 
seem  to us more  urgent  than  hunting  for  you. Say rather  that  you are 
overtaken by good fortune; for now you have a last chance.' 
     'If it be truly the last, I am glad,'  said  Saruman;  'for I shall  be 
spared the  trouble of  refusing it  again. All  my hopes are ruined,  but I 
would not share yours. If you have any.' 
     For  a  moment his eyes kindled. 'Go!'  he said. 'I did   not spend long 
study on these matters for naught. You have  doomed yourselves, and you 
know


key: chroma:document
string_value:
up into the sky through floating clouds: Caradhras, Celebdil, and Fanuidhol.  
They were near to the Gates of Moria. 
     Here  now  for  seven  days they tarried, for the  time was at hand for  
another parting which  they  were loth to make.  Soon Celeborn and Galadriel 
and their folk would turn eastward, and so pass by the Redhorn Gate and down 
the  Dimrill Stair to the  Silverlode  and to  their own  country.  They had 
journeyed  thus far  by the  west -ways, for  they had  much  to speak of with 
Elrond and with Gandalf, and here they lingered still in converse with their 
friends.  Often long after the hobbits were wrapped in sleep  they would sit 
together under  the stars, recalling  the ages that were gone and  all their 
joys  a nd  labours in the world, or holding council, concerning  the days to 
come. If any wanderer had chanced  to  pass,  little would he  have seen  or  
heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved


key: chroma:document
string_value:
more, if I am spared, I shall equal the Old Took. I should like to beat him; 
but we shall see.' 
     After the celebration  of  Bilbo's birthday  the four hobbits stayed in 
Rivendell for some days, and they sat much with  their old friend, who spent 
most  of his time  now in his room,  except at meals. For these he was still 
very punctual as a rule, and he seldom failed to wake  up in t ime  for them. 
Sitting round the fire they told him in turn all that they could remember of 
their journeys and adventures. At first he pretended to take some notes; but 
he often fell asleep; and when he  woke  he would  say:  'How splendid!  How 
wonderful!  But where were we?'  Then they went  on with  the story from the 
point where he had begun to nod. 
     The only  part that  seemed really to rouse him and  hold his attention 
was the account of  the crowning and marriage of Aragorn. 'I was  invited to  
the wedding of course,' he said. 'And I have  waited for it long enough. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Soon the dwindling company, following the  Isen,  turned west  and rode 
through  the  Gap  into  the  waste  lands  beyond,  and  then  they  turned 
northwards, and passed over the borders of Dunland. The Dunlendings fled and 
hid themselves, for they were afraid of Elv ish Folk,  though few indeed ever  
came to  their country; but the travellers  did not heed them, for they were 
still a great company and were well provided  with all that they needed; and  
they went  on  their way at their leisure, setting  up their tents when they 
would. 
     On the  sixth day  since their  parting  from the  King  they journeyed 
through  a wood  climbing  down from the  hills  at the  feet  of the  Misty 
Mountains that now marched on their right hand. As they came out  again into 
the open country at sundown they overtook an old man leaning on a staff, and 
he was clothed in rags of grey or dirty white, and at his heels went another  
beggar, slouching and whining.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
would not share yours. If you have any.' 
     For  a  moment his eyes kindled. 'Go!'  he said. 'I did   not spend long 
study on these matters for naught. You have  doomed yourselves, and you 
know 
it. And it will afford me  some comfort as I wander to think that you pulled 
down your own house  when you destroyed  mine. And now, what  ship will 
bear 
you back across so wide a sea?' he mocked. 'It will be a grey ship, and full 
of ghosts.' He laughed, but his voice was cracked and hideous.  
     'Get up, you  idiot!' he shouted to the other  beggar, who had sat down 
on the ground; and  he struck him with his staff. 'Turn about! If these fine 
folk are going our way, then we will  take another. Get on, or I'll give you  
no crust for your supper!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
another draught with me before you go?' 
     'Indeed we  will,' they said,  and he took them aside into the shade of 
one  of the trees, and there they saw that  a  great stone jar had been set. 
And Treebeard  filled  three bowls, and they drank; and they saw his strange 
eyes looking at them over the  rim of his bowl. 'Take  care take  care!'  he 
said. 'For you have already grown  since I saw you last.'  And  they laughed 
and drained their bowls.  
     'Well, good-bye!' he said. 'And don't forget  that if you hear any news 
of the Entwives in your land, you  will send word to me.'  Then he waved his 
great hands to all the company and went off into the trees.  
 
     The  travellers now  rode with more  speed,  and  they made  their  way 
towards  the Gap of Rohan; and Aragorn took leave  of them at last  close to 
that  very place where  Pippin had looked  into  the Stone  of  Orthanc. The


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Well, Mr. Frodo, we've been far and seen a deal, and yet I don't think  
we've found a better place than this. There's  something of everything here, 
if  you understand me:  the Shire and the Golden  Wood and  Gondor and kings' 
houses and  inns and  meadows and mountains all mixed.  And  yet, somehow, 
I 
feel we ought to be going soon. I'm worried about my gaffer, to tell you the 
truth.' 
     'Yes,  something  of  everything,  Sam,  except  the  Sea,'   Frodo  had 
answered; and he repeated it now to himself: 'Except the Sea.' 
     That  day  Frodo spoke to Elrond, and  it was  agreed  that they should 
leave the next morning. To their delight Gandalf said: 'I think I shall come 
too. At least as far as Bree. I want to see Butterbur.' 
     In  the evening  they went to say good-bye to Bilbo. 'Well, if you must  
go, you must,' he said.  'I am sorry.  I shall miss you.  It is nice just to 
know that  you are about the  place. But I am getting very sleepy.' Then  he


key: chroma:document
string_value:
is not yours and has journeyed  far with me.  Wrap the weed in a rag of your  
own.' 
     'One thief  deserves  another,' said  Saruman,  and turned his back  on 
Merry, and kicked Wormtongue, and went away towards the wood. 
     'Well, I  like that!' said Pippin. 'Thief indeed! What of our claim for  
waylaying, wounding, and orc-dragging us through Rohan?' 
     'Ah!' said Sam. 'And bought he said. How,  I  wonder? And I didn't like 
the sound of what he said about the Southfarthing. It's time we got back.' 
     'I'm sure it is,' said Frodo. 'But  we can't go  any quicker, if we are 
to see Bilbo. I am going to Rivendell first, whatever happens.' 
     'Yes, I  think  you  had better do that,' said Gandalf. 'But  alas  for  
Saruman! I fear nothing more can be made of him. He has withered altogether. 
All the same, I am not sure that  Treebea rd  is right: I  fancy he could  do


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-no, how silly  of me! That's what you went for, wasn't it: to get rid of it?  
But it is all so confusing, for such a lot of  other things seem to have got 
mixed  up  with it: Aragorn's affairs, and the White Council and Gondor, and 
the Horsemen, and Southrons, and oliphaunts - did you really see one, Sam? - 
and caves and towers and golden trees, and goodness knows what besides. 
     'I  evidently came  back  by much too straight a  road from my trip.  I 
think Gandalf might have shown  me round  a bit. But then the  auction  would 
have been  over  before I got back,  and I should have had even more trouble 
than I  did. Anyway  it's  too  late  now; and really I think it's much more 
comfortable to sit  here and hear about it all.  The fire's  very cosy here, 
and the food's very good, and there are Elves when you want  them. What more 
could one want?  
     The Road goes ever on and on  
     Out from the door where it began. 
     Now far ahead the Road has gone,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
was the account of  the crowning and marriage of Aragorn. 'I was  invited to  
the wedding of course,' he said. 'And I have  waited for it long enough. But 
somehow, when it came  to it,  I found I had so much to do here; and packing 
is such a bother.' 
     When  nearly a fortnight had passed Frodo  looked out of his window and 
saw that  there had been a frost  in the night, and  the  cobwebs were  like 
white  nets.  Then  suddenly he knew that he must go,  and  say  good-bye to 
Bilbo. The weather  was still calm  and fair, after one  of the  most lovely 
summers that people could remember; but October had  come, and it must 
break 
soon  and begin to rain and blow again. And there was still a very long  way 
to go. Yet it was not really the thought of the weather that stirred him. He 
had  a feeling  that  it  was time he went back to the Shire. Sam shared it. 
Only the night before he had said:


key: chroma:document
string_value:
come. If any wanderer had chanced  to  pass,  little would he  have seen  or  
heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved 
in stone, memorials of forgotten  things now  lost in  unpeopled  lands. For 
they did  not move or speak with mouth, looking from mind  to mind; and only 
their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went to and fro. 
     But at length all was said, and they parted again for a  while, until it 
was time for  the Three Rings to  pass away. Quickly fading into  the stones 
and  the  shadows  the  grey-cloaked  people  of  Lurien  rode  towards  the 
mountains;  and  those  who  were going  to  Rivendell sat  on the hill  and 
watched,   until there came out of the gathering mist a flash; and  then they 
saw no more. Frodo knew that Galadriel  had held aloft her ring  in token of 
farewell. 
     Sam turned away and sighed: 'I wish I was going back to Lurien!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-and in the darkening sky low clouds went hurrying  by, and their hearts sank  
a little, for they had expected more welcome. 
     When they had called many times, at last  the Gate-keeper came out, and 
they saw that  he  carried a great cudgel. He looked at them  with  fear and 
suspicion; but  when he saw that Gandalf  was there, and that his companions 
were hobbits,  in spite of their strange gear, then he brightened and wished 
them welcome. 
     'Come in!' he said,  unlocking  the  gate. 'We  won't stay for news out 
here  in the  cold  and the wet, a ruffianly evening. But old Barley will no 
doubt give you a welcome at The Pony, and there you'll hear all there is  to 
hear.' 
     'And  there  you'll hear  later all  that  we say,  and  more,' laughed 
Gandalf. 'How is Harry? ' 
     The Gate-keeper scowled. 'Gone,' he said. 'But you'd best ask Barliman. 
Good evening!' 
     'Good  evening  to  you!' they said, and passed through; and then  they


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Well, well! And where have you come from? I never expected to see any of 
you 
folk again, and that's a fact: going  off into the Wild with  that  Strider, 
and all those Black Men about. But I'm right glad to  see you, and none more 
than Gandalf. Come in! Come  in!  The same rooms as  - before? They're free. 
Indeed  most rooms  are empty  these  days, as I'll  not  hide from you, for  
you'll find it out soon enough. And I'll see what can be done  about supper, 
as soon as may be; but I'm short-handed at  present. Hey, Nob you slowcoach!  
Tell Bob! Ah, but there I'm forgetting, Bob's gone: goes home to his folk at 
nightfall now. Well, take the guests' ponies to the stables, Nob! And you'll 
be  taking your horse to his  stable yourself Gandalf; I don't doubt. A fine 
beast, as  I  said  when  I  first  set eyes  on  him.  Well, come in!  Make 
yourselves at home!' 
     Mr. Butterbur had at  any rate not  changed his manner  of talking, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
go, you must,' he said.  'I am sorry.  I shall miss you.  It is nice just to 
know that  you are about the  place. But I am getting very sleepy.' Then  he 
gave Frodo his mithril-coat  and Sting, forgetting that he had  already done 
so;  and  he gave him  also three books of lore that he had made  at various 
times,  written  in  his spidery hand,  and labelled  on  their  red  backs: 
Translations from the Elvish, by B.B. 
     To Sam he gave a little bag of gold. 'Almost the last drop of the Smaug 
vintage,' he  said.  'May come in  useful,  if you think of getting married, 
Sam.' Sam blushed. 
     'I have nothing  much to give to you young fellows,' he said   to  Merry 
and Pippin, 'except  good advice.'  And when he had given them a fair sample 
of  this, he added a last item in Shire-fashion:  'Don't let your heads  get 
too big for  your hats! But  if you don't  finish growing  up soon,  you are 
going to find hats and clothes expensive.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
of  this, he added a last item in Shire-fashion:  'Don't let your heads  get 
too big for  your hats! But  if you don't  finish growing  up soon,  you are 
going to find hats and clothes expensive.' 
     'But if you want to  beat  the Old Took,' said Pippin, 'I don't see why 
we shouldn't try and beat the Bullroarer.' 
     Bilbo laughed, and he produced out of a pocket two beautiful pipes with 
pearl mouth-pieces and bound with fine-wrought silver.  'Think of me when you  
smoke them!' he said. 'The  Elves made them for  me, but I don't smoke now.' 
And then suddenly he nodded and went to sleep for a little; and when he woke 
up again he said: 'Now where were we? Yes, of course, g iving presents. Which 
reminds me: what's become of my ring, Frodo, that you took away?' 
     'I have lost it, Bilbo dear,' said Frodo. 'I got rid of it, you know.' 
     'What a  pity!' said  Bilbo. 'I should have liked to see  it again. But


key: chroma:document
string_value:
beast, as  I  said  when  I  first  set eyes  on  him.  Well, come in!  Make 
yourselves at home!' 
     Mr. Butterbur had at  any rate not  changed his manner  of talking, and 
still  seemed to live in his old breathless bustle. And yet there was hardly 
anybody about, and all  was  quiet; from the  Common  Room  there came a 
low 
murmur of no more than two or three voices. And seen  closer in the light of 
two  candles that he lit and carried before them the landlord's face  looked 
rather wrinkled and careworn. 
     He led them down the passage to the parlour that they  had used on that 
strange  night more  than  a  year  ago;  and  they  followed him,  a little 
disquieted,  for it seemed  plain  to them  that old Barliman was putting  a  
brave  face on some trouble.  Things were not what they  had been.  But they 
said nothing, and waited. 
     As  they expected Mr. Butterbur came to the parlour after supper to see


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Gandalf. 'How is Harry? ' 
     The Gate-keeper scowled. 'Gone,' he said. 'But you'd best ask Barliman. 
Good evening!' 
     'Good  evening  to  you!' they said, and passed through; and then  they 
noticed  that  behind the  hedge at  the road-side a long low  hut had  been 
built, and a  number of  men had come out and were staring at  them over the 
fence. When they  came  to  Bill Ferny's house they saw that the hedge there 
was tattered and unkempt, and the windows were all boarded up. 
     'Do you think you killed him with that apple, Sam?' said Pippin. 
     'I'm not so hopeful, Mr. Pippin,' said Sam. 'But  I'd like to know what 
became  of that poor  pony. He's  been on my mind many a time and the wolves 
howling and all.' 
     At last they  came  to  The Prancing  Pony,  and that at  least  looked 
outwardly unchanged;  and  there were lights behind the red curtains  in the 
lower windows. They rang the bell, and Nob came to the door, and opened it a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
At last  the  hobbits had  their  faces  turned towards home. They were 
eager now to see the  Shire again; but at first they  rode  only slowly, for  
Frodo had been il l at  ease.  When they came to the  Ford of Bruinen, he had 
halted, and seemed loth  to ride into the stream; and they  noted that for a  
while his eyes appeared not to see them or things about him. All that day he  
was silent. It was the sixth of October. 
     'Are you in  pain,  Frodo?' said Gandalf quietly  as he rode by Frodo's 
side. 
     'Well, yes I am,' said Frodo. 'It is my shoulder. The  wound aches, and 
the memory of darkness is heavy on me. It was a year ago today.' 
     'Alas!  there  are  some  wounds  that  cannot be  wholly  cured,' said 
Gandalf. 
     'I  fear it may be so with  mine,'  said Frodo. 'There is no real going 
back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall 
not  be the same.  I am  wounded  with  knife, sting,  and tooth, and a long


