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misty  star peered out. The three peaks loomed before  them, darkling in the 
twilight. Rauros was roaring with a grea t voice.  Already  night was laid on 
the flowing waters when the travellers came at  last under the shadow of the 
hills. 
     The tenth  day of their journey  was over.  Wilderland was behind them. 
They could go no further without choice between the  east -way and  the west. 
The last stage of the Quest was before them.


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'What have I said? ' he cried. `What have I done? Frodo, Frodo! ' he called.  
'Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back! ' 
     There was no answer. Frodo did not even hear his cries. He was  already 
far  away, leaping  blindly up  the path to the hill -top. Terror  and  grief 
shook  him, seeing in  his thought the  mad fierce face of Boromir,  and his 
burning eyes. 
     Soon  he came out alone on the summit of Amon Hen, and halted,  gasping 
for breath. He saw as through a mist a  wide  flat circle, paved with mighty 
flags, and surrounded with  a crumbling battlement;  and in the middle,  set 
upon four carven pillars, was a high seat, reached by a stair of many steps. 
Up  he went and sat upon the ancient chair, feeling like  a lost  child that 
had clambered upon the throne of mountain-kings.  
     At first he could see little. He seemed  to be in a  world of  mist  in 
which  there were only shadows: the Ring  was upon him.  Then here and there


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hand.' 
     `Here it is. Don't  pinch, lad! I  won't  let you  go. Tread water  and 
don't flounder, or  you'll upset the boat. There now, get hold of  the side, 
and let me use the paddle! ' 
     With a few strokes Frodo brought the boat back to the bank. and Sam was 
able to scramble out, wet  as a  water -rat.  Frodo  took off  the  Ring  and 
stepped ashore again. 
     `Of all the confounded nuisances you are the worst, Sam! ' he said. 
     'Oh, Mr. Frodo, that's hard! ' said Sam shivering. `That's hard, trying 
to  go without me and all. If I hadn't a guessed right, where  would you  be 
now?  ' 
     `Safely on my way.' 
     `Safely! ' said Sam. `All alone and without me to help you? I  couldn't  
have a borne it, it'd have been the death of me.' 
     'It would be the death of you to come  with me, Sam,' said  Frodo and I 
could not have borne that.' 
     `Not as certain as being left behind,' said Sam. 
     `But I am going to Mordor.'


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noon lay  on the  green land  of  the Tongue, and  the water  glittered with 
silver. All at last was  made  ready. The Company took  their places in  the 
boats as  before. Crying farewell, the Elves of Lurien with long  grey poles


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extra packages of food, and ran back. 
     `So all my  plan is spoilt!  ' said Frodo.  `It is  no good  trying  to 
escape you. But I'm glad, Sam. I cannot tell you how glad. Come along! It is 
plain that we were meant to go together. We will go, and may the others find 
a safe road! Strider will look after them. I don't suppose we shall see them 
again.' 
     `Yet we may, Mr Frodo. We may,' said Sam. 
     So Frodo and Sam set off on the last stage of the Quest together. Frodo 
paddled away from the shore, and the River  bore them swiftly away. down the 
western arm, and past  the frowning cliffs  of Tol  Brandir. The roar of the 
great falls drew nearer. Even with such help  as Sam could give, it was hard 
work to pass across the current at the southward end of the island and drive 
the boat eastward towards the far shore. 
     At  length  they  came to land  again  upon the southern slopes of Amon 
Lhaw. There  they found a shelving shore, and they  drew the  boat out, high


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shore, where the boats were  drawn up out  of the  water.  No one was there.  
There  seemed to be cries in  the woods behind, but he did not heed them. He 
stood gazing for a moment. stock -still, gaping.  A boat was sliding down the


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'It would be the death of you to come  with me, Sam,' said  Frodo and I 
could not have borne that.' 
     `Not as certain as being left behind,' said Sam. 
     `But I am going to Mordor.' 
     `I know that well enough, Mr. Frodo. Of course  you are. And I'm coming 
with you.' 
     `Now, Sam,'  said Frodo, `don't  hinder me!  The  others will be coming 
back  at any  minute.  If  they  ca tch me here. I  shall have  to argue  and


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At first he could see little. He seemed  to be in a  world of  mist  in 
which  there were only shadows: the Ring  was upon him.  Then here and there 
the mist gave way and he saw  many visions: small and clear as if they  were


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paused as if counting those that were present, and then sat down aloof, with 
his eyes on the ground. 
     `Where have you been, Boromir? ' asked Aragorn. `Have you seen Frodo? ' 
     Boromir hesitated for  a second.  `Yes,  and no,'  he  answered slowly. 
`Yes: I found him some way up the hill,  and I spoke to  him. I urged him to  
come to  Minas Tirith and  not to go  east. I grew angry and he  left me. He 
vanished. I have  never seen such a thing happen before. though I have heard 
of it in tales. He must have put the Ring on. I could not  find him again. I 
thought he would return to you.' 
     'Is that all that you have to say? ' said Aragorn, looking hard and not 
too kindly at Boromir. 
     `Yes,' he answered. `I will say no more yet.' 
     `This is  bad!' cried Sam, jumping up. `I don't know  what this Man has 
been up to. Why should Mr. Frodo put  the thing on? He didn't ought to have; 
and if he has, goodness knows what may have happened!'


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####-     'Boromir  is dead,' said Aragorn. 'I am unscathed,  for  I was not here 
with him. He fell defending the hobbits, while I was away upon the hill.' 
     'The hobbits!' cried Gimli 'Where are they then? Where is Frodo?' 
     'I do not know,' answered Aragorn wearily. 'Before he died Boromir told 
me that the Orcs had  bound them;  he  did not think that they were  dead. I 
sent him  to follow  Merry and Pippin; but I did not ask him if Frodo or Sam 
were with him: not until it was too  late.  All  that I have done  today has 
gone amiss. What is to be done now?' 
     'First  we must tend the fallen,'  said Legolas. 'We  cannot  leave him 
lying like carrion among these foul Orcs.' 
     'But we must be swift,' said Gimli. 'He would not wish us to linger. We 
must follow the Orcs, if there is hope  that  any of our Company are  living 
prisoners.' 
     'But we do not know whether the Ring-bearer is with them  or not ' said


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####-found not a few that were undamaged and longer in the shaft than such arrows 
as the Orcs were accustomed to use. He looked at them closely. 
     And  Aragorn looked on the slain, and he said: 'Here  lie many that are 
not folk of Mordor. Some are from the North, from the Misty  Mountains, if I 
know  anything of Orcs and their kinds.  And here are others  strange to me.  
Their gear is not after the manner of Orcs at all!' 
     There were four goblin-soldiers of greater  stature, swart, slant-eyed, 
with thick  legs and  large hands. They  were armed with short  broad-bladed 
swords, not with  the curved scimitars usual with Orcs: and they had bows  of 
yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men.  Upon their shields they bore 
a strange device: a small white hand in the centre of a black field; on  the 
front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal. 
     'I have not seen  these tokens  before,'  said Aragorn.  'What  do they 
mean?'


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####-     A mile, maybe, from Parth Galen in a little glade not far from the lake 
he found Boromir. He was sitting with his back to a great tree, as if he was 
resting.  But  Aragorn saw  that he was pierced  with  many  black -feathered 
arrows; his sword  was still in his hand, but it  was  broken near the hilt; 
his horn cloven in two was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about 
him and at his feet. 
     Aragorn knelt beside him.  Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. 
At last slow  words came. 'I tried to take the Ring from Frodo ' he said. 'I  
am sorry. I have paid.' His glance strayed to his fallen enemies;  twenty at 
least lay there. 'They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I 
think they  are  not  dead. Orcs bound them.' He paused and  his eyes closed 
wearily. After a moment he spoke again. 
     'Farewell, Aragorn!  Go to  M inas Tirith  and  save my  people!  I have 
failed.'


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the boat eastward towards the far shore. 
     At  length  they  came to land  again  upon the southern slopes of Amon 
Lhaw. There  they found a shelving shore, and they  drew the  boat out, high 
above the water ,  and hid it as well  as  they could behind a great boulder. 
Then  shouldering their  burdens,  they set off, seeking a  path  that would  
bring them over  the grey hills of the Emyn Muil, and  down into the Land of 
Shadow.


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been up to. Why should Mr. Frodo put  the thing on? He didn't ought to have; 
and if he has, goodness knows what may have happened!' 
     'But he wouldn't keep it on`' said Merry. `Not when he had  escaped the 
unwelcome visitor, like Bilbo used to.' 
     `But where did he go? Where is he? ' cried Pippin. 'He's been away ages 
now.' 
     `How long is it since you saw Frodo last, Boromir? ' asked Aragorn. 
     `Half  an hour, maybe,' he answered.  `Or it  might be an hour. I  have 
wandered for  some time since.  I do not  know! I do not know! ' He  put his 
head in his hands, and sat as if bowed with grief.  
     `An hour since he vanished! ' shouted Sam. `We must try and find him at 
once. Come on! '


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####-     At the water -side Aragorn  remained, watching the  bier. while  Legolas 
and Gimli hastened back on foot to Parth  Galen. It was  a mile or more, and 
it was some time before they came back, paddling two boats swiftly along the 
shore. 
     'There is a strange tale  to tell!'  said Legolas. 'There are  only two 
boats upon the bank. We could find no trace of the other.' 
     'Have Orcs been there?' asked Aragorn. 
     'We saw no signs of  them,' answered Gimli. 'And Orcs  would have taken 
or destroyed all the boats, and the baggage as well.' 
     'I will look at the ground when we come there,' said Aragorn. 
     Now they laid  Boromir  in the middle of the boat that  was to bear him 
away. The grey hood and elven-cloak they folded and placed beneath his head. 
They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders. The golden 
belt of Lurien gleamed  about  his waist. His helm they set beside  him, and


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must follow the Orcs, if there is hope  that  any of our Company are  living 
prisoners.' 
     'But we do not know whether the Ring-bearer is with them  or not ' said 
Aragorn.  'Are we to abandon him? Must we not seek him first? An evil choice 
is now before us!' 
     'Then let us do first what we must do,' said  Legolas. 'We have not the 
time or the tools to bury our comrade fitly, or to raise a mound over him. A 
cairn we might build.' 
     'The labour would be hard and long:  there are no stones that we  could 
use nearer than the water -side,' said Gimli. 
     'Then  let us lay him in a boat with his weapons, and the weapons of his 
vanquished foes,' said Aragorn. 'We will send him to the Falls of Rauros and  
give him to Anduin. The River of Gondor will take care at least that no evil 
creature dishonours his bones.' 
     Quickly  they searched the bodies of  the Orcs, gathering  their swords 
and cloven helms and shields into  a  heap. 'See!' cried  Aragorn. 'Here  we


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Aragorn sped on up the hill. Every now and again he bent to the ground. 
Hobbits go light, and  their  footprints are not  easy  even for a Ranger to 
read, but not  far from the top a spring  crossed  the path, and in the  wet 
earth he saw what he was seeking. 
     'I read the  signs  aright,'  he  said  to himself. 'Frodo  ran  to the 
hill-top. I wonder what he  saw there? But he returned by  the same way, and 
went down the hill again.' 
     Aragorn hesitated. He desired to go to the high seat himself, hoping to 
see there something that  would guide him in his perplexities; but  time was 
pressing. Suddenly he leaped  forward, and  ran to the  summit,  across  the 
great flag-stones, and up the steps. Then sitting in the high seat he looked 
out. But the  sun seemed darkened,  and the world dim and remote.  He turned 
from the North back again to North, and saw nothing save  the distant hills,


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wearily. After a moment he spoke again. 
     'Farewell, Aragorn!  Go to  M inas Tirith  and  save my  people!  I have 
failed.' 
     'No!'  said  Aragorn,  taking his hand and kissing  his brow. 'You have 
conquered. Few  have gained such a  victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall  
not fall!' 
     Boromir smiled. 
     'Which way did they go? Was Frodo there?' said Aragorn. 
     But Boromir did not speak again. 
     'Alas!' said  Aragorn. 'Thus  passes the  heir of Denethor, Lord of the 
Tower of Guard! This is a bitter end. Now the Company is all  in ruin. It is 
I that  have failed. Vain was Gandalf's  trust in me.  What  shall I do now?  
Boromir has laid it on  me  to go  to Minas Tirith, and my heart desires it; 
but where are the  Ring and the Bearer? How shall I  find them  and save the  
Quest from disaster?' 
     He knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir's hand. 
So it  was  that Legolas  and  Gimli  found him.  They came from the western


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They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders. The golden 
belt of Lurien gleamed  about  his waist. His helm they set beside  him, and 
across  his lap  they laid the  cloven horn and  the hilts and shards of his 
sword; beneath his  feet  they put the swords of his enemies. Then fastening  
the  prow to the stern of the other boat,  they drew him out into the water. 
They rowed sadly along the shore, and turning into the swift -running channel 
they passed the green sward of Parth Galen. The steep  sides of  Tol Brandir  
were  glowing:  it  was now  mid-afternoon.  As they  went south the fume of 
Rauros rose and  shimmered before them, a haze of gold. The rush and thunder 
of the falls shook the windless air . 
     Sorrowfully  they  cast loose  the funeral  boat:  there  Boromir  lay, 
restful, peaceful, gliding upon  the bosom of the  flowing water. The stream 
took him while they  held their own boat back with their paddles. He floated


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####-     Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows 
     The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes. 
     'What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring to me tonight?  
     Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon or by starlight?' 
     'I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and grey; 
     I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away 
     Into the shadows of the North. I saw him then no more. 
     The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor.'  
     'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar, 
     But you came not from the empty lands where no men are.'  
      
Then Legolas sang: 
 
     From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones; 
     The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans. 
     'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring to me at eve? 
     Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'


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front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal. 
     'I have not seen  these tokens  before,'  said Aragorn.  'What  do they 
mean?' 
     'S is for Sauron,' said Gimli. 'That is easy to read.' 
     'Nay!' said Legolas. 'Sauron does not use the Elf-runes.' 
     'Neither  does he  use  his right name,  nor permit it  to be  spelt or 
spoken,' said Aragorn. 'And he does  not use white. The  Orcs in the service 
of Barad-dyr use the sign of the Red Eye.' He stood for a moment in thought. 
'S is for Saruman, I  guess,'  he  said at length. 'There  is evil afoot  in 
Isengard,  and the West is no longer safe. It is  as Gandalf feared: by some 
means the traitor Saruman has had news of our journey. It is likely too that 
he  knows  of  Gandalf's  fall.  Pursuers  from Moria may  have escaped  the 
vigilance of Lurien, or they may have avoided that land and come to Isengard 
by other  paths. Orcs travel  fast.  But  Saruman has many  ways of learning


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out. But the  sun seemed darkened,  and the world dim and remote.  He turned 
from the North back again to North, and saw nothing save  the distant hills,  
unless it were  that far away he could see again  a great bird like an eagle 
high in the air, descending slowly in wide circles down towards the earth. 
     Even as he  gazed his  quick ears caught sounds in the woodlands below,  
on the west  side  of the River. He stiffened.  There were  cries, and among 
them, to  his  horror, he  could distinguish the harsh voices of  Orcs. Then 
suddenly with  a deep-throated call a great horn blew, and the  blasts of it 
smote the hills and  echoed  in the hollows, rising  in a mighty shout above 
the roaring of the falls. 
     'The horn of  Boromir!' he cried. 'He is  in need!' He  sprang down the 
steps and away, leaping down the path. 'Alas! An ill fate is on me this day, 
and all that I do goes amiss. Where is Sam?'


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restful, peaceful, gliding upon  the bosom of the  flowing water. The stream 
took him while they  held their own boat back with their paddles. He floated 
by  them, and slowly  his  boat departed, waning to  a dark spot against the 
golden  light;  and then suddenly it vanished. Rauros  roared on unchanging. 
The River  had taken Boromir  son of Denethor,  and he was not seen again in 
Minas  Tirith,  standing as he used to  stand  upon  the  White Tower in the 
morning. But  in Gondor in after -days it long  was said that  the elven-boat 
rode  the falls  and the foaming pool, and bore him down  through Osgiliath, 
and  past the many mouths of Anduin, out  into the Great Sea at night  under  
the stars. 
     For a  while  the three companions remained  silent,  gazing after him. 
Then  Aragorn spoke. 'They will look for him from the White Tower,' he said, 
'but he will not return from mountain or from  sea.' Then slowly he began to 
sing:


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creature dishonours his bones.' 
     Quickly  they searched the bodies of  the Orcs, gathering  their swords 
and cloven helms and shields into  a  heap. 'See!' cried  Aragorn. 'Here  we 
find  tokens!' He picked  out  from the  pile  of grim weapons  two  knives,  
leaf-bladed, damasked  in go ld and red;  and searching further he found also 
the sheaths,  black, set with small red gems. 'No orc-tools these!' he said. 
'They were  borne by  the hobbits.  Doubtless the  Orcs despoiled them,  but 
feared  to keep  the knives,  knowing  them  for  wha t  they  are:  work  of 
Westernesse, wound about with spells  for the  bane of Mordor. Well, now, if 
they still  live,  our  friends are  weaponless. I will  take these  things,  
hoping against hope, to give them back.' 
     'And  I,' said Legolas,  'will take all the arrows that I can find, for  
my quiver is empty.' He  searched  in the  pile  and on the ground about and


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####-     
Here ends the first part of the history of the War of the Ring. 
     The second part is called THE TWO TOWERS, since the events recounted 
in it are dominated by ORTHANC,  the citadel  of  Saruman, and  the fortress 
of MINAS MORGUL  that guards the secret entrance  to Mordor;  it  tells  of 
the deeds and  perils of  all  the members of the now sundered fellowship, until 
the coming of the Great Darkness. 
     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 III *  

Chapter 1. The Departure of Boromir


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Quest from disaster?' 
     He knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir's hand. 
So it  was  that Legolas  and  Gimli  found him.  They came from the western 
slopes of the hill, silently, creeping  through  the  trees as if  they were 
hunting. Gimli had  his axe in hand,  and  Legola s  his long knife:  all his 
arrows were spent. When  they came into the  glade they halted in amazement; 
and  then they stood a moment with heads bowed  in  grief,  for it seemed to 
them plain what had happened. 
     'Alas!'  said Legolas, coming to  Aragorn's  side. 'We have  hunted and 
slain many  Orcs in the woods, but we should have been of more use  here. We 
came when we heard the horn-but too late, it  seems. I  fear  you have taken 
deadly hurt.'


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'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring to me at eve? 
     Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'  
     'Ask not of me where he doth dwell-so many bones there lie 
     On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky; 
     So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea. 
     Ask of the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!'  
     'O Boromir! Beyond the gate the seaward road runs south, 
     But you came not with the wailing gulls from the grey sea's mouth.'  
     Then Aragorn sang again: 
     From the  Gate  of Kings  the  North Wind rides,  and past the  roaring falls;  
     And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls. 
     'What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today? 
     What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'  
     'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought. 
     His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.


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vigilance of Lurien, or they may have avoided that land and come to Isengard 
by other  paths. Orcs travel  fast.  But  Saruman has many  ways of learning 
news. Do you remember the birds?' 
     'Well,  we  have no time to ponder riddles,' said  Gimli. 'Let us  bear 
Boromir away!' 
     'But  after that  we  must guess  the riddles, if we  are to choose our 
course rightly,' answered Aragorn. 
     'Maybe there is no right choice,' said Gimli. 
     Taking his axe the  Dwarf now  cut  several branches. These they lashed 
together with bowstrings, and spread their  cloaks upon the frame. Upon this 
rough bier they carried the  body of  their companion to the shore, together  
with such trophies of  his last battle as they chose to send forth with him. 
It was only a short way, yet they found it no easy task, for  Boromir was  a  
man both tall and strong.


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####-lay there. They had  been hewn  with many  cruel strokes, and  two had  been 
beheaded. The ground was wet with their dark blood. 
     'Here is another riddle!' said Gimli.  'But it needs the light  of  day 
and for that we cannot wait.' 
     'Yet however you  read it,  it  seems  not  unhopeful,'  said  Legolas.  
'Enemies  of the  Orcs  are  likely to  be our friends. Do any folk dwell in 
these hills?' 
     'No,' said Aragorn. 'The Rohirrim seldom come  here, and it is far from 
Minas Tirith. It might be that some  company of  Men  were  hunting here for 
reasons that we do not know. Yet I think not.' 
     'What do you think?' said Gimli. 
     'I think that  the  enemy  brought his  own enemy  with  him,' answered 
Aragorn. 'These are Northern Orcs from far away. Among the slain are none of 
the great  Orcs with the strange badges. There was a quarrel, I guess: it is 
no uncommon thing with these foul  folk. Maybe there was some  dispute about 
the road.'


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####-his road. and we must make haste to choose our own.' 
     He surveyed the green  lawn, quickly but  thoroughly, stooping often to 
the earth. 'The Orcs have been on this ground,' he  said. 'Otherwise nothing 
can be made  out for certain. All  our  footprints  are  here, crossing  and 
re-crossing. I cannot  tell  whether any of the hobbits have come back since 
the search for  Frodo  began.'  He returned  to the bank, close to where the 
rill  from the  spring  trickled  out into  the River. 'There are some clear 
prints here,' he  said. 'A hobbit waded out into the water and  back; but  I 
cannot say how long ago.' 
     'How then do you read this riddle?' asked Gimli. 
     Aragorn did not answer at once, but went back to the  camping-place and 
looked  at  the baggage. 'Two  packs  are  missing.' he  said, 'and  one  is 
certainly Sam's:  it was rather large and heavy.  This  then  is the answe r: 
Frodo  has gone by boat, and his servant has  gone with him. Frodo must have


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####-and  gone with  him to the end; but if I  seek him now  in the wilderness, I 
must abandon the captives to torment  and death.  My heart speaks clearly at 
last: the fate  of the Bearer  is in  my  hands no  longer .  The Company has 
played  its part. Yet we that  remain cannot forsake our companions while we 
have strength left.  Come!  We  will go  now. Leave  all  that can be spared 
behind! We will press on by day and dark!' 
     They drew up the  last  boat  and carried  it to  the trees.  They laid 
beneath  it such of their goods  as  they did not  need  and could not carry 
away. Then they left Parth Galen. The afternoon was fading as they came back  
to the glade where Boromir had fallen. There they picked up the trail of the 
Orcs. It needed little skill to find. 
     'No other folk  make such  a trampling,' said Legolas. 'It seems  their 
delight to slash and beat down  growing  things that are not even  in  their 
way.'


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What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'  
     'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought. 
     His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought. 
     His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest; 
     And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'  
     'O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze 
     To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end o f days.'  
 
     So they ended. Then they  turned  their boat and drove it with all  the 
speed they could against the stream back to Parth Galen. 
     'You left the  East Wind to  me,' said Gimli, 'but I will say naught of 
it.' 
     'That is as it should be,' said Aragorn. 'In  Minas Tirith  they endure 
the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings. But now Boromir has taken


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Aragorn. 'And well he may. It is now more hopeless than ever for the Company 
to  go east, since we have  been tracked by Gollum,  and  must fear that the 
secret of our journey is already betrayed.  But Minas Tirith is no nearer to 
the Fire and the destruction of the Burden. 
     `We may remain there for a while  and make  a brave stand; but the Lord 
Denethor and all his men cannot hope to do what even Elrond  said was beyond 
his power: either to keep the Burden  secret. or to hold  off the full might 
of the Enemy when he comes  to take it.  Which way would any of us choose in 
Frodo's place? I do not know. Now indeed we miss Gandalf most.' 
     'Grievous is our loss,'  said Legolas.  'Yet we must needs make up  our 
minds without his aid.  Why cannot we decide, and so help Frodo? Let us call 
him back and then vote! I should vote for Minas Tirith.' 
     `And so should I,'  said Gimli. 'We, of course, were only sent  to help


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####-jet, tipped with glimmering snows, flushed with the rose of morning. 
     'Gondor! Gondor!' cried  Aragorn. 'Would that I looked on  you again in 
happier hour! Not yet does my road lie southward to your bright streams.  
     Gondor! Gondor, between the Mountains and the Sea! 
     West Wind blew there; the light upon the Silver Tree 
     Fell like bright rain in gardens of the Kings of old. 
     O proud walls! White towers! O winged crown and throne of gold! 
     O Gondor, Gondor! Shall Men behold the Silver Tree, 
     Or West Wind blow again between the Mountains and the Sea?  
     Now  let  us go!' he said , drawing his  eyes away from  the South,  and 
looking out west and north to the way that he must tread. 
     The ridge upon  which the companions  stood  went down  steeply  before 
their feet. Below it twenty  fathoms or  more, there was  a wide and  rugged 
shelf which ended suddenly in the brink  of a sheer  cliff: the East Wall of


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the great  Orcs with the strange badges. There was a quarrel, I guess: it is 
no uncommon thing with these foul  folk. Maybe there was some  dispute about 
the road.' 
     'Or about the  captives,' said  Gimli. 'Let us hope that they, too, did 
not meet their end here.' 
     Aragorn  searched the ground in a wide  circle,  but no other traces of 
the fight could be found. They went on. Already the eastward sky was turning 
pale; the  stars were fading, and a grey light was  slowly growing. A little 
further  north they  came  to  a fold  in which a tiny stream,  falling  and 
winding, had cut a stony path down into  the valley. In it some bushes grew,  
and there were patches of grass upon its sides. 
     'At last!'  said Aragorn.  'Here are  the tracks that  we seek! Up this 
water -channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate.' 
     Swiftly now the pursuers turned and followed the new path.  As if fresh


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'No other folk  make such  a trampling,' said Legolas. 'It seems  their 
delight to slash and beat down  growing  things that are not even  in  their 
way.' 
     'But they go with a great  speed for all that,' said Aragorn, 'and they 
do not  tire. And later we  may have  to  search for our  path  in hard bare 
lands.' 
     'Well, after  them!' said Gimli. 'Dwarves too can  go swiftly, and they 
do not tire sooner  than Orcs. But it will be a long chase: they have a long 
start.' 
     'Yes,' said Aragorn, 'we  shall all need the endurance of  Dwarves. But 
come! With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And 
woe to them, if we prove the swifter! We  will make such a chase as shall be  
accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds µ Elves. Dwarves, and Men. 
Forth 
the Three Hunters!' 
     Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led 
them,  tireless and swift, now that his mind  was at last made up. The woods


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certainly Sam's:  it was rather large and heavy.  This  then  is the answe r: 
Frodo  has gone by boat, and his servant has  gone with him. Frodo must have 
returned while we were all away. I met Sam going up the hill and told him to 
follow me;  but plainly he  did  not do so. He guessed his master s mind and  
came  back here before Frodo had gone. He did  not find it easy to leave Sam 
behind!' 
     'But why should  he leave  us behind, and without  a word?' said Gimli. 
'That was a strange deed!' 
     'And a  brave deed,' said Aragorn. 'Sam was right,  I think.  Frodo did 
not wish to  lead any friend to death with him in Mordor. But he knew that he 
must go himself. Something happened after he left us that  overcame his fear 
and doubt.' 
     'Maybe hunting Orcs came on him and he fled,' said Legolas.  
     'He fled, certainly,' said Aragorn, 'but not, I think, from Orcs.' What 
he  thought was  the cause of Frodo's  sudden resolve and flight Aragorn did


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him back and then vote! I should vote for Minas Tirith.' 
     `And so should I,'  said Gimli. 'We, of course, were only sent  to help 
the  Bearer along the  road, to go no further than we wished; and none of us 
is under any oath or  command to  seek Mount Doom.  Hard was my parting 
from 
Lothlurien. Yet I have come so far, and I say this: now we  have reached the 
last  choice, it  is clear to  me that I  cannot leave Frodo. I would choose 
Minas Tirith, but if he does not, then I follow him.' 
     `And I  too will go with him,' said Legolas. `It would be faithless now 
to say farewell.' 
     'It would indeed be a betrayal, if we all left him,' said Aragorn. 'But 
if  he goes east,  then all need not go  with him; nor  do I think that  all 
should. That venture is desperate: as much so for eight as for three or two, 
or  one alone.  If  you  would let me choose,  then  I should  appoint three


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####-escarpment, and at length they  came to a deep cleft carved in the rock by a  
stream  that  splashed  noisily down.  In the  narrow  ravine  a rough  path 
descended like a steep stair into the plain. 
     At  the bottom  they came with  a strange  suddenness  on the grass  of 
Rohan. It swelled like a green sea up to the very foot of the Emyn Muil. The 
falling stream vanished into a deep growth of cresses and water -plants,  and  
they could  hear it tinkling away in green tunnels, down long gentle  slopes 
towards the fens of Entwash Vale far  away.  They seemed to have left winter  
clinging  to  the  hills  behind. Here  the air was softer  and warmer,  and 
faintly  scented,  as if spring was already stirring and the sap was flowing 
again in  herb and leaf. Legolas took a deep breath,  like one that drinks a  
great draught after long thirst in barren places. 
     'Ah!  the green smell!'  he said. 'It is better than much sleep. Let us 
run! '


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Dusk deepened. Mist lay behind them among the trees below, and  brooded 
on  the pale margins of the Anduin, but the  sky was clear. Stars  came out. 
The waxing  moon  was riding in the West, and the shadows of the rocks  were 
black. They had come to  the feet of stony hills, and their pace was slower, 
for the trail was no longer easy to  follow. Here the highlands of the  Emyn 
Muil ran from North to South in two long tumbled ridges. The western side of 
each ridge was steep  and difficult, but  the  eastward slopes were gentler, 
furrowed  with  many  gullies  and  narrow  ravines.  All  night  the  three 
companions scrambled in  this bony land, climbing to the  crest of the first  
and tallest ridge, and down again into the darkness of a deep winding valley 
on the other side. 
     There in the still cool hour before dawn they rested for a brief space. 
The moon had long gone down before them, the stars glittered above them; the


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their feet. Below it twenty  fathoms or  more, there was  a wide and  rugged 
shelf which ended suddenly in the brink  of a sheer  cliff: the East Wall of 
Rohan.  So  ended  the  Emyn Muil, and  the  green plains  of  the  Rohirrim 
stretched away before them to the edge of sight. 
     'Look!' cried Legolas, pointing up into the pale sky above them. 'There 
is the eagle  again! He is very high. He seems  to be flying now away,  from 
this land back to the North. He is going with great speed. Look!' 
     'No, not even my eyes can  see him, my good Legolas,' said Aragorn. 'He 
must  be far aloft indeed. I wonder  what  is his errand, if he is the  same 
bird that I have seen before. But look! I  can  see something nearer at hand 
and more urgent; there is something moving over the plain!' 
     'Many  things,'  said  Legolas. 'It is a great company on foot;  but  I 
cannot  say  more,  nor see what kind of folk they  may  be. They  are  many


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water -channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate.' 
     Swiftly now the pursuers turned and followed the new path.  As if fresh 
from a  night's rest they sprang  from stone to stone. At last  they reached 
the  crest of  the  grey hill,  and a  sudden breeze blew in  their hair and 
stirred their cloaks: the chill wind of dawn. 
     Turning  back they saw across  the  River  the  far hills kindled.  Day 
leaped into the sky. The red rim of the  sun rose over  the shoulders of the 
dark  land. Before them in the West the world lay still, formless  and grey; 
but even  as they looked,  the shadows of night melted, the  colours  of the 
waking earth returned: green flowed over the wide meads  of Rohan; the white 
mists shimmered in  the watervales;  and far off to the left, thirty leagues 
or more, blue  and purple stood the  White Mountains,  rising  into peaks of


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Forth 
the Three Hunters!' 
     Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led 
them,  tireless and swift, now that his mind  was at last made up. The woods 
about the lake they left behind. Long slopes  they climbed, dark, hard-edged 
against the  sky already red with sunset. Dusk came. They passed away,  grey 
shadows in a stony land.


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'He fled, certainly,' said Aragorn, 'but not, I think, from Orcs.' What 
he  thought was  the cause of Frodo's  sudden resolve and flight Aragorn did  
not say. The last words of Boromir he long kept secret. 
     'Well,  so much  at  least  is now clear,'  said Legolas:  'Frodo is no 
longer on this side of the  River:  only he can have taken the boat. And Sam 
is with him; only he would have taken his pack.' 
     'Our  choice then,' said Gimli, 'is either to take the  remaining  boat 
and follow Frodo, or else to follow  the Orcs on foot. There is little  hope 
either way. We have already lost precious hours.' 
     'Let me  think!' said Aragorn. 'And now  may I make a  right choice and 
change the  evil fate of this unhappy day!' He stood silent for a moment. 'I  
will follow the Orcs,' he said at last. 'I would have guided Frodo to Mordor


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great draught after long thirst in barren places. 
     'Ah!  the green smell!'  he said. 'It is better than much sleep. Let us 
run! ' 
     'Light feet may run swiftly here,' said Aragorn.  'More swiftly, maybe, 
than iron-shod Orcs. Now we have a chance to lessen their lead!' 
     They went in single file, running like hounds on a strong scent, and an 
eager  light was  in their eyes.  Nearly due  west the  broad  swath  of the 
marching Orcs  tramped  its  ugly slot;  the sweet  grass of  Rohan had been 
bruised and  blackened as  they  passed. Presently  Aragorn  gave a cry  and  
turned aside. 'Stay!' he shouted. 'Do not follow me yet!'  He ran quickly to 
the right, away  from the  main trail; for he had seen  footprints that went 
that way, branching off  from the  others,  the  marks of small unshod feet. 
These, however, did  not go far before they were crossed by orc-prints, also 
coming out  from the main  trail behind and in  front, and then  they curved


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'Many  things,'  said  Legolas. 'It is a great company on foot;  but  I 
cannot  say  more,  nor see what kind of folk they  may  be. They  are  many 
leagues  away: twelve,  I  guess; but  the flatness of the plain is hard  to 
measure.' 
     'I think,  nonetheless, that we no longer  need any  trail  to  tell us 
which  way  to go,' said Gimli. 'Let  us find a path down to  the  fields as 
quick as may be.' 
     'I  doubt  if you will  find a path quicker  than the one that the Orcs 
chose,' said Aragorn. 
     They  followed their enemies now  by the clear light  of day. It seemed 
that the Orcs had  pressed on with all possible speed. Every  now  and again 
the pursuers found things that had been dropped or cast away: food-bags, the 
rinds and crusts of hard grey bread. a torn black cloak, a heavy iron-nailed 
shoe  broken on the stones. The trail  led them  north along the top  of the


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on the other side. 
     There in the still cool hour before dawn they rested for a brief space. 
The moon had long gone down before them, the stars glittered above them; the 
first light  of day had not  yet come over the dark  hills behind.  For  the 
moment Aragorn was at a loss:  the  orc-trail had descended into the valley, 
but there it had vanished. 
     'Which way would they turn, do you  think?' said Legolas. 'Northward to 
take a straighter road to Isengard,  or Fangorn, if that is their aim as you  
guess? Or southward to strike the Entwash?' 
     'They will not make  for  the  river,  whatever mark they aim at'' said 
Aragorn. 'And unless there is much amiss  in Rohan and  the power of Saruman 
is greatly increased;  they will take  the  shortest way that they  can find 
over the fields of the Rohirrim. Let us search northwards!' 
     The  dale  ran like  a stony  trough between  the  ridged  hills, and a


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####-overtake them.' 
     'And yet even I,  Dwarf of many journeys, and not the least hardy of my 
folk, cannot run all the way to Isengard without any pause ' said Gimli. 'My 
heart burns me too, and I would  have  started sooner but now I must  rest a  
little to run the  better. And if we  rest, then the blind night is the time 
to do so.' 
     'I said that  it  was a  hard  choice,' said Aragorn.  'How shall we end 
this debate?' 
     'You are our guide,' said Gimli, 'and you are skilled in the chase. You  
shall choose.' 
     'My heart  bids me go on,'  said Legolas. 'But we must hold together. I 
will follow your counsel.' 
     'You give the choice to an ill chooser,' said Aragorn. 'Since we passed 
through the Argonath  my  choices have  gone amiss.' He  fell  silent gazing 
north and west into the gathering night for a long while. 
     'We will  not walk in  the dark,'  he  said at length.   'The  peril  of


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####-     'I fear they have passed beyond my sight from hill or plain, under moon 
or sun,' said Legolas.  
     'Where sight fails the earth may  bring us rumour,' said  Aragorn. 'The 
land  must  groan under  their hated  feet.' He stretched  himself  upon the 
ground with his ear pressed against the turf. He lay  there  motionless, for  
so long a time that Gimli wondered if he had swooned or fallen asleep again. 
Dawn came glimmering, and  slowly a grey  light grew about them.  At last he 
rose, and now his friends could see his face: it was pale and drawn, and his 
look was troubled. 
     'The rumour of the earth is dim and confused,' he said. 'Nothing  walks 
upon it for many miles about  us. Faint and far are the feet of our enemies.  
But loud are the hoofs of the horses. It comes to my mind that I heard them,  
even  as  I lay on the ground in sleep, and they troubled my dreams:  hor ses 
galloping, passing  in the West. But now they are  drawing ever further from


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These, however, did  not go far before they were crossed by orc-prints, also 
coming out  from the main  trail behind and in  front, and then  they curved 
sharply back  again  and were lost  in the  trampling. At the furthest point 
Aragorn stooped and picked up something from the grass; then he ran back. 
     'Yes,' he said, 'they are quite plain:  a hobbit's footprints. Pippin's 
I think. He is smaller than the other. And look at this! He held up a  thing 
that glittered in  the sunlight. It  looked  like  the new-opened leaf of  a  
beech-tree, fair and strange in that treeless plain. 
     'The brooch of an elven-cloak!' cried Legolas and Gimli together. 
     'Not idly do the leaves of Lurien  fall,' said  Aragorn.  'This did not 
drop by chance: it  was  cast away as  a token to  any that  might follow. I 
think Pippin ran away from the trail for that purpose.' 
     'Then he at least was alive,'  said  Gimli. 'And he  had the use of his


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####-     'Let us hope that  he  did not pay  too dearly for his  boldness,' said 
Legolas.  'C ome! Let us  go on! The thought of those merry young folk  driven 
like cattle burns my heart.' 
     The  sun climbed to  the noon and then rode slowly  down the sky. Light 
clouds  came up out of the sea in the distant South and were blown away upon 
the breeze. The sun sank. Shadows rose behind and reached out long arms from 
the East. Still the hunters held on.  One day  now had  passed since Boromir  
fell, and  the Orcs were yet far ahead. No longer could any sight of them be 
seen in the level plains.  
     As nightshade was closing about  them Aragorn halted. Only twice in the 
day's  march had they rested for a brief  while, and twelve leagues  now lay 
between them and the eastern wall where they had stood at dawn. 
     'We have  come at last  to  a hard choice,' he said.  'Shall we  rest by 
night, or shall we go on while our will and strength hold?'


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over the fields of the Rohirrim. Let us search northwards!' 
     The  dale  ran like  a stony  trough between  the  ridged  hills, and a  
trickling stream flowed among the boulders  at the  bottom. A cliff  frowned 
upon their right; to their left rose  grey  slopes, dim  and shadowy in  the 
late night.  They  went  on  for  a  mile  or  more northwards. Aragorn  was 
searching. bent towards  the ground,  among the folds and gullies leading up 
into  the western ridge. Legolas was some way ahead. Suddenly the Elf gave a  
cry and the others came running towards him. 
     'We have already overtaken some of those that we are hunting,' he said. 
'Look!' He pointed, and they saw that  what they had  at  first  taken to be 
boulders lying at the foot of the slope were huddled  bodies. Five dead Orcs


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north and west into the gathering night for a long while. 
     'We will  not walk in  the dark,'  he  said at length.   'The  peril  of 
missing the trail  or  signs  of  other  coming and  going seems to  me  the 
greater. If the  Moon gave enough  light, we would use it, but alas! he sets 
early and is yet young and pale.' 
     'And  tonight he is shrouded anyway,' Gimli murmured.  'Would  that the 
Lady had given us a light, such a gift as she gave to Frodo!' 
     'It will be more needed  where it is bestowed,' said Aragorn. 'With him 
lies  the true Quest.  Ours is but a small matter in the great deeds of this 
time. A vain pursuit from its beginning, maybe, which no  choice of mine can 
mar or mend. Well, I have chosen. So let us use the time as best we may!' 
     He  cast himself on the ground and fell at once into sleep, for he  had 
not slept since their night under the shadow of Tol Brandir. Before dawn was


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'We have  come at last  to  a hard choice,' he said.  'Shall we  rest by 
night, or shall we go on while our will and strength hold?' 
     'Unless  our enemies rest also, they  will  leave us far  behind, if we 
stay to  sleep.' said Legolas. 'Surely even Orcs must pause on  the  march?' 
said Gimli. 'Seldom will  Orcs journey in the open under the sun.  yet these 
have done so,' said Legolas. 'Certainly they will not rest by night.' 
     'But if we walk by night, we cannot follow their trail,' said Gimli. 
     'The trail is straight, and turns  neither right nor left, as far as my 
eyes can see,' said Legolas.  
     'Maybe,  I could  lead you  at guess in the darkness  and  hold  to the 
line,'  said  Aragorn;  'but  if we strayed, or they turned aside, then when 
light came there might be long delay before the trail was found again.' 
     'And  there  is  this also,' said Gimli: 'only by day can we see if any


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####-north along the  dr y  skirts  of the hills. Aragorn halted and examined  the 
tracks closely. 
     'They rested here a  while,' he said,  'but even the outward  trail  is 
already  old. I  fear  that your  heart  spoke truly,  Legolas: it is thrice 
twelve hours, I guess, since the Orcs stood where we now stand. If they held 
to their pace,  then  at sundown  yesterday they would reach  the borders of 
Fangorn.' 
     'I can see nothing  away north or west but  grass dwindling into mist,' 
said Gimli. 'Could we see the forest, if we climbed the hills?' 
     'It is  still  far  away,'  said Aragorn. 'If I remember rightly, these 
downs run  eight leagues  or  more to the north, and then north-west to  the 
issuing of the Entwash there lies still a wide land. another fifteen leagues 
it may be.' 
     'Well, let  us go on,' said Gimli. 'My legs must forget the miles. They 
would be more willing, if my heart were less heavy.'


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He  cast himself on the ground and fell at once into sleep, for he  had 
not slept since their night under the shadow of Tol Brandir. Before dawn was 
in the sky he woke and rose.  Gimli  was still deep in slumber,  but Legolas 
was standing,  gazing northwards into the darkness, thoughtful and silent as 
a young tree in a windless night.  
     'They are  far far away,' he said sadly, turning to Aragorn. 'I know in 
my heart that they have not rested this night.  Only an eagle could overtake 
them now.' 
     'Nonetheless we will still follow as we may,' said Aragorn. Stooping he 
roused the Dwarf. 'Come! We must go,' he said. 'The scent is growing cold.' 
     'But it is still dark,' said Gimli. 'Even Legolas on a  hill-top  could 
not see them till the Sun is up.'


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think Pippin ran away from the trail for that purpose.' 
     'Then he at least was alive,'  said  Gimli. 'And he  had the use of his 
wits, and of his legs too. That is heartening. We do not pursue in vain.'


