THE FIRST PHASE.
I.
A LONG-EXPECTED PARTY.
(i)
The First Version.
The original written starting-point of The Lord of the Rings - its 'first
germ', as my father scribbled on the text long after - has been preserved:
a manuscript of five pages entitled A long-expected party. I think that it
must have been to this (rather than to a second, unfinished, draft that
soon followed it) that my father referred when on 19 December 1937 he
wrote to Charles Furth at Allen and Unwin: 'I have written the first
chapter of a new story about Hobbits - "A long expected party".' Only
three days before he had written to Stanley Unwin:
I think it is plain that... a sequel or successor to The Hobbit is called
for. I promise to give this thought and attention. But I am sure you will
sympathize when I say that the construction of elaborate and consis-
tent mythology (and two languages) rather occupies the mind, and the
Silmarils are in my heart. So that goodness knows what will happen.
Mr Baggins began as a comic tale among conventional Grimm's fairy-
tale dwarves, and got drawn into the edge of it - so that even Sauron
the terrible peeped over the edge. And what more can hobbits do?
They can be comic, but their comedy is suburban unless it is set
against things more elemental.
From this it seems plain that on the 16th of December he had not only not
begun writing, but in all probability had not even given thought to the
substance of 'a new story about Hobbits'. Not long before he had parted
with the manuscript of the third version of The Silmarillion to Allen and
Unwin; it was unfinished, and he was still deeply immersed in it. In a
postscript to this letter to Stanley Unwin he acknowledged, in fact, the
return of The Silmarillion (and other things) later on that day. None-
theless, he must have begun on the new story there and then.
When he first put pen to paper he wrote in large letters 'When M', but
he stopped before completing the final stroke of the M and wrote instead
'When Bilbo...' The text begins in a handsome script, but the writing
becomes progessively faster and deteriorates at the end into a rapid
scrawl not at all points legible. There are a good many alterations to the
manuscript. The text that follows represents the original form as I judge
it to have been, granting that what is 'original' and what is not cannot be
perfectly distinguished. Some changes can be seen to have been made at
the moment of writing, and these are taken up into the text; but others
are characteristic anticipations of the following version, and these are
ignored. In any case it is highly probable that my father wrote the
versions of this opening chapter in quick succession. Notes to this
version follow immediately on the end of the text (p. 17).
A long-expected party (1).
When Bilbo, son of Bungo of the family of Baggins, [had
celebrated >] prepared to celebrate his seventieth birthday there
was for a day or two some talk in the neighbourhood. He had once
had a little fleeting fame among the people of Hobbiton and
Bywater - he had disappeared after breakfast one April 30th and
not reappeared until lunchtime on June 22nd in the following
year. A very odd proceeding for which he had never given any
good reason, and of which he wrote a nonsensical account. After
that he returned to normal ways; and the shaken confidence of the
district was gradually restored, especially as Bilbo seemed by
some unexplained method to have become more than comfortably
off, if not positively wealthy. Indeed it was the magnificence of the
party rather than the fleeting fame that at first caused the talk -
after all that other odd business had happened some twenty years
before and was becoming decently forgotten. The magnificence of
the preparations for the party, I should say. The field to the south
of his front door was being covered with pavilions. Invitations
were being sent out to all the Bagginses and all the Tooks (his
relatives on his mother's side), and to the Grubbs (only remotely
connected); and to the Burroweses, the Boffinses, the Chubbses
and the Proudfeet: none of whom were connected at all within the
memory of the local historians - some of them lived on the other
side of the shire; but they were all, of course, hobbits. Even the
Sackville-Bagginses, his cousins on his father's side, were not
forgotten. There had been a feud between them and Mr Bilbo
Baggins, as some of you may remember. But so splendid was the
invitation-card, all written in gold, that they were induced to
accept; besides, their cousin had been specializing in good food
for a long time, and his tables had a high reputation even in that
time and country when food was still what it ought to be and
abundant enough for all folk to practise on.
Everyone expected a pleasant feast; though they rather dreaded
the after-dinner speech of their host. He was liable to drag in bits
of what he called poetry, and even to allude, after a glass or two, to
the absurd adventures he said he had had long ago during his
ridiculous vanishment. They had a eery pleasant feast: indeed an
engrossing entertainment. The purchase of provisions fell almost
to zero throughout the whole shire during the ensuing week; but
as Mr Baggins' catering had emptied all the stores, cellars and
warehouses for miles around, that did not matter. Then came the
speech. Most of the assembled hobbits were now in a tolerant
mood, and their former fears were forgotten. They were prepared
to listen to anything, and to cheer at every full stop. But they were
not prepared to be startled. But they were - completely and
unprecedentedly startled; some even had indigestion.
'My dear people,' began Mr Baggins. 'Hear, hear!' they replied
in chorus. 'My dear Bagginses,' he went on, standing now on his
chair, so that the light of the lanterns that illuminated the enor-
mous pavilion flashed upon the gold buttons of his embroidered
waistcoat for all to see. 'And my dear Tooks, and Grubbs,
and Chubbs, and Burroweses, and Boffinses, and Proudfoots.'(2)
'Proudfeet' shouted an elderly hobbit from the back. His name of
course was Proudfoot, and merited; his feet were large, exception-
ally furry, and both were on the table. 'Also my dear Sackville-
Bagginses that I welcome back at last to Bag-end,' Bilbo con-
tinued. 'Today is my seventieth birthday.' 'Hurray hurray and
many happy returns! ' they shouted. That was the sort of stuff they
liked: short, obvious, uncontroversial.
'I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am.'
Deafening cheers, cries of yes (and no), and noises of trumpets
and whistles. There were a great many junior hobbits present, as
hobbits were indulgent to their children, especially if there was a
chance of an extra meal. Hundreds of musical crackers had been
pulled. Most of them were labelled 'Made in Dale'. What that
meant only Bilbo and a few of his Took-nephews knew; but they
were very marvellous crackers. 'I have called you all together,'
Bilbo went on when the last cheer died away, and something in his
voice made a few of the Tooks prick up their ears. 'First of all to
tell you that I am immensely fond of you, and that seventy years is
too short a time to live among such excellent and charming hobbits'
- 'hear hear!''I don't know half of you half as well as I should like,
and less than half of you half as well as you deserve.' No cheers, a few
claps - most of them were trying to work it out. 'Secondly to
celebrate my birthday and the twentieth year of my return' - an
uncomfortable rustle. 'Lastly to make an Announcement.' He said
this very loud and everybody sat up who could. 'Goodbye! I am
going away after dinner. Also I am going to get married.'
He sat down. The silence was flabbergastation. It was broken
only by Mr Proudfoot, who kicked over the table; Mrs Proudfoot
choked in the middle of a drink.
That's that. It merely serves to explain that Bilbo Baggins got
married and had many children, because I am going to tell you a
story about one of his descendants, and if you had only read his
memoirs up to the date of Balin's visit - ten years at least before
this birthday party - you might have been puzzled.(3)
As a matter of fact Bilbo Baggins disappeared silently and
unnoticed - the ring was in his hand even while he made his speech
- in the middle of the confused outburst of talk that followed the
flabbergasted silence. He was never seen in Hobbiton again.
When the carriages came for the guests there was no one to say
good-bye to. The carriages rolled away, one after another, filled
with full but oddly unsatisfied hobbits. Gardeners came (by
appointment) and cleared away in wheelbarrows those that had
inadvertently remained. Night settled down and passed. The sun
rose. People came to clear away the pavilions and the tables and
the chairs and the lanterns and the flowering trees in boxes, and
the spoons and knives and plates and forks, and crumbs, and the
uneaten food - a very small parcel. Lots of other people came too.
Bagginses and Sackville-Bagginses and Tooks, and people with
even less business. By the middle of the morning (when even the
best-fed were out and about again) there was quite a crowd at
Bag-end, uninvited but not unexpected. ENTER was painted on a
large white board outside the great front-door. The door was
open. On everything inside there was a label tied. 'For Mungo
Took, with love from Bilbo'; 'For Semolina Baggins, with love
from her nephew', on a waste-paper basket - she had written him a
deal of letters (mostly of good advice). 'For Caramella Took, with
kind remembrances from her uncle', on a clock in the hall.
Though unpunctual she had been a niece he rather liked, until
coming late one day to tea she had declared his clock was fast.
Bilbo's clocks were never either slow or fast, and he did not forget
it. 'For Obo Took- Took, from his great-nephew', on a feather
bed; Obo was seldom awake before i a noon or after tea, and
snored. 'For Gorboduc Grubb with best wishes from B. Baggins'
-on a gold fountain-pen; he never answered letters. 'For Angelica's
use' on a mirror - she was a young Baggins and thought herself
very comely.(4) 'For Inigo Grubb-Took', on a complete dinner-
service - he was the greediest hobbit known to history. 'For
Amalda Sackville-Baggins as a present', on a case of silver spoons.
She was the wife of Bilbo's cousin, the one he had discovered years
ago on his return measuring his dining-room (you may remember
his suspicions about disappearing spoons: anyway neither he nor
Amalda had forgotten).(5)
Of course there were a thousand and one things in Bilbo's
house, and all had labels- most of them with some point (which
sank in after a time). The whole house-furniture was disposed of,
but not a penny piece of money, nor a brass ring of jewelry, was to
be found. Amalda was the only Sackville-Baggins remembered
with a label - but then there was a notice in the hall saying that Mr
Bilbo Baggins made over the desirable property or dwelling-hole
known as Bag-end Underhill together with all lands thereto
belonging or annexed to Sago Sackville-Baggins and his wife
Amalda for them to have hold possess occupy or otherwise dispose
of at their pleasure and discretion as from September 22nd next. It
was then September 21st (Bilbo's birthday being on the 20th of
that pleasant month). So the Sackville-Bagginses did live in Bag-
end after all - though they had had to wait some twenty years. And
they had a great deal of difficulty too getting all the labelled stuff
out - labels got torn and mixed, and people tried to do swaps in the
hall, and some tried to make off with stuff that was [not] being
carefully watched; and various prying folk began knocking holes
in walls and burrowing in cellars before they could be ejected.
They were still worrying about the money and the jewelry. How
Bilbo would have laughed. Indeed he was - he had foreseen how it
would all fall out, and was enjoying the joke quite privately.
There, I suppose it has become all too plain. The fact is, in spite
of his after-dinner speech, he had grown suddenly very tired of
them all. The Tookishness (not of course that all Tooks ever had
much of this wayward quality) had quite suddenly and uncom-
fortably come to life again. Also another secret - after he had
blowed his last fifty ducats on the party he had not got any money
or jewelry left, except the ring, and the gold buttons on his
waistcoat. He had spent it all in twenty years (even the proceeds of
his beautiful.... which he had sold a few years back).(6)
Then how could he get married? He was not going to just then -
he merely said 'I am going to get married'. I cannot quite say why.
It came suddenly into his head. Also he thought it was an event
that might occur in the future - if he travelled again amongst other
folk, or found a more rare and more beautiful race of hobbits
somewhere. Also it was a kind of explanation. Hobbits had a
curious habit in their weddings. They kept it (always officially and
very often actually) a dead secret for years who they were going to
marry, even when they knew. Then they suddenly went and got
married and went off without an address for a week or two (or even
longer). When Bilbo had disappeared this is what at first his
neighbours thought. 'He has gone and got married. Now who can
it be? - no one else has disappeared, as far as we know.' Even after
a year they- would have been less surprised if he had come back
with a wife. For a long while some folk thought he was keeping one
in hiding, and quite a legend about the poor Mrs Bilbo who was
too ugly to be seen grew up for a while.
So now Bilbo said before he disappeared: 'I am going to get
married.' He thought that that - together with all the fuss about
the house (or hole) and furniture - would keep them all busy and
satisfied for a long while, so that no one would bother to hunt for
him for a bit. And he was right - or nearly right. For no one ever
bothered to hunt for him at all. They decided he had gone mad,
and run off till he met a pool or a river or a steep fall, and there was
one Baggins the less. Most of them, that is. He was deeply
regretted by a few of his younger friends of course (... Angelica
and Sar......). But he had not said good-bye to all of them - 0
no. That is easily explained.
NOTES.
1. The title was written in subsequently, but no doubt before the
chapter was finished, since my father referred to it by this title in his
letter of 19 December 1937 (p. 11).
2. After 'Burroweses' followed 'and Ogdens', but this was struck out -
almost certainly at the time of writing. 'Proudfoots' was first written
'Proudfeet', as earlier in the chapter, but as the next sentence shows it
was changed in the act of writing.
3. The reference is to the conclusion of The Hobbit, when Gandalf and
Balin called at Bag End 'some years afterwards'.
4. At this point a present to Inigo Baggins of a case of hairbrushes was
mentioned, but struck out, evidently at the time of writing, since the
present to another Inigo (Grubb-Took) immediately follows.
5. Various changes were made to the names and other details in this
passage, not all of which were taken up in the third version (the
second ends before this point). Mungo Took's gift (an umbrella) was
specified; and Caramella Took was changed from niece to cousin.
Gorboduc Grubb became Orlando Grubb. Pencilled proposals for
the name of Mrs Sackville-Baggins, replacing Amalda, are Lonicera
(Honeysuckle) and Griselda, and her husband Sago (named in the
next paragraph of the text) became Cosmo.
6. Cf. the end of The Hobbit: 'His gold and silver was mostly [after-
wards changed to largely] spent in presents, both useful and extrava-
gant'. The illegible word here might possibly be arms, but it does not
look like it, and cf. the same passage in The Hobbit: 'His coat of mail
was arranged on a stand in the hall (until he lent it to a Museum).'
*
Writing of this draft in his Biography, Humphrey Carpenter says
(p. 185):
The reason for his disappearance, as given in this first draft, is that
Bilbo 'had not got any money or jewels left' and was going off in search
of more dragon-gold. At this point the first version of the opening
chapter breaks off, unfinished.
But it may be argued that it was in fact finished: for the next completed
draft of the chapter (the third - the second seems certainly unfinished,
and breaks off at a much earlier point) ends only a very little further on in
the narrative (p. 34), and shortly before the end has:
But not all of them had said good-bye to him. That is easily explained,
and soon will be.
And the explanation is not given, but reserved for the next chapter. Nor
is it made so explicit in the first draft that Bilbo was 'going off in search of
more dragon-gold'. That lack of money was a reason for leaving his home
is certainly the case, but a sudden Tookish disgust with hobbit dulness
and conventionality is also emphasized; and in fact there is not so much
as a hint of what Bilbo was planning to do. It may well be that on 19
December 1937 my father had no idea. The rapidly-written conclusion
of the text strongly suggests uncertain direction (and indeed he had said
earlier in the chapter that the story was going to be about one of Bilbo's
descendants).
But while there is no sign of Gandalf, most of the essentials and many
of the details of the actual party as it is described in The Fellowship of the
Ring (FR) emerge right at the beginning, and even some phrases
remained. The Chubbs (or Chubbses, p. 13), the Boffinses, and the
Proudfoots now appear - the families named Burrowes (Burrows in FR)
and Grubb had been mentioned at the end of The Hobbit, in the names of
the auctioneers at the sale of Bag End; and the hobbits' land is for the first
time called 'the shire' (see, however, p. 31). But the first names of the
hobbits were only at the beginning of their protean variations - such
names as Sago and Semolina would be rejected as unsuitable, others
(Amalda, Inigo, Obo) would have no place in the final genealogies, and
yet others (Mungo, Gorboduc) would be given to different persons; only
the vain Angelica Baggins survived.
*
(ii)
The Second Version.
The next manuscript, while closely based on the first, introduced much
new material - most notably the arrival of Gandalf, and the fireworks.
This version breaks off at the words 'Morning went on' (FR p. 45).
The manuscript was much emended, and it is very difficult to distin-
guish those changes made at the time of composition from those made
subsequently: in any case the third version no doubt followed hard upon
the second, superseding it before it was completed. I give this second text
also in full, so far as it goes, but in this case I include virtually all the
emendations made to it (in some cases the original reading is given in the
notes which follow the text on p. 25).
Chapter 1.
A long-expected party.
When Bilbo, son of Bungo, of the respectable family of Baggins
prepared to celebrate his seventy-first' birthday there was some
little talk in the neighbourhood, and people polished up their
memories.(2) Bilbo had once had some brief notoriety amoug the
hobbits of Hobbiton and Bywater - he had disappeared after
breakfast one April 30th and had not reappeared until lunch-time
on June 22nd in the following year. A very odd proceeding, and
one for which he had never accounted satisfactorily. He wrote a
book about it, of course: but even those who had read it never took
that seriously. It is no good talking to hobbits about dragons: they
either disbelieve you, or feel uncomfortable; and in either case
tend to avoid you afterwards. Mr Baggins, however, had soon
returned to more or less normal ways; and though the shaken
confidence of the countryside was never quite restored, in time the
hobbits agreed to pardon the past, and Bilbo was on calling-terms
again with all his relatives and neighbours, except of course the
Sackville-Bagginses. For one thing Bilbo seemed by some un-
explained method to have become more than comfortably off, in
fact positively wealthy. Indeed it was the magnificence of the
preparations for his birthday-party far more than his brief and
distant fame that caused the talk. After all that other odd business
had happened some twenty years ago and was all but forgotten;
the party was going to happen that very month of September. The
weather was fine, and there was talk of a display of fireworks such
as had not been seen since the days of Old Took.
Time drew nearer. Odd-looking carts with odd-looking pack-
ages began to toil up the Hill to Bag-end (the residence of Mr Bilbo
Baggins). They arrived by night, and startled folk peered out of
their doors to gape at them. Some were driven by outlandish folk
singing strange songs, elves, or heavily hooded dwarves. There
was one huge creaking wain with great lumbering tow-haired Men
on it that caused quite a commotion. It bore a large B under a
crown.(3) It could not get across the bridge by the mill, and the Men
carried the goods on their backs up the hill - stumping on the
hobbit road like elephants. All the beer at the inn vanished as if
down a drain when they came downhill again. Later in the week a
cart came trotting in in broad daylight. An old man was driving it
all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat and a long grey cloak.
Hobbit boys and girls ran after the cart all the way up the hill. It
had a cargo of fireworks, that they could see when it began to
unload: great bundles of them, labelled with a red G.
'G for grand,' they shouted; and that was as good a guess as they
could make at its meaning. Not many of their elders guessed
better: hobbits have rather short memories as a rule. As for the
little old man,(4) he vanished inside Bilbo's front door and never
reappeared.
There might have been some grumbling about 'dealing locally',
but suddenly orders began to pour out from Bag-end, and into
every shop in the neighbourhood (even widely measured). Then
people stopped being merely curious, and became enthusiastic.
They began to tick off the days on the calendar till Bilbo's
birthday, and they began to watch for the postman, hoping for
invitations.
Then the invitations began pouring out, and the post-office
of Hobbiton was blocked, and Bywater post-office was snowed
under, and voluntary postmen were called for. There was a
constant stream of them going up The Hill to Bag-end carrying
letters containing hundreds of polite variations on 'thank-you, I
shall certainly come.' During all this time, for days and days,
indeed since September [10th >] 8th, Bilbo had not been seen out
or about by anyone. He either did not answer the bell, or came to
the door and cried 'Sorry - Busy!' round the edge of it. They
thought he was only writing invitation cards, but they were not
quite right.
Finally the field to the south of his front door - it was bordered
by his kitchen garden on one side and the Hill road on the other -
began to be covered with tents and pavilions. The three hobbit-
families of Bagshot Row just below it were immensely excited.
There was one specially large pavilion, so large that the tree that
stood in the field was inside it, standing growing in the middle.(5) It
was hung all over with lanterns. Even more promising was the
erection of a huge kitchen in a corner of the field. A draught of
cooks arrived. Excitement rose to its height. Then the weather
clouded over. That was on Friday, the eve of the party. Anxiety
grew intense. Then Saturday September [20th >] 22nd (6) actually
dawned. The sun got up, the clouds vanished, flags were un-
furled, and the fun began.
Mr Baggins called it a party - but it was several rolled into one
and mixed up. Practically everybody near at hand was invited to
something or other - very few were forgotten (by accident), and as
they turned up anyhow it did not matter. Bilbo met the guests (and
additions) at the gate in person. He gave away presents to all and
sundry - the latter were those that went out again by the back way
and came in again by the front for a second helping. He began with
the youngest and smallest, and came back again quickly to the
smallest and youngest. Hobbits give presents to other people on
their birthdays: not very expensive ones, of course. But it was not
a bad system. Actually in Hobbiton and Bywater, since every day
in the year was somebody's birthday, it meant that every hobbit
got a present (and sometimes more) almost every day of his life.
But they did not get tired of them. On this occasion the hobbit-fry
were wildly excited - there were toys the like of which they had
never seen before. As you have guessed, they came from Dale.
When they got inside the grounds the guests had songs, dances,
games - and of course food and drink. There were three official
meals: lunch, tea, and dinner (or supper); but lunch and tea were
marked chiefly by the fact that at those times everybody was
sitting down and eating at the same time. Drinking never stopped.
Eating went on pretty continuously from elevenses to six o'clock,
when the fireworks started.
The fireworks of course (as you at any rate have guessed) were
by Gandalf, and brought by him in person, and let off by him - the
main ones: there was generous distribution of squibs, crackers,
sparklers, torches, ' dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers
and thunderclaps. They were of course superb. The art of Gandalf
naturally got the older the better. There were rockets like a flight
of scintillating birds singing with sweet voices; there were green
trees with trunks of twisted smoke: their leaves opened like a
whole spring unfolding in a few minutes, and their shining
branches dropped glowing flowers down upon the astonished
hobbits - only to disappear in a sweet scent before they touched
head hat or bonnet. There were fountains of butterflies that flew
into the trees; there were pillars of coloured fires that turned into
hovering eagles, or sailing ships, or a flight of swans; there were
red thunderstorms and showers of yellow rain; there was a forest
of silver spears that went suddenly up into the air with a yell like a
charging army and came down into The Water with a hiss like a
hundred hot snakes. And there was also one last thing in which
Gandalf rather overdid it - after all, he knew a great deal about
hobbits and their beliefs. The lights went out, a great smoke went
up, it shaped itself like a mountain, it began to glow at the top, it
burst into flames of scarlet and green, out flew a red-golden dragon
(not life-size, of course, but terribly life-like): fire came out of its
mouth, its eyes glared down, there was a roar and it whizzed three
times round the crowd. Everyone ducked and some fell flat. The
dragon passed like an express train and burst over Bywater with a
deafening explosion.
'That means it is dinner-time,' said Gandalf. A fortunate re-
mark, for the pain and alarm vanished like magic. Now really we
must hurry on, for all this is not as important as it seemed. There
was a supper for all the guests. But there was also a very special
dinner-party in the great pavilion with the tree. To that party
invitations had been limited to twelve dozen, or one gross (in
addition to Gandalf and the host), made up of all the chief
hobbits, and their elder children, to whom Bilbo was related or
with whom he was connected, or by whom he had been well-
treated at any time, or for whom he felt some special affection.