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'And now they're gone for robbers and live outside, hiding in the woods 
beyond Archet, and out  in the wilds north-away. It's like a  bit of the bad 
old  times tales tell of, I say. It  isn't safe  on the road and nobody goes 
far, and folk lock up  early. We have to keep watchers all round  the  fence 
and put a lot of men on the gates at nights.' 
     'Well, no one troubled us,' said Pippin, 'and we came along slowly, and 
kept no watch. We thought we'd left all trouble behind us.' 
     'Ah, that you haven't, Master,  more's the pity,'  said Butterbur. 'But 
it's  no wonder they left  you a lone. They wouldn't go for  armed folk, with 
swords and helmets and  shields  and all. Make them think twice, that would. 
And I must say it put me aback a bit when I saw you.' 
     Then the hobbits suddenly realized  that people had looked at them with 
amazement  not out of surprise at their return so much as in wonder at their


key: chroma:document
string_value:
brave  face on some trouble.  Things were not what they  had been.  But they 
said nothing, and waited. 
     As  they expected Mr. Butterbur came to the parlour after supper to see 
if  all had been to their liking. As indeed  it had: no change for the worse 
had  yet come upon the beer  or the victuals at The Pony at any rate. 'Now I 
won't  make  so  bold as  to  suggest you should  come  to the  Common  Room 
tonight,' said Butterbur. 'You'll be tired; and there isn't many folk  there 
this evening, anyway. But if you could spare me half an  hour before you  go 
to  your beds, I would dearly like to have some talk with you, quiet-like by 
ourselves.' 
     'That  is  just what we should like,  too,'  said Gandalf. 'We  are not 
tired.  We have been taking things easy.  We were wet, cold and hungry,  but 
all  that you  have  cured.  Come, sit down!  And if you have any pipe-weed, 
we'll bless you.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall 
not  be the same.  I am  wounded  with  knife, sting,  and tooth, and a long 
burden. Where shall I find rest?' 
     Gandalf did not answer. 
     By the end of the next day  the pain and  unease had passed, and  Frodo 
was merry again, as merry as if he did not remember the blackness of the day 
before. After that the journey went well,  and the days went quickly by; for  
they rode  at leisure,  and often they lingered in the fair  woodlands where 
the leaves were red  and yellow  in the  autumn  sun. At length they came to  
Weathertop; and  it was then drawing  towards  evening and the shadow of the 
hill lay  dark  on the road. Then Frodo begged them to  hasten, and he would  
not look towards the hill,  but rode through its shadow with  head bowed and 
cloak drawn close about him. That night the weather changed, and a wind came


key: chroma:document
string_value:
outwardly unchanged;  and  there were lights behind the red curtains  in the 
lower windows. They rang the bell, and Nob came to the door, and opened it a  
crack and peeped through; and when  he saw  them standing under the  lamp he 
gave a cr y of surprise. 
     'Mr. Butterbur! Master!' he shouted. 'They've come back!' 
     'Oh  have  they? I'll learn them,' came  Butterbur's voice, and out  he 
came with a rush, and he  had a club in his hand.  But when he  saw who they 
were he stopped short, a nd the black scowl on his face changed to wonder and 
delight. 
     'Nob,  you woolly-pated  ninny!'  he cried. 'Can't you give old friends 
their names? You shouldn't go scaring  me like that, with times as they are.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Then the hobbits suddenly realized  that people had looked at them with 
amazement  not out of surprise at their return so much as in wonder at their 
gear.  They  themselves  had  become  so  used to warfare and  to  riding in 
well-arrayed  companies  that they had quite  forgotten that the bright mail 
peeping from  under their cloaks, and the helms of Gondor and the Mark,  and 
the  fair devices  on  their  shields,  would seem  outlandish in  their own 
country. And Gandalf, too, was now  riding on his tall grey  horse, all clad 
in white with a great mantle of blue and silver over all, and the long sword 
Glamdring at his side. 
     Gandalf  laughed. 'Well,  well,'  he  said, 'if they are afraid of just 
five of us, then we have met worse enemies on our travels. But  at any  rate 
they will give you peace at night while we stay.' 
     'How long will that be?' said Butterbur.  'I'll  not deny we  should be


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Then the Greenway will  be opened again , and his  messengers will come 
north,  and  there will  be comings and  goings, and the evil things will be 
driven out of  the waste-lands. Indeed the  waste in  time will be  waste no 
longer,  and  there   will  be  people  and  fields  where  once  ther e  was 
wilderness.' 
     Mr. Butterbur shook his head. 'If there's a few decent respectable folk  
on the roads, that  won't do no harm,' he said. 'But  we  don't want no more 
rabble and ruffians. And  we don't want no outsiders at Bree, nor  near Bree 
at all. We want to be let alone.  I  don't want a  whole  crowd o' strangers 
camping here and settling there and tearing up the wild country.' 
     'You will be let  alone, Barliman,' said Gandalf. 'There is room enough 
for realms between Isen and Greyflood, or  along the shore lands south of the  
Brandywine, without any one living within many days' ride of  Bree. And many


key: chroma:document
string_value:
not look towards the hill,  but rode through its shadow with  head bowed and 
cloak drawn close about him. That night the weather changed, and a wind came 
from the  West laden with rain, and it blew loud and  chill,  and the yellow 
leaves whirled like birds in the air. When they came to the Chetwood already 
the boughs were almost bare, and a great  curtain  of rain  veiled Bree Hill 
from their sight. 
     So it was that near the end of a wild and wet  evening in the last days 
of October the  five travellers rode up  the  climbing road and came  to the 
South-gate of Bree.  It was locked fast; and the rain  blew in  their faces,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-'Strider!' he exclaimed when he  got back his breath.  'Him with a crown and 
all and a golden cup! Well, what are we coming to?' 
     'Better times, for Bree at any rate,' said Gandalf.  
     'I hope so, I'm sure,' said Butterbur. 'Well, this  has been the nicest  
chat I've  had  in  a month of  Mondays. And  I'll not deny that I'll  sleep 
easier  tonight and with a lighter heart. You've given  me a powerful lot to 
think over, but  I'll put that off until tomorrow. I'm  for bed, and I've no 
doubt  you'll be glad  of your beds too. Hey, Nob!' he called, going to  the 
door.  'Nob, you slowcoach!' 
     'Now!' he said to himself, slapping his  forehead. 'Now what  does that 
remind me of?' 
     'Not  another letter  you've forgotten. I hope,  Mr.  Butterbur?'  said 
Merry. 
     'Now, now, Mr.  Brandybuck, don't go reminding me of  that! But  there,  
you've  broken my  thought. Now where was I? Nob,  stables, ah! that was it.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
they will give you peace at night while we stay.' 
     'How long will that be?' said Butterbur.  'I'll  not deny we  should be 
glad to have you about for a bit. You see, we're not used to  such troubles; 
and  the  Rangers have all gone  away,  folk tell  me.  I don't  think we've 
rightly understood  till  now what  they did for us. For there's  been worse 
than robbers about.  Wolves  were howling round  the fences last winter. And 
there's  dark shapes in the woods, dreadful  things that it makes the  blood 
run cold to think of. It's been very disturbing, if you  understand me.' 
     'I expect it has,' said Gandalf. 'Nearly all  lands have been disturbed 
these days, very disturbed. But cheer up,  Barliman!  You  have been  on the 
edge  of very great troubles, and I  am only glad to hear that  you have not 
been  deeper in.  But  better times are  coming. Maybe,  better than any you  
remember. The Rangers have returned. We came back with them.  And there is 
a


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     No trouble by day, nor  any sound by night, disturbed the peace of Bree 
while the travellers remained there; but the next morning they got up early, 
for  as the  weather  was still rainy they wished to reach the  Shire before 
night, and it was a long ride. The Bree folk were  all out  to see them off,  
and were in merrier mood than they had  been  for a year; and  those who had 
not seen the  strangers in all  their gear before gaped with wonder at them: 
at Gandalf with his white beard,  and  the light that  seemed to  gleam from 
him, as if his  blue mantle was on ly a  cloud over sunshine; and at the four 
hobbits like riders upon errantry out of almost  forgotten tales. Even those 
who had laughed at all the talk about the King began to think there might be 
some truth in it. 
     'Well, good luck on your road,  and good luck to your home-coming! said 
Mr. Butterbur. 'I  should have warned you before that  all's not well in the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
been  deeper in.  But  better times are  coming. Maybe,  better than any you  
remember. The Rangers have returned. We came back with them.  And there is 
a 
king again, Barliman. He will soon be turning his mind this way.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
could one want?  
     The Road goes ever on and on  
     Out from the door where it began. 
     Now far ahead the Road has gone, 
     Let others follow it who can! 
     Let them a journey new begin, 
     But I at last with weary feet 
     Will turn towards the lighted inn, 
     My evening-rest and sleep to meet.' 
     And  as Bilbo murmured the last words his head dropped on his chest and 
he slept soundly. 
     The evening deepened in the room,  and the  firelight  burned brighter; 
and they looked at Bilbo  as he slept and saw that his face was smiling. For  
some time they sat in silence; and then Sam  looking round  at  the room and 
the shadows flickering on the walls, said softly: 
     'I don't think, Mr. Frodo, that he's done much writing while we've been 
away. He won't ever write our story now.' 
     At that  Bilbo opened an eye, almost as if he had heard. Then he roused 
himself. 'You see, I am getting so  sleepy,' he said. 'And when I have  time


key: chroma:document
string_value:
some truth in it. 
     'Well, good luck on your road,  and good luck to your home-coming! said 
Mr. Butterbur. 'I  should have warned you before that  all's not well in the 
Shire neither, if what we  hear is true.  Funny goings on, they say. But one 
thing drives out another, and I was full of my own troubles. But i f I may be 
so  bold, you've come back  changed from your travels, and you look now like 
folk as  can deal with troubles  out of hand. I don't  doubt you'll soon set 
all to rights. Good  luck to you! And the  oftener you  come back the better  
I'll be pleased.' 
     They wished  him  farewell  and  rode  away,  and  passed  through  the 
West-gate and on  towards  the  Shire. Bill the  pony was with them, and  as 
before he  had a  good deal of  baggage, but he trotted along beside Sam and 
seemed well content. 
     'I wonder what old Barliman was hinting at,' said Frodo. 
     'I can guess some of it,' said Sam gloomily. 'What I saw in the Mirror:


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-what  you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: 
it is no longer my  task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. 
And  as for you ,  my dear friends, you will need no  help. You are  grown up 
now. Grown indeed very high; among the  great you are,  and I have no longer  
any fear at all for any of you. 
     'But if you would know, I am turning aside soon.  I  am going to have a  
long talk with Bombadil: such a talk as I have not had in all my time. He is 
a moss-gatherer, and I have been a  stone doomed to rolling. But  my rolling 
days are ending, and now we shall have much to say to one another.' 
     In a little while  they came to the point on the East  Road  where they 
had taken  leave of  Bombadil; and  they hoped and  half expected to see him 
standing there to greet them as they went by. But there was no sign  of him; 
and  there was  a grey mist on the Barrow-downs southwards, and  a deep veil 
over the Old Forest far away.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
away. He won't ever write our story now.' 
     At that  Bilbo opened an eye, almost as if he had heard. Then he roused 
himself. 'You see, I am getting so  sleepy,' he said. 'And when I have  time 
to write, I only really like writing poetry. I wonder, Frodo my dear fellow,  
if you  would very much mind  tidying things up a bit before you go? Collect 
all my notes and  papers, and my diary too, and  take them with you, if  you  
will. You see, I haven't much time for the selection and the arrangement and 
all that.  Get Sam to help, and when you've knocked things into  shape, come 
back, and I'll run over it. I won't be too critical.' 
     'Of course I'll do it!' said Frodo. 'And of course I'll come back soon:


key: chroma:document
string_value:
seemed well content. 
     'I wonder what old Barliman was hinting at,' said Frodo. 
     'I can guess some of it,' said Sam gloomily. 'What I saw in the Mirror: 
trees cut down and all, and my old gaffer turned out of the Row.  I ought to 
have hurried back quicker.' 
     'And something's wrong  with the Southfarthing evidently,'  said Merry. 
'There's a general shortage of pipe-weed.' 
     'Whatever it  is,' said Pippin, 'Lotho will be at the bottom of it: you  
can be sure of that.' 
     'Deep in,  but not at the bottom,' said Gandalf.  'You  have  forgotten 
Saruman. He began to take an interest in the Shire before Mordor did.' 
     'Well,  we've  got you  with us,' said Merry,  'so things  will soon be 
cleared up.' 
     'I am with you at  present,' said Gandalf, 'but soon I  shall not be. I 
am not coming to the Shire. You must  settle its affairs yourselves; that is


key: chroma:document
string_value:
for realms between Isen and Greyflood, or  along the shore lands south of the  
Brandywine, without any one living within many days' ride of  Bree. And many 
folk used to dwell away north, a hundred miles or more from here, at the far  
end of the Greenway: on the North Downs or by Lake Evendim.' 
     'Up away by Deadmen's Dike?' said Butterbur, looking even more dubious.  
'That's haunted land, they say. None but a robber would go there.' 
     'The Rangers go  there,' said Gandalf.  'Deadmen's Dike, you say. So it 
has  been called for long years;  but its right  name, Barliman, is  Fornost  
Erain, Norbury of the Kings. And the King will come there again one day; and 
then you'll have some fair folk riding through.' 
     'Well,  that sounds more hopeful, I'll  allow,' said Butterbur. 'And it 
will be good for  business, no doubt. So long as he lets Bree alone.' 
     'He will,' said Gandalf. 'He knows it and loves it.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
standing there to greet them as they went by. But there was no sign  of him; 
and  there was  a grey mist on the Barrow-downs southwards, and  a deep veil 
over the Old Forest far away. 
     They halted and Frodo looked south wistfully. 'I should dearly  like to 
see the old fellow again,' he said. 'I wonder how he is getting on?' 
     'As well as ever, you may be sure,' said Gandalf. 'Quite untroubled and 
I  should guess, not much interested in anything  that we have done or seen, 
unless perhaps in our visits to the Ents. There may be a time  later for you  
to go and see him. But if I were you, I should press on now for home, or you  
will not come to the Brandywine Bridge before the gates are locked.' 
     'But there aren't any  gates,' said  Merry, 'not  on the Road; you know 
that quite well.  There's  the  Buckland Gate, of course; but they'll let me 
through that at any time.' 
     'There  weren't any  gates,  you mean,'  said Gandalf. 'I think you will


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-it won't be dangerous any  more. There  is a real king now and he  will soon 
put the roads in order.' 
     'Thank  you, my dear fellow!' said Bilbo. 'That really is a  very great 
relief to my mind.' And with that he fell fast asleep again. 
     The next day Gandalf and the hobbits took leave  of Bilbo  in his room, 
for it was cold out of doors; and then they said farewell to Elrond  and all 
his household. 
     As Frodo stood upon  the threshold, Elrond  wished him  a fair journey, 
and blessed him, and he said: 
     'I think,  Frodo, that maybe you will not need to come back, unless you  
come  very soon. For  about this time of the year, when the  leaves are gold 
before they fall, look for Bilbo in  the woods of the Shire. I shall be with 
him.' 
     These wor ds no one else heard, and Frodo kept them to himself.  
 

####- 

Chapter 7. Homeward Bound


key: chroma:document
string_value:
saw no more. Frodo knew that Galadriel  had held aloft her ring  in token of 
farewell. 
     Sam turned away and sighed: 'I wish I was going back to Lurien!' 
     At last one  evening  they came over  the  high moors, suddenly  as  to 
travellers it always seemed,  to  the brink of the  deep valley of Rivendell