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even  as  I lay on the ground in sleep, and they troubled my dreams:  hor ses 
galloping, passing  in the West. But now they are  drawing ever further from 
us, riding northward. I wonder what is happening in this land!' 
     'Let us go!' said Legolas.  
     So the third day of their pursuit began. During  all its long  hours of 
cloud and fitful sun they hardly paused, now striding, now running, as if no 
weariness could quench the  fire that burned them.  They seldom spoke.  Over  
the  wide solitude they  passed  and their elven-cloaks  faded  against  the 
background of the grey-green fields; even  in the cool  sunlight  of mid-day 
few but elvish eyes would have marked them, until they  were close  at hand. 
Often  in their  hearts  they thanked the Lady  of  Lurien for  the gift  of 
lembas, for they could eat of it and find new strength even as they ran. 
     All day the track of  their enemies led  straight  on, going north-west


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####-you must. Yet  do  not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown.  Rede oft is 
found at the rising of the Sun.' 
     'Three  suns already have risen on  our  chase and brought no counsel ' 
said Gimli. 
     The  night  grew  ever  colder.  Aragorn  and Gimli slept fitfully, and 
whenever they awoke they saw Legolas standing beside them, or walking to 
and 
fro, singing softly to  himself in his own tongue, and as  he sang the white 
stars  opened in  the hard black vault above. So the  night passed. Together  
they watched the dawn grow slowly in the  sky, now bare and cloudless, until 
at  last the sunrise came. It was pale and clear. The  wind was  in the East  
and  all the mists had rolled away;  wide lands lay bleak about them in  the 
bitter light. 
     Ahead and eastward they saw the windy uplands of the Wold of Rohan that 
they had already glimpsed many days ago from the Great River. North-
westward


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light came there might be long delay before the trail was found again.' 
     'And  there  is  this also,' said Gimli: 'only by day can we see if any 
tracks lead away.  If a prisoner should escape, or if one should be  carried 
off, eastward,  say, to the Great River,  towards Mordor, we might pass  the 
signs and never know it.' 
     'That  is true,'  said Aragorn. 'But if I  read  the signs back  yonder  
rightly, the Orcs of the White Hand prevailed, and the whole company  is now 
bound for Isengard. Their present course bears me out.' 
     'Yet it would  be rash to be sure of  their counsels,' said Gimli. 'And 
what of escape? In the dark we  should have passed the signs that led you to 
the brooch.' 
     'The Orcs will  be doubly on their  guard since then, and the prisoners 
even wearier,' said Legolas. 'There will  be no  escape again, if we  do not 
contrive  it. How  that is to be done cannot  be guessed, but first we  must


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it may be.' 
     'Well, let  us go on,' said Gimli. 'My legs must forget the miles. They 
would be more willing, if my heart were less heavy.' 
     The sun was sinking when at last they drew near to the  end of the line 
of  downs.  For many  hours they had  marched without rest. They  were going 
slowly now, and Gimli's back was bent.  Stone-hard are the Dwarves in labour 
or journey, but this endless  chase began to tell on him, as all hope failed 
in his heart. Aragorn walked behind  him, grim and silent,  stooping now and 
again to scan some print or mark upon the ground. Only Legolas still stepped 
as  lightly as ever,  his feet hardly seeming to press the grass. leaving no 
footprints  as he passed; but in  the waybread of the Elves he found all the 
sustenance tha t he needed, and  he could sleep, if sleep it  could be called 
by Men, resting his mind in the strange  paths of elvish dreams,  even as he 
walked open-eyed in the light of this world.


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bitter light. 
     Ahead and eastward they saw the windy uplands of the Wold of Rohan that 
they had already glimpsed many days ago from the Great River. North-
westward 
stalked the dark forest of Fangorn; still ten leagues away stood its shadowy 
eaves, and its  further  slopes  faded into  the distant blue. Beyond  there 
glimmered far away, as if floating  on a  grey cloud, the white head of tall 
Methedras, the  last  peak  of  the  Misty Mountains. Out of  the forest the 
Entwash flowed to meet them, its  stream now swift and narrow, and its banks 
deep-cloven. The orc-trail turned from the downs towards it. 
     Following with his keen eyes the trail to the river, and then the river  
back towards the forest,  Aragorn saw a shadow on the distant green,  a dark  
swift-moving  blur.  He cast  himself upon  the  ground  and  listened again 
intently.  But Legolas stood beside him, shading  his bright elven-eyes with


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####-     'Nay!  The  riders are little  more  than  five leagues distant,'  said 
Legolas.  
     'Five leagues or  one,' said Gimli; 'we cannot escape them in this bare 
land. Shall we wait for them here or go on our way?' 
     'We will wait,' said Aragorn. 'I  am weary, and our hunt has failed. Or 
at least  others were before us; for these horsemen are riding back down the 
orc-trail. We may get new s from them.' 
     'Or spears,' said Gimli. 
     'There are three empty saddles, but I see no hobbits,' said Legolas. 
     'I did not say that we should hear good news,' said  Aragorn. 'But evil 
or good we will await it here.' 
     The three companions now left the hill-top, where they might be an easy  
mark against the pale sky, and they walked slowly down the northward  slope. 
A little  above the hill's foot they halted, and wrapping their cloaks about 
them, they sat huddled together upon the faded grass. The time passed slowly


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####-up and dismounted at his side, he drew his sword and stood face to face with  
Aragorn, surveying him keenly, and not  without wonder. At  length  he spoke 
again. 
     'At first I thought that you yourselves were Orcs,' he said; 'but now I 
see that it is  not so. Indeed  you know  little of Orcs, if  you go hunting 
them  in this  fashion.  They were swift and well-armed, and they were many. 
You would have changed from hunters to prey, if ever you had overtaken them. 
But there is something strange about you, Strider.' He bent his clear bright 
eyes again upon the Ranger. 'That  is  no name for a Man that  you give. And 
strange too is your raiment.  Have you sprung out of the  grass? How did you 
escape our sight? Are you elvish folk?' 
     'No,'  said  Aragorn.  'One  only of us  is an  Elf, Legolas  from  the 
Woodland Realm in  distant Mirkwood. But we have  passed through 
Lothlurien, 
and the gifts and favour of the Lady go with us.'


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####-     Now the  cries  of clear strong voices  came ringing over  the  fields. 
Suddenly they swept up with a noise like thunder, and  the foremost horseman 
swerved, passing by  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  leading  the  host  back  
southward along the western skirts of the downs. After him they rode: a long 
line of mail-clad men. swift, shining, fell and fair to look upon. 
     Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-limbed; their grey 
coats  glistened, their  long tails flowed  in the  wind, their  manes  were 
braided on their proud necks. The Men that rode them matched them well: tall 
and long-limbed; their hair, flaxen -pale,  flowed under  their  light helms,  
and streamed in long braids behind them; their faces were stern and keen. In 
their  hands were tall  spears of ash,  painted  shields were slung at their 
backs, long swords were at their belts, their burnished skirts of  mail hung 
down upon their knees.


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by Men, resting his mind in the strange  paths of elvish dreams,  even as he 
walked open-eyed in the light of this world. 
     'Let us go  up on to this green hill!' he said.  Wearily they  fol lowed 
him, climbing the long slope, until  they  came out upon the  top. It  was a  
round hill smooth and  bare, standing by itself,  the  most northerly of the 
downs. The sun sank  and  the  shadows of evening fell  like a curtain. They  
were alone  in a gr ey formless world without mark or measure. Only  far away 
north-west  there  was  a  deeper darkness  against  the  dying  light:  the 
Mountains of Mist and the forest at their feet. 
     'Nothing can  we see to guide us here,' said Gimli. 'Well, now we  must  
halt again and wear the night away. It is growing cold!' 
     'The wind is north from the snows,' said Aragorn. 
     'And ere morning  it will be in  the East,' said Legolas.  'But rest if


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steps and away, leaping down the path. 'Alas! An ill fate is on me this day, 
and all that I do goes amiss. Where is Sam?' 
     As he ran the cries  came louder, but fainter  now and  desperately the 
horn was blowing. Fierce and shrill rose the yells of the Orcs, and suddenly 
the horn-calls  ceased.  Aragorn  raced  down the last slope,  but before he 
could reach  the hill's foot, the sounds died away;  and as he turned to the 
left and ran towards them  they  retreated, until at last he could hear them 
no more. Drawing  his bright sword and crying Elendil!  Elendil!  he crashed 
through the trees.


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swift-moving  blur.  He cast  himself upon  the  ground  and  listened again 
intently.  But Legolas stood beside him, shading  his bright elven-eyes with 
his long slender hand, and he saw not a  shadow, nor  a blur, but the  small 
figures  of horsemen, many horsemen, and the glint of morning on the tips of 
their spears was  like the twinkle of minute stars beyond the edge of mortal 
sight. Far behind them a dark smoke rose in thin curling threads.  
     There was a silence  in the empty fields, arid Gimli could hear the air 
moving in the grass.  
     'Riders!' cried Aragorn, springing to  his feet.  'Many riders on swift 
steeds are coming towards us!' 
     'Yes,' said Legolas, 'there are one hundred  and five. Yellow is  their 
hair, and bright are their spears. Their leader is very tall.' 
     Aragorn smiled. 'Keen are the eyes of the Elves,' he said.


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A little  above the hill's foot they halted, and wrapping their cloaks about 
them, they sat huddled together upon the faded grass. The time passed slowly 
and heavily. The wind was thin and searching. Gimli was uneasy. 
     'What do you know of these horsemen, Aragorn?' he said. 'Do we sit here 
waiting for sudden death?' 
     'I have been among them,' answered Aragorn. 'They are proud and wilful, 
but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; 
wise but unlearned,  writing no books  but  singing many  songs,  after  the 
manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years. But I do not know  what 
has happened here of late, nor in what mind the Rohirrim may now  be between 
the traitor  Saruman and the threat of  Sauron.  They  have  long  been  the 
friends of the people of Gondor, though they are not akin to them. It was in 
forgotten years long ago that Eorl the Young brought them out of  the North,


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Woodland Realm in  distant Mirkwood. But we have  passed through 
Lothlurien, 
and the gifts and favour of the Lady go with us.' 
     The Rider looked at them  with  renewed wonder, but  his eyes hardened. 
'Then there  is a Lady in the Golden Wood, as old tales tell!' he said. 'Few 
escape  her  nets, they  say. These are  strange days! But if  you  have her  
favour, then you  also are  net -weavers and  sorcerers,  maybe.' He turned a  
cold glance suddenly upon Legolas and Gimli.  'Why do you  not speak, silent 
ones?' he demanded. 
     Gimli  rose and  planted  his feet  firmly apart: his hand gripped  the 
handle  of  his  axe,  and  his  dark  eyes flashed.  'Give  me  your  name, 
horse-master, and I will give you mine, and more besides,' he said. 
     'As for that,' said the Rider, staring down at the Dwarf, 'the stranger  
should declare  himself first. Yet I am named  Jomer  son of Jomund,  and am 
called the Third Marshal of Riddermark.'


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their  hands were tall  spears of ash,  painted  shields were slung at their 
backs, long swords were at their belts, their burnished skirts of  mail hung 
down upon their knees.  
     In pairs  they galloped  by, and though every now  and then one rose in 
his  stirrups  and  gazed ahead  and to  either side, they appeared  not  to 
perceive  the three strangers sitting silently and  watching them. The  host  
had almost passed  when  suddenly Aragorn  st ood  up, and  called in a  loud 
voice: 
     'What news from the North, Riders of Rohan?' 
     With astonishing speed and  skill they  checked  their steeds, wheeled, 
and came charging round.  Soon the three companions  found  themselves  in a  
ring of horsemen  moving in a running circle, up the hill -slope  behind them 
and down,  round and round  them, and  drawing  ever inwards. Aragorn  stood 
silent, and  the other two  sat  without  moving, wondering what  way things 
would turn.


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####-     Jomer  raised  his sword, and things might  have  gone ill, but Aragorn 
sprang  between them, and raised his hand. 'Your pardon,  Jomer!' he  cried.  
'When you know more you will understand why  you have angered my 
companions.  
We intend no  evil to Rohan,  nor to any of its folk, neither to man  nor to 
horse. Will you not hear our tale before you strike?' 
     'I  will,'  said  Jomer  lowering  his  blade. 'Bu t  wanderers  in  the 
Riddermark  would be  wise to be less haughty in these days of doubt.  First  
tell me your right name.' 
     'First tell me whom you serve,' said Aragorn. 'Are you friend or foe of 
Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor?' 
     'I serve only the Lord  of the  Mark, Thjoden  King  son  of  Thengel,' 
answered Jomer. 'We do  not serve the Power of the Black Land far away,  but 
neither are we yet at open war with him; and  if you  are fleeing  from him, 
then you had best leave this  land. There is  trouble now on all our borders,


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####-Jomer had shrunk; and in his  living face they caught a brief vision of  the  
power and majesty of the  kings  of stone. For a moment it seemed to the eyes 
of Legolas  that a white flame  flickered  on the  brows  of Aragorn  like a  
shining crown. 
     Jomer stepped back and a look of awe was in his face. He cast down  his 
proud  eyes.  'These  are  indeed  strange days,'  he  muttered. 'Dreams and 
legends spring to life out of the grass.  
     'Tell  me,  lord,' he said,  'what  brings you  here?  And what was the 
meaning  of the dark  words?  Long  has  Boromir  son of Denethor  been gone 
seeking an answer, and the  horse that we lent him  came back riderless. What 
doom do you bring out of the North?' 
     'The doom of choice,' said Aragorn. 'You may say this to Thjoden son of 
Thengel: open war lies before him, with Sauron or against him. None may live 
now as they ha ve lived, and few  shall keep what they call their own. But of


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neither are we yet at open war with him; and  if you  are fleeing  from him, 
then you had best leave this  land. There is  trouble now on all our borders,  
and we are threatened; but we desire only to be free, and to live as we have 
lived, keeping  our  own, and  serving  no  foreign  lord,  good or evil. We 
welcomed guests kindly in the better days, but in  these  times the unbidden 
stranger finds us swift and hard. Come! Who are you?  Whom do you serve?  
At 
whose command do you hunt Orcs in our land?' 
     'I serve no man,' said  Aragorn;  'but the servants of  Sauron I pursue 
into whatever land they may go. There are few among mortal Men who know 
more 
of Orcs; and I do not hunt them in this fashion out of choice. The Orcs whom 
we pursued  took captive two of my friends. In such need a man  that  has no  
horse  will go on foot, and he will  not ask for leave to  follow the trail. 
Nor will  he  count  the heads  of  the enemy save  with a  sword.  I am not


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'As for that,' said the Rider, staring down at the Dwarf, 'the stranger  
should declare  himself first. Yet I am named  Jomer  son of Jomund,  and am 
called the Third Marshal of Riddermark.' 
     'Then Jomer son  of Jomund,  Third Marshal of Riddermark, let Gimli the 
Dwarf  Gluin's son warn you against foolish  words.  You speak evil of  that 
which is fair  beyond the  reach  of your  thought, and only little  wit can 
excuse you.' 
     Jomer's eyes  blazed, and the Men of Rohan murmured angrily, and closed 
in, advancing  their  spears. 'I  would cut  off your  head, beard and  all, 
Master Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground ' said Jomer. 
     'He stands not  alone,'  said Legolas,  bending his bow and fitting  an 
arrow with hands that moved quicker than sight. 'You would  die before  your 
stroke fell.'


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####-     'Then  Shadowfax  has found  his  way alone from  the far North,'  said 
Aragorn; 'for  it  was there that he and Gandalf  parted. But  alas! Gandalf 
will  ride no longer. He fell into darkness in the Mines  of Moria and comes 
not again.' 
     'That  is heavy  tidings,'  said Jomer.  'At least to  me, and to many; 
though not to all, as you may find, if you come to the king.' 
     'It  is  tidings more grievous than any in  this  land can  understand, 
though it may touch them  sorely  ere the year is much older,' said Aragorn. 
'But when  the great fall,  the less must lead. My  part it has been to guide 
our Company on the long  road from Moria. Through Lurien we came -- of 
which 
it were well that you should learn  the truth  ere you speak of it  again  -- 
and thence down the leagues of the Great River to the falls of Rauros. There 
Boromir was slain by the same Orcs whom you destroyed.' 
     'Your  news is all of woe!' cried Jomer in dismay. 'Great harm is  this


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horse  will go on foot, and he will  not ask for leave to  follow the trail. 
Nor will  he  count  the heads  of  the enemy save  with a  sword.  I am not 
weaponless.' 
     Aragorn  threw back his cloak. The elven-sheath glittered as he grasped 
it, and the bright blade of And®ril shone like a sudden flame as he swept it 
out.   'Elendil!'  he cried. 'I  am  Aragorn son  of Arathorn and  am  called 
Elessar, the Elfstone, D®nadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor. 
Here is the Sword  that was  Broken and is forged again! Will you aid  me or 
thwart me? Choose swiftly!' 
     Gimli  and Legolas looked at their companion in amazement, for they had 
not seen him  in this  mood before. He seemed to have grown in stature while


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Boromir was slain by the same Orcs whom you destroyed.' 
     'Your  news is all of woe!' cried Jomer in dismay. 'Great harm is  this 
death to  Minas  Tirith, and to us all. That was a worthy man! All spoke his 
praise.  He  came  seldom to the Mark, for he  was ever  in the wars on  the 
East -borders; but I have seen him. More like to the swift sons of Eorl  than 
to the  grave Men  of Gondor  he seemed  to me, and likely to  prove a great 
captain of  his  people when  his time came. But we have had no word of this 
grief out of Gondor. When did he fall?' 
     'It is now the fourth day since he was slain,' answered  Aragorn,  'and 
since the evening of  that day  we  have  journeyed from the shadow  of  Tol  
Brandir.' 
     'On foot?' cried Jomer. 
     'Yes, even as you see us.' 
     Wide wonder came into Jomer's eyes. 'Strider is too poor a name, son of 
Arathorn,' he  said. 'Wingfoot I name  you.  This deed of the  three friends


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####-beyond Entwash, and leaving none here but guards and swift scouts.' 
     'Then you do not pay tribute to Sauron?' said Gimli. 
     'We do not and we never have.'  said Jomer  with  a flash  of his eyes; 
'though it comes to my  ears that that lie has been told. Some years ago the 
Lord of the Black Land wished to  purchase horses of us at  great price, but 
we  refused him.  for he puts  beasts  to evil use. Then he sent  plundering 
Orcs, and  they carry  off what they can, choosing always the  black horses: 
few of these are now left. For that reason our feud with the Orcs is bitter. 
     'But at this  time our chief concern  is  with Saruman. He has  claimed 
lordship over  all this  land,  and there  has been war  between us for many 
months.  He has taken Orcs into his service,  and Wolf-riders, and evil Men,  
and he has closed the Gap against us, so that we are likely to be beset both 
east and west.


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friends of the people of Gondor, though they are not akin to them. It was in 
forgotten years long ago that Eorl the Young brought them out of  the North,  
and  their  kinship  is rather  with  the  Bardings  of  Dale, and with  the 
Beornings of the Wood,  among whom may still be seen many men tall and 
fair, 
as are the Riders of Rohan. At least they will not love the Orcs.' 
     'But Gandalf spoke of a  rumour that they pay tribute to Mordor '  said 
Gimli. 
     'I believe it no more than did Boromir,' answered Aragorn. 
     'You will soon learn the truth,' said Legolas. 'Already they approach.' 
     At length even Gimli could  hear the distant  beat of  galloping hoofs. 
The horsemen,  following  the trail, had  turned  from the  river,   and were 
drawing near the downs. They were riding like the wind.


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months.  He has taken Orcs into his service,  and Wolf-riders, and evil Men,  
and he has closed the Gap against us, so that we are likely to be beset both 
east and west. 
     'It is ill dealing with such a  foe:  he  is a wizard both cunning  and 
dwimmer -crafty, having many guises. He walks here and there, they say, as an 
old  man hooded and cloaked, very like  to Gandalf, as many now recall.  His 
spies  slip  through every net, and his birds  of ill omen are abroad in the 
sky. I do not  know how it will all end, and  my heart  misgives me;  for it 
seems to  me that his friends do not all dwell in Isengard. But  if you come 
to the king's  house, you shall see for  yourself. Will  you not come? Do  I 
hope in vain that you have been sent to me for a help in doubt and need?' 
     'I will come when I may,' said Aragorn. 
     'Come now!' said Jomer. 'The Heir of Elendil would be a strength indeed 
to the  Sons of Eorl  in this evil tide.  There  is battle even  now upon the


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Thengel: open war lies before him, with Sauron or against him. None may live 
now as they ha ve lived, and few  shall keep what they call their own. But of 
these  great  matters we  will speak  later. If  chance allows, I will  come 
myself to the king. Now I am in great need, and I ask for help,  or at least  
for tidings. You heard that we are pursuing an orc-host that carried off our 
friends. What can you tell us?' 
     'That  you  need not  pursue  them further,' said Jomer. 'The  Orcs are 
destroyed.' 
     'And our friends?' 
     'We found none but Orcs.' 
     'But that is strange indeed,' said Aragorn. 'Did you search the  slain?  
Were there no bodies other than those of orc-kind? They would be small. Only 
children to your eyes, unshod but clad in grey.' 
     'There  were no dwarves  nor children,' said Jomer. 'We counted all the 
slain and despoiled them, and then we piled the carcases and burned them, as 
is our custom. The ashes are smoking still.'


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'Yes, even as you see us.' 
     Wide wonder came into Jomer's eyes. 'Strider is too poor a name, son of 
Arathorn,' he  said. 'Wingfoot I name  you.  This deed of the  three friends 
should be sung in many a hall. Forty leagues and five  you have measured ere 
the fourth day is ended! Hardy is the race of Elendil! 
     'But  now, lord, what would you  have me do! I must return in  haste to 
Thjoden. I spoke warily  before  my  men. It is true that  we are not yet at 
open  war with the Black Land, and there are some, close to the  king's ear, 
that speak craven counsels; but war is coming. We shall  not forsake our old 
alliance  with Gondor, and while they fight we shall aid them: so say  I and 
all  who  hold  with me. The East-mark is my charge. the  ward  of  the Third 
Marshal, and I have  removed  all our  herds  and herdfolk, withdrawing them


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'Come now!' said Jomer. 'The Heir of Elendil would be a strength indeed 
to the  Sons of Eorl  in this evil tide.  There  is battle even  now upon the 
Westemnet, and I fear that it may go ill for us. 
     'Indeed in this riding north I went without the king's leave, for in my 
absence his  house  is left with little guard. But scouts warned me  of  the 
orc-host coming down out of the East  Wall  three nights ago, and among them 
they reported that some bore the white badges of Saruman. So suspecting what 
I  most fear, a league between  Orthanc  and  the Dark Tower, I led forth my 
jored,  men of  my own household; and  we overtook the Orcs at nightfall two 
days  ago, near to the borders of the Entwood. There we surrounded them, and 
gave battle yesterday at dawn. Fifteen of my men  I lost, and  twelve horses 
alas! For the  Orcs were greater in number than we counted on. Others joined 
them. coming out of the East across the Great River: their trail is plain to


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slain and despoiled them, and then we piled the carcases and burned them, as 
is our custom. The ashes are smoking still.' 
     'We do not speak of dwarves or children,' said Gimli. 'Our friends were 
hobbits.' 
     'Hobbits?' said Jomer. 'And what may they be? It is a strange name.' 
     'A strange name  for a strange folk,' said Gimli. 'But these were  very 
dear to us. It seems that you have heard in Rohan of the words that troubled  
Minas Tirith. They spoke of the Halfling. These hobbits are Halflings.' 
     'Halflings!' laughed the Rider that stood beside Jomer. 'Halflings! But 
they are  only  a little people in old songs and children's tales out of the 
North. Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?'


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alas! For the  Orcs were greater in number than we counted on. Others joined 
them. coming out of the East across the Great River: their trail is plain to 
see a little north of this spot.  And  others, too, came out  of the forest. 
Great Orcs, who  also bore the White Hand of Isengard: that kind is stronger


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####-But now  all the land was empty, and there was silence  that did not seem to  
be the quiet of peace. 
     At  dusk they halted  again. Now twice twelve  leagues  they had passed 
over  the plains of Rohan  and  the wall of  the Emyn Muil was  lost in  the 
shadows  of the East. The  young moon  was glimmering in a misty sky, but it 
gave small light, and the stars were veiled. 
     'Now  do I most  grudge  a time of rest or any halt in our chase ' said 
Legolas. 'The Orcs have run before us, as if  the very whips  of Sauron were 
behind them. I fear they have already reached the forest and  the dark hills, 
and even now are passing into the shadows of the trees.' 
     Gimli ground his  teeth. 'This  is a bitter end to our  hope and to all 
our toil!' he said. 
     'To  hope, maybe, but  not to  toil,'  said Aragorn. 'We shall not turn 
back here. Yet I am weary.' He gazed  back along the  way that they had come


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####-Fangorn loomed, slowly darkling as the sun  went west. They  saw no  sign of 
any  trail to  right or  left, but here  a nd  there they passed single Orcs,  
fallen in  their tracks as they  ran, with grey-feathered arrows sticking in 
back or throat. 
     At  last  as the  afternoon was  waning they came  to  the eaves of the 
forest, and in  an open  glade among the first trees they found the place of 
the great burning:  the ashes were  still hot  and smoking. Beside it was  a  
great pile of  helms and mail, cloven shields, and broken swords,  bows  and 
darts  and other gear of war. Upon  a stake in  the  middle was set a  great 
goblin head;  upon its shattered helm the  white badge could  still be seen. 
Further away, not far from the river, where  it  came streaming out from the 
edge of  the wood, there was a mound. It was newly raised: the raw earth was 
covered with fresh-cut turves: about it were planted fifteen spears.


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####-'Hasufel is  his name,'  said  Jomer.  'May he bear  you well and to  better  
fortune than Gbrulf, his late master!' 
     A  smaller and lighter  horse, but  restive and fiery,  was brought  to 
Legolas. Arod was his  name.  But Legolas asked them to take  off saddle and 
rein. 'I need them not,' he said, and leaped lightly up, and to their wonder  
Arod was  tame and willing  beneath  him, moving  here and there  with but a 
spoken word: such was the elvish way with all good beasts.  Gimli was lifted 
up behind  his friend. and  he clung to him, not much more at ease than  Sam 
Gamgee in a boat. 
     'Farewell, and may you find what  you  seek!' cried Jomer. 'Return with 
what speed you may, and let our swords hereafter shine together!' 
     'I will come,' said Aragorn. 
     'And I will come, too,' said Gimli. 'The matter  of the  Lady Galadriel 
lies still between us. I have yet to teach you gentle speech. '


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our toil!' he said. 
     'To  hope, maybe, but  not to  toil,'  said Aragorn. 'We shall not turn 
back here. Yet I am weary.' He gazed  back along the  way that they had come 
towards the night gathering in the East. 'There is something strange at work 
in this land.  I distrust the  silence. I  distrust even  the pale Moon. The 
stars are  faint; and I am weary a s I have  seldom been before,  weary as no 
Ranger should be with a clear trail to follow. There is some will that lends 
speed  to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is 
in the heart more than in the limb.' 
     'Truly!' said Legolas. 'That I have known since first we came down from 
the Emyn Muil. For the will is not behind us but before us.' He pointed away 
over the  land  of  Rohan  into  the darkling West  under  the sickle  moon. 
'Saruman!'  muttered Aragorn. 'But he shall not  turn  us back!  Halt we must  
once more; for,  see! even the  Moon  is falling  into gathering  cloud. But


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lembas, for they could eat of it and find new strength even as they ran. 
     All day the track of  their enemies led  straight  on, going north-west 
without a break or turn. As once again the  day wore to its end they came to  
long treeless slopes, where the land rose, swelling up towards a line of low 
humpbacked downs ahead. The orc-trail grew fainter  as it bent north towards 
them, for  the ground became harder  and the grass  shorter. Far away to the 
left  the river Entwash wound, a silver thread in a green floor.  No  moving 
thing could be seen. Often Aragorn wondered  that they saw no sign  of beast 
or  man. The dwellings of the  Rohirrim were for the most  part many leagues 
away to the South, under the wooded eaves of the White Mountains, now 
hidden 
in mist and cloud;  yet  the Horse-lords  had formerly  kept  many  herds and  
studs  in  the Eastemnet, this easterly region of their realm, and there the


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edge of  the wood, there was a mound. It was newly raised: the raw earth was 
covered with fresh-cut turves: about it were planted fifteen spears.  
     Aragorn and  his  companions  searched far and wide about  the field of 
battle,  but  the light faded, and evening soon drew down, dim and misty. By 
nightfall they had discovered no trace of Merry and Pippin. 
     'We can  do no more,' said Gimli sadly. 'We have been set  many riddles 
since we  came to Tol Brandir, but this  is the hardest to  unravel. I would 
guess  that the burned bones of  the hobbits are now mingled with the Orcs'.  
It will be hard news for Frodo, if he lives to hear it; and hard too for the 
old hobbit who waits in Rivendell. Elrond was against their coming.' 
     'But Gandalf was not,' said Legolas.  
     'But Gandalf chose  to come himself, and he was the first to be  lost ' 
answered Gimli. 'His foresight failed him.' 
     'The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for


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####-     'A man may do both,' said Aragorn. 'For not we bu t those who come after  
will make the  legends  of  our time. The green earth, say you?  That  is  a  
mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!' 
     'Time is  pressing,'  said the  Rider, not  heeding  Aragorn. 'We  must  
hasten south, lord. Let us leave these wild folk to their fancies. Or let us 
bind them and take them to the king.' 
     'Peace, Jothain!' said Jomer in his own tongue. 'Leave me a while. Tell 
the jored to assemble on the path' and make ready to ride to the Entwade. ' 
     Muttering Jothain retired, and spoke to  the others. Soon they drew off 
and left Jomer alone with the three companions. 
     'All  that you say  is strange,  Aragorn.' he said. 'Yet you speak  the 
truth, that is plain: the Men of the Mark do not lie, and therefore they are 
not easily deceived. But you have not told  all. Will you not now speak more


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'Saruman!'  muttered Aragorn. 'But he shall not  turn  us back!  Halt we must  
once more; for,  see! even the  Moon  is falling  into gathering  cloud. But 
north lies our road between down and fen when day returns.' 
     As before Legolas was first afoot, if indeed he had ever slept. 'Awake!  
Awake!' he cried. 'It is a red dawn. Strange things await us by the eaves of 
the forest. Good or evil, I do not know; but we are called. Awake!' 
     The others sprang up, and almost at once they set off again. Slowly the 
downs  drew near. It was still an hour before  noon when they  reached them: 
green slopes rising to bare ridges  that ran in a line straight  towards the 
North. At their feet the ground was dry and the turf short, but a long strip 
of  sunken  land,  some  ten  miles  wide, lay  between them  and the  river  
wandering deep in  dim  thickets of reed  and rush. Just to  the West of the 
southernmost slope there was a great ring, where  the turf had been torn and


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'I will come,' said Aragorn. 
     'And I will come, too,' said Gimli. 'The matter  of the  Lady Galadriel 
lies still between us. I have yet to teach you gentle speech. ' 
     'We  shall see,' said Jomer. 'So many strange things  have chanced that 
to learn the praise of a fair lady under the loving strokes of a Dwarf's axe 
will seem no great wonder. Farewell!' 
     With that they parted.  Very swift were the horses of Rohan. When aft er 
a little Gimli looked back, the company of Jomer were  already small and far 
away. Aragorn did not look  back: he was watching the  trail as they sped on 
their way, bending low with his head beside the neck of Hasufel. Before long 
they came to the  borders of the Entwash, and there they met the other trail 
of which Jomer had spoken, coming down from the East out of the Wold. 
     Aragorn dismounted and surveyed the ground, then  leaping back into the  
saddle, he rode  away for  some distance  eastward, keeping to one side  and


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and down,  round and round  them, and  drawing  ever inwards. Aragorn  stood 
silent, and  the other two  sat  without  moving, wondering what  way things 
would turn. 
     Without a word or cry, suddenly, the Riders halted. A thicket of spears 
were  pointed towards the strangers; and some  of the  horsemen had bows  in 
hand, and their  arrows were  already fitted  to the  string. Then one  rode 
forward, a tall man, taller than  all the rest; from  his helm as a crest  a  
white horsetail flowed. He advanced  until the point of his spear was within 
a foot of Aragorn's breast. Aragorn did not stir. 
     'Who are  you,  and what are you doing  in this  land?' said the Rider, 
using the  Common Speech of the West, in manner and tone like  to the speech 
of Boromir, Man of Gondor. 
     'I am called Strider,' answered Aragorn. 'I came out of the North. I am 
hunting Orcs.' 
     The Rider leaped from  his horse. Giving his spear to another  who rode


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hidden 
in mist and cloud;  yet  the Horse-lords  had formerly  kept  many  herds and  
studs  in  the Eastemnet, this easterly region of their realm, and there the 
herdsmen had wandered much, living  in  camp  and tent, even in winter -time.


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answered Gimli. 'His foresight failed him.' 
     'The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for  
himself  or for  others,' said Aragorn. 'There are some  things that  it  is 
better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark. But I shall 
not  depart  from  this  place yet.  In  any  case  we  must  here await the 
morning-light.' 
     A little way  beyond  the battle-field they  made  their  camp under  a  
spreading tree: it looked  like a chestnut, and yet it still bore many broad 
brown leaves  of a former year,  like dry  hands with long splayed  fingers;  
they rattled mournfully in the night-breeze. 
     Gimli shivered. They had brought only one blanket apiece. 'Let us light 
a fire,'  he said. 'I  care  no longer for the  danger. Let the Orcs come as 
thick as summer-moths round a candle!' 
     'If those  unhappy hobbits are astray in the woods, it  might draw them


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Aragorn dismounted and surveyed the ground, then  leaping back into the  
saddle, he rode  away for  some distance  eastward, keeping to one side  and 
taking care not  to override  the footprints. Then he again  dismounted  and 
examined the ground, going backwards and forwards on foot. 
     'There  is  little  to  discover,'  he said when he returned. 'The main 
trail is all confused with the passage of  the  horsemen  as they came back; 
their outward  course  must have lain nearer  the river. But  this  eastward 
trail is fresh and clear. There is no sign there of any feet going the other  
way, back towards  Anduin. Now  we  must ride slower, and make sure  that no 
trace or footstep branches off on either side. The Orcs must have been aware 
from this point that they were  pursued; they may have made some  attempt to 
get their captives away before they were overtaken.' 
     As they rode forward the  day  was overcast.  Low grey clouds came over


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####-hither,' said Legolas.  
     'And it might draw other things, neither Orc nor Hobbit,' said Aragorn. 
'We are  near to the mountain-marches of the traitor Saruman. Also we are on 
the  very edge of Fangorn,  and  it is  perilous to touch  the trees of that 
wood, it is said.' 
     'But  the Rohirrim  made a  great burning here yesterday,'  said Gimli, 
'and  they felled  trees for the fire, as can be seen.  Yet they passed  the 
night after safely here, when their labour was ended.' 
     'They were  many,' said  Aragorn,  'and they  do not heed the wrath  of 
Fangorn, for they come here seldom, and they do not go under  the trees. But 
our paths are likely to lead us into the very forest itself. So have a care!  
Cut no living wood!' 
     'There  is no need,' said  Gimli. 'The Riders have  left chip and bough 
enough, and there is dead wood lying in plenty.' He went off to gather fuel, 
and busied himself with building and kindling a fire; but Aragorn sat silent


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####-a Man answer?' 
     'You  have  journeyed  further  than  I,'  said Legolas. 'I  have heard 
nothing of this in my own land, save only songs that  tell how the  Onodrim,  
that Men  call Ents,  dwelt there  long ago; for Fangorn is old, old  even as 
the Elves would reckon it.' 
     'Yes,  it  is  old,'  said  Aragorn,  'as  old  as the  forest  by  the 
Barrow-downs, and it is  far greater. Elrond says that the two are akin, the 
last  strongholds  of  the  mighty  woods of the  Elder Days, in  which  the  
Firstborn roamed while Men still slept. Yet Fangorn holds some secret of its 
own. What it is I do not know.' 
     'And  I  do not wish to know,' said Gimli. 'Let nothing that  dwells in 
Fangorn be troubled on my account!' 
     They  now drew  lots for the watches, and the lot for  the first  watch 
fell to Gimli. The others lay down. Almost at once sleep laid hold  on them. 
'Gimli!' said  Aragorn drowsily. 'Remember, it is perilous  to  cut bough or


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####-and more fell than all  others.  
     'Nonetheless we put an end to them.  But we have been too long away. We 
are needed south and west. Will you not come? There are  spare horses as you  
see. There is work for  the  Sword to do.  Yes, and we could find a  use for 
Gimli's axe  and  the bow of Legolas, if  they  will  pardon  my  rash  words 
concerning  the Lady of the Wood. I spoke only as do all men in my land, and 
I would gladly learn better.' 
     'I thank you for your fair words,' said Aragorn, 'and  my heart desires 
to come with you; but I cannot desert my friends while hope remains.' 
     'Hope does not remain,'  said Jomer. 'You will not find your friends on 
the North-borders.' 
     'Yet my friends are not behind. We found a clear token not far from the 
East Wall that one  at least of  them was still alive there. But between the 
wall and the downs  we  have found no  other trace of them, and no trail has


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get their captives away before they were overtaken.' 
     As they rode forward the  day  was overcast.  Low grey clouds came over  
the  Wold.  A  mist  shrouded the sun. Ever nearer  the  tree-clad slopes of


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####-new stroke of ill fortune. They were under the eaves of Fangorn, and endless 
leagues lay  between them and the Men of  Rohan,  their only friends in this 
wide  and dangerous land. As they stood, it seemed to  them that they heard,  
far off in the night. the sound of horses whinnying and  neighing. Then  all 
was quiet again, except for the cold rustle of the wind. 
     'Well, they are gone,' said  Aragorn at last. 'We cannot  find  them or  
catch  them;  so that  if they do not return of their  own will, we must  do 
without. We started on our feet, and we have those still.' 
     'Feet!' said Gimli. 'But we cannot eat them as well  as walk on  them ' 
He threw some fuel on the fire and slumped down beside it. 
     'Only a few hours ago  you were unwilling  to sit on a horse of Rohan,' 
laughed Legolas. 'You will make a rider yet.' 
     'It seems unlikely that I shall have the chance,' said Gimli.


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enough, and there is dead wood lying in plenty.' He went off to gather fuel, 
and busied himself with building and kindling a fire; but Aragorn sat silent 
with his back to the great tree, deep in thought; and Legolas stood alone in 
the open, looking towards the profound  shadow of the wood, leaning forward, 
as one who listens to voices calling from a distance. 
     When the  Dwarf had  a  small bright blaze going, the three  companions 
drew close  to  it and sat together,  shrouding  the light with their hooded 
forms. Legolas looked up at the boughs of the tree reaching out above them.  
     'Look!' he said. 'The tree is glad of the fire!' 
     It  may  have  been  that the dancing  shadows tricked their eyes,  but 
certainly to each  of the companions the  boughs appeared to be bending this 
way and that so as to come  above the flames, wh ile  the upper branches were 
stooping down; the brown  leaves  now stood  out  stiff, and rubbed together


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fell to Gimli. The others lay down. Almost at once sleep laid hold  on them. 
'Gimli!' said  Aragorn drowsily. 'Remember, it is perilous  to  cut bough or  
twig from  a living tree  in Fangorn. But do not stray far in search of dead 
wood. Let the fire die rather! Call me at need!' 
     With  that  he  fell asleep.  Legolas already lay motionless, his  fair 
hands folded upon  his breast,  his eyes unclosed, blending living night and 
deep dream, as is the way with Elves. Gimli sat hunched by the fire, running 
his thumb  thoughtfully along  the edge of  his axe. The tree rustled. There 
was no other sound. 
     Suddenly  Gimli looked up, and there just on the edge of the fire-light 
stood an old bent man, leaning on a staff, and wrapped in a great cloak; his 
wide-brimmed hat was pulled  down over his eyes. Gimli sprang up, too 
amazed 
for the moment to  cry out, though at once the thought flashed into his mind


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East Wall that one  at least of  them was still alive there. But between the 
wall and the downs  we  have found no  other trace of them, and no trail has 
turned aside, this way or that, unless my skill has wholly left me.' 
     'Then what do you think has become of them?' 
     'I do not know. They may have been slain and burned among the Orcs; but 
that you  will say  cannot be, and I do not fear it. I  can only think  that 
they were  carried off into the forest before the  battle,  even  before you  
encircled your foes, maybe. Can you swear that none escaped your net in such 
a way?' 
     'I would swear that no Orc  escaped after we sighted them,' said Jomer. 
'We reached the forest -eaves before them, and if after that any living thing 
broke through our ring, then it was no Orc and had some elvish power.' 
     'Our  friends  were  attired  even as we  are,' said Aragorn; 'and  you  
passed us by under the full light of day.'


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truth, that is plain: the Men of the Mark do not lie, and therefore they are 
not easily deceived. But you have not told  all. Will you not now speak more 
fully of your errand, so that I may judge what to do?' 
     'I set out from Imladris, as it is named in the rhyme, many weeks ago,' 
answered Aragorn.  'With me went Boromir of Minas Tirith. My errand was to 
go 
to that city with the son of Denethor,  to aid his folk in their war against 
Sauron. But the Company that I journeyed with had other  business. Of that I 
cannot speak now. Gandalf the Grey was our leader.' 
     'Gandalf!' Jomer exclaimed. 'Gandalf Greyhame is known in the Mark: but 
his name, I warn  you, is no longer a password to the king's favour.  He has 
been a guest in the land many times in the memory of men, coming as he will, 
after  a season,  or  after  many  years. He is  ever the  herald of strange 
events: a bringer of evil, some now say.


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wandering deep in  dim  thickets of reed  and rush. Just to  the West of the 
southernmost slope there was a great ring, where  the turf had been torn and 
beaten by many trampling feet. From it  the orc-trail ran out again, turning


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wide-brimmed hat was pulled  down over his eyes. Gimli sprang up, too 
amazed 
for the moment to  cry out, though at once the thought flashed into his mind  
that Saruman had caught them. Both Aragorn and Legolas, roused by his 
sudden 
movement, sat up and stared. The old man did not speak or make, sign. 
     'Well, father,  what can we do  for you?'  said Aragorn, leaping to his 
feet. 'Come and be warm, if you are cold!'  He strode  forward, but the  old 
man was gone. There  was  no trace of him to be found near at hand, and they 
did not dare to wander far. The moon had set and the night was very dark. 
     Suddenly Legolas gave a cry. 'The horses! The horses!' 
     The horses wer e gone.  They had dragged their pickets and  disappeared.  
For  me time the three companions stood still  and silent, troubled  by this


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'Only a few hours ago  you were unwilling  to sit on a horse of Rohan,' 
laughed Legolas. 'You will make a rider yet.' 
     'It seems unlikely that I shall have the chance,' said Gimli. 
     'If you wish  to know what I think,'  he began  again after  a while 'I  
think it was Saruman. Who else? Remember  the words of Jomer: he walks 
about 
like an old man hooded and cloaked. Those were  the words.  He has gone  off 
with our horses, or scared them away, and here we are. There is more trouble 
coming to us, mark my words!' 
     'I mark them,' said Aragorn. 'But I marked also that this old man had a  
hat not a hood. Still I do not  doubt that  you guess right, and that we are 
in peril here, by night or day. Yet in the meantime there is nothing that we 
can do but  rest, while we may. I will  watch for a while now, Gimli. I have 
more need of thought than of sleep.' 
     The night  passed  slowly. Legolas followed Aragorn, and Gimli followed


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been a guest in the land many times in the memory of men, coming as he will, 
after  a season,  or  after  many  years. He is  ever the  herald of strange 
events: a bringer of evil, some now say. 
     'Indeed since his last coming in the summer all things have gone amiss.  
At that  time our trouble with Saruman began. Until then we counted  Saruman 
our  friend,  hut Gandalf  came  then  and  warned us that  sudden  war  was 
preparing  in  Isengard.  He  said that  he himself had  been  a prisoner in 
Orthanc and had hardly escaped, and  he  begged  for help. But Thjoden would 
not listen to him, and he went away. Speak not the name of Gandalf loudly in 
Thjoden's ears! He is  wroth.  For  Gandalf took  the  horse  that is called 
Shadowfax, the most precious of all the king's steeds, chief  of the Mearas, 
which only the Lord of the Mark may ride. For the sire of their race was the 
great horse of Eorl that knew the speech of Men. Seven  nights ago Shadowfax


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broke through our ring, then it was no Orc and had some elvish power.' 
     'Our  friends  were  attired  even as we  are,' said Aragorn; 'and  you  
passed us by under the full light of day.' 
     'I had forgotten that,' said Jomer. 'It is  hard to be sure of anything 
among  so many  marvels. The  world is  all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf  in 
company walk in our daily  fields; and folk speak with the  Lady of the Wood 
and yet live; and the Sword comes  back to war  that was broken in  the long 
ages  ere  the  fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark!  How  shall a man 
judge what to do in such times?' 
     'As he ever has judged,' said Aragorn.  'Good and  ill have not changed 
since  yesteryear;  nor  are  they one thing among  Elves and  Dwarves µ and 
another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden 
Wood as in his own house.' 
     'True indeed,' said Jomer. 'But I do not doubt you, nor the  deed which


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####-     'There's no time to kill them properly,' said one. 'No time for play on 
this trip.' 
     'That  can't  be helped,' said another. 'But why not kill  them  quick, 
kill them  now? They're  a cursed  nuisance, and we're in a hurry. Evening's 
coming on, and we ought to get a move on.' 
     'Orders.' said a third  voice in  a  deep growl. 'Kill all but  NOT the 
Halfings;  they are to be brought back ALIVE  as quickly as possible . That's 
my orders.' 
     'What are they wanted for?'  asked  several voices. 'Why alive? Do they 
give good sport?' 
     'No!  I  heard that  one of them has  got something,  something  that's 
wanted for  the  War,  some   elvish plot  or other.  Anyway they'll both  be 
questioned.' 
     'Is that all you know? Why don't  we search them and find out? We might  
find something that we could use ourselves.' 
     'That is a very interesting remark,' sneered a  voice,  softer than the


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can do but  rest, while we may. I will  watch for a while now, Gimli. I have 
more need of thought than of sleep.' 
     The night  passed  slowly. Legolas followed Aragorn, and Gimli followed 
Legolas, and their watches wore away. But nothing  happened. The old man did 
not appear again, and the horses did not return.


