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be, to the Council of which you speak, and there Boromir saw it. Do you deny 
it?  ' 
     Frodo made no answer. 'So! ' said Faramir. `I  wish then  to learn from 
you more of it; for  what  concerns Boromir concerns  me. An orc-arrow  slew 
Isildur, so far as old tales tell. But orc-arrows are plenty,  and the sight 
of one would not be taken as a  sign of Doom by Boromir of  Gondor.  Had you  
this thing  in keeping?  It is hidden, you say;  but is not that because you  
choose to hide it? ' 
     'No, not because I choose,' answered Frodo. `It  does not belong to me. 
It does not belong to any mortal, great or small; though if any  could claim 
it, it would  be Aragorn son  of Arathorn, whom  I named, the  leader of our 
Company from Moria to Rauros.'


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young pale moon, watching the ever -moving  stream;  and the  sad  reeds were 
rustling. So do we  ever watch the shores  nigh Osgiliath, which our enemies 
now partly hold,  and issue from it to harry our lands. Bu t  that night  all 
the world slept at the midnight hour. Then I saw, or it seemed that I saw, a  
boat floating  on  the water, glimmering  grey,  a small  boat  of a strange 
fashion with a high prow. and there was none to row or steer it. 
     `An awe fell on me, for  a pale light was round it. But I rose and went 
to the bank, and began to walk out into the stream,  for I was drawn towards 
it. Then the boat turned towards me, and stayed its pace, and floated slowly 
by  within my hand's reach, yet I durst not handle it. It waded  deep, as if 
it were heavily burdened,  and it  seemed to me  as it passed under  my gaze 
that it was  almost filled with clear water, from which came the light;  and 
lapped in the water a warrior lay asleep.


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is some lying trick of the Enemy. I have  seen the faces of fair warriors of 
old laid in  sleep beneath the  pools of the Dead Marshes, or seeming so  by 
his foul arts.' 
     'Nay, it was not so,' said Faramir.  'For his works  fill the heart with 
loathing; but my heart was filled with grief and pity.' 
     `Yet how could such a thing have happened in truth? ' asked Frodo. 'For  
no boat could have been carried  over the stony hills from  Tol Brandir; and 
Boromir purposed to  go home across the Entwash and the fields of Rohan. 
And 
yet how could any vessel ride the foam of the great falls and not founder in 
the boiling pools, though laden with water? ' 
     'I know not,' said Faramir. 'But whence came the boat? ' 
     `From Lurien,' said Frodo. 'In three such boats we rowed down Anduin to 
the Falls. They also were of elven-work.' 
     'You passed through the Hidden Land,' said  Faramir, `but it seems that


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Gondor made.  And they go  ever more heedlessly, we learn, thinking that the 
power of their new  master is great enough, so that the mere shadow  of  His 
hills  will  protect  them.  We  come  to teach  them  another lesson. Great 
strength of them was  reported  to us  some days ago, marching north. One of 
their regiments is due by our reckoning to pass by, some time ere noon-up on 
the road  above, where it passes through  the cloven way. The road may pass, 
but  they  shall  not! Not  while Faramir  is Captain.  He  leads now in all 
perilous  ventures.  But his life is charmed, or fate  spares him  for  some 
other end.' 
     Their talk  died down into a listening silence.  All  seemed  still and 
watchful. Sam, crouched by the edge of the fern-brake, peered  out. With his


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####-If  hard days  have made  me  any judge of Men's words and faces, then I may 
make a guess at Halflings! Though,' and  now he  smiled, `there is something 
strange about you, Frodo, an elvish air, maybe. But more lies upon our words 
together than I thought at first. I should now take you back to Minas Tirith 
to answer  there to Denethor, and my  life will justly be forfeit, if  I now 
choose a course that  proves ill for my city. So I will not  decide in haste 
what is to be done. Yet we must move hence without more delay.' 
     He  sprang to his feet and issued some orders. At once the men who were 
gathered round  him broke up into small  groups, and went off  this way  and  
that, vanishing quickly into the shadows of the  rocks and  trees. Soon only 
Mablung and Damrod remained. 
     'Now you,  Frodo  and Samwise, will come  with me  and my guards,' said 
Faramir. `You cannot go along the road southwards, if that was your purpose.


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####-you little  understood its power. If  Men have dealings with the Mistress of 
Magic who dwells in the Golden  Wood, then they may look for  strange things 
to follow. For it  is perilous  for mortal man  to walk  out of the world of 
this Sun, and few of old came thence unchanged, 'tis said. 
     `Boromir, O Boromir!' he cried. `What did she say to you, the Lady that 
dies not? What did she see? What woke in your heart then? Why went you  ever 
to Laurelindurenan, and came not by your own road,  upon the horses of 
Rohan 
riding home in the morning? ' 
     Then turning again to  Frodo, he spoke in a quiet voice  once more. 'To 
those questions I guess that you could make some answer, Frodo son of Drogo. 
But  not  here  or now.  maybe. But lest you  still should  think my  tale a  
vision, I  will tell  you this.  The horn of Boromir at  least  returned  in 
truth, and not in seeming. The horn came,  but it was  cloven  in two, as it


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it were heavily burdened,  and it  seemed to me  as it passed under  my gaze 
that it was  almost filled with clear water, from which came the light;  and 
lapped in the water a warrior lay asleep. 
     `A broken  sword  was on his knee. I saw  many wounds on  him.  It  was


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Mablung and Damrod remained. 
     'Now you,  Frodo  and Samwise, will come  with me  and my guards,' said 
Faramir. `You cannot go along the road southwards, if that was your purpose. 
It will be unsafe for some days, and always more closely watched after  this 
affray than it has been yet. And  you cannot,  I  think, go far today in any 
case, for you are weary. And so are we.  We are going  now to a secret place  
we  have, somewhat less than ten  miles from here. The Orcs and spies of the 
Enemy have not found  it yet, and if they did, we  could  hold  it long even 
against many. There we may lie up and rest for  a while, and you with us. In 
the morning I will decide what is best for me to do, and for you.' 
     There was nothing for Frodo to do but to  fall in with this request, or  
order. It seemed in any case a  wise course for the moment, since this  foray 
of the men  of  Gondor had made a  journey  in Ithilien more  dangerous than 
ever.


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####-for its sharpness, nor the arrow for  its swiftness, nor the warrior for his 
glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men  of  N®menor;  
and I would have  her loved for her memory,  her ancientry, her  beauty, and  
her present wisdom. Not feared, save  as men may fear the  dignity of a man, 
old and wise. 
     'So  fear me not! I do not ask you to tell me  more.  I do not even ask  
you to tell me  whether I now speak nearer the  mark. But if you  will trust  
me,  it may  be that I can advise  you in your present  quest, whatever that 
be-yes, and even aid you.' 
     Frodo made no  answer. Almost he  yielded to  the  desire for  help and 
counsel, to tell this grave young man, whose words  seemed so wise and fair, 
all that was in his mind. But something  held him back. His heart  was heavy  
with fear and sorrow: if he and Sam  were indeed, as seemed likely, all that 
was now left of the Nine Walkers, then he was  in sole command of the secret


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vision, I  will tell  you this.  The horn of Boromir at  least  returned  in 
truth, and not in seeming. The horn came,  but it was  cloven  in two, as it 
were  by axe or  sword. The shards  came severally to  shore: one was  found 
among the reeds where watchers of  Gondor lay,  northwards below the infalls 
of the Entwash;  the other was found spinning on the flood by one who had an 
errand in the water. Strange chances, but murder will out, 'tis said. 
     'And now the horn of the elder  son lies in two pieces upon the lap  of 
Denethor,  sitting in his high chair, waiting for news. And you  can tell me 
nothing of the cleaving of the horn? ' 
     'No, I did not know of it,' said Frodo. `But the day when you  heard it 
blowing, if your reckoning is true, was  the day when we parted, when  I and  
my servant left the Company.  And now your  tale fills me with dread. For if 
Boromir was then in peril and was slain, I  must fear that all my companions


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####-other places of less  royalty," my father  answered. "In Gondor ten thousand  
years  would not  suffice."  Alas!  poor Boromir. Does  that  not  tell  you  
something of him?  ' 
     'It does,' said Frodo. `Yet always he treated Aragorn with honour.' 
     'I doubt it  not,' said  Faramir. `If he  were satisfied  of  Aragorn's 
claim  as you say, he would greatly reverence him. But the pinch has not yet 
come. They had not yet reached Minas Tirith or become rivals in her wars.  
     `But I  stray. We in  the house of Denethor  know much  ancient lore by 
long  tradition,  and  there  are  moreover in  our  treasuries many  things 
preserved: books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, 
and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters. Some none can now 
read; and for the rest,  few ever unlock them. I can  read a little in them, 
for I have had teaching. It was these  records that brought the Grey Pilgrim


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with fear and sorrow: if he and Sam  were indeed, as seemed likely, all that 
was now left of the Nine Walkers, then he was  in sole command of the secret 
of their errand. Better mistrust undeserved  than rash words. And the memory 
of Bor omir, of the dreadful change that the  lure of the Ring had  worked in 
him, was very present to his mind, when he looked at Faramir and listened to 
his voice: unlike they were, and yet also much akin. 
     They walked on in  silence for a  while,  passing  like grey and  green 
shadows under  the old trees,  their feet  making no  sound; above them many 
birds sang, and the sun glistened on the polished roof of dark leaves in the 
evergreen woods of Ithilien. 
     Sam had taken no part in  the conversation, though he had listened; and 
at the same time he had attended with his keen hobbit ears to  all  the soft  
woodland noises about them. One thing he had noted, that in all the talk the


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my servant left the Company.  And now your  tale fills me with dread. For if 
Boromir was then in peril and was slain, I  must fear that all my companions 
perished too. And they were my kindred and my friends. 
     `Will you not put aside your dou bt of me and let me go? I am weary, and 
full of grief, and  afraid. But I have a deed to do, or to attempt, before I 
too am slain. And the more need of haste, if  we two halflings are  all that 
remain of our fellowship. 
     'Go back, Faramir,  valiant Captain of  Gondor,  and  defend  your city 
while you may, and let me go where my doom takes me.' 
     `For me there is no comfort in our speech together,' said Faramir; `but 
you surely draw from it more dread than need be. Unless the people of Lurien 
themselves came  to him,  who arrayed Boromir  as for a funeral? Not Orcs or  
servants of the Nameless. Some of your Company, I guess, live still. 
     `But whatever befell on the North March, you, Frodo, I doubt no longer.


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####-none of the Company had reached the city when you left.' 
     'As to the  manner  of  his death, I  had  hoped that  his  friend  and 
companion would tell me how it was.' 
     `But he was alive and strong when we parted. And he lives still for all 
that I know. Though surely there are many perils in the world.' 
     `Many indeed,' said Faramir, `and treachery not the least.' 
     Sam  had  been  getting more  and  more  impatient  and  angry at  this 
conversation. These last words were  more  than he  could bear, and bursting  
into the middle of the ring, he strode up to his master's side. 
     'Begging  your pardon, Mr. Frodo,' he  said, `but this has gone on long 
enough. He's no right to talk to you so.  After all you've gone  through, as 
much for his good and all these great Men as for anyone else. 
     'See here,  Captain! ' He  planted himself squarely in front of Faramir 
his  hands  on his hips,  and a look on his  face as  if he was addressing a


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order. It seemed in any case a  wise course for the moment, since this  foray 
of the men  of  Gondor had made a  journey  in Ithilien more  dangerous than 
ever. 
     They set out  at once: Mablung and  Damrod  a little ahead, and Faramir 
with Frodo  and Sam  behind.  Skirting the hither  side of the pool where the 
hobbits had bathed, they crossed the stream, climbed a long bank, and passed 
into  green-shadowed woodlands that marched  ever downwards  and  
westwards.  
While they walked, as swiftly as the hobbits could go, they talked in hushed 
voices. 
     'I broke off our speech together,' said Faramir, 'not only because time 
pressed, as Master Samwise had reminded me, but also because we were 
drawing 
near to matters that were better not debated openly  before many men. It was 
for that  reason that I turned rather to the matter of my brother and let be 
Isildur's Bane. You were not wholly frank with me, Frodo.'


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at the same time he had attended with his keen hobbit ears to  all  the soft  
woodland noises about them. One thing he had noted, that in all the talk the 
name of Gollum had not once come up. He was glad, though he felt that it was 
too much to hope that he would never  hear  it again. He soon  became  aware 
also that though they  walked alone, there  were many men close at hand: not 
only Damrod and Mablung flitting in and out of the shadows ahead, but others 
on either side, all making their swift secret way to some appointed place. 
     Once,  looking suddenly back,  as if some prickle of the skin told  him 
that he  was watched from behind, he  thought he caught a brief glimpse of a  
small dark shape slipping behind a  tree-trunk. He opened his mouth to speak 
and shut it again. `I'm not sure of it,' he said to himself, 'and why should 
I remind them of the old villain, if  they choose to  forget  him? I wish  I 
could!'


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'See here,  Captain! ' He  planted himself squarely in front of Faramir 
his  hands  on his hips,  and a look on his  face as  if he was addressing a  
young  hobbit who  had offered him what  he  called `sauce'  when questioned 
about  visits to the orchard. There was some  murmuring, but also some grins 
on the faces  of the men looking on: the  sight of  their Captain sitting on 
the ground  and  eye to eye with  a young hobbit, legs well apart, bristling 
with wrath, was one beyond their experience. `See here! ' he said. `What are 
you driving at? Let's come to  the point before all the Orcs of  Mordor come 
down on us! If  you think my master murdered this Boromir and then ran away, 
you've got no sense; but say it, and have done!  And then  let us  know what 
you mean to do  about it. But it's a pity that folk as talk  about  fighting 
the  Enemy  can't  let  others  do  their  bit  in  their  own  way  without


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####-Oliphaunts, and I have seen one.  What a life! But no one  at home will ever  
believe me. Well, if that's over, I'll have a bit of sleep.' 
     'Sleep while you  may,' said Mablung. `But  the Captain will return, if 
he is unhurt; and when he comes we shall depart swiftly. We shall be pursued 
as soon as news of our deed reaches the Enemy, and that will not be long.' 
     `Go quietly when you must!' said Sam.  `No need  to disturb my sleep. I 
was walking all night.' 
     Mablung  laughed.  `I  do not  think  the Captain will leave you  here, 
Master Samwise,' he said. 'But you shall see.' 
 

####- 

Chapter 5. The Window on the West


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and shut it again. `I'm not sure of it,' he said to himself, 'and why should 
I remind them of the old villain, if  they choose to  forget  him? I wish  I 
could!' 
     So they passed on,  until the woodlands grew thinner and the land began


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####-Suddenly they heard  the water again, loud now,  rushing and  splashing. All 
round them it seemed, and  they felt a fine rain  on their hands and cheeks. 
At last they were set on their  feet once  more. For a moment they stood so, 
half fearful, blindfold, not knowing where they were; and no one spoke. 
     Then came the voice of Faramir close behind. `Let  them see! ' he said. 
The scarves  were  removed and  their hoods drawn back, and they blinked and 
gasped. 
     They stood on a wet floor of polished  stone, the doorstep, as it were, 
of a rough-hewn gate of rock opening dark behind them. But  in  front a thin 
veil  of water was hung, so  near that Frodo cou ld  have put an outstretched 
arm into it. It  faced westward. The level shafts  of the setting sun behind 
beat  upon it, and the red  light was broken  into many flickering  beams of 
ever -changing  colour. It  was as if  they  stood  at  the  window  of  some


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beat  upon it, and the red  light was broken  into many flickering  beams of 
ever -changing  colour. It  was as if  they  stood  at  the  window  of  some 
elven-tower, curtained with threaded  jewels  of silver and  gold, and ruby, 
sapphire and amethyst, all kindled with an unconsuming fire. 
     'At least by good chance we  came at the  right hour  to reward you for  
your patience,' said Faramir.  `This is the  Window  of the Sunset,  Henneth 
Annyn,  fairest  of all the falls of Ithilien, land  of  many fountains. Few 
strangers have ever seen it. But there is no kingly hall behind to match it. 
Enter now and see! ' 
     Even as he spoke the sun sank, and the fire faded in the flowing water.  
They  turned and passed under  the low forbidding  arch. At  once they found 
themselves in a rock -chamber, wide and rough, with an  uneven stooping roof.  
A  few torches were kindled  and cast a dim  light on the  glisten ing walls.


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####-     Sam  struggled with himself, arguing this  way and that. `He may be a ll 
right,' he  thought, 'and then  he  may  not.  Fair  speech may hide  a foul 
heart.' He yawned. `I could sleep for a week, and I'd be better  for it. And 
what  can  I do, if I do  keep  awake, me all alone, and all these great Men 
about? Nothing, Sam Gamgee; but you've got to keep awake  all the same.' And 
somehow he managed it. The light faded from the cave door, and the grey veil 
of falling water grew dim and was lost in gathering shadow. Always the sound 
of the water went on, never changing its note, morning or evening  or night.  
It murmured and whispered of sleep. Sam stuck his knuckles in his eyes. 
     Now more torches  were being  lit. A cask of wine was broached. Storage 
barrels were being opened. Men were  fetching water from the fall. Some were 
laving  their hands  in  basins. A  wide copper bowl and  a white cloth were 
brought to Faramir and he washed.


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####-while, until the evening meal is set.' 
     The hobbits  were taken to a corner and given a  low bed to lie on,  if 
they wished. Meanwhile  men busied themselves about the cave, quietly and in 
orderly  quickness. Light  tables  were taken from the walls and  set  up on 
trestles and laden  with gear .  This was plain and unadorned  for  the  most 
part,  but  all well and fairly,  made:  round platters, bowls and dishes of 
glazed brown clay or turned box-wood, smooth and clean. Here and there was a  
cup or basin of polished bronze; and a goblet of plain  silver was set by the 
Captain's seat in the middle of the inmost table. 
     Faramir went about  among the men, questioning each as he came in, in a  
soft  voice. Some came back from the pursuit of  the Southrons; others, left  
behind as scouts near the roa d, came in latest. All  the Southrons  had been 
accounted for, save  only the  great mymak:  what happened to him none could


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####-secrets of our treasury, and I learned a little of him, when he would  teach 
(and that was seldom). Ever he would search and would  question us above all 
else  concerning  the  Great  Battle  that was fought  upon Dagorlad  in the 
beginning of Gondor, when He whom we do not name was over thrown.  And 
he was 
eager for stories of Isildur, though of him we had less to tell; for nothing 
certain was ever known among us of his end.' 
     Now Faramir's voice  sank  to  a whisper. 'But  this much  I learned or  
guessed, and I have kept it ever secr et in my heart since: that Isildur took  
somewhat from the hand of the Unnamed, ere he  went away  from Gondor, 
never 
to be  seen among  mortal  men  again. Here  I  thought  was  the answer  to 
Mithrandir's questioning. But  it seemed then a  matter that concerned  only 
the seekers after ancient learning. Nor when the riddling words of our dream 
were  debated  among us,  did I think of Isildur's  Bane as being  this same


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themselves in a rock -chamber, wide and rough, with an  uneven stooping roof.  
A  few torches were kindled  and cast a dim  light on the  glisten ing walls.  
Many men were already there. Others were  still coming in by twos and threes 
through a dark narrow door on one side. As their eyes grew accustomed to the 
gloom the hobbits saw that the cave was larger than they had guessed and was 
filled with gr eat store of arms and victuals.  
     'Well, here is  our refuge,'  said Faramir. `Not a place of  great ease 
but here you may pass  the night in peace. It is dry at least,  and there is 
food, though no fire. At one  time the water flowed  down  through this cave 
and out  of the  arch, but its  course was changed further  up the gorge, by 
workmen  of old, and the stream sent down in a fall  of  doubled height over  
the rocks  far above.  All the ways  into this grot were then sealed against  
the entry of water   or aught else, all save one. There are now but  two ways


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barrels were being opened. Men were  fetching water from the fall. Some were 
laving  their hands  in  basins. A  wide copper bowl and  a white cloth were 
brought to Faramir and he washed. 
     `Wake our guests,' he said, `and take them water. It is time to eat.' 
     Frodo sat  up and yawned and  stretched.  Sam, not used to being waited 
on, looked with some surprise at the tall man who bowed, holding a basin  of 
water before him. 
     'Put it on the ground, master, if you please! ' he said. 'Easier for me 
and you.' Then to  the astonishment and amusement of  the Men he plunged his 
head into the cold water and splashed his neck and ears.  
     'Is it the custom  in  your land to wash the head before supper? ' said 
the man who waited on the hobbits.  
     `No, before  breakfast,' said Sam. `But  if  you're short of sleep cold 
water on the neck's like  rain  on a wilted lettuce.  There! Now  I can keep 
awake long enough to eat a bit.'


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behind as scouts near the roa d, came in latest. All  the Southrons  had been 
accounted for, save  only the  great mymak:  what happened to him none could 
say. Of the enemy no movement could be seen; not even an orc-spy was 
abroad. 
     'You saw and heard nothing, Anborn?' Faramir asked of the latest comer. 
     `Well, no, lord,' said the man. `No Orc at least. But I saw, or thought 
I saw,  something a little strange. It was getting deep dusk, when the  eyes 
make things greater than they should be. So perhaps it may have been no more 
than a squirrel.' Sam pricked up  his ears at this.  'Yet if  so,  it  was a  
black squirrel, and I saw no tail. 'Twas like a shadow on the ground, and it 
whisked behind a tree-trunk when  I drew  nigh and went up aloft as swift as 
any squirrel could.  You wi ll not have us  slay wild  beasts for no purpose, 
and it  seemed  no  more, so I  tried  no arrow.  It was too  dark for  sure


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####-to fall more steeply.  Then they turned aside again, to the right,  and came 
quickly  to a  small river in a narrow  gorge:  it was the  same stream that 
trickled  far  above out of  the round pool, now grown  to  a swift torrent, 
leaping down over many stones in a deep-cloven bed,  overhung  with ilex and 
dark box-woods. Looking west they could see,  below them in a haze of light, 
lowlands and broad meads, and glinting far off in the westering sun the wide  
waters of the Anduin. 
     'Here, alas! I must do you  a discourtesy,' said  Faramir.  "I hope you  
will pardon it to one who has so far made his orders give way to courtesy as 
not  to  slay you or to bind  you. But it is a command that no stranger, not 
even one of Rohan that fights  with  us, sha ll  see the path we now  go with 
open eyes. I must blindfold you.' 
     `As you will,' said  Frodo. 'Even the Elves  do  likewise  at need, and


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`No, before  breakfast,' said Sam. `But  if  you're short of sleep cold 
water on the neck's like  rain  on a wilted lettuce.  There! Now  I can keep 
awake long enough to eat a bit.' 
     They were led then to seats beside Faramir: barrels  covered with pelts 
and high enough above the  benches of the Men  for their convenience. Before 
they ate,  Faramir  and all  his  men turned  and faced west in  a moment of 
silence. Faramir signed to Frodo and Sam that they should do likewise. 
     'So we always do.' he  said, as they sat down: `we look towards N®menor 
that  was,  and beyond to  Elvenhome that is, and  to  that which  is beyond 
Elvenhome and will ever be. Have you no such custom at meat? ' 
     `No,' said  Frodo,  feeling  strangely rustic and untutored. `But if we 
are guests, we bow to  our host, and  after we have eaten we rise  and thank 
him.' 
     'That we do also,' said Faramir. 
     After so long  journeying  and  camping, and  days spent ¤n  the lonely


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the seekers after ancient learning. Nor when the riddling words of our dream 
were  debated  among us,  did I think of Isildur's  Bane as being  this same 
thing. For Isildur was ambushed and  slain by  orc-arrows, according  to the  
only legend that we knew, and Mithrandir had never told me more. 
     `What in truth  this Thing is I cannot yet guess; but some heirloom  of 
power and peril it must be.  A  fell weapon, perchance, devised by  the Dark  
Lord. If it were  a thing that gave advantage in battle. I can  well believe 
that  Boromir,  the  proud  and fearless,  often rash, ever anxious for  the 
victory of  Minas  Tirith (and  his own glory therein), might desire  such a  
thing and be allured by  it. Alas that ever he went on that errand! I should 
have been chosen by my  father and the elders but he put himself forward. as 
being the older and the hardier (both true), and he would not be stayed.


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any squirrel could.  You wi ll not have us  slay wild  beasts for no purpose, 
and it  seemed  no  more, so I  tried  no arrow.  It was too  dark for  sure 
shooting anyway, and the creature was gone into the gloom of the leaves in a 
twinkling.  But  I stayed  for a  while, for  it seemed strange, and then  I 
hastened back. I  thought I heard the thing hiss at me from high above as  I 
turned away.  A large squirrel,  maybe.  Perhaps  under  the  shadow of  the 
Unnamed  some of the beasts of Mirkwood are  wandering hither to our  
woods. 
They have black squirrels there, 'tis said.' 
     `Perhaps,' said Faramir. `But that would be an ill omen, if it were so. 
We do  not want the  escapes of Mirkwood in Ithilien.'  Sam  fancied that he  
gave a swift glance towards the hobbits as he  spoke; but Sam  said nothing.  
For a  while he and Frodo lay back and watched the torchlight, and  the  men 
moving  to and  fro  speaking in  hushed  voices. Then  suddenly  Frodo fell  
asleep.


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the rocks  far above.  All the ways  into this grot were then sealed against  
the entry of water   or aught else, all save one. There are now but  two ways 
out:  that passage yonder by which you entered  blindfold,  and  through the  
Window-curtain into  a deep  bowl  filled  with knives of  stone. Now rest a


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####-wild, the evening meal seemed a feast  to the hobbits:  to drink pale yellow 
wine, cool and  fragrant,  and eat bread  and butter, and salted  meats, and 
dried fruits,  and good red cheese, with clean  hands and clean  knives  and 
plates. Neither Frodo  nor  Sam  refused  anything that was  offered,  nor a  
second, nor indeed a  third helping.  The  wine coursed in their  veins  and 
tired limbs, and they felt glad and easy of heart as they had not done since 
they left the land of Lurien. 
     When all was done Faramir led them to a recess at the back of the cave, 
partly screened by curtains; and a chair and two stools were brought  there. 
A little earthenware lamp burned in a niche. 
     `You may soon desire to sleep,' he said, 'and especially good  Samwise, 
who would not close his eyes before he ate -- whether for  fear  of blunting 
the edge of  a noble hunger, or for fear of me, I do not know. But it is not


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even one of Rohan that fights  with  us, sha ll  see the path we now  go with 
open eyes. I must blindfold you.' 
     `As you will,' said  Frodo. 'Even the Elves  do  likewise  at need, and 
blindfolded we crossed the borders of fair Lothlurien. Gimli  the dwarf took  
it ill, but the hobbits endured it.' 
     `It is to no place so fair that I shall lead you,' said Faramir. 'But I 
am glad that you will take this willingly and not by force.' 
     He called softly  and immediately Mablung and Damrod stepped out of the 
trees  and  came  back  to  him.  'Blindfold  these guests,'  said  Faramir. 
`Securely, but not so as to discomfort  them. Do not  tie  their hands. They 
will  give their word not to try and see.  I  could trust them to shut their 
eyes of their  own accord, but  eyes will blink, if  the  feet stumble. Lead 
them so that they do not falter.' 
     With green scarves the  two guards  now bound up the hobbits'  eyes and


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you mean to do  about it. But it's a pity that folk as talk  about  fighting 
the  Enemy  can't  let  others  do  their  bit  in  their  own  way  without 
interfering. He'd be mighty pleased, if he could see you now. Think he'd got  
a new friend, he would.' 
     `Patience!' said Faramir, but without anger.  `Do not speak before your 
master, whose wit is  greater than yours. And I do not need any to teach  me 
of our peril. Even  so, I  spare a brief time, in order to judge justly in a  
hard matter. Were I as hasty as you, I might have slain you long ago.  For I 
am commanded  to slay all whom I find in this land without the leave of  the 
Lord of Gondor.  But I do not slay man  or beast needlessly, and  not gladly 
even when it is needed. Neither do  I talk  in vain. So be comforted. Sit by 
your master, and be silent! ' 
     Sam  sat down heavily with a red face.  Faramir turned to Frodo  again: 
'You asked how do I know that the son of Denethor is dead. Tidings of  death


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####-     'Maybe. But tell me  now of your own fortunes,' said Frodo, turning the 
matter  aside  once  again.  `For I  would  learn more  of Minas  Ithil  and 
Osgiliath, and  Minas Tirith the long-enduring. What  hope have you for that 
city in your long war? ' 
     'What hope have we? '  said Faramir. 'It is long since we had any hope. 
The  sword  of Elendil, if it  returns indeed, may rekindle it, but I do not 
think  that it will  do  more than put off the evil  day,  unless other help 
unlooked-for also comes, from Elves or  Men.  For the Enemy increases and we 
decrease. We are a failing people, a springless autumn. 
     `The Men of N®menor were settled far and wide on the shores and seaward 
regions  of the Great Lands, but for the  most part they fell into evils and 
follies. Many became enamoured of the Darkness and the black arts; some 
were 
given over wholly to  idleness and  ease, and some fought among  themselves,


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####-provinces. These are the Rohirrim,  as we name them, masters  of horses, and 
we ceded to them the fields of Calenardhon  that are since called Rohan; for  
that province  had  long been sparsely peopled. And they became  our allies,  
and have  ever  proved true  to us,  aiding us  at  need,  and  guarding our 
northern marches and the Gap of Rohan. 
     `Of our  lore and manners they have learned what they would,  and their 
lords speak our speech at need; yet for  the most part they hold by the ways 
of their  own  fathers and  to their  own  memories, and  they  speak  among 
themselves  their own North  tongue. And  we  love them: tall men  and  fair  
women,  valiant  both  alike, golden-haired, bright-eyed,  and strong;  they 
remind us of the youth of Men, as they were in the  Elder Days. Indeed it is 
said by our lore-masters that they  have from of  old  this affinity with us 
that they  are  come  from those same  Three  Houses  of  Men  as  were  the


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who would not close his eyes before he ate -- whether for  fear  of blunting 
the edge of  a noble hunger, or for fear of me, I do not know. But it is not 
good to sleep too soon after meat, and that following a fast. Let  us talk a  
while. On your journey from  Rivendell there must have  been many  things to 
tell.  And you, too,  would perhaps wish to learn  something of  us and  the 
lands where  you  now  are.  Tell me  of  Boromir my  brother,  and  of  old 
Mithrandir, and of the fair people of Lothlurien.' 
     Frodo no longer felt  sleepy and he was willing to talk. But though the 
food and wine had put  him at his ease, he had not lost all his caution. Sam 
was beaming  and humming  to himself, but when  Frodo  spoke he was at first  
content to  listen,  only occasionally venturing  to  make an exclamation of 
agreement. 
     Frodo told many tales,  yet always he  steered the matter away from the


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said by our lore-masters that they  have from of  old  this affinity with us 
that they  are  come  from those same  Three  Houses  of  Men  as  were  the 
N®menoreans  in  their  beginning  not  from  Hador  the  Goldenhaired,  the 
Elf-friend, maybe, yet from such of his sons and people as went not over Sea 
into the West, refusing the call. 
     'For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the 
West, which  were N®menoreans; and  the Middle Peoples, Men of the 
Twilight, 
such as are  the Rohirrim and their kin  that  dwell still far in the North; 
and the Wild, the Men of Darkness.  
     `Yet  now,  if the  Rohirrim are  grown in  some  ways more like to us, 
enhanced in arts and gentleness, we too  have become more like  to them, and 
can scarce claim any longer the title High. We are become Middle Men, of the 
Twilight, but with memory of other things.  For  as the Rohirrim do, we  now


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your master, and be silent! ' 
     Sam  sat down heavily with a red face.  Faramir turned to Frodo  again: 
'You asked how do I know that the son of Denethor is dead. Tidings of  death 
have many wings.  Night oft brings news to  near kindred, 'tis said. Boromir


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content to  listen,  only occasionally venturing  to  make an exclamation of 
agreement. 
     Frodo told many tales,  yet always he  steered the matter away from the 
quest of the Company and from the Ring, enlarging rather on the valiant part 
Boromir had played in all their adventures. with the  wolves of the wild, in 
the snows  under Caradhras, and in  the  mines of Moria  where Gandalf fell.  
Faramir was most moved by the story of the fight on the bridge. 
     `It must have irked Boromir to  run  from Orcs,' he said, `or even from 
the  fell thing you name,  the  Balrog  -- even  though he was the  last  to 
leave.' 
     `He was the last,' said  Frodo, 'but Aragorn was forced to lead us.  He 
alone  knew the way after  Gandalf's fall. But had there  not been us lesser  
folk to care for, I do not think that either he or Boromir would have fled.' 
     `Maybe, it  would  have been  better  had  Boromir  fallen  ther e  with


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have been chosen by my  father and the elders but he put himself forward. as 
being the older and the hardier (both true), and he would not be stayed. 
     'But  fear no more!  I would not take  this  thing,  if it  lay by  the 
highway. Not were Minas Tirith  falling in ruin and  I alone could save her, 
so, using the  weapon of the Dark Lord for her  good and my glory.  No. I do 
not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.' 
     'Neither did the Council,' said Frodo. 'Nor do  I. I would have nothing 
to do with such matters.' 
     `For myself,' said Faramir, 'I would see the White Tree in flower again 
in the courts of the kings, and the Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in 
peace:  Minas  Anor again as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful 
as a queen among other queens: not a mistress of many  slaves, nay, not even 
a kind mistress of willing slaves.  War  must  be, while we defend our lives


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eyes of their  own accord, but  eyes will blink, if  the  feet stumble. Lead 
them so that they do not falter.' 
     With green scarves the  two guards  now bound up the hobbits'  eyes and 
drew their hoods down almost  to their mouths; then  quickly  they took each 
one by  the hand and went on their way. All that Frodo and Sam knew of  this 
last mile of the road they learned from guessing in the dark. After a little 
they found that  they were  on a  path descending  steeply; soon  it grew so 
narrow that they went in  single file, brushing a stony wall on either side; 
their  guards steered them  from  behind with  hands  laid  firmly on  their 
shoulders. Now and again they came  to  rough  places  and were  lifted from 
their feet for a  while,  and then  set down again. Always  the noise of the 
running water  was  on their right hand, and it grew  nearer and louder.  At 
length  they  were  halted.  Quickly Mablung and  Damrod turned them  about,


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follies. Many became enamoured of the Darkness and the black arts; some 
were 
given over wholly to  idleness and  ease, and some fought among  themselves,  
until they were conquered in their weakness by the wild men. 
     `It is not  said  that evil arts were ever practised in Gondor, or that 
the Nameless One  was ever named in  honour there;  and the  old wisdom  and 
beauty brought  out of  the West remained long in the realm of  the sons  of 
Elendil  the Fair, and they linger  there still.  Yet even so  it was Gondor  
that brought  about  its  own decay,  falling by  degrees  into dotage,  and 
thinking that the Enemy was asleep, who was only banished not destroyed. 
     'Death was ever present, because the N®menoreans still,  as they had in 
their old kingdom,  and so lost it,  hungered after endless life unchanging. 
Kings made tombs more  splendid than  houses of the living. and counted  old 
names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless


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can scarce claim any longer the title High. We are become Middle Men, of the 
Twilight, but with memory of other things.  For  as the Rohirrim do, we  now 
love  war  and valour as things good in themselves, both a sport and an end;  
and  though  we still  hold  that  a  warrior  should have more  skills  and 
knowledge than only the craft of weapons  and slaying, we esteem a  warrior, 
nonetheless, above men  of other  crafts.  Such is the need  of our days. So 
even was  my brother,  Boromir:  a  man of  prowess,  and for  that  he  was 
accounted the best man in Gondor. And very valiant indeed he was: no heir of 
Minas  Tirith has  for long  years  been so hardy  in  toil, so  onward into 
battle, or blown a mightier note on the Great Horn.' Faramir sighed and fell 
silent for a while. 
     `You don't say much in all your tales  about the Elves, sir,' said Sam, 
suddenly plucking up courage. He  had noted that Faramir seemed  to refer to


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folk to care for, I do not think that either he or Boromir would have fled.' 
     `Maybe, it  would  have been  better  had  Boromir  fallen  ther e  with 
Mithrandir,' said Faramir,  `and not gone on  to  the fate that waited above 
the falls of Rauros.'


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as a queen among other queens: not a mistress of many  slaves, nay, not even 
a kind mistress of willing slaves.  War  must  be, while we defend our lives 
against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword


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running water  was  on their right hand, and it grew  nearer and louder.  At 
length  they  were  halted.  Quickly Mablung and  Damrod turned them  about, 
several times, and they lost all sense of direction. They climbed  upwards a  
little: it seemed cold and the noise  of the stream had become  faint.  Then 
they were picked up  and carried down, down many steps, and round a  corner.


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silent for a while. 
     `You don't say much in all your tales  about the Elves, sir,' said Sam, 
suddenly plucking up courage. He  had noted that Faramir seemed  to refer to 
Elves with reverence, and this even more than his courtesy, and his food and


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####-wine, had won Sam's respect and quieted his suspicions. 
     `No indeed, Master Samwise,' said Faramir, `for  I  am  not  learned in 
Elven-lore. But there you touch upon another point in which we have changed, 
declining from N®menor to  Middle -earth. For as you may know, if  
Mithrandir 
was  your companion and you have spoken with Elrond, the Edain,  the Fathers 
of the  N®menoreans,  fought  beside the  Elves in the first  wars, and were 
rewarded by the gift of the kingdom in the midst of the Sea, within sight of 
Elvenhome. But in Middle-earth Men and Elves became estranged in the days 
of 
darkness, by the arts of the Enemy, and by the slow changes of time in which 
each  kind  walked  further down  their sundered  roads. Men  now  fear  and  
misdoubt the Elves, and yet know little of them. And we of  Gondor grow like 
other  Men, like  the men of  Rohan; for even they, who are the  foes of the 
Dark Lord, shun the Elves and speak of the Golden Wood with dread.