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Merry. 
     'Now, now, Mr.  Brandybuck, don't go reminding me of  that! But  there,  
you've  broken my  thought. Now where was I? Nob,  stables, ah! that was it. 
I've something that  belongs to  you.  If you recollect Bill  Ferny  and the 
horsethieving: his pony as you bought,  well,  it's  here. Come  back all of 
itself, it did. But where it had been to you know better than me. It was  as 
shaggy as an old dog and as lean as a clothes-rail, but it  was alive. Nob's 
looked after it.' 
     'What! My Bill?' cried Sam. 'Well, I was born lucky, whatever my gaffer  
may say. There's another  wish come true! Where is he?' Sam  would not go to 
bed until he had visited Bill in his stable. 
     The travellers stayed in Bree all the next day, and Mr. Butterbur could 
not complain of his  business next evening at any  rate. Curiosity  overcame  
all fears,  and his house was  crowded.  For a while  out of politeness  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Do you indeed!'  said  Frodo. 'Well,  I am  glad he  has  dropped  the 
Baggins at any  rate. But  it is evidently high  time that the  family dealt 
with him and put him in his place.' 
     A  hush fell  on the hobbits  beyond the  gate. 'It  won't do  no  good 
talking that  way,' said one. 'He'll  get to hear  of it. And if you make so 
much noise, you'll wake the Chief's Big Man.' 
     'We shall wake him up in a way that will surprise him,' said Merry. 'If 
you mean that your precious Chief has  been hiring ruffians out of the wild, 
then we've not come back too  soon.' He sprang from his pony, and seeing the 
notice in  the light of the lanterns, he  tore it down and threw it over the 
gate. The  hobbits  backed  away and  made no move  to open  it.  'Come  on, 
Pippin!' said Merry. 'Two is enough.' 
     Merry and Pippin  c limbed the gate, and the hobbits fled.  Another horn 
sounded. Out of the bigger house on the right a large heavy figure  appeared


key: chroma:document
string_value:
that quite well.  There's  the  Buckland Gate, of course; but they'll let me 
through that at any time.' 
     'There  weren't any  gates,  you mean,'  said Gandalf. 'I think you will 
find some  now. And  you might have  more trouble even  at the Buckland Gate 
than you think. But you'll! manage all right. Good -bye dear friends! Not for  
the last time, not yet. Good-bye!' 
     He turned Shadowfax off the  Road, and the great horse leaped the green 
dike that here ran beside  it;  and then at a cry from Gandalf he  was gone, 
racing towards the Barrow-downs like a wind from the North. 
     'Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together,' said 
Merry. 'We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost  
like a dream that has slowly faded.' 
     'Not to  me,'  said  Frodo. 'To me it  feels  more  like falling asleep 
again.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-year, or what? I thought it had been a fine summer and harvest.' 
     'Well no, the year's been good enough,'  said  Hob. 'We grows a lot  of 
food,  but  we  don't  rightly  know what  becomes  of  it.  It's all  these 
"gatherers" and "sharers", I reckon, going round counting and measuring  and 
taking off to storage. They do more gathering than sharing, and we never see 
most of the stuff again.' 
     'Oh  come!' said  Pippin yawning.  'This  is all too  tiresome  for  me 
tonight.  We've  got food in our bags.  Just give  us a room to lie down in. 
It'll be better than many places I have seen.' 
     The hobbits at the gate still seemed ill  at  ease, evidently some rule 
or other was being broken;  but there was no gainsaying four such  masterful 
travellers, all armed, and two of them uncommonly  large and strong-looking. 
Frodo ordered the gates to be locked again. There was some sense at any rate


key: chroma:document
string_value:
not complain of his  business next evening at any  rate. Curiosity  overcame  
all fears,  and his house was  crowded.  For a while  out of politeness  the 
hobbits  visited the Common  Room in the evening  and  answered a  good 
many 
questions. Bree memories being retentive,  Frodo was  asked many times if he 
had written his book. 
     'Not yet,' he answered. 'I am going home now to put my notes in order.' 
He promised to deal  with the amazing events at Bree, and so  give a bit  of 
interest to  a book that appeared likely to  treat mostly of  the remote and 
less important affairs 'away south'.  
     Then  one of  the  younger folk called for  a song. But at that a  hush 
fell,  and he was frowned  down,  and the  call  was not repeated. Evidently 
there was no wish for any uncanny events in the Common Room again.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
It was after nightfall when, wet and tired, the travellers came at last  
to  the Brandywine, and  they found  the way  barred. At  either  end of the 
Bridge there was a great  spiked gate;  and on the further side of the river  
they could see that some new houses had been built: two-storeyed with narrow 
straight-sided   windows,  bare   and   dimly  lit,  all  very   gloomy  and 
un-Shirelike. 
     They  hammered on  the outer gate and called, but there was at first no  
answer;  and then to their  surprise someone blew a horn, and  the lights in 
the windows went out. A voice shouted in the dark: 
     'Who's that?  Be off! You  can't come in: Can't you read the notice: No 
admittance between sundown and sunrise?' 
     'Of  course we can't read the notice  in the  dark.' Sam shouted  back. 
'And if hobbits of the Shire are to be  kept out in the wet on  a night like 
this, I'll tear down your notice when I find it.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
will be good for  business, no doubt. So long as he lets Bree alone.' 
     'He will,' said Gandalf. 'He knows it and loves it.' 
     'Does he now?' said Butterbur looking puzzled. 'Though I'm sure I don't 
know  why  he  should, sitting  in his  big  chair up in his  great   castle, 
hundreds  of miles away. And drinking wine out of a  golden cup, I shouldn't 
wonder.  What's  The Pony to him, or mugs  o'  beer? Not  but what my beer's 
good, Gandalf. It's been uncommon good, since you came in the autumn of last  
year and put a good word on it. And that's been a comfort in trouble, I will 
say.' 
     'Ah!' said Sam. 'But he says your beer is always good.' 
     'He says?' 
     'Of course he does. He's Strider. The chief of the Rangers. Haven't you  
got that into your head yet?' 
     It went in at last, and  Butterbur's face was  a study in  wonder.  The 
eyes in his broad face grew round, and his mouth opened wide, and he gasped.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Well, if you'd called  for anything else, I'd have been happier,' said 
Butterbur. 'That's just a thing that we're  short of, seeing how  we've only 
got  what we  grow ourselves,  and  that's not enough. There's none to be had 
from the Shire these days. But I'll do what I can.' 
     When he came back he brought them enough to last them for a day or two, 
a wad of uncut leaf.  'Southlinch,' he said, 'and the best  we have; but not 
the match of Southfarthing,  as I've always said though I'm all  for Bree in 
most matters, begging your pardon.' 
     They put him  in a large chair by the wood-fire, and Gandalf sat on the 
other side of the hearth, and the  hobbits  in low chairs between them;  and 
then they talked for many times half an hour, and exchanged all such news as 
Mr.  Butterbur wished to hear or give. Most of the  things which they had to  
tell were a mere  wonder and bewilderment to  their host, and far beyond his


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     The new  'Chief' evidently had  means of getting news. It  was  a  good 
forty miles from  the Bridge to Bag End,  but someone made the journey  in a 
hurry. So Frodo and his friends soon discovered. 
     They had not made any definite plans, but  had vaguely thought of going  
down to Crickhollow together first, and resting there a bit. But now, seeing 
what things  were like, they decided to go straight to Hobbiton. So the next 
day they  set out  along  the Road and jogged  along  steadily. The wind had 
dropped but the sky was grey. The land looked rather sad and forlorn; bu t it 
was after all the first of  November and the fag-end of Autumn. Still  there 
seemed  an unusual  amount of burning  going  on, and  smoke rose  from many 
points  round  about.  A great cloud of  it  was  going up  far  away in the 
direction of the Woody End. 
     As evening fell they were  drawing near to  Frogmorton, a village right


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'And if hobbits of the Shire are to be  kept out in the wet on  a night like 
this, I'll tear down your notice when I find it.' 
     At that a  window slammed, and a crowd  of hobbits with lanterns poured  
out of the house on the  left. They opened the  further gate, and some  came 
over the bridge. When they saw the travellers they seemed frightened. 
     'Come along!' said Merry, recognizing one of the hobbits. 'If you don't 
know me, Hob Hayward, you ought to. I am Merry Brandybuck, and I should 
like 
to know what  all this is  about,  and  what a Bucklander  like you is doing 
here. You used to be on the Hay Gate.' 
     'Bless  me!  It's Master Merry, to  be sure,  and all  dressed  up  for  
fighting!'  said  old Hob. 'Why,  they  said you was  dead! Lost in  the Old 
Forest by all accounts. I'm pleased to see you alive after all!' 
     'Then  stop gaping  at  me  through the  bars, and open the gate!' said 
Merry. 
     'I'm sorry, Master Merry, but we have orders.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
travellers, all armed, and two of them uncommonly  large and strong-looking. 
Frodo ordered the gates to be locked again. There was some sense at any rate 
in  keeping  a  guard,  while  ruffians  were  still about.  Then  the  four 
companions   went  into  the  hobbit  guard-house  and  made  themselves  as 
comfortable as they  could. It was a bare and ugly place, with a mean little 
grate that would not allow a good fire. In the upper  rooms were little rows 
of  hard  beds, and on every wall  there was  a notice and a list  of Rules. 
Pippin tore them down. There was no beer and very little food, but with what 
the travellers brought and shared out they all made a  fair meal; and Pippin 
broke Rule 4 by putting most of next day's allowance of wood on the fire. 
     'Well now,  what  about a  smoke,  while  you tell  us  what  has  been 
happening in the Shire?' he said. 
     'There isn't  no pipe-weed  now,' said  Hob; 'at  least  only  for  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-if you insist on going too, well that is your affair.' 
     'Very  well, Mr. Baggins,' said the  leader, pushing the barrier aside. 
'But don't forget I've arrested you.' 
     'I won't,'  said Frodo. 'Never.  But  I may forgive  you. Now I am  not 
going any  further today, so if you'll kindly escort me to The Floating Log, 
I'll be obliged.' 
     'I   can't  do   that,  Mr.  Baggins.  The  inn's   closed.  There's  a  
Shirriff-house at the far end of the village. I'll take you there. ' 
     'All right,' said Frodo. 'Go on and we'll follow.' 
     Sam had been looking the Shirriffs up and down and had spotted one that 
he knew.  'Hey, come here  Robin Smallburrow!' he called.  'I want a word with 
you.' 
     With a sheepish glance at his leader, who looked  wrathful but did  not  
dare to interfere, Shirriff Smallburrow fell back and walked beside Sam, who 
got down off his pony. 
     'Look here, Cock -robin!' said  Sam. 'You're Hobbiton-bred and ought  to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Sam, the Chief's Men. He sends them round everywhere, and if any of us small 
folk stand  up for our rights, they drag him off to the Lockholes. They took  
old Flourdumpling, old Will Whitfoot the Mayor,  first,  and they've taken a  
lot more. Lately it's been getting worse. Often they beat 'em now.' 
     'Then  why do you do their work far them?' said Sam  angrily. 'Who sent 
you to Frogmorton?' 
     'No one did. We stay  here in the big  Shirriff-house. We're the  First 
Eastfarthing Troop now. There's hundreds of Shirriffs all told and they want  
more, with  all these new rules. Most of them  are in it against their will, 
but not all. Even in  the Shire there are some as like  minding other folk's 
business and talking big. And there's worse than  that: there's a  few as do 
spy-work for the Chief and his Men.' 
     'Ah! So that's how you had news of us, is it?' 
     'That's right. We  aren't allowed to send by it  now, but they use  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Mr.  Butterbur wished to hear or give. Most of the  things which they had to  
tell were a mere  wonder and bewilderment to  their host, and far beyond his 
vision; and  they  brought forth few  comments other than: 'You  don't  say; 
often repeated in defiance of the evidence of Mr. Butterbur's own ears. 'You  
don't say, Mr. Baggins, or is it Mr. Underhill? I'm getting so mixed up. You  
don't  say,  Master  Gandalf! Well I never!  Who'd  have  thought it in  our 
times!' 
     But he did say much on  his  own account. Things were far from well, he 
would say. Business was  not even fair, it was downright bad.  'No one comes 
nigh Bree  now from Outside,'  he said. 'And the inside  folks, they stay at 
home mostly and keep their doors barred. It all comes of those newcomers and 
gangrels that began coming up the Greenway  last year,  as you may remember; 
but  more came later. Some were just poor bodies running away from  trouble;


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Pippin!' said Merry. 'Two is enough.' 
     Merry and Pippin  c limbed the gate, and the hobbits fled.  Another horn 
sounded. Out of the bigger house on the right a large heavy figure  appeared 
against a light in the doorway. 
     'What's all this,' he snarled as he  came  forward. 'Gate-breaking? You  
clear out, or I'l l break your filthy little necks!' Then he  stopped, for he 
had caught the gleam of swords. 
     'Bill Ferny,' said Merry, 'if you don't open that gate in ten  seconds,  
you'll regret it. I shall set steel  to you, if you don't obey. And when you  
have opened the gates you will go  through  them and never return. You are a 
ruffian and a highway-robber.' 
     Bill  Ferny flinched and shuffled to the gate and unlocked it. 'Give me 
the key!' said Merry. But  the ruffian flung it  at his head and then darted 
out into the darkness. As he  passed the ponies one of them let fly with his 
heels  and just caught him as he ran. He went off with a yelp into the night


key: chroma:document
string_value:
points  round  about.  A great cloud of  it  was  going up  far  away in the 
direction of the Woody End. 
     As evening fell they were  drawing near to  Frogmorton, a village right 
on the Road, about  twenty -two  miles  from the Bridge. There  they meant to 
stay  the night; The Floating Log at  Frogmorton was a good inn. But as they  
came to the  east  end of the village they met a barrier with  a large  board 
saying NO ROAD; and behind it stood a large band of Shirriffs with staves in 
their hands  and  feathers in their caps,  looking both important and rather  
scared. 
     'What's all this?' said Frodo, feeling inclined to laugh. 
     This is  what it is, Mr. Baggins, said  the leader  of the Shirriffs, a  
two-feather hobbit: 'You're arrested for  Gate-breaking,  and  Tearing up of 
Rules,  and  Assaulting  Gate-keepers,  and  Trespassing,  and  Sleeping  in 
Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.' 
     'And what else?' said Frodo.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Then  stop gaping  at  me  through the  bars, and open the gate!' said 
Merry. 
     'I'm sorry, Master Merry, but we have orders.' 
     'Whose orders?' 
     'The Chief's up at Bag End.' 
     'Chief? Chief? Do you mean Mr. Lotho?' said Frodo. 
     'I suppose  so,  Mr.  Baggins;  but  we have  to say  just  "the Chief" 
nowadays.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
spy-work for the Chief and his Men.' 
     'Ah! So that's how you had news of us, is it?' 
     'That's right. We  aren't allowed to send by it  now, but they use  the 
old Quick Post service,  and keep  special runners at  different points. One 
came in  from  Whitfurrows  last  night with a "secret message", and another  
took it on from  here. And a message came back this afternoon saying you was 
to be  arrested and taken to Bywater, not direct to the Lockholes. The Chief 
wants to see you at once, evidently.' 
     'He won't be so eager when Mr. Frodo has finished with him,' said Sam. 
     The Shirriff-house at Frogmorton was as bad as the Bridge-house. It had 
only one storey,  but it  had the  same narrow windows, and it was built  of 
ugly pale bricks,  badly laid. Inside  it was damp and cheerless, and supper 
was served on a long  bare table that  had not been scrubbed  for weeks. The 
food  deserved no better  setting. The travellers  were  glad  to  leave the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
out into the darkness. As he  passed the ponies one of them let fly with his 
heels  and just caught him as he ran. He went off with a yelp into the night 
and was never heard of again. 
     'Neat work, Bill,' said Sam, meaning the pony. 
     'So much for your  Big Man,' said Merry. 'We'll see the Chief later. In 
the meantime we want a lodging for the night, and as you seem to have pulled 
down the Bridge Inn and built  this dismal place instead, you'll have to put 
us up.' 
     'I am sorry, Mr. Merry,' said Hob, 'but it isn't allowed.' 
     'What isn't allowed?' 
     Taking in folk off-hand like and eating extra food, and  all that, said 
Hob. 
     'What's the  matter  with the place?'  said Merry. 'Has it  been a  bad


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Well now,  what  about a  smoke,  while  you tell  us  what  has  been 
happening in the Shire?' he said. 
     'There isn't  no pipe-weed  now,' said  Hob; 'at  least  only  for  the 
Chief's  men. All the stocks seem to have gone. We do hear that waggon-loads 
of  it went away down the  old road out of the Southfarthing, over Sarn Ford 
way. That would  be the end  o' last year, after you left.  But it  had been 
going away quietly before that, in a small way. That Lotho--' 
     'Now you  shut up, Hob Hayward!' cried several of the others. 'You know 
talk o' that sor t isn't allowed. The Chief will hear of it, and we'll all be 
in trouble.' 
     'He wouldn't hear naught, if some of you here weren't sneaks,' rejoined 
Hob hotly. 
     'All right, all right!' said Sam. "That's quite enough. I don't want to 
hear no more. No welcome, no beer, no smoke, and a lot of rules and orc-talk 
instead.  I  hoped  to have a rest, but I can see there's work  and  trouble


key: chroma:document
string_value:
gangrels that began coming up the Greenway  last year,  as you may remember; 
but  more came later. Some were just poor bodies running away from  trouble; 
but most were bad men, full o' thievery and  mischief. And there was trouble 
right here  in Bree, bad trouble. Why, we had a real set-to, and there  were 
some folk killed, killed dead! If you'll believe me.' 
     'I will indeed,' said Gandalf. 'How many?' 
     'Three  and two,' said  Butterbur,  referring to the big  folk  and the 
little. 'There was poor  Mat Heathertoes, and  Rowlie Appledore,  and little 
Tom Pickthorn from over the Hill; and  Willie Banks from up-away, and one of 
the Underhills from Staddle: all good fellows, and they're missed. And Harry 
Goatleaf that used to be on the West -gate, and that Bill Ferny, they came in 
on the strangers' side, and they've gone off  with them; and it's my  belief 
they let them in. On the night of the  fight, I  mean. And that was after we


