Lord of the rings - J.R.R Tolkien

At the south end of the greensward there was an opening. There the green floor ran on into the wood, and formed a wide space like a hall, roofed by the boughs of trees. Their great trunks ran like pillars down each side. In the middle there was a wood-fire blazing, and upon the tree-pillars torches with lights of gold and silver were burning steadily. The Elves sat round the fire upon the grass or upon the sawn rings of old trunks. Some went to and fro bearing cups and pouring drink; others brought food on heaped plates and dishes.
?~This is poor fare,?T they said to the hobbits; ?~for we are lodging in the greenwood far from our halls. If ever you are our guests at home, we will treat you better.?T
?~It seems to me good enough for a birthday-party,?T said Frodo.
Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light upon the elf-faces, and the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream. But he remembered that there was bread, surpassing the savour of a fair white loaf to one who is starving; and fruits sweet as wildberries and richer than the tended fruits of gardens; he drained a cup that was filled with a fragrant draught, cool as a clear fountain, golden as a summer afternoon.
Sam could never describe in words, nor picture clearly to himself, what he felt or thought that night, though it remained in his memory as one of the chief events of his life. The nearest he ever got was to say: ?~Well, sir, if I could grow apples like that, I would call myself a gardener. But it was the singing that went to my heart, if you know what I mean.?T
Frodo sat, eating, drinking, and talking with delight; but his mind was chiefly on the words spoken. He knew a little of the elf-speech and listened eagerly. Now and again he spoke to those that served him and thanked them in their own language. They smiled at him and said laughing: ?~Here is a jewel among hobbits!?T
After a while Pippin fell fast asleep, and was lifted up and borne away to a bower under the trees; there he was laid upon a soft bed and slept the rest of the night away. Sam refused to leave his master. When Pippin had gone, he came and sat curled up at Frodô?Ts feet, where at last he nodded and closed his eyes. Frodo remained long awake, talking with Gildor.
They spoke of many things, old and new, and Frodo questioned Gildor much about happenings in the wide world outside the Shire. The tidings were mostly sad and ominous: of gathering darkness, the wars of Men, and the flight of the Elves. At last Frodo asked the question that was nearest to his heart:
?~Tell me, Gildor, have you ever seen Bilbo since he left us??T
Gildor smiled. ?~Yes,?T he answered. ?~Twice. He said farewell to us on this very spot. But I saw him once again, far from here.?T He would say no more about Bilbo, and Frodo fell silent.
?~You do not ask me or tell me much that concerns yourself, Frodo,?T said Gildor. ?~But I already know a little, and I can read more in your face and in the thought behind your questions. You are leaving the Shire, and yet you doubt that you will find what you seek, or accomplish what you intend, or that you will ever return. Is not that so??T
?~It is,?T said Frodo; ?~but I thought my going was a secret known only to Gandalf and my faithful Sam.?T He looked down at Sam, who was snoring gently.
?~The secret will not reach the Enemy from us,?T said Gildor.
?~The Enemy??T said Frodo. ?~Then you know why I am leaving the Shire??T
?~I do not know for what reason the Enemy is pursuing you,?T answered Gildor; ?~but I perceive that he is - strange indeed though that seems to me. And I warn you that peril is now both before you and behind you, and upon either side.?T
?~You mean the Riders? I feared that they were servants of the Enemy. What are the Black Riders??T
?~Has Gandalf told you nothing??T
?~Nothing about such creatures.?T
?~Then I think it is not for me to say more - lest terror should keep you from your journey. For it seems to me that you have set out only just in time, if indeed you are in time. You must now make haste, and neither stay nor turn back; for the Shire is no longer any protection to you.?T
?~I cannot imagine what information could be more terrifying than your hints and warnings,?T exclaimed Frodo. ?~I knew that danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can?Tt a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace??T
?~But it is not your own Shire,?T said Gildor. ?~Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.?T
?~I know - and yet it has always seemed so safe and familiar. What can I do now? My plan was to leave the Shire secretly, and make my way to Rivendell; but now my footsteps are dogged, before ever I get to Buckland.?T
?~I think you should still follow that plan,?T said Gildor. ?~I do not think the Road will prove too hard for your courage. But if you desire clearer counsel, you should ask Gandalf. I do not know the reason for your flight, and therefore I do not know by what means your pursuers will assail you. These things Gandalf must know. I suppose that you will see him before you leave the Shire??T
?~I hope so. But that is another thing that makes me anxious. I have been expecting Gandalf for many days. He was to have come to Hobbiton at the latest two nights ago; but he has never appeared. Now I am wondering what can have happened. Should I wait for him??T
Gildor was silent for a moment. ?~I do not like this news,?T he said at last. ?~That Gandalf should be late, does not bode well. But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. The choice is yours: to go or wait.?T
?~And it is also said,?T answered Frodo: ?~Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.?T
?~Is it indeed??T laughed Gildor. ?~Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. But what would you? You have not told me all concerning yourself; and how then shall I choose better than you? But if you demand advice, I will for friendship?Ts sake give it. I think you should now go at once, without delay; and if Gandalf does not come before you set out, then I also advise this: do not go alone. Take such friends as are trusty and willing. Now you should be grateful, for I do not give this counsel gladly. The Elves have their own labours and their own sorrows, and they are little concerned with the ways of hobbits, or of any other creatures upon earth. Our paths cross theirs seldom, by chance or purpose. In this meeting there may be more than chance; but the purpose is not clear to me, and I fear to say too much.?T
?~I am deeply grateful,?T said Frodo; ?~but I wish you would tell me plainly what the Black Riders are. If I take your advice I may not see Gandalf for a long while, and I ought to know what is the danger that pursues me.?T
?~Is it not enough to know that they are servants of the Enemy??T answered Gildor. ?~Flee them! Speak no words to them! They are deadly. Ask no more of me! But my heart forbodes that, ere all is ended, you, Frodo son of Drogo, will know more of these fell things than Gildor Inglorion. May Elbereth protect you!?T
?~But where shall I find courage??T asked Frodo. ?~That is what I chiefly need.?T
?~Courage is found in unlikely places,?T said Gildor. ?~Be of good hope! Sleep now! In the morning we shall have gone; but we will send our messages through the lands. The Wandering Companies shall know of your journey, and those that have power for good shall be on the watch. I name you Elf-friend; and may the stars shine upon the end of your road! Seldom have we had such delight in strangers, and it is fair to hear words of the Ancient Speech from the lips of other wanderers in the world.?T
Frodo felt sleep coming upon him, even as Gildor finished speaking. ?~I will sleep now,?T he said; and the Elf led him to a bower beside Pippin, and he threw himself upon a bed and fell at once into a dreamless slumber.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