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Kings made tombs more  splendid than  houses of the living. and counted  old 
names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless 
lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in  secret chambers withered men  
compounded  strong  elixirs, or  in high cold  towers asked questions of the 
stars. And the last king of the line of Anbrion had no heir. 
     `But  the  stewards  were wiser  and more  fortunate. Wiser,  for  they 
recruited the strength  of our people from the sturdy folk of the sea -coast, 
and from the hardy mountaineers of Ered  Nimrais. And they made a truce with 
the proud peoples of the  North,  who  often had assailed us, men of  fierce 
valour, but our kin from afar  off, unlike the wild Easterlings or the cruel 
Haradrim. 
     'So it came to  pass in the days of Cirion the Twelfth Steward  (and my 
father is the sit and twentieth) that they rode  to our aid and at the great


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####-dived.  Then he lifted his  eyes and gazed far away. The world was quiet and  
cold,  as if dawn were near. Far off in  the West the full moon was sinking, 
round and white. Pale mists shimmered in the  great vale below:  a wide gulf 
of silver fume,  beneath which rolled the cool night-waters of the Anduin. A 
black  darkness  loomed beyond,  and  in  it glinted, here and  there, cold, 
sharp, remote, white as  the teeth of ghosts, the peaks of Ered Nimrais, the 
White Mountains of the Realm of Gondor, tipped with everlasting snow. 
     For a while Frodo  stood  there on  the  high stone, and  a shiver  ran 
through him,  wondering if anywhere in  the vastness  of the night -lands his 
old companions walked  or slept,  or lay dead  shrouded in  mist. Why was he 
brough t here out of forgetful sleep?  
     Sam was eager for  an answer to the same question and could not refrain 
himself from muttering, for  his master's ear alone as  he thought: 'It's  a


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other  Men, like  the men of  Rohan; for even they, who are the  foes of the 
Dark Lord, shun the Elves and speak of the Golden Wood with dread. 
     `Yet there are among us still  some  who have dealings  with the  Elves 
when they may, and  ever and anon one will go in secret to  Lurien, seldom to 
return. Not I.  For I deem it perilous now for  mortal man  wilfully to seek  
out the Elder People. Yet I envy you that have spoken with the White Lady.' 
     `The Lady of Lurien!  Galadriel!' cried Sam. `You should see her indeed 
you should, sir. I am only a hobbit, and gardening's my job at home, sir, if 
you understand me, and I'm  not much good at poetry  -- not  at making  it: a  
bit of  a comic rhyme, perhaps. now and again, you know, but not real poetry 
-- so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to  be sung. You'd have  to get 
Strider,  Aragorn that is, or  old Mr. Bilbo, for that.  But I wish  I could


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####-     `I told no lies, and of the truth all I could,' said Frodo. 
     `I do  not blame you,'  said Faramir. 'You spoke  with skill  in  a hard 
place, and wisely,  it seemed to me. But I learned or  guessed more from you  
than your words said. You  were  not friendly with Boromir, or  you  did not  
part  in  friendship.  You, and  Master  Samwise,  too,  I  guess have  some 
grievance. Now I  loved him dearly, and would gladly avenge his death, yet I 
knew  him well. Isildur's  Bane  -- I would hazard that  Isildur's Bane  lay 
between you and was a cause of contention in  your Company. Clearly it is  a 
mighty  heirloom  of some sort,  and such  things do not  breed  peace among 
confederates, not if aught may be  learned from  ancient tales. Do I not hit 
near the mark?' 
     `Near,' said Frodo,  'but  not in the gold.  There was no contention in 
our Company, though there was doubt: doubt which way we should take from 
the


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-- so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to  be sung. You'd have  to get 
Strider,  Aragorn that is, or  old Mr. Bilbo, for that.  But I wish  I could 
make a song about her. Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great 
tree  in flower,  sometimes like a white  daffadowndilly,  small and  slender  
like. Hard  as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight,  cold as frost  
in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass 
I  ever saw with daisies  in  her hair in  springtime.  But that's a lot  o' 
nonsense, and all wide of my mark.' 
     'Then she must be lovely indeed,' said Faramir. `Perilously fair.' 
     `I don't know about perilous,' said Sam. `It strikes me that folk takes 
their  peril  with them into Lurien,  and finds  it  there  because  they've 
brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong 
in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on  a


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brough t here out of forgetful sleep?  
     Sam was eager for  an answer to the same question and could not refrain 
himself from muttering, for  his master's ear alone as  he thought: 'It's  a  
fine view, no doubt, Mr. Frodo, but chilly to the heart, not to mention   the 
bones! What's going on? ' 
     Faramir heard and answered. `Moonset over Gondor. Fair Ithil as he goes 
from Middle-earth,  glances upon  the white  locks of old Mindolluin.  It is 
worth a few shivers. But that is not what I brought you to see-though as for 
you,  Samwise,  you  were not  brought, and  do but pay  the penalty of your  
watchfulness. A draught of wine shall amend it. Come, look now! ' 
     He  stepped  up beside the silent sentinel on the dark  edge. and Frodo 
followed.  Sam  hung back. He already felt insecure enough on this high  wet 
platform. Faramir and Frodo looked down. Far below them they  saw  the white 
waters pour into  a foaming  bowl, and then  swirl darkly about  a deep oval


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near the mark?' 
     `Near,' said Frodo,  'but  not in the gold.  There was no contention in 
our Company, though there was doubt: doubt which way we should take from 
the 
Emyn  Muil. But be that as it may, ancient  tales teach us also the peril of 
rash words concerning such things as  -- heirlooms.' 
     'Ah,  then it is as I  thought: your trouble was with Boromir alone. He 
wished this  thing  brou ght to Minas Tirith. Alas! it is a crooked fate that 
seals  your lips who saw him  last, and holds from me that  which I  long to 
know: what  was  in his  heart and  thought  in his latest hours. Whether he 
erred or no, of this I am sure: he died well, achieving some good thing. His 
face was more beautiful even than in life. 
     `But, Frodo, I pressed you hard at first about Isildur's  Bane. Forgive 
me! It was unwise in such an hour and place. I had not had time for thought. 
We had had a hard fight, and there was more than enough to fill my mind. But


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Frodo  woke to  find  Faramir bending over him. For a  second old fears 
seized him and he sat up and shrank away. 
     `There is nothing to fear,' said Faramir. 
     'Is it morning already? ' said Frodo yawning. 
     `Not yet, but night is drawing to an end, and the full moon is setting. 
Will  you  come and see it?  Also there  is a matter on which I desire  your 
counsel. I am sorry to rouse you from sleep, but will you come? ' 
     `I will,' said Frodo, rising and shivering a little as he left the warm 
blanket and pelts. It seemed cold in the  fireless  cave. The  noise of  the 
water was loud in the stillness. He put on his cloak and followed Faramir. 
     Sam, waking  suddenly  by some instinct of watchfulness,  saw first his 
master's empty  bed  and  leapt to his feet. Then  he saw  two dark figures, 
Frodo  and a  man, framed  against the archway, which was now filled with  a 
pale  white  light. He  hurried after  them,  past rows of men  sleeping  on


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brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong 
in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on  a  
rock;  or drownd  yourself, like a hobbit in a  river. But  neither rock nor


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platform. Faramir and Frodo looked down. Far below them they  saw  the white 
waters pour into  a foaming  bowl, and then  swirl darkly about  a deep oval 
basin in the rocks. until they found  their  way out  again through a narrow 
gate, and  flowed away, fuming  and  chattering, into  calmer and more level 
reaches. The moonlight still slanted down to the  fall's foot and gleamed on 
the ripples of the basin. Presently Frodo was aware of a small dark thing on 
the  near bank,  but  even as he  looked at  it, it  dived and vanished just  
beyond the boil and bubble of the fall, cleaving the  black  water as neatly 
as an arrow or an edgewise stone. 
     Faramir turned to the man at his side. `Now what would you  say that it 
is,  Anborn? A squirrel, or a kingfisher? Are there black kingfishers in the 
night-pools of Mirkwood?  ' 
     `'Tis not a bird, whatever else it  be,' answered  Anborn. `It has four


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me! It was unwise in such an hour and place. I had not had time for thought. 
We had had a hard fight, and there was more than enough to fill my mind. But 
even as  I spoke  with you, I drew  nearer to the mark, and so  deliberately 
shot wider.  For you must know that much is still preserved  of ancient lore 
among the Rulers of the city  that is not spread abroad. We of  my house are 
not  of the line  of  Elendil.  though the blood of N®menor is in us. For we 
reckon back our line  to  Mardil,  the good steward, who ruled in the king's 
stead when he went away to war. And  that was King Edrnur, last  of the line 
of Anbrion, and  childless, and  he  came never back. And the stewards  have 
governed the city since that day, though it was many generations of Men ago. 
     'And this I remember of Boromir as a boy,  when we together learned the 
tale of our sires and the history of our city, that always it displeased him


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####-are discovered at last. I have my bow here, and I have posted other archers, 
nigh  as good  marksmen  as myself, on  either bank.  We  wait only for your 
command to shoot , Captain.' 
     `Shall we shoot? ' said Faramir, turning quickly to Frodo. 
     Frodo did not answer  for a moment. Then `No! ' he said. `No! I beg you  
not to.' If Sam had dared, he  would have said `Yes,' quicker and louder. He 
could not see, but  he guessed well  enough from  their words what they were 
looking at. 
     'You  know,  then, what this thing is? '  said Faramir.  `Come, now you  
have  seen,  tell me why it should be  spared. In all our words together you  
have not once  spoken  of your gangrel companion, and I  let him be for  the 
time.  He could  wait till he  was  caught and  brought before me. I sent my 
keenest huntsmen to seek  him, but he slipped them, and they had no sight of 
him till now, save Anborn here, once  at dusk yesterevening. But now  he has


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Frodo  and a  man, framed  against the archway, which was now filled with  a 
pale  white  light. He  hurried after  them,  past rows of men  sleeping  on 
mattresses along the  wall. As he went by  the  cave-mouth  he saw  that the 
Curtain was now become a dazzling veil of silk and pearls and silver thread: 
melting icicles of moonlight. But he did not pause to admire it, and turning 
aside he followed his  master thr ough the narrow  doorway in the wall of the 
cave. 
     They went first  along a black passage, then up  many wet steps, and so 
came to a small flat  landing cut in the stone  and  lit  by  the pale  sky, 
gleaming  high  above through a  long deep shaft.  From here two flights  of 
steps led: one going on, as it seemed, up on to the high bank of the stream; 
the other turning away to the left. This they  followed. It wound its way up 
like a turret-stair. 
     At last they came out of the stony darkness and looked about. They were


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Haradrim. 
     'So it came to  pass in the days of Cirion the Twelfth Steward  (and my 
father is the sit and twentieth) that they rode  to our aid and at the great 
Field  of Celebrant they  destroyed our enemies that had seized our northern


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'And this I remember of Boromir as a boy,  when we together learned the 
tale of our sires and the history of our city, that always it displeased him 
that his father was not king. "How many hundreds of years needs it to make a 
steward a king, if the king  returns not? " he asked. "Few years, maybe,  in


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####-in the attempt. Not if  I found it  on the  highway would I take it  I said. 
Even if I were such a man as  to desire this thing, and  even though I  knew 
not clearly what  this thing was  when  I spoke, still I should  take  those 
words as a vow, and be held by them. 
     'But I am not such a man. Or I am wise enough  to  know that  there are 
some  perils from which a  man  must  flee.  Sit at peace! And be comforted, 
Samwise. If  you seem to have stumbled, think  that it was  fated to  be so. 
Your heart is shr ewd as  well  as  faithful, and saw clearer than your eyes.  
For  strange though it  may seem,  it was safe to declare this to me. It may 
even help the  master that you love. It shall turn to his good, if it is  in 
my power. So be comforted. But do not even name this thing again aloud. Once 
is enough.' 
     The hobbits came back  to  their seats and sat very  quiet. Men  turned 
back to  their drink and their talk, perceiving  that their captain had  had


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the other turning away to the left. This they  followed. It wound its way up 
like a turret-stair. 
     At last they came out of the stony darkness and looked about. They were 
on a wide  flat rock without rail or parapet. At their right, eastwards, the 
torrent fell, splashing over many terraces, and then,  pouring down  a steep 
race, it filled  a smooth-hewn channel with  a  dark  force of water flecked 
with  foam,  and curling and rushing almost at  their  feet it  plunged sheer  
over the  edge that  yawned  upon their left.  A man  stood  there, near the  
brink, silent, gazing down. 
     Frodo turned to  watch the sleek necks of the  water as they curved and


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is,  Anborn? A squirrel, or a kingfisher? Are there black kingfishers in the 
night-pools of Mirkwood?  ' 
     `'Tis not a bird, whatever else it  be,' answered  Anborn. `It has four 
limbs and  dives manwise; a pretty mastery of the craft it  shows, too. What 
is it at? Seeking a way  up behind  the Curtain to our hidings?  It seems we


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read; and for the rest,  few ever unlock them. I can  read a little in them, 
for I have had teaching. It was these  records that brought the Grey Pilgrim 
to  us. I first saw him when I was a child,  and he has been twice or thrice 
since then.' 
     'The Grey Pilgrim? ' said Frodo. 'Had he a name?' 
     'Mithrandir we  called  him in  elf-fashion,' said Faramir,  'and he was 
content. Many are my names in many countries,  he said. Mithrandir among the 
Elves, Tharkyn to the  Dwarves; Olurin I was in my youth in the West that is  
forgotten, in  the  South Incbnus, in  the North Gandalf;  to the East  I go 
not.' 
     'Gandalf!' said Frodo. 'I thought it was he.  Gandalf  the Grey dearest 
of counsellors. Leader of our Company. He was lost in Moria.' 
     'Mithrandir  was  lost!  '  said Faramir.  'An  evil fate seems to have 
pursued your fellowship. It is hard indeed to believe that one  of so  great


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keenest huntsmen to seek  him, but he slipped them, and they had no sight of 
him till now, save Anborn here, once  at dusk yesterevening. But now  he has 
done worse trespass than  only  to go  coney-snaring in the uplands: he  has 
dared to come to Henneth  Annyn,  and his life is forfeit.  I marvel at  the 
creature: so secret and so sly as he is, to come sporting in the pool before 
our very window. Does he think  that men sleep without watch all  night? Why 
does he so?' 
     'There are two answers, I think,' said  Frodo. `For one thing, he knows 
little of Men, and sly though he  is, your refuge is so  hidden that perhaps 
he  does  not know that Men are concealed here.  For another, I think  he is 
allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.' 
     `He is lured here, you  say? ' said  Faramir in  a low voice. `Can  he, 
does he then know of your burden? ' 
     `Indeed yes. He bore it himself for many years.'


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####-behind the stony wall at the pool's end. 
     Faramir  laughed softly.  `Fish! '  he said.  `It  is  a less  perilous 
hunger. Or maybe not: fish from  the pool of Henneth Annyn  may cost him all 
he has to give.' 
     `Now I have him at the arrow-point,' said Anborn. `Shall  I not  shoot, 
Captain? For coming unbidden to this place death is our law.' 
     `Wait, Anborn,'  said Faramir.  `This is a harder matter than it seems. 
What have you to say now, Frodo? Why should we spare? ' 
     `The creature is wretched and hungry,' said Frodo, `and unaware of  his 
danger. And Gandalf, your Mithrandir, he  would have  bidden you not to slay 
him for that reason, and for others. He forbade the Elves to do so. I do not 
know clearly why, and  of what I guess I cannot  speak openly out  here. But 
this creature is in some way bound up with my errand. Until you found us and 
took us, he was my guide.' 
     `Your guide! ' said Faramir. `The matter becomes ever stranger. I would


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####-     Frodo crept forward, using his hands Gollum-like to feel his way and to 
steady himself.  The rocks  were  for  the  most part  flat  and smooth  but 
slippery.  He halted listening.  At first he  could  hear  no sound but  the 
unceasing  rush of  the  fall behind him. Then presently he  heard,  not far 
ahead, a hissing murmur. 
     'Fissh, nice fissh. White Face has vanished, my precious, at last, yes.  
Now we can eat fish in  peace. No, not in peace,  precious. For Precious  is 
lost; yes, lost. Dirty hobbits, nasty hobbits. Gone and left us, gollum; and 
Precious is gone.  Only poor  Smjagol all  alone.  No Preciou s.  Nasty  Men,  
they'll  take  it,  steal my Precious. Thieves.  We  hates them. Fissh, nice 
fissh: Makes  us  strong.  Makes eyes bright,  fingers  tight, yes. Throttle 
them, precious. Throttle them all, yes, if we gets chances. Nice fissh. Nice 
fissh!  ' 
     So it went on, almost as unceasing as the waterfall,  only  interrupted


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####-take Precious, and I shall say: make  him swallow the bones and choke. Never  
taste fish again. Come, Precious is waiting! ' 
     There  was  a sharp  hiss.  Presently  out of  the darkness Gollum came 
crawling  on all  fours,  like  an  erring  dog  called  to  heel. He had   a 
half-eaten fish  in  his  mouth  and another  in his hand. He came  close to 
Frodo, almost nose to nose, and sniffed at him.  His pale eyes were shining. 
Then he took the fish out of his mouth and stood up. 
     `Nice Master! ' he whispered. `Nice  hobb it, come back to poor Smjagol. 
Good Smjagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes. Through the  trees, while 
the Faces are dark. Yes, come let's go! ' 
     `Yes,  we'll go soon,' said Frodo. `But not at once. I will go with you  
as  I promised. I promise aga in.  But  not now. You are not safe yet. I will  
save you, but you must trust me.' 
     `We  must trust  Master? ' said Gollum doubtfully.  'Why? Why not go at


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is enough.' 
     The hobbits came back  to  their seats and sat very  quiet. Men  turned 
back to  their drink and their talk, perceiving  that their captain had  had 
some jest or other with the little guests, and that it was over. 
     'Well, Frodo, now at last we understand one another,' said Faramir. 'If 
you took this thing on yourself, unwilling, at others' asking, then you have 
pity and honour from me. And I marvel at you: to keep  it hid and not to use 
it.  You  are a   new people and a new world to me. Are  all your kin of like 
sort? Your  land  must  be a realm  of peace  and content,  and  there  must  
gardeners be in high honour.' 
     `Not all  is  well  there,'  said Frodo, `but  certainly gardeners  are 
honoured.' 
     `But folk  must  grow weary  there, even  in their  gardens, as  do all 
things under the Sun  of this world. And you are far from  home and wayworn. 
No more tonight. Sleep, both  of you -- in peace, if you can. Fear not! I do


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them, precious. Throttle them all, yes, if we gets chances. Nice fissh. Nice 
fissh!  ' 
     So it went on, almost as unceasing as the waterfall,  only  interrupted 
by  a faint noise of slavering and gurgling. Frodo  shivered, listening with 
pity and disgust. He wished it would stop, and that he  never need hear that 
voice again. Anborn  was  not far behind. He  could creep back and ask him to 
get the huntsmen  to shoot.  They  would probably get  close  enough,  while 
Gollum was gorging and off his guard. Only one true shot, and Frodo would be 
rid of the miserable voice  for ever. But no, Gollum had a claim on him now. 
The  servant has a  claim on the master  for service, even  service in fear. 
They  would have foundered  in the Dead Marshes but for  Gollum. Frodo 
knew, 
too, somehow, quite clearly that Gandalf would not have wished it. 
     `Smjagol! ' he said softly. 
     `Fissh, nice fissh,' said the voice.


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'Mithrandir  was  lost!  '  said Faramir.  'An  evil fate seems to have 
pursued your fellowship. It is hard indeed to believe that one  of so  great 
wisdom, and of  power -- for many wonderful things he  did among us  -- could 
perish, and so much lore be taken from the world. Are you sure of  this, and  
that he did not just leave you and depart where he would? ' 
     'Alas! yes,' said Frodo. `I saw him fall into the abyss.' 
     'I see that there  is some great tale of dread in  this.' said  Faramir 
`which perhaps  you may  tell me in the evening-time. This Mithrandir was, I 
now guess, more than a lore-master: a great mover of the deeds that are done 
in our  time. Had he been  among us to  consult concerning the hard words of 
our  dream, he could have  made them clear to  us without need of messenger. 
Yet, maybe,  he would  not  have done  so,  and  the journey of Boromir  was 
doomed.  Mithrandir never spoke to us  of what was to  be, nor did he reveal


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as  I promised. I promise aga in.  But  not now. You are not safe yet. I will  
save you, but you must trust me.' 
     `We  must trust  Master? ' said Gollum doubtfully.  'Why? Why not go at 
once? Where is the other one, the cross rude hobbit? Where is he?' 
     'Away up there,' said Frodo, pointing to the waterfall. 'I am not going 
without him. We must go back to him.' His heart sank. This was too much like 
trickery.  He did not  really fear that  Faramir would allow  Gollum  to  be 
killed, but  he would probably make him prisoner and bind him; and certainly 
what Frodo did would seem a treachery to  the poor  treacherous creature. It  
would  probably be impossible ever to  make  him understand  or believe that 
Frodo had saved his life in the only way he could. What else could he do? -- 
to keep faith,  as  near  as might be, with both sides. `Come!' he said. `Or 
the Precious will be angry. We are  going back now, up the stream. Go on, go 
on, you go in front! '


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####-hedgehog. Hold still!' 
     Gollum  went limp, and began to whine and weep. They tied him, none too 
gently. 
     `Easy, easy! ' said Frodo. `He has no strength to match you. Don't hurt 
him, if you can help it. He'll be quieter, if you don't. Smjagol! They won't  
hurt you. I'll go with you, and you shall  come to no  harm. Not unless they 
kill me too. Trust Master! ' 
     Gollum turned and spat at him. The men picked  him up, put  a hood over  
his eyes, and carried him off. 
     Frodo  followed them, feeling  very wretched.  They  went  through  the 
opening behind the bushes. and back, down the stairs  and passages, into the 
cave. Two or three  torches  had been lit. Men were stirring. Sam was there,  
and he gave a queer look at the limp bundle that the men carried. `Got him?' 
he said to Frodo. 
     'Yes. Well no, I didn't get him. He  came to me, because  he trusted me 
at  first, I'm afraid.  I did not want him tied up like this. I hope it will


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`He is lured here, you  say? ' said  Faramir in  a low voice. `Can  he, 
does he then know of your burden? ' 
     `Indeed yes. He bore it himself for many years.' 
     'He  bore  it? ' said Faramir, breathing sharply in  his wonder.  `This 
matter winds itself ever in new riddles. Then he is pursuing it? ' 
     'Maybe. It is precious to him. But I did not speak of that.' 
     `What then does the creature seek? ' 
     `Fish,' said Frodo. `Look! ' 
     They peered down at the dark pool. A little black head  appeared at the 
far end of the basin,  just out of the deep shadow of the rocks. There was a  
brief silver glint, and a swirl  of tiny ripples. It swam to  the side,  and 
then with  marvellous agility a froglike figure climbed out of the water and 
up the bank. At once it sat down and began to gnaw at the small silver thing  
that glittered  as it  turned:  the  last rays of the moon  were now  falling


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knew, 
too, somehow, quite clearly that Gandalf would not have wished it. 
     `Smjagol! ' he said softly. 
     `Fissh, nice fissh,' said the voice. 
     `Smjagol! ' he said, a little louder. The voice stopped. 
     `Smjagol,  Master  has come to  look  for  you. Master  is here.  Come, 
Smjagol! ' There was no answer but a soft hiss, as of intaken breath. 
     'Come, Smjagol! ' said Frodo. `We are in danger.  Men will kill you, if 
they find  you  here. Come quickly, if you  wish  to escape  death.  Come to 
Master!' 
     'No!' said the  voice.  `Not nice Master. Leaves  poor Smjagol and goes 
with new friends. Master can wait. Smjagol hasn't finished.' 
     `There's no time,' said Frodo. `Bring fish with you. Come! ' 
     `No! Must finish fish.' 
     'Smjagol! ' said Frodo desperately. 'Precious  will be angry.  I  shall


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this creature is in some way bound up with my errand. Until you found us and 
took us, he was my guide.' 
     `Your guide! ' said Faramir. `The matter becomes ever stranger. I would 
do much for you, Frodo, but this I cannot grant: to let this sly wanderer go 
free at his own will from here, to join you later if it please him, or to be 
caught by  Orcs and tell all he knows under threat of pain. He must be slain 
or taken. Slain, if he be not taken very swiftly. But how can  this slippery 
thing of many guises be caught, save by a feathered shaft?  ' 
     `Let me go  down quietly to him,' said Frodo. `You  may keep  your bows 
bent, and shoot me at least, if I fail. I shall not run away.' 
     `Go  then and be swift! ' said Faramir. `If  he  comes  off  alive,  he 
should be your faithful servant for the rest of his unhappy days. Lead Frodo  
down to the bank, Anborn, and go softly. The thing has a nose and ears. Give 
me your bow.'


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Yet, maybe,  he would  not  have done  so,  and  the journey of Boromir  was 
doomed.  Mithrandir never spoke to us  of what was to  be, nor did he reveal 
his purposes. He got leave of Denethor, how I  do  not  know, to look at the


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he said to Frodo. 
     'Yes. Well no, I didn't get him. He  came to me, because  he trusted me 
at  first, I'm afraid.  I did not want him tied up like this. I hope it will 
be all right; but I hate the whole business.' 
     `So  do I,' said Sam. `And nothing will ever  be all  right  where that 
piece of misery is.' 
     A man came and beckoned to the  hobbits, and took them to the recess at 
the back of the cave. Faramir was sitting there in  his  chair, and the lamp 
had been  rekindled  in its  niche above his head. He signed to them  to  sit 
down  on the  stools beside him. `Bring wine for the guests,'  he said. `And 
bring the prisoner to me.' 
     The wine was brought, and then  Anborn came carrying Gollum. He 
removed 
the cover from  Gollum's head and set him on his feet standing behind him to 
support him. Gollum blinked, hooding the malice of his eyes with their heavy 
pale lids. A  very miserable creature he looked, dripping and dank, smelling


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should be your faithful servant for the rest of his unhappy days. Lead Frodo  
down to the bank, Anborn, and go softly. The thing has a nose and ears. Give 
me your bow.' 
     Anborn grunted and led the way down the winding  sta ir to the  landing, 
and then up the other stair, until  at  last they  came to a narrow  opening 
shrouded with thick bushes. Passing silently through, Frodo found himself on 
the top of  the southern bank above the pool. It  was now dark and the falls 
were  pale and grey,  reflecting only the lingering moonlight of the western 
sky. He could not see Gollum. He went forward  a  short way and Anborn  
came 
softly behind him. 
     `Go on!  ' he breathed in  Frodo's ear.  `Have a care to your right. If 
you  fall in the pool, then no one but your fishing friend can help you. And 
forget not that there are bowmen near at hand, though you may not see them.'


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####-punishment? However, that  is not for me to judge, happily. But tonight  you  
have  come  where  it  is  death to come. The fish of this  pool  are dearly 
bought.' 
     Gollum dropped the fish from his hand. `Don't want fish,' he said. 
     'The  price  is not set on the fish,' said  Faramir. `Only to come here 
and look on the pool bears the penalty of death. I have spared you so far at 
the  prayer  of Frodo here, who says that  of him at least you have deserved 
some thanks. But you must also satisfy me. What is  your name? Whence do 
you 
come? And whither do you go? What is your business?  ' 
     `We are  lost, lost,' said  Gollum. 'No name, no business, no Precious, 
nothing. Only empty. Only hungry; yes, we  are hungry. A  few little fishes,  
nasty bony little fishes, for a  poor creature, and they say  death. So wise 
they are; so just, so very just.' 
     'Not very wise,' said Faramir.  'But just: yes perhaps, as just  as our


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####-never! No, precious, no!' 
     `Are you satisfied? ' said Faramir. 
     `Yes,' said Frodo.  'At least, you must  either  accept this promise or 
carry out your law. You will get no more. But I promised that if he came  to  
me, he should not be harmed. And I would not be proved faithless.' 
     Faramir sat for a moment in thought. `Very good,' he  said at last.  `I  
surrender you to your master, to Frodo son of Drogo. Let him declare what he 
will do with you! ' 
     'But, Lord Faramir,' said Frodo bowing, `you have not yet declared your 
will  concerning  the said Frodo, and until  that is  made known, he  cannot 
shape his plans for himself  or his companions. Your judgement was postponed 
until the morning; but that is now at hand.' 
     `Then I  will declare my doom,' said Faramir. `As for you, Frodo, in so 
far as lies in me under higher  authority, I declare you  free in  the realm 
of, Gondor to the furthest of its ancient bounds; save only that neither you


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####-     `This I will not  have secret,'  said Faramir. `Answer me,  or  I  will 
reverse my judgement! ' Still Gollum did not answer. 
     `I will answer for him,' said Frodo. `He brought  me to the Black Gate, 
as I asked; but it was impassable.' 
     `There is no open gate into the Nameless Land,' said Faramir. 
     `Seeing this, we  turned aside and came by  the Southward road '  Frodo 
continued; 'for he said that there is, or there may be, a path near to Minas 
Ithil.' 
     `Minas Morgul,' said Faramir. 
     `I do not know clearly,' said Frodo; `but the path  climbs, I think, up 
into  the mountains  on the  northern side of that vale  where  the old city 
stands. It goes up to a high cleft and so down to -- that which is beyond.' 
     `Do you know the name of that high pass? ' said Faramir. 
     'No,' said Frodo. 
     'It is  called Cirith Ungol.' Gollum hissed sharply and began muttering 
to himself. `Is not that its name? ' said Faramir turning to him.


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####-protection  and to go where he led. You would not ask me to break faith with 
him?' 
     'No,'  said  Faramir. `But my  heart would. For it  seems less  evil to 
counsel another man to break troth than to do so oneself, especially if  one 
sees a friend bound unwitting to his own  harm. But no  -- if he will go with 
you, you must  now endure him. But I do not think  you are  holden to go  to 
Cirith  Ungol, of which  he has told you  less than  he  knows. That much  I 
perceived clearly in his mind. Do not go to Cirith Ungol!' 
     `Where then shall  I  go?  ' said   Frodo.  `Back  to the Black Gate and 
deliver  myself  up  to the guard? What do  you know against this place that 
makes its name so dreadful? ' 
     `Nothing certain,' said Faramir. 'We of Gondor do not ever pass east of 
the Road in these days, and none of us younger men has ever done so, nor has 
any  of us  set foot upon the  Mountains of Shadow. Of them we know only old


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'No,' said Frodo. 
     'It is  called Cirith Ungol.' Gollum hissed sharply and began muttering 
to himself. `Is not that its name? ' said Faramir turning to him. 
     `No! '  said  Gollum, and then he squealed, as if something had stabbed 
him. 'Yes, yes, we heard the name once. But what does the name matter to us? 
Master  says he must get in. So we must try some way. There is no  other way 
to try, no.' 
     'No  other way?  ' said  Faramir. `How do  you  know  that? And who has 
explored  all  the  confines  of  that  dark  realm? '  He  looked long  and 
thoughtfully at Gollum. Presently he spoke  again. `Take this creature away, 
Anborn. Treat  him gently, but watch  him.  And do not you,  Smjagol, try to 
dive into the falls.  The rocks  have such  teeth  there  as would  slay you  
before your time. Leave us now and take your fish! ' 
     Anborn  went out  and Gollum went cringing before him.  The curtain was 
drawn across the recess.


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far as lies in me under higher  authority, I declare you  free in  the realm 
of, Gondor to the furthest of its ancient bounds; save only that neither you  
nor any that go with you have leave to come  to  this  place unbidden.  This 
doom  shall  stand for a  year and a day, and  then cease,  unless you shall 
before that term come to Minas Tirith and present yourself to  the  Lord and  
Steward of the City. Then I will entreat him to confirm what I have done and 
to make  it  lifelong.  In the  meantime,  whomsoever  you  take  under your  
protection shall be under my protection  and under the shield of Gondor. Are 
you answered? ' 
     Frodo bowed low. 'I am answered,' he  said, `and I place myself at your 
service, if that is of any worth to one so high and honourable.' 
     `It is  of  great  worth,' said  Faramir.  'And  now, do you  take this 
creature, this Smjagol, under your protection? ' 
     `I  do  take  Smjagol under  my  protection,' said  Frodo.  Sam  sighed


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things under the Sun  of this world. And you are far from  home and wayworn. 
No more tonight. Sleep, both  of you -- in peace, if you can. Fear not! I do 
not wish to  see it, or  touch  it, or know more of it than I know (which is 
enough), lest peril perchance waylay  me and I  fall lower  in the test than 
Frodo son of Drogo. Go now to rest -- but  first tell  me only, if you will, 
whither you wish to go,  and  what  to do.  For I  must watch, and  wait, and 
think.  Time passes.  In the morning  we  must each  go swiftly  on the ways 
appointed to us.' 
     Frodo had felt himself trembling as the first shock of fear passed. Now 
a great  weariness came  down on him like  a  cloud. He could dissemble  and 
resist no longer. 
     'I was going to find a way into Mordor,' he said faintly. `I  was going 
to Gorgoroth. I must  find  the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the


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nasty bony little fishes, for a  poor creature, and they say  death. So wise 
they are; so just, so very just.' 
     'Not very wise,' said Faramir.  'But just: yes perhaps, as just  as our 
little wisdom allows. Unloose him Frodo! ' Faramir  took a small  nail-knife 
from his belt and  handed it to Frodo. Gollum misunderstanding  the gesture,  
squealed and fell down. 
     'Now, Smjagol! ' said Frodo.  'You must trust me. I will not desert you. 
Answer truthfully, if you can.  It will  do you  good not  harm.' He cut the 
cords on Gollum's wrists and ankles and raised him to his feet. 
     'Come hither! ' said Faramir. `Look at me! Do you know the name of this 
place? Have you been here before? ' 
     Slowly Gollum  raised his eyes and  looked  unwillingly into Faramir's.  
All light went out of them, and they stared bleak and pale for a moment into 
the clear unwavering  eyes of the man of Gondor. There  was a still silence.


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the Road in these days, and none of us younger men has ever done so, nor has 
any  of us  set foot upon the  Mountains of Shadow. Of them we know only old 
report and the  rumour of bygone  days. But there  is some  dark terror that 
dwells in the  passes above Minas Morgul. If Cirith Ungol  is named, old men 
and masters of lore will blanch and fall silent. 
     ,The valley  of Minas Morgul passed into evil very long ago, and it was 
a menace  and  a  dread while the banished  Enemy dwelt  yet far  away,  and 
Ithilien was still for the most par t in our keeping.  As you know, that city 
was once a strong place, proud and fair, Minas Ithil, the twin sister of our 
own city.  But it was taken by fell men whom the Enemy in his first strength 
had dominated, and who wandered homeless and masterless  aft er his fall.  It 
is said  that  their lords  were  men of  N®menor  who had fallen  into dark 
wickedness; to them the Enemy had  given rings of power, and he had 
devoured


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before your time. Leave us now and take your fish! ' 
     Anborn  went out  and Gollum went cringing before him.  The curtain was 
drawn across the recess.  
     `Frodo, I think you do very unwisely in this,' said Faramir.  `I do not 
think you should go with this creature. It is wicked.' 
     'No, not altogether wicked,' said Frodo. 
     'Not wholly, perhaps,' said Faramir; 'but malice eats it like a canker, 
and the  evil is growing. He will lead you to no good. If you will part with 
him, I will give him safe-conduct and guidance to  any  point on the borders 
of Gondor that he may name.' 
     `He would not take  it,' said  Frodo.  'He would  follow after me as he 
long  has  done.  And I  have  promised  many  times  to  take him under  my


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creature, this Smjagol, under your protection? ' 
     `I  do  take  Smjagol under  my  protection,' said  Frodo.  Sam  sighed 
audibly;  and  not  at  the courtesies, of which, as  any  hobbit  would, he 
thoroughly approved. Indeed in the Shire such a matter would have required a  
great many more words and bows.  
     'Then I say  to you,'  said Faramir, turning to  Gollum, 'you  are under  
doom of  death; but while you walk with Frodo you are safe for our part. Yet 
if ever you be found by any man of Gondor astray without him, the doom shall 
fall. And may death find  you swiftly, within Gondor  or  without,  if you do 
not well serve him. Now answer me: whither would you go? You were his 
guide, 
he says. Whither were you leading him? ' Gollum made no reply.


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support him. Gollum blinked, hooding the malice of his eyes with their heavy 
pale lids. A  very miserable creature he looked, dripping and dank, smelling  
of fish (he still clutched one in his  hand); his sparse locks were  hanging 
like rank weed over his bony brows, his nose was snivelling. 
     `Loose us! Loose us! '  he said.  `The  cord hurts us, yes it does,  it 
hurts us, and we've done nothing.' 
     `Nothing? ' said  Faramir, looking at the wretched creature with a keen 
glance, but  without any expression in his face either of anger, or pity, or 
wonder. 'Nothing? Have you never done anything worthy of binding or of 
worse


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####-gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.' 
     Faramir stared at him for a moment in grave astonishment. Then suddenly 
he caught him as he swayed, and lifting him gently, carried him  to the  bed 
and laid  him there,  and covered him warmly.  At  once he fell into a  deep 
sleep. 
     Another bed  was  set beside him for his  servant. Sam hesitated for  a  
moment, then bowing very low: `Good night, Captain, my lord,' he said.  `You  
took the chance, sir.' 
     `Did I so?' said Faramir. 
     `Yes sir, and showed your quality: the very highest.' 
     Faramir smiled. 'A pert servant, Master Samwise. But nay: the praise of 
the  praiseworthy is above all rewards.  Yet  there  was naught  in  this to 
praise. I had no lure or desire to do other than I have done.' 
     `Ah  well,  sir,' said Sam, `you said  my master had an elvish air  and 
that was good and true. But I can say this:  you have an air too, sir,  that


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is said  that  their lords  were  men of  N®menor  who had fallen  into dark 
wickedness; to them the Enemy had  given rings of power, and he had 
devoured 
them: living ghosts  they were become, terrible  and  evil. After  his going 
they took Minas  Ithil and  dwelt  there,  and they  filled  it, and all the 
valley about, with decay: it seemed empty  and was  not so,  for a shapeless 
fear  lived  within the ruined walls. Nine Lords there  were, and after  the 
return  of their Master, which they aided and prepared  in secret, they grew 
strong again.  Then the Nine Riders issued forth from  the  gates of horror, 
and we could not withstand them. Do not approach their  citadel. You will be 
espied. It  is a place of  sleepless malice, full of lidless eyes. Do not go 
that way!  ' 
     'But where else will you direct me? ' said Frodo. 'You cannot yourself,  
you say, guide me to the mountains, nor over  them. But over the mountains I


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All light went out of them, and they stared bleak and pale for a moment into 
the clear unwavering  eyes of the man of Gondor. There  was a still silence. 
Then Gollum dropped his  head and shrank down, until he was squatting on the 
floor,  shivering.  'We  doesn't  know  and we  doesn't want  to  know,'  he  
whimpered. `Never came here; never come again.' 
     `There are locked doors and closed windows in your mind, and dark rooms 
behind them,' said Faramir. `But in this I judge  that you speak  the truth. 
It is well  for you. What oath will  you swear never to return; and never to 
lead any living creature hither by word or sign?' 
     `Master knows,'  said Gollum with a  sidelong glance at Frodo. `Yes, he 
knows. We will promise Master, if he saves us. We'll promise to It, yes.' He 
crawled  to Frodo's feet.  'Save  us,  nice Master!  '  he whined.  `Smjagol 
promises to Precious, promises faithfully. Never come again, never speak, no


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####-though he kept close to Frodo and avoided the glance of Faramir.  
     'Your  guide  must  be  blindfolded,' said Faramir, 'but  you and  your 
servant Samwise I release from this, if you wish.' 
     Gollum squealed, and squirmed, and clutched at Frodo, when they came to 
bind his eyes; and Frodo said: 'Blindfold us all three, and cover up my eyes 
first, and then perhaps he will see that no harm  is meant.' This  was done, 
and they were led from the cave of Henneth Annyn. After they  had passed the 
passages  and stairs they felt the cool morning air, fresh and sweet,  about 
them. Still blind they went on for  some  little time,  up  and  then gently 
down. At last the voice of Faramir ordered them to be uncovered. 
     They stood under the boughs  of the woods again. No noise  of the falls 
could be heard,  for  a  long  southward slope lay now  between them and the 
ravine in which the stream flowed. To the west they could  see light through


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`Ah  well,  sir,' said Sam, `you said  my master had an elvish air  and 
that was good and true. But I can say this:  you have an air too, sir,  that 
reminds me of, of  -- well, Gandalf, of wizards.  
     'Maybe,'  said  Faramir. `Maybe you discern from  far away the  air  of 
N®menor. Good n ight!'


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####-who showed you mercy, keep silent! ' 
     `Nice Master! ' said Gollum. `Smjagol was only joking. Always forgives,  
he  does, yes, yes, even nice Master's little trickses. Oh yes, nice Master, 
nice Smjagol! ' 
     Frodo and Sam did not  answer.  Hoisting their packs and  taking  their 
staves in hand, they passed on into the woods of Ithilien. 
     Twice that day they  rested  and took a little of the food provided  by 
Faramir:  dried fruits and  salted  meat, enough for  many  days;  and bread 
enough to last while it was still fresh. Gollum ate nothing. 
     The sun rose and  passed  overhead unseen, and began to sink,  and  the 
light through  the trees to the west grew golden; and always they  walked in 
cool green  shadow, and all about  them was silence. The birds seemed all to 
have flown away or to have fallen dumb. 
     Darkness came early  to the silent  woods, and before the fall of night


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####-     Light  was fading fast when they came to the forest -end. There they sat 
under  an old gnarled oak that  sent its roots twisting like snakes  down  a  
steep crumbling bank. A deep dim valley lay before them. On its further side 
the  woods gathered  again,  blue  and grey under  the  sullen  evening, and 
marched on southwards. To the  right the Mountains of Gondor  glowed, 
remote 
in  the  West,  under  a fire-flecked  sky. To  the left  lay darkness:  the 
towering walls of Mordor;  and  out of  that darkness the long valley  came, 
falling steeply in an ever -widening trough towards the Anduin. At its bottom 
ran a hurrying stream:  Frodo could  hear its stony voice coming  up through 
the silence; and beside  it on the hither side a road went winding down like 
a pale ribbon, down into chill grey mists that  no  gleam of sunset touched. 
There it seemed to  Frodo that he descried far off, floating as it were on a


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Frodo and Sam returned  to their  beds and lay there in silence resting 
for a little,  while men bestirred themselves  and  the business of the  day 
began. After a while water was brought to them,  and then they were led to a  
table where food was set for three. Faramir broke his fast with them. He had 
not slept since the battle on the day before, yet he did not look weary. 
     When they had finished they stood up. `May no hunger trouble you on the 
road,'  said  Faramir. `You  have little provision, but some small  store of 
food fit for travellers I have ordered to be stowed  in your packs. You will 
have  no lack  of  water as you walk in Ithilien,  but  do not  drink of any 
stream that flows from Imlad Morgul, the Valley of Living Death. This also I 
must tell you. My scouts and watchers  have all returned, even some that have 
crept within sight of the Morannon. They all find  a strange thing. The land


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could be heard,  for  a  long  southward slope lay now  between them and the 
ravine in which the stream flowed. To the west they could  see light through 
the trees, as if the  world came there  to a sudden end, at a  brink looking 
out only on to sky. 
     'Here  is the last parting of our ways,' said Faramir. 'If you take  my 
counsel, you will not turn eastward yet. Go  straight on, for  thus you will 
have the cover of the woodland for many miles. On your west is an edge where 
the land falls into the great vales, sometimes suddenly and sheer, sometimes 
in  long  hillsides. Keep near to this edge and the skirts of the forest. In 
the beginning of your journey you may walk under daylight, I think. The land 
dreams in  a false peace, and  for a while  all evil is  withdrawn. Fare you  
well, while you may!' 
     He embraced the hobbits then, after the manner of his people, stooping, 
and placing his hands upon their shoulders, and kissing their foreheads. 'Go


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to keep faith,  as  near  as might be, with both sides. `Come!' he said. `Or 
the Precious will be angry. We are  going back now, up the stream. Go on, go 
on, you go in front! ' 
     Gollum crawled along close to the brink for a little way, snuffling and 
suspicious. Presently he stopped and raised his head. `Something's  there! ' 
he  said.  `Not a  hobbit.'  Suddenly  he turned  back.  A  green  light was 
flickering in  his  bulging  eyes.  `Masster, masster!'  he hissed. 'Wicked!  
Tricksy! False!' He spat and stretched out his long arms with white snapping 
fingers.  
     At that moment the great black shape of Anborn loomed up behind him and 
came down  on him. A large strong hand took him in the nape of the neck  and 
pinned him. He  twisted round  like lightning,   all wet and slimy as he was,  
wriggling like an eel, biting  and  scratching like  a cat. But two more men 
came up out of the shadows.


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cool green  shadow, and all about  them was silence. The birds seemed all to 
have flown away or to have fallen dumb. 
     Darkness came early  to the silent  woods, and before the fall of night 
they halted, weary, for they had walked  seven leagues or more  from Henneth 
Annyn. Frodo lay and  slept  away  the  night  on the  deep mould beneath an 
ancient tree. Sam beside  him was more uneasy: he woke many times, but there 
was never a sign of Gollum, who had slipped off as  soon as  the others  had 
settled to rest. Whether he had slept by himself in some hole nearby, or had 
wandered  restlessly prowling through  the  night, he did  not say;  but  he 
returned with the first glimmer of light, and roused his companions.  
     `Must get up, yes  they must!'  he  said. 'Long ways to go still, south 
and east. Hobbits must make haste!' 
     That day passed  much  as the  day  before had  gone,  except that  the


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####-am bound, by solemn  undertaking to the  Council, to find a way or perish in 
the seeking. And if  I turn back, refusing the road in its bitter end, where 
then  shall I go  among Elves or Men? Would you have  me come to Gondor 
with 
this Thing, the Thing  that drove your  brother mad with  desire? What spell  
would it work in Minas Tirith?  Shall  there be two  cities of Minas Morgul,  
grinning at each other across a dead land filled with rottenness? ' 
     `I would not have it so,' said Faramir. 
     `Then what would you have me do? ' 
     `I know not. Only I would not have you go to death or to torment. And I 
do not think that Mithrandir would have chosen this way.' 
     'Yet since he is gone, I must take such paths as I can find.  And there 
is no time for long searching,' said Frodo. 
     `It is a hard doom and a hopeless errand,'  said  Faramir.  'But at the 
least,  remember my  warning:  beware  of this guide,  Smjagol.  He has done


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must tell you. My scouts and watchers  have all returned, even some that have 
crept within sight of the Morannon. They all find  a strange thing. The land 
is empty.  Nothing  is  on the  road,  and  no sound  of foot, or  horn,  or  
bowstring is anywhere  to be  heard.  A  waiting  silence broods  above  the 
Nameless Land.  I do not know what this portends. But the time draws swiftly 
to some great conclusion. Storm is coming. Hasten while you may! If  you are 
ready, let us go. The Sun will soon rise above the shadow.' 
     The hobbits' packs were brought to them (a little heavier than they had 
been), and  also two stout staves of polished wood, shod with iron, and with  
carven heads through which ran plaited leathern thongs.  
     'I  have no fitting  gifts  to  give you at our parting,' said Faramir ; 
`but take these staves. They may be of service to those who walk or climb in 
the wild.  The  men of  the White Mountains use them; though these have been


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well, while you may!' 
     He embraced the hobbits then, after the manner of his people, stooping, 
and placing his hands upon their shoulders, and kissing their foreheads. 'Go 
with the good will of all good men!' he said. 
     They bowed to the ground. Then he  turned and without  looking back  he 
left them  and went to his  two guards that stood at a little distance away. 
They marvelled  to  see  with  what speed  these green-clad men  now  moved, 
vanishing almost in the twinkling of an  eye.  The forest  where Faramir had 
stood seemed empty and drear, as if a dream had passed. 
     Frodo sighed and turned back southward. As if to  mark his disregard of 
all such courtesy, Gollum was scrabbling in the mould at the foot of a tree. 
`Hungry again already?' thought Sam. `Well, now for it again!' 
     'Have they  gone at last? ' said Gollum. `Nassty wicked Men!  Smjagol's 
neck still hurts him, yes it does. Let's go! '


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a pale ribbon, down into chill grey mists that  no  gleam of sunset touched. 
There it seemed to  Frodo that he descried far off, floating as it were on a  
shadowy sea, the high  dim  tops and broken pinnacles of old  towers forlorn 
and dark. 
     He turned to Gollum. `Do you know where we are? ' he said. 
     'Yes,  Master. Dangerous places. This is the road from the Tower of the 
Moon, Master, down to the ruined city by the shores of the River. The ruined 
city, yes, very nasty place, full of  enemies. We shouldn't have taken Men's 
advice. Hobbits have come a long way out of the path. Must go east now, away 
up there.' He waved his skinny arm  towards  the darkling mountains. `And we 
can't  use  this  road. Oh  no!  Cruel peoples come this way, down  from the 
Tower.' 
     Frodo looked down on to the road. At any rate nothing was moving  on it  
now. It appeared lonely  and forsaken, running  down to empty  ruins  in the


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####-river would be to blame. Now Boro -- ' He stopped and went red in the face.  
     `Yes? Now Boromir you would say?  ' said Faramir. `What would  you say?  
He took his peril with him? ' 
     `Yes sir, begging your pardon, and a  fine man as your brother was if I 
may say  so.  But  you've  been  warm on  the scent all along. Now I watched 
Boromir  and listened to him, from Rivendell  all down the  road --  looking  
after my master, as you'll understand,  and not meaning any harm to  Boromir 
-- and it's my  opinion that  in Lurien he first  saw clearly what I guessed 
sooner: what  he  wanted.  From the  moment he  first  saw it he  wanted the 
Enemy's Ring! ' 
     `Sam!  '  cried Frodo  aghast. He had fallen deep into his own thoughts 
for a while, and came out of them suddenly and too late. 
     'Save me! ' said Sam turning white, and then flushing scarlet. `There I 
go  again!  When ever  you open your big mouth you put your foot  in it  the


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`It is a hard doom and a hopeless errand,'  said  Faramir.  'But at the 
least,  remember my  warning:  beware  of this guide,  Smjagol.  He has done 
murder before now. I read it in him.' He sighed. 
     `Well, so we meet and  part,  Frodo son of Drogo. You have no  need  of 
soft words: I do  not hope to see you again on any other day under this Sun. 
But you shall go  now with my blessing upon you,  and upon  all your people. 
Rest a little while food is prepared for you. 
     'I would gladly learn how this creeping Smjagol became possessed of the 
Thing of which we speak, and how he lost it, but I will not trouble you now.  
If ever beyond  hope you return to the lands of the living and we retell our 
tales, sitting by a wall in the sun, laughing at  old  grief, you shall tell 
me  then.  Until  that  time, or some  other time beyond the vision  of  the 
Seeing-stones of N®menor, farewell! ' 
     He rose and bowed low to Frodo, and drawing the curtain passed out into


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pinned him. He  twisted round  like lightning,   all wet and slimy as he was,  
wriggling like an eel, biting  and  scratching like  a cat. But two more men 
came up out of the shadows. 
     'Hold still!  '  said one. `Or we'll stick  you  as full  of pins as  a


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`Must get up, yes  they must!'  he  said. 'Long ways to go still, south 
and east. Hobbits must make haste!' 
     That day passed  much  as the  day  before had  gone,  except that  the 
silence seemed deeper; the air grew heavy, and it began to be stifling under  
the trees. It felt as if thunder was  brewing. Gollum often paused, sniffing 
the air, and then he would mutter to himself and urge them to greater speed.  
     As the third stage of  their day's  march drew on  and afternoon wa ned, 
the forest opened out, and the trees became larger and more scattered. Great 
ilexes of  huge girth stood  dark  and solemn in  wide glades with  here and 
there among  them  hoary ash-trees. and  giant oaks  just putting  out their 
brown-green  buds.  About them  lay long launds of green  grass dappled with 
celandine and anemones, white and blue, now folded for sleep; and there were 
acres  populous with  the leaves of  woodland hyacinths: already their sleek


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`but take these staves. They may be of service to those who walk or climb in 
the wild.  The  men of  the White Mountains use them; though these have been 
cut  down to your  height and  newly  shod. They  are made of the fair  tree 
lebethron, beloved of   the woodwrights of Gondor, and a  virtue has been set 
upon them of finding  and returning.  May that virtue not wholly  fail under  
the Shadow into which you go!' 
     The hobbits  bowed low. `Most  gracious host,' said Frodo, 'it was said 
to me by Elrond Halfelven that I should find friendship upon the way, secret 
and unlooked  for. Certainly I looked  for no such  friendship  as you  have 
shown. To have found it turns evil to great good.' 
     Now they made ready to depart. Gollum was brought out of some corner or  
hiding-hole,  and he seemed  better pleased with himself  than he had  been,


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Tower.' 
     Frodo looked down on to the road. At any rate nothing was moving  on it  
now. It appeared lonely  and forsaken, running  down to empty  ruins  in the 
mist. But there was an evil feeling in the air, as if things might indeed be 
passing up and down that  eyes could  not see. Frodo shuddered  as he looked 
again  at the distant pinnacles now dwindling into  night, and the  sound of 
the water  seemed  cold  and cruel: the voice  of Morgulduin,  the  polluted 
stream that flowed from the Valley of the Wraiths.  
     'What shall we do?  ' he said.  'We have walked long  and far. Shall we 
look for some place in the woods behind where we can lie hidden? ' 
     'No good  hiding in the  dark,' said Gollum. 'It's in day that  hobbits 
must hide now, yes in day.' 
     `Oh come! ' said Sam.  'We must rest for a bit, even if we get up again 
in the middle of the night. There'll still be hours of dark then time enough 
for you to take us a long march, if you know the way.'