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####-poor Merry is much hurt. What has happened to  Boromir? Why  didn't the 
Orcs 
kill us? Where are we, and where are we going?' 
     He could  not  answer the questions. He felt  cold and  sick.  'I  wish 
Gandalf  had never persuaded Elrond to let  us come,' he thought. 'What good 
have I been? Just a  nuisance: a  passenger, a piece  of luggage. And now  I 
have been stolen  and I am  just  a piece of  luggage for the  Orcs.  I hope 
Strider or someone will come and claim us! But ought I to hope for it? Won't 
that throw out all the plans? I wish I could get free!' 
     He  struggled  a little, quite  uselessly. One of the Orcs sitting near 
laughed and said something to a companion in their abominable  tongue. 'Rest  
while  you  can, little fool!' he said then to Pippin, in the Common Speech, 
which he made almost  as hideous as  his own language.  'Rest while you can!  
We'll find  a use for your  legs before  long. You'll wish you had  got none 
before we get home.'


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####-away. We are the fighting  Uruk-hai! We slew the  great warrior. We took the 
prisoners. We are the servants of Saruman the Wise, the White Hand: the Hand 
that gives us man's-flesh to eat. We came out of Isengard, and led you here, 
and we shall lead you back by the way we choose. I am Ugl®k. I have spoken.' 
     'You have  spoken more than enough,  Ugl®k,' sneered the evil voice. 'I  
wonder how  they would like  it  in  Lugb®rz. They might think  that Ugl®k's 
shoulders  needed relieving  of a  swollen head. They might  ask  where  his 
strange ideas came  from. Did they come  from Saruman, perhaps? Who  does 
he 
think he is, setting up on his own with his  filthy white badges? They might 
agree with me, with  Grishnbkh their trusted messenger; and I  Grishnbkh say 
this: Saruman is a fool. and a dirty treacherous fool. But the  Great Eye is 
on him. 
     'Swine  is  it? How  do  you  folk  like  being  called  swine  by  the


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way and that so as to come  above the flames, wh ile  the upper branches were 
stooping down; the brown  leaves  now stood  out  stiff, and rubbed together  
like many cold cracked hands taking comfort in the warmth. 
     There was a silence, for suddenly the dark  and unknown forest, so near 
at hand,  made  itself  felt  as  a great  brooding presence, full  of secret 
purpose. After a while Legolas spoke again. 
     'Celeborn warned us not to go far into Fangorn,' he said. 'Do you  know 
why, Aragorn? What are the fables of the forest that Boromir had heard?' 
     'I have heard many  tales  in Gondor and elsewhere,' said Aragorn, 'but 
if it were not for the words of Celeborn I should deem them only fables that 
Men have made as true knowledge fades. I had thought of  asking you what 
was 
the truth of the  matter . And if an Elf of the Wood does not know, how shall


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which only the Lord of the Mark may ride. For the sire of their race was the 
great horse of Eorl that knew the speech of Men. Seven  nights ago Shadowfax 
returned; but  the king's  anger is not less, for  now the horse is wild and 
will let no man handle him.'


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find something that we could use ourselves.' 
     'That is a very interesting remark,' sneered a  voice,  softer than the 
others but more evil. 'I may have to report that. The prisoners  are  NOT to 
be searched or plundered: those are my orders.' 
     'And  mine  too,'  said  the  deep  voice. 'Alive and as  captured;  no 
spoiling. That's my orders.' 
     'Not our order s!' said one of the earlier voices. 'We have come all the 
way from the Mines to kill, and avenge our folk. I wish to kill, and then go 
back north.' 
     'Then you can wish  again,' said the  growling voice. 'I  am  Ugl®k.  I 
command. I return to Isengard by the shortest road.' 
     'Is Saruman the  master  or the Great Eye?'  said the  evil  voice. 'We 
should go back at once to Lugb®rz.' 
     'If we could cross the Great River, we might,' said another voice. 'But 
there are not enough of us to venture down to the bridges.' 
     'I came  across,'  said  the evil  voice.  'A winged  Nazgyl awaits  us


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which he made almost  as hideous as  his own language.  'Rest while you can!  
We'll find  a use for your  legs before  long. You'll wish you had  got none 
before we get home.' 
     'If I had my way, you'd  wish you  were dead now,' said the other. 'I'd 
make you squeak,  you miserable rat.' He stooped over  Pippin  bringing  his 
yellow fangs close to his face.  He had  a  black  knife  with a long jagged 
blade  in  his hand.  'Lie quiet, or  I'll tickle you with this,' he hissed. 
'Don't  draw attention  to yourself,  or  I may forget my orders.  Curse the 
Isengarders! Ugl®k  u  bagronk sha  pushdug Saruman -glob  b®bhosh skai':   
he 
passed into a long angry speech in his own tongue that slowly died away into 
muttering and snarling. 
     Terrified  Pippin lay still, though the pain at  his wrists  and ankles 
was  growing, and the stones beneath him were boring into his back.  To take 
his mind off himself he listened intently to all that  he could  hear. There


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Pippin lay in a dark and troubled dream:  it seemed that he could  hear 
his own small  vo ice  echoing in black tunnels,  calling  Frodo, Frodo!  But 
instead of Frodo hundreds of hideous  orc-faces grinned  at  him  out of the 
shadows, hundreds of hideous arms grasped at him from  every side. Where 
was 
Merry? 
     He  woke. Cold air blew on his  face. He was lying on his back. Evening  
was coming and  the sky above was growing dim. He turned and found that  the 
dream  was little worse than  the  waking. His wrists, legs, and ankles were 
tied with cords.  Beside him Merry lay,  white-faced, with a  dirty rag bound  
across his brows. All about them sat or stood a great company of Orcs. 
     Slowly in Pippin's aching head memory pieced itself together and became 
separated from dream-shadows. Of course: he and  Merry had run off into  the 
woods. What had come over them? Why had they dashed off like that, taking 
no


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####-     He cut the thongs round Pippin's legs and ankles, picked him  up by his 
hair  and stood him  on his feet. Pippin fell down, and Ugl®k dragged him up 
by  his hair again. Several Orcs  laughed. Ugl®k thrust a  flask between his 
teeth and poured some burning liquid down  his  throat: he felt a hot fierce 
glow  flow through  him.  The pain in his legs and ankles vanished. He could 
stand. 
     'Now for  the other!' said Ugl®k.  Pippin saw him go  to Merry, who was 
lying  close  by,  and kick  him. Merry groaned.  Seizing him roughly  Ugl®k 
pulled  him into a sitting position, and tore the bandage off his head. Then 
he smeared the wound with some dark  stuff out of a small wooden  box. Merry 
cried out and struggled wildly. 
     The Orcs clapped and  hooted. 'Can't take his medicine,'  they  jeered. 
'Doesn't know what's good for him. Ai! We shall have some fun later.' 
     But  at the moment Ugl®k was not engaged in  sport. He needed speed and


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this: Saruman is a fool. and a dirty treacherous fool. But the  Great Eye is 
on him. 
     'Swine  is  it? How  do  you  folk  like  being  called  swine  by  the 
muck -rakers  of  a  dirty  little  wizard?  It's  orc-flesh  they  eat, I'll 
warrant.' 
     Many loud yells  in orc-speech  answered him, and the ringing  clash of 
weapons being drawn. Cautiously Pippin rolled over, hoping to see what would 
happen.  His guards had gone to  join in the  fray. In the twilight he saw a  
large  black  Orc,  probably  Ugl®k,  standing  facing  Grishnbkh,  a  short 
crook -legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the 
ground. Round  them  were many smaller  goblins. Pippin supposed that  these 
were the ones from the  North. They had drawn  their knives and swords,  but 
hesitated to attack Ugl®k. 
     Ugl®k  shouted, and a  number of other Orcs of  nearly his own size ran 
up. Then suddenly, without  warning, Ugl®k sprang  forwards,  and  with  two


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there are not enough of us to venture down to the bridges.' 
     'I came  across,'  said  the evil  voice.  'A winged  Nazgyl awaits  us 
northward on the east -bank.' 
     'Maybe, maybe! Then you'll fly off with our prisoners, and get  all the 
pay and praise in Lugb®rz,  and leave  us to foot it as best we  can through 
the Horse-country.  No, we must  stick together.  These lands are dangerous:  
full of foul rebels and brigands.' 
     'Aye, we must stick together,' growled Ugl®k. 'I don't trust you little 
swine. You've no guts outside your own sties. But for us you'd all  have run


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was  growing, and the stones beneath him were boring into his back.  To take 
his mind off himself he listened intently to all that  he could  hear. There 
were many  voices round about, and though orc-speech  sounded  at all  times 
full  of hate and anger, it  seemed plain  that something like a quarrel had 
begun, and was getting hotter. 
     To Pippin's  surpr ise he  found that much of the  talk was intelligible 
many of the Orcs were using ordinary language. Apparently the members of 
two 
or three quite different tribes  were present, and they could not understand 
one another's orc-speech. There  was  an angry  debate concerning  what they 
were to do now: which way they were to take and what should be done with the 
prisoners.


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####-while to get his  troop under control, I've got  a chance.' A gleam of  hope 
had come to him. The edge  of the black knife had snicked his arm, and  then 
slid down to his wrist.  He  felt the blood trickling on to his hand, but he 
also felt the cold touch of steel against his skin. 
     The Orcs were getting ready to march again, but some of the Northerners 
were still unwilling, and the Isengarders slew two more before the rest were 
cowed.  There  was  much  cursing  and confusion. For  the moment Pippin was 
unwatched. His legs were  securely bound, but his arms were  only tied about 
the wrists,  and his hands were  in front  of  him. He could  move them both 
together, though the bonds were cruelly tight. He pushed the dead Orc to one 
side, then hardly daring to  breathe, he drew the  knot of the wrist -cord up 
and down against the blade of the knife. It was sharp and the dead hand held 
it fast. The cord was cut! Quickly Pippin took it in his fingers and knotted


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hesitated to attack Ugl®k. 
     Ugl®k  shouted, and a  number of other Orcs of  nearly his own size ran 
up. Then suddenly, without  warning, Ugl®k sprang  forwards,  and  with  two 
swift strokes swept  the heads  off two of his opponents.  Grishnbkh stepped 
aside and  vanished  into the  shadows. The others gave way, and one stepped 
backwards  and fell  over Merry's  prostrate  form with  a  curse. Yet  that 
probably saved his life, for Ugl®k's followers leaped over him and  cut down 
another with their broad-bladed swords. It was the yellow-fanged  guard. His 
body fell right on top of Pippin, still clutching its long saw-edged knife. 
     'Put up your weapons!' shouted Ugl®k. 'And let's have no more nonsense! 
We go straight west  from here, and down the stair.  From  there straight to 
the  downs, then along the  river to the forest. And we march day and night. 
That clear?' 
     'Now,' thought  Pippin,  'if  only it takes  that ugly  fellow a little


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'Doesn't know what's good for him. Ai! We shall have some fun later.' 
     But  at the moment Ugl®k was not engaged in  sport. He needed speed and 
had to humour  unwilling followers. He was healing Merry in orc-fashion; and 
his treatment worked swiftly. When he had forced a drink from his flask down 
the  hobbit's throat, cut his leg-bonds, and dragged him to  his feet, Merry 
stood up, looking pale but grim  and defiant, and very  much alive. The gash 
in his forehead gave him  no  more trouble, but he bore a  brown scar to the 
end of his days.  
     'Hullo, Pippin!' he said.  'So you've come on  this  little expedition, 
too? Where do we get bed and breakfast?' 
     'Now then!' said Ugl®k.  'None of that!  Hold your tongues. No  talk to 
one another. Any  trouble will be  reported at the other end, and He'll know 
how to pay  you. You'll  get bed and breakfast  all right: more than you can 
stomach.'


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####-journey. Evil  dreams and evil  waking were blended  into  a  long tunnel of 
misery,  with hope  growing ever fainter behind.  They  ran, and  they  ran, 
striving to keep up the  pace set by  the Orcs, licked  every now  and again 
with a cruel thong cunningly  handled. If they halted or stumbled, they were 
seized and dragged for some distance. 
     The  warmth  of  the orc-draught  had  gone. Pippin felt cold and  sick  
again. Suddenly  he  fell face downward on the turf. Hard hands with rending 
nails  gripped  and lifted him. He was  carried like a  sack  once more, and 
darkness  grew about him:  whether the  darkness  of  another  night,  or  a  
blindness of his eyes, he could not tell. 
     Dimly he became aware of voices clamouring: it seemed that  many of the 
Orcs were demanding a halt. Ugl®k was shouting. He felt himself flung to the 
ground,  and he lay as he fell, till black dreams  took  him. But he did not


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####-your beloved  holes again. By  the White Hand! What's the use of sending out 
mountain-maggots  on  a trip, only half trained. Run, curse  you! Run  while 
night lasts!' 
     Then the whole  company  began to  run  with the long loping strides of 
Orcs. They kept  no order, thrusting, jostling, and cursing; yet their speed 
was very great. Each hobbit had a guard of three. Pippin was far back in the 
line. He  wondered how long he would be able to  go on at this pace: he  had 
had no food since the morning. One of  his guards had a whip. But at present 
the orc-liquor was still hot in him. His wits, too, were wide-awake. 
     Every now and again there  came  into his mind unbidden a vision of the  
keen face of Strider bending over a dark trail, and running, running behind. 
But  what  could even a Ranger see except a confused  trail of orc-feet? His 
own  little prints  and Merry's  were overwhelmed by  the  trampling of  the


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####-into the others.' 
     There was some cursing and scuffling, and  then most of the Northe rners 
broke away and dashed off, over a hundred of  them, running wildly along the 
river towards the mountains.  The hobbits were left with the  Isengarders: a  
grim  dark  band, four score at  least of large, swart, slant-eyed Orcs with 
great bows and shor t  broad-bladed swords. A  few  of the larger and  bolder  
Northerners remained with them. 
     'Now we'll deal with  Grishnbkh,'  said Ugl®k; but some even of his own 
followers were looking uneasily southwards.  
     'I  know,' growled Ugl®k.  'The cursed horse-boys have got  wind of us. 
But  that's all your  fault,  Snaga. You and the  other scouts ought to have 
your ears cut  off. But we are the fighters. We'll feast  on horseflesh yet, 
or something better.' 
     At  that moment Pippin  saw why some  of the  troop  had been  pointing  
eastward. From  that  direction there  now came hoarse cries, and  there was


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and down against the blade of the knife. It was sharp and the dead hand held 
it fast. The cord was cut! Quickly Pippin took it in his fingers and knotted  
it again into a loose  bracelet of two loops and slipped it  over his hands.  
Then he lay very still. 
     'Pick up those prisoners!' shouted Ugl®k.  'Don't play any  tricks with 
them! If they are not alive when we get back, someone else will die too.' 
     An Orc  seized Pippin like a sack. put its head between his tied hands,  
grabbed his arms and  dragged them  down, until  Pippin's  face was  crushed 
against its neck; then it jolted off  with him. Another treated Merry in the 
same way. The Orc's clawlike hand gripped Pippin's arms like iron; the nails 
bit into him. He shut his eyes and slipped back into evil dreams.  
     Suddenly he was thrown on to the stony floor again. It was early night, 
but the  slim moon was already falling westward. They were on the  edge of a


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####-All that  they make  out! One day  you'll  wish that you  had not said that. 
Ape!' he snarled fiercely.  'You ought to know that they're the apple of the 
Great Eye. But the winged  Nazgyl: not  yet, not yet. He won't let them show 
themselves across the Great River yet, not too soon. They're for the War -and 
other purposes.' 
     'You seem  to know a lot,' said  Ugl®k. 'More   than is good for you,  I 
guess.  Perhaps those  in  Lugb®rz  might wonder how, and  why. But  in  the 
meantime the  Uruk -hai of Isengard can do the dirty  work,  as usual.  Don't  
stand slavering there! Get your rabble together! The other swine are legging 
it to the forest. You'd better  follow.  You wouldn't get  back to the Great 
River alive. Right off the mark! Now! I'll be on your heels.' 
     The Isengarders seized Merry and  Pippin again  and slung them on their  
backs. Then the troop started off. Hour after hour they ran, pausing now and


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But  what  could even a Ranger see except a confused  trail of orc-feet? His 
own  little prints  and Merry's  were overwhelmed by  the  trampling of  the 
iron-shod shoes before them and behind them and about them. 
     They had  gone  only a mile  or so from the cliff when the  land sloped 
down into a wide shallow depression, where the ground was soft and wet. Mist 
lay there, pale-glimmering in the  last rays of  the  sickle moon.  The dark 
shapes of the Orcs in front grew dim, and then were swallowed up. 
     'Ai! Steady now!' shouted Ugl®k from the rear. 
     A sudden thought leaped into Pippin's mind, and he acted on it at once. 
He  swerved aside to the right, and  dived out of the reach of his clutching 
guard, headfirst into the mist; he landed sprawling on the grass.  
     'Halt!' yelled Ugl®k. 
     There was for a moment turmoil and confusion. Pippin sprang up and ran. 
But the Orcs were after him. Some suddenly loomed up right in front of him.


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or something better.' 
     At  that moment Pippin  saw why some  of the  troop  had been  pointing  
eastward. From  that  direction there  now came hoarse cries, and  there was 
Grishnbkh again, and  at his  back a  couple  of  score of others like  him: 
long-armed  crook -legged Orcs. They  had a red eye painted on their shields.  
Ugl®k stepped forward to meet them. 'So you've come back?' he said. 'Thought 
better of it, eh?' 
     'I've returned to  see  that  Orders are  carried out and the prisoners 
safe,' answered Grishnbkh. 
     'Indeed!'  said Ugl®k.  'Waste  of  effort.  I'll see that  orders  are 
carried out in my command. And what else did you  come back for? You went 
in 
a hurry. Did you leave anything behind?' 
     'I left a  fool,' snarled Grishnbkh. 'But there were some stout fellows 
with him that are too good to lose. I knew you'd lead them into a mess. I've 
come to help them.' 
     'Splendid!'  laughed  Ugl®k.  'But  unless  you've  got some  guts  for


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Suddenly he was thrown on to the stony floor again. It was early night, 
but the  slim moon was already falling westward. They were on the  edge of a 
cliff that seemed to look out  over a sea of pale mist. There was a sound of 
water falling nearby. 
     'The scouts have come back at last,' said an Orc close at hand. 
     'Well, what did you discover?' growled the voice of Ugl®k. 
     'Only a single horseman, and he made off westwards. All's clear now.' 
     'Now,  I  daresay. But how  long? You fools! You should  have shot him.  
He'll  raise the alarm. The cursed horsebreeders will hear of us by morning. 
Now we'll have to leg it double quick.' 
     A shadow bent over  Pippin. It  was Ugl®k. 'Sit up! ' said the  Orc. 'My 
lads are tired of lugging you about. We have got to climb down and you  must  
use your legs. Be  helpful now. No  crying out, no trying to escape. We have 
ways of paying for tricks that you won't like, though they won't spoil  your


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'Halt!' yelled Ugl®k. 
     There was for a moment turmoil and confusion. Pippin sprang up and ran. 
But the Orcs were after him. Some suddenly loomed up right in front of him. 
     'No hope  of escape!' thought Pippin. 'But there is a hope  that I have 
left  some of  my own marks unspoilt on the  wet ground.' He groped with his 
two tied hands at his throat, and unclasped the brooch of his cloak. Just as 
long arms and  hard claws seized him. he  let it fall. 'There  I  suppose it 
will lie until the end of time,' he thought. 'I don't  know why I did it. If 
the others have escaped, they've probably all gone with Frodo.' 
     A whip-thong curled round his legs, and he stifled a cry. 
     'Enough!' shouted Ugl®k running  up. 'He's still got to run a long  way 
yet. Make 'em both run! Just use the whip as a reminder.' 
     'But that's not  all,' he snarled, turning to Pippin. 'I shan't forget. 
Payment is only put off. Leg it!'


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separated from dream-shadows. Of course: he and  Merry had run off into  the 
woods. What had come over them? Why had they dashed off like that, taking 
no 
notice  of  old  Strider? They  had  run a  long  way shouting--he could not 
remember how far or how long; and then suddenly they had crashed  right into 
a  group  of Orcs: they  were standing listening, and they did not appear to 
see Merry and Pippin until they were  almost in their arms. Then they yelled 
and  dozens of other goblins had sprung out  of the  trees. Merry and he had 
drawn their swords, but the  Orcs did not wish to fight, and had tried  only 
to lay  hold of them, even when Merry had cut off several  of their arms and 
hands. Good old Merry!  
     Then  Boromir  had come  leaping through  the  trees. He had made  them 
fight. He slew many of them and the rest fled.  But they had not gone far on  
the way back when they were attacked again. by a hundred Orcs at least, some


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use your legs. Be  helpful now. No  crying out, no trying to escape. We have 
ways of paying for tricks that you won't like, though they won't spoil  your 
usefulness for the Master.'


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The Isengarders seized Merry and  Pippin again  and slung them on their  
backs. Then the troop started off. Hour after hour they ran, pausing now and 
again only to sling the hobbits to fresh  carriers. Either because they were 
quicker and hardier, or because of some plan of Grishnbkh's, the Isengarders 
gradually passed through the Orcs of Mordor,  and Grishnbkh's folk closed in 
behind. Soon they  were  gaining also on  the Northerners ahead.  The forest  
began to draw nearer. 
     Pippin was bruised and torn,  his aching  head was grated by the filthy 
jowl and hairy ear of the Orc that held him. Immediately in front were bowed 
backs, and tough thick legs going up and down, up and down, unresting, as if 
they were made of wire and horn,  beating out  the nightmare seconds  of  an 
endless time. 
     In  the  afternoon Ugl®k's  troop overtook the  Northerners.  They were 
flagging in the rays  of the  bright sun, winter sun shining in  a pale cool


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with him that are too good to lose. I knew you'd lead them into a mess. I've 
come to help them.' 
     'Splendid!'  laughed  Ugl®k.  'But  unless  you've  got some  guts  for  
fighting, you've taken the wrong way. Lugb®rz was your road.  The 
Whiteskins 
are coming. What's happened to your  precious  Nazgyl?  Has  he had  another  
mount shot under him? Now, if you'd brought him along, that might have  been 
useful-if these Nazgyl are all they make out.' 
     'Nazgyl, Nazgyl,' said Grishnbkh, shivering and licking his lips, as if 
the word had a foul taste that he savoured painfully. 'You  speak of what is 
deep beyond the  reach of your muddy  dreams,  Ugl®k,' he said. 'Nazgyl! Ah!


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Orcs were demanding a halt. Ugl®k was shouting. He felt himself flung to the 
ground,  and he lay as he fell, till black dreams  took  him. But he did not 
long  escape from  pain; soon  the iron grip of  merciless hands was on  him 
again.  For  a  long  time  he was  tossed and shaken, and then  slowly  the 
darkness  gave way, and he came  back to the waking  world and found that it 
was morning. Orders were shouted and he was thrown roughly on the grass.  
     There  he  lay for a while, fighting  with despair. His head  swam, but 
from the heat in his body he guessed that he had been given another draught.  
An Orc stooped over him, and flung him some bread  and a strip of raw  dried 
flesh. He ate  the  stale grey  bread hungrily, but  not the  meat.  He  was 
famished but not yet so famished as to eat flesh flung to him by an Orc, the 
flesh of he dared not guess what creature. 
     He sat up and  looked about.  Merry was not  far away. They were by  the


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fight. He slew many of them and the rest fled.  But they had not gone far on  
the way back when they were attacked again. by a hundred Orcs at least, some 
of  them very large, and they shot  a rain of  arrows:  always  at  Boromir. 
Boromir had blown his great horn till the woods rang,  and at first the Orcs 
had  been dismayed and  had  drawn back; but when no  answer but the  echoes 
came, they had attacked more fierce  than ever. Pippin did not remember much 
more.  His last memo was of Boromir  leaning against a tree, plucking out an 
arrow; then darkness fell suddenly. 
     'I suppose I was knocked on the head,' he said to himself. 'I wonder if


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yet. Make 'em both run! Just use the whip as a reminder.' 
     'But that's not  all,' he snarled, turning to Pippin. 'I shan't forget. 
Payment is only put off. Leg it!' 
     Neither  Pippin nor Merry remembered  much  of the later  part  of  the


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one another. Any  trouble will be  reported at the other end, and He'll know 
how to pay  you. You'll  get bed and breakfast  all right: more than you can 
stomach.' 
     The orc-band  began to descend a  narrow ravine  leading down into  the 
misty plain below.  Merry and  Pippin,  separated by a  dozen  Orcs or more, 
climbed down with  them. At the  bottom  they  stepped on to  grass, and the 
hearts of the hobbits rose. 
     'Now  straight on!'  shouted Ugl®k. 'West  and a  little  north. Follow 
Lugdush.' 
     'But what are we going to do at sunrise?' said some of the Northerners.  
     'Go on running,' said Ugl®k. 'What do you think? Sit  on the  grass and 
wait for the Whiteskins to join the picnic?' 
     'But we can't run in the sunlight.' 
     'You'll run with me  behind you,' said Ugl®k. 'Run! Or you'll never see


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endless time. 
     In  the  afternoon Ugl®k's  troop overtook the  Northerners.  They were 
flagging in the rays  of the  bright sun, winter sun shining in  a pale cool 
sky though it was; their heads were down and their tongues lolling out. 
     'Maggots!' jeered the Isengarders. 'You're cooked. The Whiteskins  will 
catch you and eat you. They're coming!' 
     A cry  from Grishnbkh  showed that  this was  not mere jest.  Horsemen, 
riding very swiftly, had indeed been sighted: still  far behind, but gaining 
on the Orcs, gaining on  them like a tide over the flats on folk straying in 
a quicksand. 
     The  Isengarders  began  to run with a redoubled  pace that  astonished 
Pippin, a terrific spurt it seemed  for the end of  a race. Then he saw that 
the  sun was sinking, falling behind the  Misty Mountains;  shadows  reached 
over the land. The soldiers  of Mordor lifted their heads and  also began to 
put on  speed. The forest was dark and close. Already they had passed a  few


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flesh of he dared not guess what creature. 
     He sat up and  looked about.  Merry was not  far away. They were by  the 
banks  of a swift narrow  river.  Ahead mountains  loomed: a tall  peak  was 
catching the first rays of the sun. A dark smudge of forest lay on the lower  
slopes before them. 
     There was much shou ting and debating among  the Orcs; a  quarrel seemed 
on  the  point  of  breaking  out again  between  the  Northerners  and  the 
Isengarders. Some  were  pointing back  away south, and  some were  pointing 
eastward. 
     'Very  well,' said Ugl®k. 'Leave them  to me then! No killing,  as I've 
told you before; but if you want to  throw away  what we've come all the way 
to get, throw it  away! I'll look after it. Let the fighting Uruk-hai do the 
work, as usual. If you're afraid of the Whiteskins, run!  Run!  There's  the 
forest,' he  shouted, pointing ahead. 'Get to it! It's your  best hope.  Off


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####-night-breeze,  or  so it's  said. Still  there's  one thing the fine fellows 
don't know: Mauh®r and his lads are  in the forest, and they  should turn up 
any time now.' 
     Ugl®k's words were enough, apparently, to satisfy  the Isengarders; but 
the  other Orcs  were  both  dispirited  and  rebellious.  They posted a few 
watchers,  but  most of them lay  on  the ground,  resting  in the  pleasant 
darkness. It did indeed become very dark again; for the moon passed westward 
into thick cloud, and  Pippin could not  see anything  a few feet away.  The 
fires brought no light to the hillock. The riders were not, however, content 
merely to wait  for  the dawn and let their enemies rest. A sudden outcry on 
the  east side of the  knoll showed that something was wrong. It seemed that 
some of the Men  had ridden in  close, slipped  off their horses, crawled to 
the edge of the camp and killed several Orcs, and then had faded away again. 
Ugl®k dashed off to stop a stampede.


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####-softly. 'That's what he means, is it? O  ho! Very ve-ry dangerous, my little 
ones.' 
     'Perhaps,' said Merry, now alert and aware of Pippin's guess. 'Perhaps;  
and not only  for us. Still you know your own business best. Do you want it,  
or not? And what would you give for it?' 
     'Do I  want it? Do I want it?' said Grishnbkh, as if  puzzled;  but his 
arms were trembling. 'What would I give for it? What do you mean?' 
     'We  mean,'  said Pippin, choosing his  wor ds carefully,  'that it's no 
good groping in  the dark. We could save you  time and trouble. But you must  
untie our legs first, or we'll do nothing, and say nothing.' 
     'My dear tender  little fools,' hissed Grishnbkh, 'everything you have, 
and everything you  know, will be got  out of you  in due  time: everything!  
You'll wish there was more  that  you could tell to  satisfy the Questioner, 
indeed you will:  quite soon. We shan't hurry the enquiry. Oh dear no!  What


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####-my heart would do. Yet I am not free to do all as I would. It is against our 
law to let strangers wander  at  will  in our land, until the  king  himself 
shall  give them leave,  and  more strict is  the command in  these days  of 
peril. I have begged you to come back willingly with  me, and you will  not.  
Loth am I to begin a battle of one hundred against three.' 
     'I do not  think your law was  made  for such a chance,' said  Aragorn. 
'Nor  indeed am I a stranger; for I have been in this land before, more than 
once,  and ridden with the host of the Rohirrim, though under other name and 
in other guise. You  I have  not seen before,  for you are young, but I have 
spoken with Jomund your father, and with Thjoden  son  of Thengel.  Never in 
former days  would  any high lord of  this land  have  constrained a man  to 
abandon such a quest as mine. My duty at least is clear, to go on. Come now,


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####-great Ugl®k will lead us out again.' 
     'Put  those  Halflings  down!'  ordered  Ugl®k,  taking  no  notice  of 
Grishnbkh. 'You, Lugdush, get two others  and stand guard over them! They're 
not to be killed, unless the filthy Whiteskins break through. Understand? As 
long  as I'm alive, I want 'em. But they're not to cry out, and  they're not 
to be rescued. Bind their legs!' 
     The last  part  of  the order was  carried  out mercilessly. But Pippin 
found that for the first time he was close to  Merry. The Orcs were making a  
great deal of noise,  shouting and  clashing  their weapons, and the hobbits 
managed to whisper together for a while. 
     'I don't think much of this,' said Merry. 'I feel nearly done in. Don't 
think I could crawl away far, even if I was free.' 
     'Lembas!' whispered Pippin.  'Lembas: I've got some. Have  you? I  don't  
think they've taken anything but our swords.' 
     'Yes,  I  had a packet in  my pocket,'  answered Merry, 'but it must be


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####-outlying trees.  The land was beginning to slope upwards. ever more steeply; 
but the  Orcs did not halt. Both Ugl®k and Grishnbkh  shouted, spurring them 
on to a last effort. 
     'They will  make it yet. They will escape,' thought Pippin. And then he 
managed  to twist  his neck.  so  as  to  glance back with  one eye over his 
shoulder. He saw that riders away eastward were already level with the Orcs, 
galloping over  the plain.  The sunset gilded their spears  and helmets, and 
glinted  in  their  pale  flowing  hair.  They  were  hemming the  Orcs  in, 
preventing them  from  scattering, and  driving them along the  line of  the 
river. 
     He wondered  very much what kind of folk they were. He wished  now that 
he had learned more in Rivendell, and looked more at maps and things; but in 
those days the plans for the journey seemed to be  in  more competent hands, 
and he had never reckoned with being cut off from Gandalf, or from  Strider,


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####-until he  came to the edge  of the knoll. There, choosing a gap  between the 
watchers, he passed like an evil shadow out into the  night, down  the slope 
and away westward  towards the river that  flowed out of the forest. In that 
direction there was a wide open space with only one fire. 
     After going  a  dozen yards he  halted,  peering and listening. Nothing 
could be  seen or heard. He crept  slowly  on, bent almost  double. Then  he 
squatted and listened  again. Then he stood up, as if to risk a sudden dash. 
At that very moment the  dark form of a  rider loomed up  right  in front of 
him. A horse snorted and reared. A man called out. 
     Grishnbkh flung himself on the ground flat,  dragging the hobbits under  
him; then he drew his sword.  No doubt he meant to kill his captives, rather  
than allow them  to escape or to  be rescued;  but  it  was his undoing. The 
sword  rang faintly, and glinted a  little in the light of the fire away  to


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some of the Men  had ridden in  close, slipped  off their horses, crawled to 
the edge of the camp and killed several Orcs, and then had faded away again. 
Ugl®k dashed off to stop a stampede. 
     Pippin  and  Merry sat up.  Their guards,  Isengarders,  had  gone with 
Ugl®k. But  if the hobbits  had any thought of escape, it was soon dashed. A 
long hairy arm took each of them by the neck and drew  them close  together. 
Dimly they were  aware of  Grishnbkh's great head and hideous  face  between 
them; his foul breath  was on their cheeks. He began  to paw  them  and feel  
them. Pippin shuddered as hard cold fingers groped down his back. 
     'Well,  my little  ones!' said Grishnbkh  in a soft whisper.  'Enjoying 
your nice rest? Or not? A little awkwardly placed, perhaps: swords and whips 
on one side, and nasty spears on  the other! Little people should not meddle 
_in  affairs that  are too big for them.'  His  fingers continued  to grope.


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work, as usual. If you're afraid of the Whiteskins, run!  Run!  There's  the 
forest,' he  shouted, pointing ahead. 'Get to it! It's your  best hope.  Off 
you go!  And quick,  before I knock a few more heads off, to  put some sense


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those days the plans for the journey seemed to be  in  more competent hands, 
and he had never reckoned with being cut off from Gandalf, or from  Strider, 
and  even  from Frodo. All  that he  could remember  about  Rohan  was  that 
Gandalf's horse, Shadowfax,  had come from  that land. That sounded hopeful, 
as far as it went. 
     'But how will  they know that  we are not  Orcs?' he thought. 'I  don't  
suppose they've ever  heard  of hobbits down  here. I suppose I  ought to be 
glad that the beastly Orcs  look like being destroyed, but I would rather be 
saved  myself.' The chances were that  he and Merry wou ld be killed together 
with their captors, before ever the Men of Rohan were aware of them. 
     A few of  the riders appeared to be bowmen,  skilled at shooting from a  
running horse. Riding swiftly into  range they shot arrows at  the Orcs that 
straggled behind, and several of them fell; then the riders wheeled away out


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former days  would  any high lord of  this land  have  constrained a man  to 
abandon such a quest as mine. My duty at least is clear, to go on. Come now, 
son of Jomund, the choice must be made at last. Aid us,  or at the worst let 
us go free. Or seek to carry  out your law. If you do so there will be fewer  
to return to your war or to your king.' 
     Jomer was silent for a  moment,  then he  spoke. 'We both have need  of 
haste,' he said. 'My  company chafes to be away, and every hour lessens your 
hope. This  is my choice.  You  may go;  and  what  is more, I will lend you  
horses. This  only I ask: when  your quest is achieved, or  is  proved vain, 
return  with  the horses over the  Entwade  to Meduseld,  the high house  in 
Edoras  where Thjoden now sits. Thus you shall prove to him that I  have not 
misjudged. In this I place myself, and maybe my very life, in the keeping of 
your good faith. Do not fail.' 
     'I will not,' said Aragorn.


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think they've taken anything but our swords.' 
     'Yes,  I  had a packet in  my pocket,'  answered Merry, 'but it must be 
battered to crumbs. Anyway I can't put my mouth in my pocket!' 
     'You won't have to. I've--'; but just then  a savage kick warned Pippin 
that the noise had died down, and the guards were watchful. 
     The night was  cold  and still. All round the knoll  on which  the  Orcs 
were gathered little watch-fires sprang up,  golden-red  in the  darkness, a  
complete ring  of them. They were within a long bowshot.  but the riders did 
not  show themselves against  the light,  and the  Orcs wasted  many  arrows 
shooting at the  fires, until Ugl®k  stopped them. The riders made no sound.  
Later  in the night when the moon came  out of the  mist,  then occasionally 
they could be seen, shadowy  shapes that glinted now and again in the  white 
light, as they moved in ceaseless patrol. 
     'They'll wait for the Sun, curse them!' growled one of the guards. 'Why


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on one side, and nasty spears on  the other! Little people should not meddle 
_in  affairs that  are too big for them.'  His  fingers continued  to grope. 
There was a light like a pale but hot fire behind his eyes. 
     The  thought came suddenly into Pippin's mind, as if caught direct from 
the urgent  thought  of his enemy:  'Grishnbkh  knows about  the  Ring! He's 
looking for it, while Ugl®k is busy: he probably wants it for himself.' Cold 
fear was in Pippin's heart,  yet at the  same time he was wondering what use 
he could make of Grishnbkh's desire. 
     'I don't think you will find it that way,' he whispered. 'It isn't easy 
to find.' 
     'Find  it? ' said Grishnbkh:  his  fingers  stopped crawling and gripped 
Pippin's shoulder. 'Find what? What are you talking about, little one?'. For  
a moment Pippin was silent. Then suddenly in the darkness he made a noise in 
his throat: gollum, gollum. 'Nothing, my precious,' he added.


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####-     They turned and walked side by side slowly along the line of the river. 
Behind them the light grew in the East. As they  walked they compared notes,  
talking  lightly in  hobbit-fashion of the things  that  had happened  since 
their capture. No listener would  have guessed from their words that they had 
suffered cruelly, and been in dire peril, going without hope towards torment  
and death; or that even now, as they knew  well,  they had  little chance of 
ever finding friend or safety again. 
     'You seem to  have been doing well, Master Took,' said Merry.  'You will 
get  almost  a chapter in old Bilbo's book, if ever I get a chance to report 
to him. Good work: especially guessing that hairy villain's little game, and 
playing up to him. But I wonder if anyone will  ever pick up your trail  and 
find that brooch. I should hate to lose mine, but I am afraid  yours is gone 
for good. 
     'I  shall have  to brush up my  toes,  if I am to  get level  with you.


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You'll wish there was more  that  you could tell to  satisfy the Questioner, 
indeed you will:  quite soon. We shan't hurry the enquiry. Oh dear no!  What 
do  you think you've  been kept alive  for? My dear  little  fellows, please 
believe me when I say that it was  not out of kindness: that's not  even one 
of Ugl®k's faults.' 
     'I find it quite  easy to  believe,' said Merry.  'But you haven't  got 
your  prey  home yet. And it doesn't seem  to  be going  your  way,  whatever  
happens. If we come  to  Isengard,  it won't  be the  great  Grishnbkh  that 
benefits: Saruman will take all  that he can find.  If you want anything for  
yourself, now's the time to do a deal.' 
     Grishnbkh  began  to  lose his  temper.  The  name  of  Saruman  seemed  
specially  to enrage him.  Time  was passing  and the disturbance was  dying 
down. Ugl®k or the Isengarders might return at any minute. 
     'Have you got it -- either of you?' he snarled. 
     'Gollum, gollum!' said Pippin.


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misjudged. In this I place myself, and maybe my very life, in the keeping of 
your good faith. Do not fail.' 
     'I will not,' said Aragorn. 
     There  was great wonder, and many dark  and doubtful glances, among his 
men, when Jomer gave orders that  the  spare horses were to be  lent to  the 
strangers; but only Jothain dared to speak openly. 
     'It  may be  well enough  for this lord  of the race of Gondor,  as  he 
claims,' he said, 'but who has heard of a horse of the Mark being given to a  
Dwarf?' 
     'No one,' said Gimli. 'And do not trouble: no one will ever hear of it. 
I would sooner  walk  than si t  on the back  of any beast so great,  free or 
begrudged.' 
     'But you must ride now, or you will hinder us,' said Aragorn. 
     'Come, you shall sit  behind me, friend  Gimli, said Legolas.  Then all 
will be well, and you need neither borrow a horse nor be troubled by one.' 
     A great dark-grey horse  was  brought to  Aragorn, and  he  mounted it.


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they could be seen, shadowy  shapes that glinted now and again in the  white 
light, as they moved in ceaseless patrol. 
     'They'll wait for the Sun, curse them!' growled one of the guards. 'Why 
don't we get together and charge through? What's old Ugl®k think he's doing, 
I should like to know?' 
     'I daresay you would,' snarled Ugl®k stepping up from behind.   'Meaning 
I don't think at all, eh? Curse you! You're as bad as the  other rabble: the 
maggots and the apes of Lugb®rz. No good trying  to charge with them. They'd 
just squeal  and bolt,  and  there  are  more than  enough of  these  filthy 
horse-boys to mop up our lot on the flat. 
     'There's only one thing those maggots can do: they can see like gimlets 
in the dark. But these Whiteskins have better night-eyes than most Men, from 
all  I've   heard;  and  don't  forget  their  horses!   They  can  see  the


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a moment Pippin was silent. Then suddenly in the darkness he made a noise in 
his throat: gollum, gollum. 'Nothing, my precious,' he added. 
     The hobbits felt Grishnbkh's fingers  twitch. 'O ho!' hissed the goblin


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than allow them  to escape or to  be rescued;  but  it  was his undoing. The 
sword  rang faintly, and glinted a  little in the light of the fire away  to 
his left. An arrow came whistling out of the gloom: it was aimed with skill, 
or guided by fate, and it pierced his right hand. He dr opped the  sword  and 
shrieked. There was a quick beat of hoofs, and  even as  Grishnbkh leaped up 
and  ran,  he  was ridden down and  a spear  passed through  him.  He gave a  
hideous shivering cry and lay still. 
     The hobbits remained flat on  the  ground, as  Grishnbkh had left them. 
Another  horseman came riding swiftly  to his comrade's aid. Whether because 
of some special keenness of sight, or because of some other sense, the horse 
lifted  and sprang lightly over them; but its rider did  not see them, lying 
covered in their elven-cloaks, too crushed for the moment, and too afraid to 
move. 
     At  last  Merry stirred and whispered softly: 'So  far so good: but how


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####-an  arc of  fire,  above the margin of the world. Then with a great  cry the 
Riders charged from  the East; the red  light gleamed on mail and spear. The 
Orcs yelled  and shot all the arrows that remained to  them. The hobbits saw 
several horsemen fall; but their line held on up  the hill  and  over it, and 
wheeled round and charged  again. Most  of the raiders that were  left alive 
then broke and fled, this way and that, pursued one by one to the death. But 
one band, holding together in a black wedge, drove forward resolutely in the  
direction  of  the  forest.  Straight up the slope they charged  towards the 
watchers. Now they were drawing near,  and it seemed certain that they would 
escape: they had already hewn down three Riders that barred their way. 
     'We have watched too long,' said Merry. 'There's Ugl®k! I don't want to 
meet him again.' The hobbits turned and  fled deep into the  shadows of  the 
wood.