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Chapter 4

A Short Cut to Mushrooms​

In the morning Frodo woke refreshed. He was lying in a bower made by a living tree with branches laced and drooping to the ground; his bed was of fern and grass, deep and soft and strangely fragrant. The sun was shining through the fluttering leaves, which were still green upon the tree. He jumped up and went out.
Sam was sitting on the grass near the edge of the wood. Pippin was standing studying the sky and weather. There was no sign of the Elves.
?~They have left us fruit and drink, and bread,?T said Pippin. ?~Come and have your breakfast. The bread tastes almost as good as it did last night. I did not want to leave you any, but Sam insisted.?T
Frodo sat down beside Sam and began to eat. ?~What is the plan for today??T asked Pippin.
?~To walk to Bucklebury as quickly as possible,?T answered Frodo, and gave his attention to the food.
?~Do you think we shall see anything of those Riders??T asked Pippin cheerfully. Under the morning sun the prospect of seeing a whole troop of them did not seem very alarming to him.
?~Yes, probably,?T said Frodo, not liking the reminder. ?~But I hope to get across the river without their seeing us.?T
?~Did you find out anything about them from Gildor??T
?~Not much - only hints and riddles,?T said Frodo evasively. ?~Did you ask about the sniffing??T
?~We didn?Tt discuss it,?T said Frodo with his mouth full.
?~You should have. I am sure it is very important.?T
?~In that case I am sure Gildor would have refused to explain it,?T said Frodo sharply. ?~And now leave me in peace for a bit! I don?Tt want to answer a string of questions while I am eating. I want to think!?T
?~Good heavens!?T said Pippin. ?~At breakfast??T He walked away towards the edge of the green.
From Frodô?Ts mind the bright morning - treacherously bright, he thought - had not banished the fear of pursuit; and he pondered the words of Gildor. The merry voice of Pippin came to him. He was running on the green turf and singing.
?~No! I could not!?T he said to himself. ?~It is one thing to take my young friends walking over the Shire with me, until we are hungry and weary, and food and bed are sweet. To take them into exile, where hunger and weariness may have no cure, is quite another - even if they are willing to come. The inheritance is mine alone. I don?Tt think I ought even to take Sam.?T He looked at Sam Gamgee, and discovered that Sam was watching him.
?~Well, Sam!?T he said. ?~What about it? I am leaving the Shire as soon as ever I can - in fact I have made up my mind now not even to wait a day at Crickhollow, if it can be helped.?T
?~Very good, sir!?T
?~You still mean to come with me??T
?~I do.?T
?~It is going to be very dangerous, Sam. ?~It is already dangerous. Most likely neither of us will come back.?T
?~If you don?Tt come back, sir, then I shan?Tt, that?Ts certain,?T said Sam. ?~Don?Tt you leave him! they said to me. Leave him! I said. I never mean to. I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon, and if any of those Black Rulers try to stop him, they?Tll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said. They laughed.?T
?~Who are they, and what are you talking about??T
?~The Elves, sir. We had some talk last night; and they seemed to know you were going away, so I didn?Tt see the use of denying it. Wonderful folk, Elves, sir! Wonderful!?T
?~They are,?T said Frodo. ?~Do you like them still, now you have had a closer view??T
?~They seem a bit above my likes and dislikes, so to speak,?T answered Sam slowly. ?~It don?Tt seem to matter what I think about them. They are quite different from what I expected - so old and young, and so gay and sad, as it were.?T
Frodo looked at Sam rather startled, half expecting to see some outward sign of the odd change that seemed to have come over him. It did not sound like the voice of the old Sam Gamgee that he thought he knew. But it looked like the old Sam Gamgee sitting there, except that his face was unusually thoughtful.
?~Do you feel any need to leave the Shire now - now that your wish to see them has come true already??T he asked.
?~Yes, sir. I don?Tt know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can?Tt turn back. It isn?Tt to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want - I don?Tt rightly know what I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.?T
?~I don?Tt altogether. But I understand that Gandalf chose me a good companion. I am content. We will go together.?T
Frodo finished his breakfast in silence. Then standing up he looked over the land ahead, and called to Pippin.
?~All ready to start??T he said as Pippin ran up. ?~We must be getting off at once. We slept late; and there are a good many miles to go.?T
?~You slept late, you mean,?T said Pippin. ?~I was up long before; and we are only waiting for you to finish eating and thinking.?T
?~I have finished both now. And I am going to make for Bucklebury Ferry as quickly as possible. I am not going out of the way, back to the road we left last night: I am going to cut straight across country from here.?T
?~Then you are going to fly,?T said Pippin. ?~You won?Tt cut straight on foot anywhere in this country.?T
?~We can cut straighter than the road anyway,?T answered Frodo. ?~The Ferry is east from Woodhall; but the hard road curves away to the left ?" you can see a bend of it away north over there. It goes round the north end of the Marish so as to strike the causeway from the Bridge above Stock. But that is miles out of the way. We could save a quarter of the distance if we made a line for the Ferry from where we stand.?T
?~Short cuts make long delays,?T argued Pippin. ?~The country is rough round here, and there are bogs and all kinds of difficulties down in the Marish ?" I know the land in these parts. And if you are worrying about Black Riders, I can?Tt see that it is any worse meeting them on a road than in a wood or a field.?T
?~It is less easy to find people in the woods and fields,?T answered Frodo. ?~And if you are supposed to be on the road, there is some chance that you will be looked for on the road and not off it.?T
?~All right!?T said Pippin. ?~I will follow you into every bog and ***ch. But it is hard! I had counted on passing the Golden Perch at Stock before sundown. The best beer in the Eastfarthing, or used to be: it is a long time since I tasted it.?T
?~That settles it!?T said Frodo. ?~Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones. At all costs we must keep you away from the Golden Perch. We want to get to Bucklebury before dark. What do you say, Sam??T
?~I will go along with you, Mr. Frodo,?T said Sam (in spite of private misgiving and a deep regret for the best beer in the Eastfarthing).
?~Then if we are going to toil through bog and briar, let?Ts go now!?T said Pippin.
It was already nearly as hot as it had been the day before; but clouds were beginning to come up from the West. It looked likely to turn to rain. The hobbits scrambled down a steep green bank and plunged into the thick trees below. Their course had been chosen to leave Woodhall to their left, and to cut slanting through the woods that clustered along the eastern side of the hills, until they reached the flats beyond. Then they could make straight for the Ferry over country that was open, except for a few ***ches and fences. Frodo reckoned they had eighteen miles to go in a straight line.
He soon found that the thicket was closer and more tangled than it had appeared. There were no paths in the undergrowth, and they did not get on very fast. When they had struggled to the bottom of the bank, they found a stream running down from the hills behind in a deeply dug bed with steep slippery sides overhung with brambles. Most inconveniently it cut across the line they had chosen. They could not jump over it, nor indeed get across it at all without getting wet, scratched, and muddy. They halted, wondering what to do. ?~First check!?T said Pippin, smiling grimly.
Sam Gamgee looked back. Through an opening in the trees he caught a glimpse of the top of the green bank from which they had climbed down.
?~Look!?T he said, clutching Frodo by the arm. They all looked, and on the edge high above them they saw against the sky a horse standing. Beside it stooped a black figure.
They at once gave up any idea of going back. Frodo led the way, and plunged quickly into the thick bushes beside the stream. ?~Whew!?T he said to Pippin. ?~We were both right! The short cut has gone crooked already; but we got under cover only just in time. You?Tve got sharp ears, Sam: can you hear anything coming??T
They stood still, almost holding their breath as they listened; but there was no sound of pursuit. ?~I don?Tt fancy he would try bringing his horse down that bank,?T said Sam. ?~But I guess he knows we came down it. We had better be going on.?T
Going on was not altogether easy. They had packs to carry, and the bushes and brambles were reluctant to let them through. They were cut off from the wind by the ridge behind, and the air was still and stuffy. When they forced their way at last into more open ground, they were hot and tired and very scratched, and they were also no longer certain of the direction in which they were going. The banks of the stream sank, as it reached the levels and became broader and shallower, wandering off towards the Marish and the River.
?~Why, this is the Stock-brook!?T said Pippin. ?~If we are going to try and get back on to our course, we must cross at once and bear right.?T
They waded the stream, and hurried over a wide open space, rush-grown and treeless, on the further side. Beyond that they came again to a belt of trees: tall oaks, for the most part, with here and there an elm tree or an ash. The ground was fairly level, and there was little undergrowth; but the trees were loo close for them to see far ahead. The leaves blew upwards in sudden gusts of wind, and spots of rain began to fall from the overcast sky. Then the wind died away and the rain came streaming down. They trudged along as fast as they could, over patches of grass, and through thick drifts of old leaves; and all about them the rain pattered and trickled. They did not talk, but kept glancing back, and from side to side.
After half an hour Pippin said: ?~I hope we have not turned too much towards the south, and are not walking longwise through this wood! It is not a very broad belt ?"I should have said no more than a mile at the widest - and we ought to have been through it by now.?T
?~It is no good our starting to go in zig-zags,?T said Frodo. ?~That won?Tt mend matters. Let us keep on as we are going! I am not sure that I want to come out into the open yet.?T
They went on for perhaps another couple of miles. Then the sun gleamed out of ragged clouds again and the rain lessened. It was now past mid-day, and they felt it was high time for lunch. They halted under an elm tree: its leaves though fast turning yellow were still thick, and the ground at its feel was fairly dry and sheltered. When they came to make their meal, they found that the Elves had filled their bottles with a clear drink, pale golden in colour: it had the scent of a honey made of many flowers, and was wonderfully refreshing. Very soon they were laughing, and snapping their fingers at rain, and at Black Riders. The last few miles, they felt, would soon be behind them.
Frodo propped his back against the tree-trunk, and closed his eyes. Sam and Pippin sat near, and they began to hum, and then to sing softly:

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

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Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by.
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Ho! Ho! Ho! they began again louder. They stopped short suddenly. Frodo sprang to his feet. A long-drawn wail came down the wind, like the cry of some evil and lonely creature. It rose and fell, and ended on a high piercing note. Even as they sat and stood, as if suddenly frozen, it was answered by another cry, fainter and further off, but no less chilling to the blood. There was then a silence, broken only by the sound of the wind in the leaves.
?~And what do you think that was??T Pippin asked at last, trying to speak lightly, but quavering a little. ?~If it was a bird, it was one that I never heard in the Shire before.?T
?~It was not bird or beast,?T said Frodo. ?~It was a call, or a signal ?" there were words in that cry, though I could not catch them. But no hobbit has such a voice.?T
No more was said about it. They were all thinking of the Riders, but no one spoke of them. They were now reluctant either to stay or go on; but sooner or later they had got to get across the open country to the Ferry, and it was best to go sooner and in daylight. In a few moments they had shouldered their packs again and were off.
Before long the wood came to a sudden end. Wide grass-lands stretched before them. They now saw that they had, in fact, turned too much to the south. Away over the flats they could glimpse the low hill of Bucklebury across the River, but it was now to their left. Creeping cautiously out from the edge of the trees, they set off across the open as quickly as they could.
At first they felt afraid, away from the shelter of the wood. Far back behind them stood the high place where they had breakfasted. Frodo half expected to see the small distant figure of a horseman on the ridge dark against the sky; but there was no sign of one. The sun escaping from the breaking clouds, as it sank towards the hills they had left, was now shining brightly again. Their fear left them, though they still felt uneasy. But the land became steadily more tame and well-ordered. Soon they came into well-tended fields and meadows: there were hedges and gates and dikes for drainage. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful, just an ordinary corner of the Shire. Their spirits rose with every step. The line of the River grew nearer; and the Black Riders began to seem like phantoms of the woods now left far behind.
They passed along the edge of a huge turnip-field, and came to a stout gate. Beyond it a rutted lane ran between low well-laid hedges towards a distant clump of trees. Pippin stopped.
?~I know these fields and this gate!?T he said. ?~This is Bamfurlong, old Farmer Maggot?Ts land. That?Ts his farm away there in the trees.?T
?~One trouble after another!?T said Frodo, looking nearly as much alarmed as if Pippin had declared the lane was the slot leading to a dragon?Ts den. The others looked at him in surprise.
?~What?Ts wrong with old Maggot??T asked Pippin. ?~Hê?Ts a good friend to all the Brandy bucks. Of course hê?Ts a terror to trespassers, and keeps ferocious dogs - but after all, folk down here are near the border and have to be more on their guard.?T
?~I know,?T said Frodo. ?~But all the same,?T he added with a shamefaced laugh, ?~I am terrified of him and his dogs. I have avoided his farm for years and years. He caught me several times trespassing after mushrooms, when I was a youngster at Brandy Hall. On the last occasion he beat me, and then took me and showed me to his dogs. ?oSee, lads,? he said, ?onext time this young varmint sets foot on my land, you can eat him. Now see him off!? They chased me all the way to the Ferry. I have never got over the fright - though I daresay the beasts knew their business and would not really have touched me.?T
Pippin laughed. ?~Well, it?Ts time you made it up. Especially if you are coming back to live in Buckland. Old Maggot is really a stout fellow - if you leave his mushrooms alone. Let?Ts get into the lane and then we shan?Tt be trespassing. If we meet him, I?Tll do the talking. He is a friend of Merry?Ts, and I used to come here with him a good deal at one time.?T
They went along the lane, until they saw the thatched roofs of a large house and farm-buildings peeping out among the trees ahead. The Maggots, and the Puddifoots of Stock, and most of the inhabitants of the Marish, were house-dwellers; and this farm was stoutly built of brick and had a high wall all round it. There was a wide wooden gate opening out of the wall into the lane.
Suddenly as they drew nearer a terrific baying and barking broke out, and a loud voice was heard shouting: ?~Grip! Fang! Wolf! Come on, lads!?T
Frodo and Sam stopped dead, but Pippin walked on a few paces. The gate opened and three huge dogs came pelting out into the lane, and dashed towards the travellers, barking fiercely. They took no notice of Pippin; but Sam shrank against the wall, while two wolvish-looking dogs sniffed at him suspiciously, and snarled if he moved. The largest and most ferocious of the three halted in front of Frodo, bristling and growling.
Through the gate there now appeared a broad thick-set hobbit with a round red face. ?~Hallo! Hallo! And who may you be, and what may you be wanting??T he asked.
?~Good afternoon, Mr. Maggot!?T said Pippin.
The farmer looked at him closely. ?~Well, if it isn?Tt Master Pippin - Mr. Peregrin Took, I should say!?T he cried, changing from a scowl to a grin. ?~It?Ts a long time since I saw you round here. It?Ts lucky for you that I know you. I was just going out to set my dogs on any strangers. There are some funny things going on today. Of course, we do get queer folk wandering in these parts at times. Too near the River,?T he said, shaking his head. ?~But this fellow was the most outlandish I have ever set eyes on. He won?Tt cross my land without leave a second time, not if I can stop it.?T
?~What fellow do you mean??T asked Pippin.
?~Then you haven?Tt seen him??T said the farmer. ?~He went up the lane towards the causeway not a long while back. He was a funny customer and asking funny questions. But perhaps you?Tll come along inside, and wê?Tll pass the news more comfortable. I?Tve a drop of good ale on tap, if you and your friends are willing, Mr. Took.?T
It seemed plain that the farmer would tell them more, if allowed to do it in his own time and fashion, so they all accepted the invitation. ?~What about the dogs??T asked Frodo anxiously.
The farmer laughed. ?~They won?Tt harm you - not unless I tell ?~em to. Here, Grip! Fang! Heel!?T he cried. ?~Heel, Wolf!?T To the relief of Frodo and Sam, the dogs walked away and let them go free.
Pippin introduced the other two to the farmer. ?~Mr. Frodo Baggins,?T he said. ?~You may not remember him, but he used to live at Brandy Hall.?T At the name Baggins the farmer started, and gave Frodo a sharp glance. For a moment Frodo thought that the memory of stolen mushrooms had been aroused, and that the dogs would be told to see him off. But Farmer Maggot took him by the arm.
?~Well, if that isn?Tt queerer than ever??T he exclaimed. ?~Mr. Baggins is it? Come inside! We must have a talk.?T
They went into the farmer?Ts kitchen, and sat by the wide fire-place. Mrs. Maggot brought out beer in a huge jug, and filled four large mugs. It was a good brew, and Pippin found himself more than compensated for missing the Golden Perch. Sam sipped his beer suspiciously. He had a natural mistrust of the inhabitants of other parts of the Shire; and also he was not disposed to be quick friends with anyone who had beaten his master, however long ago.
After a few remarks about the weather and the agricultural prospects (which were no worse than usual), Farmer Maggot put down his mug and looked at them all in turn.
?~Now, Mr. Peregrin,?T he said, ?~where might you be coming from, and where might you be going to? Were you coming to visit?T me? For, if so, you had gone past my gate without my seeing you.?T
?~Well, no,?T answered Pippin. ?~To tell you the truth, since you have guessed it, we got into the lane from the other end: we had come over your fields. But that was quite by accident. We lost our way in the woods, back near Woodhall, trying to take a short cut to the Ferry.?T