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`Hungry again already?' thought Sam. `Well, now for it again!' 
     'Have they  gone at last? ' said Gollum. `Nassty wicked Men!  Smjagol's 
neck still hurts him, yes it does. Let's go! ' 
     `Yes, let  us go,' said Frodo. `But  if you can only speak ill of those


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'Save me! ' said Sam turning white, and then flushing scarlet. `There I 
go  again!  When ever  you open your big mouth you put your foot  in it  the 
Gaffer used to say to me, and right enough. O dear, O dear! 
     `Now look here,  sir!  ' He turned, facing up  to Faramir with  all the 
courage  that he  could muster. `Don't you go taking advantage of my  master 
because his servant's no better than a fool. You've spoken very handsome all  
along,  put me off my  guard,  talking of Elves and all. But  handsome is as 
handsome does we say. Now's a chance to show your quality.' 
     'So  it seems,' said Faramir,  slowly and  very  softly, with a strange 
smile.  `So that  is the answer  to all the riddles! The One Ring  that  was 
thought to  have perished  fr om  the world. And Boromir tried to take  it by 
force? And you escaped? And ran all the way -- to me! And here in the wild I 
have  you:  two halflings,  and a host of men at  my  call, and the  Ring of


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####-     Gollum  reluctantly agreed  to  this, and  he  turned  back towards the 
trees, working eastward for a  while along the straggling edges of the wood.  
He would not rest on the ground so near the evil road, and after some debate 
they  all climbed  up into  the  crotch of  a  large  holm-oak, whose  thick  
branches springing together from  the trunk made a good  hiding-place and  a 
fairly comfortable refuge.  Night fell and it grew altogether dark under the 
canopy of the  tree.  Frodo and Sam drank a  little water and ate some bread 
and dried fruit, but Gollum at once curled up and went to sleep. The hobbits 
did not shut their eyes. 
     It must have been a little after midnight when Gollum woke up: suddenly 
they were aware of his pale eyes unlidded gleaming at them. He  listened and 
sniffed,  which seemed,  as  they had noticed before,  his  usual method  of 
discovering the time of night. 
     'Are we rested? Have we had beautiful sleep?' he said. 'Let's go!'


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####-bracken were invading the beds down near the bottom hedge. 
     `A job of work for me, I can see; but I'm so tired,' he kept on saying. 
Presently  he remembered what he was looking  for. `My  pipe!'  he said, and 
with that he woke up. 
     `Silly!' he said  to himself, as he opened his eyes and wondered why he 
was lying  down under the hedge. `It's in  your pack all the time!'  Then he 
realized, first that the pipe might  be in his pack but he had  no leaf, and 
next that he was hundreds of miles from  Bag End. He sat up. It seemed to be 
almost dark. Why had his master let him sleep  on out of turn, right on till 
evening?  
     `Haven't you had no sleep, Mr. Frodo?' he said. 'What's the time? Seems 
to be getting late!' 
     'No it isn't,' said Frodo.  `But  the day is getting darker instead  of 
lighter: darker and  darker. As far as I  can tell, it isn't midday yet, and 
you've only slept for about three hours.'


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####-for trouble anyhow,' said Frodo. `I'm  afraid our journey  is  drawing to an 
end.' 
     'Maybe,' said Sam;  `but  where there's life there's hope, as my Gaffer  
used to say;  and need of vittles, as he  mostways used to  add. You  have a  
bite, Mr. Frodo, and then a bit of sleep.' 
     The  afternoon, as Sam supposed it must be called, wore on. Looking out 
from the  covert he  could see only a dun, shadowless  world,  fading slowly 
into a featureless,  colourless gloom.  It felt stifling but not warm. Frodo 
slept  unquietly,  turning and  tossing,  and sometimes murmuring. Twice Sam 
thought  he heard him speaking  Gandalf's  name.  The  time  seemed  to drag 
interminably. Suddenly Sam heard a hiss behind him, and  there was Gollum 
on 
all fours, peering at them with gleaming eyes.  
     `Wake up, wake up! Wake up, sleepies!' he whispered. `Wake up!  No time 
to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!'


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celandine and anemones, white and blue, now folded for sleep; and there were 
acres  populous with  the leaves of  woodland hyacinths: already their sleek  
bell-stems were  thrusting through the  mould . No  living creature, beast or  
bird, was to be seen, but in these open places Gollum grew afraid, and  they  
walked now with caution, flitting from one long shadow to another.


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me  then.  Until  that  time, or some  other time beyond the vision  of  the 
Seeing-stones of N®menor, farewell! ' 
     He rose and bowed low to Frodo, and drawing the curtain passed out into 
the cave.


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force? And you escaped? And ran all the way -- to me! And here in the wild I 
have  you:  two halflings,  and a host of men at  my  call, and the  Ring of 
Rings. A pretty stroke of fortune!  A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, 
to show his quality! Ha!'  He stood up,  very tall and stern, his  grey eyes 
glinting. 
     Frodo and Sam sprang from their stools and set themselves  side by side 
with their backs  to the wall, fumbling for their sword-hilts.  There was  a 
silence.  All the men in the cave stopped talking and looked towards them in 
wonder. But Faramir sat down  again in his chair and began to laugh quietly,  
and then suddenly became grave again. 
     'Alas  for Boromir! It was too sore a trial!  ' he said. `How you  have 
increased my sorrow, you two  strange wanderers from a  far country, bearing 
the peril of Men! But you are less judges of Men than I of Halflings. We are 
truth-speakers, we men  of Gondor. We boast seldom, and then perform, or die


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####-here and there clearings opened, the scars of recent fires. The gorse-bushes 
became  more frequent  as they  got nearer the  top; very old and  tall they 
were, gaunt and leggy below but thick above, and already  putting out yellow 
flowers  that  glimmered in the gloom and gave a faint  sweet scent. So tall 
were the spiny  thickets that the  hobbits could  walk upright  under  them, 
passing through long dry aisles carpeted with a deep prickly mould. 
     On the further edge of this broad hill-back they stayed their march and  
crawled for hiding  underneath a  tangled  knot  of  thorns.  Their  twisted 
boughs, stooping to the ground, were overridden  by a clambering maze of old 
briars. Deep inside there  was  a hollow hall, raftered with dead branch and 
bramble, and roofed with the first leaves and  shoots  of spring. There they 
lay for a  while, too tired yet to eat; and peering out through the holes in 
the covert they watched for the slow growth of day.


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'No it isn't,' said Frodo.  `But  the day is getting darker instead  of 
lighter: darker and  darker. As far as I  can tell, it isn't midday yet, and 
you've only slept for about three hours.' 
     'I wonder what's up,' said  Sam. 'Is there  a storm coming? If  so it's 
going  to  be the  worst there ever was. We shall  wish  we were down a deep 
hole, not just stuck  under a hedge.' He listened. `What's that? Thunder, or  
drums, or what is it? ' 
     'I don't know,' said  Frodo. `It's been going on for a good while  now.  
Sometimes the ground seems  to  tremble, sometimes it seems to be  the heavy 
air throbbing in your ears.' 
     Sam looked  round.  `Where's Gollum?  ' he said. 'Hasn't he  come  back  
yet?' 
     `No,' said Frodo. `There's not been a sign or sound of him.' 
     `Well,  I  can't abide  him,'  said  Sam.  `In fact,  I've  never taken 
anything on a journey that I'd have been less sorry to lose  on the way. But


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on 
all fours, peering at them with gleaming eyes.  
     `Wake up, wake up! Wake up, sleepies!' he whispered. `Wake up!  No time 
to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!' 
     Sam stared  at him suspiciously: he  seemed frightened or excited.  `Go 
now? What's your little game?  It isn't time yet. It can't be tea -time even, 
leastways not in decent places where there is tea -time.' 
     `Silly!  ' hissed Gollum. `We're not in  decent places.  Time's running 
short, yes, running fast. No time to lose. We must go. Wake up. Master, wake 
u He clawed at Frodo; and  Frodo, startled out of sleep, sat up suddenly and 
seized him by the arm. Gollum tore h imself loose and backed away. 
     'They mustn't  be silly,' he hissed. `We must go. No time to lose!' And 
nothing more could  they  get  out of him. Where he  had been, and  what  he 
thought was brewing to make  him in  such a hurry, he would not say. Sam was


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####-hollow  of  the hills.  Down  from their hiding-place  they  went,  and then 
turning  south they steered as straight a course as Gollum could find across 
a long broken slope that leaned up towards the mountains. Presently, not far  
ahead, looming up  like a black wall, they saw a belt of trees. As they drew 
nearer they  became aware  that  these were of vast  size,  very  ancient it 
seemed, and still towering high, though their tops were gaunt and broken, as 
if tempest and lightning-blast had swept across them, but had failed to kill 
them or to shake their fathomless roots.  
     'The Cross-roads, yes,' whispered Gollum, the first words that had been 
spoken  since they left  their hiding-place. 'We must go  that way.' Turning 
eastward  now, he led them up  the slope;  and  then suddenly  there  it was 
before them: the Southward Road, winding its way about the outer feet of the 
mountains, until presently it plunged  into the great ring of trees.


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lay for a  while, too tired yet to eat; and peering out through the holes in 
the covert they watched for the slow growth of day. 
     But no  day  came, only a dead brown twilight. In the East  there was a  
dull red glare under the lowering cloud: it  was not the red of dawn. Across 
the tumbled lands between, the mountains of the Ephel D®ath frowned at 
them, 
black and shapeless below where night lay thick and did not pass away, above 
with  jagged  tops  and edges outlined  hard and  menacing against the fiery 
glow. Away to their right a great shoulder of the mountains  stood out, dark 
and black amid the shadows, thrusting westward. 
     `Which way do we go from here?' asked Frodo. `Is that the opening of-of 
the Morgul Valley, away over there beyond that black mass? ' 
     `Need we think about it yet?' said Sam, `Surely we're not going to move 
any more today, if day it is?' 
     `Perhaps not, perhaps not,' said Gollum.  `But we must go soon, to  the


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`Well,  I  can't abide  him,'  said  Sam.  `In fact,  I've  never taken 
anything on a journey that I'd have been less sorry to lose  on the way. But 
it  would be just like him, after coming all these miles, to go and get lost  
now, just when we shall need him most  --  that is, if he's ever going  to be 
any use, which I doubt.' 
     `You forget the Marshes,' said Frodo.  `I hope nothing has happened  to 
him.' 
     `And I hope he's  up to  no  tricks. And anyway I  hope he doesn't fall 
into other hands, as you might say. Because if he does, we  shall soon be in 
for trouble.' 
     At that moment a rolling and rumbling noise was heard again, louder now 
and deeper. The ground seemed to quiver under their feet. 'I think we are in


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nothing more could  they  get  out of him. Where he  had been, and  what  he 
thought was brewing to make  him in  such a hurry, he would not say. Sam was 
filled with deep suspicion,  and showed it; but  Frodo gave no sign  of what 
was passing in his mind. He sighed, hoisted his pack, and prepared to go out 
into the ever -gathering darkness.  
     Very stealthily  Gollum led them down the hillside, keeping under cover  
wherever it was possible, and running, almost bent to the ground, across any 
open space; but the light was now so dim that even  a keen-eyed beast of the 
wild could scarcely have seen the hobbits, hooded, in their grey cloaks, nor  
heard them,  walking as warily as the little people can. Without the crack of 
a twig or the rustle of a leaf they passed and vanished. 
     For about an hour they went on, silently, in  single file, oppressed by 
the gloom and by the  absolute stillness  of the land,  broken only now  and


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before them: the Southward Road, winding its way about the outer feet of the 
mountains, until presently it plunged  into the great ring of trees.  
     'This is the only way,' whispered Gollum. 'No paths beyond the road. No 
paths. We must go to the Cross-roads. But make haste! Be silent! ' 
     As furtively as scouts within the campment of their enemies, they crept 
down on to the road, and stole along its westward edge under the stony bank, 
grey as the stones themselves,  and soft -footed  as hunting cats.  At length 
they reached the trees, and found that they stood in a great  roofless ring, 
open in  the middle to the sombre sky; and the spaces between  their immense 
boles  were  like the great  dark arches of  some  ruined  hall. In the very 
centre four ways met. Behind them lay the road to the  Morannon; before them 
it ran out again upon its  long journey south; to their right the road  from 
old  Osgiliath  came  climbing up,  and crossing,  passed out eastward  into


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`Need we think about it yet?' said Sam, `Surely we're not going to move 
any more today, if day it is?' 
     `Perhaps not, perhaps not,' said Gollum.  `But we must go soon, to  the 
Cross-roads.  Yes,  to  the  Cross-roads. That's the  way  over  ther e  yes, 
Master.' 
     The red glare over Mordor  died  away. The twilight deepened  as  great 
vapours rose in the East and crawled above them. Frodo and Sam took a little 
food and then  lay down,  but Gollum was restless.  He would  not eat any of 
their food, but  he  drank  a little water and  then crawled about under the 
bushes, sniffing and muttering. Then. suddenly he disappeared. 
     `Off hunting, I suppose,' said Sam and yawned. It was his turn to sleep 
first, and  he  was soon deep in a dream. He thought he was back in the  Bag 
End garden looking for something; but he had a heavy pack on his back, which 
made him stoop.  It  all seemed very weedy and rank  somehow, and thorns and


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####-setting of it down minutes of loathing passed. 
     So they came  slowly  to the  white  bridge.  Here  the  road, gleaming 
faintly,  passed over the  stream  in the midst of the valley, and went  on, 
winding  deviously up towards the city's gate: a black  mouth opening in the 
outer circle of the  northward walls. Wide flats lay on either bank, shadowy 
meads filled with pale white flowers. Luminous these were too, beautiful and 
yet horrible of shape, like the demented  forms in an uneasy dream; and they  
gave forth a  faint sickening charnel-smell; an  odour  of rottenness filled 
the  air. From  mead to mead  the  bridge sprang. Figures stood there at its 
head, carven  with cunning  in forms human  and bestial, but all corrupt and  
loathsome.  The water flowing  beneath was  silent, and  it steamed, but the 
vapour that  rose from it, curling and twisting about the bridge, was deadly 
cold. Frodo felt his senses  reeling and his mind darkening. Then  suddenly,


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For about an hour they went on, silently, in  single file, oppressed by 
the gloom and by the  absolute stillness  of the land,  broken only now  and 
again  by the  faint rumbling as  of thunder far away or  drum-beats in some


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####-     Along this path the hobbits trudged, side by side, unable to see Gollum 
in front of  them, except when  he turned back to  beckon them  on. Then his 
eyes  shone  with  a green-white light, reflecting  the noisome Morgul-sheen 
perhaps, or kindled by some answering mood within. Of that deadly gleam  and 
of  the dark eyeholes Frodo  and Sam  were  always conscious,  ever glancing 
fearfully over their shoulders,  and  ever dragging their eyes  back to find 
the darkening path. Slowly  they laboured on. As they rose  above the stench  
and vapours of  the poisonous stream their  breath  became easier and  their 
heads clearer; but now their limbs were deadly tired, as  if they had walked 
all night under a burden, or had been swimming long against a heavy  tide of 
water. At last they could go no further without a halt. 
     Frodo stopped and  sat down on a stone. They had now climbed up  to the 
top  of  a  great  hump of bare rock.  Ahead of them  there was a bay in the


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it ran out again upon its  long journey south; to their right the road  from 
old  Osgiliath  came  climbing up,  and crossing,  passed out eastward  into 
darkness: the fourth way, the road they were to take. 
     Standing there for a moment filled with dread Frodo became aware that a  
light was shining;  he  saw it  glowing  on  Sam's face beside  him. Turning 
towards it, he saw, beyond an arch of boughs, the road to  Osgiliath running  
almost as straight  as  a stretched ribbon down, down, into the West. There, 
far away, beyond sad Gondor now overwhelmed in shade,  the  Sun was 
sinking, 
finding at last the hem of the great slow-rolling pall of cloud, and falling 
in an ominous fire towards the yet unsullied Sea. The brief glow fell upon a  
huge sitting  figure, still and solemn as the great stone kings of Argonath. 
The years had gnawed it, and violent hands had maimed it. Its head was gone, 
and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted


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Frodo stopped and  sat down on a stone. They had now climbed up  to the 
top  of  a  great  hump of bare rock.  Ahead of them  there was a bay in the 
valley-side, and  round the  head of this  the path  went on, no more than a  
wide ledge with a chasm on the right; across the sheer southward face of the 
mountain it crawled upwards, until it disappeared into the blackness above. 
     `I  must rest a  while, Sam,' whispered Frodo. `It's heavy  on me,  Sam 
lad, very heavy. I wonder how far I can carry  it? Anyway I must rest before 
we venture on to that.' He pointed to the narrow way ahead. 
     `Sssh! ssh! ' hissed Gollum hurrying back to them. `Sssh! ' His fingers 
were on his lips and he shook his head urgently. Tugging  at Frodo's sleeve,  
he pointed towards the path; but Frodo would not move. 
     `Not  yet,' he  said,  'not  yet.' Weariness and  more  than  weariness 
oppressed him; it seemed as if a heavy spell was laid on his mind  and body.


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vapour that  rose from it, curling and twisting about the bridge, was deadly 
cold. Frodo felt his senses  reeling and his mind darkening. Then  suddenly, 
as if some force were  at work other than his own will, he began  to  hurry, 
tottering forward, his groping hands held out, his head lolling from side to 
side. Both Sam and Gollum ran after him. Sam caught his  master in his arms,  
as he stumbled and almost fell, right on the threshold of the bridge. 
     `Not  that way! No, not that  way! '  whispered  Gollum, but the breath 
between  his teeth seemed to tear the heavy stillness like a whistle, and he 
cowered to the ground in terror. 
     `Hold  up,  Mr. Frodo! ' muttered Sam  in  Frodo's ear. 'Come back! Not 
that way. Gollum says not, and for once I agree with him.' 
     Frodo passed his hand over his brow and wrenched his eyes away from the 
city  on the  hill.  The luminous  tower fascinated him,  and he fought  the


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The years had gnawed it, and violent hands had maimed it. Its head was gone, 
and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted 
by savage hands in the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in


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sniffed,  which seemed,  as  they had noticed before,  his  usual method  of 
discovering the time of night. 
     'Are we rested? Have we had beautiful sleep?' he said. 'Let's go!' 
     'We aren't, and we haven't,' growled Sam. 'But we'll go if we must.' 
     Gollum dropped at once  from  the branches of the tree on to all fours,  
and the hobbits followed more slowly. 
     As  soon  as they  were down they  went  on again  with Gollum leading,  
eastwards, up the  dark sloping  land. They could see little,  for the night 
was  now so deep that  they were  hardly aware of the  stems of trees before 
they stumbled  against them. The ground  became more broken  and walking 
was 
more  difficult, but Gollum seemed in no  way troubled. He  led them through 
thickets and wastes of brambles; sometimes round  the lip of a deep cleft or  
dark pit, sometimes down into black bush-shrouded hollows and out again; but


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Frodo passed his hand over his brow and wrenched his eyes away from the 
city  on the  hill.  The luminous  tower fascinated him,  and he fought  the 
desire that was on him to run up the gleaming road towards its gate. At last  
with an effort he turned back, and as  he did so, he felt the Ring resisting 
him, dragging  at the chain about his  neck; and his  eyes too, as he looked 
away, seemed for the moment to  have  been blinded.  The darkness before him 
was impenetrable. 
     Gollum, crawling on  the ground like  a frightened animal, was  already 
vanishing into the gloom. Sam, supporting and guiding his  stumbling master, 
followed after him as quickly as he could. Not far from the near bank of the  
stream there was a gap in the stone-wall beside the road. Through this  they 
passed, and Sam saw that they were on a narrow  path that gleamed faintly at 
first, as  the main road  did,  until  climb ing  above  the meads of  deadly


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`Not  yet,' he  said,  'not  yet.' Weariness and  more  than  weariness 
oppressed him; it seemed as if a heavy spell was laid on his mind  and body. 
`I must rest,' he muttered. 
     At  this  Gollum's fear  and  agitation became so  great that he  spoke 
again,  hissing  behind  his hand, as  if to  keep  the  sound  from  unseen 
listeners  in the air. `Not here, no. Not rest here. Fools! Eyes can see us. 
When they come  to the  bridge they will see  us. Come away!  Climb,  climb!  
Come!  ' 
     `Come, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. `He's right, again. We can't stay here.' 
     'All  right,'  said Frodo  in a  remote voice, as of one  speaking half 
asleep. `I will try.' Wearily he got to his feet. 
     But  it  was too  late.  At that moment the rock quivered  and trembled 
beneath them. The  great rumbling noise, louder than ever before, rolled  in 
the ground and echoed in the mountains.  Then  with searing suddenness there


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####-sky and splashed the lowering clouds with cr imson.  In that valley of shadow 
and  cold deathly light it  seemed  unbearably violent  and fierce. Peaks of 
stone and ridges like notched knives sprang out in staring black against the 
uprushing flame in Gorgoroth. Then came a great crack of thunder. 
     And Minas Morgul answered. There was a flare of livid lightnings: forks 
of blue flame springing up from the tower and from the encircling hills into 
the sullen clouds. The earth groaned; and out of the city there came  a cry. 
Mingled  with harsh high voices as of birds of prey, and the shrill neighing 
of horses wild with rage  and fear, there came a rending screech, shivering, 
rising swiftly to a piercing pitch beyond the range of hearing.  The hobbits 
wheeled round towards it, and cast themselves down, holding their hands upon 
their ears. 
     As the terrible cry ended, falling back  through a long sickening  wail


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####-before,  the command  that  he  should  put on  the Ring.  But great as  the 
pressure was, he felt no  inclination now to yield to it. He  knew that  the 
Ring would only betray him, and that he had not, even if  he  put it on, the 
power  to face the  Morgul-king-not yet. There was no  longer any  answer to 
that command in his own will,  dismayed by terror though it was, and he  felt 
only the  beating upon him of a  great power from outside. It took his hand, 
and as Frodo watched with his mind, not willing it but in suspense (as if he 
looked on some  old story far  away), it moved the hand inch by inch towards 
the chain upon his neck. Then his  own will stirred;  slowly  it forced  the 
hand  back. and  set it to find another thing, a thing lying hidden near his 
breast. Cold and  hard it  seemed as  his  grip closed on it:  the  phial of 
Galadriel, so long  treasured, and  almost forgotten till  that hour.  As he


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beneath them. The  great rumbling noise, louder than ever before, rolled  in 
the ground and echoed in the mountains.  Then  with searing suddenness there 
came a great red flash. Far beyond the eastern  mountains it leapt into  the


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wheeled round towards it, and cast themselves down, holding their hands upon 
their ears. 
     As the terrible cry ended, falling back  through a long sickening  wail 
to  silence, Frodo slowly  raised his head.  Across the  narrow  valley, now 
almost on  a level with his eyes, the walls of the evil city stood ,  and its 
cavernous  gate, shaped like an open mouth with gleaming  teeth,  was gaping 
wide. And out of the gate an army came. 
     All that  host  was clad in  sable, dark  as the night. Against the wan 
walls and  the luminous pavement  of  the  road Frodo could  see them, small 
black figures in rank upon rank,  marching  swiftly  and  silently,  passing 
outwards in  an endless stream. Before them went a great cavalry of horsemen 
moving like  ordered shadows, and at their head was one greater than all the 
rest: a Rider, all black, save that on his  hooded head he had a helm like a  
crown that  flickered with  a  perilous  light.  Now he was drawing near the


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thickets and wastes of brambles; sometimes round  the lip of a deep cleft or  
dark pit, sometimes down into black bush-shrouded hollows and out again; but 
if ever they went a little downward, always the further slope was longer and 
steeper. They were climbing steadily. At their first  halt they looked back, 
and they could  dimly perceive the roofs of the forest they   had left behind 
lying like  a  vast  dense shadow, a darker night under the  dark blank sky. 
There seemed to be a great  blackness looming slowly out of the East, eating  
up the faint blurred stars. Later the sinking moon escaped from the pursuing 
cloud, but it was ringed all about with a sickly yellow glare. 
     At last  Gollum  turned  to the hobbits. 'Day soon,' he  said. 'Hobbits 
must hurry. Not safe to stay in the open in these places. Make haste! ' 
     He quickened his pace, and they  followed him wearily.  Soon they began 
to climb up on to a great hog-back of land. For the most part it was covered


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breast. Cold and  hard it  seemed as  his  grip closed on it:  the  phial of 
Galadriel, so long  treasured, and  almost forgotten till  that hour.  As he 
touched it, for a while all thought of the Ring was banished from his  mind. 
He sighed and bent his head. 
     At  that moment the Wraith-king  turned and spurred  his horse and rode 
across the bridge, and all his dark host followed him. Maybe the elven-hoods 
defied his unseen eyes, and the mind of his small enemy; being strengthened, 
had turned  aside his thought.  But  he  was  in haste. Already the hour had 
struck,  and at his great Master's  bidding he must march with  war into the 
West. 
     Soon he had passed, like a shadow  into shadow, down  the winding road, 
and  behind  him still the black ranks crossed the bridge. So great an  army 
had never issued from that vale since the  days of  Isildur's might; no host  
so fell and strong in arms had yet assailed the fords of Anduin; and yet  it


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passed, and Sam saw that they were on a narrow  path that gleamed faintly at 
first, as  the main road  did,  until  climb ing  above  the meads of  deadly 
flowers it faded and went dark, winding its crooked way up into the northern 
sides of the valley.


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rest: a Rider, all black, save that on his  hooded head he had a helm like a  
crown that  flickered with  a  perilous  light.  Now he was drawing near the 
bridge below,  and Frodo's staring eyes followed him,  unable to  wink or to 
withdraw. Surely there was the Lord of the  Nine Riders returned to earth to 
lead his ghastly  host to battle? Here, yes here indeed was the haggard king 
whose cold  hand had smitten down the Ring-bearer with his deadly knife. The 
old wound throbbed with pain and a great chill spread towards Frodo's heart. 
     Even  as these thoughts  pierced him with dread  and held him  bound as 
with a  spell, the Rider halted suddenly, right  before the  entrance of the 
bridge, and behind him all the host stood still. There was  a pause, a  dead 
silence. Maybe it was  the Ring that called  to the  Wraith-lord, and for  a  
moment he was troubled, sensing some other power within his valley. This way


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He quickened his pace, and they  followed him wearily.  Soon they began 
to climb up on to a great hog-back of land. For the most part it was covered 
with a thick growth of gorse and whortleberry, and  low tough thorns, though


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####-added:  `Your breakfast is  ready,' he  would hardly  have  been  surprised. 
Certainly Sam was urgent. `Wake up, Mr. Frodo! They're gone,' he said. 
     There was  a dull clang. The gates of Minas Morgul had closed. The last 
rank of spears had  vanished down  the road. The tower still grinned  across 
the valley, but the light was fading  in it. The whole city was falling back  
into  a  dark brooding  shade,  and  silence.  Yet still it was filled  with 
watchfulness.  
     'Wake  up,  Mr. Frodo!  They're gone, and  we'd better  go too. There's 
something still alive in that place, something with eyes,  or a seeing mind, 
if you take  me; and the  longer we stay in one spot, the sooner it will get 
on to us. Come on, Mr. Frodo! ' 
     Frodo raised his head, and then stood up. Despair had not left him, but 
the weakness had  passed. He even smiled grimly, feeling now as clearly as a 
moment before he had  felt the opposite,  that  what he had to do, he had to


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silence. Maybe it was  the Ring that called  to the  Wraith-lord, and for  a  
moment he was troubled, sensing some other power within his valley. This way 
and that turned the dark head helmed  and  crowned  with  fear, sweeping the 
shadows with its unseen eyes. Frodo waited, like a bird at the approach of a  
snake,  unable to move.  And  as  he  waited, he felt, more urgent than ever


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Gollum  was  tugging  at  Frodo's  cloak  and  hissing  with  fear  and 
impatience. `We must go,' he said. `We mustn't stand here. Make haste!' 
     Reluctantly Frodo turned his back on the West and followed as his guide 
led  him, out into the darkness of the East. They left the ring of trees and 
crept along the road towards the mountains. This road, too, ran straight for  
a while,  but  soon it began to  bend  away southwards,  until it came right 
under the great shoulder of rock that they had seen from the distance. Black  
and  forbidding  it  loomed  above them, darker  than the  dark  sky behind. 
Crawl ing  under  its shadow the road  went on,  and rounding it sprang  east  
again and began to climb steeply. 
     Frodo and Sam were  plodding along with heavy hearts, no longer able to  
care greatly  about  their  peril. Frodo's head  was  bowed; his burden  was 
dragging him down again. As soon as the great  Cross-roads  had been passed,


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####-and as they climbed up and  up, they became more  and more aware of the long 
black fall  behind them.  And the steps  were narrow,  spaced unevenly,  and 
often treacherous: they  were worn and  smooth at  the  edges, and some were 
broken, and  some cracked  as foot was set  upon them. The hobbits struggled 
on,  until at last they  were  clinging with  desperate fingers to the steps 
ahead, and forcing their  aching knees  to bend and  straighten; and ever as 
the stair cut its way deeper  into the  sheer mountain the rocky walls  rose 
higher and higher above their heads.  
     At  length, just as they felt that they could endure no more, they  saw 
Gollum's  eyes peering  down at them again. `We're up,' he whispered. 'First  
stair's past. Clever hobbits to  climb so high, very  clever hobbits. Just a  
few more little steps and that's all, yes.' 
     Dizzy and very  tired Sam, and Frodo following him, crawled up the last


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had never issued from that vale since the  days of  Isildur's might; no host  
so fell and strong in arms had yet assailed the fords of Anduin; and yet  it 
was but one and not the greatest of the hosts that Mordor now sent forth. 
     Frodo  stirred. And suddenly  his heart went out to Faramir. 'The storm 
has burst at last,' he thought. `This great  array of spears  and  swords is 
going to Osgiliath. Will Faramir get across in time? He  guessed it, but did 
he know the hour? And  who can now hold  the fords when the King of the 
Nine 
Riders comes? And  other armies will  come.  I  am too late. All is lost.  I 
tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will 
ever know. There will be  no one  I can  tell. It will be in vain.' Overcome 
with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge. 
     Then at a  great distance, as if it  came out of memories of  the Shire,


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####-wall at their right hand. They  could see very little. Great black shapeless 
masses and deep  grey shadows loomed above  them and about them, but now 
and 
again a dull  red light flickered up under  the lowering  clouds, and for  a  
moment  they were aware of  tall peaks, in  front  and on  either side, like 
pillars holding up a vast sagging roof. They  seemed to have climbed up many 
hundreds of feet, on to a wide shelf. A cliff was on their  left and a chasm 
on their right. 
     Gollum led the way close under the cliff.  For the present they were no 
longer climbing, but the  ground  was now more broken  and  dangerous in the 
dark, and there  were blocks and  lumps of fallen stone  in the  way.  Their 
going  was slow and  cautious.  How  many hours  had  passed  since they had 
entered the  Morgul Vale  neither Sam nor Frodo could  any longer guess. The 
night seemed endless. 
     At length they were once more aware of a wall looming up, and once more


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the weakness had  passed. He even smiled grimly, feeling now as clearly as a 
moment before he had  felt the opposite,  that  what he had to do, he had to 
do, if he could, and that whether  Faramir or Aragorn or Elrond or Galadriel  
or Gandalf or anyone e lse ever knew about it was beside the purpose. He took 
his staff in one hand and the phial in his other. When he saw that the clear 
light was already welling through his fingers, he  thrust it into his  bosom 
and held it against his heart. Then turning from the city of Morgul,  now no 
more  than a grey glimmer across a dark gulf, he prepared to take the upward 
road. 
     Gollum, it  seemed,  had  crawled off along the ledge into the darkness 
beyond, when the  gates  of Minas  Morgul  opened, leaving the hobbits where 
they  lay. He now came creeping back, his  teeth chattering and his  fingers 
snapping. `Foolish!  Silly!  '  he hissed. `Make haste!  They  mustn't think  
danger has passed. It hasn't. Make haste!  '


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####-black shoulders; and on either shoulder was a horn of stone. 
     He paused  and looked more attentively. The horn upon the left was tall 
and slender; and in it burned a red light, or else the red light in the land 
beyond was shining through a hole. He saw now: it  was a black  tower poised 
above the outer pass. He touched Sam's arm and pointed. 
     'I  don't like the look of that! ' said Sam.  `So  this secret  way  of 
yours is guarded after all,' he growled, turning to Gollum. 'As you knew all 
along, I suppose? ' 
     'All ways  are watched, yes,' said Gollum.  `Of  course they  are.  But 
hobbits must  try  some way. This may  be least watched. Perhaps they've all  
gone away to big battle, perhaps! ' 
     'Perhaps,' grunted Sam.  'Well, it  still  seems a long  way off, and a  
long way  up before we get there. And there's still the tunnel. I think  you  
ought to rest now,  Mr. Frodo. I don't know what time of day or night it is,


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with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge. 
     Then at a  great distance, as if it  came out of memories of  the Shire, 
some sunlit early morning,  when  the  day called and doors were opening, he 
heard  Sam's voice  speaking. `Wake up, Mr. Frodo!  Wake up! ' Had the voice


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####-the midst  of  its forehead. Upon its knees and mighty chair,  and all about 
the pedestal,  were idle  scrawls  mixed  with  the foul  symbols  that  the 
maggot-folk of Mordor used. 
     Suddenly, caught by the level beams,  Frodo saw the old king's head: it 
was lying rolled away by the  roadside. `Look, Sam!' he cried, startled into 
speech. `Look! The king has got a crown again!' 
     The eyes  were hollow and the  carven  beard was  broken, but about the 
high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant 
with flowers like small white stars had bound  itself across the brows as if 
in reverence for the fallen king,  and in the crevices  of  his  stony  hair 
yellow stonecrop gleamed. 
     'They cannot conquer for ever!' said Frodo. And then suddenly the brief 
glimpse was gone. The Sun dipped and vanished, and  as if at the  shuttering 
of a lamp, black night fell. 
 

####- 

Chapter 8. The Stairs of Cirith Ungol


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few more little steps and that's all, yes.' 
     Dizzy and very  tired Sam, and Frodo following him, crawled up the last  
step, and sat down rubbing their legs  and knees. They were in  a  deep dark 
passage that seemed still to go  up before  them,  though at a gentler slope 
and without steps. Gollum did not let them rest long. 
     'There's another stair still,' he said. `Much  longer stair. Rest  when 
we get to the top of next stair. Not yet.' 
     Sam groaned. 'Longer, did you say? ' he asked. 
     'Yes, yess, longer,' said Gollum. `But not  so  difficult. Hobbits have 
climbed the Straight Stair. Next comes the Winding Stair.' 
     'And what after that? ' said Sam. 
     `We shall see,' said Gollum softly. `O yes, we shall see!  ' 
     'I thought you said there  was  a  tunnel,' said  Sam.  `Isn't  there a  
tunnel or something to go through? ' 
     'O yes,  there's a tunnel,' said Gollum. `But hobbits  can rest  before


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care greatly  about  their  peril. Frodo's head  was  bowed; his burden  was 
dragging him down again. As soon as the great  Cross-roads  had been passed, 
the weight of it, almost forgotten in Ithilien, had begun to grow once more. 
Now, feeling the way become steep before his feet, he looked wearily up; and 
then he  saw  it, even  as Gollum  had said  that he would: the city of  the 
Ringwraiths. He cowered against the stony bank. 
     A long-tilted  valley, a  deep gulf of shadow,  ran back far  into  the 
mountains. Upon the further side, some way  within the valley's arms high on 
a  rocky seat upon the black knees  of  the Ephel D®ath, stood the walls and  
tower of Minas Morgul. All was dark about it, earth and sky, but it  was lit 
with light. Not the imprisoned moonlight welling through the marble walls of 
Minas  Ithil long ago, Tower of the  Moon, fair and radiant in the hollow of 
the hills. Paler  indeed than  the moon ailing in some  slow eclipse was the


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snapping. `Foolish!  Silly!  '  he hissed. `Make haste!  They  mustn't think  
danger has passed. It hasn't. Make haste!  ' 
     They did not answer, but they followed him on to the climbing ledge. It 
was little to the liking of either of  them, not even  after facing so  many 
other perils; but it did not  last  long.  Soon the  path reached a  rounded 
angle  where  the  mountain-side  swelled out  again, and  there it suddenly 
entered a narrow  opening in the rock. They had come to the first stair that 
Gollum had spoken of. The  darkness  was almost complete, and they could see 
nothing  much  beyond their hands' stretch; but  Gollum's  eyes shone  pale, 
several feet above, as he turned back towards them. 
     `Careful! ' he whispered. `Steps. Lots of steps. Must be careful! ' 
     Care was certainly needed. Frodo and  Sam at  first felt easier, having 
now a wall on either side, but the stairway was almost as steep as a ladder ,


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entered the  Morgul Vale  neither Sam nor Frodo could  any longer guess. The 
night seemed endless. 
     At length they were once more aware of a wall looming up, and once more 
a stairway opened before them. Again  they halted, and  again they  began to  
climb. It was a long and weary ascent; but this  stairway did not delve into 
the  mountain-side. Here  the huge cliff face sloped backwards, and the path 
like  a  snake wound  to and fro across it. At one point it crawled sideways 
right to the  edge of the dark chasm, and Frodo  glancing down saw below him 
as  a vast deep pit the great ravine at the head of the Morgul Valley.  Down 
in  its depths glimmered like  a glow-worm thread the  wraith-road from  the 
dead city to the Nameless Pass. He turned hastily away. 
     Still  on and up the  stairway bent and  crawled, until  at last with a  
final flight, short  and straight, it climbed out again on to another level.


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long way  up before we get there. And there's still the tunnel. I think  you  
ought to rest now,  Mr. Frodo. I don't know what time of day or night it is, 
but we've kept going for hours and hours.' 
     `Yes, we must  rest,' said Frodo. 'Let us find some corner out  of  the 
wind, and gather our  strength-for  the last lap.' For so  he felt it to be. 
The  terrors of  the land  beyond, and  the deed to  be  done there,  seemed 
remote, too  far off yet to  trouble  him. All his mind  was bent on getting 
through or over this impenetrable wall and guard.  If once he could do  that 
impossible thing, then  somehow the errand would be  accomplished, or so  it 
seemed to him in that  dark hour of weariness, still  labouring in the stony 
shadows under Cirith Ungol. 
     In a dark crevice between two great piers of rock they sat down:  Frodo 
and  Sam a  little  way within. and Gollum crouched upon the ground near the


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####-same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end? ' 
     'No, they  never  end  as  tales,' said Frodo.  `But the people in them 
come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later  -- or sooner.' 
     'And then we can have some rest and  some sleep,' said Sam.  He laughed  
grimly.  'And I  mean just  that, Mr. Frodo. I mean plain ordinary rest, and 
sleep, and  waking up  to a morning's work in the garden. I'm afraid  that's 
all I'm hoping for all the time. All the big important  plans are not for my 
sort. Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs  or tales. We're in 
one,  or course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, 
or read out of a great big book with red  and black letters, years and years 
afterwards. And people will say: "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring! " And 
they'll say: "Yes, that's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave.