Nearly all the living Baggins[es] had been invited; a quantity of
Tooks (his relations on his mother's side); a number of Grubbs
(connections of his grandfather's), dozens of Brandybucks
(connections of his grandmother's), and various Chubbs and
Burrowses and Boffins and Proudfeet - some of whom were not
connected with Bilbo at all, within the memory of the local
historians; some even lived right on the other side of the Shire;
but they were all, of course, hobbits. Even the Sackville-Bagginses,
his first cousins on his father's side, were not omitted. There had
been some coolness between them and Mr Baggins, as you may
remember, dating from some 20 years back. But so splendid was
the invitation card, written all in gold, that they felt it was
impossible to refuse. Besides, their cousin had been specializing in
food for a good many years, and his tables had a high reputation
even in that time and country, when food was still all that it ought
to be, and abundant enough for all folk to practise both discrimi-
nation and satisfaction.
All the 144 special guests expected a pleasant feast; though they
rather dreaded the after-dinner speech of their host. He was liable
to drag in bits of what he called 'poetry'; and sometimes, after a
glass or two, would allude to the absurd adventures he said he had
had long ago - during his ridiculous vanishment. Not one of the
144 were disappointed: they had a eery pleasant feast, indeed
an engrossing entertainment: rich, abundant, varied, and pro-
longed. The purchase of provisions fell almost to zero throughout
the district during the ensuing week; but as Mr Baggins' catering
had depleted most of the stores, cellars, and warehouses for miles
around, that did not matter much.
After the feast (more or less) came the Speech. Most of the
assembled.hobbits were now in a tolerant mood - at that delicious
stage which they called filling up the 'corners' (with sips of their
favourite drinks and nips of their favourite sweetmeats): their
former fears were forgotten. They were prepared to listen to
anything, and to cheer at every full stop. But they were not
prepared to be startled. Yet startled they certainly were: indeed,
completely blowed: some even got indigestion.
My dear people, began Mr Baggins, rising in his place.
'Hear, hear, hear! ' they answered in chorus, and seemed reluc-
tant to follow their own advice. Meanwhile Bilbo left his place and
went and stood on a chair under the illuminated tree. The lantern
light fell upon his beaming face; the gold buttons shone on his
flowered waistcoat. They could all see him. One hand was in his
pocket. He raised the other.
My dear Bagginses! he began again. And my dear Tooks and
Brandybucks and Crubbs and Chubbs and Burroweses and
Bracegirdles and Boffises and Proudfoots.
'Proudfeet!' shouted an elderly hobbit from the back. His
name, of course, was Proudfoot, and merited: his feet were large,
exceptionally furry, and both were on the table.
Also my good Sackville-Bagginses that I welcome back at last to
Bag-end. Today is my seventy-first birthday!
'Hurray, hurray! Many Happy Returns! ' they shouted, and
they hammered joyously on the tables. Bilbo was doing splendidly.
That was the sort of stuff they liked: short, obvious, uncontro-
versial.
I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am.
Deafening cheers. Cries of Yes (and No). Noises of horns and
trumpets, pipes and flutes, and other musical instruments. There
were many junior hobbits present, for hobbits were easygoing
with their children in the matter of sitting up late - especially if
there was a chance of getting them an extra meal free (bringing up
young hobbits took a great deal of provender). Hundreds of
musical crackers had been pulled. Most of them bore the mark
Dale on them somewhere or other, inside or out. What that meant
only Bilbo and a few of his close friends knew (and you of course);
but they were very marvellous crackers. They contained instru-
ments small but of perfect make and enchanting tone. Indeed in
one corner some of the younger Tooks and Brandybucks, sup-
posing Bilbo to have finished his speech (having said all that was
needed), now got up an impromptu orchestra, and began a merry
dance tune. Young Prospero Brandybuck (7) and Melba Took got on
a table and started to dance the flip-flap, a pretty thing if rather
vigorous. But Bilbo had not finished.
Seizing a horn from one of the children he blew three very loud
notes. The noise subsided. I shall not keep you long, he cried.
Cheering broke out again. BUT I have called you all together for a
Purpose.
Something in his voice made a few of the Tooks prick up their
ears. Indeed for three Purposes. First of all, to tell you that I am
immensely fond of you all; and that seventy-one years is too short a
time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits.
Tremendous outburst of approval.
I don't know half ofyou half as mell as I would like, and less than
half of you half as mell as you deserve.
No cheers this time: it was a bit too difficult. There was some
scattered clapping; but not all of them had yet had time to work it
out and see if it came to a compliment in the end.
Secondly, to celebrate my birthday, and the twentieth anniver-
sary of my return. No cheers; there was some uncomfortable
rustling.
Lastly, to make an Announcement. He said this so loudly and
suddenly that everyone sat up who could. I regret to announce
that - though, as I have said, 71 years is far too short a time among
you - this is the END. I am going. I am leaving after dinner. Good-
bye!
He stepped down. One hundred and forty-four flabbergasted
hobbits sat back speechless. Mr Proudfoot removed his feet from
the table. Mrs Proudfoot swallowed a large chocolate and choked.
Then there was complete silence for quite forty winks, until
suddenly every Baggins, Took, Brandybuck, Chubb, Grubb,
Burrowes, Bracegirdle, Boffin and Proudfoot began to talk at
once.
'The hobbit's mad. Always said so. Bad taste in jokes. Trying to
pull the fur off our toes (a hobbit idiom). Spoiling a good dinner.
Where's my handkerchief. Won't drink his health now. Shall
drink my own. Where's that bottle. Is he going to get married?
Not to anyone here tonight. Who would take him? Why good-bye?
Where is there to go to? What is he leaving?' And so on. At last old
Rory Brandybuck (8) (well-filled but still pretty bright) was heard to
shout: 'Where is he now, anyway? Where's Bilbo?'
There was not a sign of their host anywhere.
As a matter of fact Bilbo Baggins had disappeared silently and
unnoticed in the midst of all the talk. While he was speaking he
had already been fingering a small ring (9) in his trouser-pocket. As
he stepped down he had slipped it on - and he was never seen in
Hobbiton again.
When the carriages came for the guests there was no one to say
good-bye to. The carriages rolled away, one after another, filled
with full but oddly unsatisfied hobbits. Gardeners came (by
arrangement) and cleared away in wheelbarrows those that had
inadvertently remained behind, asleep or immoveable. Night
settled down and passed. The sun rose. The hobbits rose rather
later. Morning went on.
NOTES.
1. seventy-first emended from seventieth; but seventy-first in the text
of Bilbo's farewell speech as first written.
z. At this point my father wrote at first:
Twice before this he had been a matter of local news: a rare
achievement for a Baggins. The first time was when he was left an
orphan, when barely forty years old, by the untimely death of his
father and mother (in a boating accident). The second time was
more remarkable.
Such a fate in store for Bungo Baggins and his wife seems most
improbable in the light of the words of the first chapter of The Hobbit:
Not that Belladonna Took ever had any adventures after she
became Mrs Bungo Baggins. Bungo, that was Bilbo's father, built
the most luxurious hobbit-hole for her... and there they remained
to the end of their days.
They seem an unlikely couple to have gone 'fooling about with boats',
in Gaffer Gamgee's phrase, and his recognition of this was no doubt
the reason why my father immediately struck the passage out; but the
boating accident was not forgotten, and it became the fate of (Rollo
Bolger >) Drogo Baggins and his Brandybuck wife, Primula, for
whom it was a less improbable end (see p. 37) -
3. At this stage only 20 years separated Bilbo's adventure in?he Hobbit
and his farewell party, and my father clearly intended the B on the
waggon to stand for Bard, King of Dale. Later, when the years had
been greatly lengthened out, it would be Bain son of Bard who ruled
in Dale at this time.
4. In the original Hobbit Gandalf at his first appearance was described as
'a little old man', but afterwards the word 'little' was removed. See
P- 315.
5. The single tree in the field below Bag End was already in the
illustration of Hobbiton that appeared as the frontispiece to The
Hobbit, as also were Bilbo's kitchen-garden and the hobbit-holes of
Bagshot Row (though that name first appears here).
6. September 20th was the date of Bilbo's birthday in the first version
(p. 16).
7. Prospero Brandybuck was first written Orlando Brandybuck, the
second bearer of the name: in the list of Bilbo's gifts in the first
version (p. 17 note 5) Gorboduc Grubb had been changed to Orlando
Grubb.
8. A very similar passage, indicating the outraged comments of the
guests, was added to the manuscript of the original draft at this point,
but it was Inigo Grubb-Took who shouted 'Where is he now,
anyway?' It was the greedy Inigo Grubb-Took who received the
dinner-service (p. 15), and in this respect he survived into the third
version of the chapter.
9. a small ring: emended from his famous ring.
I have given this text in full, since taken together with the first it provides
a basis of reference in describing those that follow, from which only
extracts are given; but it will be seen that the Party - the preparations for
it, the fireworks, the feast - had already reached the form it retains in FR
(pp. 34-9), save in a few and quite minor features of the narrative (and
here and there in tone). This is the more striking when we realize that at
this stage my father still had very little idea of where he was going: it was
a beginning without a destination (but see pp. 42-3).
Certain changes made to the manuscript towards its end have not been
taken up in the text given above. In Bilbo's speech, his words 'Secondly,
to celebrate my birthday, and the twentieth anniversary of my return'
and the comment 'No cheers; there was some uncomfortable rustling'
were removed, and the following expanded passage substituted:
Secondly, to celebrate OUR birthdays: mine and my honourable and
gallant father's. Uncomfortable and apprehensive silence. I am only
half the man that he is: I am 72, he is 144. Your numbers are chosen to
do honour to each of his honourable years. This was really dreadful -
a regular braintwister, and some of them felt insulted, like leap-days
shoved in to fill up a calendar.
This change gives every appearance of belonging closely with the writing
of the manuscript: it is clearly written in ink, and seems distinct from
various scattered scribbles in pencil. But the appearance is misleading.
Why should Bilbo thus refer to old Bungo Baggins, underground these
many years? Bungo was pure Baggins, 'solid and comfortable' (as he is
described in The Hobbit), and surely died solidly in his bed at Bag End.
To call him 'gallant' seems odd, and for Bilbo to say 'I am half the man
that he is' and 'he is 144' rather tastelessly whimsical.
The explanation is in fact simple: it was not Bilbo who said it, but his
son, Bingo Baggins, who enters in the third version of 'A Long-expected
Party'. The textual point would not be worth mentioning here were it not
so striking an example of my father's way of using one manuscript as the
matrix of the next version, but not correcting it coherently throughout:
so in this case, he made no structural alterations to the earlier part of the
story, but pencilled in the name 'Bingo' against 'Bilbo' on the last pages of
the manuscript, and (to the severe initial confusion of the editor)
carefully rewrote a passage of Bilbo's speech to make it seem that Bilbo
had taken leave of his senses. It is clear, I think, that it was the sudden
emergence of this radical new idea that caused him to abandon this
version.
Other hasty changes altered 'seventy-first' to 'seventy-second' and '71'
to '72' at each occurrence, and these belong also with the new story that
was emerging. In this text, Bilbo's age in the opening sentence was 70, as
in the first version, but it was changed to 71 in the course of the chapter
(note z above). The number of guests at the dinner-party was already 144
in the text as first written, but nothing is made of this figure; that it was
chosen for a particular reason only appears from the expanded passage of
the speech given above: 'I am 72, he is 144. Your numbers are chosen to
do honour to each of his honourable years.' It seems clear that the change
of 71 to 72 was made because 72 is half of 144. The number of guests
came first, when the story was still told of Bilbo, and at first had no
significance beyond its being a dozen dozens, a gross.
A few other points may be noticed. Gandalf was present at the dinner-
party; Gaffer Gamgee had not yet emerged, but 'old Rory Brandybuck'
makes his appearance (in place of Inigo Grubb-Took, note 8 above); and
Bilbo does not disappear with a blinding flash. At each stage the number
of hobbit clans named is increased: so here the Brandybucks emerge, and
the Bracegirdles were pencilled in, to appear in the third version as
written.
(iii)
The Third Version.
The third draft of 'A Long-expected Party' is complete, and is a good
clear manuscript with relatively little later correction. In this section
numbered notes again appear at the end (p. 34).
Discussion of the change made to Bilbo's speech in the second version
has already indicated the central new feature of the third: the story is now
told not of Bilbo, but of his son. On this substitution Humphrey Carpenter
remarked (Biography p. 185):
Tolkien had as yet no clear idea of what the new story was going to be
about. At the end of The Hobbit he had stated that Bilbo 'remained
very happy to the end of his days, and those were extraordinarily long.'
So how could the hobbit have any new adventures worth the name
without this being contradicted? And had he not explored most of the
possibilities in Bilbo's character? He decided to introduce a new
hobbit, Bilbo's son - and to give him the name of a family of toy koala
bears owned by his children, 'The Bingos'.(1) So he crossed out 'Bilbo'
in the first draft and above it wrote 'Bingo'.
This explanation is plausible. In the first draft, however, my father wrote
that the story of the birthday party 'merely serves to explain that Bilbo
Baggins got married and had many children, because I am going to tell
you a story about one of his descendants' (in the second version we are
given no indication at all of what was going to happen after the party -
though there is possibly a suggestion of something similar in the words
(p. 22) 'Now really we must hurry on, for all this is not as important as it
seemed'). On the other hand, there are explicit statements in early notes
(p. 41) that for a time it was indeed going to be Bilbo who had the new
'adventure'.
The first part of the third version is almost wholly different from the
two preceding, and I give it here in full, with a few early changes
incorporated.
A long-expected party.
When Bingo, son of Bilbo, of the well-known Baggins family,
prepared to celebrate his [fifty-fifth >] seventy-second (3) birthday
there was some talk in the neighbourhood, and people polished up
their memories. The Bagginses were fairly numerous in those
parts, and generally respected; but Bingo belonged to a branch of
the family that was a bit peculiar, and there were some odd stories
about them. Bingo's father, as some still remembered, had once
made quite a stir in Hobbiton and Bywater - he had disappeared
one April 30th after breakfast, and had not reappeared until
lunch-time on June 22nd in the following year. A very odd
proceeding, and one for which he had never accounted satisfac-
torily. He wrote a book about it, of course; but even those who had
read it never took that seriously. It is no good telling hobbits about
dragons: they either disbelieve you, or feel uncomfortable; and in
either case tend to avoid you afterwards.
Bilbo Baggins, it is true, had soon returned to normal ways
(more or less), and though his reputation was never quite
restored, he became an accepted figure in the neighbourhood. He
was never perhaps again regarded as a 'safe hobbit', but he
was undoubtedly a 'warm' one. In some mysterious way he
appeared to have become more than comfortably off, in fact
positively wealthy; so naturally, he was on visiting terms with
all his neighbours and relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-
Bagginses). He did two more things that caused tongues to wag:
he got married when seventy-one (a little but not too late for a
hobbit), choosing a bride from the other side of the Shire, and
giving a wedding-feast of memorable splendour; he disappeared
(together with his wife) shortly before his hundred-and-eleventh
birthday, and was never seen again. The folk of Hobbiton and
Bywater were cheated of a funeral (not that they had expected his
for many a year yet), so they had a good deal to say. His residence,
his wealth, his position (and the dubious regard of the neigh-
bourhood) were inherited by his son Bingo, just before his own
birthday (which happened to be the same as his father's). Bingo
was, of course, a mere youngster of 39, who had hardly cut his
wisdom-teeth; but he at once began to carry on his father's
reputation for oddity: he never went into mourning for his
parents, and said he did not think they were dead. To the obvious
question: 'Where are they then?' he merely winked. He lived
alone, and was often away from home. He went about a lot with
the least well-behaved members of the Took family (his grand-
mother's people and his father's friends), and he was also fond of
some of the Brandybucks. They were his mother's relatives. She
was Primula Brandybuck (4) of the Brandybucks of Buckland, across
Brandywine River on the other side of the Shire and on the edge of
the Old Forest - a dubious region.(5) Folk in Hobbiton did not know
much about it, or about the Brandybucks either; though some had
heard it said that they were rich, and would have been richer, but
for a certain 'recklessness' - generosity, that is, if any came your
way.
Anyway, Bingo had lived at Bag-end Underhill now for some
[16 >] 33 years without giving any scandal. His parties were
sometimes a bit noisy, perhaps, but hobbits don't mind that kind
of noise now and again. He spent his money freely and mostly
locally. Now the neighbourhood understood that he was planning
something quite unusual in the way of parties. Naturally their
memories awoke and their tongues wagged, and Bingo's wealth
was again guessed and re-calculated at every fireside. Indeed the
magnificence of the preparations quite overshadowed the tales of
the old folk about his father's vanishments.
'After all,' as old Gaffer Gamgee of Bagshot Row (7) remarked,
'them goings-on are old affairs and over; this here party is going to
happen this very month as is.' It was early September and as fine
as you could wish. Somebody started a rumour about fireworks.
Very soon it was accepted that there were going to be fireworks
such as had not been seen for over a century, not since the Old
Took died.
It is interesting to see the figures III and 33 emerging, though afterwards
they would be differently achieved: here, Bilbo was r x i when he left the
Shire, and Bingo lived on at Bag End for 33 years before his farewell
party; afterwards, r x z was Bilbo's age at the time of the party - when it
had become his party again - and 33 Bingo's (Frodo's) age at the same
time.
In this passage we also see the emergence of a very important piece of
topography and toponymy': Buckland, the Brandywine, and the Old
Forest. For the names first written here see note 5.
For the account in this version of the preparations for the Party,
the Party itself, and its immediate aftermath, my father followed the
emended second version (pp. 19 - 25) extremely closely, adding a detail
here and there, but for the most part doing little more than copy it out
(and of course changing 'Bilbo' to 'Bingo' where necessary). I give here a
list of interesting - though mostly extremely minor - shifts in the new
narrative. The page references are to those of the second version.
(20 - 1) 'B under a crown' on the waggon driven by Men becomes 'B
painted in yellow', and 'B' was emended on the text to 'D' (i.e.
'Dale').
When the Men came down the Hill again, it is added that 'the
elves and dwarves did not return', and 'the draught of cooks'
who arrived were 'to supplement the elves and dwarves (who
seemed to be staying at Bag-end and doing a lot of mysterious
work)'.
The notice refusing admittance on the door of Bag End now
appears, and 'a special entrance was cut in the bank leading to
the road; wide steps and a large white gate were built' (as in
FR). Gaffer Gamgee comes in again: 'he stopped even pre-
tending to garden.'
The day of the party was still a Saturday (September 22nd).
Many of the toys ('some obviously magical') that had come
from Dale were 'genuinely dwarf-made'.
(22). It is Bingo, not Gandalf, who at the end of the fireworks says
'That is the signal for supper! ', and though it was said at first, as
m the second version, that the total of 144 guests did not include
the host and Gandalf, this was struck out (see p. 106, note 12).
A new Hobbit family-name enters in the list of guests: 'and
various Burroweses, Slocums, Bracegirdles, Boffinses and
Proudfoots', but 'Slocums' was then changed to 'Hornblowers',
which was also added in to the text at subsequent points in the
chapter. The Bolgers appear in pencilled additions, and are
present from the start in the fourth version. In his letter to the
Observer newspaper published on 20 February 1938 (Letters
no. 25) my father said: 'The full list of their wealthier families is:
Baggins, Boffin, Bolger, Bracegirdle, Brandybuck, Burrowes,
Chubb, Grubb, Hornblower, Proudfoot, Sackville, and Took.'
- The Grubbs, connexions of Bingo's grandfather, became by
a pencilled change connexions of his grandmother; and the
Chubbs, in a reverse change, were first said to be connexions of
his grandmother and then of his grandfather.
Where in the first and second versions it is said that some of
the hobbits at the party came from 'the other side of the shire', it
is now said that some of them 'did not even live in that county',
changed to 'in that Shire', and 'in that Shire' was retained in the
fourth version. The use of 'that' rather than 'the' suggests that
the later use (cf. the Prologue to LR, p. 14: 'The Hobbits
named it the Shire, as the region of the authority of their
Thain') was only in the process of emergence.
The coldness between the Bagginses of Bag End and the
Sackville-Bagginses had now lasted, not 20 years as in the first
two versions, but 'some seventy-five years and more': this
figure depends on III (Bilbo's age when he finally disappeared)
less 51 (he was 'about fifty years old or so' at the time of his
great adventure, according to The Hobbit), plus the 16 years
of Bingo's solitary residence at Bag End. 'Seventy-five' was
emended to 'ninety' (a round figure), which belongs with the
change of 16 to 33 (p. 30).
(23). Bingo was liable to allude to 'the absurd adventures of his
"gallant and famous" father'.
(24). The two young hobbits who got on the table and danced are still
Prospero Brandybuck and Melba Took, but Melba was changed
in pencil first to Arabella and then to Amanda.
Bingo now said, as did Bilbo in FR (p. 38), 'I like less than half
of you half as well as you deserve.'
Bingo's second purpose' is expressed in exactly the words
written into the second version (see p. 27): 'to celebrate OUR
birthdays: mine and my honourable and gallant father's. I am
only half the man he is: I am 72, and he is 144', &c.
Bingo's last words, 'I am leaving after dinner', were corrected
on the manuscript to 'I am leaving now.'
(25). The collected comments after Bingo's concluding remarks now
begin: 'The hobbit's mad. Always said so. And his father. He's
been dead 33 years, I know. 144, all rubbish.' And Rory
Brandybuck shouts: 'Where is Bilbo - confound it, Bingo I
mean. Where is he?'
After 'he was never seen in Hobbiton again' is added. "The ring
was his father's parting gift.'
From the point where the second version ends at the words 'Morning
went on' the third goes back to the original draft (p. 15) and follows it
closely until near the end, using pretty well the same phrases, and largely
retaining the original list (as emended, p. 17 note 5) of names and labels
for the recipients of presents from Bag End- these being now, of course,
presents from Bilbo's son Bingo.
Semolina Baggins is called 'an aunt, or first cousin once removed',
Caramella Took (changed later to Bolger) 'had been favoured among
[Bingo's] junior and remoter cousins',
Obo Took-Took who received a feather-bed remained as a great-
uncle, but Obo was emended on the manuscript to Rollo;
Corboduc (> Otfando) Grubb of the first draft, recipient of a gold
fountain-pen, becomes Orfando Burrowes;
Mungo Took, lnigo Grubb-Took, and Angelica Baggins remain; and
two new beneficiaries are named before Mrs Sackville-Baggins at the end
of the list:
For the collection of Hugo Bracegirdle, from contributor: on an
(empty) bookcase. Hugo was a great borrower of books, but a small
returner.
For Cosimo Chubb, treat it as your own, Bingo: on the barometer.
Cosimo used to bang it with a large fat finger whenever he came to call.
He was afraid of getting wet, and wore a scarf and macintosh all the
year round.