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     The last person  they passed was a sturdy  old gaffer clipping a hedge. 
'Hullo, hu llo!' he jeered. 'Now who's arrested who?' 
     Two of the Shirriffs immediately  left the  party and went towards him. 
'Leader!' said  Merry. 'Order your  fellows back to their places at once, if 
you don't want me to deal with them!' 
     The two hobbits at a sharp word from the leader came back sulkily. 'Now 
get on!' said Merry,  and after that  the  travellers  saw  to it that their 
ponies'  pace was quick enough to  push  the Shirriffs along as fast as they 
could go. The sun came out,  and in spite of the  chilly wind they were soon  
puffing and sweating. 
     At  the Three-Farthing  Stone they  gave  it  up.  They had done nearly 
fourteen  miles with only one rest  at noon. It was now three  o'clock. They 
were hungry and very footsore and they could not  stand the pace. 
     'Well, come along in your own time!' said Merry. 'We are going on.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
dare to interfere, Shirriff Smallburrow fell back and walked beside Sam, who 
got down off his pony. 
     'Look here, Cock -robin!' said  Sam. 'You're Hobbiton-bred and ought  to 
have more sense,  coming a -waylaying Mr. Frodo and all.  And what's all this 
about the inn being closed?' 
     'They're all closed,' said Robin.  'The  Chief  doesn't hold with beer. 
Leastways  that is how it started. But now I reckon it's his Men that has it 
all.  And he  doesn't  hold with folk moving about; so if they  will or they 
must, then they has to go to the Shirriff-house and explain their business.' 
     'You  ought to   be ashamed of  yourself having anything to do with such 
nonsense,' said Sam. 'You used to like the inside of an inn better than  the 
outside yourself. You were always popping in, on duty or off.' 
     'And so I would be still,  Sam,  if I  could. But don't be  hard on me. 
What  can I  do? You know  how I went for a Shirriff seven years ago, before


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Rules,  and  Assaulting  Gate-keepers,  and  Trespassing,  and  Sleeping  in 
Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.' 
     'And what else?' said Frodo. 
     'That'll do to go on with,' said the Shirriff-leader. 
     'I  can add some more, if  you like it,' said Sam. 'Calling your  Chief 
Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you  Shirriffs look  a  
lot of Tom-fools.' 
     'There now, Mister, that'll do.  It's the Chief's orders that you're to 
come  along quiet. We're going to  take you to Bywater and hand  you over to 
the Chief's Men; and when he deals with your case you can have your say. But 
if  you don't want  to  stay in the  Lockholes any longer than you  need,  I 
should cut the say short, if I was you.' 
     To  the  discomfiture  of  the Shirriffs  Frodo  and his companions all 
roared with laughter.  'Don't  be absurd!' said Frodo.  'I am  going where I 
please, and in my own time. I happen to be going to Bag End on business, but


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'We  ought  to find  out first what we're in for, Sam,'  said Merry. 'I  
guess  that  the "Chief" will have a gang of ruffians handy.  We  had better  
find someone who will tell us how things are round here.' 
     But in the village of Bywater all  the houses and holes  were shut, and 
no  one greeted them. They wondered  at  this, but they soon  discovered the 
reason  of  it. When they  reached  The Green Dragon, the last house  on the 
Hobbiton side, now lifeless and with broken  windows, they were disturbed to 
see half a dozen  large ill-favoured Men lounging against the inn-wall; they 
were squint-eyed and sallow-faced. 
     'Like that friend of Bill Ferny's at Bree,' said Sam. 
     'Like many that I saw at Isengard,' muttered Merry. 
     The ruffians had clubs in their  hands  and  horns by their  belts, but 
they had no other weapons, as far as could be seen.  As the  travellers rode 
up they left the wall and walked into the road, blocking the way.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
hear no more. No welcome, no beer, no smoke, and a lot of rules and orc-talk 
instead.  I  hoped  to have a rest, but I can see there's work  and  trouble 
ahead. Let's sleep and forget it till morning!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
were hungry and very footsore and they could not  stand the pace. 
     'Well, come along in your own time!' said Merry. 'We are going on.' 
     'Good-bye, Cock -robin!' said Sam. 'I'll wait for you outside  The Green 
Dragon, if you haven't forgotten where that is. Don't dawdle on the way!' 
     'You're  br eaking  arrest,  that's what you're doing,'  said the leader  
ruefully, 'and I can't be answerable.' 
     'We shall  break  a  good many things  yet, and not ask you to answer ' 
said Pippin. 'Good luck to you!' 
     The  travellers trotted on, and as the  sun began to  sink towards  the 
White Downs far away on the western horizon they came to Bywater by its 
wide 
pool; and there  they had their first really  painful shock. This  was Frodo 
and Sam's own country, and they found out  now that they cared about it  more 
than any other place in  the world. Many  of  the houses that they had known  
were missing. Some seemed to  have been burned down. The pleasant row of 
old


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-See? And if little folks try to push in where they're not wanted, we can put 
them out of mischief. See?' 
     'Yes, I see,' said Frodo.  'For one thing, I see that you're behind the 
times  and the news here. Much has happened  since you  left the South. Your 
day is over, and all other ruffians'. The Dark Tower has  fallen, and  there 
is  a  King in  Gondor. And  Isengard has been destroyed,  and your precious 
master is  a beggar in  the wilderness. I passed him on the road. The King's 
messengers will ride up the Greenway now not bullies from Isengard. ' 
     The  man stared at him  and smiled.  'A  beggar in  the wilderness!' he 
mocked.  'Oh, is he  indeed? Swagger it, swagger it, my little cock -a -whoop.  
But that won't  stop us  living  in this fat  little country  where you have 
lazed long enough. And' - he snapped his fingers in Frodo's face   -  'King's 
messengers! That for them! When I see one, I'll take notice, perhaps.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'And so I would be still,  Sam,  if I  could. But don't be  hard on me. 
What  can I  do? You know  how I went for a Shirriff seven years ago, before 
any of this began. Gave me a chance of walking round the  country and seeing 
folk, and hearing the news,  and knowing where the  good beer was.  But  now 
it's different.' 
     'But you can give it  up,  stop Shirriffing, if it has  stopped being a  
respectable job,' said Sam. 
     'We're not allowed to,' said Robin. 
     'If  I hear  not allowed much oftener,' said  Sam, 'I'm  going  to  get 
angry.' 
     'Can't say as I'd be sorry to see  it,'  said Robin lowering his voice. 
'If we  all got angry together something might be done. But  it's these Men,


key: chroma:document
string_value:
they had no other weapons, as far as could be seen.  As the  travellers rode 
up they left the wall and walked into the road, blocking the way. 
     'Where d'you  think   you're  going?'  said  one,  the largest and  most  
evil-looking of the crew.  'There's no road for you any  further.  And where 
are those precious Shirriffs?' 
     'Coming along nicely,'  said  Merry.  'A  little  footsore, perhaps. We 
promised to wait for them here.' 
     'Garn, what did I  say?' said the ruffian to his mates. 'I told Sharkey 
it was no  good trusting those little fools. Some of our chaps ought to have 
been sent.' 
     'And  what difference would that have made,  pray?' said Merry. 'We are 
not used to footpads in this country, but we know how to deal with them.' 
     'Footpads, eh?'  said the man: 'So that's your tone, is  it? Change it, 
or we'll change  it for you.  You little folk are getting too  uppish. Don't


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-caught now. The  ruffians are on top, gathering, robbing  and bullying,  and 
running or ruining things  as they  like, in his name.  And not  in his name 
even for much longer. He's a  prisoner in Bag  End  now,  I expect, and very 
frightened. We ought to try and rescue him.' 
     'Well I  am staggered!' said  Pippin.  'Of all the ends to  our journey 
that is the very last I should  have thought  of: to have to fight half-orcs 
and ruffians in the Shire itself - to rescue Lotho Pimple!' 
     'Fight?'  said  Frodo.  'Well,  I  suppose it  may  come  to  that. But 
remember: there is to be  no  slaying of hobbits, not even if they have gone 
over to the other side. Really gone over, I mean; not just obeying ruffians' 
orders  because they  are  frightened.  No hobbit has ever killed another on  
purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now. And nobody is to be killed 
at all,  if it  can be helped. Keep your tempers and hold your hands  to the 
last possible moment!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
lazed long enough. And' - he snapped his fingers in Frodo's face   -  'King's 
messengers! That for them! When I see one, I'll take notice, perhaps.' 
     This was too much for  Pippin. His thoughts  went back to  the Field of 
Cormallen, and here was a squint-eyed rascal calling the Ring-bearer  'little 
cock -a -whoop'. He cast back his cloak, flashed out his sword, and the silver  
and sable of Gondor gleamed on him as he rode forward. 
     'I  am a  messenger of  the  King,' he  said. 'You are speaking  to the 
King's friend,  and one  of the most renowned in all the lands  of the West. 
You are a ruffian and a fool. Down on your knees in the road and ask pardon, 
or I will set this troll's bane in you!' 
     The sword glinted in the westering sun. Merry and Sam drew their swords 
also a nd rode  up to support  Pippin;  but Frodo did  not move. The ruffians 
gave back. Scaring  Breeland peasants, and  bullying bewildered hobbits, had


key: chroma:document
string_value:
than any other place in  the world. Many  of  the houses that they had known  
were missing. Some seemed to  have been burned down. The pleasant row of 
old 
hobbit-holes in the  bank on the north  side  of the Pool were deserted, and 
their little  gardens that used to run down bright to the water's  edge were 
rank with weeds. Worse,  there was a whole line  of the ugly new houses  all 
along Pool Side, where the Hobbiton Road ran close to the bank. An avenue of 
trees had stood there. They were all  gone.   And  looking with dismay up the 
road towards Bag  End they saw  a  tall chimney of brick in the distance. It 
was pouring out black smoke into the evening air. 
     Sam was beside himself. 'I'm going right on, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I'm 
going to see what's up. I want to find my gaffer.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
on the strangers' side, and they've gone off  with them; and it's my  belief 
they let them in. On the night of the  fight, I  mean. And that was after we 
showed them the gates and  pushed them out: before the year's end, that was; 
and the fight was early in the New Year, after the heavy snow we had.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'Sam, you can make  a  dash for  Cotton's  farm, if  you like. He's the 
chief person round here,  and the sturdiest. Come on! I am going to blow the 
horn of Rohan, and give them all some music they have never heard before.' 
     They rode back to the middle of the village. There Sam turned aside and 
galloped off down the  lane that led south to Cotton's.  He had not gone far 
when he heard a sudden clear horn-call go up ringing  into the sky. Far over  
hill and field it echoed; and  so compelling  was that call that Sam himself 
almost turned and dashed back. His pony reared and neighed. 
     'On, lad! On!' he cried. 'We'll be going back soon.' 
     Then  he heard  Merry  change the  note, and  up went the  Horn-cry  of 
Buckland, shaking the air. 
     Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake! 
     Fire, Foes! Awake! 
     Behind him Sam heard a hubbub of voices and a great din and slamming of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Footpads, eh?'  said the man: 'So that's your tone, is  it? Change it, 
or we'll change  it for you.  You little folk are getting too  uppish. Don't  
you trust too much in the Boss's kind heart. Sharkey's come now and he'll do 
what Sharkey says.' 
     'And what may that be?' said Frodo quietly. 
     'This country wants waking up and setting to rights,' said the ruffian, 
'and Sharkey's going to do it; and make it hard, if you drive him to it. You  
need a  bigger Boss. And you'll get one  before the year is  out, if there's 
any more trouble. Then you'll learn a thing or two, you little rat-folk.' 
     'Indeed. I am glad to hear of your plans,' said Frodo. 'I am on  my way 
to call on Mr. Lotho, and he may be interested to hear of them too.' 
     The ruffian laughed. 'Lotho! He knows all right. Don't you worry. He'll 
do what  Sharkey says. Because if a  Boss  gives trouble, we can change him.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now. And nobody is to be killed 
at all,  if it  can be helped. Keep your tempers and hold your hands  to the 
last possible moment!' 
     'But  if  there  are many of  these  ruffians,'  said  Merry,  'it will 
certainly mean fighting. You won't rescue Lotho, or the Shire, just by being 
shocked and sad, my dear Frodo.' 
     'No,'  said Pippin. 'It  won't be  so easy scaring them  a second time. 
They were taken by  surprise. You heard  that horn-blowing? Ev idently  there 
are other ruffians near at hand. They'll be much bolder when there's more of 
them together. We ought  to think of taking cover somewhere for  the  night. 
After all we're only four, even if we are armed.' 
     'I've an idea,' said  Sam.  'Let's go  to old  Tom Cotton's down  South 
Lane! He  always was a  stout fellow. And he has a lot of lads that were all 
friends of mine.' 
     'No!'  said Merry.  'It's  no good "getting under cover".  That is just


key: chroma:document
string_value:
also a nd rode  up to support  Pippin;  but Frodo did  not move. The ruffians 
gave back. Scaring  Breeland peasants, and  bullying bewildered hobbits, had 
been their work. Fearless  hobbits with  bright swords and grim faces were a  
great surprise.  And there  was a note in the voices of these newcomers that 
they had not heard before. It chilled them with fear. 
     'Go!'  said Merry. 'If you trouble this  village again, you will regret 
it.'  The three  hobbits  came  on, and then  the ruffians  turned and  fled 
running away up the Hobbiton Road; but they blew their horns as they ran. 
     'Well, we've come back none too soon,' said Merry. 
     'Not a day too soon. Perhaps too late, at any rate to save Lotho,' said 
Frodo. 'Miserable fool, but I am sorry for him.' 
     'Save Lotho? Whatever do you mean?' said Pippin. 'Destroy  him I should 
say.' 
     'I don't think you quite understand things, Pippin,' said Frodo. 'Lotho


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'I  can't  say,'  said Frodo, 'until  I  know more. How  many  of these 
ruffians are there?' 
     'That's  hard  to tell,' said  Cotton. 'They moves  about and comes and 
goes. There's  sometimes  fifty of them  in their sheds up Hobbiton way; but 
they go out  from there roving round,  thieving  or "gathering" as they call 
it. Still there's seldom  less  than a score  round the  Boss, as they names 
him. He's at Bag End, or was; but he don't go outside the rounds now. No one 
s seen him at all, in fact, for a week or two; but the Men  don't let no one 
go near.' 
     'Hobbiton's not their only place, is it?' said Pippin. 
     'No, more's the pity,' said Cotton. 'There's a  good few down south  in 
Longbottom and by Sarn Ford, I hear; and some more lurking in the Woody 
End; 
and they've sheds at Waymeet.  And then there's  the Lockholes, as they call  
'em:  the old  storage-tunnels  at  Michel Delving  that  they've made  into