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####-Faramir said we were not to drink any water in Morgul.' 
     'No water flowing out of Imlad Morgul, were his words,' said Frodo. `We 
are not in that valley now, and if we came  on a spring  it would be flowing 
into it and not out of it.' 
     'I  wouldn't  trust  it,' said Sam, 'not  till  I was dying  of thirst. 
There's a  wicked feeling  about this  place.' He  sniffed. 'And  a smell, I 
fancy. Do you notice it? A queer kind of a smell, stuffy. I don't like it.' 
     'I don't like anything here at all.' said Frodo, `step or stone, breath 
or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.' 
     'Yes, that's so,'  said Sam. `And we shouldn't be here at all,  if we'd 
known more about it before we started. But I  suppose  it's often  that way. 
The brave things  in the old  tales and songs,  Mr. Frodo: adventures,  as I 
used to call them. I used to think that they were things  the wonderful folk


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'I thought you said there  was  a  tunnel,' said  Sam.  `Isn't  there a  
tunnel or something to go through? ' 
     'O yes,  there's a tunnel,' said Gollum. `But hobbits  can rest  before 
they try that. If they get through that,  they'll be nearly at the top. Very 
nearly, if they get through. O yes! ' 
     Frodo shivered. The climb had made him sweat, but now  he felt cold and 
clammy, and there was a chill draught in the dark passage, blowing down from 
the invisible  heights above. He got up and shook himself.  `Well, let's  go 
on! ' he said. `This is no place to sit in.' 
     The passage seemed to go on  for miles, and always the chill air flowed 
over them, rising as they went on to  a bitter wind. The mountains seemed to 
be trying with their deadly breath to daunt them, to turn them back from the  
secrets of the high places,  or to blow them away  into the darkness behind. 
They only knew  that  they had come  to the end, when suddenly  they felt no


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Minas  Ithil long ago, Tower of the  Moon, fair and radiant in the hollow of 
the hills. Paler  indeed than  the moon ailing in some  slow eclipse was the 
light of it now, wavering and blowing like a  noisome exhalation of decay, a  
corpse-light, a light that  illuminated  nothing.  In  the  walls  and tower  
windows showed, like countless black holes  looking inward  into  emptiness;  
but  the topmost course of the tower revolved slowly, first one way and then 
another, a huge ghostly head  leering into the night. For a moment the three 
companions  stood there, shrinking,  staring  up with unwilling eyes. Gollum 
was the first to recover. Again he pulled  at their cloaks urgently,  but he 
spoke no word. Almost he dragged them forward. Every step was reluctant, and 
time seemed to slow its pace. so that between the raising of a foot  and the


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Still  on and up the  stairway bent and  crawled, until  at last with a  
final flight, short  and straight, it climbed out again on to another level. 
The  path had veered away from the main pass in the great ravine, and it now 
followed  its own  perilous course at the bottom of a lesser cleft among the 
higher  regions  of  the Ephel D®ath. Dimly  the hobbits could  discern tall 
piers and jagged pinnacles of stone on either side, between which were great 
crevices  and fissures blacker than  the night, where  forgotten winter s had 
gnawed and carved the sunless stone. And now the red light in the sky seemed 
stronger; though they could not tell whether a  dreadful morning were indeed 
coming to this place of shadow, or whether  they saw only the flame of  some 
great violence  of  Sauron in  the torment  of Gorgoroth  beyond.  Still far 
ahead, and still high above, Frodo, looking up, saw, as he guessed, the very


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####-     There was no  sign of  him at  the mouth  of their shelter nor  in  the 
shadows near. He had refused their food, though he had, as usual, accepted a  
mouthful of water; and then  he had seemed to curl up for a sleep:  They had 
supposed that one at any  rate of his objects  in his  long absence  the day 
befor e had been to hunt for food to his own liking; and now he had evidently 
slipped off again while they talked. But what for this time?  
     `I don't like his sneaking off without saying,' said Sam. 'And least of 
all now. He can't  be looking for food up here, not unless there's some kind 
of rock he fancies. Why, there isn't even a bit of moss! ' 
     `It's no  good worrying about him now,'  said  Frodo. `We couldn't have 
got so  far,  not even within  sight of the pass, without  him, and so we'll 
have to put up with his ways. If he's false, he's false.' 
     'All the same, I'd  rather have  him under  my eye,' said Sam. 'All the


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shadows under Cirith Ungol. 
     In a dark crevice between two great piers of rock they sat down:  Frodo 
and  Sam a  little  way within. and Gollum crouched upon the ground near the 
opening. There the hobbits took what  they expected would be their last meal 
before they went down into the Nameless Land, maybe the last meal they 
would 
ever  eat together. Some of the food  of Gondor they ate, and  wafers of the 
waybread of the Elves. and they drank a little. But of their water they were 
sparing and took only enough to moisten their dry mouths. 
     `I wonder when we'll find water again? ' said Sam. 'But I suppose  even 
over there they drink? Orcs drink, don't they? ' 
     'Yes,  they drink,' said Frodo. 'But do not let  us speak of that. Such 
drink is not for us.' 
     `Then  all  the  more need  to fill our bottles,' said  Sam. `But there 
isn't any water up here: not  a sound or a trickle  have I heard. And anyway


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afterwards. And people will say: "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring! " And 
they'll say: "Yes, that's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave. 
wasn't he, dad?"  "Yes, my boy, the  famousest of  the hobbits,  and  that's 
saying a lot."' 
     `It's saying a lot too much,' said Frodo, and he laughed,  a long clear 
laugh from  his heart. Such a sound had not been heard in those places since 
Sauron came to Middle-earth. To Sam suddenly it seemed as if all the  stones 
were listen ing and the  tall rocks leaning over them. But Frodo did not heed 
them;  he laughed again. 'Why, Sam,' he said, 'to hear you somehow makes  me 
as merry as if the story was already written. But you've left out one of the 
chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. "I  want to hear more about Sam, 
dad. Why  didn't they put  in more of his talk, dad? That's  what I like, it 
makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn't have  got far without Sam, would he, 
dad? 
"  '


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####-Mark my words: if ever we get to the pass, he  won't let us really take  the 
precious thing over the border without making some kind of trouble.' 
     `We haven't got there yet,' said Frodo. 
     'No, but we'd better keep our eyes skinned till we do.  If we're caught 
napping, Stinker will come out on top pretty quick. Not but what it would be 
safe for you to have a wink now, master.  Safe, if you lay close  to me. I'd 
be dearly glad to see you have a sleep. I'd keep watch over you; and anyway, 
if you lay near, with my arm round you, no one could come pawing you 
without 
your Sam knowing it.' 
     `Sleep!'  said  Frodo and sighed, as if out of  a desert  he had seen a  
mirage of cool green. 'Yes, even here I could sleep.' 
     `Sleep then, master! Lay your head in my lap.' 
     And so Gollum found  them hours later, when  he returned,  crawling and  
creeping down the path out  of the gloom ahead. Sam sat  propped against the


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The brave things  in the old  tales and songs,  Mr. Frodo: adventures,  as I 
used to call them. I used to think that they were things  the wonderful folk  
of the stories  went out and looked  for,  because they wanted them, because 
they were exciting and  life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might 
say. But that's not the  way of it with the tales  that  really mattered, or  
the  ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, 
usually -- their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But  I expect they 
had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they 
had, we  shouldn't know, because they'd have  been  forgotten. We hear about 
those as just went on  -- and not all to a  good end, mind you; at least not 
to what  folk  inside a story and not outside it call a good  end. You know,  
coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same  -- like


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####-     Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint  flickered under  his  heavy 
lids. Almost  spider -like  he  looked now, crouched  back on his bent limbs, 
with his  protruding eyes. The fleeting  moment  had  passed, beyond recall.  
`Sneaking,  sneaking!'  he  hissed.  'Hobbits always  so polite, yes. O nice 
hobbits! Smjagol brings them  up secret  ways that  nobody else  could find.  
Tired he is, thirsty  he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches 
for paths, and they say sneak, sneak. Very nice friends,  O yes my precious,  
very nice.' 
     Sam felt  a bit remorseful, though not more trustful. 'Sorry.' he said. 
'I'm sorry, but you startled me out of my sleep. And I  shouldn't  have been 
sleeping, and that made me a bit sharp.  But Mr.  Frodo.  he's that tired, I 
asked him to have a wink; and well,  that's how it is. Sorry. But where have 
you been to? ' 
     `Sneaking,' said Gollum, and the green glint did not leave his  eyes.


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And so Gollum found  them hours later, when  he returned,  crawling and  
creeping down the path out  of the gloom ahead. Sam sat  propped against the 
stone, his head dropping  sideways and his   breathing heavy. In his  lap lay 
Frodo's head,  drowned deep in  sleep; upon his white  forehead lay  one  of 
Sam's brown hands, and the  other lay softly upon his master's breast. Peace 
was in both their faces.  
     Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry 
face.  The gleam faded from his eyes,  and they went dim and grey,  old  and  
tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back 
up towards  the  pass,  shaking  his head, as  if engaged in  some   interior  
debate. Then he came back, and  slowly  putting out  a trembling  hand, very 
cautiously he touched Frodo's knee  -- but almost the touch was a caress. For  
a fleeting moment,  could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have


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great violence  of  Sauron in  the torment  of Gorgoroth  beyond.  Still far 
ahead, and still high above, Frodo, looking up, saw, as he guessed, the very 
crown of  this  bitter road. Against the sullen redness of the eastern sky a  
cleft was outlined  in  the topmost ridge,  narrow, deep-cloven between  two


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to what  folk  inside a story and not outside it call a good  end. You know,  
coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same  -- like 
old Mr Bilbo.  But those aren't always  the best tales to  hear, though they 
may be the  best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale  we've 
fallen into?  ' 
     `I wonder,' said Frodo. 'But I don't know. And that's the way of a real 
tale. Take any one that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of 
a  tale it is, happy -ending or sad-ending, but the people  in it don't know.  
And you don't want them to.' 
     'No, sir, of course not. Beren now,  he  never thought he was  going to 
get that Silmaril from the  Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did,  and 
that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours.  But  that's  a  long 
tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it 
-- and the  Silmaril  went  on and  came to Edrendil. And why, sir, I  never


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####-utter and impenetrable dark. Not since the lightless passages  of  Moria had 
Frodo or  Sam known such darkness, and if  possible  here it was  deeper and 
denser. There,  there were airs moving,  and echoes,  and a sense  of space. 
Here the air was still, stagnant, heavy, and sound fell dead. They walked as 
it were  in a black vapour wrought of veritable darkness itsel f that, as  it 
was breathed,  brought blindness not only  to the  eyes but to the mind,  so 
that even the memory of colours and of  forms and of any light faded out  of 
thought. Night always had been, and always would be, and night was all. 
     But for a while  they could still feel, and  indeed the senses of their 
feet and fingers at first seemed sharpened almost painfully. The walls felt, 
to their surprise, smooth, and the floor, save for a step now and again, was 
straight and even, going ever  up  at the  same stiff slope. The  tunnel was


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asked him to have a wink; and well,  that's how it is. Sorry. But where have 
you been to? ' 
     `Sneaking,' said Gollum, and the green glint did not leave his  eyes. 
     'O very well,' said Sam, `have it your own way! I don't suppose it's so 
far  from the truth. And now  we'd  better all  be  sneaking along together. 
What's the time? Is it today or tomorrow? ' 
     'It's tomorrow,' said Gollum, 'or this  was  tomorrow when hobbits went 
to sleep. Very foolish, very dangerous-if poor Smjagol wasn't sneaking about 
to watch.' 
     `I think we shall  get tired  of that word soon,' said Sam. 'But  never  
mind.  I'll  wake master up.' Gently he smoothed the hair back  fr om Frodo's 
brow, and bending down spoke softly to him. 
     `Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up! ' 
     Frodo stirred  and  opened  his  eyes,  and  smiled, seeing Sam's  face 
bending over him.  `Calling me early  aren't you,  Sam?' he said. `It's dark 
still!  '


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dad. Why  didn't they put  in more of his talk, dad? That's  what I like, it 
makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn't have  got far without Sam, would he, 
dad? 
"  ' 
     `Now, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, 'you shouldn't make fun. I was serious. ' 
     `So  was I,' said Frodo, 'and so I am. We're  going on a bit  too fast. 
You and I, Sam, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it  is 
all too likely that some will say at this point: "Shut the book now, dad; we 
don't want to read any more." ' 
     `Maybe,' said Sam, 'but I wouldn't be one to say that.  Things done and 
over and made into part of the great  tales are  different. Why, even Gollum 
might be  good in a  tale,  better than he is to have by you, anyway. And he 
used to like  tales himself once, by his own  account. I wonder if he thinks 
he's the hero or the villain?  
     `Gollum!' he called. `Would  you like to be the hero  -- now where's  he 
got to again?'


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have to put up with his ways. If he's false, he's false.' 
     'All the same, I'd  rather have  him under  my eye,' said Sam. 'All the 
more so, if  he's false. Do you remember he never would say if this pass was 
guarded or no? And now we see a  tower there -- and it may be deserted,  and 
it may  not. Do  you think he's gone to fetch  them, Orcs  or  whatever they 
are?' 
     `No,  I  don't  think  so,'  answered Frodo.  'Even if he's up  to some 
wickedness, and I suppose that's not unlikely, I don't think it's  that: no t 
to  fetch Orcs,  or  any servants of the  Enemy.  Why wait till now,  and go 
through all the labour of the climb, and come so near the land  he fears? He 
could probably have  betrayed us to Orcs many times since we met him. No, if 
it's  anything,  it wil l  be some  little private trick of  his  own-that he 
thinks is quite secret.' 
     `Well,  I suppose  you're  right, Mr.  Frodo,'  said Sam.  'Not that it


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cautiously he touched Frodo's knee  -- but almost the touch was a caress. For  
a fleeting moment,  could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have 
thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had 
carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin,  and the fields and 
streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing. 
     But at that touch Frodo stirred and cried out softly in  his sleep, and 
immediately Sam was wide awake. The first thing he saw was Gollum  -- 
`pawing 
at master,' as he thought. 
     `Hey you!' he said roughly. `What are you up to?' 
     'Nothing, nothing,' said Gollum softly. `Nice Master!' 
     `I daresay,' said Sam. 'But where have you been to  -- sneaking off and 
sneaking back, you old villain? '


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tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it 
-- and the  Silmaril  went  on and  came to Edrendil. And why, sir, I  never  
thought of that before! We've got  -- you've got some  of  the light of it in 
that star-glass  that the Lady gave you! Why,   to  think of it, we're in the


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to their surprise, smooth, and the floor, save for a step now and again, was 
straight and even, going ever  up  at the  same stiff slope. The  tunnel was 
high  and  wide,  so wide  that,  though  the hobbits  walked abreast,  only 
touching the side-walls with their  outstretched hands, they were separated, 
cut off alone in the darkness.  
     Gollum had gone in first and seemed to be only a few steps ahead. While 
they were still able to give heed to such things, they could hear his breath 
hissing and  gasping just in  front of them.  But  after a time their senses 
became duller, both touch and hearing seemed to grow numb, and they kept on, 
groping, walking, on and on, mainly by the force of the will with which they 
had  entered, will to go through and desire to come at last to the high gate 
beyond.  
     Before  they  had gone  very far, perhaps, but time and  distance  soon 
passed out of  his reckoning, Sam on the right, feeling  the wall, was aware


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Frodo stirred  and  opened  his  eyes,  and  smiled, seeing Sam's  face 
bending over him.  `Calling me early  aren't you,  Sam?' he said. `It's dark 
still!  ' 
     'Yes  it's  always  dark here,' said  Sam. `But Gollum's come  back Mr. 
Frodo, and he says it's tomorrow. So we must be walking on. The last lap.' 
     Frodo drew a deep breath  and sat up. `The last lap! ' he said. 'Hullo, 
Smjagol! Found any food? Have you had any rest? ' 
     `No food, no rest, nothing for Smjagol,' said Gollum. `He's a sneak.' 
     Sam clicked his tongue, but restrained himself. 
     'Don't  take  names to  yourself,  Smjagol,'  said Frodo. 'It's  unwise 
whether they are true or false.' 
     `Smjagol has to take what's given  him,' answered Gollum. 'He was given 
that name by kind Master Samwise, the hobbit that knows so much.'


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####-hanging growths perhaps:  they could not tell what  they were. And still the 
stench grew. It grew, until almost it seemed to them that smell was the only 
clear sense left t¢  them. and  that was for their torment.  One  hour,  two 
hours,  three  hours: how many  had  they  passed  in  this  lightless  hole?  
Hours-days, weeks rather. Sam left the tunnel -side and shrank towards Frodo, 
and their hands met and clasped. and so together they still went on. 
     At length Frodo, groping along the  left-hand  wall, came suddenly to a  
void. Almost he fell sideways  into the emptiness. Here was some  opening in 
the rock far  wider than any  they had yet passed; and out of it came a reek  
so foul, and a sense of lurking malice so intense, that Frodo reeled. And at 
that moment Sam too lurched and fell forwards.  
     Fighting off both the sickness and  the fear, Frodo gripped Sam's hand. 
`Up!  ' he said in  a hoarse breath without  voice. 'It all comes from here,


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It  may indeed have been  daytime now, as Gollum said, but the  hobbits 
could see little difference, unless, perhaps, the heavy sky above  was  less 
utterly  black,  more like  a  great roof  of smoke; while  instead  of  the 
darkness  of deep night, which lingered still in  cracks and  holes, a  grey 
blurring shadow shrouded the stony world  about them. They passed on, 
Gollum 
in front and the hobbits  now side by side, up the long  ravine  between the 
piers  and columns of torn and wea thered  rock, standing like huge  unshapen 
statues on  either hand. There was no  sound. Some way ahead, a mile  or so,  
perhaps,   was  a  great  grey  wall,  a   last  huge  upthrusting  mass  of 
mountain-stone. Darker it loomed, and steadily it rose as  they  approached, 
until it towered up high above them, shutting  out the view of all that  lay 
beyond. Deep shadow lay before its feet. Sam sniffed the air.


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it's  anything,  it wil l  be some  little private trick of  his  own-that he 
thinks is quite secret.' 
     `Well,  I suppose  you're  right, Mr.  Frodo,'  said Sam.  'Not that it 
comforts me mightily. I don't make no  mistake:  I  don't doubt he'd hand me  
over  to Orcs  as  gladly  as kiss  his hand.  But  I was forgetting --  his 
Precious. No, I  suppose the  whole  time it's  been The  Precious for  poor 
Smjagol. That's the one idea in  all his little schemes, if he has any.  But 
how bringing us up here will help him in that is more than I can guess.' 
     'Very  likely  he can't guess himself,' said Frodo. `And I don't  think  
he's got just  one plain scheme in his muddled head. I think he really is in 
part trying to save the Precious from the Enemy. as long as he can. For that 
would be the last  disaster for himself too. if the Enemy got it. And in the 
other part, perhaps, he's just biding his time and waiting on chance.'


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####-knew  not what he had spoken; for it seemed that another voice spoke through 
his, clear, untroubled by the foul air of the pit. 
     But other  potencies  there are in  Middle-earth, powers of night,  and 
they are  old and strong. And She that  walked in the darkness had heard the 
Elves cry that cry far back in the deeps of time, and she had not heeded it, 
and it did  not daunt her now. Even as Frodo spoke he  felt  a great  malice 
bent upon him, and a deadly regard considering him. Not far down the tunnel, 
between them  and the  opening where  they  had reeled and stumbled, he  was 
aware of eyes  growing visible, two great clusters  of many-windowed eyes  -- 
the  coming menace was unmasked at last.  The radiance of the star -gla ss was 
broken and thrown back from their thousand  facets, but behind the glitter a  
pale deadly fire began steadily to glow within, a flame kindled in some deep 
pit of  evil thought. Monstrous and  abominable eyes they were, bestial  and


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beyond.  
     Before  they  had gone  very far, perhaps, but time and  distance  soon 
passed out of  his reckoning, Sam on the right, feeling  the wall, was aware 
that there was an opening at the side: for a moment he caught a faint breath 
of some air less heavy, and then they passed it by. 
     'There's more  than one passage here,'  he whispered with an effort: it 
seemed hard to make his breath give any  sound. `It's as orc-like a place as 
ever there could be! ' 
     After that, first he on  the right, and  then Frodo on the left, passed 
three or four such openings, some wider, some smaller; but  there was as yet 
no doubt of  the main way,  for it was straight, and did not turn, and still 
went steadily up. But how long was it, how much more of this would they have 
to  endure, or could they  endure? The breathlessness of the air was growing 
as they climbed; and now they seemed often  in the  blind dark to sense some


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####-approached, and the eyes began to quail. One by one they all went dark; they 
turned  away, and a great bulk,  beyond  the light's reach,  heaved its huge 
shadow in between. They were gone. 
     'Master, master!' cried Sam. He was close behind,  his own  sword drawn 
and ready. 'Stars  and glory!  But the Elves would make a song  of  that, if 
ever they heard of it! And may I live   to tell them and hear them sing.  But 
don't go  on, master. Don't go down to that den! Now's our only chance.  Now 
let's get out of this foul hole!' 
     And  so back they turned once more, first walking and then running; for  
as they  went the  floor  of   the tunnel rose steeply, and with every stride 
they climbed higher  above  the stenches  of  the  unseen lair, and strength 
returned  to  limb and  heart.  But still the hatred of  the  Watcher lurked 
behind  them, blind for a while,  perhaps,  but undefeated,  still  bent  on


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Fighting off both the sickness and  the fear, Frodo gripped Sam's hand. 
`Up!  ' he said in  a hoarse breath without  voice. 'It all comes from here, 
the stench and the peril. Now for it! Quick! ' 
     Calling up his remaining strength and resolution, he dragged Sam to his 
feet, and  forced his own limbs to move. Sam  stumbled beside him. One step, 
two steps, three steps-at last six steps. Maybe they had passed the dreadful 
unseen opening, but  whether  that was so  or not, suddenly it was easier to 
move,  as if  some  hostile will  for the moment  had  released  them.  They 
struggled on, still hand in hand. 
     But almost at once they came to a new difficulty. The tunnel forked, or  
so it  seemed, and in the dark they could  not tell wh ich was the wider way, 
or  which kept nearer to the straight. Which should they take, the  left, or  
the  right? They knew of  nothing  to guide  them, yet a false choice  would 
almost certainly be fatal.


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####-     Frodo looked at Sam. 'Yes sir,' he said. `I did use the word, waking up 
out of my sleep sudden and all  and finding him at hand. I said I was sorry, 
but I soon shan't be.' 
     'Come, let it pass then,' said Frodo. 'But now we seem to have  come to 
the point, you and  I, Smjagol. Tell me. Can we  find the rest of the way by 
ourselves?  We're in sight of  the pass, of a way in, and  if we can find it 
now, then I suppose our agreement can be said to be over. You have done what 
you promised,  and  you're free: free to go back to food  and rest, wherever  
you wish to  go, except to servants  of the Enemy. And one   day I may reward 
you, I or those that remember me.' 
     `No,  no,  not  yet,'  Gollum whined. `O no!  They  can't  find the way 
themselves, can they? O no indeed. There's the tunnel coming.  Smjagol  must  
go on. No rest. No food. Not yet.' 
 

####- 

Chapter 9. Shelob's Lair


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until it towered up high above them, shutting  out the view of all that  lay 
beyond. Deep shadow lay before its feet. Sam sniffed the air. 
     `Ugh! That smell!' he said. `It's getting stronger and stronger.' 
     Presently they were under the shadow, and there in the midst of it they 
saw the  opening  of a cave. `This is the way in,' said Gollum softly. `This 
is  the entrance to the tunnel.' He did  not speak its name:  Torech  Ungol, 
Shelob's Lair. Out of it came a stench, not the sickly odour of decay in the 
meads  of  Morgul, but a foul  reek,  as if filth  unnameable were piled and 
hoarded in the dark within. 
     `Is this the only way, Smjagol? ' said Frodo. 
     'Yes, yes,' he answered. 'Yes, we must go this way now.' 
     'D'you mean to say you've been through this hole?' said Sam. `Phew! But 
perhaps you don't mind bad smells.' 
     Gollum's  eyes  glinted. `He  doesn't  know  what  we  minds,  does  he


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pale deadly fire began steadily to glow within, a flame kindled in some deep 
pit of  evil thought. Monstrous and  abominable eyes they were, bestial  and  
yet filled with purpose  and with  hideous delight, gloating over their prey 
trapped beyond all hope of escape. 
     Frodo  and  Sam, horror -stricken, began slowly to back away,  their own 
gaze held by the dreadful stare of those baleful eyes; but as they backed so  
the eyes  advanced. Frodo's hand wavered, and slowly the Phial drooped. Then 
suddenly,  released from  the  holding spell to run  a little while  in vain 
panic for the amusement of the eyes, they both turned and fled together; but 
even as they ran Frodo looked back and saw with terror that at once the eyes 
came leaping up behind. The stench of death was like a cloud about him. 
     'Stand! stand! ' he cried desperately. `Running is no use.' 
     Slowly the eyes crept nearer. 
     `Galadriel! ' he called, and  gathering his  courage  he  lifted up the


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####-can feel something looking at us.' 
     They had not gone  more than a  few yards  when from behind them came a  
sound,  startling and horrible in  the  heavy  padded  silence: a  gurgling, 
bubbling noise, and  a  long  venomous hiss. They wheeled round, but nothing 
could be seen. Still as stones they stood, staring, waiting for they did not 
know what. 
     `It's  a trap!' said Sam, and he  laid his hand upon  the  hilt  of his 
sword; and  as he did so, he thought of the darkness of the barrow whence it  
came. 'I   wish  old  Tom was near us  now!' he  thought.  Then  as he stood, 
darkness  about him and a  blackness of  despair and  anger in his heart. it 
seemed  to him that he saw a  light:  a light in his mind, almost unbearably 
bright at first, as a sun-ray to the eyes of one long hidden in a windowless  
pit. Then  the light became colour: green,  gold, silver, white. Far off, as 
in  a  little  picture drawn  by  elven-fingers  he  saw  the Lady Galadriel


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returned  to  limb and  heart.  But still the hatred of  the  Watcher lurked 
behind  them, blind for a while,  perhaps,  but undefeated,  still  bent  on 
death. And  now there came  a  flow of air  to meet them, cold and thin. The 
opening, the tunnel's end, at last it was before them. Panting, yearning for  
a roofless place, they flung themselves forward, and  then in amazement they 
staggered, tumbling back. The outlet was blocked  with some barrier, but not 
of  stone: soft  and a  little  yielding  it  seemed,  and  yet  strong  and 
impervious; air filtered through, hut not a  glimmer of any light. Once more 
they charged and were hurled back. 
     Holding aloft the Phial Frodo looked and  before him he  saw a greyness 
which the radiance of the star-glass did not pierce  and did not illuminate, 
as  if it  were  a  shadow that  being cast  by  no  light,  no  light could 
dissipate. Across the  width and height of the  tunnel a  vast web was spun,


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would be the last  disaster for himself too. if the Enemy got it. And in the 
other part, perhaps, he's just biding his time and waiting on chance.' 
     'Yes, Slinker  and Stinker, as I've said before,'  said  Sam.  'But the 
nearer they get to the  Enemy's land the more like Stinker Slinker will get.


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####-     `No, not  to be seen,' said  Frodo.  `But  I still  feel  that they are 
looking at me,  or  thinking about me: making some  other plan,  perhaps. If 
this light were lowered, or if it failed, they would quickly come again.' 
     `Trapped in the end!  ' said Sam bitterly, his anger rising again above 
weariness and despair. `Gnats  in a net. May the curse of Faramir bite  that 
Gollum and bite him quick! ' 
     'That would not help us now,' said Frodo. `Come! Let us see what  Sting 
can  do. It is an elven-blade. There were webs of horror in the dark ravines 
of  Beleriand where it was forged.  But you must be the  guard and hold back 
the eyes. Here,  take  the  star -glass.  Do  not be afraid. Hold  it  up and 
watch!' 
     Then Frodo stepped up to the great grey  net, and hewed it  with a wide 
sweeping stroke,  drawing  the  bitter  edge  swiftly  across  a  ladder  of 
close-strung cords, and  at  once  springing  away. The  blue-gleaming blade


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or  which kept nearer to the straight. Which should they take, the  left, or  
the  right? They knew of  nothing  to guide  them, yet a false choice  would 
almost certainly be fatal. 
     `Which way has Gollum gone? ' panted Sam. 'And why didn't he wait? ' 
     `Smjagol!  ' said  Frodo,  trying  to  call. 'Smjagol! '  But his voice 
croaked, and the  name fell dead almost as  it left his lips.  There  was no 
answer, not an echo, not even a tremor of the air. 
     `He's really gone this time, I  fancy,'  muttered Sam. `I guess this is 
just exactly where  he meant to bring us. Gollum! If ever I lay hands on you  
again, you'll be sorry for it.' 
     Presently,  groping  and fumbling  in  the  dark, they  found  that the 
opening on the left wa s blocked: either it was  a blind, or else  some great 
stone had fallen in  the passage. 'This can't be the way,'  Frodo whispered. 
'Right or wrong, we must take the other.'


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'Stand! stand! ' he cried desperately. `Running is no use.' 
     Slowly the eyes crept nearer. 
     `Galadriel! ' he called, and  gathering his  courage  he  lifted up the 
Phial once more. The eyes  halted. For a moment  their regard relaxed, as if 
some hint of doubt troubled them. Then Frodo's heart flamed  within him, and 
without thinking what he did, whether it was folly or despair or  courage, he 
took the Phial in  his left  hand,  and  with his right hand drew his sword. 
Sting flashed out, and the sharp elven-blade  sparkled in the silver  light, 
but at  its edges a  blue fire  flicked. Then holding the star aloft and the 
bright sword advanced,  Frodo,  hobbit of the Shire, walked steadily down to 
meet the eyes. 
     They wavered. Doubt  came into them as the light approached. One by one 
they dimmed,  and  slowly they drew back. No brightness so  deadly  had ever  
afflicted  them  before. From sun  and  moon and star  they  had  been  safe


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sweeping stroke,  drawing  the  bitter  edge  swiftly  across  a  ladder  of 
close-strung cords, and  at  once  springing  away. The  blue-gleaming blade 
shore through them like a scythe through grass, and they  leaped and writhed 
and then hung loose. A great rent was made. 
     Stroke  after  stroke he dealt, until at last  all the  web within  his 
reach was shattered, and the upper portion blew and swayed like a loose veil  
in the incoming wind. The trap was broken. 
     `Come! ' cried Frodo. `On! On! ' Wild joy at their escape from the very 
mouth  of despair suddenly filled  all his mind. His head whirled as  with a  
draught of potent wine. He sprang out, shouting as he came. 
     It seemed light in that  dark land to his eyes  that had passed through 
the den of night. The great smokes had risen and grown thinner, and the last  
hours of a  sombre day were passing; the red glare of Mordor had died away in


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pit. Then  the light became colour: green,  gold, silver, white. Far off, as 
in  a  little  picture drawn  by  elven-fingers  he  saw  the Lady Galadriel 
standing on the  grass  in  Lurien,  and gifts  were  in her hands. And you, 
Ring-bearer, he  heard her say,  remote  but clear, for you  I have prepared  
this. 
     The bubbling hiss  drew nearer,  and there  was a  creaking as  of some 
great jointed thing that moved with slow purpose in the dark. A reek came on 
before it. 'Master, master!' cried Sam, and the  life and  urgency came back  
into his voice. 'The Lady's  gift! The star-glass! A light  to you  in  dark 
places, she said it was to be. The star-glass!  ' 
     `The star-glass?' muttered Frodo, as one answering out of sleep, hardly 
comprehending.  `Why  yes! Why had  I forgotten it? A  light when all  other 
lights go out! And now indeed light alone can help us.' 
     Slowly his hand went to his bosom, and slowly he held  aloft the  Phial


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opening on the left wa s blocked: either it was  a blind, or else  some great 
stone had fallen in  the passage. 'This can't be the way,'  Frodo whispered. 
'Right or wrong, we must take the other.' 
     'And quick! ' Sam panted. 'There's something worse than Gollum about. I


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####-imagining,  spring out in  pursuit. Too little did he or  his master know of 
the craft of Shelob. She had many exits from her  lair. 
     There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider -form, even such as 
once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under  
the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror  in Doriath, and so 
came to L®thien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight 
long 
ago. How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out  of the 
Dark  Years  few tales  have come. But still she was  there, who  was  there 
before Sauron, and before the first  stone of Barad-dyr; and she served none 
but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with 
endless  brooding on her  feasts,  weaving  webs of shadow;  for all  living 
things  were  her  food,  and her  vomit  darkness.  Far and wide her lesser


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as  if it  were  a  shadow that  being cast  by  no  light,  no  light could 
dissipate. Across the  width and height of the  tunnel a  vast web was spun, 
orderly as the web of some huge spider,  but  denser -woven  and far greater,  
and each thread was as thick as rope. 
     Sam  laughed grimly.  `Cobwebs! '  he said. `Is that all?  Cobwebs! But 
what a spider! Have at 'em, down with 'em! ' 
     In a fury he  hewed at  them with his  sword,  but  the thread  that he 
struck did  not break.  It gave a little and then sprang back like a plucked 
bowstring,  turning the blade and tossing up both sword and a rm. Three times 
Sam struck with all  his  force, and  at last  one single cord  of  all  the 
countless  cords snapped and twisted, curling and whipping through  the air.  
One end of it lashed Sam's hand, and he cried out in pain, starting back and 
drawing h is hand across his mouth. 
     `It will take days to clear the road like this,' he said. `What's to be


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to  endure, or could they  endure? The breathlessness of the air was growing 
as they climbed; and now they seemed often  in the  blind dark to sense some 
resistance  thicker  than  the  foul air. As they  thrust forward they  felt 
things brush against their heads, or against their hands, long tentacles, or


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lights go out! And now indeed light alone can help us.' 
     Slowly his hand went to his bosom, and slowly he held  aloft the  Phial 
of Galadriel. For a moment it glimmered, faint as  a rising star  struggling 
in heavy earthward  mists,  and then as its power waxed,  and hope  grew  in 
Frodo's  mind, it  began to  burn, and kindled to a  silver flame, a  minute 
heart of dazzling light, as though Edrendil  had himself come down  from the 
high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darkness receded 
from it until it seemed to shine in the  centre of a globe of  airy crystal, 
and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire. 
     Frodo gazed  in   wonder at this marvellous  gift  that  he  had so long 
carried, not guessing its full  worth and potency. Seldom had  he remembered 
it on the road, until they came to Morgul Vale, and never had he used it for  
fear of its revealing  light.  Aiya Edrendil Elenion Ancalima! he cried, and


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endless  brooding on her  feasts,  weaving  webs of shadow;  for all  living 
things  were  her  food,  and her  vomit  darkness.  Far and wide her lesser  
broods, bastards  of the miserable mates, her own offspring,  that she slew,  
spread from  glen to glen, from the Ephel D®ath to the eastern hills, to Dol 
Guldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood. But none could  rival her, Shelob the 
Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world. 
     Already,  years before, Gollum had beheld her, Smjagol  who  pried into 
all dark  holes, and in past days he had  bowed  and worshipped her, and the 
darkness of  her evil will  walked through  all  the ways of  his  weariness 
beside him, cutting  him off from light and from regret. And he had promised 
to bring  her food. But her lust was  not his lust. Little  she  knew of  or  
cared for towers, or  rings, or  anything devised by mind  or hand, who only


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####-the bones  and the empty garments, we  shall find it, we  shall  get it, the 
Precious, a reward for poor Smjagol who brings nice food. And we'll save the 
Precious, as we promised. O yes.  And when we've  got  it  safe, then She'll 
know  it,  O  yes,  then we'll  pay  Her back,  my precious. Then  we'll pay 
everyone back! ' 
     So he thought in an inner chamber of  his cunning, which he still hoped 
to hide from  her,  even when he  had come  to her  again and had bowed  low 
before her while his companions slept. 
     And as for Sauron: he  knew where she lurked. It pleased  him that  she 
should dwell there hungry but unabated in  malice,  a more  sure  watch upon 
that  ancient  path into his land than any  other  that his skill could have 
devised. And Orcs, they were useful  slaves, but he  had them in  plenty. If 
now and again Shelob caught them to stay  her  appetite, she was welcome: he 
could spare them. And sometimes as  a man may cast a dainty to  his cat (his


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they dimmed,  and  slowly they drew back. No brightness so  deadly  had ever  
afflicted  them  before. From sun  and  moon and star  they  had  been  safe 
underground,  but now a star  had descended  into  the  very earth. Still it


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####-gaining on him; already he was some twenty strides ahead, flitting on like a  
shadow; soon he would be lost to sight in that grey world. 
     Hardly had  Sam hidden the light  of  the star -glass  when she came.  A 
little way ahead and to his left he saw suddenly, issuing  from a black hole 
of  shadow under the cliff, the most loathly  shape that he had ever beheld, 
horrible beyond the horror of an evil dream. Most like a spider she was, but 
huger than  the great hunting beasts, and more terrible than they because of 
the evil  purpose  in her remorseless eyes.  Those  same  eyes  that  he had 
thought daunted and defeated, there  they were lit with a fell light  again, 
clustering in her out-thrust head. Great horns she had, and behind her short 
stalk -like neck was her huge swollen body,  a vast bloated bag, swaying  and 
sagging  between  her legs; its great  bulk was black,  blotched  with livid


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One end of it lashed Sam's hand, and he cried out in pain, starting back and 
drawing h is hand across his mouth. 
     `It will take days to clear the road like this,' he said. `What's to be 
done? Have those eyes come back? '


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'D'you mean to say you've been through this hole?' said Sam. `Phew! But 
perhaps you don't mind bad smells.' 
     Gollum's  eyes  glinted. `He  doesn't  know  what  we  minds,  does  he 
precious? No,  he  doesn't.  But Smjagol  can  bear things.  Yes.  He's been 
through. O yes, right through. It's the only way.' 
     `And what makes the smell, I  wonder,'  said Sam. `It's like  -- well, I 
wouldn't  like to say. Some beastly  hole of the  Orcs, I'll warrant, with a  
hundred years of their filth in it.' 
     'Well,'  said Frodo, 'Orcs or  no, if  it's the only  way, we must take 
it.' 
     Drawing a  deep breath they passed inside. In  a few steps they were in


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the den of night. The great smokes had risen and grown thinner, and the last  
hours of a  sombre day were passing; the red glare of Mordor had died away in 
sullen gloom. Yet it seemed to Frodo that he looked upon a morning of sudden 
hope. Almost he had reached  the  summit of the  wall. Only  a little higher  
now. The Cleft,  Cirith  Ungol, was before him, a dim  notch  in  the  black  
ridge, and the horns of rock darkling  in  the sky on either side.  A  short 
race, a sprinter's course and he would be through!  
     `The pass,  Sam! ' he  cried, not heeding the shrillness of  his voice, 
that  released  from  the choking airs of the  tunnel  rang out now high and 
wild. 'The  pass! Run, run, and we'll be  through-through before any one can 
stop us! ' 
     Sam came  up  behind as fast as he could  urge his legs; but glad as he 
was  to be free, he was uneasy, and as he ran, he kept on  glancing back  at


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stalk -like neck was her huge swollen body,  a vast bloated bag, swaying  and 
sagging  between  her legs; its great  bulk was black,  blotched  with livid 
marks, but  the belly underneath  was pale  and  luminous  and  gave forth a  
stench. Her legs were bent, with great  knobbed joints high  above her back, 
and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg's end  there was 
a claw. 
     As soon as she had  squeezed her  soft  squelching  body and its folded 
limbs out of the upper exit from her lair, she moved with a  horrible speed, 
now running on her creaking legs, now making a sudden bound. She was 
between 
Sam  and his master. Either she did  not see Sam, or she avoided him for the 
moment as  the bearer of the  light` and fixed all her intent upon one prey, 
upon Frodo,  bereft of  his Phial, running heedless up the path, unaware yet 
of his  peril. Swiftly he ran, but Shelob was  swifter;  in a few  leaps she 
would have him.


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####-beyond anything that Gollum had expected from this slow stupid hobbit, as he 
thought him.  Not Gollum  himself  could have twisted  more quickly  or more 
fiercely. His hold on Sam's mouth slipped, and Sam ducked and lunged 
forward 
again, trying to tear away from the grip on his neck. His sword was still in 
his hand, and on his   left arm,  hanging by  its thong, was Faramir's staff.  
Desperately  he tried to turn and stab his enemy. But Gollum  was too quick. 
His long right arm shot out, and he  grabbed  Sam's wrist:  his fingers were 
like a vice; slowly and relentlessly he bent the hand down and forward, till 
with a cry of pain Sam released the sword and it fell to the ground; and all 
the while Gollum's other hand was tightening on Sam's throat. 
     Then Sam played his last trick. With all his  strength  he  pulled away 
and got his feet firmly planted; then suddenly he drove his legs against the 
ground and with his whole force hurled himself backwards.


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now and again Shelob caught them to stay  her  appetite, she was welcome: he 
could spare them. And sometimes as  a man may cast a dainty to  his cat (his  
cat he calls her, but she owns him not) Sauron would send her prisoners that 
he had no better uses for: he would have them driven to her hole, and  report  
brought back to him of the play she made. 
     So  they  both lived, delighting in  their  own devices,  and feared no 
assault, nor wrath,  nor any end of their wickedness. Never yet had any  fly 
escaped from Shelob's webs, and the greater now was her rage and hunger. 
     But  nothing of this evil which they had stirred  up against  them  did 
poor Sam  know, except that a  fear  was growing on him, a menace  which  he 
could not see; and such a weight  did it  become that it was a burden to him 
to run, and his feet seemed leaden. 
     Dread was round him, and enemies before him in the pass, and his master


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####-the great bag of her belly high above Sam's head. Poison frothed and bubbled 
from  the wound. Now splaying her legs she drove her huge  bulk down  on 
him 
again.  Too  soon.  For Sam still stood upon his feet, and dropping  his own 
sword, with both hands he  held the  elven-blade  point upwards, fending off  
that ghastly roof; and  so  Shelob, with  the driving force of her own cruel 
will, with  strength greater than  any warrior's hand, thrust herself upon a  
bitter  spike.  Deep,  deep it pricked, as Sam was  crushed  slowly  to  the 
ground. 
     No such anguish  had  Shelob ever known, or dreamed of knowing, in  all 
her long  world of wickedness. Not the doughtiest soldier of old Gondor, nor  
the most savage Orc  entrapped, had ever thus  endured  her, or set blade to 
her beloved flesh. A shudder  went through her.  Heaving up again, wrenching 
away  from the  pain,  she  bent her writhing limbs  beneath  her and sprang 
backwards in a convulsive leap.