For Grimalda [> Lobelia] Sackville-Baggins, as a present: on a case
of silver spoons. It was believed by Bilbo Baggins that she had
acquired a good many of his spoons while he was away - ninety odd
years before. Bingo inherited the belief, and Grimalda [) Lobelia]
knew it.
It is also mentioned that 'Bingo had very carefully disposed of his
treasures: books, pictures, and a collection of toys. For his wines
he found a very good (if temporary) home. Most of them went to
Marmaduke Brandybuck' (predecessor of Meriadoc). The original draft
is closely followed in the absence of any money or jewelry, and in the legal
notice disposing of Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses (but Bilbo's
cousin now becomes Otho, and their occupancy is to start from Sep-
tember 24th)- 'and they got Bag-end after all, though they had to wait 93
years longer for it than they had once expected': III less 51 plus 33, see
pp. 31-2.(8) Sancho Proudfoot appears, excavating in the pantry where he
thought there was an echo (as in FR, p. 48); physically attacked by Otho
Sackville-Baggins, he was only finally ejected by the lawyers, first called
'Grubbs and Burrowes', as in The Hobbit, then changed to 'Messrs. lago
Grubb and Folco Burrowes (Bingo's lawyers)'.
The conclusion of the third version I give in full.
The fact is Bingo's money had become a legend, and everybody
was puzzled and anxious - though still hopeful. How he would
have laughed. Indeed he was as near laughing as he dared at that
very moment, for he was inside a large cupboard outside the
dining-room door, and heard most of the racket. He was inside, of
course, not for concealment, but to avoid being bumped into,
being totally invisible. He had to laugh rather privately and
silently, but all the same he was enjoying his joke: it was turning
out so much like his expectation.
I suppose it is now becoming all too plain to everyone but the
anxious and grabsome hobbits. The fact is that (in spite of certain
things in his after-dinner speech) Bingo had grown suddenly tired
of them all. A violent fit of Tookishness had come over him - not
of course that all Tooks had much of this wayward quality, their
mothers being Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles,
Grubbs and what not; but Tooks were on the whole the most
jocular and unexpected of Hobbits. Also I can tell you something
more, in case you have not guessed: Bingo had no money or
jewelry left! Practically none, that is. Nothing worth digging up a
nice hobbit-hole for. Money went a prodigious way in those days,
and one could get quite a lot of things without it; but he had blown
his last 500 ducats on the birthday party. That was Brandybuck-
some of him. After that he had nothing left but the buttons on his
waistcoat, a small bag-purse of silver, and his ring. In the course of
33 years he had contrived to spend all the rest - what was left, that
is, by his father, who had done a bit of spending in fifty years (9) (and
had required some travelling-expenses).
Well, there it is. All things come to an end. Evening came on.
Bag-end was left empty and gloomy. People went away - haggling
and arguing, most of them. You could hear their voices coming up
the Hill in the dusk. Very few gave a thought to Bingo. They
decided he had gone mad, and run off, and that was one Baggins
the less, and that was that. They were annoyed about the legend-
ary money, of course, but meanwhile there was tea waiting for
them. There were some, of course, who regretted his sudden
disappearance - a few of his younger friends were really dis-
tressed. But not all of them had said good-bye to him. That is
easily explained, and soon will be.
Bingo stepped out of the cupboard. It was getting dim. His
watch said six. The door was open, as he had kept the key in his
pocket. He went out, locked the door (leaving the key), and looked
at the sky. Stars were coming out.
'It is going to be a fine night,' he said. 'What a lark! Well, I must
not keep them waiting. Now we're off. Goodbye!' He trotted
down the garden, jumped the fence, and took to the fields, and
passed like an invisible rustle in the grasses.
NOTES.
1. I find it difficult to believe this, yet if it is not so the coincidence is
strange. If Bingo Baggins did get his name from this source, I can
only suppose that the demonic character (composed of monomaniac
religious despotism and a lust for destruction through high explosive)
of the chief Bingo (not to mention that of his appalling wife), by
which my sister and I now remember them, developed somewhat
later.
2. The substitution was not made in the first draft, but in pencilled
corrections to the end of the second version (p. 27).
3. The change of 'fifty-fifth' to 'seventy-second' was made at the same
time as the 16 years during which Bingo lived at Bag End after his
parents' departure were changed to 33 (note 6). These changes were
made before the chapter was finished, since later in it, in Bingo's
farewell speech, the revised figures are present from the first writing.
When at the outset he wrote 'fifty-fifth birthday' and '16 years' my
father was presumably intending to get rid of the idea, appearing in
rewriting of the second version (see p. 27), that the number of
144 guests was chosen for an inner reason, since on Bingo's 55th
birthday his father Bilbo would have been 127 (having left the Shire
16 years before at the age of x x i, when Bingo was 39).
4. Primula was first written Amalda. In the first version (p. 16) Amalda
was the name of Mrs Sackville-Baggins. In the fourth version of 'A
long-expected party', when Bilbo had returned to his bachelor state,
Primula Brandybuck, no longer his wife, remained Bingo's mother.
5. My father first wrote here: the Brandybucks of Wood Eaton on the
other side of the shire, on the edge of Buckwood - a dubious region.'
He first changed (certainly at the time of writing) the name of the
Brandybuck stronghold from Wood Eaton (a village in the Cherwell
valley near Oxford) to Bury Underwood (where 'Bury' is the very
common English place-name element derived from Old English
byrig, the dative of burg 'fortified place, town'); then he introduced
the name of the river, replaced Bury Underwood by Buckland, and
replaced Buckwood by the Old Forest.
6. This change was made at the same time as '55' to '72' for Bingo's years
at the time of the birthday party; see.note 3.
7. This is the first appearance of Gaffer Gamgee, living in Bagshot Row
(first mentioned in the second version, p. ax).
8. As mentioned in note 3, the later figure of 72 for 55 as Bingo's age on
this birthday, and 33 for 16 as the number of years in which he lived
on alone at Bag End after Bilbo's departure, which appear as
emendations in the early part of the text, are in the later part of the
chapter present from the first writing.
One would expect 'sixty' (III less 51): see pp. 3 I, 252.
Note on Hobbit-names.
It will be seen that delight in the names and relations of the hobbit-
families of the Shire from which the ramifying genealogies would spring
was present from the start. In no respect did my father chop and change
more copiously. Already we have met, apart from Bilbo and Bungo
Baggins and Belladonna Took who appeared. in The Hobbit:
Baggins: Angelica; Inigo; Semolina
Bolger: Caramella (replacing Caramella Took)
Bracegirdle: Hugo
Brandybuck: Amalda > Primula; Marmaduke; Orlando > Prospero;
Rory
Burrowes: Folco; Orlando (replacing Orlando Grubb)
Chubb: Cosimo
Grubb: Gorboduc > Orlando; Iago
Crubb-Took: Inigo
Proudfoot: Sancho
Sackville-Baggins: Amalda > Lonicera or Griselda > Grimalda >
Lobelia; Sago > Cosmo > Otho
Took: Caramella; Melba > Arabella > Amanda; Mungo
Took-Took: Obo > Rollo
(iv)
The Fourth Version.
Two further changes, embodying an important shift, were made to the
manuscript of the third version. They were carefully made, in red ink,
but concomitant changes later in the text were not made. In the first
sentence of the chapter (p. 28) 'Bingo, son of Bilbo' was altered to 'Bingo
Bolger-Baggins'; and in the third sentence 'Bingo's father' was altered to
'Bingo's uncle (and guardian), Bilbo Baggins.'
We come now therefore to a further stage, where the 'long-expected
party' is still Bingo's, not Bilbo's, but Bingo is his nephew, not his son,
and Bilbo's marriage (as was inevitable, I think) has been rejected.
The fourth version is a typescript, made by my father. It was emended
very heavily later on, but these changes belong to the second phase of the
writing of The Fellowship of the Ring, and here I ignore them. The
alterations to the third version just referred to were now incorporated
into the text (which therefore now begins: 'When Bingo Bolger-Baggins
of the well-known Baggins family prepared to celebrate his seventy-
second birthday...'), but otherwise it proceeds as an exact copy of the
third version as far as 'he was on visiting terms with all his neighbours
and relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-Bagginses)'(p. 29) . Here it
diverges.
But folk did not bother him much. He was frequently out. And if
he was in, you never knew who you would find with him: hobbits
of quite poor families, or folk from distant villages, dwarves, and
even sometimes elves.
He did two more things that caused tongues to wag. At the age
of ninety-nine he adopted his nephew - or to be accurate (Bilbo
scattered the titles nephew and niece about rather recklessly) his
first cousin once removed, Bingo Bolger, a lad of twenty-seven.
They had heard very little about him, and that not too good (they
said). As a matter of fact Bingo was the son of Primula Brandy-
buck (and Rollo Bolger, who was quite unimportant); and she was
the daughter of Mirabella Took (and Gorboduc Brandybuck, who
was rather important); and she was one of three remarkable
daughters of the Old Took, for long the head of the hobbits who
lived across The Water. And so the Tooks come in again- always a
disturbing element, especially when mixed with Brandybuck. For
Primula was a Brandybuck of Buckland, across the Brandywine
River, on the other side of the Shire and at the edge of the Old
Forest - a dubious region. Folk in Hobbiton did not know much
about it, or about the Brandybucks either; though some had heard
it said that they were rich, and would have been richer, if they bad
not been reckless. What had happened to Primula and her hus-
band was not known for certain in Hobbiton. There was rumour
of a boating accident on the Brandywine River - the sort of thing
that Brandybucks would go in for. Some said that Rollo Bolger
had died young of overeating; others mid that it was his weight
that had sunk the boat.
Anyway, Bilbo Baggins adopted Master Bolger, announced
that he would make him his heir, changed his name to Bolger-
Baggins, and still further offended the Sackville-Bagginses. Then
shortly before his hundred-and-eleventh birthday Bilbo disap-
peared finally and was never seen in Hobbiton again. His relatives
and neighbours lost the chance of a funeral, and they had a good
deal to say. But it made no difference: Bilbo's residence, his
wealth, his position (and the dubious regard of the more influen-
tial hobbits), were inherited by Bingo Bolger-Baggins.
Bingo was a mere youngster of thirty-nine and had hardly cut
his wisdom-teeth; but he at once began to carry on his uncle's
reputation for oddity. He refused to go into mourning, and within
a week gave a birthday-party - for himself and his uncle (their
birthdays happened to be on the same day). At first people were
shocked, but he kept up the custom year after year, until they got
used to it. He said he did not think Bilbo Baggins was dead. When
they asked the obvious question: 'Where is he then?' he merely
winked. He lived alone, and was often away from home. He went
about a good deal with the least well-behaved members of the
Took family (his grandmother's people); and he was also fond of
the Brandybucks {his mother's relatives).
Anyway, Bingo Bolger-Baggins had been the master of Bag-end
Underhill now for thirty-three years without doing anything
outrageous. His parties were sometimes a bit noisy...
With Gorboduc Brandybuck and Mirabella Took (one of 'the three
remarkable daughters of the Old Took' who had been mentioned in?he
Hobbit) the genealogy now becomes that of LR, except that Primula
Brandybuck's husband (Bilbo in the third version) is Rollo Bolger, not
Drogo Baggins; and the boating accident reappears (see p. 25, note a).
From here to the end the typescript follows the third version (as
emended) very closely, and there is little further to add. Bilbo becomes
Bingo's 'uncle' throughout, of course; Bingo was liable to allude to 'the
absurd adventures of his "gallant and famous" uncle' (see p. 32). But,
with this change, Bingo's remarks in his speech on the ages of himself and
his uncle and the number of guests at the party remain exactly the same,
and 'The ring was his uncle's parting gift' (ibid.).
Small changes of wording move the text towards the final form in FR;
for example, where in the third version Rory Brandybuck is described as
'well-filled but still brighter than many', it is now said of him that his 'wits
neither old age, nor surprise, nor an enormous dinner, had quite
clouded'. But to set out even a portion of such developments in expres-
sion between closely related versions would obviously be quite imprac-
ticable. There are however a few minor narrative shifts which I collect in
the following notes, with page-references indicating where the relevant
passages in earlier versions are to be found.
(30) Gaffer Gamgee had a little more to say:
'... A very nice well-spoken gentlehobbit is Mr Bolger-Baggins, as
I've always said.' And that was perfectly true; for Bingo had always
been very polite to Gaffer Gamgee, calling him Mr Gamgee, and
discussing potatoes with him over the hedge.
(21, 31) The day of the party now becomes Thursday (not Saturday)
22 September (a change made to the typescript, but carefully over an
erasure and clearly belonging to the time of typing).
(31) There is no further reference to Gandalf in the chapter, after the
fireworks.
(24, 32) The young hobbits who danced on the table are Prospero
Took and Melissa Brandybuck.
(32 - 3) Several names are changed among the recipients of gifts from
Bag End, Caramella (Took )) Bolger becomes Caramella Chubb; the
comatose Rollo Took- Took becomes Fosco Bolger (and is Bingo's
uncle); Inigo Grubb-Took the glutton, who had survived from the
first draft, is now Inigo Grubb; and Cosimo Chubb the barometer-
tapper becomes Cosimo Hornblower.
(33) It is now added that 'The poorer hobbits did very well, especially
old Gaffer Gamgee, who got about half a ton of potatoes', that Bingo
had a collection of magical toys; and that he and his friends drank
nearly all the wine, the remainder still going to Marmaduke Brandy-
buck.
(16, 33) The legal notice in the hall at Bag End is extended, and fol-
lowed by a new passage:
Bingo Bolger-Baggins Esqre. departing hereby devises delivers and
makes over by free gift the desirable property and messuage or
dwelling-hole known as Bag-end Underhill with all lands thereto
belonging and annexed to Otho Sackville-Baggins Esqre. and his
wife Lobelia for them jointly to have hold possess occupy let on lease
or otherwise dispose of at their pleasure as from September the
twenty fourth in the seventy second year of the aforesaid Bingo
Bolger-Baggins and the one hundred and forty fourth year of Bilbo
Baggins who as former rightful mvners hereby relinquish all claims to
the abovesaid property as from the date aforesaid.
The notice was signed Bingo Bolger-Baggins for self and uncle.
Bingo was not a lawyer, and he mereIy put things that way to please
Otho Sackville-Baggins, who was a lawyer. Otho certainly was
pleased, but whether by the language or the property is difficult to
say. Anyway, as soon m he had read the notice he shouted: 'Ours at
last!' So I suppose it was all right, at least according to the legal
notions of hobbits. And that is how the Sackville-Bagginses got Bag-
end in the end, though they had to wait ninety-three years longer for
it than they had once expected.
(33) The lawyers who ejected Sancho Proudfoot do not appear.
An addition is made to the passage describing the character of the
Tooks: 'and since they had inherited both enormous wealth and no
little courage from the Old Took, they carried things off with a pretty
high hand at times.'
(34) The reference to Bilbo's having 'done a bit of spending in fifty
years' was changed; the text now reads: '- what was left him by his
Uncle, that is; for Bilbo had done a bit of spending in his time.'
'A few were distressed at his sudden disappearance; one or two were
not distressed, because they were in the know - but they were not at
Bag-end.'
Thus it is never explained why Bingo (or Bilbo in the first version), for
whom money was now a severe problem (and one of the reasons for his
departure), simply handed over 'the desirable property known as Bag-
end' to the Sackville-Bagginses 'by free gift'.
There were further twists still to come in this amazingly sinuous
evolution before the final structure was reached, but this was how
the opening chapter stood for some time, and Bingo Bolger-Baggins,
'nephew' or more properly first cousin once removed of Bilbo Baggins,
is present throughout the original form of Book I of The Fellowship of the
King. I set out briefly here the major shifts and stages encountered thus
far.
A Long-expected party.
Version I. Bilbo gives the party, aged 70. ('I am going to tell you a
story about one of his descendants')
Version II. Bilbo gives the party, aged 71.
Version III. Bilbo married, and disappeared from Hobbiton with his
wife (Primula Brandybuck) when he was III.
His son Bingo Baggins gives the party, aged 72.
Version IV. Bilbo, unmarried, adopted his young cousin Bingo Bolger
(son of Primula Brandybuck), changed his name to Bingo
Bolger-Baggins, and disappeared from Hobbiton when he
was III.
His adopted cousin Bingo Bolger-Baggins gives the party,
aged 72.
(v)
'The Tale that is Brewing'.
It was to the fourth version (writing on the typescript shows that it went
to Allen and Unwin) that my father referred in a letter to Charles Furth
on 1 February 1938, six weeks after he began the new book:
Would you ask Mr Unwin whether his son [Rayner Unwin, then
twelve years old], a very reliable critic, would rare to read the first
chapter of the sequel to The Hobbit? I have typed it. I have no
confidence in it, but if he thought it a promising beginning, could add
to it the tale that is brewing.
What was 'the tale that is brewing'? The texts of 'A Long-expected Party'
provide no clues, except that the end of the third version (p. 34) makes it
clear that when Bingo left Bag End he was going to meet, and go off with,
some of his younger friends - and this is hinted at already at the end of the
first draft (p. 17); in the fourth version this is repeated, and 'one or two'
of his friends were 'in the know' - and 'they were not at Bag-end' (p. 39).
Of course it is clear, too, that Bilbo is not dead; and (with knowledge of
what was in fact to come) we may count the references to Buckland and
the Old Forest (pp. 29, 37) as further hints.
But there are some jottings from this time, written on two sides of a
single sheet of paper, that do give some inkling of what was 'brewing'.
The first of these reads:
Bilbo goes off with 3 Took nephews: Odo, Frodo, and Drogo
[changed to Odo, Drogo, and Frodo]. He has only a small bag of
money. They walk all night - East. Adventures: troll-like: witch-
house on way to Rivendell. Elrond again [added: (by advice of
Gandalf?)]. A tale in Elrond's house.
Where is G[andalf] asks Odo - said I was old and foolish enough
now to take care of myself said B. But I dare say he will turn up, he is
apt to.
There follows a note to the effect that while Odo believed no more than a
quarter of 'B.'s stories', Drogo was less sceptical, and Frodo believed
them 'almost completely'. The character of this last nephew was early
established, though he was destined to disappear (see p. 70): he is not the
forerunner of Frodo in LR. All this seems to have been written at one
time. On the face of it, it must belong with the second (unfinished)
version of 'A Long-expected Party', since it is Bilbo who 'goes off'
(afterwards my father bracketed the words 'Bilbo goes off with 3 Took
nephews' and wrote 'Bingo' above). The implication is presumably that
when Bilbo set out with his nephews Gandalf was no longer present.
Then follows, in pencil: 'Make return of ring a motive.' This no doubt
refers to the statement in the third version that 'The ring was his
[Bingo's] father's parting gift' (p. 32).
After a note suggesting the coming of a dragon to Hobbiton and a more
heroic role for hobbits, a suggestion rejected with a pencilled 'No', there
follows, apparently all written at one time (but with a later pencilled
heading 'Conversation of Bingo and Bilbo'):
'No one,' said B., 'can escape quite unscathed from dragons. The only
thing is to shun them (if you can) like the Hobbitonians, though not
nec[essarily] to disbelieve in them (or refuse to remember them) like
the H[obbitonians]. Now I have spent all my money which seemed
once to me too much and my own has gone after it [sic]. And I don't
like being without after [?having] - in fact I am being lured. Well,
well, twice one is not always two, as my father used to say. But at any
rate I think I would rather wander as a poor man than sit and shiver.
And Hobbiton rather grows on you in 20 years, don't you think; grows
too heavy to bear, I mean. Anyway, we are off - and it's autumn. I
enjoy autumn wandering.'
Asks Elrond what he can do to heal his money-wish and unsettle-
ment. Elrond tells him of an island. Britain? Far west where the Elves
still reign. Journey to perilous isle.
I want to look again on a live dragon.
This is certainly Bilbo, and the passage (though not of course the
pencilled heading) precedes the third version, as the reference to '20
years' shows (see pp. 22, 31). - At the foot of the page are these faint
pencilled scrawls:
Bingo goes to find his father.
You said you.... end your days in contentment - so I hope to
The illegible word might possibly be 'want'. - On the reverse of the page
is the following coherent passage in ink:
The Ring: whence its origin. Necromancer? Not very dangerous, when
used for good purpose. But it exacts its penalty. You must either lose
it, or yourself. Bilbo could not bring himself to lose it. He starts on a
holiday [struck out: with his wife] handing over ring to Bingo. But he
vanishes. Bingo worried. Resists desire to go and find him - though he
does travel round a lot looking for news. Won't lose ring as he feels it
will ultimately bring him to his father.
At last he meets Gandalf. Gandalf's advice. You must stage a
disappearance, and the ring may then be cheated into letting you
follow a similar path. But you have got to really disappear and give up
the past. Hence the 'party'.
Bingo confides in his friends. Odo, Frodo, and Vigo (?) insist on
coming too. Gandalf rather dubious. You will share the same fate as
Bingo, he said, if you dare the ring. Look what happened to Primula.
A couple of pencilled changes were made to this: above 'Vigo(?)' my
father wrote 'Marmaduke'; and he bracketed the last sentence. - Since
Bingo is here Bilbo's son this note belongs with the third version. But the
watery death of Primula Brandybuck (no longer Bilbo's wife, but still
Bingo's mother) is first recorded in the fourth version (p. 37), and the
Ring could not possibly be associated with that event; so that the
reference to 'Primula' here must refer to something else of which there is
no other trace.
Particularly noteworthy is the suggestion that the idea of the Party
arose from Gandalf's advice to Bingo concerning the Ring. It is indeed
remarkable that already at this stage, when my father was still working on
the opening chapter, so much of the Ring's nature was already present in
embryo. - The final two notes are in pencil. The first reads:
Bilbo goes to Elrond to cure dragon-longing, and settles down in
Rivendell. Hence Bingo's frequent absences from home. The dragon-
longing comes on Bingo. Also ring-lure.
With Bingo's 'frequent absences from home' cf. 'he was often away from
home' in the third version (p. 29), and 'Resists desire to go and find him -
though he does travel round a lot looking for news' in the note on the Ring
given above. And the last:
Make dubious regions - Old Forest on way to Rivendell. South of
River. They turn aside to call up Frodo Br[andybuck] [written above:
Marmaduke], get lost and caught by Willowman and by Barrow-
wights. T. Bombadil comes in.
'South' was changed from 'North', and 'East' is written in the margin.
On a separate page (in fact on the back of my father's earliest surviving
map of the Shire) is a brief 'scheme' that is closely associated with these
last notes; at the head of it my father afterwards wrote Genesis of 'Lord of
the Rings'.
B.B. sets out with z nephews. They turn S[outh] ward to collect Frodo
Brandybuck. Get lost in Old Forest. Adventure with Willowman and
Barrow-wights. T. Bombadil.
Reach Rivendell and find Bilbo. Bilbo had had a sudden desire to
visit the Wild again. But meets Gandalf at Rivendell. Learns about
[sic; here presumably the narrative idea changes] Gandalf had turned
up at Bag-end. Bilbo tells him of desire for Wild and gold. Dragon
curse working. He goes to Rivendell between the worlds and settles
down.