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Buckland, shaking the air. 
     Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake! 
     Fire, Foes! Awake! 
     Behind him Sam heard a hubbub of voices and a great din and slamming of 
doors. In front of him lights sprang out in  the gloaming; dogs barked; feet 
came running. Before he got  to the lane's end there was Farmer Cotton  with 
three  of his lads, Young Tom,  Jolly, and Nick,  hurrying towards him. They 
had axes in their hands, and barred the way. 
     'Nay! It's not one of them ruffians,' Sam heard the farmer say. 'It's a  
hobbit by the size of it, but all dressed up queer. Hey!' he cried. 'Who are 
you, and what's all this to-do? ' 
     'It's Sam, Sam Gamgee. I've come back.' 
     Farmer Cotton came up close  and stared at him in the twilight. 'Well!' 
he exclaimed. 'The voice is right, and your face is  no worse  than  it was,  
Sam. But  I should a' passed you in the street in that gear. You've been  in 
foreign parts, seemingly. We feared you were dead.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the village. 
     Sam hurried  to  the house. By the  large round  door at the top of the 
steps  from the wide yard stood  Mrs. Cotton and Rosie, and Nibs in front of 
them grasping a hay-fork. 
     'It's  me!' shouted Sam  as he trotted up.  'Sam Gamgee! So  don't  try 
prodding me, Nibs. Anyway, I've a mail -shirt on me.' 
     He  jumped down from his pony and went up the steps. They stared at him 
in silence.  'Good evening, Mrs. Cotton!' he said.  'Hullo Rosie!' 
     'Hullo, Sam!' said Rosie. 'Where've you been I They said you were dead;  
but I've been expecting you since the Spring. You haven't hurried have you?' 
     'Perhaps  not,'  said Sam abashed. 'But I'm hurrying now. We're setting 
about the ruffians, and I've got to get back to Mr. Frodo. But I thought I'd 
have a look and see how Mrs. Cotton was keeping, and you, Rosie.' 
     'We're keeping nicely, thank you,' said Mrs. Cotton.  'Or should be, if 
it weren't for these thieving ruffians.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Lane! He  always was a  stout fellow. And he has a lot of lads that were all 
friends of mine.' 
     'No!'  said Merry.  'It's  no good "getting under cover".  That is just  
what people have been  doing, and just what these  ruffians like.  They will 
simply come  down on us in force, corner us, and  then drive us out, or burn 
us in. No, we have got to do something at once.' 
     'Do what?' said Pippin. 
     'Raise the Shire!' said Merry. 'Now! Wake all our people! They hate all 
this, you can  see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few 
fools that want to be important, but  don't at all understand what is really 
going  on. But Shire-folk have  been  so comfortable so long they don't know 
what to  do. They just want  a match, though, and they'll go up in fire. The 
Chief's Men must know that. They'll try to stamp on us and put us out quick. 
We've only got a very short time.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'Save Lotho? Whatever do you mean?' said Pippin. 'Destroy  him I should 
say.' 
     'I don't think you quite understand things, Pippin,' said Frodo. 'Lotho 
never meant things to come to this pass. He has been a wicked fool, but he's


key: chroma:document
string_value:
have a look and see how Mrs. Cotton was keeping, and you, Rosie.' 
     'We're keeping nicely, thank you,' said Mrs. Cotton.  'Or should be, if 
it weren't for these thieving ruffians.' 
     'Well, be  off with you!' said Rosie. 'If you've been looking after Mr. 
Frodo all this while, what d'you want  to leave  him for, as soon  as things 
look dangerous?' 
     This  was  too much  for Sam. It  needed a  week's answer, or none.  He 
turned away and mounted his pony. But as he started off, Rosie  ran down the 
steps. 
     'I think you look fine, Sam,'  she  said. 'Go on now! But  take care of 
yourself, and come straight back as soon as you have settled the ruffians!' 
     When  Sam  got back  he found the  whole village roused. Already, apart  
from many younger lads,  more  than a hundred sturdy hobbits were  assembled 
with axes, and heavy  hammers, and  long knives, and stout staves: and a few 
had hunting-bows. More were still coming in from outlying farms.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
End; 
and they've sheds at Waymeet.  And then there's  the Lockholes, as they call  
'em:  the old  storage-tunnels  at  Michel Delving  that  they've made  into 
prisons  for  those as stand up to  them. Still I  reckon there's  not above 
three hundred of  them in the Shire all told, and  maybe less. We can master  
them, if we stick together.' 
     'Have they got any weapons?' asked Merry. 
     'Whips,  knives, and  clubs, enough for their dirty  work:  that's  all 
they've showed so far,' said Cotton. 'But I dare say they've got other gear, 
if it comes to fighting. Some have bows, anywa y. They've shot one or two  of 
our folk.' 
     'There  you are, Frodo!' said Merry. 'I knew we should have  to  fight. 
Well, they started the killing.' 
     'Not exactly,' said Cotton. 'Leastways not the  shooting. Tooks started 
that. You see our dad Mr. Peregrin, he's never had no truck with this Lotho, 
not  from the beginning: said that if anyone was going to play the chief  at


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-lads! Lockholes for him, and give him something to keep him quiet!' 
     The Men took one step forward  and stopped short. There rose a  roar of 
voices all round them,  and suddenly  they were aware that Farmer Cotton was 
not  all  alone. They  were surrounded.  In  the dark  on  the  edge  of the 
firelight stood a ring  of hobbits  that had crept  up out  of  the shadows. 
There was nearly two hundred of them, all holding some weapon. 
     Merry stepped  forward. 'We have met before,' he  said  to  the leader, 
'and I warned you not to come  back here. I warn you again: you are standing 
in  the  light and you are covered  by archers. If you lay a finger on  this 
farmer, or on anyone  else, you will be  shot at once.  Lay down any weapons 
that you have!' 
     The leader looked round. He was trapped. But he was not scared, not now 
with a score of his fellows to  back  him.  He knew too little of hobbits to


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-But he comes around to me, when he gets a chance,  and I see he's better fed 
than some of the poor bodies. All against The Rules, of course. I'd have had 
him with me, but that wasn't allowed.' 
     'Thank'ee indeed, Mr. Cotton, and I'll never forget it,' said Sam. 'But 
I want to see him. That Boss and that Sharkey, as they  spoke of, they might  
do a mischief up there before the morning.' 
     'All right, Sam,' said Cotton.  'Choose a  lad or two, and go and fetch 
him to my  house. You'll not have need to  go near the old  Hobbiton village 
over Water. My Jolly here will show you.' 
     Sam went off. Merry arranged for look -outs round the village and guards 
at  the barriers during  the  night. Then he and Frodo went off with  Farmer  
Cotton. They sat with  the family in the warm kitchen, and the Cottons asked 
a  few polite  questions about  their travels,  but hardly  listened  to the 
answers: they were far more concerned with events in the Shire.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
with axes, and heavy  hammers, and  long knives, and stout staves: and a few 
had hunting-bows. More were still coming in from outlying farms. 
     Some of the village-folk had lit  a large fire, just to enliven things,  
and also because it was one of the things forbidden by the Chief. It  burned 
bright as  night came on. Others at Merry's orders  were setting up barriers 
across the road at each end of the  village. When  the Shirriffs  came up to 
the lower  one  they were  dumbfounded; but  as soon as they saw how  things 
were, most of  them took off  their  feathers and joined in  the revolt. The 
others slunk away. 
     Sam found Frodo and his friends by the  fire talking to old Tom Cotton, 
while an admiring crowd of Bywater folk stood round and stared. 
     'Well, what's the next move?' said Farmer Cotton.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     Pippin rode off with half  a dozen lads on ponies.  'See you soon!'  he 
cried. 'It's only  fourteen miles or so over the fields. I'll bring you back  
an army of Tooks in the morning.' Merry blew  a horn-call after them as they 
rode off into the gathering night. The people cheered. 
     'All the same,' said Frodo to all those who stood near, 'I wish for  no 
killing; not even of the ruffians, unless  it must be done, to  prevent them 
from hurting hobbits.' 
     'All right! '  said Merry.  'But  we shall be having  a visit  from  the 
Hobbiton gang any time  now, I  think. They  won't come just to  talk things 
over.  We'll try to deal with them  neatly, but  we must be prepared for the 
worst. Now I've got a plan.' 
     'Very good,' said Frodo. 'You make the arrangements.' 
     Just  then  some hobbits, who had  been sent out towards Hobbiton, came 
running in. 'They're coming!' they said. 'A score or more. But two have gone  
off west across country.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
that. You see our dad Mr. Peregrin, he's never had no truck with this Lotho, 
not  from the beginning: said that if anyone was going to play the chief  at 
this time of day,  it would  be the right Thain of the Shire and no upstart. 
And when Lotho sent his Men they got no  change out of him. Tooks are lucky, 
they've got those deep holes in the Green Hills,  the Great  Smials and all, 
and the  ruffians can't come at 'em; and they won't let the ruffians come on 
their land.  If they  do, Tooks hunt  'em. Tooks shot three for prowling and 
robbing.  After  that the  ruffians turned nastier. And they  keep  a pretty 
close watch on Tookland. No one gets in nor out of it now.' 
     'Good  for the  Tooks!' cried Pippin.  'But someone is going  to get in 
again, now. I am off to the Smials. Anyone coming with me to Tuckborough?'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
that you have!' 
     The leader looked round. He was trapped. But he was not scared, not now 
with a score of his fellows to  back  him.  He knew too little of hobbits to 
understand his peril.  Foolishly he  decided to  fight. It  would be easy to 
break out. 
     'At 'em lads!' he cried. 'Let 'em have it!' 
     With a  long knife in his left hand and a  club in  the other he made a  
rush  at the  ring, trying  to burst out back towards Hobbiton.  He aimed  a  
savage blow at Merry who stood in his way.  He fell dead with four arrows in 
him: 
     That was enough for the others.  They gave in. Their weapons were taken  
from them, and they were roped  together,  and marched  off to  an empty hut 
that they had built themselves, and there they were tied hand  and foot, and 
locked up under guard. The dead leader was dragged off and buried. 
     'Seems almost too easy  after all, don't it?' said Cotton.  'I said  we


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-as  he liked; and  if anyone  got "uppish" as  they called it, they followed 
Will. So things went from bad to worse. There wasn't no smoke left, save for 
the Men;  and the  Chief didn't hold with beer, save for his Men, and closed 
all the inns;  and everything except Rules got  shorter and  shorter, unless 
one could hide a bit  of one's own  when the ruffians  went  round gathering 
stuff  up "for fair  distribution": which meant  they got it  and we didn't, 
except for the leavings which you could have at the Shirriff-houses,  if you  
could  stomach them.  All  very bad.  But since Sharkey came it's been plain  
ruination.' 
     'Who is this Sharkey?'  said Merry. 'I heard  one of the ruffians speak 
of him.' 
     'The biggest  ruffian o' the lot, seemingly,' answered  Cotton. 'It was 
about last harvest,  end o'  September maybe,  that  we first heard of  him. 
We've never seen him, but he's up at Bag End; and he's the real Chief now, I


key: chroma:document
string_value:
a  few polite  questions about  their travels,  but hardly  listened  to the 
answers: they were far more concerned with events in the Shire. 
     'It all began with Pimple, as we call him,' said Farmer Cotton; 'and it 
began as soon as you'd  gone off, Mr. Frodo.  He'd funny  ideas had  Pimple. 
Seems he wanted to own everything himself, and  then order other folk about. 
It soon came out that he already did own a sight more than was good for him; 
and  he was  always grabbing  more, though  where he got  the  money  was  a  
mystery:  mills and malt-houses and  inns,  and farms, and leaf-plantations.  
He'd already bought Sandyman's mill before he came to Bag End, seemingly. 
     'Of course he started with a lot of property in the Southfarthing which 
he had from his dad; and it seems he'd been selling a  lot o' the best leaf,  
and sending it away quietly for a year or two.  But at the end o'  last year


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Just  then  some hobbits, who had  been sent out towards Hobbiton, came 
running in. 'They're coming!' they said. 'A score or more. But two have gone  
off west across country.' 
     'To Waymeet, that'll be, ' said  Cotton,  'to fetch  more  of  the gang. 
Well, it's fifteen mile each way. We needn't trouble about them just yet.' 
     Merry  hurried off to  give orders. Farmer Cotton cleared  the  street, 
sending everyone indoors, except the  older  hobbits who  had weapons of some 
sort. They had not long to wait. Soon they could hear loud  voices, and then  
the  tramping  of heavy feet. Presently  a whole squad of the  ruffians came 
down  the  road. They saw the barrier and laughed. They did not imagine that 
ther e  was anything in  this little  land  that would stand up to  twenty of 
their kind together. 
     The hobbits  opened the barrier and stood aside.  'Thank you!' the  Men 
jeered. 'Now run home to bed before you're whipped.' Then they marched along


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     ' "To Bag End," says they. 
     ' "What for?" says she. 
     ' "To put up some sheds for Sharkey," says they. 
     ' "Who said you could?" says she. 
     ' "Sharkey," says they. "So get out o' the road, old hagling!" 
     '  "I'll give you Sharkey, you dirty thieving ruffians!" says  she, and 
ups with  her umbrella and goes for the leader. near twice her size. So they 
took  her. Dragged her off  to the Lockholes, at her age  too.  They've took  
others we miss more, but  there's no  denying she  showed  more  spirit than 
most.' 
     Into the middle of this talk came Sam, bursting in with his gaffer. Old 
Gamgee did not look much older, but he was a little deafer. 
     'Good evening. Mr. Baggins!' he said. 'Glad indeed I am to see you safe 
back. But  I've  a bone to pick with you, in a manner  o' speaking, if I may 
make so bold. You didn't never ought  to  have a' sold Bag End, as  I always


key: chroma:document
string_value:
locked up under guard. The dead leader was dragged off and buried. 
     'Seems almost too easy  after all, don't it?' said Cotton.  'I said  we 
could master them. But we needed a call. You came  back in the nick o' time, 
Mr. Merry.' 
     'There's more to be done still,' said Merry. 'If  you're  right in your 
reckoning, we haven't dealt with a tithe of them yet. But it's  dark now.  I 
think the  next stroke must  wait  until morning. Then  we must  call on the 
Chief.' 
     'Why not  now?' said Sam.  'It's not much more than  six o'clock. And I 
want to see my gaffer. D'you know what's come of him, Mr. Cotton?' 
     'He's not too  well,  and not too bad, Sam,' said the farmer. 'They dug 
up Bagshot Row, and that  was a sad blow  to  him. He's in one of  them  new 
houses that  the Chief's Men  used to  build while  they still did any  work 
other than burning and thieving:  not  above a mile from the end of Bywater.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
he had from his dad; and it seems he'd been selling a  lot o' the best leaf,  
and sending it away quietly for a year or two.  But at the end o'  last year 
he began sending away  loads of  stuff,  not only leaf. Things  began to get 
short, and winter coming on, too. Folk got angry, but  he had his answer.  A 
lot of Men, ruffians mostly,  came with great waggons, some to carry off the 
goods south-away,  and  others  to stay. And  more came.  And before we knew 
where we were they were planted here  and there all over the Shire, and were 
felling trees  and digging and building themselves sheds and houses just  as 
they liked. At first goods and damage was paid  for by Pimple; but soon they 
began lording it around and taking what they wanted. 
     'Then there was a bit  of trouble,  but not  enough. Old Will the Mayor  
set off for  Bag End to protest, but he never got there. Ruffians laid hands 
on him  and took and locked him up in a hole in Michel Delving, and there he


key: chroma:document
string_value:
their kind together. 
     The hobbits  opened the barrier and stood aside.  'Thank you!' the  Men 
jeered. 'Now run home to bed before you're whipped.' Then they marched along 
the street  shouting: 'Put those lights out! Get indoors  and stay there! Or 
we'll take fifty  of you  to the Lockholes for  a year. Get in!  The Boss is 
losing his temper.' 
     No one paid any heed to their orders; but as the  ruffians passed, they 
closed in  qu ietly behind and followed them.  When the  Men reached the fire 
there was Farmer Cotton standing all alone warming his hands. 
     'Who  are   you,  and  what   d'you   think  you're  doing?'  said  the 
ruffian-leader. 
     Farmer Cotton looked at him slowly. 'I was just going to ask you that,' 
he said. 'This isn't your country, and you're not wanted.' 
     'Well, you're wanted  anyhow,' said the leader. 'We want you.  Take him


key: chroma:document
string_value:
about last harvest,  end o'  September maybe,  that  we first heard of  him. 
We've never seen him, but he's up at Bag End; and he's the real Chief now, I  
guess.  All the ruffians  do what he says; and what he says is mostly  hack, 
burn, and ruin; and now it s come to killing. There s  no longer even any bad 
sense in it. They cut down trees and let 'em lie, they burn houses and build 
no more. 
     'Take Sandyman's mill now. Pimple  knocked it down almost as soon as he 
came to Bag End. Then he  brought in a lot o' dirty-looking Men  to  build a  
bigger one and fill it full o' wheels and outlandish contraptions. Only that 
fool Ted was pleased by  that, and he works  there  cleaning  wheels for the 
Men, where his dad was the  Miller and his own master.  Pimple's idea was to 
grind  more  and faster, or  so he said. He's got other mills  like  it. But 
you've got to have grist before you can grind; and there was no more for the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
back. But  I've  a bone to pick with you, in a manner  o' speaking, if I may 
make so bold. You didn't never ought  to  have a' sold Bag End, as  I always 
said. That's what started all the mischief. And while you're been trapessing 
in foreign parts, chasing  Black Men  up  mountains from  what my  Sam says,  
though what for he don't make clear, they've been and dug up Bagshot Row and 
ruined my taters!' 
     'I  am very  sorry, Mr.  Gamgee,' said Frodo. 'But now I've  come back, 
I'll do my best to make amends.' 
     'Well,  you  can't say  fairer than that,' said  the gaffer. 'Mr. Frodo 
Baggins  is a real gentlehobbit, I always have said, whatever  you may think  
of some others of the name, begging your pardon. And I hope my Sam's 
behaved 
hisself and given satisfaction?' 
     'Perfect satisfaction, Mr. Gamgee,'  said Frodo. 'Indeed,  if you  will 
believe it, he's  now one of the most famous  people  in all  the lands, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-were left  up at Bag End,' said Cotton; 'but  the gang from Waymeet will  be 
along any time now.' 
     After breakfast  a messenger from the Tookland rode in. He was in  high  
spirits. 'The Thain has raised  all our country,' he said, 'and the news  is 
going like fire all ways. The ruffians that were watching our land have fled 
off south, those that escaped alive. The  Thain has gone after them, to hold 
off the big gang down  that way; but he's sent Mr Peregrin back with all the 
other folk he can spare.' 
     The next news  was less good. Merry, who had been out  all  night, came 
riding in about ten  o'clock. 'There's a big band about four miles away,' he 
said.  'They're  coming along the  road from Waymeet, but a good many  stray 
ruffians have joined up with them. There must be close on a hundred of them; 
and they're fire-raising as they come. Curse them!' 
     'Ah! This  lot  won't stay to  talk, they'll kill, if they  can,'  said


key: chroma:document
string_value:
set off for  Bag End to protest, but he never got there. Ruffians laid hands 
on him  and took and locked him up in a hole in Michel Delving, and there he 
is  now.  And after that, it  would bc soon after New Year,  there wasn't no 
more Mayor, and Pimple called himself Chief Shirriff, or just Chief, and did