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find that brooch. I should hate to lose mine, but I am afraid  yours is gone 
for good. 
     'I  shall have  to brush up my  toes,  if I am to  get level  with you. 
Indeed Cousin Brandybuck is going in front now. This is wher e he comes in. I 
don't  suppose  you have much notion  where we are;  but I spent  my time at 
Rivendell rather better. We are walking west along the Entwash. The butt-end 
of the Misty Mountains is in front, and Fangorn Forest.' 
     Even as he spoke the da rk edge of the  forest loomed up straight before 
them. Night seemed to have taken refuge under its great trees, creeping away 
from the coming Dawn. 
     'Lead on, Master  Brandybuck!' said Pippin. 'Or lead back! We have been 
warned against Fangorn. But one so knowing will not have forgotten that.' 
     'I have  not,' answered Merry; 'but the forest seems better to  me, all 
the same, than turning back into the middle of a battle.'


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covered in their elven-cloaks, too crushed for the moment, and too afraid to 
move. 
     At  last  Merry stirred and whispered softly: 'So  far so good: but how 
are we to avoid being spitted?' 
     The answer came almost immediately. The cries of Grishnbkh  had  roused 
the Orcs. From the yells  and screeches that came from the knoll the hobbits 
guessed  that their  disappearance had been discovered:  Ugl®k  was probably 
knocking  off  a  few  more  heads.  Then suddenly  the answering  cries  of 
orc-voices came from the  right, outside the circle of watch-fires, from the 
direction of the forest and the mountains. Mauh®r had apparently arrived and 
was attacking the besiegers. There was  the sound  of galloping  horses. The 
Riders  were  drawing  in  their  ring  close  round the  knoll, risking the 
orc-arrows, so as  to prevent any sortie, while a company  rode off to  deal 
with the newcomers.  Suddenly Merry and Pippin realized  that without moving


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down. Ugl®k or the Isengarders might return at any minute. 
     'Have you got it -- either of you?' he snarled. 
     'Gollum, gollum!' said Pippin. 
     'Untie our legs!' said Merry. 
     They felt the Orc's arms  trembling violently. 'Curse  you, you  filthy 
little vermin!' he hissed. 'Untie your legs? I'll untie every string in your 
bodies. Do you think I can't search you to the  bones? Search  you! I'll cut 
you both to quivering shreds. I don't need the help  of your legs to get you  
away-and have you all to myself!' 
     Suddenly  he seized them. The strength in  his  long arms and shoulders 
was  terrifying. He  tucked  them one under  each  armpit, and crushed  them 
fiercely to his sides; a great stifling hand was clapped  over each of their 
mouths. Then he sprang forward,  stooping low. Quickly and silently he went,


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'We have watched too long,' said Merry. 'There's Ugl®k! I don't want to 
meet him again.' The hobbits turned and  fled deep into the  shadows of  the 
wood. 
     So it  was  that  they did not sec  the  last  stand,  when  Ugl®k  was 
overtaken and brought to bay at the very edge of Fangorn. There he was slain 
at last by Jomer,  the Third Marshal  of the Mark, who dismounted and fought 
him  sword to sword.  And over  the  wide fields the keen-eyed Riders hunted 
down the few Orcs that had escaped and still had strength to fly. 
     Then when they had  laid their fallen comrades in a  mound and had sung 
their praises, the Riders made a great fire and scattered the ashes of their 
enemies.  So ended  the raid, and no  news  of  it came ever back either  to 
Mordor or to Isengard; but the smoke of  the burning rose high to heaven and 
was seen by many watchful eyes.


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orc-arrows, so as  to prevent any sortie, while a company  rode off to  deal 
with the newcomers.  Suddenly Merry and Pippin realized  that without moving 
they were now outside the circle: there was nothing between them and escape.


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Meanwhile the hobbits went with  as much speed as  the dark and tangled  
forest allowed, following  the line of the  running  stream, westward and up 
towards the slopes of the mountains, deeper and deeper into  Fangorn. Slowly 
their fear of the Orcs died away, and their pace slackened. A queer stifling 
feeling came  over  them,  as  if the air were  too thin or too  scanty  for  
breathing. 
     At last Merry halted.  'We can't go on like this,' he  panted.  'I want 
some air.' 
     'Let's have  a  drink  at any rate,'  said  Pippin. 'I'm  parched.'  He 
clambered on to a  great tree-root that  wound  down  into the  stream,  and 
stooping drew up some water in his cupped hands. It was clear and  cold, and 
he  took many draughts.  Merry followed  him.  The water refreshed them  and 
seemed  to cheer their hearts; for a while they sat together on the brink of 
the  stream,  dabbling  their  sore feet and legs, and peering round at  the


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'I have  not,' answered Merry; 'but the forest seems better to  me, all 
the same, than turning back into the middle of a battle.' 
     He  led the way  in under the  huge branches  of  the trees. Old beyond 
guessing, they  seemed. Great  trailing  beards of lichen  hung  from  them, 
blowing and swaying in  the breeze. Out of the  shadows the  hobbits peeped, 
gazing back down the slope: little  furtive  figures  that in the  dim light 
looked like elf-children  in the deeps  of time peering out of the Wild Wood  
in wonder at their first Dawn. 
     Far  over the  Great  River,  and the  Brown  Lands,  leagues upon grey 
leagues away, the Dawn came,  red as flame.  Loud rang the hunting-horns  to 
greet it.  The Rider s of Rohan sprang suddenly  to life. Horn  answered horn 
again. 
     Merry and  Pippin heard,  clear  in  the  cold  air,  the  neighing  of 
war-horses, and  the  sudden singing of many men. The Sun's limb was lifted,


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####-     'But the Sun at any  rate must peep in sometimes.' said Merry. 'It does 
not look or feel at all like Bilbo's  description of Mirkwood.  That was all 
dark and black,  and the home  of dark black  things. This is just dim,  and 
frightfully  tree-ish.  You  can't imagine animals  living here  at all,  or 
staying for long.' 
     'No, nor hobbits,' said Pippin. 'And I don't like the thought of trying 
to get through  it  either.  Nothing to cat  for a  hundred  miles, I should 
guess. How are our supplies?' 
     'Low,'  said Merry.  'We ran  off  with nothing but a  couple of  spare 
packets  of  lembas, and  left everything else behind.' They  looked at what 
remained of the  elven-cakes:  broken  fragments for abou t five meagre days, 
that  was all. 'And not a wrap or a blanket,' said Merry.  'We shall be cold 
tonight, whichever way we go.' 
     'Well, we'd  better decide on  the way now,' said  Pippin. 'The morning 
must be getting on.'


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####-was a shelf under a cliff. Nothing grew there but a few grasses and weeds at 
its edge, and  one old stump of a tree  with only two bent branches left: it 
looked almost  like the figure  of some gnarled  old  man,  standing  there, 
blinking in the morning-light. 
     'Up  we go!' said Merry joyfully. 'Now for a breath of air, and a sight 
of the land!' 
     They climbed  and scrambled up the rock. If the  stair had been made it 
was for bigger feet and longer legs than theirs. They were  too eager to  be 
surprised at the  remarkable  way  in  which the  cuts  and  sores of  their 
captivity  had healed and their  vigour had returned. They came at length to 
the edge  of the shelf almost at the feet of the old stump; then they sprang 
up  and  turned  round  with their backs  to the  hill, breathing  deep, and 
looking  out eastward. They saw  that they had  only come some three or four 
miles  into the  forest:  the heads  of the  trees marched  down  the slopes


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tonight, whichever way we go.' 
     'Well, we'd  better decide on  the way now,' said  Pippin. 'The morning 
must be getting on.' 
     Just then they became  aware of a yellow light that  had appeared, some 
way further  on into the  wood: shafts  of sunlight seemed  suddenly to have  
pierced the forest -roof. 
     'Hullo!' said Merry.  'The Sun must have run into a cloud  while  we've 
been under these  trees, and now she  has  run  out  again; or  else she has 
climbed high enough to look down through some opening. It isn't far let's go 
and investigate!' 
     They  found  it was  further than  they thought. The  ground was rising 
steeply  still,  and  it was becoming  increasingly stony.  The  light  grew 
broader as they went on, and soon they saw that there was a rock -wall before 
them: the side of a hill, or the abrupt end of  some long root thrust out by 
the distant mountains.  No trees grew on it, and the sun was falling full on


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####-They were brown, shot  with a green light. Often  afterwards Pippin tried to 
describe his first impression of them. 
     'One felt  as if there was an enormous well behind them, filled up with 
ages of  memory  and long, slow,  steady  thinking;  but  their surface  was 
sparkling with  the present: like sun shimmering on the  outer  leaves of  a  
vast tree, or on the ripples of a very deep lake.  I don't know but it  felt 
as  if  something  that grew  in the  ground-asleep, you might say, or  just  
feeling itself  as  something between  roof-tip  and leaf-tip, between  deep 
earth  and sky had suddenly waked up, and was  considering you with the same 
slow care that it had given to its own inside affairs for endless years.' 
     'Hrum, Hoom,'  murmured  the  voice,  a deep  voice  like a  very  deep 
woodwind  instrument. 'Very odd indeed! Do  not  be hasty, that is my motto. 
But if I had seen you,  before I heard your voices-I liked them: nice little


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####-     Man the mortal, master of horses: 
     Hm, hm, hm. 
     Beaver the builder, buck the leaper, 
     Bear bee-hunter, boar the fighter; 
     Hound is hungry, hare is fearful... 
     hm, hm. 
     Eagle in eyrie, ox in pasture, 
     Hart horn-crowned; hawk is swiftest 
     Swan the whitest, serpent coldest... 
     Hoom, hm; hoom. hm. how did it go? Room tum, room tum, roomty toom 
tum. 
It was a long list. But anyway you do not seem to fit in anywhere!' 
     'We  always seem  to have got   left out of the  old lists, and the  old 
stories,' said  Merry.  'Yet we've been about for quite a long  time.  We're 
hobbits.' 
     'Why not make a new line?' said Pippin. 
     'Half-grown hobbits, the hole -dwellers. 
     Put us in amongst the four, next to Man (the Big People) and you've got 
it.' 
     'Hm! Not bad, not bad,' said Treebeard.  'That would do. So you live in 
holes, eh? It  sounds very right and proper. Who calls  you hobbits, though?


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seemed  to cheer their hearts; for a while they sat together on the brink of 
the  stream,  dabbling  their  sore feet and legs, and peering round at  the 
trees that  stood silently about them, rank upon rank, until they faded away 
into grey twilight in every direction. 
     'I suppose you  haven't  lost us already?'  said  Pippin,  leaning back  
against  a great tree-trunk.  'We  can  at  least follow the  course of this 
stream, the Entwash or whatever you call  it, and get  out again  the way we 
came.' 
     'We could, if  our legs  would  do it,' said  Merry;  'and if  we could 
breathe properly.' 
     'Yes, it is  all  very  dim,  and stuffy,  in   here,' said Pippin.  'It 
reminds me, somehow, of the  old room in the  Great Place of  the Tooks away 
back in the  Smials at Tuckborough:  a huge place,  where  the furniture has 
never been moved or changed for generations. They say  the Old Took lived in


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####-'For one thing it would  take a long while: my name is growing all the time, 
and I've lived a  very  long, long time; so my  name is like  a story.  Real 
names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the 
Old  Entish  as you might say. It is a lovely  language, but it takes a very 
long  time to say  anything in it, because  we do  not  say anything  in it. 
unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to. 
     'But  now,' and  the  eyes became very bright and 'present', seeming to 
grow smaller and almost sharp, 'what is  going  on? What are you doing in it  
all? I can see and hear  (and smell and feel) a great deal from  this,  from 
this, from this  a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lind-or-bur®ml. Excuse me: that 
is a part of my name for it; I do not know what  the word is  in the outside 
languages: you know, the thing we are on, where I stand and look out on fine


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woodwind  instrument. 'Very odd indeed! Do  not  be hasty, that is my motto. 
But if I had seen you,  before I heard your voices-I liked them: nice little 
voices: they reminded me of something I cannot  remember ---if I had seen you  
before I heard you, I should have just trodden on you, taking you for little 
Orcs, and found out my mistake  afterwards. Very odd  you  are, indeed. Root 
and twig, very odd!' 
     Pippin, though still amazed, no longer felt afraid. Under those eyes he 
felt a curious suspense, but  not fear. 'Please.' he said, 'who are you? And 
what are you?' 
     A queer look came into the old eyes, a kind of wariness; the deep wells 
were covered over.  'Hrum, now,' answered the voice;  'well,  I am an Ent, or  
that's  what  they call me.  Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am,  you might 
say,  in your  manner  of  speaking. Fangorn is  my name according to  some, 
Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.'


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them: the side of a hill, or the abrupt end of  some long root thrust out by 
the distant mountains.  No trees grew on it, and the sun was falling full on 
its stony face. The twigs of the trees at  its foot were stretched out stiff 
and still, as if reaching out to the warmth. Where  all had looked so shabby 
and grey before, the wood now gleamed with rich browns, and with the  
smooth 
black-greys  of bark  like polished leather.  The boles of the trees  glowed 
with a soft green like young grass: early spring or  a fleeting vision of it 
was about them. 
     In the face of the stony wall there was something like a stair: natural 
perhaps, and  made by the weathering  and splitting  of the rock, for it was 
rough and uneven. High up, almost level with the tops of forest -trees, there


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looking  out eastward. They saw  that they had  only come some three or four 
miles  into the  forest:  the heads  of the  trees marched  down  the slopes 
towards the  plain. There, near the fringe  of  the forest,  tall spires  of 
curling black smoke went up, wavering and floating towards them. 
     'The wind's changing,'  said Merry.  'It's  turned east again. It feels 
cool up here.' 
     'Yes,'  said Pippin; 'I'm  afraid this is only a passing  gleam, and it 
will  all go grey  again. What a  pity! This  shaggy  old  forest  looked so 
different in the sunlight. I almost felt I liked the place.' 
     'Almost felt you liked the  Forest! That's good! That's uncommonly kind 
of you,' said  a strange voice.  'Turn round and let  me have a look at your 
faces. I almost feel that  I dislike you  both, but do  not let us be hasty. 
Turn round!' A large knob-knuckled hand was laid on each of their shoulders,


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is a part of my name for it; I do not know what  the word is  in the outside 
languages: you know, the thing we are on, where I stand and look out on fine 
mornings, and  think about  the Sun, and the grass beyond the wood,  and the 
horses, and the clouds, and the  unfolding of the world. What  is going  on?  
What is Gandalf up  to? And these -- burbrum,' he made a deep rumbling noise 
like a discord on a great organ --  'these Orcs, and young Saruman  down  at 
Isengard? I like news. But not too quick now.' 
     'There is quite a lot going on,' said Merry:  'and even if we tried  to 
be quick, it  would  take a  long time to tell.  But you  told  us not to be 
hasty. Ought we to tell you anything so soon? Would you think it rude, if we  
asked what you are  going to do with us, and  which side you are on? And did 
you know Gandalf?' 
     'Yes, I do know  him: the only wizard that really cares  about  trees ' 
said Treebeard. 'Do you know him?'


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say,  in your  manner  of  speaking. Fangorn is  my name according to  some, 
Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.' 
     'An Ent?' said  Merry.  'What's  that? But  what do you  call yourself?  
What's your real name?' 
     'Hoo now!' replied  Treebeard. 'Hoo! Now that would be  telling! Not so 
hasty.  And I  am doing the  asking. You are  in my country. What are you,  I  
wonder? I cannot place you. You do not  seem to come in the old lists that I  
learned when I was young. But  that was a long, long time ago, and  they may 
have made new lists. Let me see! Let me see! How did it go?  
     Learn now the lore of Living Creatures! 
     First name the four, the free peoples: 
     Eldest of all, the elf-children; 
     Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses; 
     Ent the earthborn, old as mountains;


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you know Gandalf?' 
     'Yes, I do know  him: the only wizard that really cares  about  trees ' 
said Treebeard. 'Do you know him?' 
     'Yes,'  said Pippin  sadly, 'we did. He  was a great friend, and he was 
our guide.' 
     'Then I  can answer your other  questions,' said  Treebeard. 'I  am not 
going to do anything with you: not if you mean by that 'do something  to you ' 
without your  leave. We might  do  some things together. I don't  know about 
sides. I go my own way; but your way may go along with mine for a while. But 
you speak of Master  Gandalf,  as if he was  in a story that had come  to an 
end.' 
     'Yes, we do,' said Pippin sadly. 'The story seems to be going on, but I 
am afraid Gandalf has fallen out of it.' 
     'Hoo,  come  now!'  said  Treebeard.   'Hoom, hm, ah  well.'  He paused, 
looking long at the hobbits: 'Hoom, ah, well I do not know what to say. Come 
now!'


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####-shadow of the Great Darkness  lying there still away north; and bad memories 
are handed down. But there are hollow dales in this land where the  Darkness 
has never been lifted, and the trees are older  than I am. Still, we do what 
we can. We keep off strangers and the  foolhardy; and we train and we teach, 
we walk and we weed. 
     'We are tree-herds, we old  Ents. Few  enough of us are left now. Sheep 
get  like shepherd, and shepherds like  sheep, it is said;  but  slowly, and 
neither have  long in the world. It  is quicker and  closer with  trees  and 
Ents, and they walk down the  ages  together. For Ents are more like  Elves:  
less interested  in   themselves than Men are,  and  better at getting inside 
other things.  And yet again  Ents are more like Men,  more  changeable than 
Elves are, and  quicker at taking the colour of the outside,  you might say.  
Or  better than both:  for they are steadier a nd keep their  minds on things


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running horse. Riding swiftly into  range they shot arrows at  the Orcs that 
straggled behind, and several of them fell; then the riders wheeled away out 
of the range of the answering  bows  of their  enemies, who shot wildly, not 
daring to halt. This  happened many  times, and on one  occasion arrows fell 
among  the Isengarders. One  of them, just  in front of Pippin, stumbled and  
did not get up again. 
     Night came down without the Riders closing in for battle. Many Orcs had 
fallen,  but fully two hundred remained. In the early darkness the Orcs came 
to a hillock. The eaves of the forest were very near, probably  no more than 
three  furlongs  away,  but  they  could go no  further.  The  horsemen  had 
encircled them. A small band  disobeyed  Ugl®k's command, and ran on 
towards 
the forest: only three returned. 
     'Well,  here  we are,' sneered Grishnbkh. 'Fine  leadership! I hope the


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faces. I almost feel that  I dislike you  both, but do  not let us be hasty. 
Turn round!' A large knob-knuckled hand was laid on each of their shoulders,  
and they  were twisted round,  gently but irresistibly; then  two great arms 
lifted them up. 
     They  found that they  were looking  at a  most extraordinary face.  It 
belonged to a  large  Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen 
foot high,  very sturdy, with a tall  head,  and hardly any neck. Whether it 
was clad in stuff like green  and grey  bark, or  whether that was its hide, 
was  difficult to say. At any  rate the  arms, at a short distance from  the 
trunk, were not wrinkled,  but covered  with a brown smooth skin.  The large 
feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a  
sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy  at the roots,  thin and mossy  at 
the  ends. But  at  the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes.  These


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it.' 
     'Hm! Not bad, not bad,' said Treebeard.  'That would do. So you live in 
holes, eh? It  sounds very right and proper. Who calls  you hobbits, though?  
That does not sound elvish to me. Elves made all  the old   words: they began 
it.' 
     'Nobody else calls us hobbits; we call ourselves that,' said Pippin. 
     'Hoom, hmm! Come  now!  Not so hasty!  You call yourselves hobbits? But 
you should not go telling just anybody. You'll be letting out your own right 
names if you're not careful.' 
     'We aren't careful about  that,' said Merry. 'As a matter of fact I'm a  
Brandybuck, Meriadoc Brandybuck, though most people call me just Merry.' 
     'And I'm a Took, Peregrin Took,  but  I'm generally called  Pippin,  or  
even Pip.' 
     'Hm, but you are hasty folk, I see,' said Treebeard. 'I  am honoured by 
your confidence; but you should not be too free all at once.  There are Ents 
and  Ents, you know; or there  are Ents and things that look like  Ents  but


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back in the  Smials at Tuckborough:  a huge place,  where  the furniture has 
never been moved or changed for generations. They say  the Old Took lived in 
it  year  after  year,  while  he  and  the  room  got  older  and  shabbier  
together -and  it has  never changed since  he  died, a century ago.  And Old 
Gerontius was my great-great-grandfather: that  puts it back a bit. But that 
is  nothing  to the old feeling of  this  wood.  Look at  all those weeping, 
trailing,  beards and whiskers of lichen! And  most of the trees seem  to be 
half covered with ragged dry  leaves that have never fallen. Untidy. I can't  
imagine what spring  would look  like here, if  i t ever comes; still  less a  
spring-cleaning.'


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####-Taur-na-neldor! 
     It was more than my desire. 
     To the pine-trees upon the  highland of  Dorthonion  I climbed  in  the 
Winter. 
     Ah! the wind and the whiteness and the black  branches  of  Winter upon 
Orod-na-Thfn! 
     My voice went up and sang in the sky. 
     And now all those lands lie under the wave. 
     And I walk in Ambaruna, in Tauremorna, in Aldaluml. 
     In my own land, in the country of Fangorn, 
     Where the roots are long, 
     And the years lie thicker than the leaves 
     In Tauremornaluml. 
     He  ended, and strode on silently, and in all  the wood, as far  as ear 
could reach, there was not a sound. 
     The day  waned,  and dusk was twined about  the boles of  the trees. At  
last  the hobbits saw, rising dimly before them, a steep dark land: they had 
come to the feet of the mountains, and to the green roots of tall Methedras.  
Down the hillside  the young Entwash,  leaping  from its springs  high above,


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Elves are, and  quicker at taking the colour of the outside,  you might say.  
Or  better than both:  for they are steadier a nd keep their  minds on things 
longer. 'Some of my kin look just  like trees now, and need something  great 
to  rouse them; and they speak  only in whispers. But  some  of my trees are 
limb-lithe, and many can talk to me. Elves began it, of course, waking trees 
up  and  teaching  them to speak and  learning their  tree-talk. They always 
wished to talk to everything, the old Elves did. But then the Great Darkness 
came, and they passed away  over the Sea, or fled into far  valleys, and hid 
themselves,  and made  songs  about days that would never come again.  Never 
again. Aye,  aye, there was all  one wood once upon a time: from here to the 
Mountains of Lune, and this was just the East End. 
     'Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing a ll day 
and  hear no more  than  the echo of my own  voice in the hollow hills.  The


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sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy  at the roots,  thin and mossy  at 
the  ends. But  at  the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes.  These 
deep  eyes  were now  surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating.


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####-     'Now,' said Merry,  'if only we had our legs  and hands free,  we might 
get away. But I can't touch the knots, and I can't bite them.' 
     'No need to  try,'  said Pippin. 'I was going to tell you: I've managed 
to free  my  hands. These loops are only  left for show. You'd better have a  
bit of lembas first.' 
     He slipped the cords off his wrists, and fished out a packet. The cakes 
were broken, but good,  still in their leaf-wrappings. The  hobbits each ate 
two  or three  pieces.  The  taste brought  back  to them the memory of fair 
faces,  and laughter, and wholesome food in  quiet  days now far away. For a 
while they ate thoughtfully, sitting in the dark, heedless  of the cries and 
sounds of battle nearby. Pippin was the first to come back to the present. 
     'We must be off,' he said. 'Half a moment!' Grishnbkh's sword was lying 
close at hand, but it was too heavy and clumsy for him to use; so he crawled


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####-escaped from  the springs above,  and leaving the main  water, fell tinkling 
down  the  sheer face  of the wall, pouring in silver  drops,  like  a   fine 
curtain  in front  of the arched bay. The water was  gathered  again into  a  
stone basin in the floor between the trees, and thence it spilled and flowed 
away beside the open path, out  to rejoin the Entwash in its journey through 
the forest. 
     'Hm! Here we are!' said Treebeard, breaking his  long silence.  'I have 
brought you about  seventy  thousand  ent-strides, but what that comes to in 
the measurement of your land I do not know. Anyhow we are near the roots  of 
the  Last Mountain.  Part of the name of this place might be Wellinghall, if 
it were turned into your language. I like it. We will stay here tonight.' He 
set them  down  on  the  grass  between  the aisles  of the  trees, and they 
followed  him  towards the great arch. The  hobbits  now  noticed that as he


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your confidence; but you should not be too free all at once.  There are Ents 
and  Ents, you know; or there  are Ents and things that look like  Ents  but 
ain't, as you  might say. I'll call you  Merry and Pippin if you please-nice 
names. For I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate.' A queer  
half-knowing,  half-humorous look came with  a green flicker into his  eyes.


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'Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing a ll day 
and  hear no more  than  the echo of my own  voice in the hollow hills.  The 
woods were like the woods of Lothlurien. only thicker stronger, younger. And 
the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing.' 
     Treebeard  fell silent, striding along, and yet  making  hardly a sound 
with his great feet. Then he began to hum again, and passed into a murmuring 
chant. Gradually the hobbits became aware that he was chanting to them: 
     In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the Spring. 
     Ah! the sight and the smell of the Spring in Nan-tasarion! 
     And I said that was good. 
     I wandered in Summer in the elm-woods of Ossiriand. 
     Ah! the light and the music in the Summer by the Seven Rivers of Ossir! 
     And I thought that was best. 
     To the beeches of Neldoreth I came in the Autumn. 
     Ah!  the  gold and the red  and the sighing of leaves  in the Autumn in


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####-     'Please, Treebeard,' he said,  'could I  ask  you  something?  Why  did 
Celeborn  warn  us  against  your forest?  He  told us  not to  risk getting 
entangled in it.' 
     'Hmm,  did he now?' rumbled  Treebeard. 'And I might have said much the 
same, if you had been going the other way. Do  not risk getting entangled in 
the  woods of  Laurelindurenan ! That  is what the Elves used to call it, but 
now they  make the  name  shorter: Lothlurien they call it. Perhaps they are 
right: maybe it is fading;  not growing. Land of the Valley of Singing Gold, 
that was it, once upon a time. Now it is the Dreamflower. Ah well! But it is 
a queer  place, and  not for just any one to venture in. I am surprised that 
you ever got out, but much more surprised that you ever got in: that has not 
happened to strangers for many a year. It is a queer land. 
     'And  so is  this. Folk have  come  to grief here. Aye, they  have ,  to


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####-     'If you  would like to hear more. said Merry, 'we will tell you. But it 
will take some time. Wouldn't you like to put us  down? Couldn't we sit here 
together in the sun, while it lasts? You must be getting tired of holding us 
up.' 
     'Hm,  tired? No. I am not tired. I do not easily get tired. And I do not 
sit down. I am not very. hm, bendable. But there.  the  Sun is  going in. Let 
us leave this  -- did you say what you call it?' 
     'Hill?' suggested Pippin. 'Shelf? Step?' suggested Merry. 
     Treebeard repeated the words thoughtfully. 'Hill. Yes, that was it. But 
it is a hasty word  for  a thing that has stood here ever since this part of 
the world was shaped. Never mind. Let us leave it, and go.' 
     'Where shall we go?' asked Merry. 
     'To my home, or one of my homes,' answered Treebeard. 
     'Is it far?' 
     'I do not  know.  You might  call it far, perhaps.  But what does  tha t 
matter?'


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come to the feet of the mountains, and to the green roots of tall Methedras.  
Down the hillside  the young Entwash,  leaping  from its springs  high above,  
ran noisily from step to step to meet them. On the right of the stream there 
was  a long slope, clad with grass, now  grey in the twilight. No trees grew 
there  and  it  was  open  to  the sky;  stars were shining already in lakes 
between shores of cloud.  
     Treebeard  strode  up the slope,  hardly  slackening his pace. Suddenly 
before them the hobbits saw a wide opening. Two great trees stood there, one 
on  either side, like living gate-posts; bu t  there was  no gate  save their 
crossing and interwoven boughs. As  the old Ent approached, the trees lifted 
up their branches, and all  their leaves quivered and rustled. For they were 
evergreen trees, and their leaves were dark and polished, and gleamed in the 
twilight. Beyond them was a wide level space, as though the floor of a great


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set them  down  on  the  grass  between  the aisles  of the  trees, and they 
followed  him  towards the great arch. The  hobbits  now  noticed that as he 
walked his  knees  hardly bent, but  his  legs opened in  a great stride. He 
planted  his big toes (and they  were indeed  big, and very  broad)  on  the 
ground first, before any other part of his feet. 
     For a moment Treebeard stood under the rain of the falling  spring, and 
took a deep breath;  then he laughed, and passed inside. A great stone table 
stood there, but  no chairs. At  the back of the  bay  it was already  quite 
dark. Treebeard lifted two  great  vessels and stood them on the table. They 
seemed to  be  filled with water;  but he  held  his  hands over  them,  and 
immediately they began to glow,  one with a golden and the other with a rich 
green light; and  the blending of the two lights lit the bay; as  if the sun 
of  summer  was  shining through a roof of young  leaves. Looking back,  the


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'We must be off,' he said. 'Half a moment!' Grishnbkh's sword was lying 
close at hand, but it was too heavy and clumsy for him to use; so he crawled 
forward, and finding the body of the goblin  he  drew from its sheath a long 
sharp knife. With this he quickly cut their bonds.  
     'Now for it!' he said. 'When we've warmed up a bit, perhaps we shall be 
able  to stand again, and  walk.  But  in any case  we  had better start  by 
crawling.' 
     They crawled. The turf was deep and yielding, and that helped them: but 
it seemed a long slow business. They gave the watch-fire a wide  berth,  and 
wormed their way  forward bit  by  bit, until  they came to the edge  of the 
river, gurgling away in  the black shadows under its deep   banks. Then  they 
looked back. 
     The sounds  had  died away.  Evidently  Mauh®r  and his 'lads' had been 
killed or driven off. The Riders had returned to their silent ominous vigil.


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####-thoughtfully. 'But they would like your country, so I just wondered.' 
     Treebeard  was  however   especially  interested   in  everything  that 
concerned Gandalf;  and  most  interested of  all  in Saruman's  doings. The 
hobbits  regretted  very much that  they  knew so little  about them: only a  
rather  vague report by Sam of what Gandalf had told  the Council.  But they  
were clear  at  any rate that  Ugl®k and  his troop  came from Isengard, and 
spoke of Saruman as their master. 
     'Hm, hoom!'  said  Treebeard,  when at last  their story  had wound and 
wandered  down to the battle of the Orcs  and  the Riders  of Rohan.  'Well, 
well! That is a bundle of news and no mistake. You have not told me  all, no 
indeed, not by a long way. But I do not doubt that you a re  doing as Gandalf 
would wish. There is something very  big going on, that I can see, and  what 
it is maybe I shall learn  in good time, or in bad time. By  root  and twig,


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####-Saruman.' 
     'Who is  Saruman?'  asked  Pippin.  'Do  you know  anything  about  his 
history?'  'Saruman is  a  Wizard,' answered Treebeard.  'More  than  that I 
cannot say. I do not know the history of Wizards. They  appeared first after  
the Great Ships came over the Sea; but if they came with  the Ships  I never  
can tell. Saruman was  reckoned great among them.  I  believe.  He  gave  up 
wandering  about and minding the  affairs of Men and Elves, some time ago -- 
you would call it a very long time ago: and he settled down at Angrenost, or  
Isengard  as the Men of Rohan call  it. He was very quiet to begin with, but 
his fame began to gr ow. He was  chosen to be head of the White Council, they 
say; but that did not turn out too well. I wonder now  if even  then Saruman 
was not turning to evil ways. But at any  rate he used to give no trouble to 
his neighbours. I used to talk to him.  There was a time when  he was always


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happened to strangers for many a year. It is a queer land. 
     'And  so is  this. Folk have  come  to grief here. Aye, they  have ,  to 
grief.  Laurelindurenan lindelorendor malinornjlion ornemalin ,' he hummed to 
himself. 'They are falling rather  behind  the world in  there, I guess,' he 
said 'Neither  this country, nor anything else  outside the Golden  Wood, is 
what it was when Celeborn was young. Still: 
     Taurelilumla-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurla Lumlanor,1 
     that is what  they used to say.  Things have  changed, but it is  still 
true in places.' 
     'What do you mean?' said Pippin. 'What is true?' 
     'The trees and the Ents,' said Treebeard. 'I do not understand all that 
goes  on myself, so I cannot explain it  to  you. Some of us are  still true 
Ents, and  lively enough  in our fashion, but many are growing sleepy, going 
tree-ish, as you might say. Most of the trees are ju st trees, of course; but


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####-     The  drink was  like water, indeed very like  the taste of the draughts 
they had drunk from the  Entwash near, the borders  of the  forest,  and yet 
there was  some scent or savour in  it which they could not describe: it was 
faint, but it reminded them of  the smell of a distant wood borne  from afar 
by a cool breeze at night. The effect of the  draught began at the toes, and 
rose  steadily  through every limb, bringing  refreshment  and vigour  as it 
coursed upwards, right to the tips of the hair. Indeed the hobbits felt that 
the  hair  on  their heads was actually standing up,  waving and curling and 
growing. As for Treebeard, he first laved his feet  in the basin beyond  the 
arch, and then he  drained his bowl at one draught, one long, slow  draught. 
The hobbits thought he would never stop. 
     At last he  set the bowl down again. 'Ah -- ah,' he sighed. 'Hm,  hoom, 
now we can talk easier. You can sit on the floor, and  I will lie down; that


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green light; and  the blending of the two lights lit the bay; as  if the sun 
of  summer  was  shining through a roof of young  leaves. Looking back,  the 
hobbits saw that the trees in  the court had also begun to glow,  faintly at 
first, but steadily quickening, until  every leaf was edged with light: some 
green,  some gold, some red as  copper; while  the  tree-trunks  looked like 
pillars moulded out of luminous stone. 
     'Well, well, now we can talk again,' said Treebeard. 'You are thirsty I 
expect. Perhaps you are also tired. Drink this!' He went to the  back of the 
bay, and  then they saw that several tall stone jars stood there, with heavy 
lids. He removed  one of the lids, and dipped  in a great ladle, and with it 
filled three bowls, one very large bowl, and two smaller ones.  
     'This is an ent-house,' he said, 'and there are no seats, I  fear.  But 
you may sit on the table.'  Picking  up the hobbits he set them on the great


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would wish. There is something very  big going on, that I can see, and  what 
it is maybe I shall learn  in good time, or in bad time. By  root  and twig, 
but  it  is a strange business: up sprout a  little folk that are not in the 
old lists,  and behold  the Nine forgotten Riders reappear to hunt them, and 
Gandalf takes them  on a great journey, and Galadriel harbours them in Caras 
Galadhon, and Orcs pursue them down all the  leagues  of Wilderland:  indeed 
they seem to be caught up in a great storm. I hope they weather it!' 
     'And what about yourself?' asked Merry. 
     'Hoom, hm, I have not troubled  about the  Great Wars,' said Treebeard; 
'they mostly concern Elves and Men. That is the business of Wizards: Wizards 
are always troubled  about the future.  I  do not like  worrying  about  the 
future. I am not  altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether  
on my  side, if you understand me: nobody cares  for the woods as I care for


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evergreen trees, and their leaves were dark and polished, and gleamed in the 
twilight. Beyond them was a wide level space, as though the floor of a great 
hall had been cut  in the side of the hill. On either hand the  walls sloped 
upwards, until they were fifty feet high  or more, and along each wall stood 
an aisle of trees that also increased in height as they marched inwards.  
     At the far end the rock -wall was sheer,  but at  the bottom it had been 
hollowed back into a  shallow bay with an arched roof: the only roof of  the 
hall, save the branches  of  the trees, which  at the inner end overshadowed 
all the ground leaving only a broad open path in the middle. A little stream


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looked back. 
     The sounds  had  died away.  Evidently  Mauh®r  and his 'lads' had been 
killed or driven off. The Riders had returned to their silent ominous vigil. 
It would not last very much longer. Already  the night was old. In the East, 
which had remained unclouded, the sky was beginning to grow pale. 
     'We must get under cover,' said  Pippin, 'or we  shall be seen. It will 
not  be any  comfort  to us, if  these riders discover that we are  not Orcs 
after we are dead.' He got up and stamped his feet. 'Those cords have cut me 
like wires; but my feet are getting warm again. I could stagger on now. What 
about you, Merry?' 
     Merry got up. 'Yes,' he said, 'I can  manage it. Lembas does put  heart 
into  you! A more  wholesome sort  of  feeling, too, than  the heat  of that 
orc-draught.  I  wonder  what it was made of. Better not to  know, I expect. 
Let's get a drink of water to wash away the thought of it!'


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'To my home, or one of my homes,' answered Treebeard. 
     'Is it far?' 
     'I do not  know.  You might  call it far, perhaps.  But what does  tha t 
matter?' 
     'Well,  you see, we have lost all our belongings,' said Merry. 'We have 
only a little food.' 
     'O!  Hm! You need not  trouble about that,' said Treebeard. 'I can give 
you a drink that will keep you green and growing for a long, long while. And 
if we decide to part company, I can  set you down outside my  country at any 
point you choose. Let us go!' 
     Holding the hobbits gently but firmly, one  in  the crook of each  arm, 
Treebeard lifted up first one large foot and then the  other, and  moved them 
to the  edge  of  the  shelf. The  rootlike  toes grasped  the  rocks.  Then 
carefully  and solemnly, he  stalked down from step to step, and reached the 
floor of the Forest. 
     At once he set off with  long  deliberate strides  through  the  trees,


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The hobbits thought he would never stop. 
     At last he  set the bowl down again. 'Ah -- ah,' he sighed. 'Hm,  hoom, 
now we can talk easier. You can sit on the floor, and  I will lie down; that 
will prevent this drink from rising to my head and sending me to sleep.' 
     On the right side of  the  bay there  was a great bed on low legs;  not 
more than a couple of feet high,  covered  deep in dried grass  and bracken. 
Treebeard lowered himself slowly on to this (with only the slightest sign of 
bending at his  middle),  until he lay at full  length, with his arms behind 
his head, looking up at the ceiling. upon which lights were flickering, like 
the  play of leaves  in the sunshine. Merry  and Pippin  sat  beside him  on 
pillows of grass.  
     'Now tell me your tale, and do not hurry!' said Treebeard. 
     The hobbits began to tell him the story of their  adventures ever since 
they left Hobbiton. They followed  no very clear order, for they interrupted


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Ents, and  lively enough  in our fashion, but many are growing sleepy, going 
tree-ish, as you might say. Most of the trees are ju st trees, of course; but 
many are half  awake. Some  are quite wide awake, and a  few are,  well, ah,  
well getting Entish. That is going on all the time. 
     'When that happens to  a  tree,  you find that  some have  bad  hearts.  
Nothing to do with their wood: I do not mean that. Why, I knew some good old 
willows  down  the Entwash, gone  long ago,  alas!  They were  quite hollow, 
indeed  they were falling all to pieces, but as quiet and  sweet-spoken as a  
young  leaf.  And  then  there are  some  trees  in  the  valleys  under the 
mountains, sound as a bell, and bad right through.  That sort of thing seems 
to spread. There used to be some very dangerous parts in this country. There 
are still some very black patches.' 
     'Like the Old Forest away to the north, do you mean?' asked Merry.


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was not turning to evil ways. But at any  rate he used to give no trouble to 
his neighbours. I used to talk to him.  There was a time when  he was always 
walking about my woods. He was polite in  those days, always asking my leave 
(at  least when he  met me); and always  eager  to  listen. I told him  many 
things that he would never have found out by himself; but he never repaid me 
in like kind. I  cannot remember that he ever told.  me anything. And he got 
more and more like that; his face, as I remember  it-I  have not seen it for  
many  a  day-became  like windows  in  a stone  wall: windows with  shutters 
inside. 
     'I think  that I now understand  what he is  up  to. He  is plotting to 
become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels;  and he does not care for  
growing things, except as far as they serve him for the  moment.  And now it 
is clear that he is a  black traitor. He has taken up  with  foul folk, with


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'This is an ent-house,' he said, 'and there are no seats, I  fear.  But 
you may sit on the table.'  Picking  up the hobbits he set them on the great 
stone  slab, six feet  above the  ground, and there they  sat dangling their 
legs, and drinking in sips.


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The hobbits began to tell him the story of their  adventures ever since 
they left Hobbiton. They followed  no very clear order, for they interrupted 
one another continually, and Treebeard often stopped the  speaker, and  went 
back to some earlier point, or  jumped forward asking questions  about later  
events. They said  nothing whatever about the Ring, and did not tell him why 
they set  out or  where they  were going to;  and he  did not  ask  for  any 
reasons.  
     He  was  immensely interested in  everything: in  the  Black Riders, in 
Elrond, and Rivendell, in the Old Forest, and  Tom Bombadil, in the Mines of 
Moria, and in Lothlurien  and Galadriel. He made them describe the Shire and 
its country over and over  again. He  said an odd thing at  this point.  'You 
never see any, hm, any Ents round  there do you?' he asked. 'Well, not Ents,  
Entwives I should really say.' 
     'Entwives?' said Pippin. 'Are they like you at all?'


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carefully  and solemnly, he  stalked down from step to step, and reached the 
floor of the Forest. 
     At once he set off with  long  deliberate strides  through  the  trees, 
deeper  and  deeper into  the  wood, never  far  from  the  stream, climbing 
steadily up  towards  the slopes of the mountains. Many of the  trees seemed 
asleep, or as unaware of him as of any other creature that merely passed by;  
but  some quivered, and some  raised up  their branches above his head as he 
approached.  All  the  while, as he walked, he  talked to  himself in a long 
running stream of musical sounds.  
     The hobbits  were silent for some time. They  felt, oddly  enough, safe 
and  comfortable, and they had a great deal  to think and wonder  about.  At  
last Pippin ventured to speak again.


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growing things, except as far as they serve him for the  moment.  And now it 
is clear that he is a  black traitor. He has taken up  with  foul folk, with 
the Orcs. Brm,  hoom! Worse than that: he  has been doing something to them; 
something dangerous. For these Isengarders are more like wicked Men. It is a 
mark of evil things that came in the Great  Darkness  that they cannot abide 
the Sun;  but Saruman's  Orcs  can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder  
what he has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended the races of 
Orcs and Men? That would be a black evil!' 
     Treebeard  rumbled for a moment, as if he  were pronouncing some  deep, 
subterranean Entish malediction. 'Some  time ago I began to wonder  how Orcs 
dared to pass  through my woods so  freely,'  he went on. 'Only lately did I 
guess that  Saruman was to blame, and that  long ago he had been spying  out 
all the ways, and discovering  my secrets. He and his  foul folk are  making


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####-are hewn up and  carried off to feed  the fires of Orthanc. There is always a  
smoke rising from Isengard these days.  
     'Curse  him, root and branch!  Many  of those  trees  were  my  friends 
creatures I had known from nut and acorn; many had voices of their  own that 
are lost for ever now. And there are wastes of stump  and bramble where once 
there were singing groves. I have been idle. I have let things slip. It must 
stop!' 
     Treebeard raised  himself  from  his  bed  with a jerk,  stood  up, and 
thumped his hand on the table. The vessels of light trembled and sent up two  
jets  of  flame.  There  was a flicker like green fire in his  eyes, and his 
beard stood out stiff as a great besom. 
     'I will  stop it!' he boomed. 'And  you shall come  with me. You may be 
able  to help me. You will be helping your own friends that way, too; for if 
Saruman is not checked Rohan and Gondor will have an enemy behind as well 
as


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orc-draught.  I  wonder  what it was made of. Better not to  know, I expect. 
Let's get a drink of water to wash away the thought of it!' 
     'Not here, the banks are too steep,' said Pippin. 'Forward now!'