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?~If you were in a hurry, the road would have served you better,?T said the farmer. ?~But I wasn?Tt worrying about that. You have leave to walk over my land, if you have a mind, Mr. Peregrin. And you, Mr. Baggins - though I daresay you still like mushrooms.?T He laughed. ?~Ah yes, I recognized the name. I recollect the time when young Frodo Baggins was one of the worst young rascals of Buckland. But it wasn?Tt mushrooms I was thinking of. I had just heard the name Baggins before you turned up. What do you think that funny customer asked me??T
They waited anxiously for him to go on. ?~Well,?T the farmer continued, approaching his point with slow relish, ?~he came riding on a big black horse in at the gate, which happened to be open, and right up to my door. All black he was himself, too, and cloaked and hooded up, as if he did not want to be known. ?oNow what in the Shire can he want?? I thought to myself. We don?Tt see many of the Big Folk over the border; and anyway I had never heard of any like this black fellow.
?~ ?oGood-day to you!? I says, going out to him. ?oThis lane don?Tt lead anywhere, and wherever you may be going, your quickest way will be back to the road.? I didn?Tt like the looks of him; and when Grip came out, he took one sniff and let out a yelp as if he had been slung: he put down his tail and bolted off howling. The black fellow sat quite still.
?~ ?oI come from yonder,? he said, slow and stiff-like, pointing back west, over my fields, if you please. ?oHave you seen Baggins?? he asked in a queer voice, and bent down towards me. I could not see any face, for his hood fell down so low; and I felt a sort of shiver down my back. But I did not see why he should come riding over my land so bold.
?~ ?oBe off!? I said. ?oThere are no Bagginses here. You?Tre in the wrong part of the Shire. You had better go back west to Hobbiton - but you can go by road this time.?
?~ ?oBaggins has left,? he answered in a whisper. ?oHe is coming. He is not far away. I wish to find him. If he passes will you tell me? I will come back with gold.?
?~ ?oNo you won?Tt,? I said. ?oYou?Tll go back where you belong, double quick. I give you one minute before I call all my dogs.?
?~He gave a sort of hiss. It might have been laughing, and it might not. Then he spurred his great horse right at me, and I jumped out of the way only just in time. I called the dogs, but he swung off, and rode through the gate and up the lane towards the causeway like a bolt of thunder. What do you think of that??T
Frodo sat for a moment looking at the fire, but his only thought was how on earth would they reach the Ferry. ?~I don?Tt know what to think,?T he said at last.
?~Then I?Tll tell you what to think,?T said Maggot. ?~You should never have gone mixing yourself up with Hobbiton folk, Mr. Frodo. Folk are queer up there.?T Sam stirred in his chair, and looked at the farmer with an unfriendly eye. ?~But you were always a reckless lad. When I heard you had left the Brandybucks and gone off to that old Mr. Bilbo, I said that you were going to find trouble. Mark my words, this all comes of those strange doings of Mr. Bilbô?Ts. His money was got in some strange fashion in foreign parts, they say. Maybe there is some that want to know what has become of the gold and jewels that he buried in the hill of Hobbiton, as I hear??T
Frodo said nothing: the shrewd guesses of the farmer were rather disconcerting.
?~Well, Mr. Frodo,?T Maggot went on, ?~I?Tm glad that you?Tve had the sense to come back to Buckland. My advice is: stay there! And don?Tt get mixed up with these outlandish folk. You?Tll have friends in these parts. If any of these black fellows come after you again, I?Tll deal with them. I?Tll say you?Tre dead, or have left the Shire, or anything you like. And that might be true enough; for as like as not it is old Mr. Bilbo they want news of.?T
?~Maybe you?Tre right,?T said Frodo, avoiding the farmer?Ts eye and staring at the fire.
Maggot looked at him thoughtfully. ?~Well, I see you have ideas of your own,?T he said. ?~It is as plain as my nose that no accident brought you and that rider here on the same afternoon; and maybe my news was no great news to you, after all. I am not asking you to tell me anything you have a mind to keep to yourself; but I see you are in some kind of trouble. Perhaps you are thinking it won?Tt be too easy to get to the Ferry without being caught??T
?~I was thinking so,?T said Frodo. ?~But we have got to try and get there; and it won?Tt be done by sitting and thinking. So I am afraid we must be going. Thank you very much indeed for your kindness! I?Tve been in terror of you and your dogs for over thirty years, Farmer Maggot, though you may laugh to hear it. It?Ts a pity: for I?Tve missed a good friend. And now I?Tm sorry to leave so soon. But I?Tll come back, perhaps, one day - if I get a chance.?T
?~You?Tll be welcome when you come,?T said Maggot. ?~But now I?Tve a notion. It?Ts near sundown already, and we are going to have our supper; for we mostly go to bed soon after the Sun. If you and Mr. Peregrin and all could stay and have a bite with us, we would be pleased!?T
?~And so should we!?T said Frodo. ?~But we must be going at once, I?Tm afraid. Even now it will be dark before we can reach the Ferry.?T
?~Ah! but wait a minute! I was going to say: after a bit of supper, I?Tll gel out a small waggon, and I?Tll drive you all to the Ferry. That will save you a good step, and it might also save you trouble of another sort.?T
Frodo now accepted the invitation gratefully, to the relief of Pippin and Sam. The sun was already behind the western hills, and the light was failing. Two of Maggot?Ts sons and his three daughters came in, and a generous supper was laid on the large table. The kitchen was lit with candles and the fire was mended. Mrs. Maggot hustled in and out. One or two other hobbits belonging to the farm-household came in. In a short while fourteen sat down to eat. There was beer in plenty, and a mighty dish of mushrooms and bacon, besides much other solid farmhouse fare. The dogs lay by the fire and gnawed rinds and cracked bones.
When they had finished, the farmer and his sons went out with a lantern and got the waggon ready. It was dark in the yard, when the guests came out. They threw their packs on board and climbed in. The farmer sat in the driving-seat, and whipped up his two stout ponies. His wife stood in the light of the open door.
?~You be careful of yourself. Maggot!?T she called. ?~Don?Tt go arguing with any foreigners, and come straight back!?T
?~I will!?T said he, and drove out of the gate. There was now no breath of wind stirring; the night was still and quiet, and a chill was in the air. They went without lights and took it slowly. After a mile or two the lane came to an end, crossing a deep dike, and climbing a short slope up on to the high-banked causeway.
Maggot got down and took a good look either way, north and south, but nothing could be seen in the darkness, and there was not a sound in the still air. Thin strands of river-mist were hanging above the dikes, and crawling over the fields.
?~It?Ts going to be thick,?T said Maggot; ?~but I?Tll not light my lantern till I turn for home. Wê?Tll hear anything on the road long before we meet it tonight.?T
It was five miles or more from Maggot?Ts lane to the Ferry. The hobbits wrapped themselves up, but their ears were strained for any sound above the creak of the wheels and the slow clop of the ponies?T hoofs. The waggon seemed slower than a snail to Frodo. Beside him Pippin was nodding towards sleep; but Sam was staring forwards into the rising fog.
They reached the entrance to the Ferry lane at last. It was marked by two tall white posts that suddenly loomed up on their right. Farmer Maggot drew in his ponies and the waggon creaked to a halt. They were just beginning lo scramble out, when suddenly they heard what they had all been dreading: hoofs on the road ahead. The sound was coming towards them.
Maggot jumped down and stood holding the ponies?T heads, and peering forward into the gloom. Clip-clop, clip-clop came the approaching rider. The fall of the hoofs sounded loud in the still, foggy air.
?~You?Td better be hidden, Mr. Frodo,?T said Sam anxiously. ?~You get down in the waggon and cover up with blankets, and wê?Tll send this rider to the rightabouts!?T He climbed out and went to the farmer?Ts side. Black Riders would have to ride over him to get near the waggon.
Clop-clop, clop-clop. The rider was nearly on them.
?~Hallo there!?T called Farmer Maggot. The advancing hoofs stopped short. They thought they could dimly guess a dark cloaked shape in the mist, a yard or two ahead. ?~Now then!?T said the farmer, throwing the reins to Sam and striding forward. ?~Don?Tt you come a step nearer! What do you want, and where are you going??T
?~I want Mr. Baggins. Have you seen him??T said a muffled voice - but the voice was the voice of Merry Brandybuck. A dark lantern was uncovered, and its light fell on the astonished face of the farmer.
?~Mr. Merry!?T he cried.
?~Yes, of course! Who did you think it was??T said Merry coming forward. As he came out of the mist and their fears subsided, he seemed suddenly to diminish to ordinary hobbit-size. He was riding a pony, and a scarf was swathed round his neck and over his chin to keep out the fog.
Frodo sprang out of the waggon to greet him. ?~So there you are at last!?T said Merry. ?~I was beginning to wonder if you would turn up at all today, and I was just going back *****pper. When it grew foggy I came across and rode up towards Stock to see if you had fallen in any ***ches. But I?Tm blest if I know which way you have come. Where did you find them, Mr. Maggot? In your duck-pond??T
?~No, I caught ?~em trespassing,?T said the farmer, ?~and nearly set my dogs on ?~em; but they?Tll tell you all the story, I?Tve no doubt. Now, if you?Tll excuse me, Mr. Merry and Mr. Frodo and all, I?Td best be turning for home. Mrs. Maggot will be worriting with the night getting thick.?T
He backed the waggon into the lane and turned it. ?~Well, good night to you all,?T he said. ?~It?Ts been a queer day, and no mistake. But all?Ts well as ends well; though perhaps we should not say that until we reach our own doors. I?Tll not deny that I?Tll be glad now when I do.?T He lit his lanterns, and got up. Suddenly he produced a large basket from under the seat. ?~I was nearly forgetting,?T he said. ?~Mrs. Maggot put this up for Mr. Baggins, with her compliments.?T He handed it down and moved off, followed by a chorus of thanks and good-nights.
They watched the pale rings of light round his lanterns as they dwindled into the foggy night. Suddenly Frodo laughed: from the covered basket he held, the scent of mushrooms was rising.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