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-your weapons! Then  go  back twenty paces and sit down. Any who try to 
break 
out will be shot.' 
     But  the ruffians could  not now  be  cowed  so easily.  A few of  them 
obeyed, but were immediately set on  by their fellows. A score or more broke 
back  and  charged the waggons. Six were shot, but the  remainder burst out, 
killing two hobbits, and then  scattering across country in the direction of 
the  Woody End. Two more fell as they ran.  Merry blew a loud horn-call, and 
there were answering calls from a distance. 
     'They won't get far,' said  Pippin. 'All that country is alive with our 
hunters now.' 
     Behind,  the trapped Men in the lane,  still about four score, tried to 
climb the barrier and the banks, and the hobbits were obliged  to shoot many  
of them or hew them with axes. But many of the strongest and  most desperate 
got out on the west side, and  attacked  their enemies  fiercely ,  being now


key: chroma:document
string_value:
and they're fire-raising as they come. Curse them!' 
     'Ah! This  lot  won't stay to  talk, they'll kill, if they  can,'  said 
Farmer  Cotton.  'If Tooks don't come sooner, we'd best get behind cover and 
shoot without  arguing.  There's  got to  be  some  fighting  before this is 
settled, Mr. Frodo.' 
     The  Tooks  did come sooner.  Before long  they  marched in, a  hundred  
strong,  from  Tuckborough and  the Green Hills with  Pippin at their  head. 
Merry now  had  enough  sturdy  hobbitry to deal with  the  ruffians. Scouts 
reported  that  they  were  keeping  close  together.  They  knew  that  the 
countryside had risen against  them,  and  plainly  meant  to  deal with the 
rebellion ruthlessly, at its centre in Bywater. But however grim they, might 
be, they  seemed to have  no leader among  them who understood warfare. 
They 
came on without any precautions. Merry laid his plans quickly. 
     The ruffians  came tramping along  the  East Road, and  without halting


key: chroma:document
string_value:
chain about his neck. 
     Sam knelt  by him. Faint, almost  inaudibly, he heard Frodo whispering: 
'Help me, Sam! Help me, Sam! Hold  my hand! I can't  stop it.' Sam took  his 
master's hands a nd laid  them together, palm to  palm, and kissed them;  and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
behaved 
hisself and given satisfaction?' 
     'Perfect satisfaction, Mr. Gamgee,'  said Frodo. 'Indeed,  if you  will 
believe it, he's  now one of the most famous  people  in all  the lands, and 
they are making songs about his deeds from  here to  the Sea and beyond  the 
Great River.' Sam blushed,  but he looked gratefully at Frodo,  for  Rosie's 
eyes were shining and she was smiling at him. 
     'It takes a lot o' believing,' said  the gaffer, 'though I can see he's 
been mixing in strange company. What's come of his weskit? I don't hold with 
wearing ironmongery, whether it wears well or no.' 
     Farmer  Cotton's household  and  all  his  guests  were  up  early next 
morning. Nothing  had  been  heard  in  the  night, but more  trouble  would 
certainly  come before the  day was old.  'Seems as if none o' the  ruffians


key: chroma:document
string_value:
of them or hew them with axes. But many of the strongest and  most desperate 
got out on the west side, and  attacked  their enemies  fiercely ,  being now 
more  bent on killing than escaping. Several hobbits fell, and the rest were 
wavering, when Merry and Pippin,  who were on the east side, came across and 
charged  the ruffians. Merry himself slew  the  leader, a  great squint -eyed 
brute like  a huge orc.  Then he drew  his forces off,  encircling the  last 
remnant of the Men in a wide ring of archers. 
     At last all  was over.  Nearly  seventy of the ruffians lay dead on the 
field, and a dozen  were prisoners. Nineteen hobbits  were killed, a nd  some 
thirty were wounded. The dead  ruffians were laden on waggons and hauled off 
to an  old sand-pit nearby and there buried:  in the Battle  Pit, as it  was 
afterwards called. The fallen hobbits were  laid together in a grave on  the 
hill-side,  wher e later a great  stone was set up with a garden about it. So


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-fighting  was over,  and  the later labours were ordered, Merry, Pippin, and 
Sam joined him, and  they rode back with the Cottons. They ate a late midday 
meal, and then Frodo said with a  sigh: 'Well, I suppose it is time now that 
we dealt with the "Chief".' 
     'Yes indeed; the  sooner the better,'  said  Merry.  'And don't be  too 
gentle! He's  responsible  for bringing  in these ruffians, and  for all the 
evil they have done.' 
     Farmer Cotton  collected an escort  of some two  dozen  sturdy hobbits. 
'For it's only a guess that  there is no ruffians left at Bag End,' he said. 
'We don't know.' Then  they set out  on foot. Frodo, Sam,  Merry, and Pippin 
led the way. 
     It was one of the saddest hours  in their lives. The great chimney rose 
up  before them;  and as  they drew  near the old  village across the Water, 
through rows of new  mean houses along each side of the  road, they saw  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
They 
came on without any precautions. Merry laid his plans quickly. 
     The ruffians  came tramping along  the  East Road, and  without halting 
turned up the Bywater Road,  which ran for  some way sloping up between 
high 
banks with low hedges on top. Round a bend,  about a  furlong from  the main 
road, they met a stout barrier of old farm-carts upturned. That halted them. 
At the same  moment they  became aware that  the hedges on  both sides,  just 
above their  heads, were all lined with hobbits. Behind them  other  hobbits 
now pushed out  some more waggons  that had  been  hidden in a field, and so 
blocked the way back. A voice spoke to them from above. 
     'Well, you  have walked into a trap, '  said Merry. 'Your  fellows  from 
Hobbiton did the same, and one is dead and the  rest are prisoners. Lay down


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-big for your purse.' 
     Ted Sandyman spat over the wall: 'Garn!' he said. 'You can't touch  me.  
I'm  a friend o'  the  Boss's. But he'll touch you all right, if I have  any 
more of your mouth.' 
     'Don't  waste any more words  on  the  fool, Sam!' said Frodo. 'I  hope 
there are not many more hobbits that have become like  this.  It  would be a  
worse trouble than all the damage the Men have done.' 
     'You are dirty and insolent, Sandyman,' said Merry. 'And also very much 
out of your reckoning. We are just going up the Hill to remove your precious 
Boss. We have dealt with his Men.' 
     Ted gaped, for at  that moment he first caught sight of the escort that 
at a sign from Merry now marched over the bridge. Dashing back into the mill 
he ran out with a horn and blew it loudly. 
     'Save your breath!' laughed Merry. 'I've a better.' Then lifting up his 
silver horn he winded it, and its clear call rang  over the Hill; and out of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-down Saruman's throat.' 
     'No doubt, no doubt! But you did not, and so I  am  able to welcome you  
home.' There standing at the  door was Saruman himself, looking well -fed and 
well-pleased; his eyes gleamed with malice and amusement. 
     A sudden light broke on Frodo. 'Sharkey!' he cried. 
     Saruman laughed.  'So you have heard the name, have you? All  my people 
used to call me that in Isengard, I believe. A sign of affection, possibly.( 
But evidently you did not expect to see me here.' 
     'I did not,' said Frodo. 'But I might  have guessed.  A little mischief 
in a mean way: Gandalf warned me that you were still capable of it. 
     'Quite  capable,'  said Saruman, 'and more  than a little. You  made me 
laugh, you hobbit-lordlings, riding  along with  all  those  great people so 
secure and so pleased with your little selves. You thought you had done very 
well out of it a ll, and could now just amble back and have a nice quiet time


key: chroma:document
string_value:
up  before them;  and as  they drew  near the old  village across the Water, 
through rows of new  mean houses along each side of the  road, they saw  the 
new mill in all its  frowning and  dirty ugliness:  a  great  brick building 
straddling  the  stream, which  it  fouled  with  a  steaming  and  stinking 
overflow. All along the Bywater Road every tree had been felled. 
     As  they crossed the bridge  and looked up the Hill  they  gasped. Even 
Sam's vision in the Mirror  had not prepared  him for what they saw. The Old 
Grange  on the  west side had been knocked down, and its place taken by rows 
of tarred sheds. All the chestnuts were gone. The  banks and  hedgerows were 
broken. Great  waggons wer e standing in  disorder in  a field beaten bare of 
grass. Bagshot  Row was a yawning sand and gravel quarry. Bag End up. 
beyond 
could not be seen for a clutter of large huts. 
     'They've cut it down!' cried Sam. 'They've cut down the Party Tree!' He


key: chroma:document
string_value:
was served on a long  bare table that  had not been scrubbed  for weeks. The 
food  deserved no better  setting. The travellers  were  glad  to  leave the 
place.  It was about eighteen  miles to  Bywater,  and they  set off at  ten 
o'clock  in the morning. They  would have started earlier, only the delay so 
plainly annoyed the Shirriff-leader. The west wind had shifted northward and 
it was turning colder, but the rain was gone. 
     It was rather  a comic  cavalcade that left the village, though the few 
folk that came out to  stare at the  'get-up' of the travellers did not seem 
quite sure whether laughing was allowed. A dozen Shirriffs had been told off 
as escort to the  'prisoners'; but Merry made  them  march  in front,  while 
Frodo and his friends rode behind. Merry, Pippin, and  Sam sat at their ease 
laughing and talking  and singing, while the Shirriffs stumped along  trying 
to  look stern and important. Frodo, however, was  silent  and looked rather


key: chroma:document
string_value:
he ran out with a horn and blew it loudly. 
     'Save your breath!' laughed Merry. 'I've a better.' Then lifting up his 
silver horn he winded it, and its clear call rang  over the Hill; and out of 
the  holes and sheds and shabby houses of Hobbiton the hobbits answered, and 
came pouring out, and  with cheers and loud cries they followed  the company 
up the road to Bag End. 
     At the top of the lane the party halted, and Frodo and his friends went 
on; and they came at  last to the once beloved place. The garden wa s full of 
huts and sheds, some so near the old westward windows that  they cut off all 
their  light. There were piles of refuse everywhere. The door  was  scarred; 
the bell-chain  was dangling  loose, and the bell would not  ring.  Knocking 
brought no answer. At length they pushed and the door yielded. They went in. 
The  place stank  and was  full of filth and  disorder: it did not appear to 
have been used for some time.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     The hobbits recoiled. But Frodo said: 'Do  not believe him! He has lost  
all power, save his voice that  can still daunt you and deceive you, if  you  
let it.  But  I will not  have him slain. It is useless to meet revenge with 
revenge: it will heal nothing. Go, Saruman, by the speediest way!' 
     'Worm! Worm!' Saruman called; and out of a  nearby hut came 
Wormtongue, 
crawling, almost like a dog. To the road again, Worm!' said Saruman.  'These 
fine fellows and lordlings are turning us adrift again. Come along!' 
     Saruman turned  to go, and Wormtongue shuffled after  him.  But even as 
Saruman passed close to Frodo a knife flashed in his  hand,  and  he stabbed 
swiftly.  The blade turned  on  the hidden  mail-coat  and snapped.  A dozen  
hobbits, led by Sam, leaped forward with a cry and flung  the villain to the 
ground. Sam drew his sword. 
     'No, Sam!' said  Frodo. 'Do not kill him even now.  For he has not hurt


key: chroma:document
string_value:
secure and so pleased with your little selves. You thought you had done very 
well out of it a ll, and could now just amble back and have a nice quiet time 
in the country. Saruman's home could  be all wrecked, and he could be turned 
out, but no one could touch  yours. Oh  no!  Gandalf would look  after  your  
affairs.' 
     Saruman laughed  again. 'Not he! When his tools have done their task he 
drops them. But you must  go dangling  after him,  dawdling and talking, and 
riding round twice as far as you needed. "Well," thought I, "if they're such  
fools, I  will  get ahead of them and  teach  them  a  lesson.  One ill turn 
deserves another." It  would  have been  a  sharper lesson, if  only you had 
given  me a  little  more time and more Men. Still  I have already done much  
that you will  find  it hard to mend or undo in your lives. And  it  will be 
plea sant to think of that and set it against my injuries.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
beyond 
could not be seen for a clutter of large huts. 
     'They've cut it down!' cried Sam. 'They've cut down the Party Tree!' He 
pointed to where the tree. had stood under which Bilbo had made his Farewell 
Speech. It was lying lopped and  dead in the field. As if this was the  last 
straw Sam burst into tears. 
     A laugh put an end to them. There was a surly hobbit lounging over  the 
low wall of the  mill-yard. He was grimy -faced and  black -handed.  'Don't  'ee 
like it, Sam?'  he sneered. 'But  you always  was soft. I thought you'd gone  
off in  one o' them ships  you used to prattle about, sailing, sailing. What 
d'you want to come back for? We've work to do in the Shire now.' 
     'So I see,' said Sam. 'No time for washing, but time for wall-propping. 
But  see here,  Master  Sandyman,  I've a score to pay in this village,  and 
don't you make it any longer with your  jeering, or you'll  foot a bill  too


key: chroma:document
string_value:
laughing and talking  and singing, while the Shirriffs stumped along  trying 
to  look stern and important. Frodo, however, was  silent  and looked rather  
sad and thoughtful.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
grind  more  and faster, or  so he said. He's got other mills  like  it. But 
you've got to have grist before you can grind; and there was no more for the 
new mill to do than for the  old. But since Sharkey came they don't grind no 
more corn at all. They're always a -hammering and a -letting out a smoke and a  
stench, and there isn't no peace even at night  in  Hobbiton.  And they pour 
out filth a  purpose; they've  fouled all  the lower Water  and it's getting 
down into Brandywine. If they want to make the Shire into a desert,  they're 
going the right way about it. I don't believe that fool of a Pimple's behind 
all this. It's Sharkey, I say.' 
     'That's right!' put in Young Tom. 'Why, they even took Pimple's old ma, 
that  Lobelia, and he was  fond  of her,  if no one  else was.  Some  of the 
Hobbiton folk, they  saw it. She  comes down the lane with her old umbrella. 
Some of the ruffians were going up with a big cart. 
     ' "Where be you a -going?" says she.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
hobbits, led by Sam, leaped forward with a cry and flung  the villain to the 
ground. Sam drew his sword. 
     'No, Sam!' said  Frodo. 'Do not kill him even now.  For he has not hurt 
me.  And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood. He was 
great once, of  a  noble kind that we  should  not  dare to raise  our hands 
against. He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us;  but  I would still  spare 
him, in the hope that he may find it.' 
     Saruman rose to his feet, and stared at Frodo. There was a strange look  
in his  eyes of mingled wonder and  respect and  hatred.  'You  have  grown, 
Halfling,' he said. 'Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. 
You  have  robbed  my revenge of  sweetness,  and  now  I must go  hence  in 
bitterness, in debt to your mercy.  I hate it and you! Well, I go and I will 
trouble you no more. But do  not expect me to wish you health and long life. 
You will have neither. But that is not my doing. I merely foretell.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
brought no answer. At length they pushed and the door yielded. They went in. 
The  place stank  and was  full of filth and  disorder: it did not appear to 
have been used for some time. 
     'Where  is that miserable Lotho hiding?' said Merry. They  had searched 
every room  and found no living thing save rats and  mice. 'Shall we turn on 
the others to search the sheds?' 
     'This is  worse than Mordor!' said Sam. 'Much worse in  a way. It comes 
home to you, as  they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it  
was all ruined.' 
     'Yes,  this is Mordor,' said Frodo. 'Just one of its works. Saruman was 
doing  its  work all  the time,  even  when he  thought  he was working  for  
himself. And the same with those that Saruman tricked, like Lotho.' 
     Merry looked round in dismay and disgust. 'Let's get out!' he said. 'If 
I had known all the  mischief he had caused, I should  have stuffed my pouch