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to spread. There used to be some very dangerous parts in this country. There 
are still some very black patches.' 
     'Like the Old Forest away to the north, do you mean?' asked Merry. 
     'Aye, aye. something like, but much worse. I do not doubt there is some


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never see any, hm, any Ents round  there do you?' he asked. 'Well, not Ents,  
Entwives I should really say.' 
     'Entwives?' said Pippin. 'Are they like you at all?' 
     Yes,  hm,  well   no:  I  do  not  really  know   now,  said  Treebeard


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####-used to rouse up in winter; but of late he has been  too drowsy to walk   far 
even then.  Skinbark  lived on the mountain-slopes west of Isengard. That is 
where the worst  trouble  has been. He was wounded by the Orcs,  and many of 
his folk and his tree-herds have been murdered and destroyed. He has gone up 
into the high places, among the birches that he loves  best, and he will not 
come down. Still,  I  daresay I  could get  together a fair company  of  our 
younger folks-if  I could make  them understand the  need: if I could  rouse 
them: we are not a hasty folk. What a pity the re are so few of us!' 
     'Why are there so few  when  you  have  lived in this country so long?' 
asked Pippin. 'Have a great many died?' 
     'Oh, no!' said Treebeard. 'None  have died from  inside, as  you  might 
say. Some have  fallen in the evil chances of the long years, of course: and 
more have  grown tree-ish. But  there were never many of us and we have  not


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guess that  Saruman was to blame, and that  long ago he had been spying  out 
all the ways, and discovering  my secrets. He and his  foul folk are  making 
havoc now. Down on the borders  they are  felling  trees-good trees. Some of 
the trees they just cut down and leave to rot -- orc-mischief that; but most


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####-songs passed into the tongues of  Men. But we made  no songs about it, being 
content to chant  their beautiful names when we thought of the Entwives.  We 
believe that we may meet again in  a time to come, and perhaps we shall find 
somewhere  a  land where we can live together and both be content. But it is 
foreboded  that tha t will only be  when we have  both  lost all  that we now 
have.  And  it may  well be that that time is  drawing near at last. For  if 
Sauron of old destroyed the gardens, the Enemy today seems likely  to wither 
all the woods.  
     'There  was  an Elvish  song  that  spoke  of this, or at  least  so  I 
understand  it. It used to be sung up and down the Great River. It was never 
an Entish song, mark you: it would have been a very long song in Entish! But 
we  know it by heart, and  hum it now and again. This  is how it runs in your 
tongue: 
     ENT. 
     When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;


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####-easterly wind. Treebeard was not to be seen; but while Merry and Pippin were 
bathing in the basin by the arch, they heard him humming and  singing, as he 
came up the path between the trees.  
     'Hoo, ho! Good morning, Merry and Pippin!' he boomed, when he saw 
them. 
'You  sleep long. I have  been many a hundred  strides already today. Now we 
will have a drink, and go to Entmoot.' 
     He  poured  them  out two  full bowls  from a  stone  jar;  but  from a  
different jar. The taste was not the same  as it  had been the night before: 
it was earthier and  richer, more sustaining and  food-like,  so  to  speak. 
While the hobbits drank, sitting on the edge of  the bed, and nibbling small 
pieces of elf-cake (more because they felt that eating was a  necessary part 
of breakfast than  because they  felt  hungry), Treebeard stood,  humming in 
Entish or Elvish or some strange tongue, and looking up at the sky. 
     'Where is Entmoot?' Pippin ventured to ask.


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####-     ent. 
     When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay; 
     When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day; 
     When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain  
     I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again! 
 
     entwife. 
     When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last; 
     When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past; 
     I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again: 
     Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain! 
 
     both. 
     Together we will take the road that leads into the West, 
     And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.' 
 
     Treebeard ended  his song.  'That  is  how it goes,'  he  said.  'It is 
Elvish, of course: lighthearted, quickworded, and soon over. I daresay it is 
fair  enough. But the Ents could say  more on their side,  if they had time!


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we  know it by heart, and  hum it now and again. This  is how it runs in your 
tongue: 
     ENT. 
     When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough; 
     When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow;  
     When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain -air, 
     Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair! 
 
     entwife. 
     When Spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in the blade; 
     When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard laid; 
     When shower and Sun upon the Earth with fragrance fill the air, 
     I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair. 
 
     ent. 
     When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold  
     Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold; 
     When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, 
     Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best! 
 
     entwife.


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####-the trees; but Treebeard did not stop or turn his head to either side. 
     They had been going for a  long while  -- Pippin had tried to keep count 
of the 'ent-strides' but had failed, getting lost at about three thousand -- 
when  Treebeard  began to  slacken his pace. Suddenly he  stopped,  put  the 
hobbits down, and raised his curled  hands to his mouth so that they  made a  
hollow tube; then he blew or called through them. A great hoom, hom rang out 
like a deep-throated horn in the woods, and seemed  to echo  from the trees.  
Far off there came from  several directions  a similar  hoom, hom, hoom that 
was not an echo but an answer. 
     Treebeard  now perched Merry and Pippin on his shoulders  and strode on 
again, every now and then sending out another horn-call,  and each time  the 
answers came louder and nearer. In this way they came at last to what looked 
like an impenetrable  wall of dark evergreen trees, trees of a kind that the


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Elvish, of course: lighthearted, quickworded, and soon over. I daresay it is 
fair  enough. But the Ents could say  more on their side,  if they had time! 
But now I am going to stand  up  and  take  a little sleep.  Where  will you  
stand?' 
     'We usually  lie down to  sleep,' said Merry.  'We  shall  be all right 
where we are.' 
     'Lie down to sleep!' said Treebeard. 'Why of course you do! Hm, hoom: I  
was  forgetting:  singing that song  put  me in mind  of  old times;  almost  
thought that I was talking to young Entings, I did. Well, you can lie on the 
bed. I am going to stand in the rain. Good night!' 
     Merry  and Pippin climbed on to the bed and curled up in the soft grass 
and fern. It was fresh,  and sweet-scented, and warm. The lights died  down, 
and the glow of the trees faded; but outside  under  the arch they could see 
old Treebeard standing, motionless, with his arms raised above his head. The


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say. Some have  fallen in the evil chances of the long years, of course: and 
more have  grown tree-ish. But  there were never many of us and we have  not 
increased. There have been no Entings  -- no children, you would say, not for  
a terrible long count of years. You see, we lost the Entwives.' 
     'How very sad!' said Pippin. 'How was it that they all died?' 
     'They did not die!' said Treebeard. 'I never said died. We lost them, I 
said. We lost them and we cannot find them.' He sighed. 'I thought most folk  
knew that. There were songs about the hunt of the Ents for the Entwives sung 
among  Elves  and  Men  from  Mirkwood  to  Gondor.  They  cannot  be  quite 
forgotten.' 
     'Well, I  am  afraid the songs have not come west over the Mountains to 
the Shire,'  said Merry. 'Won't you tell us some more, or sing us one of the 
songs?' 
     'Yes, I will indeed,' said Treebeard, seeming pleased with the request.


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of breakfast than  because they  felt  hungry), Treebeard stood,  humming in 
Entish or Elvish or some strange tongue, and looking up at the sky. 
     'Where is Entmoot?' Pippin ventured to ask. 
     'Hoo, eh? Entmoot?' said Treebeard, turning round. 'It is not a  place, 
it  is a  gathering of Ents  --  which does not often happen nowadays.  But I 
have  managed  to make a fair number  promise to come.  We shall meet in the 
place  where we have always met: Derndingle  Men  call it.  It is away south 
from here. We must be there before noon.' 
     Before long they set off. Treebeard carried the  hobbits in his arms as 
on the previous day. At  the entrance to  the court he turned  to the right, 
stepped over the stream, and strode away southwards along  the feet of great 
tumbled slopes where trees were scanty. Above these the hobbits saw thickets 
of birch and rowan, and beyond them dark climbing pinewoods.  Soon 
Treebeard


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####-let fall in their path;  and they learned of  the Elves and  spoke  with the 
Trees. But  the Entwives gave their  minds to the  lesser trees, and to  the 
meads in the sunshine  beyond the feet of the forests; and they saw the sloe 
in the thicket, and  the wild apple and the cherry blossoming in spring, and 
the green herbs in the waterlands in summer, and the seeding grasses in  the 
autumn  fields. They  did  not desire  to  speak with these things; but they 
wished  them to  hear and obey what was said to  them. The  Entwives ordered 
them to  grow  according to  their wishes, and bear leaf and fruit to  their 
liking; for the Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they 
meant that things should remain  where they had set them).  So the  Entwives 
made gardens to live in. But  we Ents went on wandering, and we only came to 
the gardens  now and again. Then when the  Darkness came  in  the North, the


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When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, 
     Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best! 
 
     entwife. 
     When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown; 
     When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town ; 
     When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West, 
     I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best!


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answers came louder and nearer. In this way they came at last to what looked 
like an impenetrable  wall of dark evergreen trees, trees of a kind that the 
hobbits had never seen  before:  they branched out right from the roots, and 
were densely clad in dark glossy leaves like thornless holly, and  they bore 
many stiff upright flower -spikes with large shining olive-coloured buds.  
     Turning to the  left and skirting this huge hedge  Treebeard  came in a  
few strides to a  narrow entrance. Through it a  worn path passed  and dived 
suddenly down  a long steep slope. The hobbits saw that they were descending 
into a great  dingle, almost as round as a bowl, very wide and deep, crowned  
at the rim with the high dark evergreen hedge. It  was smooth and  grassclad 
inside,  and  there were no  trees  except  three  very tall  and  beautiful 
silver -birches that stood at the  bottom  of the bowl.  Two  other paths led 
down into the dingle: from the west and from the east.


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and the glow of the trees faded; but outside  under  the arch they could see 
old Treebeard standing, motionless, with his arms raised above his head. The 
bright stars peered out of the sky, and lit the falling water as  it spilled 
on to his fingers  and head,  and  dripped, dripped, in  hundreds  of silver 
drops on to  his  feet. Listening to the tinkling of  the drops  the hobbits 
fell asleep. 
     They  woke to find a cool sun  shining into the great court, and on  to 
the floor of the bay. Shreds of high cloud were overhead, running on a stiff


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the Shire,'  said Merry. 'Won't you tell us some more, or sing us one of the 
songs?' 
     'Yes, I will indeed,' said Treebeard, seeming pleased with the request. 
'But  I  cannot  tell it properly, only in short; and then  we  must end our 
talk: tomorrow we have councils to call, and work to do, and maybe a journey 
to begin.' 
     'It is rather a strange and sad story,' he went on after a pause. 'When 
the  world  was young, and the woods were  wide  and wild,  the Ents and the 
Entwives  --  and  there  were  Entmaidens  then:  ah!   the  loveliness  of 
Fimbrethil, of Wandlimb the  lightfooted, in the days of our  youth! -- they 
walked  together  and they  housed together.  But our  hearts did not  go on 
growing in the same way: the Ents gave their love to things that they met in 
the world, and the Entwives gave their thought to other things, for the Ents 
loved the great trees; and the wild woods, and the slopes of the high hills;


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####-the dingle, and as many more were marching in. 
     At first Merry and Pippin were struck chiefly by the variety  that they 
saw: the many shapes, and colours, the differences in girth; and height, and 
length of leg and arm; and in the number of toes  and fingers (anything from 
three to nine). A few seemed more or less related to Treebeard, and reminded 
them of beech-trees  or oaks. But  there were other kinds. Some recalled the 
chestnut: brown-skinned Ents with large splayfingered hands, and short thick 
legs. Some recalled  the  ash:  tall straight grey  Ents  with many-fingered 
hands and long legs; some  the fir (the tallest Ents), and others the birch, 
the  rowan, and the linden.  But when the Ents all gather ed round Treebeard, 
bowing their  heads  slightly, murmuring in  their  slow musical voices, and 
looking long  and intently at the strangers, then the hobbits saw  that they 
were all of the same kindred, and all had  the same eyes: not all so old  or


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made gardens to live in. But  we Ents went on wandering, and we only came to 
the gardens  now and again. Then when the  Darkness came  in  the North, the 
Entwives crossed  the Great  River, and made new  gardens,  and  tilled  new 
fields, and  we saw  them more seldom. After the Darkness was overthrown the 
land of the Entwives blossomed richly,  and their  fields were full of corn. 
Many men learned the crafts of  the  Entwives and honoured them greatly; but 
we were only a legend to them, a secret in the heart of the forest. Yet here 
we still are,  while  all  the gardens of the Entwives are  wasted: Men call 
them the Brown Lands now. 
     'I remember it was  long ago --  in the time of  the war between Sauron 
and the Men of the Sea -- desire came over me to see Fimbrethil  again. Very 
fair she was still in my eyes, when I had last seen her, though  little like 
the  Entmaiden  of old.  For  the Entwives were bent  and  browned  by their


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able  to help me. You will be helping your own friends that way, too; for if 
Saruman is not checked Rohan and Gondor will have an enemy behind as well 
as 
in front. Our roads go together -- to Isengard!' 
     'We will come with you,' said Merry. 'We will do wha t we can.' 
     'Yes!' said  Pippin. 'I should like to see the White Hand overthrown. I 
should like  to be there, even if I could not  be of much use: I shall never  
forget Ugl®k and the crossing of Rohan.' 
     'Good! Good!'  said  Treebeard. 'But I spoke   hastily. We must  not  be 
hasty. I have become too hot. I must cool myself and think; fur it is easier 
to shout stop! than to do it.' 
     He strode to the archway and stood for some time under the falling rain 
of the spring. Then he laughed and shook himself, and wherever the  drops of 
water fell glittering from him to the ground they glinted like red and green 
sparks. He came back and laid himself on the bed again and was silent.


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tumbled slopes where trees were scanty. Above these the hobbits saw thickets 
of birch and rowan, and beyond them dark climbing pinewoods.  Soon 
Treebeard 
turned a little away from the hills and plunged into deep groves,  where the 
trees were  larger, taller, and  thicker  than any that the hobbits had ever 
seen before. For a  while they felt faintly the sense of stifling which they 
had  noticed when  they  first ventured into Fangorn,  but it  soon  passed. 
Treebeard  did   not  talk  to  them.  He   hummed  to  himself  deeply  and 
thoughtfully,  but Merry and Pippin caught no proper words: it sounded  like 
boom, boom, rumboom, boorar, boom, boom, dahrar boom boom, dahrar 
boom,  and 
so on with  a constant change of note and rhythm. Now and again they thought 
they heard an answer, a hum or a quiver of sound, that seemed  to come out of 
the earth, or  from boughs above  their heads, or perhaps  from the boles of


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silver -birches that stood at the  bottom  of the bowl.  Two  other paths led 
down into the dingle: from the west and from the east. 
     Several Ents had already arrived.  More were coming  in down the  other  
paths, and  some were now following Treebeard. As they drew near the hobbits 
gazed  at them.  They had expected to see a number of creatures as much like 
Treebeard as  one hobbit is like another (at any  rate to a stranger's eye); 
and they were very much surprised to see nothing of the  kind. The Ents were 
as different from  one another as trees from trees: some as different as one 
tree  is  from  another of the  same  name  but  quite  different growth and 
history; and some as different  as one tree-kind from another, as birch from 
beech; oak from fir. There were a few older Ents,  bearded and gnarled  like 
hale  but  ancient trees (though none looked  as ancient as Treebeard);  and 
there   were  tall  strong  Ents,   clean-limbed  and  smooth-skinned   like


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####-yonder in the north bank.  There are still  some  words  to speak before the 
Moot really begins.  I will come  and see you again, and tell you how things 
are going.' 
     He put the hobbits down. Before they walked away, they bowed  low. This 
feat  seemed  to amuse  the Ents very much, to judge by the  tone  of  their 
murmurs, and the flicker of their  eyes; but they soon turned  back to their 
own  business. Merry  and Pippin  climbed up the path that came in from  the 
west, and looked  through the opening in the  great  hedge.  Long  tree-clad 
slopes  rose  from  the  lip of  the dingle, and away beyond them, above the 
fir-trees of the furthest  ridge there rose, sharp and white, the peak of  a  
high  mountain.  Southwards to their left they could see the forest  falling 
away  down  into  the  grey distance. There far  away there was a pale green 
glimmer that Merry guessed to be a glimpse of the plains of Rohan. 
     'I wonder where Isengard is?' said Pippin.


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the world, and the Entwives gave their thought to other things, for the Ents 
loved the great trees; and the wild woods, and the slopes of the high hills; 
and they drank of the mountain-streams, and ate only such fruit as the trees


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looking long  and intently at the strangers, then the hobbits saw  that they 
were all of the same kindred, and all had  the same eyes: not all so old  or  
so  deep  as Treebeard's,  but  all  with the  same slow, steady, thoughtful 
expression, and the same green flicker. 
     As soon as the  whole company was assembled,  standing in a wide circle  
round  Treebeard, a curious and unintelligible conversation began.  The Ents 
began to murmur slowly: first  one joined and then  another, until they were 
all chanting together in a long rising and falling rhythm, now louder on one 
side  of  the ring, now dying away there and rising to a great boom  on  the 
other  side. Though he could not catch or  understand any of the words  -- he 
supposed the language was Entish  -- Pippin found the  sound very pleasant to 
listen to at first;  but gradually his attention wavered.  After a long time 
(and the  chant showed no signs  of  sla ckening) he found himself wondering,


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####-the high hedge: it gleamed on the tops of  the birches and lit the northward 
side of the  dingle  with  a  cool yellow  light.  There they  saw  a little 
glittering fountain. They walked along the rim of the great bowl at the feet 
of the evergreens-it was pleasant to feel cool grass about their toes again, 
and  not to  be in a hurry-and then they climbed down  to the gushing water.  
They drank a little,  a clean, cold, sharp  draught, and sat down on a mossy 
stone,  watching the  patches of  sun  on the grass and the shadows  of  the 
sailing clouds passing over the  floor of the dingle. The murmur of the Ents 
went on. It seemed a very strange and remote place, outside their world, and 
far from everything  that had ever  happened  to  them. A great longing  came 
over them for the faces and voices of their companions. especially for Frodo 
and Sam, and for Strider. 
     At last there came  a pause in the  Ent-voices; and looking up they saw


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future. I am not  altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether  
on my  side, if you understand me: nobody cares  for the woods as I care for  
them, not even  Elves nowadays. Still,  I  take more kindly to Elves than  to 
others: it was the Elves that cured us of  dumbness long ago, and that was a  
great gift that cannot be forgotten, though our  ways have parted since. And 
there are  some things, of  course, whose side I am altogether not  on; I am 
against  them altogether: these -- burbrum' (he again  made a deep rumble of 
disgust)' -- these Orcs, and their masters.  
     'I  used to  be  anxious  when the shadow lay on Mirkwood, but when  it 
removed to Mordor, I did not trouble for a while : Mordor is a long way away. 
But it seems that the wind is setting  East,  and the withering of all woods 
may  be  drawing near.  There is naught that an old Ent can  do to hold back  
that storm: he must weather it or crack.


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water fell glittering from him to the ground they glinted like red and green 
sparks. He came back and laid himself on the bed again and was silent. 
     After some time the hobbits heard him murmuring  again. He seemed to be 
counting  on his fingers. 'Fangorn,  Finglas, Fladrif, aye, aye,' he sighed. 
'The trouble is  that there are so  few of us left,' he said turning towards 
the hobbits. 'Only  three remain of the first Ents that walked in the  woods 
before  the  Darkness: only myself, Fangorn, and  Finglas  and Fladrif  -- to 
give them their Elvish names; you may call them Leaflock and Skinbark if you  
like that better. And of us three Leaflock and Skinbark are not much use for  
this business. Leaflock has grown sleepy. almost  tree-ish, you might say: he 
has taken to standing by himself half-asleep all through the summer with the 
deep grass of the meadows round his knees. Covered with leafy hair he is. He


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fair she was still in my eyes, when I had last seen her, though  little like 
the  Entmaiden  of old.  For  the Entwives were bent  and  browned  by their  
labour; their hair  parched  by the sun to the hue  of ripe corn  and  their 
cheeks  like  red apples.  Yet their eyes were still  the eyes  of  our  own 
people.  We  crossed  over Anduin and came to  their  land:  but  we found a  
desert: it was all  burned and uprooted, for war had passed over it. But the 
Entwives were not there. Long  we called, and long we searched; and we asked 
all  folk  that  we  met which way the Entwives had gone. Some said they had 
never seen them;  and  some said that they had seen them walking  away west, 
and some said east, and others south. But nowhere that we went could we find 
them. Our sorrow was very great. Yet the wild  wood called, and we  returned 
to it. For many years we used to go out every now and again and look for the


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away  down  into  the  grey distance. There far  away there was a pale green 
glimmer that Merry guessed to be a glimpse of the plains of Rohan. 
     'I wonder where Isengard is?' said Pippin. 
     'I  don't  know quite where  we are,'  said  Merry;  'but that peak  is 
probably Methedras. and as far  as I can remember the  ring of Isengard lies 
in a  fork or deep cleft  at the end of the  mountains. It  is probably down 
behind this  great ridge. There seems to be a smoke or haze over there, left 
of the peak, don't you think?' 
     'What  is Isengard like?' said Pippin. 'I wonder what Ents can do a bout 
it anyway.'  'So do I,' said Merry.  'Isengard is a sort of ring of rocks or  
hills, I think, with a flat space inside and an island or pillar of rock  in 
the  middle, called Orthanc. Saruman has  a tower  on  it. There  is a gate, 
perhaps  more  than   one, in the encircling wall,  and I  believe there is a


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listen to at first;  but gradually his attention wavered.  After a long time 
(and the  chant showed no signs  of  sla ckening) he found himself wondering, 
since  Entish  was  such  an 'unhasty'  language,  whether they had yet  got 
further than Good Morning; and if  Treebeard  was to call the roll, how many 
days it would take to sing all their names. 'I wonder what the Entish is for  
yes or no,' he thought. He yawned. 
     Treebeard  was immediately  aware  of him. 'Hm, ha, hey, my Pippin!' he 
said,  and the other Ents all stopped their chant. 'You are a hasty folk,  I 
was forgetting; and anyway it is  wearisome listening to a speech you do not 
understand. You may get down now. I have told your names to the Entmoot, 
and 
they have seen you, and they have agreed that you are not Orcs, and  that  a  
new line shall be put in the old lists. We have got no further yet, but that 
is quick work for an Entmoot. You and Merry  can stroll about in the dingle,


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####-wetting their beards. Come with me!' 
     He reached down two shapely arms and gave a long -fingered hand to  each 
of  the hobbits. All that day  they  walked  about in  the  woods with  him, 
singing, and laughing; for Quickbeam  often  laughed. He laughed if the  sun 
came out from  behind  a cloud, he laughed  if  they came upon a  stream  or  
spring: then  he stooped  and  splashed  his  feet  and head with water;  he 
laughed sometimes  at some sound or whisper in  the trees. Whenever he saw a  
rowan-tree he halted a  while  with  his  arms stretched out,  and sang, and 
swayed as he sang. 
     At  nightfall  he  brought  them to his ent-house:  nothing more than a  
mossy stone set upon turves under a green bank. Rowan-trees grew in a circle 
about it, and there was water  (as in all ent-houses), a spring bubbling out 
from the bank. They  talked for a while as darkness fell on  the forest. Not


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over them for the faces and voices of their companions. especially for Frodo 
and Sam, and for Strider. 
     At last there came  a pause in the  Ent-voices; and looking up they saw 
Treebeard coming towards them. with another Ent at his side. 
     'Hm, hoom, here I am again,' said Treebeard. 'Are you getting weary, or 
feeling  impatient,  hmm,  eh? Well, I  am  afraid  that  you  must  not get 
impatient yet. We have finished the first stage now; but I have still got to 
explain things again to those that live a  long  way off, far from Isengard, 
and those that I could not get round to before the Moot, and  after that  we 
shall have to decide  what to do. However, deciding what to do does not take 
Ents so  long as going over all the facts  and events that  they have to make 
up their  minds  about. Still, it is no use denying, we shall be here a long 
time yet: a couple of  days very likely. So I  have brought you a companion.


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####-     Your rind so bright, your leaves so light, your voice so cool and soft: 
     Upon your head how golden-red the crown you bore aloft! 
     O rowan dead, upon your head your hair is dry and grey; 
     Your crown is spilled, your voice is stilled for ever and a day. 
     O Orofarnl, Lassemista, Carnimnril! 
     The hobbits  fell asleep to the sound of  the soft singing of Bregalad, 
that seemed to lament in many tongues the fall of trees that he had loved. 
     The next day they spent also in his company,  but they  did not  go far 
from his 'house'. Most of the time they sat silent under the shelter  of the 
bank; for  the wind was colder, and  the clouds closer and greyer; there was 
little sunshine,  and in the  distance the voices  of  the Ents at the  Moot 
still  rose  and  fell, sometimes  loud  and strong, sometimes low  and sad, 
sometimes  quickening, sometimes slow and solemn as a dirge. A  second night


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them. Our sorrow was very great. Yet the wild  wood called, and we  returned 
to it. For many years we used to go out every now and again and look for the 
Entwives.  walking far and wide and  calling  them by their beautiful names.  
But as time passed we went  more  seldom and  wandered less far. And now the 
Entwives are only a memory for us, and our  beards  are  long and  grey. The 
Elves made many songs concerning the Search of  the  Ents,  and some of  the


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new line shall be put in the old lists. We have got no further yet, but that 
is quick work for an Entmoot. You and Merry  can stroll about in the dingle, 
if you like.  There is  a well of  good water, if you  need refreshing, away


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up their  minds  about. Still, it is no use denying, we shall be here a long 
time yet: a couple of  days very likely. So I  have brought you a companion.  
He  has an ent-house nearby.  Bregalad  is his  Elvish name. He says  he has 
already made up his mind and does not need to remain at the Moot. Hm, hm, he 
is the nearest thing among us to a hasty Ent. You ought  to get on together. 
Good-bye!' Treebeard turned and left them. 
     Bregalad  stood for some  time surveying the hobbits solemnly; and they  
looked at him, wondering when he would show any signs of 'hastiness'. He was 
tall, and seemed to be one of the  younger Ents;  he had smooth shining skin 
on  his arms and legs; his lips  were ruddy, and his hair was grey-green. He 
could bend and  sway like a slender tree in the wind. At last  he spoke, and 
his voice though resonant was higher and clearer than Treebeard's.  
     'Ha, hmm, my friends, let us go  for a walk!' he said. 'I  am Bregalad,


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still  rose  and  fell, sometimes  loud  and strong, sometimes low  and sad, 
sometimes  quickening, sometimes slow and solemn as a dirge. A  second night 
came and  still  the  Ents  held conclave under hurrying  clouds  and fitful 
stars. 
     The third day broke, bleak and windy.   At sunrise the Ents' voices rose 
to a great clamour and then died down again. As the morning wore on the wind 
fell  and  the  air grew  heavy with expectancy. The hobbits could  see that 
Bregalad  was now listening intently, although to them,  down in the dell of 
his ent-house, the sound of the Moot was faint. 
     The afternoon came, and the sun, going west towards the mountains. sent 
out  long  yellow beams  between the  cracks  and  fissures of  the  clouds.  
Suddenly they were aware  that  everything wa s very quiet; the  whole forest  
stood in listening silence. Of course, the Ent -voices had stopped.  What did 
that mean? Bregalad was standing up erect and tense, looking back northwards


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about it, and there was water  (as in all ent-houses), a spring bubbling out 
from the bank. They  talked for a while as darkness fell on  the forest. Not 
far away  the voices of  the Entmoot  could be heard still going on; but now 
they seemed deeper and less  leisurely,  and every  now  and again one great 
voice would rise in a high and  quickening music,  while all the others died 
away.  But beside them Bregalad  spoke gently  in their  own  tongue, almost 
whispering; and they learned that  he belonged to Skinbark's people, and the  
country where they had lived had been ravaged. That  seemed  to the  hobbits 
quite enough to explain his 'hastiness', at least in the matter of Orcs. 
     'There were rowan-trees in my home,'  said Bregalad,  softly and sadly, 
'rowan-trees that took root when I was an Enting, many many years ago in the 
quiet of the  world. The  oldest were planted by the Ents to try  and please


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####-keeping step with their feet  and beating time  with  their hands upon their 
flanks. As they drew near the flash and flicker of their eyes could be seen. 
     'Hoom, hom! Here we  come with a  boom, here  we come at last!'  called  
Treebeard when he caught sight of Bregalad  and the hobbits. 'Come, join the 
Moot! We are off. We are off to Isengard!' 
     'To Isengard!' the Ents cried in many voices.  
     'To Isengard!' 
     To Isengard! Though Isengard be ringed and barred with doors of stone; 
     Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone, 
     We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door; 
     For bole and bough are burning now, the furnace roars -- we go to war! 
     To land of gloom with tramp  of doom, with  roll  of drum, we come,  we  
come; 
     To Isengard with doom we come! 
     With doom we come, with doom we come! 
     So they sang as they marched southwards.


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stood in listening silence. Of course, the Ent -voices had stopped.  What did 
that mean? Bregalad was standing up erect and tense, looking back northwards 
towards Derndingle. 
     Then with  a crash came  a great ringing shou t:  ra-hoom-rah! The trees 
quivered and bent as if a gust had struck them. There was another pause, and 
then a  marching  music began like solemn drums, and above the rolling beats 
and booms there welled voices singing high and strong. 
     We come, we come with roll of drum: ta -runda runda runda rom! 
     The Ents were coming: ever nearer and louder rose their song: 
     We come, we come with horn and drum: ta -ryna ryna ryna rom! 
     Bregalad picked up the hobbits and strode from his house. 
     Before  long  they  saw the  marching  line approaching: the Ents  were 
swinging along with great strides down the slope towards them. Treebeard was 
at  their head,  and  some  fifty followers  were  behind him,  two abreast,


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####-we are. Maybe you have heard  of Trolls? They  are mighty strong. But Trolls 
are only counterfeits. made by the  Enemy in the Great  Darkness, in mockery 
of Ents, as Orcs were of Elves. We are stronger than Trolls.  We are made of 
the  bones  of  the earth. We can split stone like  the roots of trees, only 
quicker, far quicker, if our minds are roused!  If we  are not hewn down, or  
destroyed  by  fire  or blast  of  sorcery,  we could  split  Isengard  into 
splinters and crack its walls into rubble.' 
     'But Saruman will try to stop you. won't he?' 
     'Hm,  ah, yes, that is so. I  have  not  forgotten  it.  Indeed  I have 
thought long about it. But. you see, many of the Ents are younger than I am.  
by many lives of trees. They  are all  roused now. and  their mind is all on  
one  thing: breaking Isengard.  But they will  start  thinking  again before 
long; they  will  cool down a little.  when we take our evening drink. What a


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'rowan-trees that took root when I was an Enting, many many years ago in the 
quiet of the  world. The  oldest were planted by the Ents to try  and please 
the Entwives;  but  they looked at them and smiled and  said  that they knew 
where  whiter blossom and richer fruit were growing. Yet there are no  trees 
of all  that race, the people of the Rose, that are  so beautiful to me. And 
these trees grew and grew, till the  shadow of each  was like a  green hall, 
and  their red  berries in the  autumn  were  a burden,  and a beauty  and a  
wonder. Birds used to flock there. I like birds, even when they chatter; and 
the  rowan has enough  and  to  spare. But  the birds became  unfriendly and 
greedy  and tore at the trees, and threw  the fruit down and did not eat it. 
Then  Orcs came  with axes and cut down my trees. I came  and called them by 
their long names, but they did not quiver, they did not hear or answer: they 
lay dead. 
     O Orofarnl, Lassemista, Carnimnril!


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his voice though resonant was higher and clearer than Treebeard's.  
     'Ha, hmm, my friends, let us go  for a walk!' he said. 'I  am Bregalad, 
that  is Quickbeam in your language. But it is on ly  a  nickname, of course. 
They have called me that ever since I said yes to an elder Ent before he had 
finished his question. Also I drink quickly, and go out while some are still


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one  thing: breaking Isengard.  But they will  start  thinking  again before 
long; they  will  cool down a little.  when we take our evening drink. What a  
thirst we shall have! But let them march now and sing! We have a long way to 
go, and there is time ahead for thought. It is something to have started.' 
     Treebeard marched on, singing with the others for a  while.  But after a  
time his voice died to a murmur and fell silent again. Pippin could see that 
his old  brow was wrinkled and  knotted.  At  last he  looked up, and Pippin 
could see a sad look in his eyes,  sad but not unhappy. There was a light in 
them, as if   the green  flame had  sunk deeper into the  dark  wells of  his 
thought. 
     'Of course, it  is likely  enough, my friends,' he said slowly, 'likely 
enough that we are going to  our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we 
stayed at home  and did noth ing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later.


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But it seems that the wind is setting  East,  and the withering of all woods 
may  be  drawing near.  There is naught that an old Ent can  do to hold back  
that storm: he must weather it or crack. 
     'But Saruman now! Saruman is a neighbour: I cannot overlook him. I must  
do something. I suppose. I have often wondered lately what I should do about


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come; 
     To Isengard with doom we come! 
     With doom we come, with doom we come! 
     So they sang as they marched southwards. 
     Bregalad, his eyes shining, swung into  the  line beside Treebeard. The 
old Ent  now took the hobbits back, and set them on his shoulders again, and 
so they rode proudly at the head of  the sin ng  company with beating hearts 
and heads held high. Though they ad expected something to happen eventually, 
they were amazed at the change that had come over the Ents. It seemed now as 
sudden  as the bursting of a flood that had long been held back by a dike. 
     'The Ents made up  their minds rather quickly, after all, didn't they?' 
Pippin  ventured to  say  after  some time, when  for a  moment  the singing 
paused, and only the beating of hands and feet was heard. 
     'Quickly?' said Treebeard. 'Hoom! Yes, indeed. Quicker than I expected. 
Indeed I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not


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their long names, but they did not quiver, they did not hear or answer: they 
lay dead. 
     O Orofarnl, Lassemista, Carnimnril! 
     O rowan fair, upon your hair how white the blossom lay! 
     O rowan mine, I saw you shine upon a summer's day,


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####-their work too well.' 
     For some  time the companions crawled and groped upon  the  ground. The 
tree stood  mournfully above  them, its  dry  leaves now hanging  limp,  and  
rattling in the chill  easterly wind. Aragorn moved  slowly away. He came to  
the ashes of the watch-fire  near the river -bank, and then  began to retrace 
the ground back towards the knoll where the battle had been fought. Suddenly 
he stooped and bent low with his face almost in the grass. Then he called to 
the others. They came running up. 
     'Here at  last we find  news!' said Aragorn. He lifted up a broken leaf 
for them  to see,  a large  pale leaf of golden  hue, now fading and turning 
brown. 'Here is a mallorn-leaf  of Lurien, and there are small crumbs on it, 
and a  few more crumbs in the grass.  And  see! there are  some pieces of cut 
cord lying nearby!' 
     'And here is  the knife that cut them!' said Gimli. He stooped and drew


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'My very bones are chilled,' said Gimli, flapping his arms and stamping 
his  feet.  Day  had  come at last.  At dawn  the companions  had made  such 
breakfast as they could; now in the growing light they were getting ready to  
search the ground again for signs of the hobbits. 
     'And do not forget that old man!' said Gimli. 'I should be happier if I 
could see the print of a boot.' 
     'Why would that make you happy?' said Legolas.  
     'Because an old man with feet that leave marks might be no more than he 
seemed,' answered the Dwarf.  
     'Maybe,' said the Elf; 'but a heavy boot might leave no print here: the 
grass is deep and springy.' 
     'That would not  baffle a Ranger,' said Gimli.  'A bent blade is enough 
for Aragorn to read.  But I do not expect  him to find any traces. It was an 
evil phantom of Saruman that we saw last night.  I am sure of it, even under  
the light of morning. His eyes are looking out on us from Fangorn even  now,  
maybe.'


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the  middle, called Orthanc. Saruman has  a tower  on  it. There  is a gate, 
perhaps  more  than   one, in the encircling wall,  and I  believe there is a  
stream running  through it; it  comes  out  of  the  mountains, and flows on 
across the Gap  of  Rohan. It does not seem the  sort  of place for  Ents to 
tackle.  But I  have an odd feeling  about these Ents: somehow I don't think  
they are quite as safe and, well funny as  they seem. They seem slow, queer, 
and  patient, almost  sad; and yet I believe  they could  be roused.  If that 
happened, I would rather not be on the other side.' 
     'Yes!' said  Pippin.  'I  know  what you mean.  There might be  all the 
difference between an old cow sitting and  thoughtfully chewing, and a  bull  
charging; and the change might come  suddenly.  I wonder  if  Treebeard will 
rouse them. I am sure he means to  try.  Bu t they don't like  being  roused. 
Treebeard got roused himself last night, and then bottled it up again.'


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####-tree on the very edge of the wood more prints were discovered. The earth was 
bare and dry, and did not reveal much. 
     'One hobbit at least stood  here for a while and looked  back; and then 
he turned away into the forest,' said Aragorn. 
     'Then we must go  in, too,' said Gimli. 'But I do not like the look  of 
this Fangorn: and  we  were  warned  against  it. I  wish the chase had  led 
anywhere else!' 
     'I do  not think  the wood feels evil,  whatever  tales  may say,' said 
Legolas. He stood under the  eaves of the forest, stooping forward, as if he 
were listening, and peering with wide eyes into the shadows. 'No, it is  not 
evil; or what evil is in it is far away. I catch only the faintest echoes of 
dark places where the hearts of the trees are black. There is no malice near 
us; but there is watchfulness, and anger.' 
     'Well, it has no cause to be angry with me,'  said Gimli.  'I have done 
it no harm. '


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and a  few more crumbs in the grass.  And  see! there are  some pieces of cut 
cord lying nearby!' 
     'And here is  the knife that cut them!' said Gimli. He stooped and drew 
out of a tussock, into which some heavy foot had trampled it, a short jagged  
blade. The  haft from  which it  had  been snapped was beside it. 'It was an 
orc-weapon,'  he said,  holding it gingerly, and looking with disgust at the 
carved handle: it  had been shaped like  a hideous  head with squinting eyes 
and leering mouth. 
     'Well, here is  the strangest riddle that we have yet found!' exclaimed 
Legolas.  'A  bound  prisoner  escapes  both from  the  Orcs  and  from  the 
surrounding horsemen.  He  then stops, while still in the open, and cuts his 
bonds with an orc-knife. But how and why?  For if his legs were tied, how did 
he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither  
were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he


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####-was spilled  there,  a few paces away, orc-blood. There  are  deep prints of 
hoofs  all about this  spot, and signs that a heavy thing was  dragged away. 
The Orc  was slain by horsemen, and later  his body  was hauled to the fire. 
But the hobbit  was not seen: he was not "in the open", for it was night and 
he still had his elven-cloak. He was exhausted and  hungry, and it is not to 
be wondered at  that, when he had cut his bonds with the knife of his fallen 
enemy, he rested and ate a little  before he crept away. But it is a comfort 
to  know  that he had some lembas in  his  pocket, even though  he  ran away 
without gear  or pack;  that, perhaps, is  like a hobbit. I say he, though I 
hope and guess  that both  Merry and  Pippin were  here together. There  is, 
however, nothing to show that for certain.' 
     'And how do you suppose that either of  our friends came to have a hand 
free?' asked Gimli.


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hale  but  ancient trees (though none looked  as ancient as Treebeard);  and 
there   were  tall  strong  Ents,   clean-limbed  and  smooth-skinned   like 
forest -trees  in  their  prime; but  there were no young Ents, no  saplings. 
Altogether there were about two  dozen standing on the wide grassy  floor of


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enough that we are going to  our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we 
stayed at home  and did noth ing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. 
That thought has long been  growing in our hearts;  and that is  why we  are 
marching now. It was not a hasty resolve. Now at least the last march of the 
Ents may  be worth a song.  Aye,'  he sighed, 'we may help the other peoples 
before we pass away. Still, I should have liked to see the  songs come  true 
about the Entwives. I should dearly have liked to  see Fimbrethil again. But 
there, my friends, songs  like trees bear fruit  only  in their own time and 
their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely.' 
     The Ents  went  striding  on at a great pace. They had descended into a  
long fold of the land that fell away southward;  now they began to climb up,  
and up, on to the high western  ridge. The woods fell  away and they came to 
scattered groups of birch, and  then  to bare slopes where only  a few gaunt


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'Quickly?' said Treebeard. 'Hoom! Yes, indeed. Quicker than I expected. 
Indeed I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not 
like being roused; and we never are roused unless it is clear to us that our 
trees  and our  lives  are in  great  danger. That has not happened  in this 
Forest since the wars of Sauron and the Men of the Sea.  It is the orc-work, 
the wanton hewing  -- rbrum --  without even the  bad excuse of  feeding the 
fires, that has so angered us; and the  treachery of a neighbour, who should 
have helped us. Wizards ought to know better: they do know  better. There is 
no curse in  Elvish, Entish, or  the  tongues  of Men bad  enough  for  such 
treachery. Down with Saruman!' 
     'Will you really break the doors of Isengard?' asked Merry. 
     'Ho, hm, well, we could, you know! You do not know, perhaps. how strong


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evil phantom of Saruman that we saw last night.  I am sure of it, even under  
the light of morning. His eyes are looking out on us from Fangorn even  now,  
maybe.' 
     'It is likely enough,' said  Aragorn; 'yet I am not sure. I am thinking 
of the horses. You said last night, Gimli, that they were scared away. Bu t I 
did not think so. Did  you hear  them, Legolas? Did they  sound to you  like 
beasts in terror?' 
     'No,' said Legolas. 'I heard them clearly. But for the darkness and our 
own  fear I should have guessed that they  were beasts wild with some sudden 
gladness.  They spoke as horses will when they meet a friend  that they have 
long missed.' 
     'So I thought,'  said  Aragorn; 'but I  cannot  read the riddle, unless 
they return. Come! The  light  is growing fast. Let  us look first and guess 
later! We should  begin here,  near  to  our own  camping-ground,  searching  
carefully all about, and working  up  the slope  towards the forest. To find


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rouse them. I am sure he means to  try.  Bu t they don't like  being  roused. 
Treebeard got roused himself last night, and then bottled it up again.' 
     The hobbits turned back.  The voices of the Ents were still  rising and 
falling in their  conclave. The sun had now risen high  enough to look  over


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us; but there is watchfulness, and anger.' 
     'Well, it has no cause to be angry with me,'  said Gimli.  'I have done 
it no harm. ' 
     'That is just as well,' said Legolas. 'But nonetheless it has  suffered 
harm. There  is something  happening inside, or  going to happen. Do you not 
feel the tenseness? It takes my breath.' 
     'I feel  the air is stuffy,' said the Dwarf. 'This wood is lighter than 
Mirkwood, but it is musty and shabby.' 
     'It is old, very old,' said the Elf. 'So old that almost  I  feel young 
again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and 
full of memory. I  could have been happy  here,  if  I  had come in days  of 
peace.' 
     'I dare say  you could,'  snorted Gimli. 'You are a  Wood-elf,  anyway, 
though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, 
I will go. But keep your bow ready to  hand, and I will keep my axe loose in


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he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither  
were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he 
then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show 
that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. After that,  I  suppose,  he 
turned his arms into  wings and flew away singing into the trees. It  should 
be easy to find him: we only need wings ourselves!' 
     'There was sorcery here right enough,' said  Gimli. 'What was that  old 
man doing? What have you to say, Aragorn, to the reading of Legolas. Can you  
better it?' 
     'Maybe,  I could,' said Aragorn, smiling.  'There are  some other signs 
near at hand  that  you have not considered. I agree that the prisoner was a  
hobbit and must have had either legs  or hands free, before he came  here. I 
guess that it was  hands, because the riddle then becomes easier,  and  also


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and up, on to the high western  ridge. The woods fell  away and they came to 
scattered groups of birch, and  then  to bare slopes where only  a few gaunt 
pine-trees grew. The sun  sank behind the dark hill -back in front. Grey dusk  
fell.