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to bring  her food. But her lust was  not his lust. Little  she  knew of  or  
cared for towers, or  rings, or  anything devised by mind  or hand, who only  
desired death for all others, mind and body, and for herself a glut of life. 
alone,  swollen  till  the  mountains  could no longer  hold her up and  the 
darkness could not contain her. 
     But that  desire  was yet far  away, and long  now had she been hungry, 
lurking  in  her den, while the power of  Sauron grew, and light and  living 
things forsook his borders; and the city in the valley was dead, and  no Elf 
or Man came near, only the unhappy Orcs. Poor  food  and  wary. But she must  
eat, and however busily  they delved new winding passages from  the pass and 
from their tower, ever she found  some way to snare them. But she lusted for  
sweeter meat. And Gollum had brought it to her. 
     `We'll see, we'll see,'  he  said often to himself, when the evil  mood


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upon Frodo,  bereft of  his Phial, running heedless up the path, unaware yet 
of his  peril. Swiftly he ran, but Shelob was  swifter;  in a few  leaps she 
would have him. 
     Sam gasped and gathered  all his  remaining breath  to shout. 'Look out 
behind!  ' he yelled.  'Look  out  master!  I'm'  -- but suddenly his cry was 
stifled. 
     A long clammy hand went over his mouth and  another caught  him  by the 
neck, while something wrapped itself about his leg.  Taken off  his guard he 
toppled backwards into the arms of his attacker. 
     `Got him! ' hissed Gollum in his ear. `At  last, my precious, we've got 
him, yes, the nassty hobbit. We takes this one. She'll get the other. O yes, 
Shelob will get him,  not Smjagol: he promised; he won't hurt Master at all. 
But he's got you, you nassty filthy little sneak!' He spat on Sam's neck. 
     Fury at the treachery, and desperation at the delay when his master was


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####-     And then his tongue was loosed and  his voice cried in a language which  
he did not know:  
     A Elbereth Gilthoniel 
     o menel palan-diriel, 
     le nallon sn di'nguruthos! 
     A tiro nin, Fanuilos! 
     And  with  that  he staggered  to  his feet and was Samwise the hobbit, 
Hamfast's son, again. 
     `Now come, you filth!' he cried. `You've hurt my master, you brute, and 
you'll pay for it. We're going on; but we'll settle with you first. Come on, 
and taste it again!' 
     As  if his indomitable spirit had set  its potency in motion, the glass 
blazed  suddenly like a white torch in his  hand. It flamed like a star that 
leaping from the firmament sears  the  dark  air with  intolerable light. No 
such terror out of heaven had ever burned in Shelob's face before. The beams 
of it entered into her wounded head  and scored it with unbearable pain, and 
the  dreadful  infection of light  spread  from  eye to  eye. She  fell back


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could not see; and such a weight  did it  become that it was a burden to him 
to run, and his feet seemed leaden. 
     Dread was round him, and enemies before him in the pass, and his master 
was in a fey mood  running  heedlessly to meet them. Turning  his  eyes away 
from the shadow behind and the deep  gloom  beneath the cliff upon his left, 
he looked  ahead, and he saw two things  that increased his  dismay.  He saw 
that the sword  which  Frodo still held unsheathed was glittering  with blue 
flame; and he saw that though the sky behind was now dark. still the  window 
in the tower was g lowing red. 
     `Orcs! '  he muttered. `We'll never rush  it  like  this.  There's Orcs 
about, and  worse than Orcs.' Then  returning  quickly to his  long habit of 
secrecy, he closed  his  hand about the precious Phial  which he still bore. 
Red  with his own living blood  his  hand  shone for  a moment, and then  he


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and got his feet firmly planted; then suddenly he drove his legs against the 
ground and with his whole force hurled himself backwards. 
     Not  expecting  even this simple trick from Sam, Gollum fell  over with 
Sam on top, and he received the weight of the sturdy hobbit in  his stomach.  
A sharp hiss came out  of him, and  for a second his hand upon  Sam's throat 
loosened;  but his  fingers still gripped the sword-hand. Sam  tore  himself 
forward  and  away,  and stood up, and then  quickly he wheeled away  to his 
right,  pivoted on the  wrist held by Gollum.  Laying hold of the staff with 
his  left hand,  Sam swung it up, and down it came with a whistling crack on 
Gollum's outstretched arm, just below the elbow.  
     With a squeal Gollum let go. Then  Sam  waded in; not waiting to change  
the staff from left to right he dealt another savage blow. Quick as  a snake 
Gollum slithered  aside. and the stroke aimed at his head  fell  across  his


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her beloved flesh. A shudder  went through her.  Heaving up again, wrenching 
away  from the  pain,  she  bent her writhing limbs  beneath  her and sprang 
backwards in a convulsive leap. 
     Sam had fallen to his knees by Frodo's head, his senses  reeling in the 
foul stench, his two hands still gripping the hilt of the sword. Through the 
mist before his eyes he was  aware  dimly of Frodo's face  and stubbornly he 
fought to  master himself and to drag himself out of the swoon that was upon 
him.  Slowly  he raised his head and saw her, only  a few paces away, eyeing 
him, her beak drabbling a spittle of venom,  and a green ooze trickling from 
below her wounded eye. There she crouched, her shuddering belly splayed 
upon 
the ground,  the great bows of her legs quivering, as she  gather ed  herself 
for another spring-this time to crush  and sting to death: no little bite of 
poison to  still the struggling of  her meat; this time  to slay and then to 
rend.


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stop us! ' 
     Sam came  up  behind as fast as he could  urge his legs; but glad as he 
was  to be free, he was uneasy, and as he ran, he kept on  glancing back  at 
the dark  arch of the tunnel, fearing to see eyes, or some  shape beyond his


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sweeter meat. And Gollum had brought it to her. 
     `We'll see, we'll see,'  he  said often to himself, when the evil  mood 
was on him, as he walked the  dangerous road from  Emyn Muil to Morgul 
Vale, 
'we'll see. It may well be, O yes, it may well be  that when She throws away


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secrecy, he closed  his  hand about the precious Phial  which he still bore. 
Red  with his own living blood  his  hand  shone for  a moment, and then  he 
thrust  the revealing light deep into  a pocket near his breast and drew his 
elven-cloak about him.  Now he tried  to  quicken his pace.  His master  was


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of it entered into her wounded head  and scored it with unbearable pain, and 
the  dreadful  infection of light  spread  from  eye to  eye. She  fell back  
beating  the air with her  forelegs, her   sight blasted by inner lightnings,  
her  mind  in agony. Then turning her maimed head away, she rolled aside and 
began to crawl, claw by claw, towards the opening in the dark cliff behind. 
     Sam came  on. He was reeling like a drunken man,  but he came  on.  And 
Shelob cowed at last, shrunken in defeat, jerked and quivered  as she  tried 
to  hasten from him. She  reached  the hole,  and  squeezing down, leaving a  
trail of green-yellow slime, she slipped in, even as Sam hewed a last stroke 
at her dragging legs. Then he fell to the ground. 
     Shelob was  gone; and  whether she lay  long in her  lair, nursing  her  
malice  and her misery, and  in slow years of darkness  healed  herself from 
within, rebuilding her clustered eyes, until with hunger like death she spun


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####-listening in vain. 
     Then as quickly as he could he  cut away the binding cords and laid his 
head upon  Frodo's  breast and to his mouth, but  no stir of life  could  he 
find, nor  feel  the  faintest flutter of  the  heart. Often  he chafed  his 
master's hands and feet, and touched his brow, but all were cold. 
     `Frodo, Mr. Frodo! ' he called. 'Don't leave me here alone!  It's  your 
Sam calling. Don't go  where I can't follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo!  O wake up, 
Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!' 
     Then anger surged over hint,  and he ran  about his master's body in  a  
rage,  stabbing the air,  and smiting the  stones, and shouting  challenges.  
Presently he came back, and bending looked at Frodo's face, pale beneath him 
in the  dusk.  And  suddenly  he  saw that he was  in the  picture  that was 
revealed to him in the mirror of Galadriel in Lurien: Frodo with a pale face 
lying fast asleep under  a great  dark cliff. Or fast asleep he had  thought


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for another spring-this time to crush  and sting to death: no little bite of 
poison to  still the struggling of  her meat; this time  to slay and then to 
rend. 
     Even  as Sam himself crouched, looking at her, seeing  his death in her  
eyes,  a  thought came  to him, as  if some remote voice had  spoken. and he 
fumbled in his breast with his left hand, and found what he sought: cold and 
hard  and  solid  it seemed to  his touch  in a phantom world of horror, the 
Phial of Galadriel. 
     'Galadr iel!  ' he said  faintly, and  then he heard voices far off  but 
clear: the crying of the Elves as they walked under the stars in the beloved 
shadows of the  Shire, and  the music  of the Elves as  it came  through his 
sleep in the Hall of Fire in the house of Elrond. 
     Gilthoniel A Elbereth!


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the staff from left to right he dealt another savage blow. Quick as  a snake 
Gollum slithered  aside. and the stroke aimed at his head  fell  across  his 
back. The staff  cracked and broke.  That was  enough for him. Grabbing from 
behind  was an old game of his,  and  seldom  had he failed in it.  But this 
time,  misled by spite,  he  had made the  mistake  of speaking and gloating 
before he had  both hands on his  victim's  neck. Everything  had gone wrong 
with  his beautiful plan,  since that horrible  light  had  so  unexpectedly 
appeared in the darkness. And now he was face to face with a furious  enemy, 
little less than his own size. This fight was not for him. Sam  swept up his 
sword from the ground and raised it. Gollum squealed , and springing aside on 
to all fours, he  jumped away in one big bound like a frog. Before Sam could 
reach him, he was off, running with amazing speed back towards the tunnel.


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####-might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They didn't choose themselves.' 
     `Ah well, I must make up my  own mind. I  will  make it up. But I'll be 
sure to go wrong: that'd be Sam Gamgee all over. 
     'Let  me see  now:  if we're found here, or Mr. Frodo's found, and that 
Thing's on him,  well, the Enemy  will  get it. And that's the end of all of 
us, of Lorien, and  Rivendell, and the Shire and all. And there s no time to 
lose,  or it'll  be the end anyway.  The war's begun, and  more than  likely 
things are all going the Enemy's way  already. No  chance to go back with It  
and  get advice or permission.  No, it's sit here till they come and kill me 
over master's body, and gets It: or take It and go.'  He drew a deep breath. 
'Then take It, it is! ' 
     He stooped. Very gently he undid  the clasp at the neck and slipped his 
hand inside Frodo's tunic;  then with his other  hand raising the  head,  he 
kissed the cold forehead, and softly drew the chain over  it.  And  then the


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malice  and her misery, and  in slow years of darkness  healed  herself from 
within, rebuilding her clustered eyes, until with hunger like death she spun 
once more her dreadful snares in the glens of the Mountains of  Shadow, this 
tale does not tell. 
     Sam was left alone. Wearily, as the evening  of the Nameless Land  fell 
upon the place of battle, he crawled back to his master. 
     'Master, dear master,' he said, but Frodo did not  speak. As he had run 
forward, eager, rejoicing  to be  free,  Shelob  with hideous speed had come 
behind and with one swift stroke had stung him in the neck. He lay now pale, 
and heard no voice. and did not move. 
     `Master, dear  master! ' said Sam, and through  a long  silence waited.


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revealed to him in the mirror of Galadriel in Lurien: Frodo with a pale face 
lying fast asleep under  a great  dark cliff. Or fast asleep he had  thought 
then. `He's dead! ' he said. 'Not asleep, dead! ' And  as he  said it, as if 
the words had set the venom to its work again. it seemed to him that the hue 
of the face grew livid green. 
     And  then black despair came down  on him, and Sam bowed to the ground, 
and drew his grey hood over his head, and night came into  his heart, and he 
knew no more. 
     When at last the blackness passed, Sam looked up and shadows were about 
him; but for how many  minutes or  hours the world had  gone dragging on  he 
could not  tell. He was still in  the  same place,  and still his master lay 
beside him dead. The mountains had not crumbled  nor  the earth fallen  into 
ruin. 
     'What shall I do, what shall I do? ' he said.  `Did I come all this way 
with h im for  nothing? ' And then he remembered his own voice speaking 
words


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####-long flight of broad shallow steps. Now the orc-tower  was right  above him, 
frowning black, and in it the red eye  glowed. Now he was hidden in the dark 
shadow under it. He was coming to the top of  the steps and was in the Cleft  
at last. 
     'I've made up  my  mind,' he kept saying to himself.  But  he  had not. 
Though  he  had done his best  to  think it  out,  what  he  was  doing  was 
altogether against the grain  of his nature.  `Have  I  got it  wrong? '  he 
muttered. `What ought I to have done? ' 
     As the sheer sides of the Cleft closed about him, before he reached the 
actual summit,  before  he looked  at last on the  path descending into  the 
Nameless Land. he turned. For a moment, motionless  in intolerable doubt, he 
looked back. He could still see, like a small blot in  the gathering  gloom, 
the mouth  of the tunnel; and he thought he could see or  guess where  Frodo  
lay. He fancied there was a glimmer on the ground  down there, or perhaps it


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to all fours, he  jumped away in one big bound like a frog. Before Sam could 
reach him, he was off, running with amazing speed back towards the tunnel.  
     Sword in  hand  Sam  went  after him.  For the  moment he had forgotten  
everything else but the red fury in his brain and the desire to kill Gollum.


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But he's got you, you nassty filthy little sneak!' He spat on Sam's neck. 
     Fury at the treachery, and desperation at the delay when his master was 
in  deadly  peril, gave  to Sam  a sudden violence and strength that was far


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hand inside Frodo's tunic;  then with his other  hand raising the  head,  he 
kissed the cold forehead, and softly drew the chain over  it.  And  then the 
head lay quietly back again in rest. No change came over the still face, and 
by that  more than by all  other tokens Sam was convinced at last that Frodo  
had died and laid aside the Quest. 
     `Good-bye, master,  my dear! ' he  murmured. 'Forgive  your Sam.  He'll 
come back to  this spot when  the job's done  -- if  he manages it. And then 
he'll  not leave  you again. Rest  you quiet  till  I  come; and may no foul 
creature come anigh you! And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, 
I would wish to come back and find you again. Good-bye!  ' 
     And then he bent his own  neck and put the chain upon  it, and  at once 
his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of  the Ring, as if a great 
stone  had been strung on him. But slowly, as if the weight became  less, or


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####-not dark but vague; while he himself was there in  a grey hazy world, alone,  
like a small black solid rock and the Ring, weighing down his left hand, was 
like an orb of hot gold. He did not feel invisible at  all, but horribly and 
uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye was searching for him. 
     He heard the  crack of stone, and the murmur of water far off in Morgul 
Vale;  and down away under the rock the bubbling misery  of Shelob, groping, 
lost in some blind passage; and voices in the dungeons of the tower; and the 
cries of the Orcs  as they came out of the tunnel; and deafening, roaring in 
his ears, the crash of the feet  a nd the  rending clamour of the Orcs before 
him.  He  shrank  against the cliff. But  they marched  up  like  a  phantom 
company,  grey distorted  figures in a mist, only  dreams of  fear with pale 
flames in their hands. And they passed him  by. He  cowered , trying to creep  
away into some cranny and to hide.


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ruin. 
     'What shall I do, what shall I do? ' he said.  `Did I come all this way 
with h im for  nothing? ' And then he remembered his own voice speaking 
words 
that at the time he  did not  understand  himself, at the beginning of their 
journey: I have something to do before the end. I must see  it through, sir, 
if you understand . 
     `But what can I do? Not leave  Mr. Frodo dead, unburied on  the  top of 
the mountains, and go home? Or go on? Go on?' he repeated, and for  a 
moment 
doubt and fear  shook him. `Go on?  Is  that what I've  got to do? And leave 
him?' 
     Then at last he began to weep; and going to Frodo he composed his body,


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the mouth  of the tunnel; and he thought he could see or  guess where  Frodo  
lay. He fancied there was a glimmer on the ground  down there, or perhaps it 
was some trick of his tears, as he peered out at that high stony place where 
all his life had fallen in ruin. 
     'If only I could have my wish, my one wish,' he sighed, `to go back and 
find him! '  Then  at last he turned to  the  road in front and took  a  few 
steps: the heaviest and the most reluctant he had ever taken. 
     Only a few steps; and now only a  few more and  he would be going  down 
and would never see that high place again. And then suddenly  he heard cries 
and voices. He stood still as  stone.  Orc-voices. They were behind him  and 
before him.  A noise of tramping feet and harsh shouts:  Orcs were coming up 
to  the  Cleft from the  far side, from  some entry to  the tower,  perhaps.  
Tramping feet and shouts behind. He  wheeled round. He saw small red lights,


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Frodo was lying face upward  on the ground and the monster  was bending 
over  him, so intent  upon her victim  that she took  no heed of Sam and his 
cries, until  he was close at  hand. As he rushed up he  saw that Frodo  was 
already  bound  in  cords, wound about him from ankle to  shoulder,  and the  
monster with her great forelegs was beginning half to lift, half to drag his 
body away. 
     On  the near side of him lay, gleaming on  the ground, his elven-blade,  
where it had fallen useless from his grasp. Sam did not wait to  wonder wha t  
was to be  done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage.  He 
sprang  forward with a yell, and seized his master's sword in his left hand. 
Then he charged.  No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world 
of beasts; where  some  desperate  small creature  armed with  little  teeth 
alone,  will  spring  upon a tower of horn and  hide that  stands above  its 
fallen mate.


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####-the blood run cold. It could not be borne. He  sprang up. He flung the Quest  
and all his decisions away, and fear and doubt with them.  He knew now where 
his place was  and had been: at  his master's side, though what he  could do 
there  was not clear. Back  he  ran down the  steps, down the  path  towards 
Frodo. 
     `How many are there?'  he  thought. `Thirty or forty  from the tower at 
least, and  a  lot more than  that  from down below, I guess. How many can I 
kill before they get  me? They'll see the flame of  the  sword, as soon as I 
draw it, and they'll get me  sooner or later. I wonder if any song will ever  
mention it: How Samwise  fell  in  the High Pass and made  a wall of  bodies 
round his master. No,  no song. Of course not, for the Ring'll be found, and 
there'll be  no more songs. I can't help it. My place is  by Mr. Frodo. They 
must understand that  --  Elrond  and the Council, and  the  great Lords and


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####-But before he could overtake him, Gollum  was gone. Then  as the  dark  hole 
stood before him and the stench came out to meet him, like a clap of thunder  
the thought of Frodo  and the monster  smote upon Sam's mind. He spun round, 
and rushed wildly up the path, calling and calling his master's name. He was 
too late. So far Gollum's plot had succeeded. 
 

####- 

Chapter 10. The Choices of Master Samwise


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his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of  the Ring, as if a great 
stone  had been strung on him. But slowly, as if the weight became  less, or  
new strength grew in him, he raised his  head, and then with a  great effort 
got to his feet and found that  he could walk and bear his burden. And for a  
moment he lifted up the Phial  and looked down at his master,  and the light  
burned gently  now with the soft radiance of the evening-star in summer, and 
in that light Frodo's face was fair of hue again, pale but beautiful with an 
elvish beauty,  as of one who has  long  passed the  shadows. And  with  the  
bitter comfort of that last sight Sam  turned and hid the light and stumbled 
on into the growing dark. 
     He  had not far to go.  The  tunnel was some way  behind;  the  Cleft a  
couple of hundred yards ahead, or less. The path was visible in  the dusk` a  
deep rut worn in  ages of  passage,  running  now gently up in a long trough


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company,  grey distorted  figures in a mist, only  dreams of  fear with pale 
flames in their hands. And they passed him  by. He  cowered , trying to creep  
away into some cranny and to hide. 
     He listened.  The Orcs from the tunnel and the others marching down had 
sighted one another,  and  both parties were now hurrying  and  shouting. He 
heard them both clearly, and he understood what they  said. Perhaps the Ring 
gave understanding of tongues,  or simply  understanding, especially  of the  
servants  of  Sauron  its maker, so that if he gave heed,  he understood and 
translated  the thought  to himself. Certainly the Ring had grown greatly in 
power  as it approached the places of its forging; but one  thing it did not 
confer, and that  was courage. At present Sam  still thought only of hiding, 
of lying low till all  was quiet again; and he listened anxiously. He  could 
not tell how near the voices were, the words seemed almost in his ears.


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of beasts; where  some  desperate  small creature  armed with  little  teeth 
alone,  will  spring  upon a tower of horn and  hide that  stands above  its 
fallen mate. 
     Disturbed as if out of some gloating dream by his small yell she turned 
slowly the dreadful malice of her glance upon him. But almost before she was 
aware that a fury was upon her greater than any she  had known in  countless 
years,  the shining sword  bit upon her  foot  and shore away  the claw. Sam 
sprang in, inside the arches of  her legs, and  with a quick  upthrust of his 
other hand stabbed at  the clustered eyes upon her lowered  head. One  great 
eye went dark. 
     Now  the miserable creature was right under her, for the  moment out of 
the reach of her  sting and of her claws.  Her vast belly was above him with 
its putrid light, and the stench of it almost smote him down. Still his fury 
held for  one more blow, and  before she could sink upon him, smothering him


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####-and folded his cold hands upon his breast,  and wrapped his cloak about him; 
and he laid  his own sword at one side, and the staff that Faramir had given 
at the other. 
     'If I'm  to  go on,' he  said,  `then  I must take your sword,  by your 
leave, Mr. Frodo, but I'll put this one to lie by you, as it lay by the  old 
king in the barrow; and you've got your beautiful mithril coat from  old Mr. 
Bilbo. And  your star-glass, Mr. Frodo, you did lend it to me and I'll  need 
it, for I'll be  always in the dark now. It's too good  for me, and the Lady 
gave it  to you, but maybe she'd understand. Do  you  understand, Mr. Frodo? 
I've got to go on.' 
     But he could not  go, not yet. He knelt and held Frodo's hand and could 
not release it. And time went  by and  still he knelt, holding  his master's 
hand, and in his heart keeping a debate. 
     Now he tried to find strength to tear himself  away and go  on a lonely


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to  the  Cleft from the  far side, from  some entry to  the tower,  perhaps.  
Tramping feet and shouts behind. He  wheeled round. He saw small red lights, 
torches, winking away below there as they  issued  from the tunnel. At  last  
the hunt was up. The red eye of the tower had not been blind. He was caught. 
     Now the flicker of approaching torches and the clink of steel ahead was 
very near. In a  minute they would reach the top and be on  him. He had taken 
too long in making up his mind, and now it was no good. How could he escape, 
or save himself, or save the Ring? The Ring. He was not aware of any thought 
or  decision. He simply found himself drawing  out the  chain and taking the 
Ring in his hand.  The head of  the  orc-company appeared in the Cleft right  
before him. Then he put it on. 
     The world changed, and a single moment of time was filled with an  hour  
of thought. At once he was aware that  hearing was sharpened while sight was


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####-sleeve across his face, wiping away the grime, and sweat, and tears.  'Curse 
the filth! ' he said, and sprang after them into the darkness.  
     It no longer seemed very dark to him in the tunnel, rather it was as if 
he  had  stepped out of  a thin mist into  a heavier fog. His  weariness was 
growing but his will  hardened  all the more. He thought  he  could  see the 
light of torches a little way ahead, but try as he would, he could not catch 
them up. Orcs go fast in tunnels, and this  tunnel  they  knew well.; for in 
spite of Shelob they were forced  to use it  often as the swiftest  way from 
the Dead City over the mountains. In  what far -off time  the main tunnel and 
the great round  pit had been  made, where Shelob had  taken up her abode in 
ages past. they did not  know: but many byways they  had  themselves  delved 
about in on either side, so as to escape the lair in their goings to and fro


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####-not.  But there's no  doubt about it, they're troubled about something.  The 
Nazgyl  down below are, by your account; and Lugb®rz is too. Something 
nearly 
slipped.' 
     `Nearly, you say! ' said Gorbag. 
     `All right,' said Shagrat, `but we'll  talk of that later: Wait till we 
get to the Under -way.  There's a place there where  we can talk a bit, while 
the lads go on.' 
     Shortly  afterwards  Sam saw the  torches  disappear. Then there  was a  
rumbling noise, and just as he hurried up, a bump. As far as  he could guess 
the Orcs  had turned and gone into the very opening which Frodo  and  he  had 
tried and found blocked. It was still blocked. 
     There  seemed to be a  great stone  in  the  way,  but the Orcs had got 
through somehow, for he could hear their voices on the other side. They were 
still running  along, deeper and deeper into the mountain,  back towards the 
tower. Sam felt desperate. They were carrying off his master's body for some


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of lying low till all  was quiet again; and he listened anxiously. He  could 
not tell how near the voices were, the words seemed almost in his ears.  
     'Hola! Gorbag! What are you doing up here? Had enough of war already? ' 
     'Orders, you lubber. And what are  you doing, Shagrat? Tired of lurking 
up there? Thinking of coming down to fight? ' 
     'Orders to  you.  I'm in command  of this pass.  So speak civil. What's 
your report?  ' 
     'Nothing.' 
     `Hai!  hai! yoi!'  A yell  broke into the exchanges of the leaders. The 
Orcs lower down  had  suddenly seen something. They began to run. So did the 
others. 
     `Hai! Hola! Here's something! Lying right in  the road. A spy, a spy! ' 
There was a hoot of snarling horns and a babel of baying voices.  
     With a dreadful stroke Sam was wakened from his cowering mood. They 
had 
seen  his master. What would they do? He had heard tales of the Orcs to make


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couple of hundred yards ahead, or less. The path was visible in  the dusk` a  
deep rut worn in  ages of  passage,  running  now gently up in a long trough 
with cliffs on either side. The trough narrowed rapidly. Soon Sam came  to a


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its putrid light, and the stench of it almost smote him down. Still his fury 
held for  one more blow, and  before she could sink upon him, smothering him 
and all his little impudence of courage, he  slashed  the bright elven-blade 
across her with desperate strength. 
     But Shelob was not as dragons are, no softer spot had she save only her 
eyes.  Knobbed  and pitted  with corruption  was her  age-old hide, but ever  
thickened from within with  layer on layer of evil  growth. The blade scored 
it with a dreadful gash, but those hideous folds could not be pierced by any 
strength of men, not though Elf or Dwarf should  forge the steel or the hand  
of Beren or of T®rin wield it. She yielded to the stroke, and then heaved up


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before him. Then he put it on. 
     The world changed, and a single moment of time was filled with an  hour  
of thought. At once he was aware that  hearing was sharpened while sight was 
dimmed, but otherwise than in  Shelob's  lair. All things about him now were


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ages past. they did not  know: but many byways they  had  themselves  delved 
about in on either side, so as to escape the lair in their goings to and fro 
on  the business of their masters.  Tonight they  did not intend to  go  far 
down. but  were  hastening to find  a side-passage  that  led back  to their 
watch-tower on  the cliff. Must of  them were gleeful,  delighted with  what 
they had found and seen, and as they ran they gabbled and yammered after the 
fashion of their kind. Sam heard the  noise  of their harsh voices, flat and 
hard in the dead air, and he could distinguish two voices from among all the 
rest: they were louder, and nearer to him. The  captains of the  two parties 
seemed to  be bringing up the rear, debating as they went. 
     'Can't you  stop your rabble  making such a racket, Shagrat? '  grunted 
the one. `We don't want Shelob on us.' 
     `Go on, Gorbag! Yours are  making  more than half the noise,'  said the


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still running  along, deeper and deeper into the mountain,  back towards the 
tower. Sam felt desperate. They were carrying off his master's body for some 
foul purpose and he could not follow. He thrust and pushed at the block, and 
he  threw himself against it, but it did not  yield. Then not far inside, or 
so he thought,  he  heard the two captains' voices talking  again.  He stood 
still  listening  for a little  hoping  perhaps  to learn something  useful. 
Perhaps Gorbag, who seemed to belong to Minas Morgul, would come out, and 
he 
could then slip in. 
     `No,  I  don't  know,' said  Gorbag's voice. `The messages  go  through 
quicker  than anything could fly, as a rule. But I  don't  enquire how  it's 
done. Safest not to. Grr! Those Nazgyl give me the creeps. And they skin the 
body off you as soon as  look at you, and leave  you all cold in the  dark on 
the  other side. But He likes 'em;  they're His favourites nowadays, so it's


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####-bosses.' 
     'Ah! ' said Shagrat. `Like old times.' 
     `Yes,' said Gorbag. 'But don't count on it. I'm not easy in my mind. As 
I  said, the Big Bosses, ay,' his voice  sank almost to a whisper, `ay, even 
the  Biggest,  can  make mistakes. Something  nearly slipped you say. I say, 
something has slipped. And we've got to  look out. Always the poor  Uruks to 
put slips right, and small thanks. But don't forget: the enemies don't  love 
us  any more than they love Him, and if they get topsides on Him, we're done 
too. But see here: when were you ordered out? ' 
     `About an hour ago,  just  before you  saw us.  A message  came: Nazgyl 
uneasy. Spies feared on Stairs. Double vigilance. Patrol to  head of Stairs. 
I came at once.' 
     'Bad business,'  said Gorbag.  `See  here  -- our Silent  Watchers were 
uneasy more than two days ago. that I know. But my patrol wasn't ordered out 
for another  day, nor any message sent to Lugb®rz either: owing to the Great


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there'll be  no more songs. I can't help it. My place is  by Mr. Frodo. They 
must understand that  --  Elrond  and the Council, and  the  great Lords and 
Ladies with all their wisdom. Their plans  have gone wrong. I can't be their 
Ring-bearer. Not without Mr. Frodo.' 
     But the  Orcs were  out  of his dim sight now. He  had  had no  time to 
consider himself, but now he  realized  that he was  weary, weary almost  to  
exhaustion: his legs would not carry him as he wished. He was  too slow. The 
path seemed miles long. Where had they all got to in the mist?  
     There they were  again!  A good way  ahead still. A cluster of  figures 
round something lying on the ground; a few seemed to be darting this way and 
that, bent like dogs on a trail. He tried to make a spurt. 
     'Come on, Sam!  ' he said, `or you'll be too late  again.' He  loosened 
the sword in its sheath. In a minute he would draw it, and then--


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not release it. And time went  by and  still he knelt, holding  his master's 
hand, and in his heart keeping a debate. 
     Now he tried to find strength to tear himself  away and go  on a lonely 
journey -- for vengeance. If once he could go, his anger  would bear him down 
all the roads of the world, pursuing, until he had him at last: Gollum. Then 
Gollum would die in a corner. But that was not what he had set out to do. It 
would  not be  worth while to leave his master for  that. It would not bring 
him back. Nothing would. They had better both be dead together. And that too 
would be a lonely journey. 
     He  looked on  the bright point of the sword. He thought  of the places 
behind where there  was a black brink  and an  empty  fall into nothingness.  
There  was no  escape  that way. That was to do nothing, not even to grieve.  
That was not what he had set  out to do. 'What am  I to  do then? ' he cried


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####-message came.  I thought  her  Sneak had  brought her a toy. or  that  you'd 
perhaps  sent  her a present,  a  prisoner  of  war  or  something. I  don't 
interfere  when  she's pla ying.  Nothing gets by  Shelob  when  she's on the 
hunt.' 
     'Nothing, say you! Didn't you use your eyes back there? I tell you  I'm 
not easy in my mind. Whatever came up the Stairs, did  get by. It cut her web  
and got clean out of the hole. That's something to think about! ' 
     `Ah well, but she got him in the end, didn't she? ' 
     `Got him? Got who? This little fellow? But if  he was the only one then 
she'd have had him off to her larder long before, and there he'd be now. And 
if Lugb®rz wanted him, you'd  have to go and get him. Nice for you. But there 
was more than one.' 
     At this point Sam began to listen  more attentively and pressed his ear 
against the stone. 
     'Who cut the cords she'd  put round  him, Shagrat? Same one  as cut the


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####-about something else.' 
     `It's my guess you won't find much in that little fellow,' said Gorbag. 
'He may have had nothing to  do  with the real mischief. The big fellow with 
the sharp sword doesn't seem to have thought him  worth much  anyhow  -- just  
left him lying: regular elvish trick.' 
     `We'll see. Come on now! We've talked enough. Let's go  and have a look 
at the prisoner! 
     `What  are  you going to do with him? Don't forget I spotted him first. 
If there's any game, me and my lads must be in it.' 
     'Now, now,' growled  Shagrat. 'I  have my  orders. And it's more than my 
belly's worth, or yours, to break 'em. Any trespasser found by the  guard is 
to  be held at the  tower. Prisoner is  to be stripped. Full description  of 
every  article, garment, weapon,  letter,  ring. or trinket is to be sent to 
Lugb®rz at once, and to  Lugb®rz only . And  the prisoner is to be  kept safe


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uneasy more than two days ago. that I know. But my patrol wasn't ordered out 
for another  day, nor any message sent to Lugb®rz either: owing to the Great 
Signal going up, and the High Nazgyl going off to the war, and all that. And 
then they couldn't get Lugb®rz to pay attention for a good while, I'm told.' 
     `The Eye  was busy elsewhere,  I  suppose,'  said Shagrat.  `Big things 
going on away west, they say.' 
     'I daresay,' growled Gorbag.  `But in the meantime enemies  have got up 
the Stairs. And what were you up to? You're  supposed to  keep watch, aren't 
you, special orders or no? What are you for?' 
     `That's enough! Don't try and teach me my job. We were awake all right.  
We knew there were funny things going on.' 
     `Very funny!  ' 
     `Yes, very funny: lights  and  shouting and all. But Shelob was on  the 
go. My lads saw her and her Sneak.' 
     `Her Sneak? What's that? ' 
     `You  must  have  seen  him:  little thin  black  fellow; like a spider


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body off you as soon as  look at you, and leave  you all cold in the  dark on 
the  other side. But He likes 'em;  they're His favourites nowadays, so it's 
no use grumbling. I tell you, it's no game serving down in the city.' 
     `You should try being up here with Shelob for company,' said Shagrat. 
     'I'd like to try somewhere where there's  none of 'em. But the war's on 
now, and when that's over things may be easier.' 
     `It's going well, they say.' 
     'They would.' grunted  Gorbag. `We'll  see. But anyway, if  it does  go 
well,  there should  be  a lot more  room. What d'you  say?   -- if we get  a 
chance, you and me'll slip  off  and set up somewhere on our  own with a few 
trusty lads, somewhere  where there's good  loot nice and handy, and no  big


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'Can't you  stop your rabble  making such a racket, Shagrat? '  grunted 
the one. `We don't want Shelob on us.' 
     `Go on, Gorbag! Yours are  making  more than half the noise,'  said the 
other.  `But let the  lads play! No need to worry about  Shelob for a bit, I 
reckon. She's sat on a nail, it  seems, and we shan't cry about that. Didn't  
you see: a nasty  mess all the way  back to  that cursed crack  of  hers? If 
we've stopped it once, we've stopped it  a  hundred times. So let 'em laugh. 
And we've struck a bit of luck at last: got something that Lugb®rz wants.' 
     'Lugb®rz wants it, eh? What is it, d'you think? Elvish it looked to me, 
but undersized. What's the danger in a thing like that? ' 
     'Don't know till we've had a look.' 
     'Oho! So they  haven't  told you what to expect? They don't tell us all 
they  know, do  they? Not by  half. But they can make mistakes, even the Top 
Ones can.'


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####-hunting, she just gives 'em a dab in the neck and  they go as limp as  boned 
fish, and then she has her way with them. D'you remember old Ufthak? We lost  
him for days.  Then we found him in a corner;  hanging up he was, but he was 
wide awake  and glaring. How we laughed! She'd  forgotten him, maybe, but 
we 
didn't  touch him-no  good interfering with Her. Nar  -- this  little filth, 
he'll wake up, in  a few hours; and  beyond feeling a  bit sick for  a  hit, 
he'll be  all right. Or would  be,  if Lugb®rz  would let him alone. And  of 
course, beyond wondering where he is and what's happened to him.' 
     'And what's going to happen to him,' laughed Gorbag. 'We can tell him a  
few stories at  any rate, if we can't do a nything else. I don't suppose he's 
ever been in lovely Lugb®rz, so he may  like to know what to expect. This is 
going to be more funny than I thought. Let's go!' 
     `There's going to be no fun, I tell  you,' said Shagrat.  'And he's got


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'Come on, Sam!  ' he said, `or you'll be too late  again.' He  loosened 
the sword in its sheath. In a minute he would draw it, and then-- 
     There was a wild clamour, hooting and laughing, as something was lifted 
from the ground. 'Ya hoi! Ya harri hoi! Up! Up! ' 
     Then a  voice shouted: `Now off! The quick way. Back to  the Undergate! 
She'll  not  trouble us  tonight  by  all  the signs.'  The  whole  band  of 
orc-figures  began  to move. Four in the middle were carrying a body high on 
their shoulders. `Ya hoi!  ' 
     They had taken Frodo's body. They were off. He could not catch them up. 
Still he laboured on. The Orcs reached the tunnel and were passing in. Those 
with the  burden  went  first, and  behind them  there  was a  good  deal of 
struggling  and  jostling. Sam came on. He drew the sword, a flicker of blue 
in his  wavering hand, but they did not see it. Even as  he came panting up, 
the last of them vanished into the black hole.


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every  article, garment, weapon,  letter,  ring. or trinket is to be sent to 
Lugb®rz at once, and to  Lugb®rz only . And  the prisoner is to be  kept safe  
and intact,  under pain  of death for every member  of  the guard, until  He 
sends or comes Himself. That's plain enough,  and that's what I'm  going  to 
do.' 
     'Stripped, eh? ' said Gorbag. 'What, teeth, nails, hair, and all? ' 
     `No,  none of that. He's for Lugb®rz,  I tell you. He's wanted safe and 
whole.' 
     'You'll find that difficult,' laughed Gorbag. 'He's nothing but carrion 
now. What Lugb®rz will do with such  stuff I can't guess. He might as well go 
in the pot.' 
     'You  fool,'  snarled Shagrat.  'You've been talking very  clever,  but 
there's a lot you don't  know, though most other folk do. You'll be  for the 
pot or for Shelob, if you don't take  care. Carrion! Is that all you know of 
Her Ladyship? When she binds with cords,  she's after meat. She  doesn't eat


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There  was no  escape  that way. That was to do nothing, not even to grieve.  
That was not what he had set  out to do. 'What am  I to  do then? ' he cried 
again,  and now he seemed  plainly to know the hard  answer: see it through. 
Another lonely journey, and the worst. 
     `What? Me, alone, go  to the Crack of Doom and all? ' He quailed still, 
but the resolve grew. `What? Me take  the Ring from him? The Council gave it 
to him.' 
     But the answer came at  once: `And the  Council gave him companions, so 
that  the errand  should not fail.  And you are the last of all the Company. 
The errand must not fail.' 
     `I wish I wasn't the last,' he groaned. `I wish old Gandalf was hare or  
somebody. Why am I left all alone to make up my mind?  I'm sure to go wrong. 
And it's not for me to go taking the Ring, putting myself forward.' 
     'But you haven't put yourself forward; you've been  put forward. And as


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####-two Orcs up: their  voices were growing  nearer again. Now they seemed quite 
close. 
     `That's what I'm going  to do,'  said Shagrat in angry tones.  'Put him 
right up in the top chamber.' 
     `What for? ' growled Gorbag. `Haven't you any lock -ups down below? ' 
     `He's  going out of harm's way,  I  tell  you,' answered Shagrat. 'See?  
He's  precious.  I  don't trust  all  my lads,  and  none of yours;  nor you  
neither, when you're mad for fun. He's going where I want him, and where you  
won't come,  if you  don't keep civil. Up to the top,  I  say. He'll be safe 
there.' 
     `Will  he?'  said Sam. 'You're  forgetting the great big elvish warrior  
that's loose!' And with that he raced  round   the last corner, only to  find 
that by some trick of the tunnel, or of the hearing which the Ring gave him, 
he had misjudged the distance. 
     The two orc-figures were still some way ahead. He could  see  them now,


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in his  wavering hand, but they did not see it. Even as  he came panting up, 
the last of them vanished into the black hole. 
     For a moment he stood, gasping,  clutching his breast. Then he drew his


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was more than one.' 
     At this point Sam began to listen  more attentively and pressed his ear 
against the stone. 
     'Who cut the cords she'd  put round  him, Shagrat? Same one  as cut the 
web. Didn't you see that? And who stuck a pin into Her Ladyship? Same one, I 
reckon. And where is he? Where is he, Shagrat? ' 
     Shagrat made no reply. 
     `You may  well put  your  thinking cap on,  if you've  got one. It's no 
laughing matter. No  one, no one  has ever stuck a  pin in Shelob before, as 
you  should  know well enough.  There's no  grief in that; but think -there's 
someone  loose hereabouts  as is more dangerous than any other  damned rebel 
that ever  walked since the bad old times, since the  Great Siege. Something  
has slipped.' 
     `And what is it then? ' growled Shagrat. 
     `By all the  signs, Captain  Shagrat, I'd say there's  a  large warrior  
loose,  Elf most likely, with an elf-sword anyway, and an axe as well maybe:


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go. My lads saw her and her Sneak.' 
     `Her Sneak? What's that? ' 
     `You  must  have  seen  him:  little thin  black  fellow; like a spider  
himself, or perhaps more lik e a starved frog. He's  been  here  before. Came 
out of Lugb®rz the first time, years  ago,  and  we had word from High Up to 
let  him pass.  He's been up the Stairs once  or twice since then, but we've 
left him  alone: seems  to  have some  understanding with  Her  Ladyship.  I  
suppose he's no good to eat:  she wouldn't  worry about words from High  Up. 
But a  fine guard you keep in the valley:  he  was up here a day  before all 
this racket. Early last  night we  saw him. Anyway my lads reported that Her  
Ladyship was having some fun, and that seemed good  enough for me, until the


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going to be more funny than I thought. Let's go!' 
     `There's going to be no fun, I tell  you,' said Shagrat.  'And he's got 
to be kept safe, or we're all as good as dead.' 
     `AII  right! But if I  were you, I'd catch the  big one  that's  loose, 
before you send in any report to Lugb®rz. It  won't sound too pretty  to say 
you've caught the kitten and let the cat escape.' 
     The voices began to move away. Sam heard the sound of feet receding. He 
was recovering from his shock, and now a wild fury was on him. `I got it all  
wrong!  ' he cried. `I knew I  would. Now they've  got him, the  devils! the 
filth! Never leave your master, never,  never: that was my right rule. And I 
knew  it in my heart. May  I be forgiven!  Now I've got to get  back to him. 
Somehow, somehow!  ' 
     He  drew his sword again and  beat on the stone with the  hilt, but  it 
only gave out a dull sound. The sword, however, bla zed so brightly now  that


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'Oho! So they  haven't  told you what to expect? They don't tell us all 
they  know, do  they? Not by  half. But they can make mistakes, even the Top 
Ones can.' 
     `Sh, Gorbag!'  Shagrat's voice  was  lowered, so  tha t  even  with  his 
strangely sharpened hearing Sam could only just  catch  what was said. 'They 
may, but they've got eyes and ears everywhere; some among my lot, as like as


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that by some trick of the tunnel, or of the hearing which the Ring gave him, 
he had misjudged the distance. 
     The two orc-figures were still some way ahead. He could  see  them now,  
black and squat against a red glare. The passage ran straight at last, up an 
incline;  and  at  the  end, wide open,  were  great  double doors,  leading 
probably to deep  chambers far below the high horn of the tower. Already the 
Orcs  with their burden  had  passed inside. Gorbag and Shagrat were drawing 
near the gate. 
     Sam  heard a burst  of hoarse singing, blaring of horns  and banging of 
gongs, a hideous clamour. Gorbag and Shagrat were already on the threshold. 
     Sam yelled  and brandished Sting, but his little  voice was  drowned in 
the tumult. No one heeded him. 
     The  great  doors slammed to. Boom.  The bars  of iron fell  into place 
inside. Clang.  The gate was  shut.  Sam  hurled  himself against the bolted


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And it's not for me to go taking the Ring, putting myself forward.' 
     'But you haven't put yourself forward; you've been  put forward. And as 
for  not  being the right and proper person,  why,  Mr. Frodo wasn't as  you


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pot or for Shelob, if you don't take  care. Carrion! Is that all you know of 
Her Ladyship? When she binds with cords,  she's after meat. She  doesn't eat 
dead meat, nor suck cold blood. This fellow isn't dead! ' 
     Sam reeled, clutching at the stone. He felt as if  the whole dark world 
was turning upside  down. So great was the shock that he almost swooned, but 
even as he fought to keep a hold on his senses, deep inside him he was aware 
of the  comment: 'You  fool, he  isn't dead, and your heart  knew  it. Don't  
trust your head, Samwise, it is not the best part  of you. The  trouble with 
you is that you never really had any hope. Now what is to be done? ' Fur the  
moment nothing, but to prop himself against the  unmoving  stone and listen, 
listen to the vile orc-voices. 
     `Garn!'  said  Shagrat. 'She's got more than  one  poison.  When  she's


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Somehow, somehow!  ' 
     He  drew his sword again and  beat on the stone with the  hilt, but  it 
only gave out a dull sound. The sword, however, bla zed so brightly now  that 
he could see dimly  in its light. To his surprise he noticed  that the great 
block was shaped like a heavy door, and  was less than twice his own height. 
Above it was a  dark blank  space between the top and the  low  arch of  the 
opening.  It was probably only meant to be a stop against the  intrusion  of 
Shelob, fastened on the inside with some latch or bolt  beyond the reach  of 
her cunning. With  his  remaining  strength  Sam leaped and caught the  top,  
scrambled up, and dropped;  and  then he ran  madly, sword blazing in  hand, 
round a bend and up a winding tunnel. 
     The news  that his master was still alive roused him  to a  last effort 
beyond thought  of weariness. He could not see anything  ahead. for this new 
passage twisted and turned constantly; but  he thought  he was  catching the


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####-trowels,  and the creak of wheels. Torches and flares glowed dully here  and 
there in the fog. Gandalf was speaking  to the men that  barred his way, and 
as he listened Pippin became aware that he himself was being discussed. 
     'Yea truly, we know you, Mithrandir,' said the leader  of the men, 'and 
you know the pass-words of the  Seven  Gates and are free to go forward. But 
we do not know your companion. What  is he?  A dwarf out of the mountains 
in 
the North? We wish for no strangers in the land at this time, unless they be 
mighty men of arms in whose faith and help we can trust.' 
     'I will vouch  for him before the seat of Denethor,' said Gandalf. 'And 
as  for valour,  that  cannot be computed by stature. He has  passed through 
more  battles and  perils than you have,  Ingold, though  you  be twice  his 
height; and  he comes  now  from the storming of Isengard,  of which we bear 
tidings,  and great weariness is  on him, or  I would wake him. His name  is


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`By all the  signs, Captain  Shagrat, I'd say there's  a  large warrior  
loose,  Elf most likely, with an elf-sword anyway, and an axe as well maybe: 
and he's loose in your bounds, too, and you've never spotted him. Very funny 
indeed! ' Gorbag spat. Sam smiled grimly at this description of himself.  
     'Ah well, you always did take a gloomy  view.'  said  Shagrat. 'You can 
read the signs how you like, but there  may be  other   ways to explain them. 
Anyhow. I've  got watchers  at every point, and  I'm  going to deal with one 
thing at a  time. When  I've had  a look at the fellow we have caught,  then 
I'll begin to worry  
 
1cb2


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####-Denethor  in his need, and  to us all, Mithrandir!' Ingold  cried.  'But you  
come with tidings of grief and danger, as is your wont, they say.' 
     'Because I come seldom but  when my help  is needed,' answered Gandalf.  
'And as for counsel, to you I would  say that you are over -late in repairing 
the wall of the Pelennor. Courage will  now be your best defence against the 
storm that is at  hand - that and such  hope as  I  bring. For not  all  the 
tidings that I  bring are  evil.  But leave your  trowels  and  sharpen your 
swords!' 
     'The work will be finished ere evening, ' said Ingold. 'This is the last  
portion of  the wall  to be put in defence: the least open to attack, for it 
looks  towards our  friends of Rohan.  Do  you know aught of them? Will they 
answer the summons, think you?' 
     'Yes,  they will come. But  they have fought many battles at your back. 
This road and no road looks towards safety  any longer. Be vigilant! But for


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Pippin  looked out from  the shelter of Gandalf's cloak. He wondered if 
he was awake or still sleeping, still in the  swift-moving dream in which he 
had  been  wrapped so long since the  great  ride  began. The dark world was 
rushing by and  the wind sang loudly in his ears. He could  see nothing  but 
the wheeling stars, and away to his right vast shadows against the sky where 
the mountains of the  South  marched past.  Sleepily he tried  to reckon the 
times and stages of their journey, but his memory was drowsy and uncertain. 
     There  had been the first  ride at terrible speed without  a  halt, and 
then in the dawn he had  seen a pale gleam of gold, and they had come to the 
silent  town  and the great empty house on  the  hill.  And  hardly had they 
reached its shelter when the winged shadow  had passed  over once again, and 
men wilted with fear. But Gandalf had spoken  soft words to him,  and he had


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####-     'Mithrandir!  Mithrandir!' men  cried. 'Now we know that  the  storm is 
indeed nigh!' 
     'It is upon you,' said  Gandalf. 'I  have  ridden  on its wings. Let me 
pass!  I  must come  to  your  Lord Denethor, while his  stewardship  lasts.  
Whatever betide, you have come to the end of the Gondor that you have 
known. 
Let me pass!' 
     Then men  fell back before the command of his voice  and questioned him 
no further, though  they gazed in wonder  at the hobbit that sat before  him 
and at the horse that bore him. For the people of  the City used horses very 
little and they were seldom seen in their streets, save only those ridden by  
the errand-riders of their  lord. And they said: 'Surely that is one  of the 
great steeds of the  King  of  Rohan?  Maybe  the Rohirrim will come soon to 
strengthen us.' But Shadowfax walked proudly up the long winding road. 
     For the  fashion  of  Minas Tirith was such that it was built on  seven


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height; and  he comes  now  from the storming of Isengard,  of which we bear 
tidings,  and great weariness is  on him, or  I would wake him. His name  is 
Peregrin, a very valiant man.' 
     'Man?' said Ingold dubiously; and the others laughed. 
     'Man!' cried Pippin,  now  thoroughly roused.  'Man! Indeed not! I am a  
hobbit and no more valiant  than I am a man,  save perhaps  now and again by 
necessity. Do not let Gandalf deceive you!' 
     'Many a doer of great deeds might say no more,' said Ingold.  'But what 
is a hobbit?' 
     'A Halfling,' answered Gandalf. 'Nay,  not the one that was spoken of,' 
he added seeing  the  wonder  in the  men's  faces. 'Not  he, yet one of his 
kindred.' 
     'Yes, and one  who  journeyed  with him,' said Pippin. 'And  Boromir of 
your City was with us, and he saved me in the snows of the North, and at the  
last he was slain defending me from many foes.' 
     'Peace!'  said Gandalf.  'The news of that grief should have  been told


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the tumult. No one heeded him. 
     The  great  doors slammed to. Boom.  The bars  of iron fell  into place 
inside. Clang.  The gate was  shut.  Sam  hurled  himself against the bolted 
brazen plates and fell senseless to the ground. He  was out in the darkness. 
Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy.