key: chroma:document
string_value:
that you will  find  it hard to mend or undo in your lives. And  it  will be 
plea sant to think of that and set it against my injuries.' 
     'Well, if that is what you find  pleasure in,' said Frodo, 'I pity you. 
It will be a pleasure of memory only, I fear. Go at once and never return!' 
     The hobbits of the villages  had  seen Saruman  come out of one  of the 
huts, and at once they came crowding up  to  the door of  Bag End. When they 
heard Frodo's command, they murmured angrily: 
     'Don't let him go! Kill him! He's a villain and a murderer. Kill him!' 
     Saruman looked round at their hostile faces and smiled. 'Kill  him!' he 
mocked. 'Kill him, if you think there  are enough of you, my brave hobbits!' 
He drew himself  up and stared at them darkly  with his black eyes.  'But do 
not think that when I lost all my goods I lost all my power! Whoever strikes 
me shall  be accursed. And if my blood stains the Shire, it shall wither and 
never again be healed.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-fellow, your nice little Boss. Didn't you, Worm? Stabbed him in his sleep, I 
believe.  Buried him, I hope;  though Worm has been very hungry lately.  No, 
Worm is not really nice. You had better leave him to me.' 
     A look of wild hatred came into Wormtongue's red eyes. 'You told me to;  
you made me do it,' he hissed. 
     Saruman laughed. 'You do what Sharkey says,  always, don't  you,  Worm?  
Well,  now  he  says:  follow!'  He  kicked  Wormtongue in  the face  as  he 
grovelled, and  turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly 
Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog 
he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and  with 
a yell  ran off  down the lane. Before Frodo could recover or  speak a word, 
three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead. 
     To the dismay of those that stood by, about the  body of Saruman a grey


key: chroma:document
string_value:
afterwards called. The fallen hobbits were  laid together in a grave on  the 
hill-side,  wher e later a great  stone was set up with a garden about it. So 
ended the  Battle of Bywater, 1419, the last battle fought in the Shire, and 
the  only battle since the  Greenfields, 1147, away up in the Northfarthing. 
In consequence, though it happily cost very few lives, it has a  chapter  to 
itself in the Red Book, and  the names of all those  who took part were made 
into a Roll, and learned by heart by Shire-historians. The very considerable 
rise in the fame and fortune of the Cottons dates from this time; but at the 
top of the Roll  in all  accounts  stand the names of  Captains Meriadoc and 
Peregrin. 
     Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief 
part had  been to prevent the hobbits  in their wrath at  their losses, from 
slaying those  of  their enemies who  threw  down  their  weapons. When  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-borders.  
     Meanwhile the  labour  of  repair went on apace, and   Sam was kept very 
busy. Hobbits can work like bees when the mood  and the need comes on  
them. 
Now  there were thousands of willing  hands of all ages, from the  small but 
nimble ones of the hobbit lads and lasses to the well-worn and horny ones of 
the gaffers  and gammers.  Before Yule not a brick was left standing of  the 
new Shirriff-houses  or of anything that had been built by 'Sharkey's  Men';  
but the bricks were used to repair many an old hole, to make it snugger  and  
drier. Great stores of goods a nd  food, and beer,  were found that had  been 
hidden away  by  the  ruffians in  sheds and barns and deserted  holes,  and 
especially in the tunnels  at Michel  Delving  and  in the  old quarries  at 
Scary; so that there was a great deal better cheer that Yule than anyone had 
hoped for. 
     One of the first  things done in Hobbiton,  before even  the removal of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-many, were fair to see and strong, and most of them  had a rich golden  hair 
that had before  been rare  among hobbits.  The fruit was so  plentiful that 
young  hobbits very nearly bathed in  strawberries and cream; and later they 
sat on the lawns under the plum-trees  and ate, until they had made piles of 
stones  like  small pyramids or  the  heaped skulls of a conqueror, and then 
they  moved on. And no  one was ill,  and everyone was pleased. except those 
who had to mow the grass.  
     In the  Southfarthing the vines were laden, and the yield of 'leaf' was 
astonishing; and everywhere there was  so much  corn that at  Harvest  every 
barn was stuffed. 'The  Northfarthing barley  was so fine  that the beer  of 
1420 malt was long remembered and became a byword. Indeed a generation 
later 
one might hear an  old gaffer  in an inn, aft er  a good pint  of well-earned 
ale,  put  down his mug with a sigh:  'Ah! that was  proper fourteen-twenty, 
that was!'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-which was a seed, like a small nut with a  silver shale. 'What can I do with 
this?' said Sam. 
     'Throw it in the air on  a breezy day  and  let it do  its  work!' said 
Pippin. 
     'On what?' said Sam. 
     'Choose one spot  as  a  nursery, and  see what happens  to the  plants 
there,' said Merry. 
     'But I'm  sure  the Lady  would not like me to keep it all  for my  own 
garden, now so many folk have suffered,' said Sam. 
     'Use all the wi ts and knowledge you have of your own, Sam,' said Frodo,  
'and then  use the  gift to  help  your  work  and  better  it. And  use  it 
sparingly. There is not much here, and I expect every grain has a value.' 
     So Sam planted saplings in all the  places where specially beautiful or  
beloved trees had been destroyed, and he put a grain of the precious dust in 
the soil at the root of each. He went up and  down the Shire in this labour; 
but if he  paid special attention to Hobbiton and Bywater no one blamed h im.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead. 
     To the dismay of those that stood by, about the  body of Saruman a grey 
mist gathered, and  rising slowly to a great height like smoke  from a fire, 
as a pale shrouded  figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered,  
looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away,  
and with a sigh dissolved into nothing. 
     Frodo looked down at the body with pity and horror, for as he looked it 
seemed that long years of death were suddenly revealed in it, and it shrank, 
and the shrivelled face became rags of skin upon a hideous skull. Lifting up 
the skirt  of the dirty cloak  that sprawled beside  it, he covered it over, 
and turned away. 
     'And  that's  the end of that,'  said Sam. 'A nasty end,  and I  wish I 
needn't have seen it; but it's a good riddance.' 
     'And the very last end of the War, I hope,' said Merry.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-abroad at all, poor lass; but as I hadn't spoken, she couldn't say so. And I 
didn't speak, because I had  a job to  do first. But now I have  spoken, and 
she says:  "Well, you've  wasted  a year,  so why wait longer?"  "Wasted?" I  
says. "I wouldn't call it that." Still I see what she means. I feel torn  in 
two, as you might say.' 
     'I see,' said Frodo: 'you want to get married, and yet you want to live 
with me in  Bag End too? But my dear  Sam, how easy! Get  married as soon as 
you  can, and then move in with Rosie. There's room enough in Bag End for as 
big a family as you could wish for.' 
     And so it was settled. Sam Gamgee married Rose Cotton in the Spring  of 
1420 (which was  also famous  for its weddings), and they came and lived  at 
Bag End. And if Sam thought himself lucky, Frodo knew that he was more 
lucky 
himself; for there was not a hobbit in the  Shire that was looked after with


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Scary; so that there was a great deal better cheer that Yule than anyone had 
hoped for. 
     One of the first  things done in Hobbiton,  before even  the removal of 
the new mill, was the clearing of the Hill and Bag End, and the  restoration 
of Bagshot Row. The front of the new sand-pit was all levelled and made into 
a large sheltered garden, and new holes were dug in the southward face, back 
into the Hill, and they  were lined with brick. The Gaffer  was  restored to 
Number Three; and he said often and did not care who heard it: 
     'It's an  ill wind as  blows nobody no good, as I always say. And All's 
well as ends Better!' 
     There was some discussion of the name that the new row should be given. 
Battle  Gardens  was thought  of,  or Better  Smials.  But  after a while in 
sensible hobbit-fashion it was just called New Row. It was a purely  Bywater  
joke to refer to it as Sharkey's End. 
     The trees were the worst loss and damage, for at Sharkey's bidding they


key: chroma:document
string_value:
later 
one might hear an  old gaffer  in an inn, aft er  a good pint  of well-earned 
ale,  put  down his mug with a sigh:  'Ah! that was  proper fourteen-twenty, 
that was!' 
     Sam stayed at first at  the Cottons'  with Frodo; but when  the New Row 
was ready he went  with the Gaffer. In addition to all his  other  labours he 
was  busy  directing  the cleaning up and restoring  of Bag End; but he  was 
often away in the Shire on his forestry work. So he was not at home in early 
March and did not know that  Frodo had  been ill. On the  thirteenth of that 
month  Farmer Cotton found Frodo lying on his bed; he was clutching  a white 
gem that hung on a chain about his neck and he seemed half in a dream. 
     'It is gone for ever,' he said, 'and now all is dark and empty.' 
     But the fit  passed, and  when Sam got back on  the twenty-fifth, Frodo 
had  recovered, and he said nothing about  himself. In the meanwhile Bag End


key: chroma:document
string_value:
The clearing up certainly needed a lot of work, but  it took  less time 
than Sam had feared. The day  after the battle Frodo  rode to Michel Delving 
and released the prisoners from  the Lockholes. One  of the first  that they 
found was  poor Fredegar Bolger, Fatty no longer. He had been taken when the 
ruffians smoked  out a band of rebels that  he  led from their hidings up in 
the Brockenbores by the hills of Scary. 
     'You  would have  done better  to  come with us  after  all,  poor  old 
Fredegar!' said Pippin, as they carried him out too weak to walk. 
     He opened an eye and tried gallantly to  smile. 'Who's this young giant  
with the loud voice?' he  whispered. 'Not little Pippin! What's your size in 
hats now?' 
     Then  there  was Lobelia. Poor thing, she looked very old and thin when 
they rescued her  from a dark and narrow  cell. She insisted on hobbling out 
on her own feet; and she had such a welcome, and there was such clapping and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the soil at the root of each. He went up and  down the Shire in this labour; 
but if he  paid special attention to Hobbiton and Bywater no one blamed h im. 
And  at  the end he found that he still had a little of the dust left; so he 
went to the Three-Farthing  Stone, which is as near the centre of the  Shire 
as no matter, and cast it  in  the air with his  blessing. The little silver  
nut he  planted  in the Party Field where the tree had  once  been;  and  he 
wondered  what would  come  of  it. All through  the winter  he remained  as 
patient  as  he  could,  and tried  to  restrain himself  from  going  round 
constantly to see if anything was happening. 
     Spring surpassed his wildest hopes. His trees began to sprout and grow, 
as if time was in a hurry and  wished to make one year do for twenty. In the 
Party Field a beautiful young sapling leaped up: it had silver bark and long 
leaves and burst into golden flowers  in April. It was indeed a mallorn, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'And  that's  the end of that,'  said Sam. 'A nasty end,  and I  wish I 
needn't have seen it; but it's a good riddance.' 
     'And the very last end of the War, I hope,' said Merry. 
     'I hope so,' said Frodo and sighed. 'The very last stroke. But to think  
that it  should fall here, at the very  door  of Bag End! Among all my hopes 
and fears at least I never expected that.' 
     'I shan't call it  the end, till we've cleared  up  the mess,' said Sam 
gloomily. 'And that'll take a lot of time and work.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
trouble you no more. But do  not expect me to wish you health and long life. 
You will have neither. But that is not my doing. I merely foretell.' 
     He walked away, and  the hobbits made a lane for him to pass; but their 
knuckles whitened as  they gripped  on their  weapons. Wormtongue hesitated, 
and then followed his master. 
     'Wormtongue!' called Frodo. 'You need not follow him. I know of no evil  
you have done to me. You can  have rest and food here for a while, until you  
are stronger and can go your own ways.' 
     Wormtongue  halted  and  looked  back at  him, half  prepared  to  stay. 
Saruman turned.  'No evil?'  he  cackled. 'Oh no! Even when he sneaks out at 
night it is only to look at the stars. But did I hear someone ask where poor  
Lotho is hiding? You know, don't you, Worm? Will you tell them?' 
     Wormtongue cowered down and whimpered: 'No, no!' 
     'Then I  will,'  said Saruman.  'Worm killed  your  Chief,  poor little


key: chroma:document
string_value:
But the fit  passed, and  when Sam got back on  the twenty-fifth, Frodo 
had  recovered, and he said nothing about  himself. In the meanwhile Bag End 
had  been  set  in order,  and Merry and Pippin came over  from  Crickhollow 
bringing back  all the old furniture  and gear, so that  the  old hole  soon 
looked very much as it always had done. 
     When all was at last ready Frodo said: 'When are you  going to  move in 
and join me, Sam?' 
     Sam looked a bit awkward. 
     'There is no need to come yet, if you don't want to,'  said Frodo. 'But 
you k now the Gaffer  is close at hand, and he will be very well looked after  
by Widow Rumble.' 
     It s not that, Mr. Frodo, said Sam, and he went ver red. 
     'Well, what is it?' 
     'It's Rosie, Rose Cotton,' said Sam. 'It seems she didn't like my going


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Party Field a beautiful young sapling leaped up: it had silver bark and long 
leaves and burst into golden flowers  in April. It was indeed a mallorn, and 
it was the wonder of the neighbourhood.  In after years, as it grew in grace 
and beauty, it was known far and wide and people would come long journeys 
to 
see it: the only mallorn  west of the Mountains and east of the Sea, and one 
of the finest in the world. 
     Altogether 1420 in  the Shire was a marvellous year. Not only was there 
wonderful sunshine and delicious rain, in due times and perfect measure, but 
there seemed something more: an air of richness and growth, and a gleam of a  
beauty  beyond  that  of  mortal summers  that flicker  and  pass  upon this 
Middle-earth. All the children born or begotten in that year, and there were


key: chroma:document
string_value:
they rescued her  from a dark and narrow  cell. She insisted on hobbling out 
on her own feet; and she had such a welcome, and there was such clapping and 
cheering when she appeared,  leaning on Frodo's arm but still clutching  her  
umbrella, that she was quite touched, and drove away in tears. She had never 
in her life been popular before. But she was crushed  by the news of  Lotho's 
murder, and she would' not return to Bag End. She gave it back to Frodo, and 
went to her own people, the Bracegirdles of Hardbottle. 
     When the poor  creature died next Spring-she  was after all more than a  
hundred years  old  - Frodo was  surprised and much  moved: she had left all  
that remained of her money and of Lotho's for him to use in helping  hobbits 
made homeless by the troubles. So that feud was ended. 
     Old Will Whitfoot had been in the Lockholes longer than any, and though 
he had  perhaps  been treated  less harshly  than  some,  he needed a lot of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-Sam was  pained to notice how little  honour he  had in his own country. Few 
people  knew  or  wanted  to  know about  his  deeds and  adventures;  their 
admiration  and  respect were given mostly  to Mr. Meriadoc and Mr. Peregrin 
and (if Sam had known it) to himself. Also in  the  autumn there appeared  a  
shadow of old troubles.  
     One evening Sam came into the  study and  found his master looking very 
strange. He was very pale and his eyes seemed to see things far away. 
     'What's the matter, Mr. Frodo?' said Sam. 
     'I am wounded,' he answered, 'wounded; it will never really heal.' 
     But then  he  got   up, and the  turn seemed to  pass, and he  was quite 
himself the next day. It was not until afterwards that Sam recalled that the 
date  was October the sixth. Two years before on that day it was dark in the 
dell under Weathertop. 
     Time went on, and 1421 came  in. Frodo was ill again in March, but with