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however, nothing to show that for certain.' 
     'And how do you suppose that either of  our friends came to have a hand 
free?' asked Gimli. 
     'I do  not know how it happened,' answered Aragorn. 'Nor  do I know why 
an Orc was carrying them  away. Not  to help  them to escape, we may be sure. 
Nay, rather I think that I now begin to understand a matter that has puzzled 
me  from  the beginning: why when  Boromir had fallen  were the Orcs content 
with the capture  of Merry and Pippin? They did not seek out  the rest of us,  
nor attack our camp;  but instead they went with all speed towards Isengard.  
Did they suppose they had captured the Ring-bearer and his faithful comrade?  
I think not. Their masters would not dare to give such plain orders to Orcs,  
even if they knew so much themselves; they would not speak openly to them of 
the  Ring: they  are not trusty servants. But  I  think  the  Orcs had  been


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though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, 
I will go. But keep your bow ready to  hand, and I will keep my axe loose in 
my belt. Not  for  use on trees,' he  added hastily, looking  up at the tree 
under which they  stood.  'I do not  wish to meet that  old  man at unawares 
without an argument ready to hand, that is all. Let us go!' 
     With that the three hunters plunged into the forest of Fangorn. Legolas 
and Gimli left the tracking to Aragorn. There was little for him to see. The 
floor of the forest was dry and covered with a drift of leaves; but guessing 
that the fugitives would stay near the water, he returned oft en to the banks 
of the stream.  So it was that he came upon the place where Merry and Pippin 
had  drunk  and  bathed  their  feet.  There plain for all  to see were  the 
footprints of two hobbits, one somewhat smaller than the other.


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####-     'This is good tidings,' said Aragorn. 'Yet  the marks are  two days old 
And it seems that at this point the hobbits left the water -side.' 
     'Then what shall we do now?' said Gimli. 'We cannot pursue them through 
the whole fastness of Fangorn. We have come ill supplied. If we do  not find  
them soon, we shall be of no use to them, except to sit down beside them and 
show our friendship by starving together.' 
     'If that is indeed all we can do, then we must do that,'  said Aragorn. 
'Let us go on.' 
     They  came at  length  to the steep abrupt  end of Treebeard's Hill and 
looked  up at the rock -wall with its rough  steps leading to the high shelf.  
Gleams of sun were  striking through the hurrying clouds, and the forest now 
looked less grey and drear. 
     'Let  us go up a nd look about us!' said Legolas. 'I will feel my breath 
short. I should like to taste a freer air for a while.'


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####-There is the old man.  All in dirty  grey  rags: that is why I could not see 
him at first.' 
     Aragorn  looked and beheld a  bent figure moving slowly. It was not far 
away. It looked like  an old beggar-man, walking wearily, leaning on a rough 
staff. His head was bowed,  and he did not look towards them. In other lands 
they would have greeted him with kind words; but now they stood silent, each 
feeling a strange expectancy: something was  approaching that  held a hidden 
power -or menace. 
     Gimli gazed with wide eyes for a while, as step by step the figure drew 
nearer. Then suddenly, unable to contain himself longer, he burst out: 'Your  
bow,  Legolas! Bend  it!  Get ready! It is Saruman. Do not let him speak, or 
put a spell upon us! Shoot first!' 
     Legolas  took  his  bow and bent  it, slowly  and  as if some other will 
resisted him. He held an arrow loosely in his hand but did not fit it to the 
string. Aragorn stood silent, his face was watchful and intent.


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later! We should  begin here,  near  to  our own  camping-ground,  searching  
carefully all about, and working  up  the slope  towards the forest. To find 
the  hobbits is  our  errand, whatever we may think of  our  visitor in  the 
night. If  they  escaped by some chance,  then they  must have hidden in the 
trees, or they would have been seen. If we find nothing between here and the 
eaves of the wood, then we will make a last search upon the battle-field and  
among the ashes. But there  is little hope there:  the horsemen  of Rohan did


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####-     Pippin looked behind. The number of  the Ents had grown -- or  what was 
happening? Where  the dim bare  slopes that  they had crossed should lie, he 
thought he saw groves of trees. But they were  moving! Could it be  that the 
trees of  Fangorn  were awake, and the  forest was rising, marching over the 
hills to war? He rubbed his  eyes wondering if sleep and shadow had deceived 
him; but the great grey shapes moved steadily onward. There was a noise like 
wind  in many branches. The Ents were  drawing  near the  crest of the ridge 
now, and all song had ceased. Night fell, and there was silence: nothing was 
to be  heard save a faint quiver of the earth beneath the  feet of the Ents,  
and a rustle, the shade of a whisper as of  many  drifting  leaves. At  last  
they stood upon the summit, and looked down into a dark pit: the great cleft  
at the end of the mountains: Nan Curunnr, the Valley of Saruman. 
     'Night lies over Isengard,' said Treebeard. 
 

####-


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####-am up! You will not need such arguments. ' 
     Gimli started and then stood still as stone, staring, while the old man 
sprang up the rough steps as nimbly as a  goat. All weariness seemed to have 
left him. As he stepped up on to the shelf there was a  gleam, too brief for 
certainty, a quick glint  of  white, as if some garment shrouded by the grey 
rags had been for an instant revealed The intake  of Gimli's breath could be 
heard as a loud hiss in the silence. 
     'Well met, I say again!' said the old man, coming towards them. When he 
was a few feet away, he stood, stooping over his staff, with his head thrust  
forward, peering at them from under  his hood. 'And what may you be doing in 
these  parts? An Elf, a Man, and  a Dwarf. all  clad  in  elvish fashion. No 
doubt there is a tale worth hearing behind it all. Such things are not often 
seen here.' 
     'You speak as one that knows Fangorn well,' said Aragorn. 'Is that so?'


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even if they knew so much themselves; they would not speak openly to them of 
the  Ring: they  are not trusty servants. But  I  think  the  Orcs had  been 
commanded  to capture hobbits, alive, at all costs.  An attempt was made  to 
slip out with the precious prisoners  before the  battle. Treachery perhaps, 
likely  enough with such folk; some large and bold Orc may have  been trying 
to  escape with the  prize  alone, for his own ends. There, that is my tale. 
Others might  be devised. But on this we may count in any case: one at least  
of our  friends escaped. It is our task to find him and help  him  before we 
return to Rohan.  We  must not  be  daunted by Fangorn, since need drove him 
into that dark place.' 
     'I  do  not  know  which daunts me more: Fangorn, or the thought of the 
long road through Rohan on foot,' said Gimli. 
     'Then let us go to the forest,' said Aragorn. 
     It was  not  long before Aragorn found fresh signs. At one point,  near


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####-that.  But why are we standing? Your errand, you see, is no longer as urgent  
as you thought. Let us sit down and be more at ease.' 
     The old man turned away  and went  towards a heap of fallen stones  and 
rock at the  foot of the cliff  behind. Immediately, as  if a spell had been 
removed, the others relaxed and  stirred. Gimli's  hand  went at once to his 
axe-haft. Aragorn drew his sword. Legolas picked up his bow. 
     The old man took no notice,  but stooped and sat himself on  a low flat 
stone. Then  his grey cloak  drew apart, and they saw, beyond doubt, that he 
was clothed beneath all in white. 
     'Saruman!' cried Gimli, springing towards him with axe in hand. 'speak! 
Tell  us where you have  hidden  our friends! What  have you done with them?  
Speak, or  I will  make a dint in your hat that even  a wizard will find  it 
hard to deal with!' 
     The old  man was too quick for him. He sprang to his feet and leaped to


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looked less grey and drear. 
     'Let  us go up a nd look about us!' said Legolas. 'I will feel my breath 
short. I should like to taste a freer air for a while.' 
     The  companions climbed  up. Aragorn came last,  moving slowly: he  was 
scanning the steps and ledges closely. 
     'I am almost sure that the  hobbits  have been up here,'  he said. 'But 
there  are  other marks,  very strange marks,  which  I do not understand. I 
wonder if  we can see anything from this ledge which  will help us to  guess 
which way they went next?' 
     He  stood up and looked about,  but he saw nothing that was of any use. 
The shelf  faced southward  and  eastward; but only on the east was the view 
open. There he could see the heads  of the trees descending in ranks towards 
the plain from which they had come. 
     'We have journeyed a long way round,' said Legolas.  'We could have all 
come here safe together, if  we had left  the  Great River  on the second or


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resisted him. He held an arrow loosely in his hand but did not fit it to the 
string. Aragorn stood silent, his face was watchful and intent. 
     'Why are  you waiting? What is the  matter with  you?' said Gimli in  a  
hissing whisper. 
     'Legolas is right,' said Aragorn quietly. 'We may not  shoot an old man 
so, at unawares and unchallenged, whatever fear or doubt be on us. Watch and 
wait!' 
     At that moment the old man quickened  his pace and came with surprising 
speed to the  foot of the  rock -wall. Then suddenly he looked up, while they  
stood motionless looking down. There was no sound. 
     They  could not see his face: he was hooded, and above the hood he wore 
a wide-brimmed hat, so that all his  features were over -shadowed, except for  
the end  of his  nose and his grey beard. Yet it seemed  to  Aragorn that he 
caught the gleam  of  eyes keen and bright  from  within  the shadow  of the 
hooded brows.


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####-tide. The great storm is coming, but the tide has turned.' 
     He laid  his hand on  Gimli's head, and the Dwarf looked up and laughed 
suddenly. 'Gandalf!' he said. 'But you are all in white!' 
     'Yes, I am white  now,' said Gandalf.  'Indeed I am  Saruman, one might 
almost  say,  Saruman  as  he  should have  been. But come  now, tell me  of 
yourselves! I  have passed through fire and  deep water,  since we parted. I 
have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had 
forgotten. I can see  many things far off, but many things that are close at 
hand I cannot see. Tell me of yourselves!' 
     'What do  you wish to know?' said Aragorn. 'All that has happened since 
we parted on  the bridge would be a long tale.  Will you  not first give  us 
news of the hobbits? Did you find them, and are they safe?' 
     'No, I did not find them,' said Gandalf. 'There was a darkness over the


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hobbit and must have had either legs  or hands free, before he came  here. I 
guess that it was  hands, because the riddle then becomes easier,  and  also 
because, as I read the marks, he was carried to this point by  an Orc. Blood


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the end  of his  nose and his grey beard. Yet it seemed  to  Aragorn that he 
caught the gleam  of  eyes keen and bright  from  within  the shadow  of the 
hooded brows.  
     At last the old man  broke the silence.  'Well met indeed , my friends,' 
he said  in  a soft  voice. 'I wish to  speak to you. Will  you come down or  
shall I come up?' Without waiting for an answer he began to climb. 
     'Now!' said Gimli. 'Stop him, Legolas!' 
     'Did I not say that I wished to speak to you?'  said the old man.  'Put 
away that bow, Master Elf!' 
     The bow  and arrow fell from Legolas' hands, and his arms hung loose at 
his sides. 
     'And you, Master Dwarf, pray  take your hand from your axe-haft, till I


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doubt there is a tale worth hearing behind it all. Such things are not often 
seen here.' 
     'You speak as one that knows Fangorn well,' said Aragorn. 'Is that so?' 
     'Not well,' said  the  old man: 'that would be the study of many lives.  
But I come here now and again.' 
     'Might we know your name, and then hear what it is that you have to say 
to us?'  said Aragorn. 'The morning passes, and we have an errand  that will 
not wait.' 
     'As  for what I wished to say, I  have said it: What  may you be doing, 
and  what  tale can  you tell of yourselves? As for my name!'  He broke off,  
laughing  long  and  softly. Aragorn  felt a shudder run  through him at the 
sound, a  strange  cold  thrill; and yet  it was not  fear or terror that he 
felt: rather it was  like  the  sudden bite of a keen air,  or the slap of a  
cold rain that wakes an uneasy sleeper. 
     'My name!' said the  old  man again. 'Have you not guessed it  already?


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the plain from which they had come. 
     'We have journeyed a long way round,' said Legolas.  'We could have all 
come here safe together, if  we had left  the  Great River  on the second or  
third day and  struck  west.  Few  can foresee whither their road  will lead 
them, till they come to its end.' 
     'But we did not wish to come to Fangorn,' said Gimli. 
     'Yet here we are-and nicely caught in the net,' said Legolas. 'Look!' 
     'Look at what?' said Gimli. 
     'There in the trees.' 
     'Where? I have not elf-eyes.' 
     'Hush! Speak more softly! Look!'  said Legolas  pointing. 'Down in  the 
wood, back in the Way  that we have just come. It is he. Cannot you see him, 
passing from tree to tree?' 
     'I  see, I see  now!' hissed Gimli. 'Look, Aragorn! Did I not warn you?


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news of the hobbits? Did you find them, and are they safe?' 
     'No, I did not find them,' said Gandalf. 'There was a darkness over the 
valleys of the  Emyn Muil, and I did not know  of their captivity, until the 
eagle told me.' 
     'The eagle!' said  Legolas. 'I have seen an eagle high and far off: the 
last time was three days ago, above the Emyn Muil.' 
     'Yes,'  said Gandalf,  'that  was Gwaihir the Windlord,  who rescued me 
from Orthanc.  I sent him before me to watch the River and  gather  tidings. 
His sight is keen, but he cannot see all  that passes under hill  and  tree. 
Some things he has  seen, and  others I  have seen myself.  The Ring now has 
passed beyond my help, or  the help of any of  the Company that set out from 
Rivendell. Very nearly it was revealed to  the Enemy, but it escaped.  I had 
some part in that: for I sat  in a  high place, and I strove  with the  Dark 
Tower; and  the Shadow passed. Then  I  was weary, very weary; and I  walked


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Speak, or  I will  make a dint in your hat that even  a wizard will find  it 
hard to deal with!' 
     The old  man was too quick for him. He sprang to his feet and leaped to 
the top of a large rock. There he stood, grown suddenly tall, towering above 
them. His hood and his grey rags were flung away. His  white garments shone. 
He  lifted up  his staff, and  Gimli's axe leaped from his  grasp  and  fell 
ringing on the ground. The sword of Aragorn,  stiff in his motionless  hand, 
blazed with a sudden fire. Legolas gave a great shout and shot an arrow high  
into the air: it vanished in a flash of flame. 
     'Mithrandir!' he cried. 'Mithrandir!' 
     'Well met, I say to you again. Legolas!' said the old man. 
     They all gazed at him. His hair was white as snow in  the sunshine; and 
gleaming  white  was his robe;  the eyes under  his deep  brows were bright,  
piercing as the rays of the sun; power was in his hand. Between wonder, joy,


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####-tale. For a long  while Gandalf said nothing, and he asked no quest ions. His 
hands were  spread upon his knees, and his eyes  were closed. At  last  when 
Aragorn spoke of the death of Boromir and of his last journey upon the Great 
River, the old man sighed. 
     'You have not said  all  that you know or guess, Aragorn my  friend,' he 
said quietly. 'Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was  a  
sore trial  for such a man: a warrior, and a  lord of men. Galadriel told me 
that he was in peril. But  he escaped in the end.  I am glad. It was  not in 
vain that  the  young hobbits  came with us, if only for Boromir's sake. But 
that is not the  only part they have to play. They were brought  to Fangorn, 
and  their coming  was like  the  falling  of  small stones  that starts  an 
avalanche  in  the  mountains. Even  a s  we talk  here,  I  hear  the  first 
rumblings. Saruman  had  best  not be caught  away  from  home  when the dam 
bursts!'


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####-time to  waste; for he  that  strikes the  first blow, if he strikes it hard 
enough, may need  to strike no  more.  So the forces that he has  long  been 
preparing he is now  setting in motion, sooner than he intended.  Wise  fool. 
For if he had used all his power to guard Mordor,  so that none could enter, 
and bent  all his guild  to the hunting of the  Ring, then indeed hope would 
have faded: neither  Ring nor Bearer could long have eluded him. But now his 
eye gazes abroad rather than near at home; and mostly he looks towards Minas 
Tirith. Very soon now his strength will fall upon it like a storm. 
     'For  already he knows that the messengers that  he  sent to waylay the 
Company have  failed again. They have not  found the Ring. Neither have they 
brought away any hobbits as hostages. Had they done even so much as that, it 
would have been a heavy blow to us, and it might have been fatal. But let us


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####-There is much that he does not know. He was so eager to lay his hands on his 
prey that he could not wait at home, and he came forth to meet and to spy on  
his messengers. But he came too late, for once,  and the battle was over and 
beyond his help before he reached these parts. He did not  remain here long.  
I  look into  his mind and I see his doubt. He has no woodcraft. He believes 
that the horsemen slew and burned all  upon the field of battle; but he does 
not know whether  the Orcs were bringing any  prisoners or not. And  he does 
not know of  the  quarrel between his  servants and the Orcs  of Mordor; nor  
does he know of the Winged Messenger.' 
     'The Winged  Messenger!' cried  Legolas. 'I shot at him with the bow of 
Galadriel above Sarn Gebir, and I felled  him from the sky. He filled us all 
with fear. What new terror is this?' 
     'One that you cannot slay with arrows,'  said  Gandalf. 'You on ly  slew


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long road through Rohan on foot,' said Gimli. 
     'Then let us go to the forest,' said Aragorn. 
     It was  not  long before Aragorn found fresh signs. At one point,  near 
the bank  of the Entwash, he came upon  footprints:  hobbit-prints, but  too 
light for  much to  be made of  them. Then again beneath the bole of a great


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some part in that: for I sat  in a  high place, and I strove  with the  Dark 
Tower; and  the Shadow passed. Then  I  was weary, very weary; and I  walked 
long in dark thought.' 
     'Then you know about Frodo!' said Gimli. 'How do things go with him?' 
     'I cannot say. He was saved from a great peril, but many lie before him 
still. He resolved to go alone to Mordor, and he set out: that is all that I 
can say.' 
     'Not alone,' said Legolas. 'We think that Sam went with him.' 
     'Did he!' said Gandalf, and there was a gleam in his eye and a smile on 
his face. 'Did  he indeed? It is news to  me, yet  it does not  surprise me. 
Good! Very good! You lighten  my heart. You must tell me more. Now sit by 
me 
and tell me the tale of your journey.' 
     The companions  sat on the ground at his  feet, and Aragorn took up the


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gleaming  white  was his robe;  the eyes under  his deep  brows were bright,  
piercing as the rays of the sun; power was in his hand. Between wonder, joy,  
and fear they stood and found no words to say. 
     At  last  Aragorn stirred.  'Gandalf!'  he said.  'Beyond all hope  you  
return to us in our  need! What veil was over my sight? Gandalf!' Gimli said  
nothing, hut sank to his knees, shading his eyes.  
     'Gandalf,' the old man repeated, as if recalling from old memory a long 
disused word. 'Yes, that was the name. I was Gandalf.' 
     He stepped down from the rock, and picking up his grey cloak wrapped it  
about him: it seemed as if  the  sun had been  shining, but now was  hid  in 
cloud again.  'Yes, you may  still call me Gandalf,'  he said, and the voice 
was the  voice  of their old friend  and guide. 'Get  up, my  good Gimli! No 
blame to  you, and no harm done to  me. Indeed my friends,  none of you have


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avalanche  in  the  mountains. Even  a s  we talk  here,  I  hear  the  first 
rumblings. Saruman  had  best  not be caught  away  from  home  when the dam 
bursts!' 
     'In one thing you  have not changed, dear friend,' said  Aragorn:  'you  
still speak in riddles.' 
     'What?  In riddles?'  sa id  Gandalf. 'No!  For I was talking  aloud  to 
myself. A habit of the old: they choose  the wisest  person present to speak 
to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying.' He laughed, but 
the sound now seemed warm and kindly as a gleam of sunshine. 
     'I am  no longer  young even  in the  reckoning of  Men of the  Ancient 
Houses,' said Aragorn. 'Will you not open your mind more clearly to me?' 
     'What  then shall  I say?'  said Gandalf, and  paused  for a  while  in 
thought. 'This in brief is how  I  see things at the moment, if you wish  to 
have a piece of my mind as plain as possible. The Enemy, of course, has long


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####-have so  often  counselled  my friends to suspect even their  own hands when 
dealing  with  the Enemy. Bless you, Gimli, son of Gluin! Maybe you will see 
us both together one day and judge between us!' 
     'But  the hobbits!' Legolas broke in. 'We have  come far to seek  them, 
and you seem to know where they are. Where are they now?' 
     'With Treebeard and the Ents,' said Gandalf.  
     'The Ents!' exclaimed  Aragorn. 'Then there is truth in the old legends 
about the dwellers in the deep forests and the giant shepherds of the trees?  
Are  there  still  Ents in the  world? I thought they were  only a memory of 
ancient days, if indeed they were ever more than a legend of Rohan.' 
     'A legend  of Rohan!' cried  Legolas. 'Nay, every Elf in Wilderland has 
sung songs of the old Onodrim and their long sorrow. Yet even among us  they 
are only a memory. If I were to meet one  still walking in this  world, then


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Galadriel above Sarn Gebir, and I felled  him from the sky. He filled us all 
with fear. What new terror is this?' 
     'One that you cannot slay with arrows,'  said  Gandalf. 'You on ly  slew 
his steed.  It was a good deed; but the Rider was soon horsed again.  For he 
was a Nazgyl, one of  the Nine, who ride now upon winged  steeds. Soon their 
terror will overshadow the last armies of  our friends, cutting off the sun. 
But they have not yet been allowed to cross the River, and  Saruman does not 
know of this new shape  in which the Ringwraiths have been clad. His thought 
is ever on  the Ring.  Was  it  present in the battle? Was it found? What if 
Thjoden, Lord of the Mark, should come by  it and learn of its power? That is 
the danger that he  sees,  and  he  has fled  back to Isengard to double and 
treble his assault on Rohan. And all the time there is another danger, close 
at  hand,  which  he does  not  see, busy  with his fiery  thoughts. He  has 
forgotten Treebeard.'


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brought away any hobbits as hostages. Had they done even so much as that, it 
would have been a heavy blow to us, and it might have been fatal. But let us 
not darken  our hearts by imagining the trial of their gentle loyalty in the 
Dark Tower. For the Enemy has failed-so far. Thanks to Saruman:' 
     'Then is not Saruman a traitor?' said Gimli. 
     'Indeed yes,' said Gandalf.  'Doubly. And is  not that strange? Nothing 
that  we have endured of  late has seemed  so grievous  as  the  treason  of 
Isengard. Even reckoned as a lord and captain Saruman has grown very strong. 
He threatens the Men of  Rohan and draws  off their help from Minas  Tirith, 
even as the main blow is approaching from the East. Yet a treacherous weapon 
is ever a danger to the hand.  Saruman also had a mind to capture  the Ring, 
for  himself,  or  at least to snare  some hobbits for his evil purposes. So 
between them our enemies have contrived only to  bring Merry and Pippin with


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####-     'I  did not say so,' said Gandalf. 'Who knows?  Have patience. Go where 
you must go, and hope! To Edoras! I go thither also.' 
     'It is a long  way for  a man to walk, young or old,'  said Aragorn. 'I 
fear the battle will be over long ere I come there. ' 
     'We shall  see,  we  shall see,' said  Gandalf. 'Will you come now with 
me?' 
     'Yes, we will set out together,' said Aragorn. 'But I do not doubt that 
you  will  come  there before me, if you wish.' He rose and  looked  long at 
Gandalf. The others gazed at them in silence as they stood there facing  one 
another. The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn,  was tall, and 
stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he  looked  as  if some 
king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the  shores of lesser men. 
Before him stooped the old figure, white; shining now as if with some  light  
kindled within,  bent, laden  with  years,  but holding a  power beyond  the 
strength of kings.


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####-his long slow wrath is brimming over, and all the forest is filled  with it. 
The coming of the hobbits and the tidings that they brought have spilled it: 
it will soon be running like a flood; but its tide is turned against Saruman 
and the axes of Isengard.  A thing is about to happen which has not happened 
since the Elder  Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they  are 
strong.' 
     'What will they do?' asked Legolas in astonishment. 
     'I do not know,' said Gandalf. 'I do not think  they know themselves. I 
wonder.' He fell silent, his head bowed in thought. 
     The  others looked  at him. A gleam of sun through fleeting clouds fell 
on his hands, which lay now  upturned on his  lap: they seemed to  be filled 
with light as  a  cup is with water. At last he looked up and gazed straight 
at the sun. 
     'The morning is wearing away,' he said. 'Soon we must go.' 
     'Do we go to find our friends and to see Treebeard?' asked Aragorn.


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thought. 'This in brief is how  I  see things at the moment, if you wish  to 
have a piece of my mind as plain as possible. The Enemy, of course, has long 
known that the Ring  is abroad, and that it is  borne by a  hobbit. He knows 
now the number  of our  Company that set out fr om Rivendell, and the kind of 
each of us.  But he does  not yet  perceive our purpose clearly. He supposes 
that we were all going  to Minas Tirith; for that is what he  would  himself 
have done in our  place. And according to  his wisdom  it would have  been a 
heavy stroke against his power. Indeed he is in great fear, not knowing what 
mighty  one  may suddenly  appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with 
war, seeking to cast him  down and take his  place. That we  should wish  to 
cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that  occurs  to 
his  mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered


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treble his assault on Rohan. And all the time there is another danger, close 
at  hand,  which  he does  not  see, busy  with his fiery  thoughts. He  has 
forgotten Treebeard.' 
     'Now  you  speak  to  yourself  again,'  said  Aragorn  with  a  smile. 
'Treebeard is not known to me. And I have guessed part of  Saruman's  double 
treachery; yet I do not see in what way the coming of two hobbits to Fangorn 
has served, save to give us a long and fruitless chase.' 
     'Wait a minute!'  cried Gimli. 'There  is another  thing that  I should 
like to know first. Was it you, Gandalf, or Saruman that we saw last night?' 
     'You  certainly did  not see me, '  answered Gandalf,  'therefore I must  
guess that you saw Saruman. Evidently we look so much alike that your desire 
to make an incurable dent in my hat must be excused.' 
     'Good, good!' said Gimli. 'I am glad that it was not you.' 
     Gandalf laughed again. 'Yes, my good Dwarf,' he said, 'it is a  comfort


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was the  voice  of their old friend  and guide. 'Get  up, my  good Gimli! No 
blame to  you, and no harm done to  me. Indeed my friends,  none of you have 
any weapon that could  hurt me. Be merry! We meet  again. At the turn of the


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felt: rather it was  like  the  sudden bite of a keen air,  or the slap of a  
cold rain that wakes an uneasy sleeper. 
     'My name!' said the  old  man again. 'Have you not guessed it  already?  
You have heard  it before, I  think. Yes, you have heard it before. But come 
now, what of your tale?' 
     The three companions stood silent and made no answer. 
     'There are some who would begin to doubt whether your  errand is fit to 
tell,' said the  old man. 'Happily I know something of it.  You are tracking 
the footsteps of two young hobbits, I believe. Yes, hobbits. Don't stare, as 
if you had  never heard the strange  name before. You have,  and so have  I. 
Well, they climbed up  here  the day before yesterday; and  they met someone 
that they did not expect. Does that comfort you? And  now  you would like to 
know where they were taken? Well, well, maybe I can give you some news 
about


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for  himself,  or  at least to snare  some hobbits for his evil purposes. So 
between them our enemies have contrived only to  bring Merry and Pippin with 
marvellous speed, and in the  nick of time, to Fangorn, where otherwise they  
would never have come at all! 
     'Also they have  filled  themselves with new doubts that  disturb their 
plans. No tidings of  the battle will come to Mordor, thanks to the horsemen  
of Rohan;  but the Dark Lord knows that two hobbits were  taken in the  Emyn 
Muil  and borne away  towards Isengard against the will of his own servants. 
He now has Isengard to fear as  well as Minas Tirith. If Minas Tirith falls,  
it will go ill with Saruman.' 
     'It is a pity that our  friends lie in between,' said Gimli. 'If no land 
divided Isengard  and Mordor, then  they could  fight  while we watched  and 
waited.' 
     'The victor would emerge  stronger  than either, and  free from doubt,'


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to make an incurable dent in my hat must be excused.' 
     'Good, good!' said Gimli. 'I am glad that it was not you.' 
     Gandalf laughed again. 'Yes, my good Dwarf,' he said, 'it is a  comfort 
not to  be mistaken at all  points. Do I not know  it only too well! But, of 
course, I  never blamed you for your welcome of me. How  could I  do so, who


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Before him stooped the old figure, white; shining now as if with some  light  
kindled within,  bent, laden  with  years,  but holding a  power beyond  the 
strength of kings.  
     'Do I not say truly, Gandalf,' said Aragorn at last, 'that you could go 
whithersoever you wished quicker  than  I?  And this I also say: you are our 
captain and our banner.  The Dark Lord  has Nine. But we have One,  mightier  
than  they: the White Rider. He  has passed through the fire and  the abyss, 
and they shall fear him. We will go where he leads.' 
     'Yes, together we will  follow you,' said Legolas. 'But first, it would 
ease my heart, Gandalf, to hear what befell you  in Moria. Will you not tell 
us? Can you not stay even to tell your friends how you were delivered?' 
     'I have stayed already too long,' answered Gandalf. 'Time is short. But 
if there were a year to spend, I would not tell you all.' 
     'Then  tell  us what  you will, and  time allows!'  said  Gimli. 'Come,


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####-me still.  His fire was  quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger  
than a strangling snake. 
     'We fought far under the living earth, where time is  not counted. Ever  
he clutched  me,  and  ever I  hewed  him,  till at last he  fled into  dark 
tunnels. They were not made by Durin's  folk, Gimli  son of   Gluin. Far, far 
below the  deepest delving  of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed  by nameless 
things.  Even Sauron  knows them not. They  are  older  than  he. Now I have 
walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that 
despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. 
Thus he brought me back at last to the secret  ways of Khazad-dym: too  well 
he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair.' 
     'Long has that  been lost,' said  Gimli. 'Many have  said  that it  was 
never made save in legend, but others say that it was destroyed.'


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cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that  occurs  to 
his  mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered 
into his darkest dream. In which no doubt you will see our good fortune  and  
our hope. For imagining war he has let loose war,  believing  that he has no


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at the sun. 
     'The morning is wearing away,' he said. 'Soon we must go.' 
     'Do we go to find our friends and to see Treebeard?' asked Aragorn. 
     'No,' said Gandalf. 'That is not  the road that  you must take. I  have 
spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory. War is 
     upon us and all  our friends, a war in which only the use  of  the Ring 
could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great 
     fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, 
     Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.' 
     He rose and gazed out  eastward, shading his eyes, as if he  saw things 
far away that none of them could see. Then he shook his head. 'No,' he  said 
in  a soft voice, 'it has gone beyond our reach. Of that at least let  us be 
glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a  
peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.'


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divided Isengard  and Mordor, then  they could  fight  while we watched  and 
waited.' 
     'The victor would emerge  stronger  than either, and  free from doubt,' 
said  Gandalf.  'But  Isengard  cannot  figh t  Mordor,  unless Saruman first  
obtains the Ring. That he will never do now. He does not yet know his peril.


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####-messages once again. But indeed she sent words to you, and  neither dark nor 
sad. 
     '  "To  Gimli son  of  Gluin," she  said,  "give  his   Lady's greeting. 
Lock -bearer, wherever thou goest  my thought goes with thee. But have a care 
to lay thine axe to the right tree!" ' 
     'In  happy hour  you  have returned to  us, Gandalf,'  cried the Dwarf,  
capering  as  he sang  loudly in the  strange dwarf-tongue. 'Come, come!' he 
shouted, swinging his axe. 'Since Gandalf's head is now sacred, let us  find  
one that it is right to cleave!' 
     'That  will  not  be far to seek,' said  Gandalf, rising from his seat. 
'Come!  We have  spent all  the time that is allowed to a meeting  of parted 
friends. Now there is need of haste.' 
     He wrapped himself again  in his old  tattered cloak, and led the  way. 
Following  him they descended quickly from the high shelf and made their way 
back through the forest, down the bank  of the Entwash. They  spoke no  more


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####-going to battle together.' 
     Even  as the old wizard  spoke,  the great horse  came striding up  the 
slope towards them; his coat was glistening and his mane flowing in the wind 
of his speed. The two others followed, now  far behind. As soon as Shadowfax 
saw Gandalf, he checked his  pace and  whinnied loudly; then trotting gently  
forward he stooped his proud head and nuzzled his great nostrils against the 
old man's neck. 
     Gandalf caressed him. 'It is a  long way from Rivendell, my friend,' he 
said;  'but you are wise and swift and  come at need.  Far let us  ride  now 
together, and part not in this world again!' 
     Soon  the other horses  came up  and stood quietly  by, as if  awaiting 
orders. 'We go at once to Meduseld, the  hall of your master, Thjoden,' said 
Gandalf, addressing them gravely. They bowed their heads.  'Time presses, so 
with your leave, my friends, we  will ride. We beg you to use  all the speed


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####-everlasting  groan  of  overburdened stone. And  so  at the last Gwaihir the 
Windlord found me again, and he took me up and bore me away. 
     ' 'Ever am I fated to be your burden, friend at need,' I said. 
     ' 'A burden  you have been,'  he answered, 'but not so  now. Light as a  
swan's feather in my claw you are. The Sun shines  through you. Indeed  I do 
not think you need me any more: were  I to let you fall you would float upon  
the wind.' 
     ' 'Do not let me fall!' I gasped, for I felt life in me again. 'Bear me 
to Lothlurien!' 
     ' 'That indeed is the command of the Lady Galadriel who sent me to look  
for you,' he answered. 
     'Thus  it was  that  I  came to Caras Galadhon and found you but lately 
gone. I tarried  there  in  the  ageless time of that  land where days bring 
healing  not  decay. Healing I found, and I was clothed  in white. Counsel I 
gave and counsel took. Thence by strange roads I came, and messages I  bring


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if there were a year to spend, I would not tell you all.' 
     'Then  tell  us what  you will, and  time allows!'  said  Gimli. 'Come, 
Gandalf, tell us how you fared with the Balrog!' 
     'Name him  not!' said Gandalf,  and for a moment it seemed that a cloud 
of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent, looking old as death. 'Long 
time I fell,' he said at last, slowly, as if thinking back with  diffi culty. 
'Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then 
we plunged into the deep water and all was  dark. Cold it was as the tide of 
death: almost it froze my heart.' 
     'Deep  is the abyss  that is spanned by Durin's  Bridge, and  none  has 
measured it,' said Gimli. 
     'Yet  it has  a  bottom, beyond  light  and  knowledge,'  said Gandalf. 
'Thither I came at last, to the  uttermost foundations of stone. He was with


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sung songs of the old Onodrim and their long sorrow. Yet even among us  they 
are only a memory. If I were to meet one  still walking in this  world, then 
indeed I should feel young again! But Treebeard: that is only a rendering of 
Fangorn into the Common Speech; yet you seem  to  speak of a  person. Who is 
this Treebeard?' 
     'Ah! now you are asking much,' said Gandalf. 'The little that I know of 
his long  slow  story would  make  a  tale for which we  have no  time  now.  
Treebeard  is Fangorn, the  guardian of the  forest; he is the oldest of the 
Ents, the oldest living thing that still  walks  beneath the Sun  upon  this 
Middle-earth. I  hope indeed,  Legolas, that you may yet meet him. Merry and 
Pippin have been fortunate: they  met  him here, even where  we sit. For  he  
came here  two days ago  and bore  them away to his  dwelling far off by the  
roots of the  mountains. He often  comes here, especially  when  his mind is


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glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a  
peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.' 
     He turned. 'Come, Aragorn son of  Arathorn!'  he said. 'Do  not  regret 
your choice in the valley of the Emyn Muil,  nor call it a vain pursuit. You  
chose amid doubts the path that seemed right: the  choice  was just,  and it 
has  been rewarded. For so we have met in time, who otherwise might have met 
too late. But the quest  of  your companions is over. Your  next  journey is 
marked by your given word. You must go to Edoras and seek out Thjoden in 
his 
hall. For you are needed. The  light of And®ril must now be uncovered in the 
battle for  which it has so long waited. There is  war in  Rohan,  and worse 
evil: it goes ill with Thjoden.' 
     'Then are we not to see the merry young hobbits again?' said Legolas.


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Following  him they descended quickly from the high shelf and made their way 
back through the forest, down the bank  of the Entwash. They  spoke no  more 
words,  until they stood again upon the grass  beyond the eaves of  Fangorn.  
There was no sign of their horses to be seen. 
     'They have not returned,' said Legolas. 'It will be a weary walk!' 
     'I shall not  walk. Time presses,' said  Gandalf.  Then lifting up  his 
head he gave  a long whistle. So clear and  piercing was  the  note that the 
others  stood  amazed to hear such a sound come from those old bearded lips. 
Three times he whistled; and then  faint and far off it seemed to  them that 
they heard the whinny  of a horse borne up from the plains upon the  eastern 
wind.  They waited wondering. Before long there came  the sound of hoofs, at 
first hardly more than a tremor of the ground perceptible only to Aragorn as 
he lay upon the  grass, then  growing steadily louder and clearer to a quick  
beat.


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healing  not  decay. Healing I found, and I was clothed  in white. Counsel I 
gave and counsel took. Thence by strange roads I came, and messages I  bring 
to some of you. To Aragorn I was bidden to say this:  
     Where now are the D®nedain, Elessar, Elessar? 
     Why do thy kinsfolk wander afar? 
     Near is the hour when the Lost should come forth, 
     And the Grey Company ride from the North. 
     But dark is the path appointed for thee: 
     The Dead watch the road that leads to the Sea. 
     To Legolas she sent this word: 
     Legolas Greenleaf long under tree 
     In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! 
     If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, 
     Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.' 
     Gandalf fell silent and shut his eyes.  
     'Then she sent me no message?' said Gimli and bent his head. 
     'Dark are her words,'  said Legolas, 'and little  do they mean to those 
that receive them.' 
     'That is no comfort,' said Gimli.


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first hardly more than a tremor of the ground perceptible only to Aragorn as 
he lay upon the  grass, then  growing steadily louder and clearer to a quick  
beat. 
     'There is more than one horse coming,' said Aragorn. 
     'Certainly,' said Gandalf. 'We are too great a burden for one.' 
     'There are three,'  sa id Legolas, gazing out  over the plain.  'See how 
they run!  There is Hasufel, and  there is my  friend Arod  beside  him! But 
there is another that strides ahead: a very great horse. I have not seen his 
like before.' 
     'Nor will you again,' said Gandalf. 'That is Shadowfax. He is the chief 
of the  Mearas, lords  of horses, and not even Thjoden, King  of  Rohan, has 
ever looked on  a better. Does he not shine like silver, and run as smoothly 
as a swift stream? He has come for me: the horse of the White  Rider. We are


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came here  two days ago  and bore  them away to his  dwelling far off by the  
roots of the  mountains. He often  comes here, especially  when  his mind is 
uneasy, and rumours of  the world outside trouble him. I  saw him  four days 
ago striding among the trees, and  I  think he saw me, for he  paused; but I 
did not  speak,  for I was heavy with  thought, and  weary after my struggle 
with the Eye of Mordor; and he did not speak either, nor call my name.' 
     'Perhaps  he also thought that you were  Saruman,' said Gimli. 'But you  
speak of  him as if he was a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous.' 
     'Dangerous!'  cried  Gandalf.  'And  so  am  I,  very  dangerous:  more 
dangerous than anything you  will  ever meet,  unless you are  brought alive 
before  the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas  is 
dangerous. You  are  beset with  dangers,  Gimli  son  of Gluin; for you are


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Gandalf, addressing them gravely. They bowed their heads.  'Time presses, so 
with your leave, my friends, we  will ride. We beg you to use  all the speed 
that  you can. Hasufel shall bear Aragorn and Arod Legolas. I will set Gimli  
before me, and by  his leave  Shadowfax shall bear us both. We will wait now 
only to drink a little.' 
     'Now I understand a part of last night's  riddle,' said Legolas  as  he 
sprang lightly  upon Arod's back.  'Whether they  fled  at first in fear, or 
not,  our horses met  Shadowfax, their chieftain, and greeted him with  joy. 
Did you know that he was at hand, Gandalf?' 
     'Yes, I knew,'  said the wizard.  'I bent  my thought upon him, bidding 
him to  make haste; for yesterday he was far away in the south of this land. 
Swiftly may he bear me back again!' 
     Gandalf spoke  now to Shadowfax, and  the horse set off at a good pace, 
yet  not  beyond the measure of the  others. After a little while  he turned


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They rode on  through sunset,  and slow dusk, and gathering night. When 
at last they  halted  and  dismounted,  even  Aragorn  was stiff and  weary. 
Gandalf only allowed  them a few  hou rs' rest. Legolas and  Gimli  slept and  
Aragorn lay flat, stretched upon his back; but Gandalf stood, leaning on his 
staff, gazing  into the darkness, east and  west.  All was silent, and there 
was no sign or sound of living thing. The night was barred with long clouds,  
fleeting on a  chill wind, when  they  arose again. Under the cold moon they 
went on once more, as swift as by the light of day. 
     Hours passed and still they rode on. Gimli nodded and would have fallen 
from his seat, if Gandalf had not clutched and shaken him. Hasufel and Arod, 
weary but proud, followed their  tireless leader, a grey shadow before  them 
hardly to he seen. The miles went by. The waxing moon  sank into the  cloudy 
West.


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####-the east. A dike and mighty wall and thorny fence encircle it. Within  there 
rise the  roofs of houses; and in the midst, set upon a green terrace, there 
stands  aloft  a  great  hall of Men. And it  seems to  my eyes  that it  is 
thatched with gold. The light  of it shines  far over the land. Golden, too, 
are the posts of its  doors. There men  in bright  mail stand; but all  else 
within the courts are yet asleep.' 
     'Edoras  those courts are called,' said Gandalf, 'and Meduseld  is that 
golden hall. There dwells Thjoden son of Thengel, King of the Mark of Rohan. 
We  are come  with the  rising  of  the day.  Now the road lies plain to see 
before us.  But  we  must  ride  more  warily; for  war  is abroad,  and the 
Rohirrim, the Horse-lords, do not sleep, even if it seem so from afar.  Draw 
no  weapon, speak no  haughty  word,  I  counsel you all, until we  are come 
before Thjoden's seat.'