Ring must eventually go back to Maker, or draw you towards it.
Rather a dirty trick handing it on?
It is interesting to see the idea already present that Bingo and his
companions would turn aside to 'collect' or 'call up' another hobbit, at
first named Frodo Brandybuck, but changed to Marmaduke (Brandy-
buck). Frodo Brandybuck also appears in initial drafting for the second
chapter (p. 45) as one of Bingo's three companions on his departure from
Hobbiton. There are various ways of combining all these references to
the three (or two) nephews, so as to present a series of successive
formulations, but names and roles were still entirely fluid and ephemeral
and no certainty is possible. Only in the first full text of the second
chapter does the story become clear (for a time): Bingo set out with two
companions, Odo Took and Frodo Took.
It is to be noted that Tom Bombadil, the Willow-man, and the
Barrow-wights were already in existence years before my father began
The turd of the Rings; see p. 115.
*
On 11 February 1938 Stanley Unwin reported to my father that his son
Rayner had read the first chapter and was delighted with it. On 17
February my father wrote to Charles Furth at Allen and Unwin:
They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am
sure I could write unlimited 'first chapters'. I have indeed written
many. The Hobbit sequel is still where it was, and I have only the
vaguest notions of how to proceed. Not ever intending any sequel, I
fear I squandered all my favourite 'motifs' and characters on the
original 'Hobbit'.
And on the following day he replied to Stanley Unwin:
I am most grateful to your son Rayner: and am encouraged. At the
same time I find it only too easy to write opening chapters - and for the
moment the story is not unfolding. I have unfortunately very little
time, made shorter by a rather disastrous Christmas vacation. I
squandered so much on the original 'Hobbit' (which was not meant to
have a sequel) that it is difficult to find anything new in that world.
But on 4 March 1938, in the course of a long letter to Stanley Unwin on
another subject, he said:
The sequel to The Hobbit has now progressed as far as the end of the
third chapter. But stories tend to get out of hand, and this has taken an
unpremeditated turn. Mr Lewis and my youngest boy are reading it in
bits as a serial. I hesitate to bother your son, though I should value his
criticism. At any rate if he would like to read it in serial form he can.
The 'unpremeditated turn', beyond any doubt, was the appearance of the
Black Riders.
II.
FROM HOBBITON TO THE
WOODY END.
The original manuscript drafts for the second chapter of The Lord of the
Rings do not constitute a completed narrative, however rough, but
rather, disconnected parts of the narrative, in places in more than one
version, as the story expanded and changed in the writing. The fact that
my father had typed out the first chapter by r February 1938 (p. 40), but
on 17 February wrote (p. 43) that while first chapters came easily to him
'the Hobbit sequel is still where it was,' suggests strongly that the original
drafting of this second chapter followed the typing of the fourth version
of 'A Long-expected Party'.
There followed a typescript text, with a title 'Three's Company and
Four's More'; this will be given in full, but before doing so earlier stages
of the story (one of them of the utmost interest) must be looked at.
The first rough manuscript begins with Odo and Frodo Took (but
Frodo at once changed to Drogo) sitting on a gate at night and talking
about the events at Bag End that afternoon, while 'Frodo Brandybuck
was sitting on a pile of haversacks and packs and looking at the stars.'
Frodo Brandybuck, it seems, was brought in here from the role prepared
for him in the notes given on pp. 42-3, in one of which he was replaced
by Marmaduke (Brandybuck). Bingo, coming up behind silently and
invisibly, pushed Odo and Drogo off the gate; and after the ensuing
raillery the draft continues:
'Have you three any idea where we are going to?' said Bingo.
'None whatever,' said Frodo, ' - if you mean, where we are going
to land finally. With such a captain it would be quite impossible
to guess that. But we all know where we are making for first.'
'What we don't know,' put in Drogo, 'is how long it is going to
take us on foot. Do you? You have usually taken a pony.'
'That is not much faster, though it is less tiring. Let me see - I
have never done the journey in a hurry before, and have usually
taken five and a half weeks (with plenty of rests). Actually I have
always had some adventure, milder or less so, every time I have
taken the road to Rivendell.'
'Very well,' said Frodo, 'let's put a bit of the way behind us
tonight. It is jolly under the stars, and cool.'
'Better turn in soon and make an early start,'said Odo (who was
fond of bed). 'We shall do more tomorrow if we begin fresh.'
'I back councillor Frodo,' said Bingo. So they started, shoulder-
ing packs, and gripping long sticks. They went very quietly over
fields and along hedgerows and the fringes of small coppices until
night fell, and in their dark [?green) cloaks they were quite
invisible without any rings. And of course being Hobbits they
could not be heard - not even by Hobbits. At last Hobbiton was
far behind, and the lights in the windows of the last farmhouse
were twinkling on a hilltop a long way away. Bingo turned and
waved a hand in farewell.
At the bottom of a slight hill they struck the main road East -
rolling away pale grey into the darkness, between high hedges and
dark wind-stirred trees. Now they marched along two by two;
talking a little., occasionally humming, often tramping in time for a
mile or so without saying anything. The stars swung overhead,
and the night got late.
Odo gave a big yawn and slowed down. 'I am so sleepy,' he said,
'that I shall fall down on the road. What about a place for the
night?'
Here the original opening draft ends. Notably, the hobbits are setting
out expressly for Rivendell, and Bingo has been there several times
before; cf. the note given on p. 42: 'Bilbo... settles down in Rivendell.
Hence Bingo's frequent absences from home.' But there is no indication,
nor has there been any, why they should be in any particular hurry.
It is clear that when the hobbits struck the East Road they took to it
and walked eastward along it. At this stage there is no suggestion of a side
road to Buckland, nor indeed that Buckland played any part in their
plans.
A revised beginning followed. Drogo Took was dropped, leaving Odo
and Frodo as Bingo's companions (Frodo now in all probability a Took).
The passage concerning Rivendell has gone, and instead the plan to go
first 'to pick up Marmaduke' appears. The description of the walk from
Hobbiton is now much fuller, and largely reaches the form in the
typescript text (p. 50); it is interesting to observe here the point of
emergence of the road to Buckland:
After a rest on a bank under some thinly clad birches they went
on again, until they struck a narrow road. It went rolling away,
pale grey in the dark, up and down - but all the time gently
climbing southward. It was the road to Buckland, climbing away
from the main East Road in the Water Valley, and winding away
past the skirts of the Green Hills towards the south-east corner of
the Shire, the Wood-end as the Hobbits called it. They marched
along it, until it plunged between high hedges and dark trees
rustling their dry leaves gently in the night airs.
Comparison of this with the description of the East Road in the first
draft ('rolling away pale grey into the darkness, between high hedges and
dark wind-stirred trees') shows that the one was derived from the other.
Perhaps as a result, the crossing of the East Road is omitted; it is merely
said that the Buckland road diverged from it (contrast FR p. 80).
After Odo's words (typescript text p. 50) 'Or are you fellows going to
sleep on your legs?' there follows:
The Road goes ever on and on
down from the Door where it began:
before us far the Road has gone,
and we come after it, who can;
pursuing it with weary feet,
until it joins some larger way,
where many paths and errands meet,
and whither then? - we cannot say.
There is no indication, in the manuscript as written, who spoke the verse
(for which there is also a good deal of rough working); in the typescript text
(pp. 52 - 3) it is given to Frodo and displaced to a later point in the story.
The second draft then jumps to the following day, and takes up in the
middle of a sentence:
... on the flat among tall trees growing in scattered fashion in the
grasslands, when Frodo said: 'I can hear a horse coming along the
road behind! '
They looked back, but the windings of the road hid the traveller.
'I think we had better get out of sight,' said Bingo; 'or you
fellows at any rate. Of course it doesn't matter very much, but I
would rather not be met by anyone we know.'
They [written above at the same time: Odo & F.] ran quickly to
the left down into a little hollow beside the road, and lay flat.
Bingo slipped on his ring and sat down a few yards from the track.
The sound of hoofs drew nearer. Round a turn came a white
horse, and on it sat a bundle - or that is what it looked like: a small
man wrapped entirely in a great cloak and hood so that only his
eyes peered out, and his boots in the stirrups below.
The horse stopped when it came level with Bingo. The figure
uncovered its nose and sniffed; and then sat silent as if listening.
Suddenly a laugh came from inside the hood.
'Bingo my boy!' said Gandalf, throwing aside his wrappings.
'You and your lads are somewhere about. Come along now and
show up, I want a word with you! ' He turned his horse and rode
straight to the hollow where Odo and Frodo lay. 'Hullo! hullo! ' he
said. 'Tired already? Aren't you going any further today?'
At that moment Bingo reappeared again. 'Well I'm blest,' said
he. 'What are you doing along this way, Gandalf? I thought you
had gone back with the elves and dwarves. And how did you know
where we were?'
'Easy,' said Gandalf. 'No magic. I saw you from the top of the
hill, and knew how far ahead you were. As soon as I turned the
corner and saw the straight piece in front was empty I knew you
had turned aside somewhere about here. And you have made a
track in the long grass that I can see, at any rate when I am looking
for it.'
Here this draft stops, at the foot of a page, and if my father continued
beyond this point the manuscript is lost; but I think it far more likely that
he abandoned it because he abandoned the idea that the rider was
Gandalf as soon as written. It is most curious to see how directly the
description of Gandalf led into that of the Black Rider - and that the
original sniff was Gandalf's! In fact the conversion of the one to the
other was first carried out by pencilled changes on the draft text, thus:
Round a turn came a white [> black] horse, and on it sat a bundle - or
that is what it looked like: a small [> short] man wrapped entirely in a
great [added: black) cloak and hood so that only his eyes peered out [>
so that his face was entirely shadowed]...
If the description of Gandalf in the draft is compared with that of the
Black Rider in the typescript text (p. 54) it will be seen that with further
refinement the one still remains very closely based on the other. The new
turn in the story was indeed 'unpremeditated' (p.44).
Further rough drafting begins again with the workings for the song
Upon the hearth the fire is red and continues through the second
appearance of the Black Rider and the coming of the Elves to the end of
the chapter. This material was followed very closely indeed in the
typescript text and need not be further considered (one or two minor
points of interest in the development of the narrative are mentioned in
the Notes). There is however a separate section in manuscript which was
not taken up into the typescript, and this very interesting passage will be
given separately (see p. 73).
I give here the typescript text - which became an extremely complex
and now very battered document. It is clear that as soon as, or before, he
had finished it my father began revising it, in some cases retyping pages
(the rejected pages being retained), and also writing in many other
changes here and there, most of these being very minor alterations of
wording.(1) In the text that follows I take up all these revisions silently, but
some earlier readings of interest are detailed in the Notes at the end of it
(pp. 65 ff.).
II.
Three's Company and Four's More.(2)
Odo Took was sitting on a gate whistling softly. His cousin Frodo
was lying on the ground beside a pile of packs and haversacks,
looking up at the stars, and sniffing the cool air of the autumn
twilight.
'I hope Bingo has not got locked up in the cupboard, or
something,' said Odo. 'He's late: it's after six.'
'There's no need to worry,' said Frodo. 'He'll turn up when he
thinks fit. He may have thought of some last irresistible joke, or
something: he's very Brandybucksome. But he'll come all right;
quite reliable in the long run is Uncle Bingo.'
There was a chuckle behind him. 'I'm glad to hear it,' said
Bingo suddenly becoming visible; 'for this is going to be a very
Long Run. Well, you fellows, are you quite ready to depart?'
'It's not fair sneaking up with that ring on,' said Odo. 'One day
you will hear what I think of you, and you won't be so glad.'
'I know already,' said Bingo laughing, 'and yet I remain quite
cheerful. Where's my pack and stick? '
'Here you are! ' said Frodo jumping up. 'This is your little lot:
pack, bag, cloak, stick.'
'I'm sure you have given me all the heaviest stuff,' puffed Bingo,
struggling into the straps. He was a bit on the stout side.
'Now then!' said Odo. 'Don't start being Bolger-like. There's
nothing there, except what you told us to pack. You'll feel the
weight less, when you have walked off a bit of your own.'
'Be kind to a poor ruined hobbit! ' laughed Bingo. 'I shall be thin
as a willow-wand, I'm sure, before a week is out. But now what
about it? Let's have a council! What shall we do first?'
'I thought that was settled,' said Odo. 'Surely we have got to
pick up Marmaduke first of all?'
'0 yes! I didn't mean that,' said Bingo. 'I meant: what about
this evening? Shall we walk a little or a lot? All night or not at all?'
'We'd better find some snug corner in a haystack, or some-
where, and turn in soon,' said Odo, 'We shall do more tomorrow,
if we start fresh.'
'Let's put a bit of the road behind us to-night,' said Frodo. 'I
want to get away from Hobbiton. Beside it's jolly under the stars,
and cool.'
'I vote for Frodo,' said Bingo. And so they started, shouldering
their packs, and swinging their stout sticks. They went very
quietly over fields and along hedgerows and the borders of cop-
pices, until night fell. In their dark grey cloaks they were invisible
without the help of any magic rings, and since they were all
hobbits, they made no noise that even hobbits could hear (or
indeed even wild creatures in the woods and fields).
After some time they crossed The Water, west of Hobbiton,
where it was no more than a winding ribbon of black, lined with
leaning alders. They were now in Tookland; and they began to
climb into the Green Hill Country south of Hobbiton.(3) They
could see the village twinkling away down in the gentle valley of
The Water. Soon it disappeared in the folds of the darkened land,
and was followed by Bywater beside its grey pool. When the light
of the last farmhouse was far behind, peeping out of the trees,
Bingo turned and waved a hand in farewell.
'Now we're really off,' he said. 'I wonder if we shall ever look
down into that valley again.'
After they had walked for about two hours they rested. The
night was clear, cool, and starry, but smoky wisps of mist were
creeping up the hills from the streams and deep meadows. Thin-
clad birches swaying in a cold breeze above their heads made a
black net against the pale sky. They ate a very frugal supper (for
hobbits), and then went on again. Odo was reluctant, but the rest
of the council pointed out that this bare hillside was no place for
passing the night. Soon they struck a narrow road. It went rolling
up and down until it faded grey into the gathering dark. It was' the
road to Buckland, climbing away from the main East Road in the
Water-valley, and winding over the skirts of the Green Hills
towards the south-eastern corner of the Shire, the Woody End as
the hobbits called it. Not many of them lived in that part.
Along this road they marched. Soon it plunged into a deeply
cloven track between tall trees that rustled their dry leaves in the
night. It was very dark. At first they talked, or hummed a tune
softly together: then they marched on in silence, and Odo began to
lag behind. At last he stopped, and gave a big yawn.
'I am so sleepy,' he said, 'that soon I shall fall down on the road.
What about a place for the night? Or are you fellows going to sleep
on your legs?'(4)
'When does Marmaduke expect us?' asked Frodo. 'Tomorrow
night?'
'No,' said Bingo. 'We should not get there by tomorrow night,
even with a forced march, unless we went on many more miles
now. And I must say I don't feel like it. It is getting on for
midnight already. But it is all right. I told Marmaduke to expect us
the night after tomorrow; so there is no hurry.'
'The wind's in the West,' said Odo. 'If we go down the other
side of this hill we are climbing, we ought to find a spot fairly dry
and sheltered.'
At the top of the hill over which the road ran they came upon a
patch of fir-wood, dry and resin-scented. Leaving the road they
went into the deep darkness of the wood, and gathered dead sticks
and cones to make a fire. Soon they had a merry crackle of flame at
the foot of a great fir, and sat round it for a while, until they began
to nod with sleep. Then each in an angle of the great tree's roots
they curled up in their cloaks and blankets, and were soon fast
asleep.
There was no danger: for they were still in the Shire. A few
creatures came and looked at them, when the fire had died away. A
fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped
several minutes and sniffed. 'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what
next? I have heard a good many tales of queer goings on in this
Shire; but I have never heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors
under a tree! Three of them! There's something mighty queer
behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more
about it.
The morning came rather pale and clammy. Bingo woke up
first, and found that a tree-root had made a hole in his back and
that his neck was stiff. It did not seem such a lark as it had the day
before. 'Why on earth did I give that beautiful feather-bed to that
old pudding Fosco?'(5) he thought. 'The tree-roots would have been
much better for him."Wake up, hobbits! ' he cried. 'It's a beautiful
morning! '
'What's beautiful about it?' said Odo, peering over the edge of
his blanket with one eye. 'Have you got the bath-water hot? Get
breakfast ready for half past nine.'
Bingo stripped the blanket off him, and rolled him over on top
of Frodo; and then he left them scuffling and walked to the edge of
the wood. Away eastward the sun was rising red out of the mists
that lay thick on the world. Touched with gold and red the
autumn trees in the distance seemed to be sailing rootless in a
shadowy sea. A little below him to the left the road plunged down
into a hollow between two slopes and vanished.
When he got back the other two had got a good fire going.
'Water! ' they shouted. 'Where's the water? '
'I don't keep water in my pockets,' said Bingo.
'I thought you had gone to find some,' said Odo. 'You had better
go now.'
'Why?' asked Bingo. 'We had enough left for breakfast last
night; or I thought we had.'
'Well, you thought wrong,' said Frodo. 'Odo drank the last
drop, I saw him.'
'Then he can go and find some more, and not put it on Uncle
Bingo. There's a stream at the foot of the slope; the road crosses it
just below where we turned aside last night.'
In the end, of course, they all went with their water-bottles and
the small kettle they had brought with them. They filled them in
the stream where it fell a foot or two over a small outcrop of grey
stone in its path. The water was icy cold; and Odo spluttered as he
bathed his face and hands. Luckily hobbits grow no beards (and
would not shave if they did).
By the time their breakfast was over, and their packs all trussed
up again, it was ten o'clock at least, and beginning to turn into a
day even finer and hotter than the day of Bingo's birthday, that
already seemed quite a long while past. They went down the
slope, across the stream, and up the next slope, and by that time
their cloaks, blankets, water, food, spare clothes and other gear
already seemed a heavy load. The day's march was going to be
something quite different from a country walk.
After a time the road ceased to roll up and down: it climbed to
the top of a steep bank in a tired zigzagging sort of way, and then
prepared to go down for the last time. In front of them they saw
the lower lands dotted with small clumps of trees that melted away
in the distance to a hazy woodland brown. They were looking
across the Woody End towards the Brandywine River. The road
wound away before them like a piece of string.
'The road goes on for ever,' said Odo, 'but I can't without a rest.
It is high time for lunch.'
Frodo sat down on the bank at the side of the road and looked
away east into the haze, beyond which lay the River and the end of
the Shire in which he had spent all his life. Suddenly he spoke, as
if half to himself:
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And we must follow if we can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? We cannot say.(6)
'That sounds like a bit of Old Bilbo's rhyming,' said Odo.
'Or is it one of Bingo's imitations? It does not sound altogether
encouraging.'
'No, I made it up, or at any rate it came to me,' said Frodo.
'I've never heard it before, certainly,' said Bingo. 'But it reminds
me very much of Bilbo in the last years, before he went away. He
used often to say that there was only one Road in all the land; that
it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and
every path was its tributary. "It's a dangerous business, Bingo,
going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road,
and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you
might get swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that
goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to
even farther and worse places than the Lonely Mountain?" He
used to say that on the path outside the front-door at Bag-end;
especially after he had been out for a walk.'
'Well, the Road won't sweep me anywhere for an hour at least,'
said Odo, unslinging his pack. The others followed his example,
putting their packs against the bank and their legs out into the
road. After a rest they had lunch (a frugal one) and then more rest.
The sun was beginning to get lower and the light of afternoon
was on the land as they went down the hill. So far they had not met
a soul on the road. This way was not much used, and the ordinary
way to Buckland was along the East Road to the meeting of the
Water and the Brandywine River, where there was a bridge, and
then south along the River. They had been jogging along again for
an hour or more, when Frodo stopped a moment as if listening.
They were now on level ground, and the road, after much
winding, lay straight ahead through grassland sprinkled with tall
trees, outliers of the approaching woods.
'I can hear a horse or a pony coming along the road behind,' said
Frodo.
They looked back, but the turn of the road prevented them
from seeing far.
'I think we had better get out of sight,' said Bingo; 'or you two at
any rate. Of course, it does not matter much, but I have a feeling
that I would rather not be seen by anyone just now.'
Odo and Frodo ran quickly to the left, down into a little hollow
not far from the road, and lay flat. Bingo slipped on his ring and
stepped behind a tree. The sound of hoofs drew nearer. Round the
turn came a black horse, no hobbit-pony but a full-sized horse;
and on it sat a bundle, or that is what it looked like: a broad squat
man, completely wrapped in a great black cloak and hood, so
that only his boots in the stirrups showed below: his face was
shadowed and invisible.
When it came on a level with Bingo, the horse stopped. The
riding figure sat quite still, as if listening. From inside the hood
came a noise as of someone sniffing to catch an elusive scent; the
head turned from side to side of the road. At last the horse moved
on again, walking slowly at first, and then taking to a gentle trot.
Bingo slipped to the edge of the road and watched the rider,
until he dwindled in the distance. He could not be quite sure, but
it seemed to him that suddenly, before they passed out of sight,
the horse and rider turned aside and rode into the trees.
'Well, I call that very queer, and even a little disturbing,' said
Bingo to himself, as he walked back to his companions. They had
remained flat in the grass, and had seen nothing; so Bingo
described to them the rider and his strange behaviour. 'I can't say
why, but I felt perfectly certain he was looking or smelling for me:
and also I felt very clearly that I did not want him to discover me.
I've never seen or felt anything quite like it in the Shire before.'
'But what has one of the Big People got to do with us?' said Odo.
'And what is he doing in this part of the world at all? Except for
those Men from Dale the other day (7) I haven't seen one of that
Kind in our Shire for years.'
'I have though,' said Frodo, who had listened intently to
Bingo's description of the black rider. 'It reminds me of something
I had almost forgotten. I was walking away up in the North Moor
- you know, right up on the northern borders of the Shire - early
last spring, when a similar rider met me. He was riding south, and
he stopped and spoke, though he did not seem able to speak our
language very well; he asked me if I knew where a place called
Hobbiton was, and if there were any folk called Baggins there. I
thought it very queer at the time; and I had a queer uncomfortable
feeling, too. I could not see any face under his hood. I never heard
whether he turned up in Hobbiton or not. If I did not tell you, I
meant to.'
'You didn't tell me, and I wish you had,' said Bingo. 'I should
have asked Gandalf about it; and probably we should have taken
more care on the road.'
'Then you know or guess something about the rider?' said
Frodo. 'What is he?'
'I don't know, and I don't want to guess,' said Bingo. 'But
somehow I don't believe either of these riders (if there are two)
was really one of the Big People, not one of the kind like Dale-
men, I mean. I wish Gandalf was here; but now it will be a long
time before we find him. In a way I suppose I ought to be pleased;
but I am not quite prepared for adventures yet, and I was not
expecting any in our own Shire. Do you two wish to go on with the
Journey?'