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Chapter 5​

A Conspiracy Unmasked​

?~Now we had better get home ourselves,?T said Merry. Therê?Ts something funny about all this, I see; but it must wait till we get in.?T
They turned down the Ferry lane, which was straight and well-kept and edged with large white-washed stones. In a hundred yards or so it brought them to the river-bank, where there was a broad wooden landing-stage. A large flat ferry-boat was moored beside it. The white bollards near the water?Ts edge glimmered in the light of two lamps on high posts. Behind them the mists in the flat fields were now above the hedges; but the water before them was dark, with only a few curling wisps like steam among the reeds by the bank. There seemed to be less fog on the further side.
Merry led the pony over a gangway on to the ferry, and the others followed. Merry then pushed slowly off with a long pole. The Brandywine flowed slow and broad before them. On the other side the bank was steep, and up it a winding path climbed from the further landing. Lamps were twinkling there. Behind loomed up the Buck Hill; and out of it, through stray shrouds of mist, shone many round windows, yellow and red. They were the windows of Brandy Hall, the ancient home of the Brandybucks.
Long ago Gorhendad Oldbuck, head of the Oldbuck family, one of the oldest in the Marish or indeed in the Shire, had crossed the river, which was the original boundary of the land eastwards. He built (and excavated) Brandy Hall, changed his name to Brandybuck, and settled down to become master of what was virtually a small independent country. His family grew and grew, and after his days continued to grow, until Brandy Hall occupied the whole of the low hill, and had three large front-doors, many side-doors, and about a hundred windows. The Brandybucks and their numerous dependants then began to burrow, and later to build, all round about. That was the origin of Buckland, a thickly inhabited strip between the river and the Old Forest, a sort of colony from the Shire. Its chief village was Bucklebury, clustering in the banks and slopes behind Brandy Hall.
The people in the Marish were friendly with the Bucklanders, and the authority of the Master of the Hall (as the head of the Brandybuck family was called) was still acknowledged by the farmers between Stock and Rushey. But most of the folk of the old Shire regarded the Bucklanders as peculiar, half foreigners as it were. Though, as a matter of fact, they were not very different from the other hobbits of the Four Farthings. Except in one point: they were fond of boats, and some of them could swim.
Their land was originally unprotected from the East; but on that side they had built a hedge: the High Hay. It had been planted many generations ago, and was now thick and tail, for it was constantly tended. It ran all the way from Brandywine Bridge, in a big loop curving away from the river, to Haysend (where the Withywindle flowed out of the Forest into the Brandywine): well over twenty miles from end to end. But, of course, it was not a complete protection. The Forest drew close to the hedge in many places. The Bucklanders kept their doors locked after dark, and that also was not usual in the Shire.
The ferry-boat moved slowly across the water. The Buckland shore drew nearer. Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before. He had a strange feeling as the slow gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front. He scratched his head, and for a moment had a passing wish that Mr. Frodo could have gone on living quietly at Bag End.
The four hobbits stepped off the ferry. Merry was tying it up, and Pippin was already leading the pony up the path, when Sam (who had been looking back, as if to take farewell of the Shire) said in a hoarse whisper:
?~Look back, Mr. Frodo! Do you see anything??T
On the far stage, under the distant lamps, they could just make out a figure: it looked like a dark black bundle left behind. But as they looked it seemed to move and sway this way and that, as if searching the ground. It then crawled, or went crouching, back into the gloom beyond the lamps.
?~What in the Shire is that??T exclaimed Merry.
?~Something that is following us,?T said Frodo. ?~But don?Tt ask any more now! Let?Ts get away at once!?T They hurried up the path to the top of the bank, but when they looked back the far shore was shrouded in mist, and nothing could be seen.
?~Thank goodness you don?Tt keep any boats on the west-bank!?T said Frodo. ?~Can horses cross the river??T
?~They can go twenty miles north to Brandywine Bridge - or they might swim,?T answered Merry. ?~Though I never heard of any horse swimming the Brandywine. But what have horses to do with it??T I?Tll tell you later. Let?Ts get indoors and then we can talk.?T
?~All right! You and Pippin know your way; so I?Tll just ride on and tell Fatty Bolger that you are coming. Wê?Tll see about supper and things.?T
?~We had our supper early with Farmer Maggot,?T said Frodo; ?~but we could do with another.?T
?~You shall have it! Give me that basket!?T said Merry, and rode ahead into the darkness.
It was some distance from the Brandywine to Frodô?Ts new house at Crickhollow. They passed Buck Hill and Brandy Hall on their left, and on the outskirts of Bucklebury struck the main road of Buckland that ran south from the Bridge. Half a mile northward along this they came to a lane opening on their right. This they followed for a couple of miles as it climbed up and down into the country.
At last they came to a narrow gate in a thick hedge. Nothing could be seen of the house in the dark: it stood back from the lane in the middle of a wide circle of lawn surrounded by a belt of low trees inside the outer hedge. Frodo had chosen it, because it stood in an out-of-the-way corner of the country, and there were no other dwellings close by. You could get in and out without being noticed. It had been built a long while before by the Brandybucks, for the use of guests, or members of the family that wished to escape from the crowded life of Brandy Hall for a time. It was an old-fashioned countrified house, as much like a hobbit-hole as possible: it was long and low, with no upper storey; and it had a roof of turf, round windows, and a large round door.
As they walked lip the green path from the gate no light was visible; the windows were dark and shuttered. Frodo knocked on the door, and Fatty Bolger opened it. A friendly light streamed out. They slipped in quickly and shut themselves and the light inside. They were in a wide hall with doors on either side; in front of them a passage ran back down the middle of the house.
?~Well, what do you think of it??T asked Merry coming up the passage. ?~We have done our best in a short time to make it look like home. After all Fatty and I only got here with the last cart-load yesterday.?T
Frodo looked round. It did look like home. Many of his own favourite things - or Bilbô?Ts things (they reminded him sharply of him in their new selling) - were arranged as nearly as possible as they had been at Bag End. It was a pleasant, comfortable, welcoming place; and he found himself wishing that he was really coming here to settle down in quiet retirement. It seemed unfair to have put his friends to all this trouble; and he wondered again how he was going to break the news to them that he must leave them so soon, indeed at once. Yet that would have to be done that very night, before they all went to bed.
?~It?Ts delightful!?T he said with an effort. ?~I hardly feel that I have moved at all.?T
The travellers hung up their cloaks, and piled their packs on the floor. Merry led them down the passage and threw open a door at the far end. Firelight came out, and a puff of steam.
?~A bath!?T cried Pippin. ?~O blessed Meriadoc!?T
?~Which order shall we go in??T said Frodo. ?~Eldest first, or quickest first? You?Tll be last either way, Master Peregrin.?T
?~Trust me to arrange things better than that!?T said Merry. ?~We can?Tt begin life at Crickhollow with a quarrel over baths. In that room there are three tubs, and a copper full of boiling water. There are also towels, mats and soap. Get inside, and be quick!?T
Merry and Fatty went into the kitchen on the other side of the passage, and busied themselves with the final preparations for a late supper. Snatches of competing songs came from the bathroom mixed with the sound of splashing and wallowing. The voice of Pippin was suddenly lifted up above the others in one of Bilbô?Ts favourite bath-songs.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

​

Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
that washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!
O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smokes and steams.
O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer, if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.
O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!
​