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'Dark are her words,'  said Legolas, 'and little  do they mean to those 
that receive them.' 
     'That is no comfort,' said Gimli. 
     'What then?' said Legolas. 'Would  you  have her speak openly to you of 
your death?' 
     'Yes. if she had nought else to say.' 
     'What  is that?' said Gandalf, opening his  eyes. 'Yes,  I think I  can 
guess  what her  words  may  mean.  Your pardon,  Gimli! I was pondering the


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####-from Mundburg in the land of Gondor. Who are you that come heedless over 
the 
plain thus strangely clad, riding horses like to our own  horses? Long  have 
we kept  guard here,  and we  have watched you from afar. Never have we seen 
other riders so strange, nor any horse more proud than is  one of these that 
bear  you.  He is One  of the  Mearas, unless our eyes  are cheated  by some 
spell. Say, are you not a wizard,  some spy from Saruman, or phantoms of his 
craft? Speak now and be swift!' 
     'We are  no phantoms,' said Aragorn,  'nor do your  eyes  cheat you. For  
indeed these are your own horses  that  we ride, as  you  knew well are  you  
asked, I  guess. But seldom  does thief  ride  home to the  stable. Here are 
Hasufel and Arod, that Jomer,  the  Third Marsha l  of the Mark,  lent to us,  
only two  days ago. We bring them back now, even as we promised him. Has 
not 
Jomer then returned and given warning of our coming?'


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Swiftly may he bear me back again!' 
     Gandalf spoke  now to Shadowfax, and  the horse set off at a good pace, 
yet  not  beyond the measure of the  others. After a little while  he turned 
suddenly, and  choosing  a place where the ba nks  were  lower, he waded  the 
river, and then led them away due south into a flat land, treeless and wide. 
The wind went like grey waves through the endless miles of  grass. There was 
no sign of road or track, but Shadowfax did not stay or falter. 
     'He is  steering a straight course now for  the halls of Thjoden  under  
the slopes of the White  Mountains,' said  Gandalf. 'It will be  quicker so. 
The ground is firmer in the Eastemnet, where the chief northward track lies,  
across the river, but Shadowfax knows the way through every fen and hollow.' 
     For many hours they rode on through the meads and riverlands. Often the  
grass was so high  that it  reached above the knees of the riders, and their


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weary but proud, followed their  tireless leader, a grey shadow before  them 
hardly to he seen. The miles went by. The waxing moon  sank into the  cloudy 
West. 
     A bitter chill came into the air. Slowly in the East the dark  faded to 
a  cold grey. Red  shafts of light leapt  above  the black walls of the Emyn 
Muil  far  away upon  their  left. Dawn came clear and bright; a wind  swept  
across  their path,  rushing through the  bent  grasses.  Suddenly Shadowfax 
stood still and neighed. Gandalf pointed ahead. 
     'Look!' he  cried, and  they lifted their tired eyes. Before them stood 
the mountains  of  the South:  white-tipped  and  streaked  with black.  The 
grass-lands  rolled against  the  hills  that clustered  at their feet,  and 
flowed up into many valleys still  dim and  dark, untouched  by the light of 
dawn,  winding  their way into the heart of the great mountains. Immediately 
before  the travellers the widest of these  glens  opened  like a  long gulf


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Rohirrim, the Horse-lords, do not sleep, even if it seem so from afar.  Draw 
no  weapon, speak no  haughty  word,  I  counsel you all, until we  are come 
before Thjoden's seat.' 
     The  morning was  bright and clear about them, and birds were  singing, 
when the  travellers came to the stream. It ran down swiftly into the plain, 
and beyond the feet  of  the hills  turned across their path in a wide bend, 
flowing away east to  feed the Entwash far off in  its reed-choked beds. The 
land was green: in the wet meads and along  the grassy borders of the stream 
grew many willow-trees. Already in this southern land they were blushing red 
at  their fingertips. Feeling  the approach of spring. Over the stream there 
was a ford  between low banks  much trampled by the  passage of horses.  The 
travellers passed over and came upon a wide rutted track leading towards the 
uplands.  
     At the  foot of the  walled  hill the  way ran under the shadow of many


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before  the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas  is 
dangerous. You  are  beset with  dangers,  Gimli  son  of Gluin; for you are 
dangerous yourself,  in your own fashion. Certainly the forest of Fangorn is 
perilous-not  least to those that are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn 
himself, he  is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless. But now


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####-hope  too much!  These are dark  days.' He  went  swiftly away,  leaving the 
strangers  in the  watchful  keeping of his  comrades. After  some  time  he 
returned. 'Follow me!'  he said. 'Thjoden gives you leave  to enter; but any 
weapon that  you bear; be it only a  staff, you must leave on the threshold. 
The doorwardens will keep them.' 
     The dark gates were swung open. The travellers entered, walking in file 
behind their guide. They found  a broad path, paved  with hewn  stones,  now 
winding  upward,  now climbing in  short  flights of well-laid  steps.  Many 
houses  built of wood and many dark doors they passed.  Beside the  way in  a 
stone  channel a stream of clear water flowed,  sparkling and chattering. At  
length they came to the crown of the hill. There stood a high platform above 
a  green terrace,  at the foot of which a bright  spring gushed from a stone 
carved in the likeness of a  horse's  head;  beneath was  a  wide basin from


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only two  days ago. We bring them back now, even as we promised him. Has 
not 
Jomer then returned and given warning of our coming?' 
     A troubled look came  into the guard's eyes. 'Of Jomer I have naught to 
say,' he answered. 'If  what you tell me  is  truth,  then doubtless Thjoden 
will  have heard of it. Maybe your coming was not wholly unlooked-for. It is 
but two nights ago that Wormtongue came to us and  said that by  the will of  
Thjoden no stranger should pass these gates. ' 
     'Wormtongue?' said Gandalf, looking sharply at the guard. 'Say no more!  
My errand is not to Wormtongue, but to the Lord of the Mark himself. I am in 
haste. Will you not go or send to say  that  we  are come?' His eyes glinted 
under his deep brows as he bent his gaze upon the man. 
     'Yes,  I will go,' he answered  slowly. 'But what names shall I report?  
And what  shall I say of you? Old  and weary you seem now, and yet  you  are 
fell and grim beneath, I deem'


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####-steeds seemed to be swimming in a grey-green sea. They came upon many 
hidden 
pools, and broad acres of sedge waving above wet and  treacherous bogs;  but 
Shadowfax found the way, and the  other horses followed in his swath. Slowly 
the sun  fell from the sky down into the  West. Looking  out  over the great 
plain,  far away the riders saw it for a moment like a red fire sinking into 
the grass. Low upon the edge of sight shoulders of the mountains glinted red 
upon either side. A smoke seemed to rise up and darken the sun's disc to the 
hue of blood, as if it had kindled the grass as it passed down under the rim 
of earth. 
     'There lies the Gap of Rohan,' said Gandalf. 'It is now almost due west  
of us. That way lies Isengard.' 
     'I see a great smoke,' said Legolas. 'What may that be?' 
     'Battle and war!' said  Gandalf. 'Ride on!' 
 

####- 

Chapter 6. The King of the Golden Hall


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dawn,  winding  their way into the heart of the great mountains. Immediately 
before  the travellers the widest of these  glens  opened  like a  long gulf 
among the hills. Far inward they  glimpsed a tumbled mountain -mass with  one 
tall peak;  at the mouth of  the  vale there  stood  like  sentinel a lonely 
height. About its feet  there flowed, as a thread of silver, the stream that 
issued from the dale; upon its brow they caught, still  far away, a glint in 
the rising sun, a  glimmer of gold. 'Speak, Legolas!' said Gandalf. 'Tell us 
what you see there before us!' 
     Legolas  gazed  ahead, shading  his eyes from the  level shafts  of the 
new-risen  sun. 'I see a  white stream  that comes down from  the snows,' he  
said. 'Where it issues  from the shadow  of the vale a green hill rises upon


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####-wall, as if he feared to handle them.  'No  man  will  touch them  I promise 
you,' he said. 
     Aragorn stood a while hesitating. 'It is not my will,' he said,  'to put 
aside my sword or to deliver And®ril to the hand of any other man.' 
     'It is the will of Thjoden,' said Hbma. 
     'It is not clear to  me that the  will of Thjoden son of  Thengel  even 
though  he be lord of the  Mark, should  prevail over the will of Aragorn son  
of Arathorn, Elendil's heir of Gondor.' 
     'This  is the house of  Thjoden, not of Aragorn, even  were  he King of 
Gondor in  the seat of  Denethor,' said Hbma, stepping  swiftly  before  the 
doors  and barring the  way. His sword  was now  in  his  hand and the point  
towards the strangers. 
     'This is idle talk,' said  Gandalf. 'Needless is Thjoden's demand,  but 
it is useless to refuse. A king will have his  way  in his own hall,  be  it 
folly or wisdom.'


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travellers passed over and came upon a wide rutted track leading towards the 
uplands.  
     At the  foot of the  walled  hill the  way ran under the shadow of many 
mounds, high and green. Upon their western sides the grass was white as with 
a drifted snow: small flowers  sprang there like  countless stars  amid  the 
turf. 
     'Look!' said  Gandalf. 'How fair are  the  bright  eyes  in  the grass!  
Evermind they  are called,  simbelmynl in this land of Men, for they blossom 
in all the seasons of the year, and grow where dead men rest. Behold! we are 
come to the great barrows  where the sires of  Thjoden sleep.' 'Seven mounds 
upon the left,  and nine upon the right,' said Aragorn. 'Many long  lives of 
men it is since the golden hall was built.' 
     'Five hundred times  have the  red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home 
since then,' said Legolas, 'and but a little while does that seem to us.' 
     'But  to the Riders of  the Mark it  seems  so long ago,' said Aragorn,


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####-stay here, too, without shame'; and  he laid it on the floor. 'Now then,  if 
all is as you wish, let us go and speak with your master.' 
     The guard still  hesitated. 'Your staff,' he  said to Gandalf. 'Forgive 
me, but that too must be left at the doors.' 
     'Foolishness!' said Gandalf. 'Prudence is one thing, but discourtesy is 
another. I am old. If I may  not  lean on my stick  as I go, then I will sit 
out here, until it pleases Thjoden to hobble out himself to speak with me.' 
     Aragorn laughed. 'Every man has something too dear to trust to another. 
But  would you  part an old  man from his suppor t? Come, will you not let us 
enter?' 
     'The staff  in the hand of a wizard may  be more  than a prop for  age' 
said Hbma. He looked hard at  the ash -staff on which Gandalf leaned. 'Yet in 
doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends 
and folk worthy of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.'


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####-chair. Upon it sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf; but 
his white  hair was  long and thick and fell  in great braids from beneath a  
thin golden circle set upon his brow.  In the centre upon his forehead shone 
a single white diamond. His beard was laid like snow upon his knees; but his 
eyes  still  burned  with  a bright  light,  glinting  as  he  gazed at  the 
strangers. Behind his  chair  stood  a woman clad in white. At his feet upon 
the  steps sat  a  wizened  figure of a  man,  with  a  pale  wise face  and 
heavy-lidded eyes.  
     There was a silence. The old  man  did not move in his chair. At length 
Gandalf spoke.  'Hail, Thjoden son of Thengel!  I have returned. For behold!  
the  storm  comes,  and now all  friends should  gather together,  lest each 
singly be destroyed.' 
     Slowly the old man rose to his feet, leaning heavily upon a short black  
staff  with a handle of  white bone; and now  the strangers  saw that,  bent


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'Yes,  I will go,' he answered  slowly. 'But what names shall I report?  
And what  shall I say of you? Old  and weary you seem now, and yet  you  are 
fell and grim beneath, I deem' 
     'Well do you see and speak,' said the wizard. 'For I am Gandalf. I have 
returned. And behold! I too bring back a horse. Here is Shadowfax the Great, 
whom no other hand can tame. And here beside me  is Aragorn son of 
Arathorn, 
the heir of Kings, and it is to Mundburg that he goes. Here also are Legolas 
the Elf and Gimli the  Dwarf, our  comrades. Go now and  say to your  master  
that we are at  his gates and  would have speech with him, if he will permit 
us to come into his hall.' 'Strange names you give indeed! But I will report 
them as you  bid and learn my master's will,' said  the  guard. 'Wait here a  
little  while, and f will bring you such answer as seems good to him. Do not


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a  green terrace,  at the foot of which a bright  spring gushed from a stone 
carved in the likeness of a  horse's  head;  beneath was  a  wide basin from 
which the  water. spilled and fed the  falling stream. Up the  green terrace 
went a stair of stone, high  and  broad, and  on either side of the  topmost  
step were stone-hewn  sea,  There sat other  guards,  with drawn swords laid 
upon their  knees. Their golden hair was braided on their shoulders the  sun 
was blazoned upon  their green shields, their  long  corslets were burnished 
bright, and when they rose taller they seemed than mortal men. 
     'There are the doors before you,' said the guide. 'I must return now to 
my duty at the gate. Farewell! And  may the Lord  of the Mark be gracious to 
you!' 
     He turned and went swiftly  back down  the road. The others climbed the 
long stair under the eyes of the tall  watchmen. Silent they stood now above


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towards the strangers. 
     'This is idle talk,' said  Gandalf. 'Needless is Thjoden's demand,  but 
it is useless to refuse. A king will have his  way  in his own hall,  be  it 
folly or wisdom.' 
     'Truly,' said Aragorn. 'And I would do as  the master of the house bade 
me, were this only a woodman's cot, if I bore now any sword but And®ril.' 
     'Whatever its name may be,' said Hbma, 'here you shall lay it,  if  you  
would not fight alone against all the men in Edoras.' 
     'Not alone!' said Gimli, fingering  the blade of his axe,  and  looking 
darkly up at the  guard, as if he were a young tree that Gimli had a mind to 
fell. 'Not alone!' 
     'Come, come!' said Gandalf. 'We are all friends here. Or should be; for  
the laughter  of Mordor will be our only reward, if we quarrel. My errand is 
pressing.  Here at least is  my sword, goodman Hbma. Keep it well. Glamdring 
it  is  called,  for the Elves made  it long ago.  Now  let me  pass.  Come, 
Aragorn!'


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####-before are lost in the mist of time.  Now  they  call this land their  home, 
their own, and  their speech is sundered  from their northern  kin.' Then he 
began  to chant softly in a  slow tongue unknown to the  Elf  and Dwarf; yet  
they listened, for there was a strong music in it. 
     'That, I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim,' said Legolas; 'for it 
is like  to  this land itself; rich and rolling in part,  and else  hard and 
stern as the mountains.  But I cannot guess what it  means, save  that it is 
laden with the sadness of Mortal Men.' 
     'It runs thus  in  the Common Speech,' said Aragorn, 'as near as  I can 
make it. 
     Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?  
     Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? 
     Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? 
     Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?


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since then,' said Legolas, 'and but a little while does that seem to us.' 
     'But  to the Riders of  the Mark it  seems  so long ago,' said Aragorn, 
'that  the  raising of this  house  is but a memory of  song, and  the years


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doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends 
and folk worthy of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.' 
     The guards now lifted the heavy bars of the doors and swung them slowly 
inwards grumbling on  their great hinges. The travellers entered. Inside  it 
seemed  dark and warm after the clear air  upon the hill.  The hall was long 
and wide and filled  with shadows and half lights; mighty pillars upheld its 
lofty roof. But  here and there bright  sunbeams fell  in glimmering  shafts 
from  the  eastern windows, high under the deep eaves. Through the louver in 
the roof, above the thin wisps  of  issuing smoke,  the sky showed  pale and 
blue.  As their  eyes changed, the travellers  perceived  that the floor was 
paved  with  stones  of  many  hues;  branching  runes  and strange  devices 
intertwined  beneath their feet. They  saw now that  the pillars were richly


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singly be destroyed.' 
     Slowly the old man rose to his feet, leaning heavily upon a short black  
staff  with a handle of  white bone; and now  the strangers  saw that,  bent 
though he was, he was still tall and must in youth  have been high and proud 
indeed. 
     'I greet you,'  he said,  'and maybe you look for welcome. But truth to 
tell your welcome is  doubtful here,  Master Gandalf.  You have ever  been a  
herald  of  woe. Troubles follow you like crows,  and ever  the oftener  the 
worse. I will  not deceive  you: when I heard that Shadowfax had  come  back 
riderless, I rejoiced at the return of the horse, but still more at the lack  
of the rider; and when Jomer brought the  tidings that you  had gone at last 
to your long home, I did not mourn. But news from afar is seldom sooth. Here 
you  come  again! And with you come  evils  worse  than before, as  might be 
expected. Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow? Tell me that.' 
Slowly


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you!' 
     He turned and went swiftly  back down  the road. The others climbed the 
long stair under the eyes of the tall  watchmen. Silent they stood now above  
and spoke no  word, until Gandalf stepped  out upon the paved terrace at the 
stairs head. Then suddenly with clear voices they spoke a courteous greeting  
in their own tongue. 
     Hail, corners from afar!' they said, and they turned the hilts of their 
swords towards the travellers in token of  peace. Green  gems flashed in the 
sunlight.  Then one of the guards stepped forward  and  spoke in  the Common 
Speech. 
     'I am the Doorward of Thjoden,' he said. 'Hbma is my name. Here  I must  
bid you lay aside your weapons before you enter.' 
     Then Legolas gave into his hand his silver -hafted knife, his quiver and 
his bow. 'Keep these well,' he said, 'for they come from the Golden Wood and 
the Lady of Lothlurien gave them to me.' 
     Wonder came into the man's eyes, and he laid the weapons hastily by the


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####-     'You are  held wise, my friend Wormtongue,  and are  doubtless a  great 
support to your master,' answered Gandalf in a soft voice. 'Yet in two  ways 
may a man  come with evil tidings. lie may be a worker of evil; or he may be 
such as leaves well alone, and comes only to bring aid in time of need.' 
     'That  is so,' said Wormtongue; 'but there is a  third kind: pickers of 
bones, meddlers in other men's sorrows, carrion-fowl  that grow fat  on war. 
What aid have you ever brought, Stormcrow? And what aid do you bring now? 
It 
was  aid from  us that you sought last time that you were here. Then my lord 
bade you  Choose any horse that you would and be gone; and  to the wonder of 
all you took Shadowfax in your insolence. My lord was sorely grieved; yet to 
some it seemed that to speed you from the land the price was not  too great. 
I guess that it is  likely to turn out the same once more: you will seek aid


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pressing.  Here at least is  my sword, goodman Hbma. Keep it well. Glamdring 
it  is  called,  for the Elves made  it long ago.  Now  let me  pass.  Come, 
Aragorn!' 
     Slowly Aragorn unbuckled  his belt  and  himself set  his sword upright 
against the wall. 'Here I set it,' he  said; 'but I command you not to touch 
it, nor to  permit any other to lay hand on  it. In this elvish heath dwells 
the Blade  that was Broken and has been made again. Telchar first wrought it 
in the deeps of time. Death shall come to any man that draws Elendil's sword 
save Elendil's heir.' 
     The guard stepped back and looked with  amazement on Aragorn. 'It seems 
that you are come on the wings  of song out of the forgotten days he said. It 
shall be, lord, as you command. 
     'Well,' said Gimli, 'if it  has And®ril to keep it company, my  axe may


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####-     In Dwimordene, in Lurien 
     More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men. 
     Thus Gandalf softly  sang, and then suddenly  he changed.  Casting  his 
tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned  no longer on his staff; and he 
spoke in a clear cold voice.  'The wise speak only  of what they know, Grnma 
son of Gblmud. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and 
keep 
your forked tongue behind  your  teeth.  I  have not passed through fire and 
death to bandy crooked words  with a serving-man till the  lightning falls.' 
He raised his staff.  There was a roll of thunder. The  sunlight was blotted 
out from the eastern  windows; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night. 
The fire faded to sullen embers. Only Gandalf could be seen,  standing white 
and tall before the blackened hearth. 
     In the gloom they heard  the hiss  of  Wormtongue's voice:  'Did I  not 
counsel you, lord, to forbid  his  staff? That fool, Hbma, has betrayed us!'


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Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? 
     Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? 
     They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;  
     The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.  
     Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, 
     Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning? 
     Thus spoke a  forgotten poet long ago in Rohan, recalling how tall  and 
fair  was Eorl the Young,  who rode  down out  of the  North; and there were 
wings upon the feet  of  his steed, Felaruf, father   of horses. So men still 
sing in the evening.' 
     With these words the travellers passed the silent mounds. Following the 
winding way  up the  green shoulders  of the hills, they came at last to the 
wide wind-swept walls and the gates of Edoras.  
     There sat many men in bright mail, who sprang at once to their feet and


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you  come  again! And with you come  evils  worse  than before, as  might be 
expected. Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow? Tell me that.' 
Slowly  
he sat down again in his cha ir. 
     'You speak justly, lord,'  said the pale man sitting upon the steps  of 
the  dais. 'It is not  yet five  days since  the  bitter  tidings  came that 
Thjodred your son was slain upon  the West  Marches: your right hand, Second 
Marshal Of the Mark. In Jomer  there  is little trust. Few men would be left  
to guard your walls, if  he had been allowed to rule.  And even now we learn 
from Gondor that the Dark Lord is stirring in the East. Such  is the hour in 
which this wanderer chooses to return. Why indeed  should  we  welcome  you, 
Master Stormcrow?  Lbthspell I  name you,  Ill-news; and ill news is  an ill 
guest they say.' He laughed grimly, as he lifted his heavy lids for a moment 
and gazed on the strangers with dark eyes.


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####-past.' 
     The woman turned  and went slowly into  the house. As  she  passed  the  
doors  she turned and looked back. Grave  and thoughtful  was her glance, as 
she looked on the king with cool  pity in her eyes. Very fair was  her face, 
and her long hair was like a river of gold. Slender and tall  she was in her  
white  robe girt with  silver; but strong she seemed and  stern as steel,  a  
daughter of kings. Thus Aragorn for the first time in the  full light of day 
beheld  Jowyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair, fair  and cold,  like  a  
morning of  pale spring that  is not yet come to womanhood. And she  now was 
suddenly  aware  of  him:  tall  heir  of kings,  wise  with  many  winters, 
greycloaked.  Hiding a power that yet she felt.  For a moment still as stone 
she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone. 
     'Now, lord,' said Gandalf, 'look out upon  your land!  Breathe the free 
air again!'


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####-you name the Wormtongue?' 
     'It is  true,' said Thjoden. 'He  had rebelled against my commands, and 
threatened death to Grnma in my hall.' 
     'A man  may love you  and yet not love Wormtongue or his counsels' said 
Gandalf. 
     'That may be. I will  do as you ask. Call  Hbma to  me. Since he proved 
untrusty  as a  doorward, let him  become an errand -runner. The guilty shall  
bring the guilty to judgement,' said Thjoden, and his voice was grim, yet he 
looked  at  Gandalf and  smiled and  as  he did so many lines  of care  were 
smoothed away and did not return. 
     When  Hbma  had  been  summoned and had  gone, Gandalf led Thjoden to 
a 
stone seat, and then sat  himself before  the  king upon  the topmost stair. 
Aragorn and his companions stood nearby. 
     'There is no time to tell all that you should hear,' said Gandalf. 'Yet 
if my  hope is not cheated, a time will come ere  long when I can speak more


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some it seemed that to speed you from the land the price was not  too great. 
I guess that it is  likely to turn out the same once more: you will seek aid 
rather than  render  it. Do  you  bring men?  Do you bring  horses,  swords,  
spears? That I  would call aid; that is our present need. But  who are these 
that  follow at your tail? Three ragged wanderers in grey,  and you yourself 
the most beggar-like of the four!' 
     'The courtesy of your hall is somewhat lessened of late, Thjoden son of 
Thengel,' said  Gandalf. 'Has not the  messenger from your gate reported the 
names of my companions? Seldom  has any lord of  Rohan received  three  
such 
guests. Weapons they have  laid at your doors  that  are worth many a mortal 
man, even the mightiest. Grey is their raiment, for the Elves clad them, and 
thus they have passed through the shadow of great perils to your hall.' 
     'Then it  is true, as  Jomer reported, that  you are in league with the


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paved  with  stones  of  many  hues;  branching  runes  and strange  devices 
intertwined  beneath their feet. They  saw now that  the pillars were richly 
carved,  gleaming dully with gold and half-seen  colours.  Many woven cloths 
were hung upon  the  walls,  and over their  wide spaces  marched figures of 
ancient legend, some  dim with years,  some darkling in the shade. But  upon 
one form the sunlight fell: a young man upon a white horse. He was blowing a  
great horn, and his yellow hair was flying in the wind. The horse's head was 
lifted,  and its  nostrils were wide and red  as it neighed, smelling battle 
afar. Foaming water, green and white, rushed and curled about its knees. 
     'Behold  Eorl the Young!'  said Aragorn. 'Thus he rode out of the North 
to the Battle of the Field of Celebrant.' 
     Now the four companions  went forward, past the clear wood-fire burning 
upon the long hearth in  the midst of the hall. Then they halted. At the far


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and tall before the blackened hearth. 
     In the gloom they heard  the hiss  of  Wormtongue's voice:  'Did I  not 
counsel you, lord, to forbid  his  staff? That fool, Hbma, has betrayed us!' 
There was  a flash as if lightning had cloven the roof. Then all was silent. 
Wormtongue sprawled on his face. 
     'Now Thjoden son of Thengel, will you hearken to me?' said Gandalf. 'Do 
you ask for help?' He lifted his staff and pointed to a  high  window. There 
the darkness  seemed  to clear, and  through the opening could be seen, high 
and far, a patch of shining sky. 'Not all is dark. Take courage, Lord of the 
Mark; for better help you will not  find. No counsel have I to give to those 
that despair. Yet counsel I could give, and words I could speak to you. Will 
you  hear them? They are not for all  ears.  I bid you come out  before your 
doors  and look abroad.  Too  long have  you sat in  shadows and  trusted to 
twisted tales and crooked promptings.'


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wide wind-swept walls and the gates of Edoras.  
     There sat many men in bright mail, who sprang at once to their feet and 
barred  the  way with spears.  'Stay, strangers here unknown!' they cried in 
the tongue  of  the  Riddermark,  demanding  the  names and  errand  of  the  
strangers. Wonder was in their eyes but little friendliness; and they looked 
darkly upon Gandalf.  
     'Well do I  understand your speech,' he answered  in the same language; 
'yet few strangers do so. Why then do you not speak in the Common Tongue, 
as 
is the custom in the West, if you wi sh to be answered?' 
     'It is the will of Thjoden King that  none should enter his gates, save 
those who know our tongue and are our friends,'  replied one of the  guards.  
'None are welcome here in days of war but our  own folk, and those that come


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####-pinnacle of the  Tower of Guard. And further still, endlessly remote and yet 
a present threat, there was a tiny tongue of flame. 
     Slowly  Thjoden  sat  down again,  as if  weariness still struggled  to 
master  him against the will  of Gandalf.  He turned and looked at his great 
house. 'Alas!'  he said, 'that these evil days  should  be  mine, and should 
come in my old  age instead of that peace  which  I  have earned.  Alas  for  
Boromir  the  brave!  The young  perish and the old  linger,  withering.' He 
clutched his knees with his wrinkled hands. 
     'Your fi ngers would remember their old strength better, if they grasped 
a sword-hilt,' said Gandalf. 
     Thjoden rose and put his  hand to his  side;  but no sword hung at  his 
belt. 'Where has Grnma stowed it?' he muttered under his breath. 
     'Take this,  dear lord!'  said  a  clear  voice.  'It  was ever at your 
service.' Two  men had  come softly up the  stair and stood now a few  steps


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Aragorn and his companions stood nearby. 
     'There is no time to tell all that you should hear,' said Gandalf. 'Yet 
if my  hope is not cheated, a time will come ere  long when I can speak more 
fully. Behold! you  are  come into  a peril  greater  even  than the wit  of 
Wormtongue could weave into your dreams. But see!  you  dream no longer. 
You 
live.  Gondor and  Rohan do not stand alone. The enemy  is strong beyond our 
reckoning, yet we have a hope at which he has not guessed.' 
     Quickly now Gandalf spoke. His voice  was low and secret, and none save 
the  king heard what he said. But  ever as he spoke the light shone brighter  
in Thjoden's eye, and at  the last he rose from his seat to his full height, 
and  Gandalf  beside him, and  together  they looked out from the high place 
towards the East. 
     'Verily,' said Gandalf, now in a loud voice,  keen and clear, 'that way 
lies our hope,  where sits our greatest  fear. Doom hangs still on a thread.


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thus they have passed through the shadow of great perils to your hall.' 
     'Then it  is true, as  Jomer reported, that  you are in league with the 
Sorceress of the Golden Wood?'  said Wormtongue. 'It  is not  to be wondered 
at: webs of deceit were ever woven in Dwimordene.' 
     Gimli  strode  a pace forward, but felt  suddenly  the hand  of Gandalf 
clutch him by the shoulder, and he halted, standing stiff as stone. 
     In Dwimordene, in Lurien 
     Seldom have walked the feet of Men, 
     Few mortal eyes have seen the light 
     That lies there ever, long and bright. 
     Galadriel! Galadriel! 
     Clear is the water of your well; 
     White is the star in your white hand; 
     Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land


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you  hear them? They are not for all  ears.  I bid you come out  before your 
doors  and look abroad.  Too  long have  you sat in  shadows and  trusted to 
twisted tales and crooked promptings.' 
     Slowly  Thjoden left his  chair. A faint light  grew in the hall again. 
The  woman hastened to  the king's side, taking his arm, and with  faltering 
steps the old man came down from the dais and paced softly through the hall. 
Wormtongue remained lying on the floor. They came to  the  doors and 
Gandalf 
knocked. 
     'Open!' he cried. 'The Lord of the Mark comes forth!' 
     The doors rolled  back  and a keen air  came whistling in.  A wind  was 
blowing  on  the  hill.  'Send your guards down  to the stairs  foot,'  said 
Gandalf. 'And you, lady, leave him a while with me. I will care for him.' 
     'Go, Jowyn sister -daughter!' said the  old king. 'The time for  fear is


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to the Battle of the Field of Celebrant.' 
     Now the four companions  went forward, past the clear wood-fire burning 
upon the long hearth in  the midst of the hall. Then they halted. At the far 
end of the house, beyond the hearth and facing north towards  the doors, was 
a dais with three steps; and  in the  middle of the dais was a great  gilded


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she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone. 
     'Now, lord,' said Gandalf, 'look out upon  your land!  Breathe the free 
air again!' 
     From  the porch upon the top  of the high terrace they could see beyond 
the stream the green fields of Rohan fading  into distant grey.  Curtains of 
wind-blown rain were slanting down. The sky above and  to the west was still 
dark with thunder, and lightning far away flickered among the tops of hidden 
hills. But the wind had shifted to the north, and already the storm that had 
come  out of  the  East  was  receding, rolling away  southward to  the sea. 
Suddenly through a rent  in  the clouds behind them a shaft  of sun  stabbed 
down. The falling  showers  gleamed  like  silver,  and  far away the  river  
glittered like a shimmering glass. 
     'It is not so dark here,' said Thjoden. 
     'No,' said Gandalf. 'Nor does age lie so  heavily on your  shoulders as 
some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!'


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towards the East. 
     'Verily,' said Gandalf, now in a loud voice,  keen and clear, 'that way 
lies our hope,  where sits our greatest  fear. Doom hangs still on a thread. 
Yet  hope  there  is  still, if we can  but  stand  unconquered for a little 
while.' 
     The others  too  now  turned their  eyes eastward.  Over the  sundering 
leagues of land, far away they gazed to the edge of sight, and hope and fear 
bore their thoughts  still on, beyond dark  mountains to the Land of Shadow.  
Where now was the  Ring-bearer? How thin  indeed was  the thread  upon 
which 
doom  still hung! It seemed to Legolas, as he  strained his farseeing  eyes, 
that he caught a  glint  of white: far away perchance the sun twinkled on  a


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####-stand by you  when all  others have gone.  Do  not send your  faithful Grnma  
away!' 
     'You have my pity,' said Thjoden. 'And I do not send you from my  side. 
I  go myself to  war with my  men.  I  bid  you come with me and prove  your 
faith.' 
     Wormtongue looked from face to face. In his eyes was the hunted look of 
a beast seeking some gap in the ring of his enemies. He licked his lips with 
a  long pale tongue. 'Such a resolve  might be expected  from a lord of  the 
House  of Eorl,  old though  he be,' he  said. 'But those who truly love him 
would spare his failing years. Yet I  see that I come too late. Others, whom 
the death of my lord would perhaps grieve less, have already persuaded  him. 
If I cannot undo their work,  hear me at least in  this, lord! One who knows 
your mind  and honours your  commands shou ld  be  left in  Edoras. Appoint a  
faithful  steward.  Let your  counsellor Grnma  keep  all  things till  your


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####-     'That word comes too oft and easy from  your lips,' said Gandalf. 'I do 
not lie. See, Thjoden, here is a snake! With  safety you cannot take it with 
you,  nor can you leave it behind. To slay it  would be just. But it was not 
always as it now is. Once it was a man,  and did you service in its fashion. 
Give him a horse and  let him go at once, wherever he chooses. By his choice 
you shall judge him.' 
     'Do  you hear this, Wormtongue?' said Thjoden. 'This is your choice: to 
ride with me to war, and let us see in battle whether you are true; or to go 
now,  whither  you will. But  then, if ever we  meet again, I  shall not  be 
merciful.' 
     Slowly Wormtongue rose. He  looked  at them with half-closed eyes. Last 
of all he scanned Thjoden's face and opened his mouth  as if  to speak. Then  
suddenly he drew  himself up.  His  hands  worked. His eyes glittered.  Such 
malice was in them that men stepped  back from  him. He bared his teeth; and


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####-     'Then even the defeat of Rohan will be glorious in song,' said Aragorn. 
The armed men that st ood  near clashed their weapons, crying:  'The  Lord of 
the Mark will ride! Forth Eorlingas!' 
     'But  your  people  must  not be  both  unarmed and shepherdless'  said 
Gandalf. 'Who shall guide them and govern them in your place?' 
     'I will take thought for that  ere I go,' answered Thjoden. 'Here comes 
my counsellor.' 
     At  that moment  Hbma  came  again from  the hall. Behind him  cringing  
between two other men, came Grnma  the  Wormtongue. His face was very 
white. 
His eyes blinked in the sunlight. Hbma knelt and presented to Thjoden a long 
sword in a scabbard clasped with gold and  set with green gems. 'Here, lord,  
is Herugrim, your  ancient blade,' he said. 'It was found in his chest. Loth 
was  he to render up  the  keys. Many other things are there which  men have 
missed.' 
     'You lie,'  said Wormtongue.  'And  this sword your master himself gave


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'Take this,  dear lord!'  said  a  clear  voice.  'It  was ever at your 
service.' Two  men had  come softly up the  stair and stood now a few  steps  
from the top. Jomer was there. No helm was on his head, no  mail  was on his 
breast, but in  his hand he  held a drawn sword; and as he knelt  he offered 
the hilt to his master. 
     'How comes this?' said Thjoden sternly. He turned towards Jomer and the  
men looked in wonder at him, standing now proud and erect. Where was the 
old 
man whom they had left crouching in his chair or leaning on his stick? 
     'It is my doing,  lord,' said Hbma,  trembling. I understood that Jomer  
was  to be set free. Such  joy was in my heart that maybe I have erred. Yet, 
since  he was free again, and he  a  Marshal of  the Mark,!  brought him his 
sword as he bade me.' 
     'To lay at your feet, my lord,' said Jomer. 
     For a moment of silence Thjoden stood looking down at Jomer as he knelt 
still before him. Neither moved.


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####-went. And  ever Wormtongue's  whispering was  in your ears,  poisoning  your 
thought, chilling your heart, weakening your limbs, while others watched and 
could do nothing, for your will was in his keeping. 
     'But  when I escaped and  warned you, then the mask was torn, for those 
who would see. After  that Wormtongue played dangerously, always  seeking 
to 
delay  you, to  prevent  your full strength being gathered.  He  was crafty: 
dulling men's  wariness, or working on their fears,  as served the occasion. 
Do you not remember how eagerly  he urged  that no man should be spared on 
a 
wildgoose  chase  northward,  when  the  immediate  peril was  westward?  He 
persuaded you  to  forbid Jomer to pursue the raiding Orcs. If Jomer had not  
defied  Wormtongue's voice speaking  with your mouth, those Orcs would  
have 
reached Isengard by now,  bearing a great prize. Not indeed that prize which  
Saruman desires  above all else, but at the least two members of my Company,


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your mind  and honours your  commands shou ld  be  left in  Edoras. Appoint a  
faithful  steward.  Let your  counsellor Grnma  keep  all  things till  your 
return-and  I pray  that we  may  see it,  though no  wise man  will deem it 
hopeful.' 
     Jomer  laughed. 'And if  that plea does not excuse you  from war,  most  
noble Wormtongue,' he said, what office of less honour would you accept?  To 
carry a sack of meal up  into the mountains-if any man would trust you  with  
it?' 
     'Nay,  Jomer,  you  do  not  fully  understand   the  mind   of  Master  
Wormtongue,' said Gandalf, turning his piercing glance upon him. 'He is bold 
and cunning. Even now he plays a game with  peril and wins a throw. Hours of 
my precious time he has wasted already. 'Down snake!' he said suddenly in  a 
terrible voice. 'Down on  your belly!  How long is it  since  Saruman bought 
you? What was  the promised price? When all the  men were  dead, you were to


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sword as he bade me.' 
     'To lay at your feet, my lord,' said Jomer. 
     For a moment of silence Thjoden stood looking down at Jomer as he knelt 
still before him. Neither moved. 
     'Will you not take the sword?' said Gandalf.  
     Slowly Thjoden stretched forth his hand. As his fingers  took the hilt, 
it seemed  to the watchers that  firmness  and strength returned to his thin 
arm. Suddenly he  lifted the blade  and swung it shimmering and whistling in 
the air. Then he gave a great cry. His voice rang clear as he chanted in the 
tongue of Rohan a call to arms. 
     Arise now, arise, Riders of Thjoden! 
     Dire deeds awake, dark is it eastward. 
     Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!


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was  he to render up  the  keys. Many other things are there which  men have 
missed.' 
     'You lie,'  said Wormtongue.  'And  this sword your master himself gave 
into my keeping.' 
     'And  he  now  requires  it  of  you again,' said  Thjoden. 'Does  that 
displease you?' 
     'Assuredly not. lord,' said  Wormtongue. 'I care for you and  yours  as 
best I may. But do not weary yourself, or tax too heavily your strength. Let 
others deal  with these irksome guests. Your meat is  about to be set on the 
board. Will you not go to it?' 
     'I will,' said Thjoden. 'And let food for my guests be set on the board 
beside me. The host rides today. Send the heralds forth! Let them summon all 
who dwell nigh!  Every  man and strong lad able to bear  arms,  all who have 
horses, let them be ready in the saddle at the gate ere the second hour from 
noon!' 
     'Dear  lord!'  cried Wormtongue.  'It  is as I feared. This wizard  has


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have 
reached Isengard by now,  bearing a great prize. Not indeed that prize which  
Saruman desires  above all else, but at the least two members of my Company, 
sharers of a  secret hope, of  which even  to you,  lord, I cannot yet speak 
openly. Dare you think of what they might now be  suffering, or what Saruman 
might now have learned to our destruction?' 
     'I owe much to  Jomer,' said Thjoden. 'Faithful heart  may have forward 
tongue.' 'Say also,' said  Gandalf,  'that to crooked  eyes truth may wear a  
wry face.' 
     'Indeed my eyes were almost blind,' said Thjoden. 'Most of all I owe to 
you, my guest. Once again you have come in time. I would give you a gift ere 
we  go, at your own  choosing. You  have only to name aught  that is mine. I 
reserve now only my sword!' 
     'Whether I came in time or not is yet  to be  seen,' said Gandalf. 'But 
as for your gift, lord, I will choose  one that will fit my need: swift  and


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'Long has that  been lost,' said  Gimli. 'Many have  said  that it  was 
never made save in legend, but others say that it was destroyed.' 
     'It  was made, and it had not been destroyed,'  said Gandalf. 'From the 
lowest dungeon to the highest peak  it climbed. ascending in unbroken spiral 
in many thousand steps, until it issued at last in  Durin's Tower  carved in 
the living rock of Zirak-zigil, the pinnacle of the Silvertine. 
     'There upon Celebdil was a lonely window in the snow, and before it lay 
a  narrow space, a dizzy eyrie above the mists of the world.  The  sun shone 
fiercely there, but all below was wrapped in cloud.  Out he sprang, and even 
as I came behind, he burst into new flame. There was none to see, or perhaps 
in after ages songs would still be sung of the Battle of the Peak.' Suddenly 
Gandalf laughed. 'But what would they say in song? Those that looked up from 
afar thought that  the  mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard,


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suddenly he drew  himself up.  His  hands  worked. His eyes glittered.  Such 
malice was in them that men stepped  back from  him. He bared his teeth; and 
then with a  hissing breath he spat before the king's feet, and  darting  to 
one side, he fled down the stair. 
     'After him!' said Thjoden. 'See that he does no harm to any, but do not 
hurt him or hinder him. Give him a horse, if he wishes it.' 
     'And if any will bear him,' said Jomer. 
     One of the guards ran down the stair.  Another went to the  well at the 
foot of  the terrace and in his helm drew water. With it he washed clean the 
stones that Wormtongue had defiled. 
     'Now my guests, come!' said Thjoden. 'Come and take such refreshment as 
haste allows.' 
     They passed back into the great house. Already they heard below them in  
the town the heralds crying and the  war -horns  blowing. For the king was to 
ride forth as soon as the  men of the  town and those dwelling near could be 
armed and assembled.


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####-gifts to my fathers out of Gondor. Choose from these ere we go, and may they 
serve you well!' 
     Now men came bearing  raiment  of  war from  the  king's hoard and they 
arrayed Aragorn and Legolas in shining mail. Helms too they chose, and round 
shields: their bosses were  overlaid with gold and set with gems,  green and 
red  and white.  Gandalf took no armour; and Gimli needed no coat of  rings, 
even if one had been found to match his stature, for there was no hauberk in 
the hoards of Edoras  of  better make than his short corslet forged  beneath 
the Mountain  in the North.  But he  chose a  cap of iron  and leather  that 
fitted well upon his  round head; and  a small  shield he also took. It bore 
the  running  horse,  white upon green, that was the emblem of  the House of 
Eorl. 
     'May it keep you well!' said Thjoden.  'It was made for me in Thengel's 
day, while still I was a boy.' 
     Gimli bowed.  'I am proud, Lord  of the Mark, to bear your  device,' he


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terrible voice. 'Down on  your belly!  How long is it  since  Saruman bought 
you? What was  the promised price? When all the  men were  dead, you were to 
pick your  share of  the treasure, and take the woman  you  desire? Too long 
have you watched her under your eyelids and haunted her steps.' 
     Jomer grasped his sword. 'That I knew  already,' he muttered. 'For that 
reason I would  have slain him  before,  forgetting the law of the hall. But 
there are other reasons.' He  stepped forward,  but Gandalf stayed him  with 
his hand. 
     'Jowyn is safe now,' he said. 'But you, Wormtongue,  you have done what 
you could for  your  true master.  Some reward you have earned at least. Yet 
Saruman is apt to  overlook his bargains. I should advise you  to go quickly 
and remind him, lest he forget your faithful service.' 
     'You lie,' said Wormtongue.