'Of course! ' said Frodo. 'I am not going to turn back, not for an
army of goblins.'
'I shall go where Uncle Bingo goes,' said Odo. 'But what is the
next thing to do? Shall we go on at once, or stay here and have
some food? (9) I should like a bite and a sip, but somehow I think we
had better move on from here. Your talk of sniffing riders with
invisible noses has made me feel quite uncomfortable.'
'I think we will move on now,' said Bingo; 'but not on the road,
in case that rider comes back, or another one follows him. We
ought to do a good step more today; Buckland is still miles away.'
The shadows of the trees were long and thin on the grass, as
they started off again. They now kept a stone's throw to the left of
the road, but their going was slow, for the grass was thick and
tussocky and the ground uneven. The sun had gone down red
behind the hills at their back, and evening was coming on, by the
time they had come to the end of the straight stretch. There the
road bent southward, and began to wind again as it entered a wood
of ancient scattered oak trees.'4
Close to the road they came on the huge hulk of an aged tree." It
was still alive and had leaves on small branches that it had put out
round the broken stumps of its long fallen limbs; but it was
hollow, and could be entered by a great crack on the far side. The
hobbits went in and sat upon the floor of old leaves and decayed
wood. There they rested and had a meal, talking quietly and
listening in between.
They had just finished and were thinking of setting out again,
when they heard quite clearly the sound of hoofs walking slow
along the road outside. They did not move. The hoofs stopped, as
far as they could judge, on the road beside their tree, but only for
a moment. Soon they went on again and faded away - down the
road, in the direction of Buckland. When Bingo at last stole out of
the tree and peered up and down the road, there was nothing to be
seen.
'Most peculiar!' he said, coming back to the others. 'I think we
had better wait inside here for a bit.'
It grew almost dark inside the tree-trunk. 'I really think we shall
have to go on now,' said Bingo. 'We have done very little to-day
and we shan't get to Buckland tomorrow night at this rate.'
Twilight was about them, when they crept out. There was no
living sound, not even a bird-call in the wood. The West wind was
sighing in the branches. They stepped into the road and looked up
and down again.
'We had better risk the road,' said Odo. 'The ground is much
too rough off the track, especially in a fading light. We are
probably making a fuss about nothing. It is very likely only a
wandering stranger who has got lost; and if he met us, he would
just ask us the way to Buckland or Brandywine Bridge, and ride
on.'
'I hope you are right,' said Bingo. 'But anyway there is nothing
for it but the open road. Luckily it winds a good deal.'
'What if he stops us and asks if we know where Mr Bolger-
Baggins lives?'said Frodo.
'Give him the true answer: Nowhere,' said Bingo. 'Forward!'
They were now entering the Woody End, and the road began to
fall gently but steadily, making south-east towards the lowlands of
the Brandywine River. A star came out in the darkening East.
They went abreast and in step, and their spirits rose; the uncom-
fortable feeling vanished, and they no longer listened for the
sound of hoofs. After a mile or two they began to hum softly, as
hobbits have a way of doing when twilight closes in and the stars
come out. With most hobbits it is a bed-song or a supper-song; but
these hobbits hummed a walking-song (though not, of course,
without any mention of bed and supper). Bilbo Baggins had made
the words (the tune was as old as the hills), and taught it to Bingo
as they walked in the lanes of the Water-valley and talked about
Adventure.
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still mund the corner me may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen, but me alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and mater under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And even if me pass them by,
We still shall know which way they lie,
And whether hidden pathways run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you mell! Fare you mell!
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to fire and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed! (12)
The song ended. 'And now to bed! And now to bed!' sang Odo
in a loud voice. 'Hush! ' said Frodo. 'I think I hear hoofs again.'
They stopped suddenly, and stood as silent as tree-shadows,
listening. There was a sound of hoofs on the road some way
behind, but coming slow and clear in the stillness of the evening.
Quickly and quietly they slipped off the road and ran into the
deeper shade under the oak-trees.
'Don't let's go too far!' said Bingo. 'I don't want to be seen, but I
want to see what I can this time.'
'Very well! ' said Odo; 'but don't forget the sniffing!'
The hoofs drew nearer. They had no time to find any hiding-
place (13) better than the general darkness under the trees., so Odo
and Frodo lay behind a large tree-trunk, while Bingo slipped on
his ring and crept forward a few yards towards the road. It showed
grey and pale, a line of fading light through the wood. Above it the
stars were now coming out thick in the dim sky, but there was no
moon.
The sound of hoofs ceased. As Bingo watched he saw something
dark pass across the lighter space between two trees, and then halt.
It looked like the black shade of a horse led by a smaller black
shadow. The black shadow stood close to the point where they had
left the road, and it swayed from side to side. Bingo thought he
heard the sound of sniffing. The shadow bent to the ground, and
then began to crawl towards him.
At that moment there came a sound like mingled song and
laughter. Voices clear and fair rose and fell in the starlit air. The
black shadow straightened and retreated.(14) It climbed on to the
shadowy horse and seemed to vanish across the road into the
darkness on the other side. Bingo breathed again.
'Elves! ' said Frodo in an excited whisper behind him. 'Elves!
How wonderful! I have always wished to hear elves singing under
the stars; but I did not know any lived in the Shire.'
'Oh yes! ' said Bingo. 'Old Bilbo knew there were some down in
the Woody End. They don't really live here, though; but they
often come across the river in spring and autumn. I am very glad
they do!'
'Why?' said Odo.
'You didn't see, of course,' said Bingo; 'but that black rider (or
another of the same sort) stopped just here and was actually
crawling towards us, when the song started. As soon as he heard
the voices he slipped away.'
'Did he sniff?' asked Odo.
'He did,' said Bingo. 'It is mysterious, urcomfortably mys-
terious.'
'Let's find the Elves, if we can,' said Frodo.
'Listen! They are coming this way,' said Bingo. 'We have only
to wait by the road.'
The singing drew nearer. One clear voice rose above the others.
It seemed to be singing in the secret elf-tongue, of which Bingo
knew only a little, and the others knew nothing, yet the sound of
the words blending with the tune seemed to turn into words in
their own listening thought, which they only partly understood.
Frodo and Bingo afterwards agreed that the song went something
like this:
Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
O Queen beyond the Western Seas!
O Light to us that wander here
Amid the world of woven trees!
Gilthoniel! O Elbereth!
Clear are thy eyes and cold thy breath!
Snow-white! Snow-white! We sing to thee
In a far land beyond the Sea.
O Stars that in the Sunless Year
With shining hand by her were sown,
In windy fields now bright and clear
We see your silver blossom blown!
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on the Western Seas."
The hobbits sat in shadow by the roadside. Before long the
Elves came down the road towards the valley. They passed slowly
and the hobbits could see the starlight glimmering on their hair
and in their eyes.(16) They bore no lights, yet as they walked a
shimmer, like the light of the moon above the rim of the hills
before it rises, seemed to fall about their feet. They had stopped
singing, and as the-last elf passed he turned and looked towards the
hobbits, and laughed.
'Hail Bingo! ' he said. 'You are out late - or are you perhaps lost? '
Then he called aloud in the elf-tongue, and all the company
stopped and gathered round.
'Well! Isn't this wonderful! ' they said. 'Three hobbits in a wood
at night! What is the meaning of this? We haven't seen anything
like it, since dear Bilbo went away.'
'The meaning of this, my good Elves,' said Bingo, 'is simply
that we seem to be going the same way as you are. I was brought up
by Bilbo, so I like walking, even under the stars. And I can put up
with Elves for lack of other company! '
'But we have no need of other company, and hobbits are so
dull,' they laughed. 'Come along now, tell us all about it! We see
you are simply swelling with secrets we should like to hear.
Though some we know, of course, and some we guess. Many
Happy Returns of yesterday - we have heard all about that, of
course, from the Rivendell people.'"
'Then who are you, and who is your lord?' said Bingo.
'I am Gildor,' said the Elf who had hailed him. 'Gildor Inglorion
of the house of Finrod. We are exiles, one of the few companies
that still remain east of the Sea, for our kindred went back to the
West long ago. We are Wise-elves, and the elves of Rivendell are
our kinsfolk.'(18)
'0 Wise People,' said Frodo, 'tell us about the Black Rider!'
'The Black Rider!' they said in low voices. 'Why do you ask
about the Black Rider?'
'Because three Black Riders have overtaken us today, or one
three times,'(19) said Bingo; 'and only a few moments ago one
slipped away as you drew near.'
The Elves did not answer at once, but spoke together softly in
the elf-tongue. At last Gildor turned to the hobbits: 'We will not
speak more of this here,' he said. 'We think you had better come
with us. As you know, it is not our custom; but for Bilbo's sake we
will take you on our road, and you shall lodge with us to-night, if
you wish.'
'I thank you indeed, Gildor Inglorion,' said Bingo bowing. '0
Fair Folk! This is a good fortune beyond my best hope,' said
Frodo. Odo also bowed, but said nothing aloud. 'Rather good
luck?' he whispered to Bingo. 'I suppose we shall get a really good
bed and supper?'
'You can reckon your luck in the morning,' said Gildor, as if he
had been spoken to. 'We shall do what we can, though we have
heard that hobbits are hard to satisfy.'
'I beg your pardon,' stammered Odo. Bingo laughed: 'You
must be careful of Elvish ears, Odo!' 'We count our luck already,'
he said to the Elves; 'and I think that you will find that we are very
easy to please (for hobbits).' He added in the elf-tongue a greeting
that Bilbo had taught him: 'The stars shine on the hour of our
meeting.'
'Be careful, friends! ' cried Gildor laughing. 'Speak no secrets!
Here is a scholar in the elf-latin.(20) Bilbo was indeed a good
master! Hail! elf-friend,' he said, bowing to Bingo, 'come now and
join our company! ' You had best walk in the middle, so that you
will not stray. You may be weary before we halt.'
'Why? Where are you going?' asked Bingo.
'To the woods near Woodhall down in the valley. It is some
miles; but it will shorten your journey to Buckland to-
morrow.'
They marched along in silence, and passed like shadows and
faint lights; for both Elves and hobbits could walk when they
wished without a sound. They sang no more songs. Odo began to
feel sleepy, and stumbled once or twice; but each time a tall elf by
his side put out his arm and saved him from a fall.
The woods on either side became denser; the trees were younger
and more thick, and as the road went lower there were many deep
brakes of hazel. At last they turned right from the road: a green
ride lay almost unseen through the thicket This they followed
until they came suddenly to a wide space of grass, grey under the
night. The wood bordered it on three sides; but on the east the
ground fell steeply, and the tops of the dark trees growing in the
fold below were level with their feet. Beyond them the low land lay
dim and flat under the stars. Nearer at hand there was a twinkle of
lights: the village of Woodhall.
The Elves sat on the grass, and seemed to take no further notice
of the hobbits. They spoke together in soft voices. The hobbits
wrapped themselves in cloak and blankets, and drowsiness crept
over them. The night drew on, and the lights in the valley went
out. Odo fell asleep, pillowed on a smooth hillock.
Out of the mists away eastward a pale gold light went up. The
yellow moon rose; springing swiftly out of the shadow, and then
climbing round and slow into the sky. The Elves all burst into
song. Suddenly under the trees to one side a fire sprang up with a
red light.
'Come! ' the Elves called to the hobbits. 'Come! Now is the time
for speech and merriment.'
Odo sat up and rubbed his eyes. He shivered. 'Come, little
Odo!' said an elf. 'There is a fire in the hall, and some food for
hungry guests.'
On the south side of the green-sward the wood drew close. Here
there was a space green-floored, but entirely overshadowed by tall
trees. Their trunks ran like pillars down each side, and their
interlaced branches made a roof above. In the middle there was a
wood-fire blazing; upon the sides of the tree-pillars torches with
lights of gold and silver were burning steadily without smoke. 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, and set them on
the grass.
'This is poor fare,' 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.'
'It seems to me good enough for a birthday party,' said Bingo.
Actually it was Odo that ate the least after all. The drink in his
cup seemed sweet and fragrant; he drained it, and felt all weari-
ness slip away, and yet sleep came softly down upon him. He was
already half wrapped in warm dreams as he ate; and afterwards he
could remember nothing more than the taste of bread - yet a bread
that was like the best hobbit-bread ever baked (and that was Bread
indeed) eaten after a long fast, only this bread was better. Frodo
afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was
filled with the light under the trees, the elf-faces, the sound of
voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream.
But he remembered taking a draught that had the warmth of a
golden autumn afternoon and the cool of a clear fountain; and he
remembered too the taste of fruits, sweet as wild berries, richer
than the tended fruits of hobbit-gardens (and those are fruits
indeed).
Bingo sat and ate and drank and talked, and simply remem-
bered having had something of all the foods he liked best; but his
mind was chiefly on the talk. He knew something of the elf-
tongue, and listened eagerly. Now and again he spoke to those that
served him and thanked them in their own language. They smiled
on him and said laughing: 'Here is a jewel among hobbits!'(22)
After a while Odo and Frodo fell fast asleep, and were lifted up
and borne away to bowers under the trees; they were laid there
upon soft beds and slept the night away. But Bingo remained
talking with Gildor, the leader of the Elves.(23)
'Why did you choose this moment to set out?' asked Gildor.
'Well, really it chose itself,' answered Bingo. 'I had come to the
end of my treasure. It had always held me back from the Journey
which half of my heart wished for, ever since Bilbo went away; but
now it was gone. So I said to my stay-at-home half: "There is
nothing to keep you here. The Journey might bring you some
more treasure, as it did for old Bilbo; and anyway on the road you
will be able to live more easily without any. Of course if you like to
stay in Hobbiton and earn your living as a gardener or a carpenter,
you can." The stay-at-home half surrendered; it did not want to
make other people's chairs or grow other people's potatoes. It was
soft and fat. I think the Journey will do it good. But of course the
other half is not really looking for treasure, but for Adventure -
later rather than sooner. At the moment it also is soft and fat, and
finding walking over the Shire quite enough.'
'Yes!' laughed Gildor. 'You still look just like an ordinary
hobbit!'
'I daresay,' said Bingo. 'But my birthday the day before yester-
day (24) seems already a long way behind. Still a hobbit I am, and a
hobbit I shall always be.'
'I only said look,' replied the Elf. 'You seem to me a most
peculiar hobbit inside, quite as peculiar as Bilbo; and I think
strange things will happen to you and your friends. If you go
looking for Adventure, you usually find as much of it as you can
manage. And it often happens that when you think it is ahead, it
comes on you unexpectedly from behind.'
'So it seems,' said Bingo. 'But I did not expect it ahead or
behind so soon - not in our own Shire.'
'But it is not your Shire alone, nor for ever,' said Gildor. 'The
Wide World is all about it. You can fence yourselves in, but you
have no means of fencing it out.'
'All the same, it is disturbing,' said Bingo. 'I want to get to
Rivendell, if I can - though I hear the road has not grown easier of
late years. Can you tell me anything to guide me or help me?'
'I do not think you will find the road too hard. But if you are
thinking of what you call the Black Rider, that is another matter.
Have you told me all your reasons for leaving secretly? Did
Gandalf tell you nothing?'
'Not even a hint, at least none that I understood. I seldom saw
him after Bilbo went away, twice a year at most. I saw him last
spring, when he turned up unexpectedly one night; and I told him
then of the plan I was beginning to make for the Journey. He
seemed pleased, and told me not to put it off later than the
autumn. He came again to help me with the Party, but we were too
busy then to talk much, and he went off with the dwarves and the
Rivendell elves as soon as the fireworks were over. He did hint that
I might meet him again in Rivendell, and suggested that I should
make for that place first.'
'Not later than the autumn! ' said Gildor. 'I wonder. He may all
the same not have known that they were in the Shire; yet he knows
more about them than we do. If he did not tell you any more, I do
not feel inclined to do so, for fear of frightening you from the
Journey. Because I think it is clear that your Journey started none
too soon; by what seems strange good luck you went just in time.
You ought to go on, and not turn back, though you have met
adventure, and danger, much sooner than you expected. You
ought to go quickly; but you must be careful, and look not only
ahead, but also behind, and even perhaps to both sides as well.'
'I wish you would say things plainer,' said Bingo. 'But I am glad
to be told that I ought to go on; for that is what I want to do. Only I
now rather wonder if I ought to take Odo and Frodo. The original
plan was just a Journey, a sort of prolonged (and perhaps perman-
ent) holiday from Hobbiton, and I am sure they did not expect any
more adventures for a long time than getting wet and hungry. We
had no idea we should be pursued.'
'0 come! They must have known that if you intend to go
wandering out of the Shire into the Wide World, you must be
prepared for anything. I cannot see that it makes so much differ-
ence, if something has turned up rather soon. Are they not willing
to go on?'
'Yes, they say so.'
'Then let them go on! (25) They are lucky to be your companions:
and you are lucky to have them. They are a great protection to
you.'
'What do you mean?'
'I think the Riders do not know that they are with you, and their
presence has confused the scent, and puzzled them.'
'Dear me! It is all very mysterious. It is like solving riddles. But
I have always heard that talking to Elves is like that.'
'It is,' laughed Gildor. 'And Elves seldom give advice; but when
they do, it is good. I have advised you to go to Rivendell with
speed and care. Nothing else that I could tell you would make that
advice any better.(26) We have our own business and our own
sorrows, and those have little to do with the ways of hobbits or of
other creatures. Our paths cross those ways seldom, and mostly by
accident. In our meeting there is perhaps something more than
accident, yet I do not feel sure that I ought to interfere. But I will
add a little more advice: if a Rider finds you or speaks to you, do
not answer, and do not name yourself. Also do not again use the
ring to escape from his search. I do not know, but I guess that the
use of the ring helps them more than you.'
'More and more mysterious! ' said Bingo. '1 can't imagine what
information would be more frightening than your hints; but I
suppose you know best.'
'I do indeed,' said Gildor, 'and I will say no more.'
'Very well!' said Bingo. 'I am now all of a twitter; but I am much
obliged to you.'
'Be of good heart! ' said Gildor. 'Sleep now! In the morning we
shall have gone; but we will send our messages through the land.
The wandering Companies shall know of you and your Journey. I
name you elf-friend, and wish you well. Seldom have we had such
delight in strangers; and it is pleasant to hear words of our own
tongue from the lips of other wanderers in.the World.'
Bingo felt sleep coming upon him, even as Gildor finished
speaking. 'I will sleep now,' he said. Gildor led him to a bower
beside Odo and Frodo, and he threw himself upon a bed, and fell
at once into a dreamless slumber.
NOTES.
1. For emendation of the typescript at this stage my father used black
ink. This was fortunate, for otherwise the historical unravelling of
the text would be scarcely possible: in a later phase of the work he
returned to it and covered it with corrections in blue and red inks,
blue chalk and pencil. In one case, however, an addition in black ink
belongs demonstrably to the later phase. It is possible therefore that
some of the emendations which I have adopted into the text are
really later; but none seem to me to be so, and in any case all changes
of any narrative significance are detailed in the following notes.
2. The meaning of this title is not clear. The phrase 'Three's company,
but four's more' is used however by Marmaduke Brandybuck
during the conversation in Buckland, where he asserts that he will
certainly be one of the party (p. 103). Conceivably, therefore, my
father gave the original second chapter this title because he believed
that it would extend as far as the arrival in Buckland. Subsequently
he crossed out the words 'and Four's More', but it cannot be said
when this was done.
3. In the second draft of the opening of the chapter, which had reached
virtually the form of the typescript text in this passage, the crossing
of the East Road was omitted, and the omission remains here (see
p.47).
4. In the draft text the verse The Road goes ever on and on is placed
here (see p. 47).
5. Fosco Bolger, Bingo's uncle: see p. 38.
6. In FR (pp. 82-3) the verse has I for we in lines 4 and 8, but is
otherwise the same; there, however, it is an echo from Bilbo's
speaking it in Chapter x (FR p.44). For the earliest form see p. 47;
and see further p.246 note 18.
7. Men from Dale: see pp. 20, 30.
8. The next portion of the narrative, from 'I have though,' said Frodo
and extending to the end of the song Upon the hearth the fire is red
(p. 57), was early re-typed to replace two pages of the original
typescript, and a substantial alteration and expansion of the story
was introduced (see notes g and x x).
9. This first part of the re-typed section (see note 8) was not greatly
changed from the earlier form. In the earlier, Frodo described his
encounter with a Black Rider 'up in the North Moors' in the
previous spring in almost exactly the same words; but Bingo's
response was somewhat different:
'That makes it even queerer,' said Bingo. 'I am glad I had the
fancy not to be seen on the road. But, somehow, I don't believe
either of these riders was one of the Big People, not of the Kind
like the Dale-men, I mean. I wonder what they were? I rather
wish Gandalf was here. But, of course, he went away immediately
after the fireworks with the elves and dwarves, and it will be ages
before we see him now.'
'Shall we go on now, or stay here and have some food?' asked
Odo...
In the later versions of A Long-expected Party there is no reference
to Gandalf after the fireworks (see pp. 31, 38; 63).
10. There the road bent southward: on the map of the Shire in FR the
road does not bend southward 'at the end of the straight stretch'; it
bends left or northward, while a side road goes on to Woodhall. But
at this stage there was only one road, and at the place where the
hobbits met the Elves it was falling steadily, 'making south-east
towards the lowlands of the Brandywine River' (p. 56). Certainly by
oversight, the present passage was preserved with little change in
the original edition of FR (p. 86):
The sun had gone down red behind the hills at their backs, and
evening was coming on before they came to the end of the long
level over which the road ran straight. At that point it bent
somewhat southward, and began to wind again, as it entered a
wood of ancient oak-trees.
It was not until the second edition of 1966 that my father changed
the text to agree with the map:
At that point it bent left and went down into the lowlands of the
Yale making for Stock; but a lane branched right, winding
through a wood of ancient oak-trees on its way to Woodhall. 'That
is the way for us,' said Frodo.
Not far from the road-meeting they came on the huge hulk of a
tree...
This is also the reason for change in the second edition of 'road' to
'lane' (also 'path', 'way') at almost all the many subsequent occur-
rences in FR pp. 86-90: it was the 'lane' to Woodhall they were on,
not the 'road' to Stock.
11. The entire passage from 'Close to the road they came on the huge
hulk of an aged tree' is an expansion in the replacement typescript
(see note 8) of a few sentences in the earlier:
Inside the huge hollow trunk of an aged tree, broken and
stumpy but still alive and in leaf, they rested and had a meal.
Twilight was about them when they came out and prepared to go
on again. 'I am going to risk the road now,' said Bingo, who had
stubbed his toes several times against hidden roots and stones in
the grass. 'We are probably making a fuss about nothing.'
Though the enlarged description of the hollow tree was preserved in
FR (p. 86), the second passage of a Black Rider was not, and the tree
has again no importance beyond being the scene of the hobbits'
meal. In the third chapter Bingo, talking to Marmaduke in Buck-
land, refers to this story of a Rider heard while they sat inside the
tree (p. 103); see also note 19 below.