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####-could come behind and scale the lower skirts of Mindolluin, and so come upon 
the narrow shoulder that joined the Hill of Guard to the mountain  mass. But 
that shoulder, which rose to  the height of the fifth wall, was hedged  with 
great ramparts right up to the precipice that overhung its western end;  and 
in that  space stood the houses and  domed tombs of bygone kings  and lords, 
for ever silent between the mountain and the tower. 
     Pippin gazed in growing wonder at the great stone city, vaster and more 
splendid  than  anything that he had dreamed of;  greater and  stronger than 
Isengard, and far more beautiful.  Yet it was in truth falling year by  year 
into decay; and already it lacked half the men that could have dwelt at ease 
there. In  every street they passed  some  great house or  court  over whose 
doors and arched gates were carved many fair letters  of strange and ancient  
shapes: names Pippin  guessed of great men and kindreds that had once  dwelt


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reached its shelter when the winged shadow  had passed  over once again, and 
men wilted with fear. But Gandalf had spoken  soft words to him,  and he had 
slept in a corner, tired but uneasy, dimly aware of  comings  and goings and  
of men talking and Gandalf giving orders. And then  again riding, riding  in 
the  night. This was the second, no, the third night since  he had looked in 
the Stone. And with that hideous memory he woke fully, and shivered, and the 
noise of the wind became filled with menacing voices.  
     A light kindled in the sky, a blaze of yellow fire behind dark barriers 
Pippin  cowered back, afraid for  a  moment,  wondering  into what  dreadful 
country Gandalf was bearing him. He rubbed his eyes, and then he saw that it 
was the moon rising above the eastern shadows, now  almost at  the full.  So 
the night was not  yet  old and  for hours the dark journey  would go on. He 
stirred and spoke. 
     'Where are we, Gandalf?' he asked.


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strengthen us.' But Shadowfax walked proudly up the long winding road. 
     For the  fashion  of  Minas Tirith was such that it was built on  seven 
levels,  each  delved into the hill, and about each  was set a  wall, and in 
each wall was a  gate. But the gates were not set in a line:  the Great Gate 
in the City Wall was at  the  east  point of the circuit, but the next faced 
half south, and the third half north, and so to and fro upwards; so that the 
paved  way that climbed towards  the Citadel turned  first this way and then 
that across the face of  the hill. And each  time that it passed the line of 
the  Great Gate it went through an  arched  tunnel, piercing a  vast pier of 
rock whose  huge out-thrust bulk  divided in two all the circles of the City 
save the first. For partly in  the  primeval shaping  of the hill, partly by 
the mighty craft and labour of old, there stood up from the rear of the wide


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answer the summons, think you?' 
     'Yes,  they will come. But  they have fought many battles at your back. 
This road and no road looks towards safety  any longer. Be vigilant! But for  
Gandalf Stormcrow you would have seen a host  of foes coming  out of 
Anurien 
and no Riders of Rohan. And you may yet. Fare you well, and sl eep not!' 
     Gandalf passed now into  the wide land  beyond the Rammas Echor. So the 
men of Gondor  called the out  wall that they had  built with great  labour, 
after Ithilien fell under the shadow of their Enemy. For ten leagues or more 
it ran from the  mountains' feet  and so back again, enclosing in its  fence 
the fields of the Pelennor:  fair and fertile townlands  on  the long slopes 
and terraces falling to the deep levels of the Anduin. At its furthest point 
from the  Great Gate of the City, north-eastward, the wall  was four leagues 
distant, and there from a frowning bank  it overlooked the long flats beside


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####- 
    Here ends the second part of the history of the War of the Ring. 
 
     The third  part tells of  the  last defence against the Shadow, and the 
end of the mission of the Ring-bearer in  THE RETURN OF THE KING . 
 
 
 
 

####-####- 

 
 

 * BOOK V *  

Chapter 1. Minas Tirith


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####-hasten. Time is  short.  See! The beacons of Gondor are  alight, calling for  
aid. War  is  kindled.  See,  there is the  fire  on Amon  Don, and flame on 
Eilenach;  and  there they go speeding  west:  Nardol,  Erelas,  Min-Rimmon, 
Calenhad, and the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan.' 
     But Shadowfax  paused in  his stride, slowing  to  a  walk, and then he 
lifted up his head and neighed. And out of the  darkness the answering neigh  
of other  horses came; and  presently the  thudding of hoofs was heard,  and 
three riders swept up and passed like flying ghosts in the moon and vanished  
into the West. Then Shadowfax gathered himself together and sprang away, 
and 
the night flowed over him like a roaring wind. 
     Pippin became drowsy again and paid little attention to Gandalf telling 
him of the customs of Gondor, and how the Lord of the City had beacons built 
on the tops  of  outlying hills along both border s  of the great  range, and


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last he was slain defending me from many foes.' 
     'Peace!'  said Gandalf.  'The news of that grief should have  been told 
first to the father.' 
     'It  has  been  guessed  already,' said  Ingold;  'for there have  been 
strange portents here  of late. But pass  on now  quickly! For  the  Lord of 
Minas Tirith  will be eager to see any that bear the  latest tidings of  his 
son, be he man or --' 
     'Hobbit,' said Pippin.  'Little  service  can I offer to your lord, but 
what I can do, I would do, remembering Boromir the brave.' 
     'Fare you well!' said  Ingold; and the men made way for Shadow fax, and 
he  passed through a narrow gate in the wall. 'May you bring good counsel to


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the night was not  yet  old and  for hours the dark journey  would go on. He 
stirred and spoke. 
     'Where are we, Gandalf?' he asked. 
     'In the realm of Gondor,' the wizard answered. 'The land  of Anurien is 
still passing by.' 
     There was a silence again  for a  while. Then,  'What  is that?'  cried 
Pippin  suddenly,  clutching at Gandalf's cloak.  'Look! Fire, red fire! Are 
there dragons in this land?  Look, there is another!' 
     For  answer  Gandalf  cried aloud to his horse. 'On, Shadowfax! We must


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doors and arched gates were carved many fair letters  of strange and ancient  
shapes: names Pippin  guessed of great men and kindreds that had once  dwelt 
there;  and  yet now they were silent,  and no footsteps rang  on their wide 
pavements, nor voice was heard in their halls, nor any face looked out  from 
door or empty window.  
     At last they came out of  shadow to the seventh gate,  and the warm sun 
that shone down beyond the river, as Frodo walked in the glades of Ithilien, 
glowed here on the smooth walls and rooted pillars, and the great arch  with  
keystone  carven  in  the  likeness of a crowned and  kingly  head.  Gandalf 
dismounted, for no horse was allowed in the Citadel,  and Shadowfax suffered 
himself to be led away at the soft word of his master. 
     The Guards of the gate  were robed  in black, and  their helms  were of 
strange  shape, high-crowned,  with long cheek -guards  close-fitting to  the


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from the  Great Gate of the City, north-eastward, the wall  was four leagues 
distant, and there from a frowning bank  it overlooked the long flats beside 
the river,  and men had  made it high and strong; for at  that point, upon a  
walled causeway, the  road came in from  the fords and bridges  of Osgiliath 
and passed  through a guarded gate between embattled towers. At its  nearest 
point the  wall was little more than one league from the  City, and that was 
south-eastward. There Anduin, going in a  wide knee about the  hills of Emyn 
Arnen in South Ithilien, bent sharply west, and  the out-wall rose  upon its 
very  brink; and beneath  it lay  the quays and  landings of the Harlond for  
craft that came upstream from the southern fiefs.  
     The  townlands  were rich,  with  wide  tilth  and many  orchards,  and 
homesteads there  were with oast  and garner, fold and byre, and  many rills 
rippling through  the  green from the  highlands  down  to Anduin.  Yet  the


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save the first. For partly in  the  primeval shaping  of the hill, partly by 
the mighty craft and labour of old, there stood up from the rear of the wide 
court behind the  Gate a  towering  bastion  of stone, its edge sharp  as  a  
ship-keel facing east. Up it rose, even to the level of the  topmost circle, 
and there was crowned  by  a battlement; so that those in the Citadel might, 
like mariners in a mountainous ship, look  from  its peak sheer down upon the 
Gate  seven  hundred  feet  below.  The entrance  to the Citadel also looked 
eastward,  but  was delved in the  heart of the rock; thence a long lamp-lit 
slope ran up to the seventh gate. Thus  men reached  at last the High Court, 
and the Place of the  Fountain before the feet of the  White Tower: tall and 
shapely,  fifty fathoms from its  base to the pinnacle, where the banner  of 
the Stewards floated a thousand feet above the plain. 
     A  strong citadel  it was indeed,  and  not to be taken  by  a  host of


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####-black marble, they  rose to great capitals carved in many strange figures of 
beasts and leaves; and far above in  shadow  the wide  vaulting gleamed with 
dull  gold, inset with  flowing traceries of  many colours. No  hangings nor  
storied webs, nor  any things of woven stuff or  of wood, were to be seen in 
that long solemn hall; but between the pillars there stood  a silent company 
of tall images graven in cold stone. 
     Suddenly Pippin was  reminded  of  the hewn rocks of  Argonath, and awe 
fell on him, as he looked down  that  avenue of kings  long dead. At the far 
end upon a dais of many steps was set a high throne under a canopy of marble 
shaped like a crowned helm; behind  it was carved upon the wall and set with 
gems an image of a tree  in flower. But the throne was empty. At the foot of 
the dais, upon the lowest step which was broad and deep, there  was  a stone 
chair,  black and unadorned, and on it sat an  old man gazing at his lap. In


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him of the customs of Gondor, and how the Lord of the City had beacons built 
on the tops  of  outlying hills along both border s  of the great  range, and 
maintained posts at these points where fresh horses were always in readiness 
to bear  his errand-riders to  Rohan in the North,  or  to Belfalas  in  the 
South. 'It is long since the beacons of the North  were lit,' he said;  'and 
in the ancient days of  Gondor they were not needed, for  they had the Seven  
Stones.' Pippin stirred uneasily. 
     'Sleep  again, and do  not be  afraid!' said Gandalf. 'For you are  not 
going like Frodo to  Mordor, but  to Minas Tirith, and there you  will be as 
safe as you can  be anywhere in these days. If Gondor falls, or  the Ring is 
taken, then the Shire will be no refuge.' 
     'You do not comfort me,' said Pippin, but nonetheless  sleep crept over  
him. The last  thing that he remembered before he fell into deep dream was a


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####-     Pippin glanced at  it  as he hurried after Gandalf. It looked mournful, 
he thought, and he wondered why the dead tree was  left in  this place where 
everything else was well tended. 
     Seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. 
     The words that Gandalf had murmured came back into  his mind. And  then 
he found himself at the doors of  the great hall beneath the gleaming tower; 
and behind the wizard he passed the tall silent door -wardens and entered the 
cool echoing shadows of the house of stone. 
     They walked  down  a paved passage, long and  empty, and  as  they went 
Gandalf spoke softly to Pippin. 'Be careful of your  words, Master Peregrin!  
This is  no time for  hobbit pertness. Thjoden is a kindly old man. Denethor  
is of another  sort, proud and subtle,  a  man  of far  greater  lineage and 
power, though  he is  not called a king. But he will  speak most to you, and 
question you much, since you  can tell him  of his son Boromir. He loved him


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The Guards of the gate  were robed  in black, and  their helms  were of 
strange  shape, high-crowned,  with long cheek -guards  close-fitting to  the 
face,  and above the cheek -guards were set the white wings of sea -birds; but 
the helms gleamed with a  flame of silver, for they were indeed  wrought  of 
mithril, heirlooms from the glory of old days. Upon  the black surcoats were 
embroidered in white a tree blossoming like  snow beneath a silver crown and 
many-pointed  stars. This  was the livery of the heirs of  Elendil, and none 
wore it now in all Gondor,  save the Guards of the Citadel  before the Court 
of the Fountain where the White Tree once had grown. 
     Already it  seemed that word of their coming had  gone before them: and 
at once they were admitted,  silently, and without question. Quickly Gandalf 
strode across  the white-paved court.  A  sweet fountain played there in the 
morning sun,  and a  sward of bright green  lay about it; but in the  midst.


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####-and learned much of  his mood. But you speak of his death. You have had news 
of that ere we came?' 
     'I  have received  this,'  said Denethor, and laying  down his  rod  he 
lifted from his lap the  thing that  he had been gazing at.  In each hand he 
held up one half  of a great  horn cloven through the middle: a wild-ox horn 
bound with silver. 
     'That is the horn that Boromir always wore!' cried Pippin. 
     'Verily,'  said  Denethor. 'And in  my turn  I bore it, and so did each 
eldest son of our house, far back into the vanished years before the failing 
of the kings, since  Vorondil father  of Mardil hunted the wild kine of Araw 
in the  far fields of Rhyn. I heard it blowing dim upon the northern marches 
thirteen  days ago, and the River brought  it to me, broken: it will wind no 
more.' He paused and there was a heavy silence. Suddenly he turned his black 
glance upon Pippin. 'What say you to that, Halfling?'


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the Stewards floated a thousand feet above the plain. 
     A  strong citadel  it was indeed,  and  not to be taken  by  a  host of 
enemies, if  there were any within that could hold weapons;  unless some foe


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####-the shards of the horn aside. 'Give me the weapon!' he said. 
     Pippin lifted it  and presented the hilt  to him.   'Whence  came this?' 
said Denethor.  'Many, many years lie on it.  Surely this is a blade wrought 
by our own kindred in the North in the deep past?' 
     'It came out of the mounds that lie on the borders of my country ' said 
Pippin.  'But only evil wights dwell there now, and I will not willingly tell  
more of them.' 
     'I see that strange tales  are woven about you,'  said  Denethor,  'and 
once again it  is shown  that looks may belie the man  -  or the  halfling. I 
accept  your  service.  For you  are not  daunted  by  words;  and you  have 
courteous  speech, strange though the sound of it may be to us in the South. 
And we shall have  need of all folk of courtesy, be they great  or small, in 
the days to come. Swear to me now!' 
     'Take the hilt,' said Gandalf,  'and speak after the Lord, if  you  are 
resolved on this.'


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the dais, upon the lowest step which was broad and deep, there  was  a stone 
chair,  black and unadorned, and on it sat an  old man gazing at his lap. In 
his hand was a  white rod  with a  golden knob. He did not look up. Solemnly 
they paced the long floor towards him, until they stood three paces from his 
footstool. Then Gandalf spoke. 
     'Hail, Lord  and Steward of Minas Tirith,  Denethor son of Ecthelion! I 
am come with counsel and tidings in this dark hour.' 
     Then  the old  man looked up. Pippin saw his carven face with its proud 
bones  and skin like ivory, and the long  curved nose between  the dark deep 
eyes; and he was reminded not so much of Boromir as of Aragor n.  'Dark 
indeed 
is the hour,' said  the old  man, 'and  at such times you are  wont to come, 
Mithrandir.  But though all  the  signs forebode that the  doom of Gondor is 
drawing  nigh, less now to me is  that darkness than my own darkness. It has


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taken, then the Shire will be no refuge.' 
     'You do not comfort me,' said Pippin, but nonetheless  sleep crept over  
him. The last  thing that he remembered before he fell into deep dream was a 
glimpse of high white peaks, glimmering like floating isles above the clouds 
as they caught the light of the westering moon. He wondered where Frodo was,  
and if he was already in Mordor, or if he was dead; and he did not know that 
Frodo from far away looked on that same moon as it set beyond Gondor ere the 
coming of the day. 
     Pippin woke  to  the sound of voices. Another day of hiding and a night 
of journey had fleeted by. It was twilight: the cold dawn was at hand again, 
and chill grey mists were about them.  Shadowfax stood  steaming with sweat, 
but he held his neck proudly and showed  no sign of weariness. Many tall men 
heavily cloaked  stood beside him, and behind them in the mist loomed a wall


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strode across  the white-paved court.  A  sweet fountain played there in the 
morning sun,  and a  sward of bright green  lay about it; but in the  midst. 
drooping over the pool,  stood  a dead  tree, and  the falling drops dripped 
sadly from its barren and broken branches back into the clear water.


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power, though  he is  not called a king. But he will  speak most to you, and 
question you much, since you  can tell him  of his son Boromir. He loved him 
greatly: too much  perhaps; and the more  so because they  were  unlike. But 
under cover  of  this love he will think it easier to  learn what he witches 
from you rather than  from me. Do not tell him more than you need, and leave 
quiet  the matter of Frodo's errand. I will deal with that in due  time. And 
say nothing about Aragorn either, unless you must.' 
     'Why  not? What is wrong with Strider?' Pippin  whispered. 'He meant to 
come here, didn't he? And he'll be arriving soon himself anyway.' 
     'Maybe,  maybe,' said Gandalf. 'Though if he comes, it is likely  to be 
in some way that no one expects, not even Denethor. It will be better so. At 
least he should come unheralded by us.' 
     Gandalf halted  before a  tall  door of  polished  metal. 'See,  Master


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####-pressing. But maybe we can speak again at the end of the day.' 
     'And earlier, it is to  be hoped,' said Gandalf. 'For I have not ridden 
hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind,  
only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous.  Is it naught to you  
that Thjoden has fought a great battle and  that Isengard is overthrown, and 
that I have broken the staff of Saruman?' 
     'It is much to me. But I know already  sufficient of these deeds for my 
own  counsel  against  the menace of the East.' He turned his  dark  eyes on 
Gandalf, and now  Pippin  saw a likeness between  the  two, and he  felt the 
strain between them,  almost as if  he saw a line of smouldering fire, drawn 
from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame. 
     Denethor  looked indeed much more like a great wizard than Gandalf did, 
more kingly,  beautiful, and powerful; and older. Yet  by a sense other than


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more.' He paused and there was a heavy silence. Suddenly he turned his black 
glance upon Pippin. 'What say you to that, Halfling?' 
     'Thirteen, thirteen days,' faltered Pippin. 'Yes, I think that would be 
so. Yes, I stood beside him,  as he blew the  horn. But  no help  came. Only 
more orcs.' 
     'So,' said  Denethor, looking keenly at Pippin's face. 'You were there?  
Tell me more! Why did no help  come? And how  did you escape, and yet he 
did 
not, so mighty a man as he wa s, and only orcs to withstand him?' 
     Pippin flushed and forgot his fear. 'The mightiest man may be slain  by 
one arrow,'  he said; 'and Boromir was pierced by  many. When last I saw him 
he sank  beside  a tree and plucked a black -feathered shaft  from  his side. 
Then I swooned  and was made  captive. I saw him no more, and know  no 
more. 
But I honour his memory,  for he was very  valiant.  He died to save  us, my 
kinsman Meriadoc and myself, waylaid in the woods by  the  soldiery  of  the


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the days to come. Swear to me now!' 
     'Take the hilt,' said Gandalf,  'and speak after the Lord, if  you  are 
resolved on this.' 
     'I am,' said Pippin. 
     The  old man laid  the  sword along his lap, and Pippin put his hand to 
the hilt, and said slowly after Denethor: 
     'Here do I swear  fealty and  service  to  Gondor, and  to the Lord and 
Steward of the realm, to  speak and to be silent,  to do and  to let be,  to 
come and to go, in need or plenty, in peace or war, in living or dying, from 
this hour  henceforth, until my  lord  release me, or death take me , or  the 
world end. So say I, Peregrin son of Paladin of the Shire of the Halflings.' 
     And this do I hear, Denethor son of Ecthelion, Lord  of Gondor, Steward 
of the High King, and I will not forget it, nor fail to reward that which is 
given: fealty with love, valour with honour, oath - breaking with vengeance.' 
Then Pippin received back his sword and put it in its sheath.


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but he held his neck proudly and showed  no sign of weariness. Many tall men 
heavily cloaked  stood beside him, and behind them in the mist loomed a wall 
of stone. Partly ruinous  it seemed, but already before the night was passed 
the sound  of  hurried labour  could  be heard:  beat  of hammers,  clink of


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Mithrandir.  But though all  the  signs forebode that the  doom of Gondor is 
drawing  nigh, less now to me is  that darkness than my own darkness. It has 
been told to me that you bring with you one who saw my son die. Is this he?' 
     'It is,' said Gandalf. 'One  of the twain. The other is with Thjoden of 
Rohan and may come hereafter.  Halflings  they are,  as you see, yet this is 
not he of whom the omens spoke.' 
     'Yet  a  Halfling still,' said Denethor  grimly, 'and little love do  I 
bear the name, since those  accursed words  came to trouble our counsels and 
drew away my son on the  wild errand to his  death. My Boromir!  Now we 
have 
need of you. Faramir should have gone in his stead.' 
     'He would  have  gone,' said  Gandalf.  'Be not unjust  in your  grief!  
Boromir claimed the errand and would not suffer any other to have it. He was 
a masterful man, and one  to take what he desired. I journeyed far  with him


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in some way that no one expects, not even Denethor. It will be better so. At 
least he should come unheralded by us.' 
     Gandalf halted  before a  tall  door of  polished  metal. 'See,  Master  
Pippin,  there  is no  t ime to instruct  you now in  the history of  Gondor; 
though it might have been  better, if you  had learned something of it, when 
you were  still birds-nesting and playing truant in the woods  of the Shire. 
Do as I bid! It  is scarcely wise when bringing the news of the death of his 
heir to a mighty lord to speak over much of the  coming of one who  will, if 
he comes, claim the kingship. Is that enough?' 
     'Kingship?' said Pippin amazed. 
     'Yes,' said  Gandalf.  'If you  have  walked all these days with closed 
ears and mind asleep, wake up now!' He knocked on the door. 
     The door opened,  but no one could be  seen  to open it.  Pippin looked 
into a great hall. It was  lit by deep windows in the wide aisles at  either


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####-all the while conscious of  Gandalf at his side, watching and listening, and 
(so Pippin felt) holding  in check a rising  wrath and impatience.  When the 
hour was  over and Denethor again rang  the gong, Pippin felt worn out.  'It 
cannot  be  more  than  nine o'clock,'  he thought.  'I  could now eat three 
breakfasts on end.' 
     'Lead  the  Lord  Mithrandir  to  the housing prepared for  him,'  said 
Denethor, 'and his companion may lodge with him for the present, if he will.  
But  be it known that  I have  now sworn him to  my service, and he shall be 
known as Peregrin son of Paladin and taught the lesser pass-words. Send word 
to the Captains that they shall wait on me here, as soon as may be after the 
third hour has rung. 
     'And  you,  my Lord  Mithrandir, shall come too, as and when  you will. 
None shall hinder your coming to me at any time, save only in my brief hours 
of sleep. Let your wrath at an old man's folly run off and then return to my 
comfort!'


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Denethor  looked indeed much more like a great wizard than Gandalf did, 
more kingly,  beautiful, and powerful; and older. Yet  by a sense other than 
sight  Pippin perceived that  Gandalf had  the greater power and the  deeper 
wisdom, and a majesty that  was veiled.  And he was  older, far older.  'How 
much older?' he wondered, and  then  he thought  how odd it was that he  had 
never thought about it before. Treebeard had  said  something about wizards, 
but even  then  he  had  not  thought of Gandalf as  one  of them. What  was 
Gandalf? In what  far  time and place did he come  into  the world, and when 
would he leave it? And  then his musings broke off, and he saw that Denethor  
and Gandalf  still looked each other in the eye, as if  reading the  other's 
mind. But it was Denethor who first withdrew his gaze. 
     'Yea,' he  said; 'for though  the Stones  be lost, they say,  still the 
lords of Gondor have keener sight than lesser men, and many messages come 
to


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####-Their  guide brought them from  the doors  of  the hall, and  then  led them 
across  the  Court  of the  Fountain into a lane  between  tall buildings of 
stone. After  several turns  they came to a house close to the wall  of  the 
citadel upon the north side, not far from the shoulder that linked the  hill 
with  the mountain. Within, upon the first floor above the street, up a wide 
carven  stair,  he showed  them to a fair room, light  and airy, with goodly  
hangings of dull gold sheen unfigured. It  was sparely furnished, having but 
a  small table,  two chairs and a  bench;  but  at  either side  ther e  were 
curtained alcoves  and  well -clad beds  within with  vessels  and basins for  
washing. There were three high narrow windows that looked northward over 
the 
great  curve of  Anduin, still shrouded in  mists, towards the Emyn Muil and 
Rauros  far away.  Pippin had to climb on the bench to look out over the deep 
stone sill.


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more. 
But I honour his memory,  for he was very  valiant.  He died to save  us, my 
kinsman Meriadoc and myself, waylaid in the woods by  the  soldiery  of  the 
Dark Lord; and though he fell and failed, my gratitude is none the less.' 
     Then Pippin looked the old man in  the eye, for pride stirred strangely 
within  him, still stung  by  the scorn  and suspicion in that  cold  voice. 
'Little service, no  doubt, will so great a lord of Men  think to  find in a  
hobbit, a halfling from the northern Shire; yet such as it is, I  will offer  
it,  in payment  of my  debt.'  Twitching  aside his grey cloak, Pippin drew 
forth his small sword and laid it at Denethor's feet. 
     A pale smile, like a gleam of  cold sun  on a winter's evening,  passed 
over the old man's face; but he  bent his head and held out his hand, laying


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####-his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men, even of those 
that dwell far off. It is difficult to deceive him, and dangerous to try. 
     'Remember that! For you  are  now  sworn to his  service. I do not know 
what put it into your head, or your heart, to do that. But it was well done. 
I  did not hinder  it,  for  generous deed should  not  be  checked  by cold 
counsel.  It  touched  his  heart,  as  well (may I  say it) as pleasing his 
humour. And at least you are free  now  to move  about as  you will in Minas 
Tirith - when you are not on  duty. For there is another side to it. You are 
at his command; and he will not  forget. Be wary still!' 
     He fell silent and sighed. 'Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may 
bring. For  one thing, tomorrow will  be certain to bring  worse than today, 
for many days  to  come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. 
The board is set, and the pieces are moving. One piece that I greatly desire


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given: fealty with love, valour with honour, oath - breaking with vengeance.' 
Then Pippin received back his sword and put it in its sheath. 
     'And now,' said  Denethor, 'my first command  to you: speak and be  not 
silent! Tell me your full tale, and see that you recall all that  you can of 
Boromir, my son. Sit now and begin!' As he  spoke  he  struck a small silver  
gong  that  stood  near his footstool,  and at  once  servants came forward. 
Pippin saw then that they had been standing in alcoves on either side of the 
door, unseen as he and Gandalf entered. 
     'Bring wine and food and seats for the guests,' said Denethor, 'and see 
that none trouble us for one hour.' 
     'It is all that  I have to spare,  for there is  much else to heed,' he 
said  to Gandalf.  'Much of more import,  it  may seem,  and yet to  me less


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The door opened,  but no one could be  seen  to open it.  Pippin looked 
into a great hall. It was  lit by deep windows in the wide aisles at  either  
side, beyond  the rows of tall  pillars that upheld the  roof. Monoliths  of


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None shall hinder your coming to me at any time, save only in my brief hours 
of sleep. Let your wrath at an old man's folly run off and then return to my 
comfort!' 
     'Folly?'  said  Gandalf. 'Nay,  my lord, when you are a dotard you will 
die. You can  use  even your grief as  a cloak.  Do you  think that I do not 
understand your purpose in  questioning for an hour one who knows the least, 
while I sit by?' 
     'If you understand  it,  then  be  content,' returned  Denethor. 'Pride 
would  be  folly that disdained help and counsel  at need; but you deal  out 
such gifts according to your own designs. Yet  the Lord of Gondor  is not to  
be made the tool  of other men's purposes, however worthy. And to  him there 
is no purpose higher  in the world as it now stands than the good of Gondor;  
and the rule  of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man's, unless the king  
should come again.' 
     'Unless  the  king  should  come  again?' said Gandalf. 'Well,  my lord


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'Yea,' he  said; 'for though  the Stones  be lost, they say,  still the 
lords of Gondor have keener sight than lesser men, and many messages come 
to 
them. But sit now!' 
     Then men came bearing a chair and a low stool, and one brought a salver  
with  a  silver flagon  and cups,  and  white cakes. Pippin sat down, but he 
could  not  take his eyes  from  the  old lord.  Was it so, or  had  he only 
imagined it, that  as he spoke of the Stones a sudden gleam  of his  eye had 
glanced upon Pippin's face?  
     'Now tell  me your tale,  my  liege,' said Denethor, half  kindly; half 
mockingly. 'For the words  of one whom my son so befriended will be  
welcome 
indeed.' 
     Pippin never forgot that hour in the great  hall under the piercing eye 
of the Lord of  Gondor,  stabbed ever and anon by his  shrewd questions, and


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the 
great  curve of  Anduin, still shrouded in  mists, towards the Emyn Muil and 
Rauros  far away.  Pippin had to climb on the bench to look out over the deep 
stone sill. 
     'Are you angry with me, Gandalf?' he  said, as their guide went out and 
closed the door. 'I did the best I could.' 
     'You did  indeed!' said Gandalf,  laughing suddenly; and  he  came  and 
stood beside Pippin, putting his arm about the hobbit's shoulders and gazing 
out  of the window.  Pippin glanced in  some  wonder  at the face now  close 
beside his own, for the  sound of that laugh had been gay and merry.  Yet in  
the wizard's  face he saw  at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as 
he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a  
fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth. 
     'Indeed you did your best,' said the wizard; 'and I hope that it may be 
long  before you find yourself in such a tight corner again between two such


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for many days  to  come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. 
The board is set, and the pieces are moving. One piece that I greatly desire 
to find is Faramir, now the heir of Denethor.  I do not think  that he is in 
the City; but I have had no  time to gather news. I must go.  Pippin. I must  
go to this lords' council and learn what I  can. But the Enemy has the move, 
and he is about to open his full game.  And pawns are likely to see  as much  
of it  as  any,  Peregrin son of Paladin,  soldier  of  Gondor. Sharpen your 
blade!' 
     Gandalf went to the door, and there he turned. 'I  am in haste Pippin,' 
he said. 'Do  me a favour when you go out. Even before you rest, if you  are 
not too weary. Go and find Shadowfax and see how  he is housed. These 
people 
are kindly to beasts, for they are a good  and wise folk, but they have less 
skill with horses than some.' 
     With that Gandalf went out;  and as he did so, there came the note of a


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####-eaten today?' 
     'Well, yes,  to speak in courtesy, yes,' said Pippin. 'But no more than 
a cup of wine  and a white cake or two by the kindness of your lord; but  he 
racked me for it with an hour of questions, and that is hungry work.' 
     Beregond laughed. 'At the table small men may  do the greater deeds, we 
say. But you  have broken  your fast  as well as any man in the Citadel, and 
with  greater honour. This is a fortress and a tower  of guard and is now in 
posture  of war. We rise ere the Sun, and take  a morsel in the grey  light, 
and go  to our duties  at  the opening hour. But do not despair!' He laughed 
again,  seeing the  dismay in Pippin's  face. 'Those who have had heavy duty 
take somewhat  to refresh  their strength  in the mid-morning. Then there is 
the  nuncheon,  at noon or  after as  duties allow; and men  gather for  the 
daymeal, and such mirth as there still may be, about the hour of sunset.


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####-And  how I  should like  breakfast! Do these  people ever  have it, or is it 
over? And when do they have dinner, and where?' 
     Presently he noticed a man, clad  in  black and white, coming along the 
narrow street from the centre of the citadel towards him. Pippin felt lonely 
and made up his mind to speak as the man passed; but he had no need. The man 
came straight up to him. 
     'You are Peregrin the Halfling?' he said. 'I am told that you have been 
sworn to the  service of the  Lord and of the City. Welcome! He held out his 
hand and Pippin took it. 
     'I am named Beregond son of Baranor. I have no duty this morning, and I  
have been sent  to you to teach you the pass-words, and to  tell you some of 
the many things that  no doubt you  will  wish to know. And  for my part,  I 
would learn of you also.  For  never before have  we seen a halfling in this 
land and though we have heard rumour of them, little is said of them in  any


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and the rule  of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man's, unless the king  
should come again.' 
     'Unless  the  king  should  come  again?' said Gandalf. 'Well,  my lord 
Steward,  it is  your task  to keep some  kingdom still against  that event, 
which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all  the aid that you  
are pleased to ask for.  But  I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, 
neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small.  But all worthy things that 
are in peril as the world now stands,  those are my care. And for my part, I 
shall  not wholly  fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything 
passes through this night that  can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower  
again in days to come. For I also am a steward.  Did you not know?' And with 
that he turned and strode from the hall with Pippin running at his side. 
     Gandalf  did not  look  at Pippin or  speak a word to him as they went.


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####-     'I will not hide from you, Master Peregrin,' said Beregond, 'that to us 
you look almost as one of our children, a lad of nine summers or so; and yet  
you have endured  perils  and seen marvels that few of our  greybeards could 
boast of. I thought  it was the whim of  our Lord to take him  a noble page, 
after the manner of the kings of old, they say. But I see that it is not so, 
and you must pardon my foolishness.' 
     'I do,' said Pippin. 'Though you are  not far  wrong. I am still little 
more than a boy in the reckoning of my own people, and it will be four years 
yet  before I "come of age", as we say in the Shire: But do not bother about 
me. Come and look and tell me what I can see.' 
     The  sun was now  climbing, and the  mists in the  vale below  had been 
drawn up. The last of them  were  floating away, just  overhead, as wisps of 
white cloud borne  on  the  stiffening breeze from  the East,  that  was now


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the  nuncheon,  at noon or  after as  duties allow; and men  gather for  the 
daymeal, and such mirth as there still may be, about the hour of sunset. 
     'Come! We will walk a little and then go find us  some refreshment, and 
eat and drink on the battlement, and survey the fair morning.' 
     'One moment!' said Pippin blushing. 'Greed, or hunger by your courtesy,  
put it out of my mind. But Gandalf, Mithrandir as you call  him, asked me to 
see to his horse  - Shadowfax,  a  great steed of Rohan, and the apple of the 
king's  eye, I  am told, though he  has  given  him  to  Mithrandir  for his 
services. I think his new master loves the beast  better than  he loves many 
men, and if his  good  will is  of  any value to this  city,  you will treat 
Shadowfax with all honour: with greater  kindness than you have treated this 
hobbit, if it is possible.' 
     'Hobbit?' said Beregond. 
     'That is what we call ourselves,' said Pippin.


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people 
are kindly to beasts, for they are a good  and wise folk, but they have less 
skill with horses than some.' 
     With that Gandalf went out;  and as he did so, there came the note of a  
clear sweet bell ringing in  a tower of  the citadel. Three strokes it rang, 
like silver in  the  air, and ceased: the third hour from the rising of  the 
sun. 
     After a minute Pippin went to  the door and  down the stair  and looked 
about the street. The sun was now  shining warm and bright,  and the  towers 
and tall houses cast long  clear-cut shadows westward.  High in the blue air 
Mount Mindolluin lifted its  white helm and snowy cloak.  Armed men  went to 
and fro in the ways of  the City, as if going at the striking of the hour to 
changes of post and duty. 
     'Nine o'clock we'd call it in the Shire,' said Pippin aloud to himself.  
'Just  the time for a nice breakfast by the open window in spring  sunshine.


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drawn up. The last of them  were  floating away, just  overhead, as wisps of 
white cloud borne  on  the  stiffening breeze from  the East,  that  was now 
flapping and tugging the flags and white standards of the citadel. Away down 
in the valley-bottom, five leagues or  so as  the eye leaps, the Great River  
could now  be seen grey  and glittering, coming  out of the  north-west, and 
bending in a mighty sweep south and west again, till it was lost to  view in 
a haze and shimmer, far beyond which lay the Sea fifty leagues away. 
     Pippin could see all the  Pelennor laid out before him, dotted into the 
distance with farmsteads  and little  walls, barns  and  byres, but  nowhere 
could he see any kine  or other  beasts.  Many  roads and tracks crossed the 
green fields,  and there  was much coming and going: wains moving  in  lines 
towards the Great Gate, and  others passing  out.  Now and again  a horseman


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'Indeed you did your best,' said the wizard; 'and I hope that it may be 
long  before you find yourself in such a tight corner again between two such 
terrible old  men.  Still the Lord of Gondor  learned more from you than you  
may have  guessed, Pippin. You  could not hide the fact that Bor omir did not 
lead the Company from Moria, and that there was one among you of high 
honour 
who was coming  to Minas Tirith;  and that  he had a famous sword. Men think  
much about the stories of  old  days in Gondor;  and Denethor has given long 
thought  to the rhyme and to  the words  Isildur's  Bane, since Boromir went 
away. 
     'He  is not as other  men  of  this  time,  Pippin, and whatever be his 
descent  from  father  to son, by some chance the blood  of Westernesse runs 
nearly true in him; as it does in his other son, Faramir, and yet did not in 
Boromir whom he  loved best. He has long sight. He can perceive, if he bends


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####-     Shadowfax  whinnied as Pippin  entered the stable and  turned his head. 
'Good morning!'  said Pippin.  'Gandalf will come  as soon as  he may. He is 
busy, but he sends greetings, and I am to see that all is well with you; and 
you resting, I hope, after your long labours.' 
     Shadowfax  tossed  his  head  and  stamped. But he allowed  Beregond to 
handle his head gently and stroke his great flanks. 
     'He looks  as if he were spoiling for a race, and not newly come from a  
great journey,' said Beregond. 'How  strong and proud  he is!  Where  is his 
harness? It should be rich and fair.' 
     'None is  rich  and fair  enough for him,' said Pippin.  'He will  have 
none. If he will consent to bear you, bear you he does; and if not, well, no 
bit, bridle,  whip,  or  thong  will  tame  him.  Farewell, Shadowfax!  Have 
patience. Battle is coming.' 
     Shadowfax lifted up his head and neighed, so that the stable shook, and


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would learn of you also.  For  never before have  we seen a halfling in this 
land and though we have heard rumour of them, little is said of them in  any 
tale that we know. Moreover you are a friend of Mithrandir.  Do you know him 
well?' 
     'Well,' said Pippin.  'I  have known of  him all my short  life, as you  
might say; and lately  I have travelled far with him. But there  is  much to 
read in that book, and I cannot claim to have seen more  than a page or two.  
Yet perhaps I know him as well as any but a few. Aragorn was the only one of 
our Company, I think, who really knew him.' 
     'Aragorn?' said Beregond. 'Who is he?' 
     'Oh,' stammered  Pippin, 'he was a  man who went  about with us. I think  
he is in Rohan now.' 
     'You have  been in Rohan, I hear. There is much that I would ask you of 
that land also;  for we put much of what little hope we have  in its people. 
But I am forgetting my errand, which was first to answer what you would ask.