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Bag End. And if Sam thought himself lucky, Frodo knew that he was more 
lucky 
himself; for there was not a hobbit in the  Shire that was looked after with 
such care. When the labours of repair  had all been planned and set going he 
took to a quiet life, writing a great dea l and  going through all his notes. 
He resigned the office of Deputy Mayor at the Free Fair that mid-summer, and 
dear old Will Whitfoot had another seven years of presiding at Banquets.  
     Merry and Pippin lived together for some time at Crickhollow, and  there 
was  much coming  and  going between  Buckland and Bag  End.  The two  
young 
Travellers cut a great  dash in the Shire  with  their songs and their tales 
and their finery,  and  their wonderful  parties. 'Lordly' folk called them, 
meaning nothing bu t good; for it warmed all hearts to see them go  riding by 
with their mail-shirts so bright and their shields so splendid, laughing and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
sensible hobbit-fashion it was just called New Row. It was a purely  Bywater  
joke to refer to it as Sharkey's End. 
     The trees were the worst loss and damage, for at Sharkey's bidding they 
had been  cut down recklessly far  and wide over the Shire; and Sam  grieved 
over this more than anything else. For  one thing, this hurt would take long 
to heal, and only  his great-grandchildren, he thought,  would see the Shire 
as it ought to be. 
     Then  suddenly  one day, for he had  been too busy for  weeks to give a  
thought to  his adventures,   he remembered the gift of Galadriel. He brought  
the box  out and showed it to  the  other Travellers (for  so they were  now 
called by everyone), and asked their advice. 
     'I wondered when you would think of it,' said Frodo. 'Open it!' 
     Inside it was filled with a grey  dust, soft and fine, in the middle of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-the Shire, supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the learning of 
the Wise.) 
     Together  with  extracts from  Books of  Lore  translated by  Bilbo  in 
Rivendell. 
     'Why, you  have  nearly finished  it, Mr. Frodo!' Sam exclaimed. 'Well, 
you have kept at it, I must say.' 
     'I have quite finished, Sam,' said Frodo. 'The last pages are for you.' 
     On September the twenty-first  they set out together, Frodo on the pony 
that  had  borne him  all the  way  from  Minas  Tirith, and was  now called 
Strider; and Sam on his beloved Bill. It  was a fair golden morning, and Sam 
did not ask where they were going: he thought he could guess. 
     They took the Stock Road over the hills and went towards the Woody End, 
and they let their ponies walk  at their leisure.  They camped  in the Green 
Hills,  and  on September the twenty-second  they rode gently down  into the 
beginning of the trees as afternoon was wearing away.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Old Will Whitfoot had been in the Lockholes longer than any, and though 
he had  perhaps  been treated  less harshly  than  some,  he needed a lot of 
feeding up before he could look the part of Mayor; so Frodo agreed to act as 
his Deputy, until Mr. Whitfoot was  in shape again. The  only  thing that he 
did as  Deputy Mayor was  to reduce the Shirriffs to  their proper functions 
and numbers. The task of  hunting  out the last remnant of  the ruffians was 
left to Merry and  Pippin,  and  it was soon done. The southern gangs, after  
hearing the news of the Battle of  Bywater, fled out of the land and offered 
little resistance to the Thain. Before the Year's End the few survivors were 
rounded  up in  the  woods,  and those  that  surrendered were shown  to the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
date  was October the sixth. Two years before on that day it was dark in the 
dell under Weathertop. 
     Time went on, and 1421 came  in. Frodo was ill again in March, but with 
a great effort he concealed it, for Sam had other things to think about. The 
first of  Sam and Rosie's children was born on the twenty-fifth of  March, a  
date that Sam noted. 
     'Well,  Mr. Frodo,' he said. 'I'm in a bit of  a fix.  Rose  and me had 
settled  to  call him Frodo, with  your leave; but it's  not  him , it's her. 
Though as pretty a maidchild  as any one  could hope for, taking after  Rose 
more than me, luckily. So we don't know what to do.' 
     'Well,  Sam,' said Frodo,  'what's wrong with the old customs? Choose a  
flower name like Rose. Half the maidchildren in the Shire are called by such  
names, and what could be better?' 
     'I  suppose  you're  right,  Mr.  Frodo,'  said  Sam.  'I've heard some 
beautiful names on my travels,  but  I  suppose they're  a bit too grand for


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     'It will be Bilbo's Birthday on Thursday, Sam,'  he  said. 'And he will 
pass the Old Took. He will be a hundred and thirty-one!' 
     'So he will!' said Sam. 'He's a marvel!' 
     'Well,  Sam,' said Frodo. 'I want you to see Rose  and  find out if she 
can spare  you, so that you and I can go off together.  You can't go  far or  
for a long time now, of course,' he said a little wistfully. 
     'Well, not very well, Mr. Frodo.' 
     'Of course not.  But never mind.  You can see me on my way.  Tell  Rose 
that you won't be away very long, not more than a fortnight; and you'll come  
back quite safe.' 
     'I wish I could go all  the way  with  you to Rivendell, Mr. Frodo, and 
see Mr. Bilbo,' said Sam. 'And yet the only place I really want to  be in is 
here. I am that torn in two.' 
     'Poor Sam! It will feel like that, I am  afraid,'  said Frodo. 'But you  
will be healed. You were meant to be solid and whole, and you will be.'


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-     The starlight on the Western Seas. 
     Frodo and Sam halted and sat silent in the soft shadows, until they saw 
a shimmer as the travellers came towards them. 
     There was Gildor  and  many fair Elven folk; and there  to Sam's wonder  
rode Elrond and Galadriel. Elrond wore a  mantle of grey and had a star upon 
his forehead, and  a silver harp was in his  hand, and upon his finger was a  
ring of gold with a  great blue stone, Vilya, mightiest of  the  Three.  But 
Galadriel sat upon a white palfrey  and  was robed all in glimmering  white,  
like  clouds  about the Moon; for  she herself seemed  to shine with a  soft 
light.  On  her  finger was Nenya, the ring wrought of mithril ,  that bore a  
single white stone  flickering like a frosty star. Riding slowly behind on a  
small grey pony, and seeming to nod in his sleep, was Bilbo himself. 
     Elrond greeted  them gravely and graciously, and Galadriel  smiled upon


key: chroma:document
string_value:
meaning nothing bu t good; for it warmed all hearts to see them go  riding by 
with their mail-shirts so bright and their shields so splendid, laughing and 
singing songs of far away; and if they were now large and magnificent,  they  
were unchanged otherwise, unless they were  indeed  more fairspoken and 
more 
jovial and full of merriment than ever before. 
     Frodo and Sam, however, went back to ordinary attire,  except that when 
there was need they both wore long grey cloaks,  finely woven and clasped at 
the throat with beautiful brooches; and Mr. Frodo wore always a  white jewel 
on a chain that he often would finger. 
     All things now went well, with  hope always of becoming  still  better; 
and Sam  was  as busy and as  full of delight as even a hobbit  could  wish. 
Nothing  for him marred that whole year, except  for some vague anxiety about 
his  master. Frodo dropped quietly  out of all the doings of the  Shire, and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-will  come,  and  Rosie-lass,  and Merry, and  Goldilocks,  and Pippin;  and 
perhaps more  that I  cannot see. Your  hands and  your wits will  be needed 
everywhere. You will be the Mayor, of course, as long a s you want to be, and 
the most famous gardener in history; and you will read things out of the Red 
Book, and keep alive the memory of the age that is gone. so that people will  
remember the Great Danger and so love their beloved land all the  more.  And 
that will  keep  you as busy and as  happy as anyone can be, as long as your 
part of the Story goes on. 
     'Come now, ride with me!' 
     Then Elrond and  Galadriel rode on; for the Third Age was over, and the  
Days of the Rings were passed, and an end was come of the story and  song of 
those  times. With them  went many  Elves of the High Kindred  who  would 
no 
longer stay in  Middle-earth; and among them, filled with a sadness that was


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Hills,  and  on September the twenty-second  they rode gently down  into the 
beginning of the trees as afternoon was wearing away. 
     'If that isn't the very tree you hid  behind when the Black Rider first 
showed up, Mr. Frodo!' said Sam pointing to the left. 'It seems like a dream 
now.' 
     It  was  evening, and the stars were glimmering  in the  eastern sky as 
they passed the ruined oak and turned and went on  down the hill between the 
hazel-thickets. Sam  was  silent,  deep in his memories. Presently he became 
aware   that  Frodo  was  singing  softly  to  himself,   singing   the  old 
walking-song, but the words were not quite the same. 
     Still round the corner there may wait 
     A new road or a secret gate; 
     And though I oft have passed them by, 
     A day will come at last when I 
     Shall take the hidden paths that run 
     West of the Moon, East of the Sun. 
     And  as if in answer,  from down below,  coming up the road out of  the


key: chroma:document
string_value:
here. I am that torn in two.' 
     'Poor Sam! It will feel like that, I am  afraid,'  said Frodo. 'But you  
will be healed. You were meant to be solid and whole, and you will be.' 
     In the next day or  two Frodo went through his papers and  his writings 
with Sam, and he handed over his keys.  There was  a big book with plain red 
leather  covers; its  tall  pages were  now almost filled.  At the beginning 
there were many leaves covered with Bilbo's thin wandering hand; but most of 
it was written in Frodo's firm flowing script.  It was divided into chapters 
but  Chapter 80 was unfinished, and after that  were some  blank leaves. The 
title page had many titles on it, crossed out one after another, so: 
 
     My  Diary. My Unexpected  Journey.  There  and  Back  Again.  And  What 
Happened After. 
     Adventures of  Five  Hobbits. The Tale  of the Great  Ring, compiled by 
Bilbo  Baggins from his own  observations  and the  accounts of his friends.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
####-all was being made ready to depart, up rode Merry and Pippin in great haste.  
And amid his tears Pippin laughed. 
     'You tried to give us the slip once before and failed, Frodo.' he said. 
'This time you have nearly  succeeded, but you have failed again. It was not  
Sam, though, that gave you away this time, but Gandalf himself!' 
     'Yes,' said Gandalf; 'for it will be better to ride back three together  
'than one alone. Well, here at  last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea  
comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth.  Go in peace!  I  will  not 
say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.' 
     Then Frodo  kissed Merry  and Pippin,  and last  of all  Sam,  and went 
aboard; and the sails were drawn up, and  the wind blew, and slowly the ship 
slipped away  down  the  long  grey firth;  and the  light of  the  glass of 
Galadriel that Frodo bore glimmered and was lost. And the ship went out into


key: chroma:document
string_value:
those  times. With them  went many  Elves of the High Kindred  who  would 
no 
longer stay in  Middle-earth; and among them, filled with a sadness that was 
yet  blessed and without bitterness, rode Sam, and Frodo, and Bilbo, and the 
Elves delighted to honour them. 
     Though they rode through the midst of the Shire all the evening and all 
the night, none saw them  pass,  save the wild creatures; or here  and there 
some wanderer in the dark who saw a swift  shimmer  under  the trees,  or  a  
light and shadow flowing  through the grass as the Moon  went westward.  And 
when  they had passed from the  Shire,  going about the  south skirts of the 
White Downs, they came to the Far Downs,  and to the Towers,  and  looked on 
the  distant Sea; and  so they  rode down at  last to Mithlond,  to the Grey 
Havens in the long firth of Lune. 
     As  they  came  to the gates Cnrdan the Shipwright came  forth to greet


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Happened After. 
     Adventures of  Five  Hobbits. The Tale  of the Great  Ring, compiled by 
Bilbo  Baggins from his own  observations  and the  accounts of his friends. 
What we did in the War of the Ring. 
     Here Bilbo's hand ended and Frodo had written: 
 
     THE DOWNFALL 
     OF THE 
     LORD OF THE RINGS 
     AND THE 
     RETURN OF THE KING 
 
     (as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs  of Bilbo and Frodo of


key: chroma:document
string_value:
small grey pony, and seeming to nod in his sleep, was Bilbo himself. 
     Elrond greeted  them gravely and graciously, and Galadriel  smiled upon  
them. 'Well, Master Samwise,'  she said.  'I hear and see that you have used 
my  gift well. The Shire shall now be  more than ever blessed  and beloved.' 
Sam bowed, but found nothing to say. He had forgotten how beautiful the Lady 
was. 
     Then Bilbo woke up and opened his eyes. 'Hullo, Frodo!' he said. 'Well, 
I have passed the  Old Took today! So that's  settled. And now I think I  am 
quite ready to go on another journey. Are you coming?' 
     'Yes, I am coming,' said Frodo. 'The Ring-bearers should go together.' 
     'Where are you going, Master?' cried Sam, though at last he  understood 
what was happening. 
     'To the Havens, Sam,' said Frodo. 
     'And I can't come.' 
     'No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not  further  than the Havens. Though you too 
were a Ring-bearer, if only  for a little while. Your  time may come. Do not


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the  distant Sea; and  so they  rode down at  last to Mithlond,  to the Grey 
Havens in the long firth of Lune. 
     As  they  came  to the gates Cnrdan the Shipwright came  forth to greet 
them. Very tall he was,  and his beard  was long, and he  was grey  and old, 
save that  his eyes were keen as stars; and he looked at them and bowed, and  
said: 'All is now ready.' 
     Then Cnrdan led  them to the Havens, and there  was a white ship lying, 
and upon the  quay  beside a  great  grey horse stood a  figure robed all in 
white awaiting them.  As  he turned and came  towards  them  Frodo saw  that 
Gandalf now wore openly  upon his  hand the Third Ring, Narya the Great, and 
the stone upon it was red as fire.  Then those who were to go were glad, for  
they knew that Gandalf also would take ship with them. 
     But Sam  was now sorrowful at  heart,  and it seemed to him that if the 
parting would be bitter,  more grievous  still would  be  the long road home


key: chroma:document
string_value:
slipped away  down  the  long  grey firth;  and the  light of  the  glass of 
Galadriel that Frodo bore glimmered and was lost. And the ship went out into 
the  High Sea and passed on into the West, until at  last on a night of rain 
Frodo smelled  a sweet  fragrance on the air  and heard the sound of singing  
that came over the water. And  then it seemed to him that as in his dream in 
the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver  glass and  
was  rolled back, and he beheld white  shores and beyond  them  a far  green 
country under a swift sunrise. 
     But to Sam  the evening deepened to darkness as he  stood at the Haven; 
and as he looked at the grey sea he saw only a shadow on the waters that was 
soon lost in the West. There still he stood  far into the night, hearing only 
the  sigh and murmur of  the  waves on  the shores  of Middle-earth, and the 
sound of them sank deep into his  heart.  Beside him stood Merry and Pippin, 
and they were silent.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
A day will come at last when I 
     Shall take the hidden paths that run 
     West of the Moon, East of the Sun. 
     And  as if in answer,  from down below,  coming up the road out of  the 
valley, voices sang: 
     A! Elbereth Gilthoniel! 
     silivren penna mnriel 
     o menel aglar elenath, 
     Gilthoniel, A! Elbereth! 
     We still remember, we who dwell 
     In this far land beneath the trees


key: chroma:document
string_value:
'And I can't come.' 
     'No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not  further  than the Havens. Though you too 
were a Ring-bearer, if only  for a little while. Your  time may come. Do not 
be too  sad, Sam. You cannot be always torn in two. You will  have to be one 
and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.' 
     'But,' said  Sam, and tears started  in his eyes, 'I  thought  you were 
going  to  enjoy the  Shire, too.  for years and  years, after all you  have 
done.' 
     'So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I  tried 
to  save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not  for me. It must often be 
so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, 
so that others may keep them. But you are my  heir: all that I had and might  
have had I leave to you.  And also you  have Rose, and Elanor; and Frodo -lad


key: chroma:document
string_value:
But Sam  was now sorrowful at  heart,  and it seemed to him that if the 
parting would be bitter,  more grievous  still would  be  the long road home 
alone. But  even as they stood there, and the Elves were  going aboard,  and


key: chroma:document
string_value:
the  sigh and murmur of  the  waves on  the shores  of Middle-earth, and the 
sound of them sank deep into his  heart.  Beside him stood Merry and Pippin, 
and they were silent. 
     At last the three companions  turned away, and never again looking back  
they rode slowly homewards; and they spoke no word to one another until they 
came  back to the  Shire. but each had great comfort  in his friends  on the 
long grey road. 
     At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry 
and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they  were singing again as they 
went. But Sam turned to Bywater,  and so came back up  the Hill,  as day was 
ending  once  more. And  he  went on, and there  was  yellow light, and fire 
within; and the evening meal was ready, and he  was expected.  And Rose drew 
him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap. 
     He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
Sam. But  I should a' passed you in the street in that gear. You've been  in 
foreign parts, seemingly. We feared you were dead.' 
     'That I ain't!'  said Sam.  'Nor Mr. Frodo. He's here and  his friends. 
And  that's  the to-do. They're raising the Shire. We're going to clear  out 
these ruffians, and their Chief too. We're starting now.' 
     'Good, good!' cried Farmer Cotton.  'So  it's  begun at last! I've been 
itching for trouble all this year, but folks wouldn't help. And I've had the 
wife  and Rosie to think of. These ruffians don't stick at nothing. But come 
on now, lads! Bywater is up! We must be in it!' 
     'What about Mrs.  Cotton and Rosie?' said Sam. 'It  isn't safe  yet for  
them to be left all alone.' 
     'My Nibs  is  with them. But you  can  go and help him,  if you  have a  
mind,' said Farmer Cotton with a grin. Then  he and his sons ran off towards


key: chroma:document
string_value:
names, and what could be better?' 
     'I  suppose  you're  right,  Mr.  Frodo,'  said  Sam.  'I've heard some 
beautiful names on my travels,  but  I  suppose they're  a bit too grand for 
daily wear and tear, as you  might say. The Gaffer, he says: "Make it short, 
and  then you won't have to cut it short before you can use it." But if it's 
to be a  flower-name, then I don't  trouble about  the length: it  must be a  
beautiful  flower, because, you see, I  think  she is very beautiful, and is 
going to be beautifuller still.' 
     Frodo  thought  for  a  moment.  'Well,  Sam,  what  about  elanor, the 
sun-star, you remember the little golden flower in the grass of Lothlurien?' 
     'You're  right  again, Mr. Frodo!' said  Sam delighted.  'That's what I 
wanted.' 
     Little  Elanor  was nearly six months  old, and 1421  had passed to its 
autumn, when Frodo called Sam into the study.