12. The version of the song in the rejected typescript (see note 8) had
the second and third verses thus:
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread;
And round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And hidden pathways there may run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, @c.
Down hill, up hill walks the way
From sunrise to the falling day,
Through shadow to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight; @c.
13. In the initial drafting for this passage Bingo proposed that they stow
their burdens in the hollow of an old broken oak and then climb it,
but this was rejected as soon as written. This was no doubt where
the 'hollow tree' motive first appeared.
14. In the original draft my father first wrote here: 'Suddenly there was
a sound of laughter and a creak of wheels on the road. The shadow
straightened up and retreated.' This was soon replaced, without the
creak of wheels being explained; but it suggests that he had some
intervention other than Elves in mind.
15. This was another portion that was re-typed. The passage immedi-
ately preceding the Elves' song was different in the earlier form:
It seemed to be singing in the secret elf-tongue, and yet as they
listened the sounds, or the sounds and the tune together, seemed
to turn into strange words in their own thought, which they only
partly understood. Frodo afterwards said that he thought he
heard words like these:
The song also had certain differences, including a second verse that
was rejected.
O Elbereth! O Elbereth!
O Queen beyond the Western Seas!
O Light to him that wandereth
Amid the world of woven trees!
O Stars that in the Sunless Year
Were kindled by her silver hand,
That under Night the shade of Fear
Should fly like shadow from the land!
O Elbereth! Gilthonieth!
Clear are thy eyes, and cold thy breath! @c.
In the last verse the form is Gilthoniel. Extensive rough workings are
also found, in which the first line of the song appears also as O
Elberil! O Elberil! (and the third O Light to us that wander still);
from these is also seen the meaning of the Sunless Year, since my
father first wrote the Flowering Years (with reference to the Two
Trees; see the Quenta Silmarillion $19, V.212). - It seems to have
been here that the name Elbereth was first applied to Varda, having
been previously that of one of the sons of Dior Thingol's Heir: see
V.351.
16. In the original draft it was added here that the Elves 'were crowned
with red and yellow leaves'; rejected, no doubt, because it was dark
and they bore no lights.
17. At an earlier point in the chapter (p. 52) the typescript read 'a day
even finer and hotter than the day before (Bingo's birthday, that
already seemed quite a long while past).' It was of course on the
evening of the day following the birthday party that Bingo and his
companions set out, and my father realising this simply changed
'before' to 'of' and removed the brackets, as in the text printed.
Here, however, he neglected to change 'yesterday' (see also note
24). These slips are odd, but do not seem to have any particular
significance.
It is seen subsequently how these Elves could have 'heard all
about that from the Rivendell people', for Bingo tells Gildor (p. 63)
that Gandalf 'went off with the dwarves and the Rivendell elves as
soon as the fireworks were over.' The meeting between them is in
fact mentioned later (p. 101).
18. The typescript runs straight on from me have heard all about that,
of course, from the Rivendell people to 'O Wise People, ' said Frodo,
and the passage beginning 'Then who are you, and who is your lord?'
said Bingo is an addition. In the typescript as typed the leader of the
Elves is not named until towards the end, where after they had eaten
'Bingo remained talking with Gildor, the leader of the Elves'
(p. 62); all references to Gildor before that are corrections in ink
19. As the text was typed, Bingo said: 'Because we have seen two Black
Riders, or one twice over, today.' The changed text accompanies the
story of the Rider who paused momentarily beside the hollow tree
(see note r r ).
20. For the 'elf-latin' (Qenya) see the Lhammas $4, V. 172.
21. This passage is an alteration of the text as typed, which read:
... we are very easy to please (for hobbits). For myself I can only
say that the delight of meeting you has already made this a day of
bright Adventure.'
'Bilbo was a good master,' said the Elf bowing. 'Come now, join
our company, and we will go. You had best walk in the middle...'
22. This sentence replaced the following:
'Be careful, friends,' said one laughing. 'Speak no secrets! Here
is a scholar in the elf-latin and all the dialects. Bilbo was indeed a
good master.'
See note 21 and the altered passage referred to there.
23. This is the first occurrence of the name Gildor in the text as typed;
see note r 8.
24. For my birthday the day before yesterday the text as typed had
yesterday; see note 17.
25. The conversation between Bingo and Gildor to this point, begin-
ning at You can fence yourselves in, but you have no means of
fencing it out (p. 63), is the last of the replacement typescript pages.
The differences from the earlier form are in fact very slight, except
in these points. Bingo did not say that Gandalf had told him not to
put off his journey later than the autumn, but simply 'He helped me,
and seemed to think it a good idea'; and Gildor's reply therefore
begins differently: 'I wonder. He may not have known they were in
the Shire; yet he knows more about them than we do.' And Bingo
said that Odo and Frodo 'only know that I am on a Journey - on a
sort of prolonged (and possibly permanent) holiday from Hob-
biton; and making for Rivendell to begin with.'
26. Struck from the typescript here: 'and it might prevent you from
taking it.'
27. Struck from the typescript here: '(for the matter is outside the
concern of such Elves as we are).'
*
It is characteristic that while the dramatis personae are not the same, and
the story possesses as yet none of the dimension, the gravity, and the
sense of vast danger, imparted by the second chapter of The Fellowship of
the Ring, a good part of 'Three is Company' was already in being; for
once the journey has started not only the structure of the final narrative
but much of the detail is present, though countless modifications in
expression were to come, and in several substantial passages the chapter
was scarcely changed afterwards.
While 'Bingo' is directly equatable with the later 'Frodo', the other
relations are more complex. It is true that, comparing the text as it was
at this stage with the final form in FR, it may be said simply that
'Odo' became 'Pippin' while Frodo Took disappeared: of the individual
speeches in this chapter which remained into FR almost every remark
made by Odo was afterwards given to Pippin. But the way in which this
came about was in fact strangely tortuous, and was by no means a simple
substitution of one name for another (see further pp. 323 - 4). Frodo
Took is seen as a less limited and more aware being than Odo, more
susceptible to the beauty and otherness of the Elves; it is he who speaks
The Road goes ever on and on, and it is to him that the recollection of the
words of the song to Elbereth is first attributed (note 15). Some element
of him might be said to be preserved in Sam Gamgee (who of course
imparts a new and entirely distinctive air to the developed form of the
chapter); it was Frodo Took who with bated breath whispered Elves!
when their voices were first heard coming down the road.
Most remarkable is the fact that when the story of the beginning of the
Journey, the coming of the Black Riders, and the meeting with Gildor
and his company, was written, and written so that its content would not
in essentials be changed afterwards, Bingo has no faintest inkling of what
the Riders want with him. Gandalf has told him nothing. He has no
reason to associate the Riders with his ring, and no reason to regard it as
more than a highly convenient magical device - he slips it on each time a
Rider passes, naturally.
Of course, the fact that Bingo is wholly ignorant of the nature of the
pursuing menace, utterly baffled by the black horsemen, does not imply
that my father was also. There are several suggestions that new ideas had
arisen in the background, not explicitly conveyed in the narrative, but
deliberately reduced to dark hints of danger in the words of Gildor (that
this was so will be seen more clearly at the beginning of the next chapter).
It may be that it was the 'unpremeditated' conversion of the cloaked and
muffled horseman who overtook them on the road from Gandalf to a
'black rider' (p. 48), combining with the idea already present that Bilbo's
ring was of dark origin and strange properties (pp. 42 - 3) that was the
impulse of the new conceptions.
From the early rewriting of the conversation between Gildor and
Bingo (see p. 63 and note 25) it emerges that Gandalf had warned
Bingo not to delay his departure beyond the autumn (though without,
apparently, giving him any reason for the warning), and in both forms of
the text Gildor evidently knows something about the Riders, says that
'by what seems strange good luck you went just in time', and associates
them with the Ring: warning Bingo against using it again to escape them,
and suggesting that the use of it 'helps them more than you.' (The Ring
had not been mentioned in their conversation, but we can suppose that
Bingo had previously told Gildor that he had used it when the Riders
came by).
The idea of the Riders and the Ring was no doubt evolving as my
father wrote. I think it very possible that when he first described the halts
of the black horsemen beside the hiding hobbits he imagined them as
drawn by scent alone (see p. 75); and it is not clear in any case in what
way the use of the Ring would 'help them more than you.' As I have said,
it is deeply characteristic that these scenes emerged at once in the clear
and memorable form that was never changed, but that their bearing and
significance would afterwards be enormously enlarged. The 'event' (one
might say) was fixed, but its meaning capable of indefinite extension; and
this is seen, over and over again, as a prime mark of my father's writing.
In FR, from the intervening chapter The Shadow of the Past, we have
some notion of what that other feeling was which struggled with Frodo's
desire to hide, of why Gandalf had so urgently forbidden him to use the
Ring, and of why he was driven irresistibly to put it on; and when we
have read further we know what would have happened if he had. The
scenes here are empty by comparison, yet they are the same scenes. Even
such slight remarks as Bingo's 'I don't know, and I don't want to guess'
(p. 55) - in the context, a mere expression of doubt and discomfort, if
with a suggestion that Gandalf must have said something, or rather, that
my father was beginning to think that Gandalf must have said something
- survived to take on a much more menacing significance in FR (p. 85),
where we have a very good idea of what Frodo chose not to guess about.
Frodo Took's story of his meeting with a Rider on the moors in the
North of the Shire in the previous spring is the forerunner of Sam's
sudden remembering that a Rider had come to Hobbiton and spoken
with Gaffer Gamgee on the evening of their departure; but it seems
strange that the beginning of the hunt for 'Baggins' should be set so long
before (see p. 74 and note 4).
The striking out of Gildor's words 'for the matter is outside the
concern of such Elves as we are' (note 27) is interesting. At first, I think,
my father thought of these Elves as 'Dark-elves'; but he now decided that
they (and also the Elves of Rivendell) were indeed 'High Elves of the
West', and he added in Gildor's words to Bingo on p. 60 (see note 18):
they were 'Wise-elves' (Noldor or Gnomes), 'one of the few companies
that still remain east of the Sea', and he himself is Gildor Inglorion of the
house of Finrod. With these words of Gildor's cf. the Quenta Silmarillion
$28, in V.332:
Yet not all the Eldalie were willing to forsake the Hither Lands where
they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an age
in the West and North... But ever as the ages drew on and the Elf-folk
faded upon earth, they would set sail at eve from the western shores of
this world, as still they do, until now there linger few anywhere of their
lonely companies.
At this time Finrod was the name of the third son of Finwe (first Lord of
the Noldor). This was later changed to Finarfin, when Inglor Felagund
his son took over the name Finrod (see I.44), but my father did not
change 'of the house of Finrod' here (FR p. 89) to 'of the house of
Finarfin' in the second edition of The Lord of the Rings. See further
p. 188 (end of note g).
The geography of the Shire was now taking more substantial shape. In
this chapter there emerge the North Moor(s); the Green Hill Country
lying to the south of Hobbiton; the Pool of Bywater (described in rough
drafting for the passage as a 'little lake'); the East Road to the Brandy-
wine Bridge, where the Water joined the Brandywine; the road branch-
ing off from it southward and leading in a direct line to Buckland; and the
hamlet of Woodhall in the Woody End.
III.
OF GOLLUM AND THE RING.
I have suggested that by this stage my father knew a good deal more
about the Riders and the Ring than Bingo did, or than he permitted
Gildor to tell; and evidence for this is found in the manuscript draft
referred to on p. 48. This begins, at any rate, as a draft for a part of the
conversation between Bingo and Gildor, but the talk here moves into
topics which my father excluded from the typescript version (pp.
62-5). Gildor is not yet named, in fact, and indeed it was apparently in
this text that he emerged as an individual: at first the conversation is
between Bingo and an undifferentiated plural 'they'.
The passage begins with an apparently disconnected sentence: 'Since
he did not tell his companions what he discovered I think I shall not tell
you.' (Does this refer to what Bingo discovered from the Elves?) Then
follows:
'Of course,' they said, 'we know that you are in search of
Adventure; but it often happens that when you think it is ahead, it
comes up unexpectedly from behind. Why did you choose this
moment to set out?'
'Well, the moment was really inevitable, you know,' said Bingo.
'I had come to the end of my treasure. And by wandering I
thought I might find some more, like old Bilbo, and at least should
be able more easily to live without any. I thought too it might be
good for me. I was getting rather soft and fat.'
'Yes,' they laughed, 'you look just like an ordinary hobbit.'
'But though I can do a few things - like carpentry and garden-
ing: I did not feel inclined somehow to make other people's chairs,
or grow other people's vegetables for a living. I suppose some tiny
touch of dragon-curse came to me. I am gold-lazy.'
'Then Gandalf did not tell you anything? You were not actually
escaping.'
'What do you mean? What from?'
'Well, this black rider,' they said.
'I don't understand them at all.'
'Then Gandalf told you nothing? '
'Not about them. He warned Bilbo a long time ago about the
Ring, of course. Don t use it too much!> he used to say. <And
only use it for proper purposes. I mean, do not use it except for
jest, or for escaping from danger and annoyance - don't use it for
harm, or for finding out other people's secrets, and of course not
for theft or worse things. Because it may get the better of you." I
did not understand.
'I seldom saw Gandalf after Bilbo went away. But about a year
ago he came one night, and I told him of the plan I was beginning
to make for leaving Bag-end. "What about the Ring?" he asked.
"Are you being careful? Do be careful: otherwise you will be
overcome by it." I had as a matter of fact hardly ever used it - and I
did not use it again after that talk until my birthday party.'
'Does anyone else know about it?'
'I cannot say; but I don't think so. Bilbo kept it very secret. He
always told me that I was the only one who knew about it (in the
Shire).(2) I never told anyone else except Odo and Frodo who are
my best friends. I have tried to be to them what Bilbo was to me.
But even to them I never spoke of the Ring until they agreed to
come with me on this Journey a few months ago. They would not
tell anyone - though we often speak of it among ourselves. - Well,
what do you make of it all? I can see you are bursting with secrets,
but I cannot guess any of them.'
'Well,' said the Elf. 'I don't know much about this. You must
find Gandalf as quick as you can - Rivendell I think is the place to go
to. But it is my belief that the Lord of the Ring' is looking for you.'
'Is that bad or good?'
'Bad; but how bad I cannot say. Bad enough if he only wants the
ring back (which is unlikely); worse, if he wants payment; very
bad indeed if he wants you as well (which is quite likely). We fancy
that he must at last after many years have found out that Bilbo had
it. Hence the asking for Baggins.' But somehow the search for
Baggins failed, and then something must have been discovered
about you. But by strange luck you must have held your party and
vanished just as they found out where you lived. You put off the
scent; but they are hot on it now.'
'Who are they?'
'Servants of the Lord of the Ring - [? people] who have passed
through the Ring.'
This ends a sheet, and the following sheet is not continuous with what
precedes; but as found among my father's papers they were placed
together, and on both of them he wrote (later) 'About Ring-wraiths'. The
second passage is also part of a conversation, but there is no indication of
who the speaker is (whoever it is, he is obviously speaking to Bingo). It
was written at great speed and is extremely difficult to make out.
Yes, if the Ring overcomes you, you yourself become perman-
ently invisible - and it is a horrible cold feeling. Everything
becomes very faint like grey ghost pictures against the black
background in which you live; but you can smell more clearly than
you can hear or see.(5) You have no power however like a Ring of
making other things invisible: you are a ringwraith. You can wear
clothes. [> you are just a ringwraith; and your clothes are visible,
unless the Lord lends you a ring.] But you are under the command
of the Lord of the Rings.(6)
I expect that one (or more) of these Ringwraiths have been sent
to get the ring away from hobbits.
In the very ancient days the Ring-lord made many of these
Rings: and sent them out through the world to snare people. He
sent them to all sorts of folk - the Elves had many, and there are
now many elfwraiths in the world, but the Ring-lord cannot rule
them; the goblins got many, and the invisible goblins are very evil
and wholly under the Lord; dwarves I don't believe had any; some
say the rings don't work on them: they are too solid. Men had few,
but they were most quickly overcome and..... The men-wraiths
are also servants of the Lord. Other creatures got them. Do
you remember Bilbo's story of Gollum? (7) We don't know where
Gollum comes in - certainly not elf, nor goblin; he is probably not
dwarf; we rather believe he really belongs to an ancient sort of
hobbit. Because the ring seems to act just the same for him and
you. Long ago [? he belonged].... to a wise, cleverhanded and
quietfooted little family. But he disappeared underground, and
though he used the ring often the Lord evidently lost track of it.
Until Bilbo brought it out to light again.
Of course Gollum himself may have heard news - all the
mountains were full of it after the battle - and tried to get back the
ring, or told the Lord.
At this point the manuscript stops. Here is a first glimpse of an earlier
history of Gollum; a suggestion of how the hunt for the Ring originated;
and a first sketching of the idea that the Dark Lord gave out Rings among
the peoples of Middle-earth. The Rings conferred invisibility, and (it is
at least implied) this invisibility was associated with the fate (or at least
the peril) of the bearers of the Rings: that they become 'wraiths' and - in
the case of goblins and men - servants of the Dark Lord.
Now at some very early stage my father wrote a chapter, without
number or title, in which he made use of the passage just given; and this
is the first drafting of (a part of) what ultimately became Chapter z, 'The
Shadow of the Past'. As I have noticed, in the second of these two
passages marked 'About Ring-wraiths' it is not clear who is speaking. It
may be Gildor, or it may be Gandalf, or (perhaps most likely) neither the
one nor the other, but indeterminate; but in any case I think that my
father decided when writing the draft text of the second chapter that he
would not have Gildor discussing these matters with Bingo (as he
certainly does in the first of these 'Ring-wraith' passages, p. 74), but
would reserve them for Gandalf's instruction, and that this was the
starting-point of the chapter which I now give, in which as I have said he
made use of the second 'Ring-wraith' passage. Whether he wrote this text
at once, before going on to the third chapter (IV in this book), seems
impossible to say; but the fact that Marmaduke is mentioned shows that
it preceded 'In the House of Tom Bombadil', where 'Meriadoc' and
'Merry' first appear. This, at any rate, is a convenient place to put it.
Subsequently my father referred to it as a 'foreword' (see p. 224), and
it is clear that it was written as a possible new beginning for the book, in
which Gandalf tells Bingo at Bag End, not long before the Party,
something of the history and nature of his Ring, of his danger, and of the
need for him to leave his home. It was composed very rapidly and is hard
to read. I have introduced punctuation where needed, and occasionally
put in silently necessary connective words. There are many pencilled
alterations and additions which are here ignored, for they are anticipa-
tions of a later version of the chapter; but changes belonging to the time
of composition are adopted into the text. There is no title.
One day long ago two people were sitting talking in a small
room. One was a wizard and the other was a hobbit, and the
room was the sitting-room of the comfortable and well-furnished
hobbit-hole known as Bag-end, Underhill, on the outskirts of
Hobbiton in the middle of the Shire. The wizard was of course
Gandalf and he looked much the same as he had always done,
though ninety years and more (8) had gone by since he last came into
any story that is now remembered. The hobbit was Bingo Bolger-
Baggins, the nephew (or really first cousin once removed) of old
Bilbo Baggins, and his adopted heir. Bilbo had quietly disap-
peared many years before, but he was not forgotten in Hobbiton.
Bingo of course was always thinking about him; and when
Gandalf paid him a visit their talk usually came back to Bilbo.
Gandalf had not been to Hobbiton for some time: since Bilbo
disappeared his visits had become fewer and more secret. The
people of Hobbiton had not in fact seen or at any rate noticed him
for many years: he used to come quietly up to the door of Bag-end
in the twilight and step in without knocking, and only Bingo (and
one or two of his closest friends) knew he had been in the Shire.
This evening he had slipped in in his usual way, and Bingo was
more than usually glad to see him. For he was worried, and
wanted explanations and advice.' They were now talking of Bilbo,
and his disappearance, and particularly about the Ring (which he
had left behind with Bingo) - and about certain strange signs and
portents of trouble brewing after a long time of peace and quiet.'
'It is all very peculiar - and most disturbing and in fact
terrifying,' said Bingo. Gandalf was sitting smoking in a high
chair, and Bingo near his feet was huddled on a stool warming his
hands by a small wood-fire as if he felt chilly, though actually it
was rather a warm evening for the time of the year [written above:
at the end of August].(11) Gandalf grunted - the sound might have
meant 'I quite agree, but it can't be helped,' or else possibly 'What
a silly thing to say.' There was a long silence. 'How long have you
known all this?' asked Bingo at length; 'and did you ever talk about
it to Bilbo?'
'I guessed a good deal immediately,' answered Gandalf slowly,
as if searching back in memory. Already to him the days of the
journey and the Dragon and the Battle of Five Armies began to
seem far off - in an almost legendary past. Perhaps even he was at
last getting to feel his age a little; and in any case many dark and
curious adventures had befallen him since then. 'I guessed much,'
he said, 'but soon I learnt more, for I went, as Bilbo may have told
you, to the land of the Necromancer." For a moment his voice
faded to a whisper. 'But I knew that all was well with Bilbo,' he
went on. 'Bilbo was safe, for that kind of power was powerless over
him - or so I thought, and I was right in a way (if not quite right). I
kept an eye on him and it, of course, but perhaps I was not careful
enough.'
'I am sure you did your best,' said Bingo, meaning to console
him. 'O dearest and best friend of our house, may your beard
never grow less! But it must have been rather a blow when Bilbo
disappeared.'
'Not at all,' said Gandalf, with a sudden return to his ordinary
tones. He sent out a great jet of smoke with an indignant poof and it
coiled round his head like a cloud on a mountain. 'That did not
worry me. Bilbo is all right. It is you and all these other dear, silly,
charming, idiotic, helpless hobbits that trouble me! It would be a
mortal blow if the dark power should overcome the Shire, and all
these jolly, greedy, stupid Bolgers, Bagginses, Brandybucks,
Hornblowers, Proudfoots and whatnot became Wraiths.'
Bingo shuddered. 'But why should we?' he asked; 'and why
should the Lord want such servants, and what has all this to do
with me and the Ring?'
'It is the only Ring left,' said Gandalf. 'And hobbits are the only
people of whom the Lord has not yet mastered any one.
'In (13) the ancient days the dark master made many Rings, and he
dealt them out lavishly, so that they might be spread abroad to
ensnare folk. The elves had many, and there are now many elf-
wraiths in the world; the goblins had some and their wraiths are
very evil and wholly under the command of the Lord. The
dwarves it is said had seven, but nothing could make them
invisible. In them it only kindled to flames the fire of greed, and
the foundation of each of the seven hoards of the Dwarves of old
was a golden ring. In this way the master controlled them. But
these hoards are destroyed, and the dragons have devoured them,
and the rings are melted, or so some say.(14) Men had three rings,
and others they found in secret places cast away by the elf-wraiths:
the men-wraiths are servants of the Lord, and they brought all
their rings back to him; till at last he had gathered all into his
hands again that had not been destroyed by fire - all save one.