There was a terrific splash, and a shout of Whoa! from Frodo. It appeared that a lot of Pippin?Ts bath had imitated a fountain and leaped on high.
Merry went to the door: ?~What about supper and beer in the throat??T he called. Frodo came out drying his hair.
?~Therê?Ts so much water in the air that I?Tm coming into the kitchen to finish,?T he said.
?~Lawks!?T said Merry, looking in. The stone floor was swimming. ?~You ought to mop all that up before you get anything to eat. Peregrin,?T he said. ?~Hurry up, or we shan?Tt wait for you.?T
They had supper in the kitchen on a table near the fire. ?~I suppose you three won?Tt want mushrooms again??T said Fredegar without much hope.
?~Yes we shall!?T cried Pippin.
?~They?Tre mine!?T said Frodo. ?~Given to me by Mrs. Maggot, a queen among farmers?T wives. Take your greedy hands away, and I?Tll serve them.?T
Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest likings of Big People. A fact which partly explains young Frodô?Ts long expe***ions to the renowned fields of the Marish, and the wrath of the injured Maggot. On this occasion there was plenty for all, even according to hobbit standards. There were also many other things to follow, and when they had finished even Fatty Bolger heaved a sigh of content. They pushed back the table, and drew chairs round the fire.
?~Wê?Tll clear up later,?T said Merry. ?~Now tell me all about it! I guess that you have been having adventures, which was not quite fair without me. I want a full account; and most of all I want to know what was the matter with old Maggot, and why he spoke to me like that. He sounded almost as if he was scared, if that is possible.?T
?~We have all been scared,?T said Pippin after a pause, in which Frodo stared at the fire and did not speak. ?~You would have been, too, if you had been chased for two days by Black Riders.?T
?~And what are they??T
?~Black figures riding on black horses,?T answered Pippin. ?~If Frodo won?Tt talk, I will tell you the whole tale from the beginning.?T He then gave a full account of their journey from the time when they left Hobbiton. Sam gave various supporting nods and exclamations. Frodo remained silent.
?~I should think you were making it all up,?T said Merry, ?~if I had not seen that black shape on the landing-stage - and heard the queer sound in Maggot?Ts voice. What do you make of it all, Frodo??T
?~Cousin Frodo has been very close,?T said Pippin. ?~But the time has come for him to open out. So far we have been given nothing more to go on than Farmer Maggot?Ts guess that it has something to do with old Bilbô?Ts treasure.?T
?~That was only a guess,?T said Frodo hastily. ?~Maggot does not know anything.?T
?~Old Maggot is a shrewd fellow,?T said Merry. ?~A lot goes on behind his round face that does not come out in his talk. I?Tve heard that he used to go into the Old Forest at one time, and he has the reputation of knowing a good many strange things. But you can at least tell us, Frodo, whether you think his guess good or bad.?T
?~I think,?T answered Frodo slowly, ?~that it was a good guess, as far as it goes. There is a connexion with Bilbô?Ts old adventures, and the Riders are looking, or perhaps one ought to say searching, for him or for me. I also fear, if you want to know, that it is no joke at all; and that I am not safe here or anywhere else.?T He looked round at the windows and walls, as if he was afraid they would suddenly give way. The others looked at him in silence, and exchanged meaning glances among themselves.
?~It?Ts coming out in a minute,?T whispered Pippin to Merry. Merry nodded.
?~Well!?T said Frodo at last, sitting up and straightening his back, as if he had made a decision. ?~I can?Tt keep it dark any longer. I have got something to tell you all. But I don?Tt know quite how to begin.?T
?~I think I could help you,?T said Merry quietly, ?~by telling you some of it myself.?T
?~What do you mean??T said Frodo, looking at him anxiously. ?~Just this, my dear old Frodo: you are miserable, because you don?Tt know how to say good-bye. You meant to leave the Shire, of course. But danger has come on you sooner than you expected, and now you are making up your mind to go at once. And you don?Tt want to. We are very sorry for you.?T
Frodo opened his mouth and shut it again. His look of surprise was so comical that they laughed. ?~Dear old Frodo!?T said Pippin. ?~Did you really think you had thrown dust in all our eyes? You have not been nearly careful or clever enough for that! You have obviously been planning to go and saying farewell to all your haunts all this year since April. We have constantly heard you muttering: ?oShall I ever look down into that valley again, I wonder?, and things like that. And pretending that you had come to the end of your money, and actually selling your beloved Bag End to those Sackville-Bagginses! And all those close talks with Gandalf.?T
?~Good heavens!?T said Frodo. ?~I thought I had been both careful and clever. I don?Tt know what Gandalf would say. Is all the Shire discussing my departure then??T
?~Oh no!?T said Merry. ?~Don?Tt worry about that! The secret won?Tt keep for long, of course; but at present it is, I think, only known to us conspirators. After all, you must remember that we know you well, and are often with you. We can usually guess what you are thinking. I knew Bilbo, too. To tell you the truth, I had been watching you rather closely ever since he left. I thought you would go after him sooner or later; indeed I expected you to go sooner, and lately we have been very anxious. We have been terrified that you might give us the slip, and go off suddenly, all on your own like he did. Ever since this spring we have kept our eyes open, and done a good deal of planning on our own account. You are not going to escape so easily!?T
?~But I must go,?T said Frodo. ?~It cannot be helped, dear friends. It is wretched for us all, but it is no use your trying to keep me. Since you have guessed so much, please help me and do not hinder me!?T
?~You do not understand!?T said Pippin. ?~You must go - and therefore we must, too. Merry and I are coming with you. Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jump down a dragon?Ts throat to save you, if he did not trip over his own feet; but you will need more than one companion in your dangerous adventure.?T
?~My dear and most beloved hobbits!?T said Frodo deeply moved. ?~But I could not allow it. I decided that long ago, too. You speak of danger, but you do not understand. This is no treasure-hunt, no there-and-back journey. I am flying from deadly peril into deadly peril.?T
?~Of course we understand,?T said Merry firmly. ?~That is why we have decided to come. We know the Ring is no laughing-matter; but we are going to do our best to help you against the Enemy.?T
?~The Ring!?T said Frodo, now completely amazed.
?~Yes, the Ring,?T said Merry. ?~My dear old hobbit, you don?Tt allow for the inquisitiveness of friends. I have known about the existence of the Ring for years - before Bilbo went away, in fact; but since he obviously regarded it as secret, I kept the knowledge in my head, until we formed our conspiracy. I did not know Bilbo, of course, as well as I know you; I was too young, and he was also more careful - but he was not careful enough. If you want to know how I first found out, I will tell you.?T
?~Go on!?T said Frodo faintly.
''It was the Sackville-Bagginses that were his downfall, as you might expect. One day, a year before the Party, I happened to be walking along the road, when I saw Bilbo ahead. Suddenly in the distance the S.-B.s appeared, coming towards us. Bilbo slowed down, and then hey presto! he vanished. I was so startled that I hardly had the wits to hide myself in a more ordinary fashion; but I got through the hedge and walked along the field inside. I was peeping through into the road, after the S.-B.s had passed, and was looking straight at Bilbo when he suddenly reappeared. I caught a glint of gold as he put something back in his trouser-pocket.
?~After that I kept my eyes open. In fact, I confess that I spied. But you must admit that it was very intriguing, and I was only in my teens. I must be the only one in the Shire, besides you Frodo, that has ever seen the old fellow?Ts secret book.?T
?~You have read his book!?T cried Frodo. ?~Good heavens above! Is nothing safe??T
?~Not too safe, I should say,?T said Merry. ?~But I have only had one rapid glance, and that was difficult to get. He never left the book about. I wonder what became of it. I should like another look. Have you got it, Frodo??T
?~No. It was not at Bag End. He must have taken it away.?T
?~Well, as I was saying,?T Merry proceeded, ?~I kept my knowledge to myself, till this Spring when things got serious. Then we formed our conspiracy; and as we were serious, too, and meant business, we have not been too scrupulous. You are not a very easy nut to crack, and Gandalf is worse. But if you want to be introduced to our chief investigator, I can produce him.?T
?~Where is he??T said Frodo, looking round, as if he expected a masked and sinister figure to come out of a cupboard.
?~Step forward, Sam!?T said Merry; and Sam stood up with a face scarlet up to the ears. ?~Herê?Ts our collector of information! And he collected a lot, I can tell you, before he was finally caught. After which, I may say, he seemed to regard himself as on parole, and dried up.?T
?~Sam!?T cried Frodo, feeling that amazement could go no further, and quite unable to decide whether he felt angry, amused, relieved, or merely foolish.
?~Yes, sir!?T said Sam. ?~Begging your pardon, sir! But I meant no wrong to you, Mr. Frodo, nor to Mr. Gandalf for that matter. He has some sense, mind you; and when you said go alone, he said no! take someone as you can trust.?T
?~But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,?T said Frodo. Sam looked at him unhappily. ?~It all depends on what you want,?T put in Merry. ?~You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the Ring. We are horribly afraid - but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.?T

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

​

?~And after all, sir,?T added Sam, ?~you did ought to take the Elves?T advice. Gildor said you should take them as was willing, and you can?Tt deny it.?T
?~I don?Tt deny it,?T said Frodo, looking at Sam, who was now grinning. ?~I don?Tt deny it, but I?Tll never believe you are sleeping again, whether you snore or not. I shall kick you hard to make sure.
?~You are a set of deceitful scoundrels!?T he said, turning to the others. ?~But bless you!?T he laughed, getting up and waving his arms, ?~I give in. I will take Gildor?Ts advice. If the danger were not so dark, I should dance for joy. Even so, I cannot help feeling happy; happier than I have felt for a long time. I had dreaded this evening.?T
?~Good! That?Ts settled. Three cheers for Captain Frodo and company!?T they shouted; and they danced round him. Merry and Pippin began a song, which they had apparently got ready for the occasion.
It was made on the model of the dwarf-song that started Bilbo on his adventure long ago, and went to the same tune:

Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away ere break of day
Far over wood and mountain tall.
To Rivendell, where Elves yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell,
Through moor and waste we ride in haste,
And whither then we cannot tell.
With foes ahead, behind us dread,
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.
We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!
​