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####-road  clear for a league  before  noon: tha t was the  order.  It  is  a  sad 
necessity.'  He sighed. 'Few, maybe, of those now sundered will meet  again.  
And there  were  always too few children  in  this  city; but now there  are 
none-save some young lads  that will not depart,  and may  find some task to 
do: my own son is one of them.' 
     They fell silent for a while. Pippin gazed anxiously eastward, as if at 
any moment he might see thousands of orcs pouring over the fields. 'What can 
I see there?' he asked, pointing down to the  middle of the great  curve  of 
the Anduin. 'Is that another city, or what is it?' 
     'It was  a city,'  said Beregond, 'the chief city of Gondor,  of  which 
this  was only a fortress. For that is the ruin of Osgiliath  on either side 
of Anduin, which our enemies took and burned long ago. Yet we won it back in 
the  days of  the youth  of Denethor: not to dwell in,  but  to  hold as  an


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Shadowfax with all honour: with greater  kindness than you have treated this 
hobbit, if it is possible.' 
     'Hobbit?' said Beregond. 
     'That is what we call ourselves,' said Pippin. 
     'I am glad to learn it,' said Beregond, 'for now I may say that strange 
accents  do not   mar fair speech,  and hobbits are  a  fair-spoken folk. But 
come! You shall make me acquainted with this good  horse. I love beasts, and 
we  see  them  seldom  in this  stony city;  for my  people  came  from  the 
mountain-vales, and before that from Ithilien. But fear not! The visit shall 
be short, a mere call of courtesy, and we will go thence to the butteries.' 
     Pippin found that Shadowfax had been well housed and tended. For in the 
sixth circle, outside the walls of the citadel, there were some fair stables 
where  a   few  swift  horses  were  kept,  hard  by  the  lodgings  of  the 
errand-riders of  the  Lord: messengers always ready  to  go at  the  urgent


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bit, bridle,  whip,  or  thong  will  tame  him.  Farewell, Shadowfax!  Have 
patience. Battle is coming.' 
     Shadowfax lifted up his head and neighed, so that the stable shook, and 
they covered their ears.  Then they took their leave, seeing that the manger  
was well filled. 
     'And now for our  manger,' said Beregond, and he led Pippin back to the 
citadel, and so  to a door in the north side of the great tower. There  they 
went  down a  long  cool stair into a  wide alley lit with lamps. There were 
hatches in the walls at the side, and one of these was open. 
     'This  is the storehouse and buttery of my company of the  Guard.' said 
Beregond.  'Greetings,  Targon!' he called through the hatch.  'It  is early 
yet, but here is a newcomer that the Lord has taken into his service. He has 
ridden long and far with a tight belt, and has had sore labour this morning, 
and he is hungry. Give us what you have!'


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that land also;  for we put much of what little hope we have  in its people. 
But I am forgetting my errand, which was first to answer what you would ask. 
What would you know, Master Peregrin?' 
     'Er well,' said Pippin, 'if I may venture to  say so, rather  a burning 
question  in my mind at present is, well, what about breakfast and all that?  
I mean, what  are  the  meal-times, if you  understand me, and where is  the 
dining-room, if there is one?  And the inns? I looked, but never a one could 
I see as we rode up, though I had been borne up by the hope of a draught  of 
ale as soon as we came to the homes of wise and courtly men.' 
     Beregond looked at him  gravely. 'An old campaigner,  I see,'  he said. 
'They say that men who go warring afield look ever to the next  hope of food 
and of drink; though I am not a travelled man myself. Then you have not  yet


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####-herdsmen and husbandmen that dwelt there were not many, and the most part 
of 
the people of Gondor lived in the seven circles of the  City, or in the high 
vales of  the  mountain-borders,  in Lossarnach,  or  further south  in fair 
Lebennin with its five swift streams. There dwelt  a  hardy folk between the 
mountains and the sea. They were reckoned men of Gondor, yet their blood 
was 
mingled, and there were short  and swarthy  folk among them whose sires came 
more from the forgotten men who  housed in  the  shadow  of the hills in the 
Dark  Years  ere the coming of the kings. But  beyond,  in the great fief of 
Belfalas, dwelt Prince Imrahil  in  his castle of Dol Amroth by the sea, and 
he was of high blood,  and  his folk also, tall  men and proud with sea -grey 
eyes. 
     Now after Gandalf had ridden for some time the light of day grew in the 
sky, and Pippin roused himself and looked up. To his left lay a sea of mist,


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####-we shall stand?' 
     Pippin did not answer. He looked at the great walls, and the towers and 
brave banners, and  the sun in the high sky, and then at the gathering gloom 
in the East; and he thought of the long fingers of that Shadow: of  the orcs 
in  the woods and the mountains, the treason of Isengard,  the birds of evil 
eye, and the Black Riders even in the lanes of the Shire - and of the winged 
terror,  the Nazgyl. He  shuddered, and hope seemed  to wither. And even  at 
that moment the sun for a second faltered and was obscured, as though a dark 
wing had  passed across it. Almost beyond hearing he thought he caught, high 
and far up in the heavens, a cry: faint, but heart-quelling, cruel and cold. 
He blanched and cowered against the wall. 
     'What was that?' asked Beregond. 'You also felt something?' 
     'Yes,' muttered Pippin. 'It is the  sign of our fall, and the shadow of 
doom, a Fell Rider of the air.'


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####-night and  the errand-riders; and  Gandalf said that it was a sign that  war 
had begun. He seemed in a desperate hurry. But now everything seems to  have 
slowed up again.' 
     'Only because  everything is now ready,' said Beregond. 'It  is but the 
deep breath before the plunge.' 
     'But why were the beacons lit last night?' 
     'It is  over-late  to  send  for aid  when you  are  already besieged,' 
answered Beregond. 'But I  do  not  know the  counsel of  the  Lord  and his 
captains. They have many ways of gathering news.  And  the Lord Denethor  is 
unlike  other men: he sees far. Some  say that as he sits alone in his  high 
chamber  in the Tower at night, and bends his thought  this way and that, he  
can read somewhat of the future; and that he  will  at times search even the 
mind of the  Enemy, wrestling  with  him. And so it  is that he is old, worn 
before his  time. But however that may be, my lord Faramir is abroad, beyond


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of Anduin, which our enemies took and burned long ago. Yet we won it back in 
the  days of  the youth  of Denethor: not to dwell in,  but  to  hold as  an 
outpost, and  to rebuild  the  bridge for the  passage of our arms. And then 
came the Fell Riders out of Minas Morgul.' 
     'The Black R iders?' said Pippin, opening his eyes,  and they  were wide 
and dark with an old fear re-awakened. 
     'Yes,  they  were  black,' said  Beregond,  'and  I  see  that you know 
something of them, though you have not spoken of them in any of your tales.' 
     'I know of them,' said  Pippin softly,  'but I will not  speak of  them 
now, so near, so near.' He  broke  off  and lifted his eyes above the River, 
and  it  seemed to  him that  all  he could  see was  a vast and threatening 
shadow. Perhaps it was mountains looming on the verge of sight, their jagged 
edges softened by wellnigh twenty leagues of misty air; perhaps it was but a


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####-be wise and learned in the scrolls of lore and song, as he is, and yet a man 
of hardihood  and swift  judgement in the field. But such is  Faramir.  Less 
reckless and eager than Boromir, but  not less resolute. Yet what indeed can 
he do? We cannot assault  the mountains of  -  of yonder  realm. Our reach is 
shortened, and we cannot strike till some foe comes within it. Then our hand  
must be heavy!' He smote the hilt of his sword. 
     Pippin looked at  him: tall and proud and noble, as all the men that he 
had yet seen in that land; and  with  a glitter in  his eye as he thought of 
the battle. 'Alas! my own hand feels as light as a feather,' he thought, but 
he  said nothing.  'A  pawn did  Gandalf  say?  Perhaps  but  on  the  wrong 
chessboard.' 
     So they  talked  until the  sun  reached  its height, and suddenly  the 
noon-bells were rung, and there was a  stir in the citadel; for all save the 
watchmen were going to their meal.


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green fields,  and there  was much coming and going: wains moving  in  lines 
towards the Great Gate, and  others passing  out.  Now and again  a horseman 
would ride up, and leap from  the saddle  and hasten into the City. But most  
of the traffic went out along the chief highway,  and that turned south, and 
then  bending  swifter than the River skirted the hills and passed soon from 
sight.  It was wide  and well-paved, and along its eastern  edge ran a broad 
green riding-track, and beyond that a wall . On the ride horsemen galloped to  
and  fro, but all the  street seemed to be  choked with great  covered wains 
going  south.  But  soon Pippin  saw that  all was in fact well-ordered: the 
wains were  moving in  three  lines,  one swifter  drawn  by horses; another  
slower, great waggons with fair housings of many colours, drawn by oxen; and 
along the west rim of the road many smaller carts hauled by trudging men.


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eyes. 
     Now after Gandalf had ridden for some time the light of day grew in the 
sky, and Pippin roused himself and looked up. To his left lay a sea of mist, 
rising  to a  bleak  shadow  in the  East;  but to his right great mountains 
reared their heads, ranging  from the West  to a steep and sudden end, as if 
in  the  making of the land the  River  had burst  through a great  barrier, 
carving  out a mighty valley to be a  land  of battle and debate in times to 
come. And there where the White Mountains of Ered Nimrais  came to their 
end 
he saw, as Gandalf had promised, the dark mass of Mount  Mindolluin, the deep 
purple  shadows of its high glens, and its tall face whitening in the rising 
day. And upon its out-thrust knee was the Guarded City, with its seven walls 
of stone  so  strong and  old that  it seemed to have been  not builded  but 
carven by giants out of the bones of the earth. 
     Even  as Pippin gazed in wonder the walls  passed from  looming grey to


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'What was that?' asked Beregond. 'You also felt something?' 
     'Yes,' muttered Pippin. 'It is the  sign of our fall, and the shadow of 
doom, a Fell Rider of the air.' 
     'Yes, the  shadow of doom,' said Beregond. 'I fear  that  Minas  Tirith 
shall fall. Night comes. The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away.' 
     For a time they  sat together with bowed heads and did  not speak. Then 
suddenly Pippin looked up and  saw  that  the  sun was still shining and the 
banners still streaming in the breeze. He shook  himself. 'It is passed,' he 
said. 'No, my  heart will not yet despair. Gandalf fell and has returned and 
is with us. We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still  upon 
our knees.' 
     'Rightly said!' cried Beregond, rising and striding to and  fro.  'Nay, 
though all things  must come  utterly to an  end  in  time, Gondor shall not 
perish yet. Not though  the walls be taken by a reckless foe that will build


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mind of the  Enemy, wrestling  with  him. And so it  is that he is old, worn 
before his  time. But however that may be, my lord Faramir is abroad, beyond 
the River on some perilous errand, and he may have sent tidings.  
     'But if you would know what I think set  the beacons ablaze, it was the 
news  that came yestereve  out of Lebennin. There is a great  fleet  drawing 
near to the mouths of Anduin, manned by  the corsairs of Umbar in the South. 
They have long ceased to fear the might of Gondor, and they have allied them 
with the Enemy, and now  make  a heavy stroke in  his cause. For this attack  
will draw off much of the help  that  we looked  to  have  from Lebennin and  
Belfalas, where folk are hardy a nd numerous. All the more do our thoughts go 
north to Rohan; and the more glad are we for these tidings  of  victory that 
you bring. 
     'And yet'  - he paused and stood up, and looked round, north,  east, and


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yet, but here is a newcomer that the Lord has taken into his service. He has 
ridden long and far with a tight belt, and has had sore labour this morning, 
and he is hungry. Give us what you have!' 
     They got there bread, and butter, and cheese  and  apples:  the last of 
the  winter store,  wrinkled but  sound and sweet;  and a leather flagon  of 
new-drawn ale, and  wooden platters  and cups. They put  all into  a  wicker  
basket and climbed back into the sun; and Beregond brought Pippin to a place 
at  the  east  end of  the  great out-thrust battlement where  there was  an 
embrasure in  the walls with a stone seat beneath the sill. From there  they 
could look out on the morning over the world. 
     They  ate  and drank; and they  talked now of  Gondor and its  ways and 
customs, now  of the Shire and the strange countries that  Pippin  had seen. 
And ever as they talked Beregond  was more amazed,  and looked with  greater


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where  a   few  swift  horses  were  kept,  hard  by  the  lodgings  of  the 
errand-riders of  the  Lord: messengers always ready  to  go at  the  urgent 
command of Denethor or his  chief  captains. But  now all the horses and the  
riders were out and away.


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carven by giants out of the bones of the earth. 
     Even  as Pippin gazed in wonder the walls  passed from  looming grey to 
white, blushing faintly in  the dawn;  and suddenly the sun climbed over the 
eastern shadow and sent forth a shaft that  smote the face of the City. Then 
Pippin cried aloud, for the Tower  of  Ecthelion, standing high  within  the 
topmost walls' shone  out against the  sky, glimmering like a spike of pearl 
and silver, tall and fair and shapely, and its pinnacle  glittered as if  it 
were wrought of crystals;  and white  banners  broke and  fluttered from the 
battlements in the morning breeze' and high and far he heard a clear ringing 
as of silver trumpets. 
     So Gandalf and Peregrin rode to the Great Gate  of the Men of Gondor at 
the rising of the sun, and its iron doors rolled back before them.


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So they  talked  until the  sun  reached  its height, and suddenly  the 
noon-bells were rung, and there was a  stir in the citadel; for all save the 
watchmen were going to their meal. 
     'Will you come with me?' said Beregond. 'You may join my  mess for this 
day. I do not know to  what  company  you will be  assigned; or the Lord may 
hold you at his own command. But you will be welcome. And it will be well to 
meet as many men as you may, while there is yet time.' 
     'I shall be glad  to come,' said Pippin. 'I am  lonely, to tell you the 
truth. I left my best friend behind in Rohan, and I have had  no one to talk  
to  or jest with. Perhaps  I could  really join your  company?  Are  you the  
captain? If so, you could take me on, or speak for me?' 
     'Nay, nay,' Beregond laughed, 'I am no captain. Neither office nor rank  
nor lordship  have I,  being but a plain man of arms of the Third Company of


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north to Rohan; and the more glad are we for these tidings  of  victory that 
you bring. 
     'And yet'  - he paused and stood up, and looked round, north,  east, and 
south - 'the doings at Isengard  should warn us that we are  caught now in a  
great net and strategy. This is no longer a  bickering at the fords, raiding 
from Ithilien and from Anurien, ambushing and pillaging. This is a great war 
long-planned, and we are but one piece in it, whatever pride may say. Things 
move  in the  far  East beyond the  Inland Sea, it is reported; and north in 
Mirkwood and beyond; and south in Harad. And now all  realms shall be put to 
the test, to stand, or fall  - under the Shadow. 
     'Yet, Master Peregrin, we have this honour:  ever we bear  the brunt of 
the  chief  hatred  of the Dark Lord, for that hatred comes down out of  the 
depths of  time and over the deeps  of the Sea. Here will the  hammer -stroke


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slower, great waggons with fair housings of many colours, drawn by oxen; and 
along the west rim of the road many smaller carts hauled by trudging men. 
     'That is the  road  to the  vales of  Tumladen and  Lossarnach, and the 
mountain-villages,  and then on  to Lebennin,' said  Beregond. 'There  go the 
last  of  the  wains that bear away to refuge the aged the children, and the 
women that must go  with them.  They must all  be gone from the Gate and the


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shadow. Perhaps it was mountains looming on the verge of sight, their jagged 
edges softened by wellnigh twenty leagues of misty air; perhaps it was but a  
cloud-wall, and beyond that again a yet deeper gloom. But  even as he looked 
it seemed to his eyes that the gloom was growing and gathering, very slowly, 
slowly rising to smother the regions of the sun. 
     'So  near to Mordor?' said  Beregond quietly.  'Yes,  there it lies. We 
seldom name it; but we have dwelt ever in sight of that shadow: sometimes it 
seems fainter and more distant;  sometimes nearer and darker. It  is growing 
and  darkening now; and  therefore  our fear  and disquiet grow too. And the 
Fell Riders, less  than a year ago they won back the crossings, and  many of 
our best men were  slain.  Boromir it  was that drove  the enemy at last back  
from this western shore, and we hold still the near half of Osgiliath. For a  
little  while. But  we  await  now  a new onslaught there.  Maybe the  chief


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customs, now  of the Shire and the strange countries that  Pippin  had seen. 
And ever as they talked Beregond  was more amazed,  and looked with  greater  
wonder  at the  hobbit, swinging his short  legs as he sat  on the seat,  or  
standing tiptoe upon it to peer over the sill at the lands below.


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though all things  must come  utterly to an  end  in  time, Gondor shall not 
perish yet. Not though  the walls be taken by a reckless foe that will build 
a hill of carrion before them. There  are still other fastnesses, and secret 
ways of escape  into the mountains. Hope and memory shall live still in some 
hidden valley where the grass is green.' 
     'All the same, I  wish it was over for good or ill.' said Pippin. 'I am 
no warrior at all and dislike any thought of battle; but waiting on the edge 
of one  that  I  can't escape  is  worst  of all.  What a long  day it seems 
already! I should  be happier, if we  were not obliged  to stand and  watch, 
making  no move, striking nowhere first. No stroke would have been struck in 
Rohan, I think, but for Gandalf.' 
     'Ah, there  you  lay  your finger on  the  sore  that  many feel!' said 
Beregond. 'But things may change when Faramir returns. He is bold, more bold


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####-Riders came from Rohan each would bring behind him a halfling warrior, small 
maybe, but doughty. 
     Though Pippin had regretfully to destroy this  hopeful  tale,  he could 
not be rid of his new  rank, only fitting, men thought, to one befriended by 
Boromir and honoured by  the Lord Denethor; and they thanked him for  
coming 
among them, and  hung on his words and stories of the outlands, and gave him 
as much food and ale as he could  wish. Indeed his  only  trouble was to  be 
'wary' according  to the counsel of Gandalf, and  not to let  his tongue wag 
freely after the manner of a hobbit among friends. 
     At length  Beregond  rose. 'Farewell for  this time!'  he said. 'I have 
duty now till sundown, as have all the others here, I think. But if you  are 
lonely, as you  say, maybe  you would like a  merry guide about the City. My 
son would go with you gladly. A good lad, I may say. If that pleases you, go


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####-back from the street, and between them a narrow greensward, behind which 
was 
the many-windowed house, fronted along its whole  width by  a pillared porch 
and  a flight of steps down on  to  the grass.  Boys were playing  among the 
pillars,  the only children  that Pippin had  seen  in Minas Tirith,  and he 
stopped to look at them. Presently one of them caught sight of him, and with 
a  shout  he sprang across  the grass and  came into the street, followed by 
several others. There he stood in front of Pippin, looking him up and down. 
     'Greetings!' said  the la d. 'Where do you come from? You are a stranger  
in the City.' 
     'I was,' said Pippin; 'but they say I have become a man of Gondor.' 
     'Oh  come!' said the lad. 'Then we are all men  here.  But how old  are 
you, and what is your name? I am ten  years a lready, and  shall soon be five 
feet.  I am  taller  than you. But then my father  is  a  Guard, one of  the 
tallest. What is your father?'


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the  chief  hatred  of the Dark Lord, for that hatred comes down out of  the 
depths of  time and over the deeps  of the Sea. Here will the  hammer -stroke 
fall hardest. And for that reason Mithrandir came  hither in such haste. For 
if we fall, who shall stand? And, Master  Peregrin, do you see any hope that


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####-     'So I thought,' said Pippin, 'for you look like your father. I know him 
and he sent me to find you.' 
     'Then why did you not say so at once?' said Bergil, and suddenly a look  
of dismay came over his face. 'Do not  tell me that he has changed his mind,  
and will send me away with the maidens! But no, the last wains have gone.' 
     'His message is less bad than that, if not good.' said Pippin. 'He says 
that if you would  prefer it to standing me  on  my head, you might show  me 
round the  City for  a while  and cheer my loneliness. I can  tell  you some 
tales of far countries in return.' 
     Bergil  clapped his hands,  and laughed with relief.  'All is well,' he 
cried. 'Come then! We were  soon going to the  Gate  to look  on. We will go 
now.' 
     'What is happening there?' 
     'The  Captains  of the  Outlands  are  expected up the South  Road  ere 
sundown. Come with us and you will see.'


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lonely, as you  say, maybe  you would like a  merry guide about the City. My 
son would go with you gladly. A good lad, I may say. If that pleases you, go 
down to  the  lowest  circle and ask for  the Old  Guesthouse  in  the  Rath 
Celerdain, the Lampwrights' Street. You will find him  there with other lads 
that are remaining in the City. There may be things worth seeing down at the 
Great Gate ere the closing.' 
     He went out, and soon after all the  others followed. The day was st ill 
fine, though  it  was  growing hazy,  and it was  hot for March, even so far 
southwards. Pippin felt sleepy,  but  the  lodging seemed cheerless, and  he 
decided to go down and  explore the City. He took a few morsels that he  had 
saved to Shadowfax,  and  they were  graciously accepted,  though the  horse 
seemed to have no lack. Then he walked on down many winding ways.  
     People  stared  much  as  he  passed. To  his  face  men  were  gravely


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Rohan, I think, but for Gandalf.' 
     'Ah, there  you  lay  your finger on  the  sore  that  many feel!' said 
Beregond. 'But things may change when Faramir returns. He is bold, more bold 
than many deem; for in these days men are slow to believe that a captain can


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you, and what is your name? I am ten  years a lready, and  shall soon be five 
feet.  I am  taller  than you. But then my father  is  a  Guard, one of  the 
tallest. What is your father?' 
     'Which question  shall  I  answer first?' said Pippin. 'My father farms 
the  lands  round Whitwell  near  Tuckborough in  the  Shire.  I  am  nearly 
twenty-nine, so I pass you there; though I am but four feet, and  not likely 
to grow any more, save sideways.' 
     'Twenty-nine!' said the lad  and whistled. 'Why, you are  quite old! As 
old as my  uncle Iorlas. Still,' he added hopefully, 'I  wager I could stand 
you on your head or lay you on your back.' 
     'Maybe you could, if I let you,' said Pippin with a laugh. 'And maybe I 
could  do  the  same  to  you: we know some  wrestling tricks in  my  little 
country.  Where,  let  me tell  you,  I am considered  uncommonly large  and 
strong; and I have never allowed anyone  to stand me  on  my  head. So if it


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from this western shore, and we hold still the near half of Osgiliath. For a  
little  while. But  we  await  now  a new onslaught there.  Maybe the  chief 
onslaught of the war that comes.' 
     'When?' said Pippin. 'Have  you a  guess?  For I saw the  beacons  last


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now.' 
     'What is happening there?' 
     'The  Captains  of the  Outlands  are  expected up the South  Road  ere 
sundown. Come with us and you will see.' 
     Bergil proved a good comrade, the best company Pippin had had  since he 
parted from Merry, and soon they  were laughing and  talking  gaily  as they 
went about  the streets, heedless of the many  glances  that men gave  them. 
Before long they found themselves in  a throng going towards the Great Gate. 
There Pippin went  up  much in  the esteem of Bergil,  for when he spoke his 
name and the pass-word the guard saluted  him and let  him pass through; and 
what was more, he allowed him to take his companion with him. 
     'That is good!' said Bergil. 'We boys are no longer allowed to pass the 
Gate without an elder. Now we shall see better.' 
     Beyond the Gate there was a crowd of men  along  the  verge of the road 
and of the great paved space into  which all the wa ys to  Minas Tirith  ran.


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####-dully  through it. But in the West  the dying  sun had  set all  the fume on 
fire, and now Mindolluin stood black against a burning smoulder flecked  with 
embers. 'So ends a  fair day in wrath!' he said forgetful of the lad  at his 
side. 
     'So it  will, if  I  have not returned before the sundown-bells,'  said 
Bergil. 'Come! There goes the trumpet for the closing of the Gate.' 
     Hand  in hand they went  back into the City, the last to  pass the Gate 
before it  was  shut;  and as they  reached the Lampwrights'  Street all the 
bells in the towers tolled solemnly. Lights sprang in many windows, and from 
the houses and wards of the men at arms along the walls there came the sound 
of song. 
     'Farewell  for  this  time,'  said  Bergil.  'Take  my  greetings to my 
:father, and thank him for the company that he sent. Come again soon, I beg.  
Almost  I wish now that there was no war,  for we might have  had some merry


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####-     Leading the line there came walking a big thick -limbed horse, and on it 
sat a man of  wide  shoulders and  huge girth, but old and grey-bearded, yet 
mail-clad and  black-helmed and  bearing  a  long heavy  spear.  Behind  him 
marched  proudly  a  dusty  line  of  men,   well-armed  and  bearing  great 
battle-axes; grim-faced they were, and shorter  and  somewhat swarthier  than 
any men that Pippin had yet seen in Gondor. 
     'Forlong!' men shouted.  'True heart, true friend!  Forlong!'  But when 
the men of Lossarnach  had passed they muttered: 'So few! Two hundreds, 
what 
are they? We hoped for ten times the number. That will be the new tidings of 
the  black fleet.  They  are sparing only a tithe  of  their strength. Still 
every little is a gain.' 
     And  so  the  companies  came and  were hailed and  cheered  and passed 
through  the Gate, men of the Outlands marching to defend the City of Gondor


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seemed to have no lack. Then he walked on down many winding ways.  
     People  stared  much  as  he  passed. To  his  face  men  were  gravely 
courteous, saluting him after the manner of Gondor with bowed head and hands 
upon the breast; but  behind him he heard many calls,  as those out of doors 
cried to others within  to come  and see the Prince  of the  Halflings,  the 
companion of Mithrandir. Many used some other tongue than the Common 
Speech, 
but  it  was not long before he  learned at least what was meant by  Ernil i 
Pheriannath  and knew that his title had gone down before him into the City. 
     He came at last by arched streets and many fair alleys and pavements to 
the lowest and widest circle, a nd there  he was directed to the Lampwrights' 
Street, a broad way running towards  the  Great Gate. In it he found the Old 
Guesthouse, a large building of grey weathered stone with  two wings running


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country.  Where,  let  me tell  you,  I am considered  uncommonly large  and 
strong; and I have never allowed anyone  to stand me  on  my  head. So if it 
came to a trial and nothing else would serve, I might have  to kill you. For  
when you  are older, you will learn that folk are not always what they seem;  
and though  you may have taken me for a soft stranger -lad and easy prey, let  
me  warn you: I am not,  I  am a halfling,  hard, bold,  and wicked!' Pippin 
pulled such  a  grim face  that the boy stepped  back a pace, but at once he 
returned with clenched fists and the light of battle in his eye. 
     'No!'  Pippin laughed. 'Don't  believe what strangers say of themselves 
either! I am  not a fighter.  But it  would be politer in any  case for  the 
challenger to say who he is.' 
     The boy drew himself  up  proudly.  'I am Bergil son of Beregond of the 
Guards,' he said.


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####-overtaking us, riding hard.' 
     Thjoden at once called a halt. The Riders turned about and seized their 
spears.  Aragorn  dismounted and  set Merry on the  ground, and drawing  his 
sword he stood by the king's stirrup. Jomer and his esquire rode back to the 
rear. Merry felt more  like unneeded baggage than  ever, and he wondered, if 
there was a fight, what  he should do. Supposing the king's small escort was 
trapped and overcome, but  he escaped into the darkness  - alone in the wild  
fields of Rohan  with no idea of where he was in all the  endless miles? 'No 
good!' he thought. He drew his sword and tightened his belt. 
     The sinking moon was obscured by a great sailing cloud, but suddenly it 
rode  out clear  again. Then they all  heard the sound of  hoofs, and at the 
same moment they saw dark shapes coming  swiftly on the path from the fords.  
The moonlight glinted here and  there  on the points of spears. The number of


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'Nay, nay,' Beregond laughed, 'I am no captain. Neither office nor rank  
nor lordship  have I,  being but a plain man of arms of the Third Company of 
the Citadel. Yet, Master Peregrin, to be only a man of arms of the  Guard of 
the Tower of Gondor  is held worthy in the City, and such men have honour in 
the land.' 
     'Then it is far beyond me,' said Pippin. 'Take me back to our room, and 
if Gandalf is not there, I will go where you like  - as your guest. ' 
     Gandalf was not in the lodging and had sent no message; so  Pippin went  
with Beregond and was made known  to  the  men of the  Third Company. And 
it 
seemed that Beregond got as much honour from it as his guest, for Pippin was 
very welcome.  There  had  already  been  much talk  in  the  citadel  about 
Mithrandir's companion and his  long  closeting with the  Lord;  and  rumour 
declared that a Prince  of the Halflings had  come out of the North to offer


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:father, and thank him for the company that he sent. Come again soon, I beg.  
Almost  I wish now that there was no war,  for we might have  had some merry 
times. We might have journeyed to Lossarnach, to my grandsire's house; it is 
good to be  there in Spring, the  woods and fields are  full of flowers. But 
maybe we will go thither together  yet.  They will never overcome our  Lord, 
and my father is very valiant. Farewell and return!' 
     They  parted and Pippin hurried back towards the citadel.  It seemed  a  
long way, and he  grew hot and  very hungry; and night closed down swift and 
dark.  Not a star pricked the sky. He  was late for the daymeal in the mess, 
and Beregond greeted him gladly, and sat him at his side to hear news of his 
son.  After the  meal Pippin stayed a while,  and then took his leave, for a  
strange gloom was on him, and now he desired very much to see Gandalf 
again. 
     'Can you find your way?' said Beregond at  the door of the  small hall,


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Beyond the Gate there was a crowd of men  along  the  verge of the road 
and of the great paved space into  which all the wa ys to  Minas Tirith  ran. 
All eyes were turned southwards, and soon a murmur rose: 'There is dust away 
there! They are coming!' 
     Pippin and Bergil  edged their way  forward to the front of the  crowd, 
and waited. Horns sounded at some distance, and the noise of cheering rolled 
towards them like a gathering wind. Then there was a loud trumpet-blast, and 
all about them people were shouting. 
     'Forlong! Forlong!' Pippin  heard men calling.  'What do  they say?' he 
asked. 
     'Forlong  has come,' Bergil answered; 'old Forlong the Fat, the Lord of 
Lossarnach. That is where  my grandsire  lives. Hurrah! Here he is. Good old 
Forlong!'


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####-     'All is well,' said Aragorn, turning back. 'Here are some of my own kin 
from  the far land where I dwelt. But why they come, and how many  they  be, 
Halbarad shall tell us.' 
     'I  have thirty  with me,' said Halbarad. 'That is  all  of our kindred 
that could be gathered in  haste; but the  brethren Elladan and Elrohir have 
ridden with us, desiring to go to  the  war. We rode as swiftly as we  might 
when your summons came.' 
     'But  I  did  not summon you,' said Aragorn,  'save  only  in wish.  My 
thoughts have often turned to you, and seldom more than tonight; yet I  have 
sent  no  word. But come! All such matters must wait. You find us riding  in 
haste and danger. Ride with us now, if the king will give his leave. ' 
     Thjoden was indeed glad of the news. 'It  is well!' he said.  'If these 
kinsmen be in any way like to yourself, my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights 
will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads.'


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every little is a gain.' 
     And  so  the  companies  came and  were hailed and  cheered  and passed 
through  the Gate, men of the Outlands marching to defend the City of Gondor  
in a dark hour; but always too few, always less than hope looked for or need 
asked. The  men of  Ringlu  Vale  behind the  son  of  their  lord, Dervorin 
striding  on foot: three hundreds. From  the uplands of  Morthond, the great 
Blackroot Vale,  tall Duinhir with  his sons, Duilin and  Derufin,  and five 
hundred bowmen. From the  Anfalas, the Langstrand far away,  a  long line of 
men of many sorts, hunters and herdsmen and men of little villages, scantily 
equipped  save for the hou sehold of Golasgil their lord. From Lamedon, a few 
grim hillmen without a  captain.  Fisher -folk of the Ethir, some hundred  or  
more spared from the ships. Hirluin the Fair of the Green Hills from Pinnath 
Gelin with three hundreds  of gallant green-clad men. And last and proudest,


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same moment they saw dark shapes coming  swiftly on the path from the fords.  
The moonlight glinted here and  there  on the points of spears. The number of 
the pursuers could  not be told, but they seemed  no fewer than  the  king's 
escort, at the least. 
     When they were some  fifty paces off,  Jomer  cried  in  a  loud voice: 
'Halt! Halt! Who rides in Rohan?' 
     The  pursuers  brought  their  steeds  to  a sudden  stand.  A  silence 
followed: and  then in the  moonlight, a  horseman could be seen dismounting 
and walking  slowly  forward. His hand  showed white as  he held it up, palm 
outward, in token of pea ce; but the king's men gripped their weapons. At ten 
paces the man stopped. He was  tall,  a dark standing shadow. Then his clear 
voice rang out. 
     'Rohan? Rohan did you say?  That is  a glad word.  We seek that land in 
haste from long afar.' 
     'You have found it,' said Jomer. 'When you crossed the fords yonder you


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####-for a brief while and take counsel. 
     Merry  slept  until  he was  roused by Legolas and  Gimli.  'The Sun is 
high,'  said Legolas. 'All others are  up and doing.  Come, Master Sluggard, 
and look at this place while you may!' 
     'There  was a  battle here  three  nights ago,' said Gimli,  'and  here 
Legolas and  I  played a game that I won only  by a single orc. Come and see 
how it was!  And there  are caves, Merry, caves of  wonder!  Shall we  visit 
them, Legolas, do you think?' 
     'Nay!  There is no  time,' said the Elf. 'Do  not spoil the wonder with 
haste! I have given you my wor d to return hither with you, if a day of peace 
and  freedom comes  again. But it is now near to noon, and  at that hour  we 
eat, and then set out again, I hear.' 
     Merry  got up  and yawned. His few hours'  sleep  had not  been  nearly 
enough; he was  t ired and rather dismal. He missed Pippin,  and felt that he


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strange gloom was on him, and now he desired very much to see Gandalf 
again. 
     'Can you find your way?' said Beregond at  the door of the  small hall, 
on the north side of the citadel, where  they had sat. 'It is a black night, 
and all the blacker  since  orders came that lights are  to be dimmed within 
the City, and none are to shine out from  the walls. And I can give you news 
of another order: you will be summoned to the Lord Denethor  early tomorrow.  
I  fear you will not  be for the Third  Company. Still we may  hope  to meet 
again. Farewell and sleep in peace!' 
     The lodging was   dark,  save  for a  little lantern  set  on the table. 
Gandalf was  not there.  Gloom settled  still  more  heavily  on Pippin.  He 
climbed on the bench  and tried  to  peer out of a window,  but it was  like 
looking  into a pool of ink. He  got down and closed the shutter and went to 
bed.  For a  while he lay and listened for  sounds  of Gandalf's return, and


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Mithrandir's companion and his  long  closeting with the  Lord;  and  rumour 
declared that a Prince  of the Halflings had  come out of the North to offer  
allegiance to Gondor and five  thousand  swords.  And some said that when the


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####-     'Nay, Galadriel,' said  Legolas. 'Did she not speak  through Gandalf of 
the ride of the Grey Company from the North?' 
     'Yes,  you have it,' said Gimli. 'The Lady of  the Wood! She  read many 
hearts and  desires. Now why did  not we wish for some  of our own kinsfolk, 
Legolas?' 
     Legolas stood before the gate and turned his bright eyes away north and 
east, and his fair face was troubled. 'I do not  think that any would come,' 
he answered. 'They have no need to ride to war; war already marches on their 
own lands.' 
     For  a while the three companions walked together, speaking of this and 
that turn of the battle, and they went down from the broken gate, and passed 
the mounds of the fallen on the greensward beside the road, until they stood  
on  Helm's  Dike  and  looked into the Coomb. The Death Down  already  stood 
there, black and  tall and stony, and the great trampling and scoring of the


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kinsmen be in any way like to yourself, my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights 
will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads.' 
     Then the Riders  set out again, and Aragor n  for a while rode with  the 
D®nedain; and when they had spoken of tidings in the North and in the South, 
Elrohir said to him: 
     'I bring word to you from my father: The days are short. If thou art in  
haste, remember the Paths of the Dead. ' 
     'Always my days  have seemed  to me  too short to  achieve  my desire,' 
answered Aragorn. 'But great indeed will be my haste ere I take that road.' 
     'That  will soon  be seen,' said Elrohir. 'But let us speak  no more of 
these things upon the open road!' 
     And  Aragorn said to Halbarad: 'What is  that that  you bear, kinsman?' 
For  he  saw that instead  of a  spear he bore a  tall  staff, as it were  a  
standard, but it was close-furled  in a black cloth  bound about  with  many 
thongs.


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on  Helm's  Dike  and  looked into the Coomb. The Death Down  already  stood 
there, black and  tall and stony, and the great trampling and scoring of the 
grass by the Huorns could be  plainly  seen. The Dunlendings and many men of 
the garrison of the Burg were at work on the Dike or in the fields and about 
the battered walls behind;  yet all seemed  strangely  quiet: a weary valley 
resting after a  great storm. Soon they turned  back and went  to the midday 
meal in the hall of the Burg. 
     The  king was already there, and as soon as they  entered he called for  
Merry and  had a seat set for him at his side. 'It is not  as I  would  have 
it,' said Thjoden; 'for this is little like  my  fair  house  in Edoras. And 
your friend is gone, who should also be here. But it may be long ere we si t, 
you and I, at the high table in Meduseld; there will be no time for feasting 
when  I return  thither. But  come  now!  Eat and drink,  and  let us  speak


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voice rang out. 
     'Rohan? Rohan did you say?  That is  a glad word.  We seek that land in 
haste from long afar.' 
     'You have found it,' said Jomer. 'When you crossed the fords yonder you  
entered it. But it is the realm of Thjoden  the King. None ride here save by 
his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?' 
     'Halbarad D®nadan, Ranger  of the North I am,' cried the man. 'We  seek  
one Aragorn son of Arathorn, and we heard that he was in Rohan.' 
     'And  you have  found  him also!' cried  Aragorn. Giving his  reins  to 
Merry, he ran  forward and embraced  the newcomer. 'Halbarad!' he said.  'Of 
all joys this is the least expected!' 
     Merry breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that this was some last 
trick of Saruman's, to waylay  the king  while he  had  only a few men about 
him;  but it seemed that there would be no need to die in Thjoden's defence,  
not yet at any rate. He sheathed his sword.


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more spared from the ships. Hirluin the Fair of the Green Hills from Pinnath 
Gelin with three hundreds  of gallant green-clad men. And last and proudest,  
Imrahil,  Prince  of Dol Amroth,  kinsman of the  Lord, with  gilded banners 
bearing his token of the Ship and  the Silver Swan, and a company of knights 
in full harness riding grey horses; and behind them seven hundreds of men at 
arms, tall as lords, grey-eyed, dark-haired, singing as they came. 
     And  that was  all, less than  three thousands full told. No more would 
come. Their cries and the tramp of their feet passed into  the City and died 
away. The onlookers stood silent for a while. Dust hung  in the air, for the 
wind had  died and  the  evening  was heavy. Already  the  closing  hour was 
drawing nigh, and the red sun had gone behind  Mindolluin. Shadow  came 
down 
on the City. 
     Pippin  looked  up,  and  it  seemed to  him that  the  sky  had  grown


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####-     'There are no great weapon -hoards here, lord.' answered Jomer. 'Maybe a  
light helm might be found to fit him; but  we have no   mail or sword for one 
of his stature.' 
     'I have a sword,' said Merry, climbing from his  seat, and drawing from 
its black sheath his small bright blade. Filled suddenly with love  for this 
old man, he knelt on one knee,  and took  his hand and kissed it. 'May I lay 
the  sword  of  Meriadoc of the Shire on your lap Thjoden  King?' he  cried. 
'Receive my service, if you will!' 
     'Gladly will I take it,' said the king; and laying his  long old  hands 
upon  the brown hair  of the hobbit;  he blessed  him. 'Rise  now, Meriadoc, 
esquire  of Rohan of the household of  Meduseld!' he said.  'Take your sword 
and bear it unto good fortune!' 
     'As a father you shall be to me,' said Merry. 
     'For a little while,' said Thjoden. 
     They talked then together as they ate, until presently Jomer spoke. 'It


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For  he  saw that instead  of a  spear he bore a  tall  staff, as it were  a  
standard, but it was close-furled  in a black cloth  bound about  with  many 
thongs. 
     'It is a gift that  I bring  you  from the Lady of Rivendell,' answered 
Halbarad.  'She wrought it in secret,  and long was the making. But she also 
sends word  to you: The days now are short.  Either our hope cometh, or  all  
hopes end. Therefore I  send  thee what I have  made  for  thee. Fare  well, 
Elfstone!' 
     And Aragorn said:  'Now I  know  what you bear. Bear it still for  me a  
while!' And  he turned and  looked away to the North under  the great stars,  
and then he fell silent and spoke no more while the night's journey lasted. 
     The night  was old  and the East grey  when  they rode  up at last from 
Deeping-coomb and came back to the Hornburg. There they were to lie and rest


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Gandalf was gone, and the thudding  hoofs of Shadowfax were lost in the  
night, when Merry came  back to Aragorn. He  had only a light bundle, for he 
had lost his pack at Parth  Galen, and all he had was a few useful things he 
had picked up among the wreckage of  Isengard. Hasufel was  already saddled. 
Legolas and Gimli with their horse stood close by. 
     'So four of the Company still remain,'  said Aragorn. 'We  will ride on 
together.  But  we  shall  not  go alone,  as  I  thought. The  king is  now 
determined  to set out at  once.  Since the coming of the winged  shadow, he 
desires to return to the hills under cover of night.' 
     'And then whither?' said Legolas.  
     'I cannot say yet,' Aragorn answered. 'As for the king, he will  go  to 
the muster that he commanded at Edoras,  four  nights from now. And there, I 
think, he will hear tidings of war, and the Riders of Rohan  will go down to


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####-then he fell into an uneasy sleep. 
     In  the  night he was wakened by  a light, and he saw that  Gandalf had 
come and was pacing to and fro in the room beyond the curtain of the alcove. 
There were candles on the  table and rolls of parchment. He heard the wizard 
sigh, and mutter: 'When will Faramir return?' 
     'Hullo!' said Pippin, poking his head round the curtain. 'I thought you  
had forgotten  all about me. I am  glad  to see you back. It has been a long 
day.' 
     'But the night  will be too  short,' said  Gandalf.  'I have  come back  
here, for I  must have a  little peace,  alone. You should sleep,  in  a bed 
while you still  may. At the sunrise I  shall take you to the  Lord Denethor  
again. No, when the  summons  comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun. 
There will be no dawn.' 
 