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the town the heralds crying and the  war -horns  blowing. For the king was to 
ride forth as soon as the  men of the  town and those dwelling near could be 
armed and assembled. 
     At the  king's  board sat  Jomer  and  the four guests, and there  also 
waiting  upon  the king was  the lady Jowyn. They ate and drank swiftly. The 
others were silent while Thjoden questioned Gandalf concerning Saruman. 
     'How far back his treachery goes, who can guess?' said Gandalf. 'He was 
not always evil. Once  I  do not doubt that he  was the friend of Rohan; and 
even when his heart grew colder, he found you useful still. But for long now 
he  has plotted  your  ruin, wearing the  mask of Friendship,  until  he was 
ready. In those years Wormtongue's task was easy, and all that  you did  was 
swiftly known in Isengard; for your  land  was  open, and strangers came and


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reserve now only my sword!' 
     'Whether I came in time or not is yet  to be  seen,' said Gandalf. 'But 
as for your gift, lord, I will choose  one that will fit my need: swift  and 
sure. Give me Shadowfax! He was  only lent  before, if loan we may  call it.  
But now shall ride  him into great hazard,  setting silver against  black: I 
would not risk anything that is not my own.  And already there is  a bond of 
love between us.' 
     'You choose  well,' said Thjoden; 'and I give him now gladly. Yet it  is 
a great  gift. There  is none like  to Shadowfax. In him  one of  the mighty 
steeds of old  has returned. None  such shall  return again. And  to you  my 
other guests I  will offer such things as may be found in my armoury. Swords 
you  do  not need,  but there  are helms and coats  of mail of cunning work,


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####-     'In the House of Eorl,' answered Hbma. 
     'But Jomer I cannot spare, nor  would he stay,'  said the king; 'and he 
is the last of that House.' 
     'I  said not Jomer,'  answered Hbma. 'And he is not the  last. There is 
Jowyn, daughter of Jomund, his sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All 
love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.' 
     'It shall be so,' said Thjoden. 'Let the heralds  announce to  the folk  
that the Lady Jowyn will lead them!' 
     Then the king sat upon a seat before his doors, and  Jowyn knelt before 
him   and  received  from   him  a  sword  and  a  fair  corslet.  'Farewell 
sister -daughter!' he said. 'Dark is the hour, yet maybe we shall  return  to 
the Golden Hall. But in Dunharrow the people may long defend themselves, 
and 
if the battle go ill, thither will come all who escape.' 'Speak not so!' she 
answered.  'A  year shall I endure  for every  day  that passes  until  your


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####-Some  held in  readiness the  king's horse, Snowmane,  and  others  held the 
horses of  Aragorn and Legolas. Gimli stood ill at ease, frowning, bu t Jomer  
came up to him, leading his horse. 
     'Hail,  Gimli Gluin's  son!' he cried.  'I have  not had  time to learn 
gentle speech under your  rod, as you promised. But  shall  we not put aside  
our quarrel? At least I will speak no evil again of the Lady of the Wood.' 
     'I will forget my wrath for  a while, Jomer son of Jomund,' said Gimli; 
'but if ever you chance to  see the Lady Galadriel with your eyes, then  you  
shall  acknowledge her  the fairest of  ladies, or our friendship will end.' 
'So be  it!' said Jomer.  'But  until that  time pardon me, and  in token of 
pardon ride with me, I beg. Gandalf will be at the head with the Lord of the 
Mark; but Firefoot, my horse, will bear us both, if you will.' 
     'I thank  you  indeed,' said Gimli  greatly   pleased. 'I will gladly go


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####-     Forth Eorlingas! 
     The guards, thinking that they were summoned, sprang up the stair. They 
looked at  their lord  in amazement, and  then  as one  man they  drew their 
swords and laid them at his feet. 'Command us!' they said. 
     'Westu Thjoden hbl!' cried Jomer. 'It  is a joy to us to see you return 
into your  own.  Never  again  shall it be said, Gandalf, that you come only 
with grief!' 
     'Take  back your sword, Jomer, sister -son!'  said  the king. 'Go, Hbma, 
and  seek my own sword!  Grnma has it in his keeping. Bring him to  me also. 
Now, Gandalf,  you said   that  you had counsel to  give, if I would hear it.  
What is your counsel?' 
     'You have yourself already  taken it,' answered Gandalf.  'To put  your 
trust in Jomer, rather than in a man of crooked mind.  To cast aside  regret 
and fear.  To do the deed at hand. Every  man that can ride should  be  sent 
west at once, as  Jomer counselled you: we must first destroy the  threat of


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and 
if the battle go ill, thither will come all who escape.' 'Speak not so!' she 
answered.  'A  year shall I endure  for every  day  that passes  until  your 
return.' But as she spoke her eyes went to Aragorn who stood nearby. 
     'The king shall come again,' he said.  'Fear not! Not West but East does 
our doom await us.' 
     The  king now went down  the stair  with Gandalf beside him. The others 
followed. Aragorn looked back  as they  passed towards the gate. Alone Jowyn 
stood before the  doors of the house at the stair's head; the  sword was set 
upright before her, and her hands were laid upon the hilt. She was  clad now 
in mail and shone like silver in the sun. 
     Gimli walked with Legolas. his axe on his  shoulder. 'Well, at last  we 
set off!' he said. 'Men need many words before deeds. My  axe is restless in 
my  hands.  Though I doubt not that these Rohirrim are fell -handed when they 
come  to it. Nonetheless this is not the warfare  that suits me. How shall I


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Gandalf laughed. 'But what would they say in song? Those that looked up from 
afar thought that  the  mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard, 
and lightning, they said, smote upon  Celebdil,  and leaped back broken into 
tongues of fire. Is not that enough? A great smoke rose about us, vapour and 
steam. Ice fell like  rain. I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high 
place  and broke the  mountain-side  where  he  smote it  in his ruin.  Then 
darkness took me; and I strayed out  of thought and time, and I wandered far  
on roads that I will not tell. 
     'Naked I was sent back -- for a brief time, until my task  is done. And 
naked I lay upon  the mountain-top. The tower behind was crumbled into dust, 
the window gone; the ruined stair was choked with burned and broken stone. I 
was alone, forgotten, without escape upon the hard horn  of the world. There 
I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over, and each day was as long


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horses, let them be ready in the saddle at the gate ere the second hour from 
noon!' 
     'Dear  lord!'  cried Wormtongue.  'It  is as I feared. This wizard  has 
bewitched  you.  Are  none  to  be  left to defend  the  Golden Hall of your 
fathers, and all your treasure? None to guard the Lord of the Mark?' 
     'If this is bewitchment,' said Thjoden, 'it seems to me more  wholesome 
than your whisperings. Your leechcraft ere long would have had me walking on 
all  fours like  a beast.  No, not  one shall be left, not even Grnma. Grnma  
shall ride too. Go! You have ye t time to clean the rust from your sword.' 
     'Mercy, lord!' whined Wormtongue,  grovelling on the ground. 'Have pity 
on one worn out in your service. Send me not from your side! I at least will


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and fear.  To do the deed at hand. Every  man that can ride should  be  sent 
west at once, as  Jomer counselled you: we must first destroy the  threat of 
Saruman, while we have time. If we fail, we  fall. If we succeed  -- then  we 
will  face the next task. Meanwhile your people tha t are left, the women and 
the children and the old, should stay  to the refuges  that  you have in the 
mountains. Were they not prepared against just such an evil day as this? Let  
them  take  provision, but delay not, nor burden themselves  with treasures,  
great or small. It is their lives that are at stake.' 
     'This counsel seems good to me now,' said Thjoden. 'Let all my folk get 
ready! But  you my guests-truly you  said, Gandalf, that the  courtesy of my  
hall is  lessened. You have ridden through the night,  and the morning wears 
away.  You have had  neither  sleep nor food. A  guest -house  shall be  made  
ready: there you shall sleep, when you have eaten.'


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was alone, forgotten, without escape upon the hard horn  of the world. There 
I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over, and each day was as long 
as a life-age of the earth. Faint to my ears came the gathered rumour of all 
lands: the springing and the dying,  the song  and the weeping, and the slow


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Mark; but Firefoot, my horse, will bear us both, if you will.' 
     'I thank  you  indeed,' said Gimli  greatly   pleased. 'I will gladly go 
with you, if Legolas, my comrade, may ride beside us.' 
     'It shall he so,'  said Jomer. 'Legolas upon  my left, and Aragorn upon 
my right, and none will dare to stand before us!' 
     'Where is Shadowfax?' said Gandalf.  
     'Running  wild  over the grass,' they  answered.  'He  will let  no man 
handle him. There he goes, away down by the  ford, like a  shadow among  the 
willows.' 
     Gandalf  whistled  and called aloud the horse's  name,  and far away he 
tossed  his head and neighed,  and  turning sped  towards the host  like  an 
arrow. 
     'Were the breath of the West Wind to take a body visible, even so would 
it appear,' said Jomer, as the great horse ran up, until he stood before the 
wizard. 
     'The gift seems already to be  given,'  said Thjoden. 'But hearken all!


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my  hands.  Though I doubt not that these Rohirrim are fell -handed when they 
come  to it. Nonetheless this is not the warfare  that suits me. How shall I 
come to  the battle?  I  wish  I  could  walk and  not  bump like a sack  at 
Gandalf's saddlebow.' 
     'A safer seat than many, I guess,' said Legolas. 'Yet doubtless Gandalf 
will  gladly put you  down  on  your  feet  when  blows  begin; or Shadowfax 
himself. An axe is no weapon for a rider.' 
     'And a Dwarf is no horseman. It is orc-necks I would hew, not shave the 
scalps of Men,' said Gimli, patting the haft of his axe. 
     At the gate they found a great host of men, old and young, all ready in 
the saddle. More than a thousand were there mustered. Their spears were like 
a springing wood. Loudly and  joyously  they shouted as  Thjoden came forth.


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'It is not so dark here,' said Thjoden. 
     'No,' said Gandalf. 'Nor does age lie so  heavily on your  shoulders as 
some would have you think. Cast aside your prop!' 
     From the  king's hand the black staff fell clattering on the stones. He 
drew himself up, slowly, as a man  that is stiff from long bending over some 
dull toil.  Now tall  and straight he stood,  and his  eyes were blue as  he 
looked into the opening sky. 
     'Dark have  been  my  dreams  of late,' he said,  'but  I  feel as  one 
new-awakened. I would now that you had come before, Gandalf. For I fear that 
already  you have come  too late, only to see the last days of my house. Not 
long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of Eorl built. Fire shall 
devour the high seat. What is to be done?' 
     'Much,' said Gandalf. 'But first send for Jomer. Do I not guess rightly 
that  you hold him prisoner,  by the counsel of Grnma, of him that all  save


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The sun was  already westering as they rode  from Edoras, and the light 
of it was in their eyes, turning all the rolling fields of Rohan to a golden 
haze. There was  a beaten way,  north-westward  along the foot-hills  of the 
White Mountains,  and  this they  followed, up and  down in a green country, 
crossing small swift streams by many fords. Far ahead and to their right the 
Misty Mountains  loomed; ever darker  and taller they grew as the miles went 
by. The sun went slowly down before them. Evening came behind. 
     The  host rode on. Need drove them. Fearing to come too late, they rode 
with all the speed they  could, pausing seldom. Swift and  enduring were the 
steeds of Rohan, but there were many leagues to go. Forty  leagues  and more 
it was,  as  a bird flies, from Edoras to the fords of  the Isen, where they 
hoped to find the king's men that held back the hosts of Saruman. 
     Night closed about them. At last they  halted  to make their camp. They


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####-cannot tell. It  is  not  mist  or  cloud that defeats  my  eyes: there is a  
veiling shadow that  some power lays upon   the  land, and  it marches slowly 
down  stream.  It  is as  if the twilight under  endless trees were  flowing 
downwards from the hills.' 
     'And behind us comes a very storm of Mordor,' said Gandalf. 'It will be 
a black night.' 
     As  the second day  of their riding drew on, the  heaviness in the  air 
increased. In the afternoon the dark clouds began to overtake them: a sombre 
canopy with great billowing  edges flecked with dazzling light. The sun went 
down, blood-red in a smoking haze. The spears of  the Riders were tipped with 
fire as  the  last shafts of light kindled the steep  faces  of the peaks of 
Thrihyrne: now very near they stood  on the  northernmost arm of  the  White 
Mountains, three jagged horns staring at  the  sunset. In the last red  glow 
men in the vanguard saw a black speck, a horseman  riding back towards them.


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Eorl. 
     'May it keep you well!' said Thjoden.  'It was made for me in Thengel's 
day, while still I was a boy.' 
     Gimli bowed.  'I am proud, Lord  of the Mark, to bear your  device,' he 
said. 'Indeed  sooner would I bear a  horse than be borne by one. I  love my 
feet better. But, maybe, I shall come yet where I can stand and fight.' 
     'It may well be so,' said Thjoden. 
     The king now rose, and at once Jowyn came forward bearing wine.  'Ferthu 
Thjoden hbl!' she  said. 'Receive  now this  cup  and drink  in happy  hour. 
Health be with thee at thy going and coming!' 
     Thjoden drank from the cup, and she then proffered it to the guests. As 
she stood before  Aragorn she paused suddenly and  looked  upon him, and her 
eyes were shining. And he  looked down upon her fair face and smiled; but as 
he took the cup, his hand  met hers,  and he knew  that she trembled at  the 
touch. 'Hail  Aragorn son of Arathorn!' she said. 'Hail Lady of  Rohan!'  he


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away.  You have had  neither  sleep nor food. A  guest -house  shall be  made  
ready: there you shall sleep, when you have eaten.' 
     'Nay, lord,' said Aragorn. 'There is no rest yet for the weary. The men 
of Rohan must ride forth today, and we  will ride with them, axe, sword, and  
bow. We did not bring them to rest against your wall, Lord  of the Mark. And 
I promised Jomer that my sword and his should be drawn together.' 
     'Now indeed there is hope of victory!' said Jomer. 
     'Hope,  yes,' said Gandalf. 'But Isengard  is strong. And  other perils 
draw ever nearer. Do not delay, Thjoden,  when we are gone. Lead your people 
swiftly to the Hold of Dunharrow in the hills!' 
     'Nay,  Gandalf!' said  the king.  'You do not know your  own  skill  in 
healing. It shall not be so. I myself will go to war, to fall  in  the front 
of the battle, if it must be. Thus shall I sleep better.'


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it appear,' said Jomer, as the great horse ran up, until he stood before the 
wizard. 
     'The gift seems already to be  given,'  said Thjoden. 'But hearken all! 
Here  now I name my  guest, Gandalf  Greyhame,  wisest of  counsellors; most  
welcome of wanderers, a lord of the Mark, a chieftain of the Eorlingas while  
our kin shall last; and I give to him Shadowfax, prince of horses.' 
     'I thank you, Thjoden King,' said Gandalf. Then suddenly he threw  back  
his grey cloak, and cast aside his hat, and leaped to horseback. He  wore no 
helm nor mail. His snowy hair  flew free in the wind, his  white robes shone 
dazzling in  the sun. 
     'Behold the White Rider!' cried Aragorn, and all took up the words.  
     'Our King and the White Rider!' they shouted. 'Forth Eorlingas!' 
     The trumpets sounded. The horses reared and neighed.  Spear  clashed on


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####-are  already  between  us  and the  fastness. There are caves in Helm's Deep 
where hundreds may lie hid; and secret ways lead thence up on to the hills.  
     'Trust not to secret ways,' said the king. 'Saruman  has long spied out 
this land. Still in that place our defence may last long. Let us go!' 
     Aragorn and  Legolas went now with Jomer in the van. On through the dark 
night they rode, ever  slower as the darkness deepened and their way climbed 
southward, higher and higher into the  dim folds about the  mountains' feet. 
They  found  few of the  enemy before  them. Here and  there they came  upon 
roving bands of Orcs; but they fled ere the Riders could take or slay them. 
     'It will not be long I fear,' said Jomer, 'ere the coming of the king's 
host will be known to the leader of our enemies, Saruman or whatever captain 
he has sent forth.' 
     The rumour of war grew behind them. Now they could hear, borne over the


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####-of Erkenbrand!' 
     While Thjoden was speaking, Gandalf  rode a short way ahead, and he sat 
there  alone, gazing north  to Isengard and west to  the setting sun. Now he 
came back. 
     'Ride,  Thjoden!' he said. 'Ride to Helm's Deep! Go not to the Fords of 
Isen, and do not tarry in the plain! I must leave you for a while. Shadowfax 
must  bear me now on a swift errand.'  Turning to Aragorn and Jomer  and the 
men of the king's household, he cried: 'Keep well the Lord of the Mark, till 
I return. Await me at Helm's Gate! Farewell!' 
     He spoke a word to Shadowfax, and like an arrow  from the bow the gr eat 
horse sprang away. Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the 
sunset, a wind over the  grass, a shadow that fled  and  passed  from sight. 
Snowmane  snorted and reared,  eager to follow; but only a swift bird on the 
wing could have overtaken him. 
     'What does that mean?' said one of the guard to Hbma.


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Mountains, three jagged horns staring at  the  sunset. In the last red  glow 
men in the vanguard saw a black speck, a horseman  riding back towards them. 
They halted awaiting him. 
     He came, a  weary man  with dinted helm  and cloven shield.  Slowly  he 
climbed from his horse and stood there a while gasping. At  length he spoke.  
'Is  Jomer  here?' he asked. 'You come at last, but too late,  and with  too 
little strength. Things have gone evilly since Thjodred fell. We were driven 
back yesterday over the Isen with great loss; many perished at the crossing. 
Then at  night fresh   forces  came  over  the river  against  our camp.  All 
Isengard  must  be  emptied;  and Saruman has  armed the  wild  hillmen  and 
herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivers, and these also he loosed upon us. We 
were overmastered. The  shield-wall was  broken. Erkenbrand of  Westfold has 
drawn off those men he could gather towards his fastness in Helm's Deep. The 
rest are scattered.


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####-long-forgotten  were issuing to war from  caves beneath the  hills. A  wall, 
too,  the men  of old  had made  from the  Hornburg to  the  southern cliff,  
barring  the  entrance  to  the gorge.  Beneath  it by a  wide  culvert  the 
Deeping-stream passed out.  About the  feet  of  the Hornrock it wound,  and  
flowed  then in  a gully through the  midst of a wide  green  gore,  sloping 
gently  down  from  Helm's Gate  to  Helm's Dike.  Thence it  fell into  the 
Deeping-coomb and  out into  the Westfold  Vale.  There  in the  Hornburg at 
Helm's Gate Erkenbrand, master  of Westfold on the borders of the  Mark, now 
dwelt. As the days darkened with threat of war, being  wise, he had repaired 
the wall and made the fastness strong. 
     The Riders were still  in the low valley before the  mouth of the Coomb, 
when cries and  hornblasts were heard  from their scouts that went in front. 
Out of the  darkness arrows whistled. Swiftly a scout rode back and reported


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he took the cup, his hand  met hers,  and he knew  that she trembled at  the 
touch. 'Hail  Aragorn son of Arathorn!' she said. 'Hail Lady of  Rohan!'  he 
answered, but his face now was troubled and he did not smile. 
     When  they had  all drunk, the king went  down  the hall to  the doors.  
There  the  guards awaited him, and  heralds  stood, and all  the  lords and 
chiefs were gathered together that remained in Edoras or dwelt nearby. 
     'Behold! I  go forth, and  it  seems like to be  my last riding,'  said 
Thjoden. 'I have  no  child. Thjodred  my  son  is  slain.  I name Jomer  my 
sister -son to be my heir. If neither of us return, then choose a new lord as 
you will. But to some one I must now entrust my people that I  leave behind,  
to rule them in my place. Which of you will stay?' 
     No man spoke. 
     'Is there none whom you would name? In whom do my people trust?'


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hoped to find the king's men that held back the hosts of Saruman. 
     Night closed about them. At last they  halted  to make their camp. They 
had ridden for some five hours and  were far out upon the western plain, yet  
more than half their journey lay still before them. In a great circle, under  
the starry sky and the waxing moon, they now made their bivouac. They lit no 
fires, for they  were  uncertain  of events; but they set a ring of  mounted 
guards about them, and  scouts  rode out far ahead, passing like shadows  in  
the folds  of  the land. The  slow night passed without tidings or alarm. At  
dawn the horns sounded, and within an hour they took the road again. 
     There were no clouds overhead yet,  but a  heaviness was in the air; it 
was hot for the season of the year. The rising sun was  hazy, and behind it, 
following it slowly up the sky, there was a growing darkness, as of a  great 
storm moving out of the East. And   away in the North-west there seemed to be


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####-son of Jomund, speak.' 
     'This  is good  tidings beyond hope,' said  the  sentinel. 'Hasten! The 
enemy is on your heels.' 
     The host  passed  through the breach  and halted  on the sloping  sward 
above. They now learned to their joy  that Erkenbrand  had left  many men to 
hold Helm's Gate, and more had since escaped thither. 
     'Maybe, we have a thousand fit  to fight on foot,' said Gamling, an old 
man, the leader of those that watched the Dike. 'But  most of them have seen 
too many winters, as I have,  or too few, as my son's son here. What news of 
Erkenbrand? Word came yesterday that he was retreating hither with all  that 
is left of the best Riders of Westfold. But he has not come.' 
     'I fear that he will not come now,' said Jomer. 'Our scouts have gained 
no news of him, and the enemy fills all the valley behind us.' 
     'I would that he had  escaped,'  said Thjoden. 'He was a mighty man. In


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host will be known to the leader of our enemies, Saruman or whatever captain 
he has sent forth.' 
     The rumour of war grew behind them. Now they could hear, borne over the 
dark,  the  sound  of harsh  singing.  They  had  climbed far  up  into  the 
Deeping-coomb  when they looked back. Then they saw torches countless 
points 
of fiery light upon the  black fields behind, scattered like red flowers, or  
winding  up from  the lowlands in  long flickering lines.  Here and  there a  
larger blaze leapt up. 
     'It is a great host and follows us hard,' said Aragorn. 
     'They br ing fire,' said Thjoden,  'and they are  burning as  they come, 
rick, cot, and tree. This was  a rich vale and had many homesteads. Alas for  
my folk!' 
     'Would that day  was here and we might ride down upon them like a storm 
out of the mountains!' said Aragorn. 'It grieves me to fly before them.' 
     'We need not  fly much further,' said Jomer.  'Not  far ahead now  lies


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Snowmane  snorted and reared,  eager to follow; but only a swift bird on the 
wing could have overtaken him. 
     'What does that mean?' said one of the guard to Hbma. 
     'That Gandalf Greyhame has need of haste,' answered Hbma. 'Ever he goes 
and comes unlooked-for:' 
     'Wormtongue, were he here, would not find it hard to explain  'Said the 
other. 
     'True  enough,'  said Hbma; 'but for myself, I will  wait  until I  see 
Gandalf again.' 
     'Maybe you will wait long,' said the other. 
     The host turned away now from  the  road to the  Fords of Isen and bent 
their course southward. Night fell,  a nd still they rode on. The hills  drew 
near, but the tall peaks of Thrihyrne were already dim against the darkening 
sky.  Still  some miles away, on  the far side of the Westfold  Vale,  lay a  
green coomb, a great bay in  the mountains,  out of which  a gorge opened in  
the hills. Men of that land called it Helm's  Deep, after a hero of old wars


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when cries and  hornblasts were heard  from their scouts that went in front. 
Out of the  darkness arrows whistled. Swiftly a scout rode back and reported  
that wolf-riders were abroad in the valley, and tha t a host of Orcs and wild 
men were hurrying southward from the Fords of  Isen and seemed  to be 
making 
for Helm's Deep. 
     'We have found many of our folk lying slain as they fled thither,' said 
the scout. 'And we  have met scattered companies, going  this way  and that,  
leaderless. What has become of Erkenbrand  none seem to  know.  It is likely 
that  he  will be  overtaken  ere he can  reach Helm's Gate, if  he  has not 
already perished.' 
     'Has aught been seen of Gandalf?' asked Thjoden. 
     'Yes,   lord. Many have seen an old man in white upon a  horse,  passing 
hither and thither over the  plains like wind in  the grass. Some thought he 
was Saruman. It  is said  that he went away ere  nightfall towards Isengard.


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were overmastered. The  shield-wall was  broken. Erkenbrand of  Westfold has 
drawn off those men he could gather towards his fastness in Helm's Deep. The 
rest are scattered. 
     'Where is Jomer? Tell him there is no hope ahead.  He should  return to 
Edoras  before  the wolves of Isengard come there.' Thjoden  had sat silent, 
hidden from  the  man's sight behind his  guards; now  he  urged  his  horse 
forward. 'Come, stand before me, Ceorl!'  he said. 'I am here. The last host  
of the Eorlingas has ridden forth. It will not return without battle.' 
     The man's face lightened with joy and wonder.  He drew himself up. Then 
he knelt,  offering his  notched sword to the king. 'Command  me, lord!'  he 
cried. 'And pardon me! I thought--' 
     'You thought I remained  in Meduseld bent like an old tree under winter  
snow. So  it was  when you  rode  to war. But  a  west  wind has shaken  the  
boughs,' said Thjoden. 'Give this man a fresh horse! Let us ride to the help


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green coomb, a great bay in  the mountains,  out of which  a gorge opened in  
the hills. Men of that land called it Helm's  Deep, after a hero of old wars 
who  had  made  his refuge there. Ever steeper and narrower it wound  inward 
from  the  north  under the shadow  of the Thrihyrne, till the  crow-haunted 
cliffs rose  like mighty towers on either side, shutting out the light. 
     At Helm's Gate, before the  mouth of the Deep, there was a heel of rock  
thrust outward by the northern cliff. There  upon its spur stood  high walls 
of  ancient stone, and within them was a lofty  tower. Men said that  in the 
far-off  days of  the glory  of  Gondor  the  sea -kings  had built here this 
fastness with the hands of giants. The Hornburg it was called, for a trumpet 
sounded  upon   the   tower  echoed  in  the  Deep  behind,  as   i f  armies


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####-and  filled the Dike with Orcs. But it will not halt them long. Already they 
are  scaling the bank at many  points,  thick as marching ants. But we  have 
taught them not to carry torches.' 
     It was  now past  midnight. The sky was utterly dark, and the stillness 
of the  heavy  air foreboded storm.  Suddenly  the  clouds were  seared by a  
blinding flash. Branched lightning smote down upon the eastward hills. For a 
staring moment the watchers  on the walls saw all the space between them and 
the  Dike lit with white  light: it  was  boiling  and  crawling  with black  
shapes. some squat and broad, some  tall and grim, with high helms and sable 
shields. Hundreds and hundreds more  were pouring over the Dike and  through 
the breach.  The dark tide flowed  up to  the  walls  from  cliff  to cliff. 
Thunder rolled in the valley. Rain came lashing down. 
     Arrows thick  as the rain came whistling over the battlements, and fell


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####-boom. If any man fell,  crushed by a stone hurtling  from above,  two others 
sprang to take his place. Again and again the great rams swung and crashed. 
     Jomer and Aragorn stood  together on  the Deeping Wall. They heard  the 
roar  of voices and the thudding of  the rams; and then in a sudden flash of 
light they beheld the peril of the gates.  
     'Come!' said Aragorn. 'This is the hour when we draw swords together!' 
     Running  like fire, they  sped along  the  wall, and up the  steps, and 
passed  into the  outer  court  upon the Rock.  As they  ran they gathered a  
handful of stout swordsmen. There was a small postern-door that opened in an 
angle of the burg-wall on the west, where the cliff  stretched  out to  meet 
it. On that side a narrow path ran round towards the great gate, between the 
wall and the  sheer brink of  the Rock.  Together Jomer  and Aragorn  sprang 
through the door, their men close behind. The swords flashed from the sheath 
as one.


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hither and thither over the  plains like wind in  the grass. Some thought he 
was Saruman. It  is said  that he went away ere  nightfall towards Isengard. 
Some say also  that  Wormtongue was  seen  earlier,  going northward  with a 
company of Orcs.' 
     'It  will  go ill  with Wormtongue,  if  Gandalf  comes  upon  him said 
Thjoden.  'Nonetheless I miss now both my  counsellors, the old and the new.  
But in this need we have no better choice than to go on, as Gandalf said, to 
Helm's Gate, whether Erkenbrand be there or no. Is it known how great is the 
host that comes from the North?' 
     'It is very great,' said the scout. 'He  that flies counts every foeman 
twice, yet I have spoken  to stouthearted  men, and I do not doubt that  the 
main strength of the enemy is many times as great as all that we have here.' 
     'Then let us be swift,' said Jomer. 'Let us drive through such foes  as


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following it slowly up the sky, there was a growing darkness, as of a  great 
storm moving out of the East. And   away in the North-west there seemed to be 
another  darkness brooding about  the feet of the Misty Mountains,  a shadow 
that crept down slowly from the Wizard's Vale. 
     Gandalf dropped back to where Legolas rode beside Jomer.  'You have the 
keen  eyes  of  your fair  kindred, Legolas,' he said; 'and they  can tell  a  
sparrow from a finch a league off. Tell me, can you sec anything away yonder  
towards Isengard?' 
     'Many miles  lie between,' said Legolas, gazing thither and shading his 
eyes with his long hand. 'I can see a darkness. There  are shapes moving  in 
it,  great shapes  far away upon the bank of the river; but  what they are I


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Thunder rolled in the valley. Rain came lashing down. 
     Arrows thick  as the rain came whistling over the battlements, and fell 
clinking  and glancing on the stones. Some  found  a  mark.  The  assault on  
Helm's Deep  had  begun, but  no  sound  or challenge  was heard within;  no 
answering arrows came. 
     The  assailing  hosts halted, foiled  by the silent menace  of rock and 
wall. Ever and again  the lightning  tore aside the darkness.  Then the Orcs 
screamed, waving spear and sword, and shooting a cloud of arrows at any that 
stood  revealed upon the battlements;  and the men of the Mark amazed looked 
out,  as it seemed  to them, upon a great field of  dark corn, tossed  by  a  
tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light. 
     Brazen trumpets sounded.  The enemy surged  forward,  some against  the 
Deeping Wall,  other  towards the causeway a nd  the ramp that led up to  the  
Hornburg-gates. There the hugest Orcs were mustered, and the wild men of the


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####-stone and beam across the gates within. Come now!' 
     They  turned  and ran. At  that  moment some dozen Orcs that  had  lain 
motionless among  the slain  leaped  to their feet,  and  came  silently and 
swiftly behind. Two flung themselves to the ground at Jomer's heels, tripped 
him,  and in a moment they were on top of him. But a  small dark figure that 
none had observed sprang out of the shadows  and gave a hoarse  shout: Baruk 
Khazvd! Khazvd ai-mknu! An axe swung and swept back. Two Orcs fell 
headless.  
The rest fled. 
     Jomer struggled to his feet, even as Aragorn ran back to his aid. 
     The postern was closed again, the iron door was barred and piled inside 
with  stones. When all  were safe  within, Jomer turned: 'I thank you, Gimli 
son of Gluin!' he said. 'I did not know that you were with us in the sortie. 
But oft the unbidden guest proves the best company. How came you there?' 
     'I followed you to shake off sleep,'  said Gimli; 'but I looked on  the


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wall and the  sheer brink of  the Rock.  Together Jomer  and Aragorn  sprang 
through the door, their men close behind. The swords flashed from the sheath 
as one. 
     'G®thwinl!' cried Jomer. 'G®thwinl for the Mark!' 
     'And®ril!' cried Aragorn. 'And®ril for the D®nedain!' 
     Charging  from  the side,  they  hurled themselves  upon the  wild men. 
And®ril rose and fell,  gleaming with white fire. A shout went  up from wall 
and tower: 'And®ril! And®ril goes to  war. The Blade that  was Broken shines 
again!' 
     Dismayed  the  rammers let fall the trees and turned to fight;  but the 
wall of their shields  was broken as by  a  lightning-stroke, and  they were 
swept  away, hewn down,  or cast over the Rock into the stony stream  below.  
The orc-archers shot wildly and then fled. 
     For a moment Jomer and Aragorn halted before the gates. The thunder was 
rumbling in  the distance now.  The lightning flickered still, far off among


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####-enemy came on. 
     The men of Rohan grew weary.  All their arrows  were  spent, and  every 
shaft  was shot;  their swords were notched, and their shields  were  riven. 
Three  times Aragorn and Jomer  rallied them, and three times And®ril flamed 
in a desperate charge that drove the enemy from the wall. 
     Then  a  clamour arose  in the Deep  behind. Orcs had crept  like  rats 
through the culvert  through  which the stream  flowed out. There  they  had 
gathered in the  shadow of the cliffs, until  the assault  above was hottest  
and  nearly all  the men of the defence had rushed to  the  wall's top. Then 
they sprang out. Already some had passed into the jaws of  the Deep and were 
among the horses, fighting with the guards.  
     Down from  the wall leapt Gimli with a fierce  cry  that echoed in  the 
cliffs.  'Khazvd! Khazvd!' He soon had work enough. 
     'Ai -oi!'  he  shouted.  'The  Orcs are  behind  the  wall. Ai -oi! Come,


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Deeping Wall,  other  towards the causeway a nd  the ramp that led up to  the  
Hornburg-gates. There the hugest Orcs were mustered, and the wild men of the 
Dunland fells. A moment they hesitated and then  on they came. The lightning 
flashed,  and blazoned  upon  every helm  and  shield  the  ghastly  hand of 
Isengard was seen: They reached the summit of the  rock;  they drove towards 
the gates.  
     Then at last an answer came: a storm of arrows met them,  and a hail of 
stones. They  wavered, broke, and fled  back; and  then charged again, broke 
and charged  again; and each time, like  the incoming sea, they  halted at a  
higher point. Again trumpets rang, and a press of roaring  men leaped forth.  
They held their great shields  above them like a roof, while in  their midst 
they  bore two trunks of  mighty  trees.  Behind  them orc-archers  crowded,  
sending a hail  of  darts against the bowmen on the walls. They  gained  the


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cliffs.  'Khazvd! Khazvd!' He soon had work enough. 
     'Ai -oi!'  he  shouted.  'The  Orcs are  behind  the  wall. Ai -oi! Come, 
Legolas! There are enough for us both. Khazvd ai-mknu!' 
     Gamling the Old looked down  from the Hornburg, hearing the great voice 
of the  dwarf above all the  tumult.  'The Orcs are in  the Deep!' he cried. 
'Helm! Helm!  Forth Helmingas. he shouted as he leaped  down the  stair from 
the Rock with many men of Westfold at his back. 
     Their  onset was fierce and sudden, and the Orcs gave way before  them.  
Ere long they were hemmed in in the narrows of the gorge, and all were slain 
or driven shrieking into the chasm of the Deep to fall before the  guardians 
of the hidden caves. 
     'Twenty-one!'  cried  Gimli. He  hewed a two -handed stroke and laid the 
last Orc before his feet. 'Now my count passes Master Legolas again.' 
     'We must stop this rat-hole,' said Gamling.  'Dwarves  are  said  to be


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they  bore two trunks of  mighty  trees.  Behind  them orc-archers  crowded,  
sending a hail  of  darts against the bowmen on the walls. They  gained  the 
gates. The  trees, swung by  strong  arms, smote the timbers  with a rending


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no news of him, and the enemy fills all the valley behind us.' 
     'I would that he had  escaped,'  said Thjoden. 'He was a mighty man. In 
him lived again the  valour of Helm the Hammerhand.  But we cannot await 
him 
here. We must draw all our forces now behind the walls. Are you well stored?  
We bring  little  provision,  for we  rode forth  to open  battle,  not to a  
siege.' 
     'Behind us  in the caves  of the Deep  are  three  parts of the folk  of 
Westfold, old and young, children and women,' said Gamling. 'But great store 
of food, and many beasts and their fodder, have also been gathered there.' 
     'That is well,' said Jomer. 'They are burning or despoiling all that is 
left in the vale.' 
     'If they come to  bargain for our goods at Helm's Gate, they will pay a  
high price,' said Gamling. 
     The king and his Riders passed on. Before the causeway that crossed the  
stream they dismounted. In a long file they led their horses up the ramp and


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But oft the unbidden guest proves the best company. How came you there?' 
     'I followed you to shake off sleep,'  said Gimli; 'but I looked on  the 
hillmen  and they seemed over large for me, so  I sat  beside a stone to see 
your sword-play.' 
     'I shall not find it easy to repay you,' said Jomer. 
     'There may be many a chance ere the night is over,' laughed the  Dwarf.  
'But I am content. Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.' 
     'Two!' said Gimli, patting his axe. He had returned to his place on the 
wall. 
     'Two?' said Legolas. 'I have done  better, though  now I must grope for  
spent arrows; all mine are gone. Yet I make my tale twenty at the least. But 
that is only a few leaves in a forest.' 
     The  sky  now  was  quickly clearing and the sinking  moon was  shining  
brightly. But the light brought little hope to  the Riders  of the Mark. The 
enemy before them seemed to  have  grown rather than diminished,  still more


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out of the mountains!' said Aragorn. 'It grieves me to fly before them.' 
     'We need not  fly much further,' said Jomer.  'Not  far ahead now  lies 
Helm's  Dike,  an  ancient trench  and rampart scored across the  coomb, two 
furlongs below Helm's Gate. There we can turn and give ba ttle.' 
     'Nay, we are too  few to defend the Dike,' said Thjoden. 'It  is a mile 
long or more, and the breach in it is wide.' 
     'At  the breach our  rearguard  must  stand,  if we  are pressed,' said 
Jomer. 
     There was neither star  nor moon when  the Riders came  to the breach in  
the Dike, where the stream from above passed out, and the road beside it ran 
down from  the  Hornburg. The  rampart loomed suddenly  before  them, a high 
shadow beyond a dark pit. As they rode up a sentinel challenged them. 
     'The Lord of the Mark rides  to Helm's Gate,' Jomer answered. 'I, Jomer


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The orc-archers shot wildly and then fled. 
     For a moment Jomer and Aragorn halted before the gates. The thunder was 
rumbling in  the distance now.  The lightning flickered still, far off among 
the mountains  in the  South. A keen wind was blowing from  the North again. 
The clouds were torn and drifting, and stars peeped out; and above the hills 
of  the  Coomb-side  the  westering  moon  rode,  glimmering yellow  in  the 
storm-wrack. 
     'We  did not come too soon,' said Aragorn, looking  at the gates. Their 
great  hinges and  iron bars were  wrenched and bent; many  of their timbers 
were cracked. 
     'Yet we cannot stay here beyond  the walls to defend them,' said Jomer. 
'Look!'  He pointed to the causeway. Already a great press of Orcs  and  Men 
were  gathering again beyond the stream. Arrows whined, and  skipped on  the 
stones about  them. 'Come! We must get  back and see what we  can do to pile


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high price,' said Gamling. 
     The king and his Riders passed on. Before the causeway that crossed the  
stream they dismounted. In a long file they led their horses up the ramp and 
passed within the gates of the Hornburg. There they were welcomed again with 
joy and renewed hope; for now there were men enough to man both the burg 
and 
the barrier wall. 
     Quickly  Jomer set his  men in readiness. The king and  the men of  his 
household  were  in  the   Hornburg,  and  there  also  were   many  of  the  
Westfold-men.  But on  the Deeping  Wall and its tower, and behind it, Jomer  
arrayed most of  the strength that he had, for here the  defence seemed more 
doubtful, if the assault were determined and in great force. The horses were


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last Orc before his feet. 'Now my count passes Master Legolas again.' 
     'We must stop this rat-hole,' said Gamling.  'Dwarves  are  said  to be 
cunning folk with stone. Lend us your aid, master!' 
     'We do  not shape stone with battle-axes,  nor with our  finger -nails,' 
said Gimli. 'But I will help as I may.' 
     They  gathered such small boulders and broken stones as they could find  
to hand, and under  Gimli's direction  the Westfold-men blocked up the inner 
end  of  the  culvert,  until  only  a  narrow  outlet  remained.  Then  the 
Deeping-stream, swollen by the rain, churned and fretted in its choked path,  
and spread slowly in cold pools from cliff to cliff. 
     'It will  be drier above,' said  Gimli. 'Come, Gamling, let us see  how 
things go on the wall!' 
     He  climbed up and  found Legolas beside Aragorn and Jomer. The elf was


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####-whetting his long knife. There was  for a while a lull in the assault, since 
the attempt to break in through the culvert had been foiled. 
     'Twenty-one!' said Gimli. 
     'Good!' said  Legolas.  'But my count  is  now  two  dozen. It has been 
knife-work up here.' 
     Jomer  and Aragorn  leant wearily on their swo rds. Away on the left the 
crash  and  clamour  of the battle  on the Rock rose  loud  again.  But  the 
Hornburg still held fast, like an island in the sea.  Its gates lay in ruin; 
but over  the  barricade of  beams and  stones  within no  enemy  as yet had 
passed. 
     Aragorn  looked at the pale stars, and  at the moon, now sloping behind 
the  western  hills that enclosed  the valley. 'This is a  night  as long as 
years,' he said. 'How long will the day tarry?' 
     'Dawn is not far off,' said Gamling, who had now climbed up beside him. 
'But dawn will not help us, I fear.' 
     'Yet dawn is ever the hope of men,' said Aragorn.


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####-crash  and a flash of  flame and  smoke. The waters  of  the  Deeping-stream 
poured out  hissing and  foaming: they were choked no longer, a gaping  hole 
was blasted in the wall. A host of dark shapes poured in. 
     'Devilry of Saruman! ' cried  Aragorn.  'They have crept  in the culvert 
again, while  we talked, and  they have  lit the fire of Orthanc beneath our 
feet. Elendil, Elendil!' he shouted, as he leaped down into  the breach; but 
even as he  did  so  a hundred ladders were raised  against the  battlements.  
Over the wall and under  the wall the last assault came sweeping like a dark 
wave upon a hill of  sand. The  defence  was  swept away. Some of the Riders 
were driven back, further and further into the Deep, falling and fighting a s 
they gave way, step  by step, towards the caves.  Others cut  their way back  
towards the citadel. 
     A  broad  stairway,  climbed  from  the Deep  up  to the  Rock and  the


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####-Such a refuge would be to the liking of a dwarf.' 
     'That must be my hope'' said Legolas. 'But I wish that he had come this 
way. I desired to tell Master Gimli that my tale is now thirty-nine.' 
     'If he wins back to the caves, he will pass your  count again,' laughed 
Aragorn. 'Never did I see an axe so wielded.' 
     'I must go  a nd seek some arrows,' said Legolas. 'Would that this night 
would end, and I could have better light for shooting.' 
     Aragorn  now  passed into the  citadel. There to his  dismay he learned 
that Jomer had not reached the Hornburg. 
     'Nay,  he did not come to the Rock,'  said one  of the Westfold-men,  'I 
last saw him gathering men about him and fighting  in the mouth of the Deep. 
Gamling was with him, and the dwarf; but I could not come to them.' 
     Aragorn strode  on  through  the  inner court,  and  mounted to a  high 
chamber in  the tower. There stood  the king, dark  against a narrow window, 
looking out upon the vale.


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####-gone, ere it turn to your evil.' 
     'Get down or  we will shoot you from the wall,' they cried. 'This is no 
parley. You have nothing to say.' 
     'I have still this to say,' answered Aragorn. 'No  enemy has  yet taken 
the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared. Not one will be left 
alive to take back tidings to the North. You do not know your peril.' 
     So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there 
alone  above the ruined gates before  the host of  his  enemies, that many of 
the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and  
some looked up doubtfully at the sky. But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; 
and a  hail of darts and arrows whistled over  the  wall, as  Aragorn leaped 
down. 
     There  was a roar and a blast of  fire. The archway  of the gate  above 
which he had stood a moment before crumbled and crashed  in smoke  and 
dust.


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brightly. But the light brought little hope to  the Riders  of the Mark. The 
enemy before them seemed to  have  grown rather than diminished,  still more 
were  pressing up from  the valley through  the breach. The sortie  upon the 
Rock gained  only a  brief respite. The  assault on the gates was redoubled. 
Against the Deeping Wall the hosts of Isengard roared like a  sea.  Orcs and 
hillmen swarmed about  its feet from end  to end. Ropes with grappling hooks 
were hurled over the  parapet faster  than men could cut them  or fling them 
back.  Hundreds of long ladders were lifted up. Many were cast down in ruin, 
but many more replaced  them, and Orcs sprang up them like  apes in the dark 
forests of the South. Before the wall's foot  the dead and broken were piled 
like shingle in  a storm; ever higher rose the hideous mounds, and still the