?~Very good!?T said Frodo. ?~But in that case there are a lot of things to do before we go to bed - under a roof, for tonight at any rate.?T
?~Oh! That was poetry!?T said Pippin. ?~Do you really mean to start before the break of day??T
?~I don?Tt know,?T answered Frodo. ?~I fear those Black Riders, and I am sure it is unsafe to stay in one place long, especially in a place to which it is known I was going. Also Gildor advised me not to wait. But I should very much like to see Gandalf. I could see that even Gildor was disturbed when he heard that Gandalf had never appeared. It really depends on two things. How soon could the Riders get to Bucklebury? And how soon could we get off? It will take a good deal of preparation.?T
?~The answer to the second question,?T said Merry, ?~is that we could get off in an hour. I have prepared practically everything. There are six ponies in a stable across the fields; stores and tackle are all packed, except for a few extra clothes, and the perishable food.?T
?~It seems to have been a very efficient conspiracy,?T said Frodo. ?~But what about the Black Riders? Would it be safe to wait one day for Gandalf??T
?~That all depends on what you think the Riders would do, if they found you here,?T answered Merry. ?~They could have reached here by now, of course, if they were not stopped at the North-gate, where the Hedge runs down to the river-bank, just this side of the Bridge. The gate-guards would not let them through by night, though they might break through. Even in the daylight they would try to keep them out, I think, at any rate until they got a message through to the Master of the Hall - for they would not like the look of the Riders, and would certainly be frightened by them. But, of course, Buckland cannot resist a determined attack for long. And it is possible that in the morning even a Black Rider that rode up and asked for Mr. Baggins would be let through. It is pretty generally known that you are coming back to live at Crickhollow.?TFrodo sat for a while in thought. ?~I have made up my mind,?T he said finally. ?~I am starting tomorrow, as soon as it is light. But I am not going by road: it would be safer to wait here than that. If I go through the North-gate my departure from Buckland will be known at once, instead of being secret for several days at least, as it might be. And what is more, the Bridge and the East Road near the borders will certainly be watched, whether any Rider gets into Buckland or not. We don?Tt know how many there are; but there are at least two, and possibly more. The only thing to do is to go off in a quite unexpected direction.?T
?~But that can only mean going into the Old Forest!?T said Fredegar horrified. ?~You can?Tt be thinking of doing that. It is quite as dangerous as Black Riders.?T
?~Not quite,?T said Merry. It sounds very desperate, but I believe Frodo is right. It is the only way of getting off without being followed at once. With luck we might gel a considerable start.?T
?~But you won?Tt have any luck in the Old Forest,?T objected Fredegar. ?~No one ever has luck in there. You?Tll gel lost. People don?Tt go in there.?T
?~Oh yes they do!?T said Merry. ?~The Brandybucks go in - occasionally when the fit takes them. We have a private entrance. Frodo went in once, long ago. I have been in several times: usually in daylight, of course, when the trees are sleepy and fairly quiet.?T
?~Well, do as you think best!?T said Fredegar. ?~I am more afraid of the Old Forest than of anything I know about: the stories about it are a nightmare; but my vote hardly counts, as I am not going on the journey. Still, I am very glad someone is stopping behind, who can tell Gandalf what you have done, when he turns up, as I am sure he will before long.?T
Fond as he was of Frodo, Fatty Bolger had no desire to leave the Shire, nor to see what lay outside it. His family came from the Eastfarthing, from Budgeford in Bridgefields in fact, but he had never been over the Brandywine Bridge. His task, according to the original plans of the conspirators, was to stay behind and deal with inquisitive folk, and to keep up as long as possible the pretence that Mr. Baggins was still living at Crickhollow. He had even brought along some old clothes of Frodô?Ts to help him in playing the part. They little thought how dangerous that part might prove.
?~Excellent!?T said Frodo, when he understood the plan. ?~We could not have left any message behind for Gandalf otherwise. I don?Tt know whether these Riders can read or not, of course, but I should not have dared to risk a written message, in case they got in and searched the house. But if Fatty is willing to hold the fort, and I can be sure of Gandalf knowing the way we have gone, that decides me. I am going into the Old Forest first thing tomorrow.?T
?~Well, that?Ts that,?T said Pippin. ?~On the whole I would rather have our job than Fatty?Ts - waiting here till Black Riders come.?T
?~You wait till you are well inside the Forest,?T said Fredegar. ?~You?Tll wish you were back here with me before this time tomorrow.?T
?~It?Ts no good arguing about it any more,?T said Merry. ?~We have still got to tidy up and put the finishing touches to the packing, before we get to bed. I shall call you all before the break of day.?T
When at last he had got to bed, Frodo could not sleep for some time. His legs ached. He. was glad that he was riding in the morning. Eventually he fell into a vague dream, in which he seemed to be looking out of a high window over a dark sea of tangled trees. Down below among the roots there was the sound of creatures crawling and snuffling. He felt sure they would smell him out sooner or later.
Then he heard a noise in the distance. At first he thought it was a great wind coming over the leaves of the forest. Then he knew that it was not leaves, but the sound of the Sea far-off; a sound he had never heard in waking life, though it had often troubled his dreams. Suddenly he found he was out in the open. There were no trees after all. He was on a dark heath, and there was a strange salt smell in the air. Looking up he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone on a high ridge. A great desire came over him to climb the tower and see the Sea. He started to struggle up the ridge towards the tower: but suddenly a light came in the sky, and there was a noise of thunder.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

​

Chapter 6​

The Old Forest​

Frodo woke suddenly. It was still dark in the room. Merry was standing there with a candle in one hand, and banging on the door with the other. ?~All right! What is it??T said Frodo, still shaken and bewildered.
?~What is it!?T cried Merry. ?~It is time to get up. It is half past four and very foggy. Come on! Sam is already getting breakfast ready. Even Pippin is up. I am just going to saddle the ponies, and fetch the one that is to be the baggage-carrier. Wake that sluggard Fatty! At least he must get up and see us off.?T
Soon after six ô?Tclock the five hobbits were ready to start. Fatty Bolger was still yawning. They stole quietly out of the house. Merry went in front leading a laden pony, and took his way along a path that went through a spinney behind the house, and then cut across several fields. The leaves of trees were glistening, and every twig was dripping; the grass was grey with cold dew. Everything was still, and far-away noises seemed near and clear: fowls chattering in a yard, someone closing a door of a distant house.
In their shed they found the ponies; sturdy little beasts of the kind loved by hobbits, not speedy, but good for a long day?Ts work. They mounted, and soon they were riding off into the mist, which seemed to open reluctantly before them and close forbiddingly behind them. After riding for about an hour, slowly and without talking, they saw the Hedge looming suddenly ahead. It was tall and netted over with silver cobwebs. ?~How are you going to get through this??T asked Fredegar. ?~Follow me!?T said Merry, ?~and you will see.?T He turned to the left along the Hedge, and soon they came to a point where it bent inwards, running along the lip of a hollow. A cutting had been made, at some distance from the Hedge, and went sloping gently down into the ground. It had walls of brick at the sides, which rose steadily, until suddenly they arched over and formed a tunnel that dived deep under the Hedge and came out in the hollow on the other side.
Here Fatty Bolger halted. ?~Good-bye, Frodo!?T he said. ?~I wish you were not going into the Forest. I only hope you will not need rescuing before the day is out. But good luck to you - today and every day!?T
?~If there are no worse things ahead than the Old Forest, I shall be lucky,?T said Frodo. ?~Tell Gandalf to hurry along the East Road: we shall soon be back on it and going as fast as we can.?T ?~Good-bye!?T they cried, and rode down the slope and disappeared from Fredegar?Ts sight into the tunnel.
It was dark and damp. At the far end it was closed by a gate of thick-set iron bars. Merry got down and unlocked the gate, and when they had all passed through he pushed it to again. It shut with a clang, and the lock clicked. The sound was ominous.
?~There!?T said Merry. ?~You have left the Shire, and are now outside, and on the edge of the Old Forest.?T
?~Are the stories about it true??T asked Pippin.
?~I don?Tt know what stories you mean,?T Merry answered. ?~If you mean the old bogey-stories Fatty?Ts nurses used to tell him, about goblins and wolves and things of that sort, I should say no. At any rate I don?Tt believe them. But the Forest is queer. Everything in it is very much more alive, more aware of what is going on, so to speak, than things are in the Shire. And the trees do not like strangers. They watch you. They are usually content merely to watch you, as long as daylight lasts, and don?Tt do much. Occasionally the most unfriendly ones may drop a branch, or stick a root out, or grasp at you with a long trailer. But at night things can be most alarming, or so I am told. I have only once or twice been in here after dark, and then only near the hedge. I thought all the trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind. They do say the trees do actually move, and can surround strangers and hem them in. In fact long ago they attacked the Hedge: they came and planted themselves right by it, and leaned over it. But the hobbits came and cut down hundreds of trees, and made a great bonfire in the Forest, and burned all the ground in a long strip east of the Hedge. After that the trees gave up the attack, but they became very unfriendly. There is still a wide bare space not far inside where the bonfire was made.?T
?~Is it only the trees that are dangerous??T asked Pippin.
?~There are various queer things living deep in the Forest, and on the far side,?T said Merry, ?~or at least I have heard so; but I have never seen any of them. But something makes paths. Whenever one comes inside one finds open tracks; but they seem to shift and change from time to time in a queer fashion. Not far from this tunnel there is, or was for a long time, the beginning of quite a broad path leading to the Bonfire Glade, and then on more or less in our direction, east and a little north. That is the path I am going to try and find.?T
The hobbits now left the tunnel-gate and rode across the wide hollow. On the far side was a faint path leading up on to the floor of the Forest, a hundred yards and more beyond the Hedge; but it vanished as soon as it brought them under the trees. Looking back they could see the dark line of the Hedge through the stems of trees that were already thick about them. Looking ahead they could see only tree-trunks of innumerable sizes and shapes: straight or bent, twisted, leaning, squat or slender, smooth or gnarled and branched; and all the stems were green or grey with moss and slimy, shaggy growths.
Merry alone seemed fairly cheerful. ?~You had better lead on and find that path,?T Frodo said to him. ?~Don?Tt let us lose one another, or forget which way the Hedge lies!?T
They picked a way among the trees, and their ponies plodded along, carefully avoiding the many writhing and interlacing roots. There was no undergrowth. The ground was rising steadily, and as they went forward it seemed that the trees became taller, darker, and thicker. There was no sound, except an occasional drip of moisture falling through the still leaves. For the moment there was no whispering or movement among the branches; but they all got an uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched with disapproval, deepening to dislike and even enmity. The feeling steadily grew, until they found themselves looking up quickly, or glancing back over their shoulders, as if they expected a sudden blow.
There was not as yet any sign of a path, and the trees seemed constantly to bar their way. Pippin suddenly felt that he could not bear it any longer, and without warning let out a shout. ?~Oi! Oi!?T he cried. ?~I am not going to do anything. Just let me pass through, will you!?T
The others halted startled; but the cry fell as if muffled by a heavy curtain. There was no echo or answer though the wood seemed to become more crowded and more watchful than before.
?~I should not shout, if I were you,?T said Merry. It does more harm than good.?T
Frodo began to wonder if it were possible to find a way through, and if he had been right to make the others come into this abominable wood. Merry was looking from side to side, and seemed already uncertain which way to go. Pippin noticed it. ?~It has not taken you long to lose us,?T he said. But at that moment Merry gave a whistle of relief and pointed ahead.
?~Well, well!?T he said. ?~These trees do shift. There is the Bonfire Glade in front of us (or I hope so), but the path to it seems to have moved away!?T
The light grew clearer as they went forward. Suddenly they came out of the trees and found themselves in a wide circular space. There was sky above them, blue and clear to their surprise, for down under the Forest-roof they had not been able to see the rising morning and the lifting of the mist. The sun was not, however, high enough yet to shine down into the clearing, though its light was on the tree-tops. The leaves were all thicker and greener about the edges of the glade, enclosing it with an almost solid wall. No tree grew there, only rough grass and many tall plants: stalky and faded hemlocks and wood-parsley, fire-weed seeding into fluffy ashes, and rampant nettles and thistles. A dreary place: but it seemed a charming and cheerful garden after the close Forest.
The hobbits felt encouraged, and looked up hopefully at the broadening daylight in the sky. At the far side of the glade there was a break in the wall of trees, and a clear path beyond it. They could see it running on into the wood, wide in places and open above, though every now and again the trees drew in and overshadowed it with their dark boughs. Up this path they rode. They were still climbing gently, but they now went much quicker, and with better heart; for it seemed to them that the Forest had relented, and was going to let them pass unhindered after all.
But after a while the air began to get hot and stuffy. The trees drew close again on either side, and they could no longer see far ahead. Now stronger than ever they felt again the ill will of the wood pressing on them. So silent was it that the fall of their ponies?T hoofs, rustling on dead leaves and occasionally stumbling on hidden roots, seemed to thud in their ears. Frodo tried to sing a song to encourage them, but his voice sank to a murmur.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