####- 

Chapter 2. The Passing of the Grey Company


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eat, and then set out again, I hear.' 
     Merry  got up  and yawned. His few hours'  sleep  had not  been  nearly 
enough; he was  t ired and rather dismal. He missed Pippin,  and felt that he 
was only a burden, while everybody was making plans for  speed in a business 
that he did not fully understand. 'Where is Aragorn?' he asked. 
     'In a  high chamber of the Burg,' said  Legolas. 'He has neither rested 
nor slept, I think. He went thither some hours ago, saying that he must take 
thought, and only his kinsman, Halbarad, went with him;  but some dark doubt 
or care sits on him.' 
     'They are a strange company, these  newcomers,'  said Gimli. 'Stout men 
and lordly  they are,  and the  Riders  of Rohan look  almost as boys beside 
them; for they are grim men  of face, worn like weathered rocks for the most  
part, even as Aragorn himself; and they are silent.' 
     'But even as Aragorn they  are courteous, if they break  their silence.'


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drawing nigh, and the red sun had gone behind  Mindolluin. Shadow  came 
down 
on the City. 
     Pippin  looked  up,  and  it  seemed to  him that  the  sky  had  grown 
ashen-grey, as  if a vast dust  and  smoke hung above  them, and  light came


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####-pony: Stybba was his name. Presently Jomer came out from the gate, and  with 
him was Aragorn, and Halbarad bearing the great staff close-furled in black, 
and two tall men, neither young nor old So much alike were they, the  sons of 
Elrond,  that few could tell  them apart: dark-haired,  grey-eyed, and their 
faces elven-fair,  clad  alike in bright mail beneath cloaks of silver -grey. 
Behind them walked Legolas and  Gimli. But Merry had eyes only for  
Aragorn, 
so startling  wa s the  change that he saw  in  him, as if in one  night many 
years had fallen on his head. Grim was his face, grey-hued and weary. 
     'I  am troubled in mind, lord,'  he said, standing by the king's horse. 
'I have  heard strange words,  and I see new per ils far off. I have laboured 
long  in thought, and  now  I fear that I must change my  purpose. Tell  me, 
Thjoden, you ride now to Dunharrow, how long will it be ere you come there?'


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you and I, at the high table in Meduseld; there will be no time for feasting 
when  I return  thither. But  come  now!  Eat and drink,  and  let us  speak 
together while we may. And then you shall ride with me.' 
     'May I?' said Merry, surprised and delighted.  'That would be splendid!' 
He had never felt more grateful for any kindness in words. 'I am afraid I am 
only in everybody's way,' he stammered; 'but  I should like to do anything I 
could, you know.' 
     'I doubt  it not,' said the king.  'I have had  a  good  hill -pony made 
ready for you. He will  bear you as swift as any horse by the  roads that we 
shall  take. For I will ride  from the  Burg  by mountain paths, not  by the 
plain, and so come to Edoras by way of Dunharrow where the Lady Jowyn 
awaits 
me. You shall  be  my esquire,  if you  will.  Is  there gear of war in this 
place, Jomer, that my sword-thain could use?'


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####-doom, maybe,  to  tread  strange paths that  others  dare not.  This parting 
grieves  me, and  my strength  is  lessened by it; but now  I must take  the 
mountain-roads and delay no longer. Farewell!' 
     'Farewell,  lord!' said  Aragorn.  'Ride unto great  renown!  Farewell, 
Merry! I leave you in  good hands,  better  than we hoped when we hunted the 
orcs to Fangorn. Legolas and Gimli  will still hunt with me,  I hope; but we 
shall not forget you.' 
     'Good-bye!'  said  Merry.  He could find no more to say.  He  felt very 
small, and he was puzzled and depressed by all these gloomy words. More than 
ever he  missed the  unquenchable cheerfulness  of Pippin.  The  Riders were 
ready, and their horses were fidgeting;  he wished they would start arid get 
it over. 
     Now Thjoden  spoke to Jomer, and he lifted up his hand and cried aloud,  
and  with that word the Riders set forth. They  rode over the Dike  and down


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the muster that he commanded at Edoras,  four  nights from now. And there, I 
think, he will hear tidings of war, and the Riders of Rohan  will go down to 
Minas Tirith. But for myself, and any that will go with me . . .' 
     'I for one!' cried Legolas. 'And Gimli with him!' said the Dwarf. 
     'Well, for myself,' said Aragorn, 'it is dark before me. I must go down 
also to Minas Tirith, but I  do not yet see the  road. An hour long prepared 
approaches.' 
     'Don't leave me behind!'  said Merry. 'I have not been of much use yet; 
but I don't want to be laid aside, like baggage to be called for when all is 
over. I don't think the Riders will want to be bothered with me now. Though, 
of  course, the  king did say that I was to sit by  him when  he came to his 
house and tell him all about the Shire.' 
     'Yes,' said Aragorn, 'and your road lies with him, I  think, Merry. But 
do  not  look for mirth at  the ending. It will be long, I fear, ere Thjoden


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'As a father you shall be to me,' said Merry. 
     'For a little while,' said Thjoden. 
     They talked then together as they ate, until presently Jomer spoke. 'It 
is near the hour that we set for our going, lord,' he said. 'Shall I bid men 
sound the horns? But where is  Aragorn?  His place is empty and  he  has not 
eaten.' 
     'We  will make ready to ride,'  said Thjoden; 'but let  word be sent to 
the Lord Aragorn that the hour is nigh.' 
     The king with his guard and Merry at his side passed down from the gate 
of  the Burg to  where the Riders were assembling  on  the green.  Many were 
already mounted. It would be a   great company; for the king was leaving only 
a small garrison in the Burg, and all who could be spared were riding to the 
weapontake at  Edoras. A  thousand spears  had indeed already ridden away at 
night; but still there would be some five hundred more  to go  with the king, 
for the most part men from the fields and dales of Westfold.


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long  in thought, and  now  I fear that I must change my  purpose. Tell  me, 
Thjoden, you ride now to Dunharrow, how long will it be ere you come there?' 
     'It is now a full hour past noon,' said Jomer. 'Before the night of the 
third day  from  now we should  come to the Hold. The Moon will then be  one 
night past his full, and the muster that the king commanded will be held the 
day after. More  speed we cannot make, if  the strength of  Rohan  is to  be 
gathered.' 
     Aragorn  was  silent for a moment. 'Three days,' he murmured, 'and  the 
muster  of Rohan will  only  be begun. But  I  see  that  it  cannot now  be 
hastened.'  He looked up, and it seemed that  he had made some decision; his 
face  was less troubled. Then, by  our leave, lord, I must take new  counsel 
for myself  and my  kindred. We must  ride  our  own road, and  no longer in  
secret. For me  the time of stealth  has  passed.  I  will ride east by  the


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part, even as Aragorn himself; and they are silent.' 
     'But even as Aragorn they  are courteous, if they break  their silence.' 
said  Legolas. 'And have  you marked  the brethren Elladan and Elrohir? Less 
sombre is their  gear than  the  others', and  they are fair and  gallant as 
Elven-lords;  and that  is not  to be wondered  at in the sons of  Elrond of 
Rivendell.' 
     'Why have  they come? Have you heard?' asked Merry. He had now dressed, 
and he flung  his grey cloak about his shoulders; and  the  three passed out 
together towards the ruined gate of the Burg. 
     'They answered  a  summons,  as you  heard,'  said Gimli. 'Word  came to 
Rivendell, they  say: Aragorn has need of his kindred. Let the D®nedain ride 
to him in Rohan! But whence this message came they are now in doubt. 
Gandalf 
sent it, I would guess.'


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house and tell him all about the Shire.' 
     'Yes,' said Aragorn, 'and your road lies with him, I  think, Merry. But 
do  not  look for mirth at  the ending. It will be long, I fear, ere Thjoden 
sits  at ease  again  in  Meduseld.  Many hopes will wither  in this  bitter  
Spring.' 
     Soon all were ready  to depart:  twenty -four horses, with Gimli  behind 
Legolas,  and Merry  in front of Aragorn. Presently they were riding swiftly  
through the night. They had not long passed the mounds at the Fords of Isen, 
when a Rider galloped up from the rear of their line. 
     'My  lord,'  he said to  the king, 'there are horsemen behind us. As we 
crossed the fords I thought that  I heard them. Now we  are sure.  They  are


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it over. 
     Now Thjoden  spoke to Jomer, and he lifted up his hand and cried aloud,  
and  with that word the Riders set forth. They  rode over the Dike  and down 
the  Coomb,  and  then,  turning swiftly  eastwards, they  took  a path that 
skirted  the foothills for a  mile or so, until bending south it passed back  
among the hills  and disappeared from view.  Aragorn  rode  to  the Dike and 
watched till  the king's men  were far down  the  Coomb.  Then he turned  to 
Halbarad. 
     'There go three that I love, and the  smallest not the least,' he said. 
'He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on.' 
     'A  little  people,  but  of  great worth  are  the  Shire-folk,'  said 
Halbarad.  'Little do they  know of  our long  labour  for the safekeeping of 
their borders, and yet I grudge it not.' 
     'And now our fates are  woven together,' said Aragorn. 'And yet,  alas!


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night; but still there would be some five hundred more  to go  with the king, 
for the most part men from the fields and dales of Westfold. 
     A little  apart  the Rangers sat, silent,  in an ordered company, armed 
with  spear and bow  and sword. They were  clad in  cloaks of dark grey, and 
their hoods were ca st now over helm  and head. Their  horses were strong and 
of  proud  bearing, but rough-haired; and  one stood there without  a rider, 
Aragorn's own horse that they  had  brought from the North; Roheryn  was his 
name. There was no gleam  of stone  or gold, nor any fair thing in all their 
gear and harness: nor did their  riders bear any badge  or  token, save only 
that each  cloak was  pinned  upon the  left shoulder by a brooch of  silver  
shaped like a rayed star. 
     The  king mounted his horse, Snowmane,  and Merry sat beside him on his


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####-was clad in white; but her eyes were on fire. 
     'Aragorn,' she said, 'why will you go on this deadly road?' 
     'Because I must,' he said. 'Only so can I see any hope of doing my part 
in the war against Sauron. I do not choose paths of peril, Jowyn. Were I  to 
go where my  heart dwells, far  in the North I would now be wandering in the 
fair valley of Rivendell.' 
     For a while she was silent, as if pondering what this  might mean. Then 
suddenly she laid her hand on his arm. 'You are  a stern lord and resolute,' 
she said; 'and thus  do  men  win renown.' She paused. 'Lord.' she said, 'if 
you must go, then let me ride in your  following. For I am weary of skulking 
in the hills, and wish to face peril and battle.' 
     'Your duty is wi th your people,' he answered. 
     'Too often have I heard of duty,' she cried. 'But am I not of the House 
of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse? I have waited on faltering feet


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####-housing shall be found for you.' 
     But Aragorn said:  'Nay, lady, be  not troubled  for  us! If we may lie 
here tonight and break our fast tomorrow, it  will be enough. For  I ride on 
an errand most urgent, and with the first light of morning we must go.' 
     She smiled  on him and said: 'Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so 
many miles out of your  way to bring tidings to Jowyn, and to speak with her 
in her exile.' 
     'Indeed no man would count such a  journey  wasted,' said Aragorn; 'and 
yet, lady, I could not have come hither, if  it were not that the road which 
I must take leads me to Dunharrow.' 
     And she answered  as one  that likes not what is said: "Then, lord, you  
are astray; for out of  Harrowdale no road  runs east or south; and  you had 
best return as you came.' 
     'Nay, lady,' said  he, 'I am  not astray; for I walked in this land ere 
you were born to grace it. There is a road out of this valley, and that road


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for myself  and my  kindred. We must  ride  our  own road, and  no longer in  
secret. For me  the time of stealth  has  passed.  I  will ride east by  the 
swiftest way, and I will take the Paths of the Dead.' 
     'The Paths of the Dead!' said Thjoden, and trembled. 'Why do  you speak 
of them?' Jomer turned and gazed at Aragorn, and it seemed to Merry that the 
faces of  the Riders  that sat within  hearing turned pale at the words. 'If 
there be in  truth  such paths, ' said Thjoden, 'their gate  is in Dunharrow;  
but no living man may pass it.' 
     'Alas! Aragorn my friend!' said Jomer. 'I had hoped that we should ride 
to war together; but if you seek the  Paths of the Dead, then our parting is 
come, and it is little likely that we shall ever meet again under the Sun.' 
     'That road  I will take, nonetheless,' said Aragorn. 'But I say to you, 
Jomer, that in battle  we may yet meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor  
should stand between.'


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####-chosen, because it is perilous?' 
     'So may one counsel another,' she said. 'Yet I do not bid you flee from  
peril, but to ride to battle where your sword may win renown and victory.  I 
would not see a thing that is high and excellent cast away needlessly.' 
     'Nor would I,' he  said. 'Therefore  I  say to you, lady: Stay! For you  
have no errand to the South.' 
     'Neither have those others who go with thee. They go  only because they 
would not be parted from thee  - because they love thee.' Then she turned and 
vanished into the night. 
     When the light of day was come into the  sky  but  the sun was  not yet 
risen above the high  ridges in the East,  Aragorn made ready to depart. His 
company was all mounted, and he was  about to leap into the saddle, when the 
Lady  Jowyn came to bid them farewell. She was clad as a Rider and girt with 
a sword. In her hand she bore a cup, and  she set it to her lips and drank a


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Halbarad.  'Little do they  know of  our long  labour  for the safekeeping of 
their borders, and yet I grudge it not.' 
     'And now our fates are  woven together,' said Aragorn. 'And yet,  alas!  
here we must  part. Well, I must eat a little, and  then we also must hast en 
away. Come, Legolas and Gimli! I must speak with you as I eat.' 
     Together they went back into  the  Burg; yet for some  time Aragorn sat 
silent at  the  table in the  hall, and the others waited  for him to speak. 
'Come!'  said  Legolas  at last. 'Speak and be  comforted, and shake off the 
shadow! What has happened since we came  back to this grim place in the grey 
morning?' 
     'A  struggle  somewhat grimmer  for  my  part than  the  battle of  the 
Hornburg,' answered  Aragorn. 'I have  looked  in  the Stone of  Orthanc,  my  
friends.' 
     'You have  looked in that accursed stone of  wizardry!' exclaimed Gimli 
with  fear  and astonishment in his face. 'Did  you say aught to  - him? Even


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####-Gandalf feared that encounter.' 
     'You  forget  to whom  you speak,' said  Aragorn sternly, and his  eyes 
glinted. 'Did I not openly proclaim  my  title before  the doors  of Edoras?  
What do you fear that I should say to him? Nay, Gimli,' he said  in a softer  
voice,  and  the grimness left  his face, and  he looked   like  one who  has 
laboured  in sleepless pain for many nights.  'Nay, my  friends,  I  and the 
lawful master of the Stone, and I had both the right and the strength to use 
it, or so I judged. The right cannot be doubted.  The strength was  enough  - 
barely . ' 
     He drew a deep breath. 'It was  a bitter struggle, and the weariness is 
slow to pass. I spoke no word to him, and in the end I wrenched the Stone to 
my own  will. That alone he will find hard to endure. And he beheld me. Yes,  
Master Gimli, he saw me, but in other guise than you  see  me here. If  that 
will aid him, then I  have  done ill. But I do not think so. To  know that I


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'Too often have I heard of duty,' she cried. 'But am I not of the House 
of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse? I have waited on faltering feet 
long enough.  Since they falter no longer, it seems, may I not  now spend my 
life as I will?' 
     'Few may do that with honour,' he answered.  'But as for you, lady: did 
you not accept the charge to govern the people until their lord's return? If 
you had not been chosen, then some marshal or captain would have been set in 
the same place, and he could not ride away from his charge, were he weary of 
it or no.' 
     'Shall I always be chosen?' she  said bitterly. 'Shall I always be left  
behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they  win renown, and 
find food and beds when they return?' 
     'A time may come  soon,' said he, 'when none  will return.  Then  there 
will be need of valour  without  renown,  for none shall remember the  deeds


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Lady  Jowyn came to bid them farewell. She was clad as a Rider and girt with 
a sword. In her hand she bore a cup, and  she set it to her lips and drank a  
little, wishing them  good speed; and then she gave the cup to Aragorn,  and 
he drank, and he said:  'Farewell, Lady of Rohan! I drink to the fortunes of 
your House, and of you, and of all  your people. Say to your brother: beyond  
the shadows we may meet again!' 
     Then it seemed to Gimli  and Legolas who were nearby that she wept, and 
in one  so  stern and proud that seemed  the  more grievous.  But  she said: 
'Aragorn, wilt thou go?' 
     'I will,' he said. 
     'Then wilt thou not let me ride with this company, as I have asked?' 
     'I will not, lady,' he said. 'For that I  could not grant without leave 
of the king and  of  your brother; and they will not return until  tomorrow.  
But I count now every hour, indeed every minute. Farewell!' 
     Then she fell on her knees, saying: 'I beg thee!'


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best return as you came.' 
     'Nay, lady,' said  he, 'I am  not astray; for I walked in this land ere 
you were born to grace it. There is a road out of this valley, and that road 
I shall take. Tomorrow I shall ride by the Paths of the Dead.' 
     Then she stared at him as one that is stricken,  and her face blanched, 
and  for long she  spoke no more, while all sat silent. 'But, Aragorn,'  she 
said at last,  'is it  then your errand to  seek death? For that  is all that 
you will find on that road. They do not suffer the living to pass.' 
     'They may suffer me  to pass,' said Aragorn; 'but at the  least I  will 
adventure it. No other road will serve.' 
     'But  this  is  madness,' she  said.  'For  here are  men of renown and 
prowess, whom you should not take into the shadows, but  should lead to war, 
where men are needed. I beg you to remain and ride with my brother; for then 
all our hearts will be gladdened, and our hope be the brighter.'


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find food and beds when they return?' 
     'A time may come  soon,' said he, 'when none  will return.  Then  there 
will be need of valour  without  renown,  for none shall remember the  deeds 
that  are done in  the last defence of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be 
less valiant because they are unpraised.' 
     And she answered: 'All  your words are but to say: you are a woman, and 
your part is in the house. But when  the men have died in battle and honour,  
you have leave to  be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. 
But I  am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield 
blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.' 
     'What do you fear, lady?' he asked. 
     'A cage,' she said. 'To stay behind bars, until use and old age  accept 
them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.' 
     'And  yet you  counselled  me  not  to adventure on the road that I had


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Master Gimli, he saw me, but in other guise than you  see  me here. If  that 
will aid him, then I  have  done ill. But I do not think so. To  know that I 
lived  and walked the earth was a blow  to his heart, I deem; for he knew it 
not till now. The eyes in Orthanc did not see through the armour of Thjoden;  
but Sauron has not  forgotten Isildur and the  sword of  Elendil. Now in the 
very  hour  of  his  great  designs the  heir of  Isildur and the  Sword are 
revealed; for l showed the blade re-forged  to him. He is not so mighty   yet 
that he is above fear; nay, doubt ever gnaws him.' 
     'But he wields  great dominion, nonetheless,' said Gimli;  'and now  he 
will strike more swiftly.' 
     'The hasty  stroke  goes oft astray,' said Aragorn. 'We must press  our 
Enemy, and no longer wait upon him  for the move. See my friends, when I had 
mastered  the  Stone,  I  learned many things.  A grave peril I  saw  coming


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####-up, and the reckless strangers were gone. 
     And some  said: 'They are Elvish wights. Let them go where they belong,  
into the dark places, and never return. The times are evil enough.' 
     The light was  still grey as they rode, for the sun had not yet climbed 
over the black ridges of the Haunted Mountain before  them. A dread  fell on 
them, even as they passed between the lines of ancient stones and so came to 
the Dimholt.  There under the  gloom of  black  trees  that not even Legolas 
could long  endure they found a hollow place opening at the mountain's root, 
and right in their path stood a single mighty stone like a finger of doom. 
     'My blood runs chill,'  said Gimli, but the others were silent, and his 
voice fell dead on  the  dank fir-needles at his feet. The horses  would not 
pass the threatening stone, until the riders dismounted and led them  about. 
And so they came at last deep into the glen; and there stood a sheer wall of


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where men are needed. I beg you to remain and ride with my brother; for then 
all our hearts will be gladdened, and our hope be the brighter.' 
     'It is  not madness, lady,' he answered; 'for I go on a path appointed. 
But those who follow  me do so of  their free will; and if they wish now  to 
remain and ride  with the  Rohirrim,  they  may do so. But  I shall take the 
Paths of the Dead, alone, if needs be.' 
     Then they said no more, and they ate in silence; but her eyes were ever  
upon Aragorn, and the others  saw that she  was in great torment of mind. At  
length they arose, and took their leave of the Lady, and thanked her for her  
care, and went to their rest. 
     But as Aragorn came to the booth where he was to lodge with Legolas and 
Gimli, and  his companions had  gone in. there came the Lady Jowyn after him 
and called to him. He turned and saw her  as a glimmer in  the night, for she


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of the king and  of  your brother; and they will not return until  tomorrow.  
But I count now every hour, indeed every minute. Farewell!' 
     Then she fell on her knees, saying: 'I beg thee!' 
     'Nay, lady,' he said, and taking her by the hand he raised her. Then he 
kissed her hand, and sprang into the saddle, and rode away, and did not look  
back; and only  those who knew  him well and were  near to him saw  the pain 
that he bore. 
     But Jowyn stood still as  a figure carven in stone,  her hands clenched 
at her sides, and she watched  them until they passed into the shadows under  
the  black Dwimorberg,  the Haunted Mountain, in which was  the Gate of  the 
Dead.  When they were lost  to view, she turned,  stumbling  as  one that is 
blind, and went back to her lodging. But none of her folk  saw this parting, 
for they hid themselves in fear and would not come forth until  the  day was


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'That road  I will take, nonetheless,' said Aragorn. 'But I say to you, 
Jomer, that in battle  we may yet meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor  
should stand between.' 
     'You will do as you wi ll, my lord Aragorn,' said Thjoden.  'It  is your


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Enemy, and no longer wait upon him  for the move. See my friends, when I had 
mastered  the  Stone,  I  learned many things.  A grave peril I  saw  coming 
unlooked-for upon Gondor  from the  South that will  draw off great strength 
from the defence of Minas Tirith. If  it  is not countered  swiftly,  I deem 
that the City will be lost ere ten days be gone.' 
     'Then lost it must be,'  said Gimli. 'For  what  help is  there to send 
thither, and how could it come there in time?' 
     'I have  no help  to send,  therefore I must  go myself,'  said Aragorn. 
'But there is only one way through the mountains  that will  bring me to the 
coastlands before all is lost. That is the Paths of the Dead.' 
     'The Paths of the Dead!' said Gimli.  'It is a fell name; and little to 
the liking to the Men of Rohan, as I saw. Can the living use such a road and  
not perish? And even if you pass that way, what will so few avail to counter  
the strokes of Mordor?'


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####-     'The  living  have  never  used that  road  since  the  coming  of  the 
Rohirrim,' said Aragorn, 'for it is closed to  them.  But  in this dark hour 
the heir of Isildur may use  it, if he  dare. Listen! This is the word  that 
the sons of  Elrond bring  to  me  from their father in Rivendell, wisest in 
lore: Bid  Aragorn remember  the words  of the  seer,  and the Paths of  the 
Dead.' 
     'And what may be the words of the seer?' said Legolas.  
     "Thus spoke  Malbeth the  Seer,  in the days of  Arvedui,  last king at 
Fornost,' said Aragorn: 
     Over the land there lies a long shadow,  
     westward reaching wings of darkness. 
     The Tower trembles; to the tombs of kings 
     doom approaches. The Dead awaken; 
     for the hour is come for the oathbreakers; 
     at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again  
     and hear there a horn in the hills ringing. 
     Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them 
     from the prey twilight, the forgotten people?


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####-in  the beginning of the realm of Gondor. But when Sauron returned and  grew 
in might again, Isildur summoned the  Men of  the Mountains to  fulfil their 
oath, and they would not: for they had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years. 
     'Then Isildur said to  their king: "Thou shalt be the last king. And if 
the West prove mightier than thy  Black Master, this curse  I  lay upon thee 
and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is  fulfilled. For this war will 
last through years uncounted, and you  shall be summoned once again ere  the 
end."  And they fled  before  the  wrath of  Isildur, and did not dare to go 
forth to war on  Sauron's  part; and they hid themselves in secret places in 
the mountains and had no dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the 
barren hills. And the  terror of the Sleepless Dead lies  about  the Hill of 
Erech and all places  where that people  lingered. But that  way I  must go, 
since there are none living to help me.'


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####-lead over the threshold; and at once a blindness  came  upon him,  even upon 
Gimli Gluin's son who had walked unafraid in many deep places of the world. 
     Aragorn  had  brought  torches from Dunharrow,  and  now he went  ahead 
bearing one  aloft; and Elladan with  another went  at the rear, and  Gimli, 
stumbling behind, strove to overtake him. He could  see nothing  but the dim 
flame  of the tor ches; but  if the company halted, there  seemed  an endless 
whisper of voices all about him, a murmur of words in no tongue  that he had 
ever heard before. 
     Nothing assailed  the  company  nor  withstood  their passage,  and yet 
steadily fear grew on the Dwarf as  he went on:  most of all because he knew 
now that there could be no  turning back; all the paths behind were thronged 
by an unseen host that followed in the dark. 
     So time unreckoned passed, until Gimli  saw a  sight that he  was  ever


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pass the threatening stone, until the riders dismounted and led them  about. 
And so they came at last deep into the glen; and there stood a sheer wall of 
rock, and in  the wall the Dark  Door  gaped  before them like  the mouth of 
night.  Signs and figures were  carved above its  wide arch too dim to read, 
and fear flowed from it like a grey vapour. 
     The company halted, and there was  not a  heart among them that did not  
quail, unless it were the heart of Legolas of the Elves, for whom the ghosts 
of Men have no terror. 
     'This is an  evil door,' said Halbarad, 'and my death lies beyond it. I 
will dare to pass it nonetheless; but no horse will enter.' 
     'But  we must go  in,  and therefore  the horses  must  go  too,'  said 
Aragorn.  'For if ever  we  come  through this  darkness,  many  leagues lie 
beyond, and every hour  that is lost there will bring the triumph  of Sauron 
nearer. Follow me!'


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and hear there a horn in the hills ringing. 
     Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them 
     from the prey twilight, the forgotten people? 
     The heir of him to whom the oath they swore. 
     From the North shall he come, need shall drive him: 
     he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead. 
     'Dark ways doubtless, said  Gimli, but no darker than these staves  are 
to me.' 
     'If you  would  understand them better, then I bid  you  come with me,' 
said Aragorn; 'for that way I now shall take. But I do  not go  gladly; only 
need drives me. Therefore, only of your free will would I have you come, for 
you will find both toil and great fear, and maybe worse.' 
     'I will go with you even on the Paths of the Dead, and to whatever, end 
they may lead,' said Gimli. 
     'I also will come,' said Legolas, 'for I do not fear the Dead.' 
     'I  hope  that the  forgotten people  will  not have  forgotten how  to


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####-Aragorn dismounted, and standing by the Stone he cried in a great voice: 
     'Oathbreakers, why have ye come?' 
     And a voice  was heard  out of the  night that answered him, as if from 
far away: 
     'To fulfil our oath and have peace.' 
     Then Aragorn said: 'The hour is come at last. Now I go to Pelargir upon 
Anduin, and ye shall come after  me. And when all this land is clean  of the 
servants  of Sauron, I will hold the oath fulfilled, and ye shall have peace 
and depart for ever. For I am Elessar, Isildur's heir of Gondor.' 
     And with that he  bade Halbarad unfurl  the great standard which he had 
brought; and behold! it was black, and if  there was any device upon  it, it 
was hidden in the darkness. Then there was silence, and  not a whisper nor a  
sigh  was heard  again all the long  night.  The  Company camped  beside the 
Stone,  but  they slept little, because  of the dread  of  the Shadows  that 
hedged them round.


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barren hills. And the  terror of the Sleepless Dead lies  about  the Hill of 
Erech and all places  where that people  lingered. But that  way I  must go, 
since there are none living to help me.' 
     He stood up.  'Come!' he  cried, and drew his sword, and it  flashed in 
the twilit hall of the Burg. 'To the Stone of Erech! I seek the Paths of the 
Dead. Come with me who will!' 
     Legolas  and Gimli  made no answer,  but they rose and followed Aragorn 
from the  hall.  On  the green  there waited,  still and silent, the  hooded 
Rangers.  Legolas  and Gimli  mounted.  Aragorn  sprang upon  Roheryn.  
Then 
Halbarad lifted a great horn, and the blast of it echoed in Helm's Deep; and 
with that they leapt away, riding down the Coomb like thunder, while all the 
men that were left on Dike or Burg stared in amaze. 
     And  while Thjoden  went  by slow paths in the hills, the Grey  Company 
passed  swiftly  over the plain, and on the next day  in the  afternoon they


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Aragorn.  'For if ever  we  come  through this  darkness,  many  leagues lie 
beyond, and every hour  that is lost there will bring the triumph  of Sauron 
nearer. Follow me!' 
     Then Aragorn led the way, and such was the strength of his will in that 
hour  that all the D®nedain and  their horses  followed him. And  indeed the 
love that the horses of the Rangers bore for their riders was  so great that 
they were willing  to face even the  terror  of the Door, if  their masters' 
hearts were steady as they walked beside them. But Arod, the horse of Rohan, 
refused  the  way, and he stood sweating and trembling  in a  fear  that was 
grievous to see. Then Legolas laid his hands on his eyes and sang some words 
that  went  soft in the  gloom, until he  suffered himself  to  be  led, and 
Legolas passed in. And there stood Gimli the Dwarf left all alone. 
     His knees shook,  and  he  was wroth  with himself.  'Here is  a  thing


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by an unseen host that followed in the dark. 
     So time unreckoned passed, until Gimli  saw a  sight that he  was  ever 
afterwards loth to recall. The road was  wide, as far as he could judge, but 
now the company came  suddenly  into a great empty space, and there  were no 
longer any walls upon either side. The dread  was  so  heavy on him  that he 
could  hardly walk. Away  to the  left  something glittered  in the gloom as 
Aragorn's  torch drew near.  Then Aragorn halted and  went  to look  what it  
might be. 
     'Does  he  feel no fear?' muttered the  Dwarf. 'In any other cave Gimli 
Gluin's son would have been  the first to run to the gleam of gold.  But not 
here! Let it lie!' 
     Nonetheless he drew near,  and saw Aragorn kneeling, while Elladan held 
aloft both torches. Before him were the bones of  a  mighty man. He had been 
clad  in  mail, and still his harness lay there  whole; for the cavern's air


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they may lead,' said Gimli. 
     'I also will come,' said Legolas, 'for I do not fear the Dead.' 
     'I  hope  that the  forgotten people  will  not have  forgotten how  to 
fight,' said Gimli; 'for otherwise I see not why we should trouble them.' 
     'That we shall know if ever  we come to Erech,' said  Aragorn. 'But the 
oath  that  they broke  was  to  fight  against Sauron, and they must  fight 
therefore,  if  they are to fulfil it. For at Erech there stands yet a black  
stone that was brought, it was said, from N®menor by Isildur; and it was set 
upon a hill, and  upon it  the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to him


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sigh  was heard  again all the long  night.  The  Company camped  beside the 
Stone,  but  they slept little, because  of the dread  of  the Shadows  that 
hedged them round. 
     But when the dawn came, cold and pale, Aragorn rose at once, and he led  
the Company forth upon the journey of greatest haste and  weariness that any 
among them  had known, save he  alone, and only his will held them to go on. 
No  other mortal Men  could  have endured it, none but the  D®nedain  of the 
North, and with them Gimli the Dwarf and Legolas of the Elves.  
     They  passed Tarlang's Neck and came  into Lamedon; and the Shadow 
Host 
pressed behind and  fear went on  before them,  until they  came to Calembel 
upon Ciril,  and the sun  went down like  blood behind Pinnath Gelin away in 
the West  behind them.  The township  and  the  fords  of  Ciril  they found 
deserted,  for many men had gone away to war, and all that were left fled to


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Now all roads were running together to  the  East to meet the coming of 
war and the onset of the Shadow. And even as Pippin  stood at the Great Gate 
of the City  and saw the Prince of Dol Amroth ride in with  his banners, the 
King of Rohan came down out of the hills. 
     Day  was waning. In  the last  rays  of the  sun  the Riders  cast long 
pointed shadows that went on before them. Darkness had already crept beneath 
the murmuring fir-woods that clothed the steep mountain-sides. The king rode 
now  slowly at the end  of  the day. Presently the  path turned round a huge 
bare  shoulder of rock and plunged into the  gloom  of  soft -sighing  trees.  
Down, down they went in a long winding file. When  at last they came  to the 
bottom of  the gorge they  found that evening had fallen in the deep places.  
The sun was gone. Twilight lay upon the waterfalls. 
     All day far below them a leaping stream had run down from the high pass


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Legolas passed in. And there stood Gimli the Dwarf left all alone. 
     His knees shook,  and  he  was wroth  with himself.  'Here is  a  thing 
unheard of!' he said. 'An  Elf  will go underground and a  Dwarf  dare not!' 
With that he plunged in. But it seemed to him  that he dragged his feet like


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And  while Thjoden  went  by slow paths in the hills, the Grey  Company 
passed  swiftly  over the plain, and on the next day  in the  afternoon they 
came to Edoras;  and there they halted only briefly, ere they passed up  the 
valley, and so came to Dunharrow as darkness fell. 
     The  Lady  Jowyn greeted  them  and  was  glad of  their coming; for no 
mightier men had she seen than the D®nedain and the fair sons of Elrond; but 
on Aragorn most of  all her eyes rested.  And when  they sat at supper  with 
her, they talked  together, and  she heard  of  all that  had  passed  since 
Thjoden rode away, concerning which only hasty tidings  had yet reached her; 
and when  she  heard of the battle in Helm's Deep and the great slaughter of 
their foes,  and of  the charge of  Thjoden and  his knights, then  her eyes 
shone. 
     But at last she said:  'Lords, you are weary and  shall now  go to  your 
beds  with  such ease  as can  be contrived in  haste.  But  tomorrow fairer


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the West  behind them.  The township  and  the  fords  of  Ciril  they found 
deserted,  for many men had gone away to war, and all that were left fled to  
the hills at the  rumour of the coming of the King of the Dead. But the next 
day there  came no dawn, and the Grey Company passed on into the darkness 
of 
the Storm  of  Mordor and were lost  to  mortal sight; but the Dead followed 
them.


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The sun was gone. Twilight lay upon the waterfalls. 
     All day far below them a leaping stream had run down from the high pass 
behind, cleaving its narrow way between pine-clad  walls; and now  through a  
stony  gate it flowed out and passed into a wider vale. The Riders  followed 
it, and suddenly Harrowdale lay before  them, loud with  the noise of waters 
in the evening. There the white Snowbourn, joined by the lesser stream, went 
rushing, fuming on  the  stones,  down to Edoras and the green hills and the 
plains. Away to the right at the head of the great dale the mighty Starkhorn 
loomed up above its  vast buttresses swathed in cloud; but  its jagged peak, 
clothed in everlasting snow, gleamed far above the world, blue-shadowed upon 
the East, red-stained by the sunset in the West. 
     Merry looked out in wonder upon this strange country,  of which he  had 
heard many tales upon their long road.  It was a skyless world, in which his


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aloft both torches. Before him were the bones of  a  mighty man. He had been 
clad  in  mail, and still his harness lay there  whole; for the cavern's air 
was as dry as dust, and his  hauberk  was gilded. His belt  was  of gold and 
garnets, and rich with gold was the helm upon his bony head face downward on 
the floor. He  had fallen  near the far  wall  of the cave, as now could  be 
seen, and before  him stood a  stony door closed fast: his finger -bones were 
still clawing at the cracks. A notched and broken sword lay by him, as if he 
had hewn at the rock in his last despair. 
     Aragorn did  not touch him, but after gazing silently for  a  while  he 
rose  and sighed. 'Hither  shall the flowers of  simbelmynl come never  unto 
world's  end,' he murmured. 'Nine mounds and seven there are now  green with 
grass, and through all the long years he has lain at the door that  he could 
not unlock. Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!


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####-with very  little  rest. Hour after  hour for nearly three weary days he had 
jogged  up  and down, over passes, and through long dales,  and  across many 
streams. Sometimes where the way  was  broader he  had ridden at  the king's 
side, not noticing that many  of the Riders smiled to see  the two together: 
the  hobbit  on his little shaggy grey pony,  and the Lord of  Rohan on  his 
great white horse. Then he had talked to Thjoden, telling him about his home 
and the doings of  the Shire-folk, or listening in turn to tales of the Mark 
and its  mighty  men of old.  But most of the time, especially  on this last 
day, Merry had ridden  by himself just behind the  king, saying nothing, and 
trying to understand the slow sonorous speech of Rohan that he heard the men 
behind him using. It was  a  language in which there seemed to be many words 
that he  knew, though spoken more richly and strongly than in the Shire, yet


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####-again. If the war is lost, what good will be my hiding in the hills? And  if 
it is won, what grief will it be, even if I fall, spending my last strength?  
But we will leave this now. Tonight I will lie in the Hold of Dunharrow. One 
evening of peace at least is left us. Let us ride on! ' 
     In  the  deepening  dusk  they came  down  into  the  valley. Here  the 
Snowbourn flowed near  to the western walls of  the dale, and soon the  path 
led them to a ford where the shallow  waters murmured  loudly on the stones. 
The ford was guarded.   As the king approached many men sprang up out of  the 
shadow of the rocks; and when they saw the king they cried with glad voices:  
'Thjoden King! Thjoden King! The King of the Mark returns!' 
     Then one blew a long call on  a horn.  It  echoed in the  valley. Other  
horns answered it, and lights shone out across the river. 
     And suddenly  there  rose a great chorus of  trumpets from high  above,


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####-before  I go to rest I will meet the marshals and captains. Let them come to 
me as soon as may be!' 
     The road now led eastward straight across the valley, which was at that 
point little more than half a mile in width. Flats and meads of rough grass,  
grey now in the falling night,  lay all about, but  in front on the far side 
of the dale Merry saw a frowning wall, a last outlier of the great  roots of 
the Starkhorn, cloven by the river in ages past . 
     On all the level spaces there was great concourse of men. Some thronged 
to the  roadside, hailing  the king and the riders  from the West with  glad 
cries; but stretching away into the distance behind there  were ordered rows 
of tents and booths, and lines of picketed horses,  and great store of arms, 
and piled spears bristling like  thickets of new-planted trees. Now  all the 
great assembly was falling into shadow, and yet, though the night -chill blew


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Merry looked out in wonder upon this strange country,  of which he  had 
heard many tales upon their long road.  It was a skyless world, in which his 
eye; through dim gulfs of shadowy  air, saw only ever-mounting slopes, great 
walls of  stone behind  great  walls, and  frowning precipices wreathed with 
mist.  He sat  for a moment half dreaming, listening to  the noise of water, 
the  whisper of dark trees, the crack of stone, and the vast waiting silence 
that brooded  behind all sound. He  loved  mountains,  or he had  loved  the 
thought of them marching  on the edge of  stories brought from far away;  but 
now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He 
longed 
to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire. 
     He was very tired, for though they had  ridden slowly, they had  ridden


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grass, and through all the long years he has lain at the door that  he could 
not unlock. Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!  
     'For that is not my errand!' he cried, turning back and speaking to the


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behind him using. It was  a  language in which there seemed to be many words 
that he  knew, though spoken more richly and strongly than in the Shire, yet  
he could not piece the words together. At times some Rider would lift up his 
clear voice in stirring song,  and Merry felt his heart leap, though he  did 
not know what it was about. 
     All the  same  he had been lonely, and  never more so  than now at  the 
day's end.  He wondered where  in all this strange world  Pippin had got to; 
and what would become of Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli. Then suddenly 
like a 
cold touch on his heart he thought of Frodo and Sam. 'I am forgetting them!' 
he said  to himself reproachfully. 'And yet they are more important than all 
the  rest of us. And I  came to help them; but now  they must be hundreds of 
miles away, if they are still alive.' He shivered. 
     'Harrowdale at  last!' said Jomer. 'Our journey  is almost at  an end.'


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horns answered it, and lights shone out across the river. 
     And suddenly  there  rose a great chorus of  trumpets from high  above, 
sounding from some hollow  place, as  it seemed, that gathered  their  notes 
into one voice and sent it rolling and beating on the walls of stone. 
     So the  King  of  the Mark came back  victorious  out  of the  West  to 
Dunharrow  beneath  the feet  of  the White  Mountains. There he  found  the 
remaining  strength  of  his people  already assembled; for as soon  as  his 
coming was known captains rode to  meet  him at  the ford,  bearing messages 
from Gandalf. D®nhere,  chieftain of  the  folk of Harrowdale, was at  their 
head. 
     'At dawn three  days ago,  lord,' he  said. 'Shadowfax came like a wind 
out of  the West to  Edoras, and Gandalf brought  tidings of your victory to 
gladden  our  hearts.  But  he  brought also  word from you  to  hasten  the 
gathering of the Riders. And then came the winged Shadow.'


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####-whispering darkness behind. 'Keep your hoards and your secrets hidden in the 
Accursed Years! Speed only we ask.  Let us pass, and then come! I summon 
you 
to the Stone of Erech!' 
     There was no answer, unless it were an utter silence more dreadful than 
the whispers  before;  and  then  a chill  blast came in  which  the torches 
flickered and  went  out,  and could not be  rekindled.  Of  the  time  that 
followed, one hour  or many, Gimli remembered little. The others pressed on, 
but  he  was ever hindmost, pursued  by a groping horror that  seemed always 
just  about to seize  him; and a rumour came after him lik e the shadow-sound 
of many feet. He  stumbled  on until he  was  crawling  like a beast on  the 
ground and felt that he could endure no more: he  must either find an ending 
and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear. 
     Suddenly he  heard the  tinkle of water, a sound hard and  clear  as  a


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####-returning.' 
     'And you, Jowyn,' said Thjoden, 'is all well with you?' 
     'All  is well,' she  answered; yet it  seemed to  Merry  that her voice 
belied her,  and he would have  thought that she had  been weeping, if  that 
could be believed of one so stern of face. 'All is well. It was a weary road 
for  the people to  take,  torn suddenly  from their homes.  There were hard 
words, for it is long since war  has driven  us from  the green fields;  but 
there have been no evil deeds.  All  is now ordered, as  you  see. And  your 
lodging is prepared for you; for I have had full tidings of you and knew the 
hour of your coming.' 
     'So Aragorn has come then,' said Jomer. 'Is he still here?' 
     'No, he is gone,' said Jowyn turning away and  looking at the mountains 
dark against the East and South. 
     'Whither did he go?' asked Jomer. 
     'I  do not  know,'  she answered.  'He  came at  night,  and rode  away


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dark against the East and South. 
     'Whither did he go?' asked Jomer. 
     'I  do not  know,'  she answered.  'He  came at  night,  and rode  away 
yestermorn, ere the Sun had climbed over the mountain-tops. He is gone.' 
     'You are grieved, daughter,' said Thjoden. 'What has happened? Tell me, 
did  he speak  of  that road?' He pointed  away along the darkening lines of 
stones towards the Dwimorberg. 'Of the Paths of the Dead?' 
     'Yes, lord,' said Jowyn. 'And he has passed into the shadows from which 
none have returned. I could not dissuade him. He is gone.' 
     'Then our paths are sundered,' said  Jomer. 'He is  lost.  We must ride 
without him, and our hope dwindles.' 
     Slowly they  passed through the short heath and  upland grass, speaking 
no  more, until they  came to the king's pavilion.  There  Merry  found that 
everything  was made ready, and that he himself was not forgotten. A  little