'It fell from the hand of an elf as he swam across a river; and it
betrayed him, for he was flying from pursuit in the old wars, and
he became visible to his enemies, and the goblins slew him.' But
a fish took the ring and was filled with madness, and swam
upstream, leaping over rocks and up waterfalls until it cast itself
on a bank and spat out the ring and died.
'There was long ago living by the bank of the stream a wise,
cleverhanded and quietfooted little family." I guess they were of
hobbit-kind, or akin to the fathers of the fathers of the hobbits.
The most inquisitive and curious-minded of that family was called
Digol. He was interested in roots and beginnings; he dived in deep
pools, he burrowed under trees and growing plants, he tunnelled
into green mounds, and he ceased to look up at flowers, and hill-
tops, or the birds that are in the upper air: his head and eyes were
downward. He found the ring in the mud of the river-bank under
the roots of a thorn tree; and he put it on; and when he returned
home none of his family saw him while he wore it. He was pleased
with his discovery and concealed it, and he used it to discover
secrets, and put his knowledge to malicious use, and became
sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was unpleasant. It is not to
be wondered at that he became very unpopular, and was shunned
(when visible) by all his relatives. They kicked him, and he bit
their feet. He took to muttering to himself and gurgling in his
throat. So they called him Gollum, and cursed him, and told him
to go far away. He wandered in loneliness up the stream and
caught fish with his fingers in deep pools and ate them raw. One
day it was very hot, and as he was bending over a pool he felt a
burning on the back of his head, and a dazzling light from the
water pained his eyes. He wondered, for he had almost forgotten
about the sun; and for the last time he looked up and shook his fist
at it; but as he lowered his eyes again he saw far ahead the tops of
the Misty Mountains. And he thought suddenly: "It would be
cool and shady under those mountains. The sun could never find
me there. And the roots of those peaks must be roots indeed; there
must be great secrets buried there which have not been discovered
since the beginning." So he journeyed by night towards the
mountains, and found a hole out of which a stream issued; and he
wormed his way in like a maggot in the heart of the hills, and
disappeared from all knowledge. And the ring went into the
shadows with him, and even the Master lost it. But whenever he
counted his rings, besides the seven rings that the Dwarves had
held and lost, there was also one missing.'
'Gollum!' said Bingo. 'Do you mean that Gollum that Bilbo
met? Is that his history? How very horrible and sad. I hate to think
that he was connected with hobbits, however distantly.'
'But that surely was plain from Bilbo's own account,' said
Gandalf. 'It is the only thing that explains the events - or partly
explains them. There was a lot in the background of both their
minds and memories that was very similar - they understood one
another really (if you think of it) better than hobbits ever under-
stood dwarves, elves, or goblins.'
'Still, Gollum must have been, or be, very much older than the
oldest hobbit that ever lived in field or burrow,' said Bingo.
'That was the Ring,' said Gandalf. 'Of course it is a poor sort of
long life that the Ring gives, a kind of stretched life rather than a
continued growing - a sort of thinning and thinning. Frightfully
wearisome, Bingo, in fact finally tormenting. Even Gollum came
at last to feel it, to feel he could not bear it, and to understand
dimly the cause of the torment. He had even made up his mind to
get rid of it. But he was too full of malice. If you want to know, I
believe he had begun to make a plan that he had not the courage
left to carry out. There was nothing new to find out; nothing left
but darkness, nothing to do but cold eating, and regretful remem-
bering. He wanted to slip out and leave the mountains, and smell
the open air even if it killed him - as he thought it probably would.
But that would have meant leaving the Ring. And that is not easy
to do. The longer you have had one the harder it is. It was
especially hard for Gollum, as he had had a Ring for ages, and it
hurt him and he hated it, and he wanted, when he could no longer
bear to keep it, to hand it on to someone else to whom it would
become a burden - [? bind] itself as a blessing and turn to a curse.(17)
That is in fact the best way of getting rid of its power.'
'Why not give it to the goblins, then?' asked Bingo.
'I don't think Gollum would have found that amusing enough,'
said Gandalf. 'The goblins are already so beastly and miserable
that it was wasting malice on them. Also it would have been
difficult to escape from the hunters if there was an invisible goblin
to reckon with. But I suppose he might have put it in their path in
the end (if he had plucked up enough courage to do anything); but
for the unexpected arrival of Bilbo. You remember how surprised
he was. But as soon as the riddles started a plan formed in his mind
- or half-formed. I dare say his old bad habits would have beaten
his resolves and he would have eaten Bilbo if it had proved easy.
But there was the sword, you remember. In his heart, I fancy, he
never seriously expected to get a chance of eating Bilbo.'
'But he never gave Bilbo the ring,' said Bingo. 'Bilbo had got it
already! '
'I know,' said Gandalf. 'And that is why I said that Gollum's
ancestry only partly explained events. There was, of course,
something much more mysterious behind the whole thing -
something quite beyond the Lord of the Rings himself, peculiar to
Bilbo and his great Adventure. There was a queer fate over these
rings, and especially over [? this] one. They got lost occasionally,
and turned up in strange places. This one had already slipped
away from its owner treacherously once before. It had slipped
away from Gollum too. That is why I let Bilbo keep the ring so
long.' But for the moment I am trying to explain Gollum.'
'I see,' said Bingo doubtfully. 'But do you know what happened
afterwards? '
'Not very clearly,' said Gandalf. 'I have heard a little, and can
guess more. I think it certain that Gollum knew in the end that
Bilbo had somehow got the Ring. He may well have guessed it
soon. But in any case the news of the later events went all over
Wilderland and far beyond, East, West, and South and North.
The mountains were full of whispers and reports; and that would
give Gollum enough to think about.(19) Anyway, it is said that
Gollum left the mountains - for the goblins had become very few
there, and the deep places more than ever dark and lonely, and the
power of the ring had left him. He was probably feeling old, very
old, but less timid. But I do not think he became less wicked.
There is no news of what happened to him afterwards. Of course,
it is quite likely that wind and the mere shadow of sunlight killed
him pretty quickly. But it is possible that it did not. He was
cunning. He could hide from daylight or moonlight till he slowly
grew more used to things. I have in fact a horrible fancy that he
made his slow sneaking way bit by bit to the dark tower, to the
Necromancer, the Lord of the Rings. I think that Gollum is very
likely the beginning of our present trouble; and that through him
the Lord found out where to look for this last and most precious
and potent of his Rings.'
'What a pity Bilbo did not stab the beastly creature when he said
goodbye,' said Bingo....
'What nonsense you do talk sometimes, Bingo,' said Gandalf.
'Pity! It was pity that prevented him. And he could not do so,
without doing wrong. It was against the rules. If he had done so he
would not have had the ring, the ring would have had him at once.
He might have been a wraith on the spot.'
'Of course, of course,' said Bingo. 'What a thing to say of Bilbo.
Dear old Bilbo! But why did he keep the thing, or why did you let
him? Didn't you warn him about it?'
'Yes,' said Gandalf. 'But even over Bilbo it had some power.
Sentiment....... He liked to keep it as a memento. Let us be
frank - he continued to be proud of his Great Adventure, and to
look on the ring now and again warmed his memory, and made
him feel just a trifle heroic. But he could hardly have helped
himself anyway: if you think for a moment, it is not really very
easy to get rid of a Ring once you have got it.'
'Why not?' said Bingo, after thinking for a moment. 'You can
give it away, throw it away, or destroy it.'
'Yes,' said Gandalf - 'or you can surrender it: to the Master.
That is if you wish to serve him, and to fall into his power, and to
greatly increase his power.'
'But no one would wish to do that,' said Bingo, horrified.
'Nobody that you can imagine, perhaps,' answered Gandalf.
'Certainly not Bilbo. That is what made it difficult for him. He
dared not throw it away lest it get into evil hands, and be misused,
and find its way back to the Master after doing much evil. He
would not give it away to bad folk for the same reason; and he
would not give it away to good folk or people he knew and trusted
because he did not wish to burden them with it, any sooner than he
was obliged. And he could not destroy it.'
'Why not?'
'Well, how would you destroy it? Have you ever tried?'
'No; but I suppose one could hammer it, or melt it, or do
both.'
'Try them,' said Gandalf, 'and you will find out what Bilbo
found out long ago.'
Bingo drew the Ring out of an inner pocket, and looked at it. It
was plain and smooth without device, emblem, or rune; but it was
of gold, and as he looked at it it seemed to Bingo that its colour
was rich and beautiful, and its roundness perfect. It was very
admirable and wholly precious. He had thought of throwing it
into the hot embers of the fire. He found he could not do so
without a struggle. He weighed the Ring in his hand, and then
with an effort of will he made a movement as if to throw it in the
fire; but he found he had put it back in his pocket.
Gandalf laughed. 'You see? You have always regarded it as a
great treasure, and an heirloom from Bilbo. Now you cannot
easily get rid of it. Though as a matter of fact, even if you took it to
an anvil and summoned enough will to strike it with a heavy
hammer, you would make no dint on it. Your little wood-fire, of
course, even if you blew all night with a bellows would hardly melt
any gold. But old Adam Hornblower the smith down the road
could not melt it in his furnace. They say only dragonfire can melt
them - but I wonder if that is not a legend, or at any rate if there
are any dragons now left in which the old fire is hot enough. I
fancy you would have to find one of the Cracks of Earth in the
depths of the Fiery Mountain, and drop it down into the Secret
Fire, if you really wanted to destroy it.'>
'After all your talk,' said Bingo, half solemnly and half in
pretended annoyance, 'I really do want to destroy it. I cannot
think how Bilbo put up with it for so long, if he knew as much -
but he actually used it sometimes, and joked about it to me.'
'The only thing to do with such perilous treasures that Adven-
ture has bestowed on you is to take them lightheartedly,' said
Gandalf. 'Bilbo never used the ring for any serious purpose after
he came back. He knew that it was too serious a matter. And I
think he taught you well - after he had chosen you as his heir from
among all the hobbits of his kindred.'
There was a long silence again, while Gandalf puffed at his pipe
in apparent content, though under his lids his eyes were watching
Bingo intently. Bingo gazed at the red embers, that began to glow
as the light faded and the room grew slowly dark. He was thinking
about the fabled Cracks of Earth and the terror of the Fiery
Mountain.
'Well?' said Gandalf at last. 'What are you thinking about? Are
you making any plans or getting any ideas?'
'No,' said Bingo coming back to himself, and finding to his
surprise that he was in the dark. 'Or perhaps yes! As far as I can see
I have got to leave Hobbiton, leave the Shire, leave everything and
go away and draw the danger after me. I must save the Shire
somehow, though there have been times when I thought it too
stupid and dull for anything, and fancied a big explosion or an
invasion of dragons might do it good! But I don't feel like that
now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind safe and comfort-
able, I shall find wandering and adventures bearable. I shall feel
there is some foothold somewhere, even if I can't ever stand on it
myself again. But I suppose I must go alone. I feel rather minute,
don't you know, and extremely uprooted, and, well, frightened, I
suppose. Help me, Gandalf, best of friends.'
'Cheer up, Bingo, my lad,' said Gandalf, throwing two small
logs of wood on the fire and puffing it with his mouth. Immediately
the wood blazed up and filled the room with dancing light. 'No, I
don't think you need or should go alone. Why not ask your three
best friends to, beg them to, order them to (if you must) - I mean
the three, the only three who you have (perhaps indiscreetly but
perhaps with wise choice) told about your secret Ring: Odo,
Frodo, and Marmaduke [written above: Meriadoc]. But you must
go quickly - and make it a joke, Bingo, a joke, a huge joke,
a resounding jest. Don't be mournful and serious. Jokes are really
in your line. That's what Bilbo liked about you (among other
things), if you care to know.'
'And where shall we go, and what shall we steer by, and what
shall be our quest?' said Bingo, without a trace of a smile or the
glimmer of a jest. 'When the huge joke is over, what then?'
'At present I have no idea,' said Gandalf, quite seriously and
much to Bingo's surprise and dismay. 'But it will be just the
opposite of Bilbo's adventure - to begin with, at any rate. You will
set out on a journey without any known destination; and as far as
you have any object it will not be to win new treasure but to get rid
of a treasure that belongs (one might say) inevitably to you. But
you cannot even start without going East, West, South, or North;
and which shall we choose? Towards danger, and yet not too
rashly or too straight towards it. Go East. Yes, yes, I have it. Make
first for Rivendell, and then we shall see. Yes, we shall see then.
Indeed, I begin to see already! ' Suddenly Gandalf began to
chuckle. He rubbed his long gnarled hands together and cracked
the finger-joints. He leant forward to Bingo. 'I have thought of a
joke,' he said. 'Just a rough plan - you can set your comic wits to
work on it.' And his beard wagged backwards and forwards as he
whispered long in Bingo's ear. The fire burned low again - but
suddenly in the darkness an unexpected sound rang out. Bingo
was rocking with laughter.
NOTES.
1. My father's own thought is surely transparent here. Bingo introduces
the subject of the Ring as if it had some connection with the Riders,
whereas he is obviously intended to appear as quite unable even to
guess at their significance; and there is no suggestion in the drafts
that the Ring had been mentioned before this point.
2. (in the Shire): my father first wrote 'except Gandalf'. The words '(in
the Shire)' probably mean no more than that: i.e., no one save Bilbo
and Bingo, and outside the Shire only Gandalf, and anyone else
whom Gandalf might possibly have told.
3. This is probably the first time that the expression The Lord of the
Ring was used; and The Lord of the Rings occurs below (note 6). (My
father gave The Lord of the Ring as the title of the new work in a letter
to Allen and Unwin of 31 August 1938).
4. Hence the asking for Baggins: this is not mentioned in the manu-
script drafts, but see the typescript version, p. 54 and note g. The
following sentence, 'But somehow the search for Baggins failed, and
then something must have been discovered about you' perhaps
explains the story that Frodo Took met a Black Rider on the North
Moor as early as the previous spring (see p. 71).
5. My father first wrote here that the clothing of one who has thus
become permanently invisible was invisible also, but rejected the
statement as soon as written.
6. This seems to be the first appearance of the expression?he Lord of
the Rings; see note 3.
7. After this sentence my father wrote: 'Gollum I think some sort of
distant kinsman of the goblin sort.' Since this is contradicted in the
next sentence it was obviously rejected in the act of writing; he
crossed it out later.
8. ninety years and more: see pp. 31-3.
9. At no point in this text is there any further mention of Bingo's
'worry', and the advice that he asks is entirely based on what
Gandalf now tells him and which is obviously entirely new to him.
There is also no further reference to the 'strange signs and portents
of trouble brewing' spoken of in the next sentence, nor any expla-
nation of Gandalf's remark (p. 81) that 'Gollum is very likely the
beginning of our present trouble.'
10. This ends the first page of the manuscript. At the head of the second
page my father wrote in pencil: 'Gandalf and Bingo discuss Rings
and Gollum', and 'Draft: Later used in Chapter II', and he
numbered the pages (previously unnumbered) in Greek letters,
beginning at this point. Thus the first page is left out. But these
pencillings were clearly put in long after, and in my view they cast
no doubt on the validity of the opening section as an integral part of
the text. May be it had at one time become separated and mislaid;
but as the papers were found it was placed with the rest.
11. Rumour of the Party - decided on between Gandalf and Bingo at the
end of this text - began to circulate early in September (p. 30).
12. In The Hobbit (Chapter I) Gandalf told Thorin at Bag End that he
found his father Thrain 'in the dungeons of the Necromancer'. In
the Tale of Years in LR Appendix B this, Gandalf's second visit to
Dol Guldur, took place in the year 2850, forty years before Bilbo's
birth; it was then that he 'discovered that its master was indeed
Sauron' (cf. FR p. 263). But here the meaning is clearly that
Gandalf went to the land of the Necromancer after Bilbo's acquisi-
tion of the Ring. Later my father altered the text in pencil to read:
'for I went back once more to the land of the Necromancer.'
13. Here the earlier draft concerning the Rings is used: see p. 75.
14. See FR p. 60 and LR Appendix A pp. 357-8.
15. This is the first germ of the story of the death of Isildur.
16. This is also derived from the text referred to in note 13.
17. This sentence as first written ended: 'and he wanted to hand it on to
someone else.' It is to this that the following sentence refers.
18. The passage beginning 'There was a queer fate' was an addition, and
'That is why I let Bilbo keep the ring so long' refers to the sentence
ending '... peculiar to Bilbo and his great Adventure.'
19. Cf. the draft passage given on p. 75: 'Of course Gollum himself may
have heard news - all the mountains were full of it after the battle -
and tried to get back the ring.'
20. The first mention of the Fiery Mountain and the Cracks of Earth in
its depths.
*
It will be seen that a part of the 'Gollum' element in 'The Shadow of the
Past' (Chapter 2 in FR) was at once very largely achieved, even though
Digol * (later Deagol) is Gollum himself, and not his friend whom he
murdered, though Gandalf had never seen him (and so no explanation is
given of how he knows his history, which of its nature could only be
derived from Gollum's own words), and though it is only surmised that
he went at last to the Dark Lord.
It is important to realise that when my father wrote this, he was
working within the constraints of the story as originally told in The
Hobbit. As The Hobbit first appeared, and until 1951, the story was that
Gollum, encountering Bilbo at the edge of the subterranean lake,
proposed the riddle game on these conditions: 'If precious asks, and it
doesn't answer, we eats it, my preciousss. If it asks us, and we doesn't
answer, we gives it a present, gollum!' When Bilbo won the contest,
Gollum held to his promise, and went back in his boat to his island in the
lake to find his treasure, the ring which was to be his present to Bilbo. He
could not find it, for Bilbo had it in his pocket, and coming back to Bilbo
he begged his pardon many times: 'He kept on saying: "We are ssorry:
we didn't mean to cheat, we meant to give it our only present, if it won the
competition".' '"Never mind!" he [Bilbo] said. "The ring would have
been mine now, if you had found it; so you would have lost it anyway.
And I will let you off on one condition." "Yes, what iss it? What does it
wish us to do, my precious." "Help me to get out of these places", said
Bilbo.' And Gollum did so; and Bilbo 'said good-bye to the nasty
miserable creature.' On the way up through the tunnels Bilbo slipped on
the ring, and Gollum at once missed him, so that Bilbo perceived that the
ring was as Gollum had told him - it made you invisible.
This is why, in the present text, Gandalf says 'I think it certain that
Gollum knew in the end that Bilbo had got the ring', and why my father
had Gandalf develop a theory that Gollum was actually ready to give the
ring away: 'he wanted... to hand it on to someone else... I suppose he
might have put it in [the goblins'] path in the end... but for the
unexpected arrival of Bilbo... as soon as the riddles started a plan
formed in his mind.' This is all carefully conceived in relation to the text
of The Hobbit as it then was, to meet the formidable difficulty: if the Ring
were of such a nature as my father now conceived it, how could Gollum
have really intended to give it away to a stranger who won a riddle
contest? - and the original text of The Hobbit left no doubt that that
was indeed his serious intention. But it is interesting to observe that
Gandalf's remarks about the affinity of mind between Gollum and
Bilbo, which survived into FR (pp. 63 - 4), originally arose in this
context, of explaining how it was that Gollum was willing to let his
treasure go.
(* Old English digol, deagol, etc. 'secret, hidden'; cf. LR Appendix F (p. 415).)
Turning to what is told of the Rings in this text, the original idea
(p. 75) that the Elves had many Rings, and that there were many 'Elf-
wraiths' in the world, is still present, but the phrase 'the Ring-lord cannot
rule them' is not. The Dwarves, on the other hand, at first said not to
have had any, now had seven, each the foundation of one of 'the seven
hoards of the Dwarves', and their distinctive response to the corruptive
power of the Rings enters (though this was already foreshadowed in the
first rough draft on the subject: 'some say the rings don't wort on them:
they are too solid.') Men, at first said to have had 'few', now had three -
but 'others they found in secret places cast away by the elf-wraiths' (thus
allowing for more than three Black Riders). But the central conception of
the Ruling Ring is not yet present, though it was, so to say, waiting in the
wings: for it is said that Gollum's Ring was not only the only one that had
not returned to the Dark Lord (other than those lost by the Dwarves) - it
was the 'most precious and potent of his Rings' (p. 81). But in what its
peculiar potency lay we are not told; nor indeed do we learn more here of
the relation between the invisibility conferred by the Rings, the torment-
ing longevity (which now first appears), and the decline of their bearers
into 'wraiths'.
The element of moral will required in one possessed of a Ring to resist
its power is strongly asserted. This is seen in Gandalf's advice to Bilbo in
the original draft (p. 74): 'don't use it for harm, or for finding out other
people's secrets, and of course not for theft or for worse things. Because
it may get the better of you'; and still more expressly in his rebuke to
Bingo, who said that it was a pity that Bilbo did not kill Gollum: 'He
could not do so, without doing wrong. It was against the rules. If he had
done so he would not have had the ring, the ring would have had him at
once' (p. 81). This element remains in FR (pp. 68 - 9), but is more
guardedly expressed: 'Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and
escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so.'
The end of the chapter - with Gandalf actually himself proposing the
Birthday Party and Bingo's 'resounding jest' - was to be quickly rejected,
and is never heard of again.
IV.
TO MAGGOT'S FARM AND
BUCKLAND.
The third of the original consecutive chapters exists in complete form
only in a typescript, where it bears the number 'III' but has no title; there
are also however incomplete and very rough manuscript drafts, which
were filled out and improved in the typescript but in all essentials left
unchanged. Near the end the typescript ceases (note 16), not at the foot
of a page, and the remainder of the chapter is in manuscript; for this part
also rough drafting exists.
I again give the text in full, since in this chapter the original narrative
was far removed from what finally went into print. Subsequent emend-
ation was here very slight. I take up into the text a few manuscript
changes that seem to me to be in all probability contemporary with the
making of the typescript.
The end of the chapter corresponds to FR Chapter 5 'A Conspiracy
Unmasked', at this stage there was no conspiracy.
III.
In the morning Bingo 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.
Odo and Frodo were sitting on the grass near the edge of the
wood; there was no sign of any elves.
'They have left us fruit and drink, and bread,' said Odo. 'Come
and have breakfast! The bread tastes almost as good as last night.'
Bingo sat down beside them. 'Well?' said Odo. 'Did you find
anything out?'
'No, nothing,' said Bingo. 'Only hints and riddles. But as far as
I could make them out, it seems to me that Gildor thinks there are
several Riders; that they are after me; that they are now ahead and
behind and on both sides of us; that it is no use going back (at least
not for me); that we ought to make for Rivendell as quickly as
possible, and if we find Gandalf there so much the better; and that
we shall have an exciting and dangerous time getting there.'
'I call that a lot more than nothing,' said Odo. 'But what about
the sniffing?'
'We did not discuss it,' said Bingo with his mouth full.
'You should have,' said Odo. 'I am sure it is very important.'