​

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the dayõ?Ts end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must failõ?Ư
​

Fail - even as he said the word his voice faded into silence. The air seemed heavy and the making of words wearisome. Just behind them a large branch fell from an old overhanging tree with a crash into the path. The trees seemed to close in before them.
õ?~They do not like all that about ending and failing,õ?T said Merry. õ?~I should not sing any more at present. Wait till we do get to the edge, and then weõ?Tll turn and give them a rousing chorus!õ?T
He spoke cheerfully, and if he felt any great anxiety, he did not show it. The others did not answer. They were depressed. A heavy weight was settling steadily on Frodoõ?Ts heart, and he regretted now with every step forward that he had ever thought of challenging the menace of the trees. He was, indeed, just about to stop and propose going back (if that was still possible), when things took a new turn. The path stopped climbing, and became for a while nearly level. The dark trees drew aside, and ahead they could see the path going almost straight forward. Before them, but some distance off, there stood a green hill-top, treeless, rising like a bald head out of the encircling wood. The path seemed to be making directly for it.
They now hurried forward again, delighted with the thought of climbing out for a while above the roof of the Forest. The path dipped, and then again began to climb upwards, leading them at last to the foot of the steep hillside. There it left the trees and faded into the turf. The wood stood all round the hill like thick hair that ended sharply in a circle round a shaven crown.
The hobbits led their ponies up, winding round and round until they reached the top. There they stood and gazed about them. The air was gleaming and sunlit, but hazy; and they could not see to any great distance. Near at hand the mist was now almost gone; though here and there it lay in hollows of the wood, and to the south of them, out of a deep fold cutting right across the Forest, the fog still rose like steam or wisps of white smoke.
õ?~That,õ?T said Merry, pointing with his hand, õ?~that is the line of the Withywindle. It comes down out of the Downs and flows south-west through the midst of the Forest to join the Brandywine below Haysend. We donõ?Tt want to go that way! The Withywindle valley is said to be the queerest part of the whole wood - the centre from which all the queerness comes, as it were.õ?T
The others looked in the direction that Merry pointed out, but they could see little but mists over the damp and deep-cut valley; and beyond it the southern half of the Forest faded from view.
The sun on the hill-top was now getting hot. It must have been about eleven oõ?Tclock; but the autumn haze still prevented them from seeing much in other directions. In the west they could not make out either the line of the Hedge or the valley of the Brandywine beyond it. Northward, where they looked most hopefully, they could see nothing that might be the line of the great East Road, for which they were making. They were on an island in a sea of trees, and the horizon was veiled.
On the south-eastern side the ground fell very steeply, as if the slopes of the hill were continued far down under the trees, like island-shores that really are the sides of a mountain rising out of deep waters. They sat on the green edge and looked out over the woods below them, while they ate their mid-day meal. As the sun rose and passed noon they glimpsed far off in the east the grey-green lines of the Downs that lay beyond the Old Forest on that side. That cheered them greatly; for it was good to see a sight of anything beyond the woodõ?Ts borders, though they did not mean to go that way, if they could help it: the Barrow-downs had as sinister a reputation in hobbit-legend as the Forest itself.
At length they made up their minds to go on again. The path that had brought them to the hill reappeared on the northward side; but they had not followed it far before they became aware that it was bending steadily to the right. Soon it began to descend rapidly and they guessed that it must actually be heading towards the Withywindle valley: not at all the direction they wished lo take. After some discussion they decided to leave this misleading path and strike northward; for although they had not been able to see it from the hill-top, the Road must lie that way, and it could not be many miles off. Also northward, and to the left of the path, the land seemed lo be drier and more open, climbing up to slopes where the trees were thinner, and pines and firs replaced the oaks and ashes and other strange and nameless trees of the denser wood.
At first their choice seemed to be good: they got along at a fair speed, though whenever they got a glimpse of the sun in an open glade they seemed unaccountably to have veered eastwards. But after a time the trees began to close in again, just where they had appeared from a distance to be thinner and less tangled. Then deep folds in the ground were discovered unexpectedly, like the ruts of great giant-wheels or wide moats and sunken roads long disused and choked with brambles. These lay usually right across their line of march, and could only be crossed by scrambling down and out again, which was troublesome and difficult with their ponies. Each time they climbed down they found the hollow filled with thick bushes and matted undergrowth, which somehow would not yield to the left, but only gave way when they turned to the right; and they had to go some distance along the bottom before they could find a way up the further bank. Each time they clambered out, the trees seemed deeper and darker; and always to the left and upwards it was most difficult to find a way, and they were forced to the right and downwards.
After an hour or two they had lost all clear sense of direction, though they knew well enough that they had long ceased to go northward at all. They were being headed off, and were simply following a course chosen for them - eastwards and southwards, into the heart of the Forest and not out of it.
The afternoon was wearing away when they scrambled and stumbled into a fold that was wider and deeper than any they had yet met. It was so sleep and overhung that it proved impossible to climb out of it again, either forwards or backwards, without leaving their ponies and their baggage behind. All they could do was to follow the fold - downwards. The ground grew soft, and in places boggy; springs appeared in the banks, and soon they found themselves following a brook that trickled and babbled through a weedy bed. Then the ground began to fall rapidly, and the brook growing strong and noisy, flowed and leaped swiftly downhill. They were in a deep dim-lit gully over-arched by trees high above them.
After stumbling along for some way along the stream, they came quite suddenly out of the gloom. As if through a gate they saw the sunlight before them. Coming to the opening they found that they had made their way down through a cleft in a high sleep bank, almost a cliff. At its feet was a wide space of grass and reeds; and in the distance could be glimpsed another bank almost as steep. A golden afternoon of late sunshine lay warm and drowsy upon the hidden land between. In the midst of it there wound lazily a dark river of brown water, bordered with ancient willows, arched over with willows, blocked with fallen willows, and flecked with thousands of faded willow-leaves. The air was thick with them, fluttering yellow from the branches; for there was a warm and gentle breeze blowing softly in the valley, and the reeds were rustling, and the willow-boughs were creaking.
õ?~Well, now I have at least some notion of where we are!õ?T said Merry. õ?~We have come almost in the opposite direction to which we intended. This is the River Withywindle! I will go on and explore.õ?T
He passed out into the sunshine and disappeared into the long grasses. After a while he reappeared, and reported that there was fairly solid ground between the cliff-foot and the river; in some places firm turf went down to the waterõ?Ts edge. õ?~Whatõ?Ts more,õ?T he said, õ?~there seems to be something like a footpath winding along on this side of the river. If we turn left and follow it, we shall be bound to come out on the east side of the Forest eventually.õ?T
õ?~I dare say!õ?T said Pippin. õ?~That is, if the track goes on so far, and does not simply lead us into a bog and leave us there. Who made the track, do you suppose, and why? I am sure it was not for our benefit. I am getting very suspicious of this Forest and everything in it, and I begin to believe all the stories about it. And have you any idea how far eastward we should have to go?õ?T
õ?~No,õ?T said Merry, õ?~I havenõ?Tt. I donõ?Tt know in the least how far down the Withywindle we are, or who could possibly come here often enough to make a path along it. But there is no other way out that I can see or think of.õ?T
There being nothing else for it, they filed out, and Merry led them to the path that he had discovered. Everywhere the reeds and grasses were lush and tall, in places far above their heads; but once found, the path was easy to follow, as it turned and twisted, picking out the sounder ground among the bogs and pools. Here and there it passed over other rills, running down gullies into the Withywindle out of the higher forest-lands, and at these points there were tree-trunks or bundles of brushwood laid carefully across.
The hobbits began to feel very hot. There were armies of flies of all kinds buzzing round their ears, and the afternoon sun was burning on their backs. At last they came suddenly into a thin shade; great grey branches reached across the path. Each step forward became more reluctant than the last. Sleepiness seemed to be creeping out of the ground and up their legs, and falling softly out of the air upon their heads and eyes.
Frodo felt his chin go down and his head nod. Just in front of him Pippin fell forward on to his knees. Frodo halted. õ?~Itõ?Ts no good,õ?T he heard Merry saying. õ?~Canõ?Tt go another step without rest. Must have nap. Itõ?Ts cool under the willows. Less flies!õ?T
Frodo did not like the sound of this. õ?~Come on!õ?T he cried. õ?~We canõ?Tt have a nap yet. We must get clear of the Forest first.õ?T But the others were too far gone to care. Beside them Sam stood yawning and blinking stupidly.
Suddenly Frodo himself felt sleep overwhelming him. His head swam. There now seemed hardly a sound in the air. The flies had stopped buzzing. Only a gentle noise on the edge of hearing, a soft fluttering as of a song half whispered, seemed to stir in the boughs above. He lifted his heavy eyes and saw leaning over him a huge willow-tree, old and hoary. Enormous it looked, its sprawling branches going up like reaching arms with many long-fingered hands, its knotted and twisted trunk gaping in wide fissures that creaked faintly as the boughs moved. The leaves fluttering against the bright sky dazzled him, and he toppled over, lying where he fell upon the grass.
Merry and Pippin dragged themselves forward and lay down with their backs to the willow-trunk. Behind them the great cracks gaped wide to receive them as the tree swayed and creaked. They looked up at the grey and yellow leaves, moving softly against the light, and singing. They shut their eyes, and then it seemed that they could almost hear words, cool words, saying something about water and sleep. They gave themselves up to the spell and fell fast asleep at the foot of the great grey willow.
Frodo lay for a while fighting with the sleep that was overpowering him; then with an effort he struggled to his feel again. He felt a compelling desire for cool water. õ?~Wait for me, Sam,õ?T he stammered. õ?~Must bathe feet a minute.õ?T
Half in a dream he wandered forward to the riverward side of the tree, where great winding roots grew out into the stream, like gnarled dragonets straining down to drink. He straddled one of these, and paddled his hot feel in the cool brown water; and there he too suddenly fell asleep with his back against the tree.
Sam sat down and scratched his head, and yawned like a ****rn. He was worried. The afternoon was getting late, and he thought this sudden sleepiness uncanny. õ?~Thereõ?Ts more behind this than sun and warm air,õ?T he muttered to himself. õ?~I donõ?Tt like this great big tree. I donõ?Tt trust it. Hark at it singing about sleep now! This wonõ?Tt do at all!õ?T

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

​

He pulled himself to his feet, and staggered off to see what had become of the ponies. He found that two had wandered on a good way along the path; and he had just caught them and brought them back towards the others, when he heard two noises; one loud, and the other soft but very clear. One was the splash of something heavy falling into the water; the other was a noise like the snick of a lock when a door quietly closes fast.
He rushed back to the bank. Frodo was in the water close to the edge, and a great tree-root seemed to be over him and holding him down, but he was not struggling. Sam gripped him by the jacket, and dragged him from under the root; and then with difficulty hauled him on to the bank. Almost at once he woke, and coughed and spluttered.
?~Do you know, Sam,?T he said at length, ?~the beastly tree threw me in! I felt it. The big root just twisted round and tipped me in!?T
?~You were dreaming I expect, Mr. Frodo,?T said Sam. ?~You shouldn?Tt sit in such a place, if you feel sleepy.?T
?~What about the others??T Frodo asked. ?~I wonder what sort of dreams they are having.?T
They went round to the other side of the tree, and then Sam understood the click that he had heard. Pippin had vanished. The crack by which he had laid himself had closed together, so that not a chink could be seen. Merry was trapped: another crack had closed about his waist; his legs lay outside, but the rest of him was inside a dark opening, the edges of which gripped like a pair of pincers.
Frodo and Sam beat first upon the tree-trunk where Pippin had lain. They then struggled frantically to pull open the jaws of the crack that held poor Merry. It was quite useless.
?~What a foul thing to happen!?T cried Frodo wildly. ?~Why did we ever come into this dreadful Forest? I wish we were all back at Crickhollow!?T He kicked the tree with all his strength, heedless of his own feet. A hardly perceptible shiver ran through the stem and up into the branches; the leaves rustled and whispered, but with a sound now of faint and far-off laughter.
?~I suppose we haven?Tt got an axe among our luggage, Mr. Frodo??T asked Sam.
?~I brought a little hatchet for chopping firewood,?T said Frodo. ?~That wouldn?Tt be much use.?T
?~Wait a minute!?T cried Sam, struck by an idea suggested by firewood. ?~We might do something with fire!?T
?~We might,?T said Frodo doubtfully. ?~We might succeed in roasting Pippin alive inside.?T
?~We might try to hurt or frighten this tree to begin with,?T said Sam fiercely. ?~If it don?Tt let them go, I?Tll have it down, if I have to gnaw it.?T He ran to the ponies and before long came back with two tinder-boxes and a hatchet.
Quickly they gathered dry grass and leaves, and bits of bark; and made a pile of broken twigs and chopped sticks. These they heaped against the trunk on the far side of the tree from the prisoners. As soon as Sam had struck a spark into the tinder, it kindled the dry grass and a flurry of flame and smoke went up. The twigs crackled. Little fingers of fire licked against the dry scored rind of the ancient tree and scorched it. A tremor ran through the whole willow. The leaves seemed to hiss above their heads with a sound of pain and anger. A loud scream came from Merry, and from far inside the tree they heard Pippin give a muffled yell.
?~Put it out! Put it out!?T cried Merry. ?~Hê?Tll squeeze me in two, if you don?Tt. He says so!?T
?~Who? What??T shouted Frodo, rushing round to the other side of the tree.
?~Put it out! Put it out!?T begged Merry. The branches of the willow began to sway violently. There was a sound as of a wind rising and spreading outwards to the branches of all the other trees round about, as though they had dropped a stone into the quiet slumber of the river-valley and set up ripples of anger that ran out over the whole Forest. Sam kicked at the little fire and stamped out the sparks. But Frodo, without any clear idea of why he did so, or what he hoped for, ran along the path crying help! help! help! It seemed to him that he could hardly hear the sound of his own shrill voice: it was blown away from him by the willow-wind and drowned in a clamour of leaves, as soon as the words left his mouth. He felt desperate: lost and witless.
Suddenly he slopped. There was an answer, or so he thought; but it seemed to come from behind him, away down the path further back in the Forest. He turned round and listened, and soon there could be no doubt: someone was singing a song; a deep glad voice was singing carelessly and happily, but it was singing nonsense:

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
​

Half hopeful and half afraid of some new danger, Frodo and Sam now both stood still. Suddenly out of a long string of nonsense-words (or so they seemed) the voice rose up loud and clear and burst into this song:

Hey! Come merry dot! derry dol! My darling!
Light goes the weather-wind and the feathered starling.
Down along under Hill, shining in the sunlight,
Waiting on the doorstep for the cold starlight,
There my pretty lady is. River-woman?Ts daughter,
Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water.
Old Tom Bombadil water-lilies bringing
Comes hopping home again. Can you hear him singing?
Hey! Come merry dol! deny dol! and merry-o,
Goldberry, Goldberry, merry yellow berry-o!
Poor old Willow-man, you tuck your roots away!
Tom?Ts in a hurry now. Evening will follow day.
Tom?Ts going home again water-lilies bringing.
Hey! Come derry dol! Can you hear me singing?
​

Frodo and Sam stood as if enchanted. The wind puffed out. The leaves hung silently again on stiff branches. There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, slumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard; his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. In his hands he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies.
?~Help!?T cried Frodo and Sam running towards him with their hands stretched out.
?~Whoa! Whoa! steady there!?T cried the old man, holding up one hand, and they stopped short, as if they had been struck stiff. ?~Now, my little fellows, where be you a-going to, puffing like a bellows? What?Ts the matter here then? Do you know who I am? I?Tm Tom Bombadil. Tell me what?Ts your trouble! Tom?Ts in a hurry now. Don?Tt you crush my lilies!?T
?~My friends are caught in the willow-tree,?T cried Frodo breathlessly.
?~Master Merry?Ts being squeezed in a crack!?T cried Sam.
?~What??T shouted Tom Bombadil, leaping up in the air. ?~Old Man Willow? Naught worse than that, eh? That can soon be mended. I know the tune for him. Old grey Willow-man! I?Tll freeze his marrow cold, if he don?Tt behave himself. I?Tll sing his roots off. I?Tll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. Old Man Willow!?T Setting down his lilies carefully on the grass, he ran to the tree. There he saw Merry?Ts feet still sticking out - the rest had already been drawn further inside. Tom put his mouth to the crack and began singing into it in a low voice. They could not catch the words, but evidently Merry was aroused. His legs began to kick. Tom sprang away, and breaking off a hanging branch smote the side of the willow with it. ?~You let them out again, Old Man Willow!?T he said. ?~What be you a-thinking of? You should not be waking. Eat earth! Dig deep! Drink water! Go to sleep! Bombadil is talking!?T He then seized Merry?Ts feet and drew him out of the suddenly widening crack.
There was a tearing creak and the other crack split open, and out of it Pippin sprang, as if he had been kicked. Then with a loud snap both cracks closed fast again. A shudder ran through the tree from root to tip, and complete silence fell.
?~Thank you!?T said the hobbits, one after the other.
Tom Bombadil burst out laughing. ?~Well, my little fellows!?T said he, stooping so that he peered into their faces. ?~You shall come home with me! The table is all laden with yellow cream, honeycomb, and white bread and butter. Goldberry is waiting. Time enough for questions around the supper table. You follow after me as quick as you are able!?T With that he picked up his lilies, and then with a beckoning wave of his hand went hopping and dancing along the path eastward, still singing loudly and nonsensically.
Too surprised and too relieved to talk, the hobbits followed after him as fast as they could. But that was not fast enough. Tom soon disappeared in front of them, and the noise of his singing got fainter and further away. Suddenly his voice came floating back to them in a loud halloo!

Hop along, my little friends, up the Withywindle!
Tom?Ts going on ahead candles for to kindle.
Down west sinks the Sun: soon you will be groping.
When the night-shadows fall, then the door will open,
Out of the window-panes light will twinkle yellow.
Fear no alder black! Heed no hoary willow!
Fear neither root nor bough! Tom goes on before you.
Hey now! merry dot! Wê?Tll be waiting for you!
​

After that the hobbits heard no more. Almost at once the sun seemed to sink into the trees behind them. They thought of the slanting light of evening glittering on the Brandywine River, and the windows of Bucklebury beginning to gleam with hundreds of lights. Great shadows fell across them; trunks and branches of trees hung dark and threatening over the path. White mists began to rise and curl on the surface of the river and stray about the roots of the trees upon its borders. Out of the very ground at their feet a shadowy steam arose and mingled with the swiftly falling dusk.
It became difficult to follow the path, and they were very tired. Their legs seemed leaden. Strange furtive noises ran among the bushes and reeds on either side of them; and if they looked up to the pale sky, they caught sight of queer gnarled and knobbly faces that gloomed dark against the twilight, and leered down at them from the high bank and the edges of the wood. They began to feel that all this country was unreal, and that they were stumbling through an ominous dream that led to no awakening.
Just as they felt their feet slowing down to a standstill, they noticed that the ground was gently rising. The water began to murmur. In the darkness they caught the white glimmer of foam, where the river flowed over a short fall. Then suddenly the trees came to an end and the mists were left behind. They stepped out from the Forest, and found a wide sweep of grass welling up before them. The river, now small and swift, was leaping merrily down to meet them, glinting here and there in the light of the stars, which were already shining in the sky.

TO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL​

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