'In that case I am sure Gildor would have told me nothing about
it. But he did say that he thought you might as well come with me.
I gathered that the riders are not after you, and that you rather
bother them.'
'Splendid! Odo and Frodo are to take care of Uncle Bingo.
They won't let him be sniffed at.'
'All right!' said Bingo. 'That's settled. What about the method
of advance?'
'What do you mean?' said Odo. 'Shall we hop, skip, run, crawl
on our stomachs, or just walk singing along? '
'Exactly. And shall we follow the road, or risk a cross-country
cut? There is no choice in the matter of time; we must go in
daylight, because Marmaduke is expecting us to-night. In fact we
must get off as soon as possible; we have slept late, and there are
still quite eighteen miles to go.'
'You have slept late, you mean,' said Odo. 'We have been up a
long time.'
So far Frodo had said nothing. He was looking out over the tree-
tops eastward. He now turned towards them. 'I vote for striking
across country,' he said. 'The land is not so wild between here and
the River. It ought not to be difficult to mark our direction before
we leave this hill, and to keep pretty well to it. Buckland is almost
exactly south-east from Woodhall (1) down there in the trees. We
should cut off quite a corner, because the road bears away to the
left - you can see a bit of it over there - and then sweeps round
south when it gets nearer to the River.(2) We could strike it above
Buckland before it gets really dark.'
'Short cuts make long delays,' said Odo; 'and I don't see that a
Rider is any worse on the road than in the woods.'
'Except that he probably won't be able to see so well, and may
not be able to ride so fast,' said Bingo. 'I am also in favour of
leaving the road.'
'All right! ' said Odo. 'I will follow you into every bog and ditch.
You two are as bad as Marmaduke. I suppose I shall be outvoted
by three to one, instead of two to one, when we collect him, if we
ever do.'
The sun was now hot again; but clouds were beginning to come
up from the West. It looked likely to turn to rain, if the wind fell.
The hobbits scrambled down a steep green bank and struck into
the trees below. Their line was taken to leave Woodhall on their
left, and there was some thickish wood immediately in front of
them, though after a mile or two it had looked from above as if the
land became more open. There was a good deal of undergrowth,
and they did not get on very fast. At the bottom of the slope they
found a stream running in a deeply dug bed with steep slippery
banks overhung with brambles. They could not jump across, and
they had the choice of going back and taking a new line, or of
turning aside to the left and following the stream until it became
easier to cross. Odo looked back. Through the trees they could see
the top of the bank which fell from the high green which they had
just left. 'Look! ' he said, clutching Bingo by the arm. On the top of
the slope a black rider sat on a horse; he seemed to be swaying
from side to side, as if sweeping all the land eastward with his gaze.
The hobbits gave up any idea of going back, and plunged
quickly and silently into the thickest bushes by the stream. They
were cut off from the West wind down in the hollow, and very
soon they were hot and tired. Bushes, brambles, rough ground,
and their packs, all did what they could to hold them back.
'Whew! ' said Bingo. 'Both parties were right! The short cut has
gone crooked; but we got under cover only just in time. Yours are
the sharpest ears, Frodo. Can you hear - can you hear anything
behind?'
They stopped and looked and listened; but there was no sign or
sound of pursuit. They went on again, until the banks of the
stream sank and its bed became broad and shallow. They waded
across and hurried into the wood on the other side, no longer quite
sure of the line they should take. There were no paths, but the
ground was fairly level and open. A tall growth of young oaks,
mixed with ash and elm, was all round them, so that they could not
see far. The leaves of the trees blew upwards in sudden gusts, and
spots of rain began to fall; then the wind died away, and the rain
came down steadily.
They trudged along fast through thick leaves, while all about
them the rain pattered and trickled; they did not talk, but kept
glancing from side to side, and sometimes behind. After about an
hour Frodo said: 'I suppose we have not struck too much to the
south, and are not walking longwise through this wood? From
above it looked like a narrow belt, and we ought to have crossed it
by now, I should have thought.'
'It is no good starting going in zigzags now,' said Bingo. 'Let's
keep on. The clouds seem to be breaking, and we may get a
helpful glimpse of the sun again before long.'
He was right. By the time they had gone another mile, the sun
gleamed out of ragged clouds; and they saw that they were in fact
heading too much to the south. They bore a little to their left; but
before long they decided by their feelings as much as by the sun
that it was time for a mid-day halt and some food.
The rain was still falling at intervals; so they sat under an elm-
tree, whose leaves were still thick, though they were fast turning
yellow. They found that the Elves had filled their water-bottles
with some clear golden drink: it had the scent rather than the taste
of honey made of many flowers, and was mightily refreshing.
They made a merry meal, and soon were laughing and snapping
their fingers at rain and black riders. The next few miles they felt
would soon be put behind them. With his back to the tree-trunk
Odo began to sing softly to himself:
Ho! ho! ho! To my 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 the elm-tree I will lie
And let the clouds go sailing by!
Ho! ho! ho! ----
It will never be known whether the next verse was any better than
the first; for just at the moment there was a noise like a sneeze or a
sniff. Odo never finished his song. The noise came again: sniff,
sniff, sniff; it seemed to be quite close. They sprang to their feet,
and looked quickly about; but there was nothing to be seen
anywhere near their tree.(3)
Odo had no more thought of lying and watching the clouds go
by. He was the first to be packed and ready to start. In a few
minutes from the last sniff they were off again as fast as they could
go. The wood soon came to an end; but they were not particularly
pleased, for the land became soft and boggy, and hobbits (even on
a Journey) don't like mud and clay on their feet. The sun was
shining again, and they felt both too hot and too exposed to view
away from the trees. Far back now behind them lay the high green
where they had breakfasted; every time they looked back towards
it they expected to see the distant figure of a horseman against the
sky. But none appeared; and as they went on the land about them
got steadily more tame. There were hedges and gates and dikes for
drainage; everything looked quiet and peaceful, just an ordinary
corner of the Shire.
'I think I recognize these fields,' said Frodo suddenly. 'They
belong to old Farmer Maggot,(4) unless I am quite lost. There ought
to be a lane somewhere near, that leads from his place into the road
a mile or two above Buckland.'(5)
'Does he live in a hole or a house?' asked Odo, who did not know
this part of the country.
It was a curious thing about the hobbits of those days that this
was an important distinction. All hobbits had, of course, origin-
ally lived in holes; but now only the best and the poorest hobbits
did so, as a rule. Important hobbits lived in luxurious versions of
the simple holes of olden times; but the sites for really good
hobbit-holes were not to be found everywhere. Even in Hobbiton,
one of the most important villages, there were houses. These were
specially favoured by the farmers, millers, blacksmiths, carpen-
ters, and people of that sort. The custom of building houses was
supposed to have started among the hobbits of the woody river-
side regions, where the land was heavy and wet and had no good
hills or convenient banks. They began making artificial holes of
mud (and later of brick), roofed with thatch in imitation of natural
grass. That was a long time ago, and on the edge of history; but
houses were still considered an innovation. The poorest hobbits
still lived in holes of the most ancient sort - in fact just holes, with
only one window, or even none.(6) But Odo was not thinking about
hobbit-history. He merely wanted to know where to look for the
farm. If Farmer Maggot had lived in a hole, there would have been
rising ground somewhere near; but the land ahead looked per-
fectly flat.
'He lives in a house,' answered Frodo. 'There are very few holes
in these parts. They say houses were invented here. Of course the
Brandybucks have that great burrow of theirs at Bucklebury in the
high bank across the River; but most of their people live in houses.
There are lots of those new-fashioned brick houses - not too bad, I
suppose, in their way; though they look very naked, if you know
what I mean: no decent turf-covering, all bare and bony.'
'Fancy climbing upstairs to bed! ' said Odo. 'That seems to me
most inconvenient. Hobbits aren't birds.'
'I don't know,' said Bingo. 'It isn't as bad as it sounds; though
personally I never like looking out of upstairs windows, it makes
me a bit giddy. There are some houses that have three stages,
bedrooms above bedrooms. I slept in one once long ago on a
holiday; the wind kept me awake all night.'
'What a nuisance, if you want a handkerchief or something
when you are downstairs, and find it is upstairs,' said Odo.
'You could keep handkerchiefs downstairs, if you wished,' said
Frodo.
'You could, but I don't believe anybody does.'
'That is not the houses' fault,' said Bingo; 'it is just the silliness
of the hobbits that live in them. The old tales tell that the Wise
Elves used to build tall towers; and only went up their long stairs
when they wished to sing or look out of the windows at the sky, or
even perhaps the sea. They kept everything downstairs, or in deep
halls dug beneath the feet of the towers. I have always fancied that
the idea of building came largely from the Elves, though we use it
very differently. There used to be three elftowers standing in the
land away west beyond the edge of the Shire. I saw them once.
They shone white in the Moon. The tallest was furthest away,
standing alone on a hill. It was told that you could see the sea from
the top of that tower; but I don't believe any hobbit has ever
climbed it.' If ever I live in a house, I shall keep everything I want
downstairs, and only go up when I don't want anything; or
perhaps I shall have a cold supper upstairs in the dark on a starry
night.'
'And have to carry plates and things downstairs, if you don't fall
all the way down,' laughed Odo.
'No!' said Bingo. 'I shall have wooden plates and bowls, and
throw them out of the window. There will be thick grass all round
my house.'
'But you would still have to carry your supper upstairs,' said
Odo.
'0 well then, perhaps I should not have supper upstairs,' said
Bingo. 'It was only just an idea. I don't suppose I shall ever live in
a house. As far as I can see, I am going to be just a wandering
beggar.'
This very hobbit-like conversation went on for some time. It
shows that the three were beginning to feel quite comfortable
again, as they got back into tame and familiar country. But even
invisible sniffs could not damp for long the spirits of these
excellent and peculiarly adventurous hobbits, not in any kind of
country.
While they talked they plodded steadily on. It was already late
afternoon when they saw the roof of a house peeping out of a
clump of trees ahead and to their left.
'There is Farmer Maggot's!' said Frodo.
'I think we will go round it,' said Bingo, 'and strike the lane on
the far side of the house. I am supposed to have vanished, and I
would rather not be seen sneaking off in the direction of Buckland,
even by good Farmer Maggot.'
They went on, leaving the farmhouse away on their left, hidden
in the trees several fields away. Suddenly a small dog came
through a gap in a hedge, and ran barking towards them.
'Here! Here! Gip! Gip! ' said a voice. Bingo slipped on his ring.
There was no chance for the others to hide. Over the top of the low
hedge appeared a large round hobbit-face.
'Hullo! Hullo! And who may you be, and what may you be
doing?' he asked.
'Good evening, Farmer Maggot!' said Frodo. 'Just a couple of
Tooks, from away back yonder; and doing no harm, I hope.'
'Well now, let me see - you'll be Mr Frodo Took, Mr Folco
Took's son, if I'm not mistook (and I seldom am: I've a rare
memory for faces). You used to stay with young Mr Marmaduke.
Any friend of Mr Marmaduke Brandybuck is welcome. You'll
excuse my speaking sharp, before I recognized you. We get some
strange folk in these parts at times. Too near the river,' he said,
jerking back his head. 'There's been a very funny customer round
here only an hour back. That's why I'm out with the dog.'
'What kind of a customer?' asked Frodo.
'A funny customer and asking funny questions,' said Farmer
Maggot, shaking his head. 'Come along to my house and have a
drink and we'll pass the news more comfortably like, if you and
your friend are willing, Mr Took.'
It seemed plain that Farmer Maggot would only pass the news
in his own time and place, and they guessed that it might be
interesting; so Frodo and Odo went along with him. The dog
remained behind jumping and frisking round Bingo to his annoy-
ance.
'What's come to the dog?' said the farmer, looking back. 'Here,
Gip! Heel! ' he called. To Bingo's relief the dog obeyed, though it
turned back once and barked.
'What's the matter with you?' growled Farmer Maggot. 'There
seems to be something queer abroad this day. Gip went near off
his head when that stranger came along, and now you'd think he
could see or smell something that ain't there.'
They went into the farmer's kitchen and sat by the wide
fireplace. Mrs Maggot brought them beer in large earthenware
mugs. It was a good brew, and Odo found himself wishing that
they were going to stay the night in the house.
'I hear there have been fine goings on up Hobbiton way,' said
Farmer Maggot. 'Fireworks and all; and this Mr Bolger-Baggins
disappearing, and giving everything away. Oddest thing I have
heard tell of in my time. I suppose it all comes of living with that
Mr Bilbo Baggins. My mother used to tell me queer tales of him,
when I was a boy: not but what he seemed a very nice gentleman. I
have seen him wandering down this way many a time when I was a
lad, and that Mr Bingo with him. Now we take an interest in him
in these parts, seeing as he belongs here, being half Brandybuck,
as you might say. We never thought any good would come of his
going away to Hobbiton, and folk are a bit queer back there, if
you'll pardon me. I was forgetting you come from those parts.'
'0, folk are queer enough in Hobbiton - and Tookland,' said
Frodo. 'We don't mind. But we know, I mean knew, Mr Bingo
very well. I don't think any harm's come to him. It really was a
very marvellous party, and I can't see that anyone has anything to
complain of.' He gave the farmer a full and amusing account of the
proceedings, which pleased him mightily. He stamped his feet
and slapped his legs, and called for more beer; and made them tell
his wife most of the tale over again, especially about the fireworks.
Neither of the Maggots had ever seen fireworks.
'It must be a sight to do your eyes good,' said the farmer.
'No dragons for me! ' said Mrs Maggot. 'But I would have liked
to have been at that supper. Let's hope old Mr Rory Brandybuck
will take the idea and give a party down in these parts for his next
birthday. - And what did you say has become of Mr Bolger-
Baggins?' she said, turning to Frodo.
'Well - er, well, he's vanished, don't you know,' said Frodo. He
half thought he heard the ghost of a chuckle somewhere not far
from his ear, but he was not sure.
'There now - that reminds me!' said Farmer Maggot. 'What do
you think that funny customer said?'
'What?' said Odo and Frodo together.
'Well, he comes riding in at the gate and up to the door on a big
black horse; all black he was himself too, and cloaked and hooded
up as if he didn't want to be known. "Good Heavens!" I said to
myself. "Here's one of the Big People! Now what in the Shire can
he want?" We don't see many of the Big People down here, though
they come over the River at times; but I've never heard tell of any
like this black chap. "Good day to you," I says. "This lane don't go
no further, and wherever you be going your quickest way will be
back to the road." I did not like the look of him, and when Gip
came out he took one sniff and let out a howl as if he had been
bitten; he put down his tail and bolted howling all the way.
'"I come from over yonder," he answered stiff and slow like,
pointing back West, over my fields, Woodhall-way. "Have you
ever seen Mist-er Bolg-er Bagg-ins?" he asked in a queer voice and
bent down towards me, but I could see no face, his hood fell so
low. I had a sort of shiver down my back; but I didn't see why he
should come riding so bold over my land. "Be off!" I said. "Mr
Bolger-Baggins has vanished, disappeared, if you take my mean-
ing: gone into the blue, and you can follow him!"
'He gave a sort of hiss, seeming angry and startled like, it
seemed to me; and he spurred his great horse right at me. I was
standing by the gate, but I jumped out of the way mighty quick,
and he rode through it and down the lane like mad. What do you
think of that?'
'I don't know what to think,' said Frodo.
'Well, I'll tell you what to think,' said the farmer. 'This Mr
Bingo has got himself mixed up in some trouble, and disappeared
a purpose. There are plainly some folk as are mighty eager to find
him. Mark my words, it'll all be along of some of those doings of
old Mr Bilbo's. He ought to have stuck at Bolger and not gone
tacking on Baggins. They are queer folk up Hobbiton way,
begging your pardon. It's the Baggins that has got him into
trouble, mark my words! '
'That certainly is an idea,' said Frodo. 'Very interesting, what
you tell us. I suppose you've never seen any of these - er - black
chaps before?'
'Not that I remember,' said Farmer Maggot, 'and I don't want
to see any again. Now I hope you and your friend will stay and
have a bite and a sup with me and the wife.'
'Thank you very much!' said Odo regretfully, 'but I am afraid
we ought to go on.'
'Yes,' said Frodo, 'we have some way to go before night, and
really we have already rested too long. But it is very kind of you all
the same.'
'Well! Here's your health and good luck!' said the farmer,
reaching for his mug. But at that moment the mug left the table,
rose, tilted in the air, and then returned empty to its place.
'Help and save us! ' cried the farmer jumping up. 'Did you see
that? This is a queer day and no mistake. First the dog and then
me seeing things that ain't.'
'Oh, I saw the mug too,' said Odo, unable to hide a grin.
'You did, did you!' said the farmer. 'I don't see no cause to
laugh.' He looked quickly and queerly at Odo and Frodo, and now
seemed only too glad that they were going. They said good-bye
politely but hurriedly, and ran down the steps and out of the gate.
Farmer Maggot and his wife stood whispering at their door and
watched them out of sight.
'What did you want to play that silly trick for?' said Odo when
the farmhouse was well behind. 'The old man had done you a good
turn with that Rider, or so it seemed to me.'
'I daresay,' said a voice behind him. 'But you did me a pretty
poor turn, going inside and drinking and talking, and leaving me
in the cold. As it was I only got half a mug. And now we are late. I
shall make you trot after this.'
'Show us how to trot! ' said Odo.
Bingo immediately reappeared and went off as fast as he could
down the lane. The others hurried after him. 'Look! ' said Frodo
pointing to one side. Along the edge of the lane, in the mud made
by the day's rain, there were deep hoofmarks.
'Never mind! ' said Bingo. 'We knew from old Maggot's talk that
he went this way. It can't be helped. Come along! '
They met nothing in the lane. The afternoon faded and the sun
went down into low clouds behind them. The light was already
failing when they reached the end of the lane and came at last back
to the road.(8) It was growing chilly and thin strands of mist were
crawling over the fields. The twilight was clammy.
'Not too bad,' said Frodo. 'It is four miles from here to the
landing stage opposite Bucklebury. We shall make it before it is
quite dark.'
They now turned right along the road, which here ran quite
straight, drawing steadily nearer to the River. There was no sign
of any other traveller upon the way. Soon they could see lights in
the distance ahead and to their left, beyond the dim line of the
shadowy willow-trees along the borders of the river, where the far
bank rose almost into a low hill.
'There's Bucklebury! ' said Frodo.
'Thank goodness! ' said Odo. 'My feet are sore, sticky, and mud-
tired. Also it is getting chilly.' He stumbled into a puddle and
splashed up a fountain of dirty water. 'Drat it! ' he said. 'I've nearly
had enough of to-day's walk. Do you think there is any chance of a
bath to-night?' Without waiting for an answer he suddenly began a
hobbit bathroom song.
O Water mann and mater hot!
O Water boiled in pan and pot!
O Water blue and mater green,
O Water silver-clear and clean,
Of bath I sing my song!
O praise the steam expectant nose!
O bless the tub my weary toes!
O happy fingers come and play!
O arms and legs, you here may stay,
And wallow warm and long!
Put mire away! Forget the clay!
Shut out the night! Wash off the day!
In water lapping chin and knees,
In water kind now lie at ease,
Until the dinner gong!
'Really you might wait till you are in the bath!' said Frodo.
'I warn you,' added Bingo, 'that you will have yours last, or else
you will not wallow very long.'
'Very well,' said Odo; 'only I warn you that if you go first you
must not take all the hot water, or I shall drown you in your own
bath. I want a hot bath and a clean one.'
'You may not get any,' said Bingo. 'I don't know what Marma-
duke has arranged, or where we are sleeping. I didn't order baths,
and if we get them they will be our last for some time, I expect.'
Their talk flagged. They were now getting really tired, and
went along with their chins down and their eyes in front of their
toes. They were quite startled when suddenly a voice behind them
cried: 'Hi! ' It then burst into a loud song:
As1uas sitting by the way,
I saw three hobbits walking:
One was dumb with naught to say,
The others were not talking.
'Good night!'I said. 'Good night to you!'
They heeded not my greeting:
One was deaf like the other two.
It was a merry meeting!
'Marmaduke!' cried Bingo turning round. 'Where did you
spring from?'
'You passed me sitting at the road-side,' said Marmaduke.
'Perhaps I ought to have lain down in the road; but then you
would have just trodden on me and passed gaily on.'
'We are tired,' said Bingo.
'So it seems. I told you you would be - but you were so proud
and stiff. "Ponies! Pooh!" you said. "Just a little leg-stretcher
before the real business begins."'
'As it happens ponies would not have helped much,' said Bingo.
'We have been having adventures.' He stopped suddenly and
looked up and down the dark road. 'We will tell you later.'
'Bless me!' said Marmaduke. 'But how mean of you! You
shouldn't have adventures without me. And what are you peering
about for? Are there some big bad rabbits loose?'
'Don't be so Marmadukish all at once! I can't bear it at the end
of the day,' said Odo. 'Let's get off our legs and have some food,
and then you shall hear a tale. Can I have a bath?'
'What?' said Marmaduke. 'A bath? That would put you right
out of training again. A bath! I am surprised at such a question.
Now lift up your chins and follow me! '
A few yards further on there was a turning to the left. They
went down a path, neat and well-kept and edged with large white
stones. It led them quickly to the river-bank. There there was a
landing-stage big enough for several boats. Its white posts glim-
mered in the gloom. The mists were beginning to gather almost
hedge-high in the fields, but the water before them was dark with
only a few curling wisps of grey like steam among the reeds at the
sides. The Brandywine River flowed slow and broad. On the other
side two lamps twinkled upon another landing-stage with many
steps going up the high bank beyond. Behind it the low hill
loomed, and out of the hill through stray strands of mist shone
many round hobbit-windows, red and yellow. They were the
lights of Brandy Hall, the ancient home of the Brandybucks.
Long, long ago the Brandybucks had crossed the River (the
original boundary of the Shire on this side), attracted by the high
bank and the drier rolling ground behind. But their family (one of
the oldest hobbit families) grew, and grew, until Brandy Hall
occupied the whole of the low hill, and had three large front doors,
several back doors, and at least fifty windows. The Brandybucks
and their numerous dependants then began to burrow and later to
build all round about. That was the origin of the village of
Bucklebury-by-the-River. A great deal of the land on the west side
of the river still belonged to the family, almost as far as Woodhall,
but most of the actual Brandybucks lived in Buckland: a thickly
inhabited strip between the River and the Old Forest, a sort of
colony from the old Shire.
The people of the old Shire, of course, told strange tales of the
Bucklanders; but as a matter of fact the Bucklanders were hobbits,
and not really very different from other hobbits of the North,
South, or West - except in one point: they were fond of boats and
some of them could swim. Also they were unprotected from the
East except by a hedge, THE HEDGE. It had been planted ages ago.
It now ran all the way from Brandywine Bridge to Haysend in a
big loop, furthest from the River behind Bucklebury, something
like forty miles from end to end." It was thick and tall, and was
constantly tended. But of course it was not a complete protection.
The Bucklanders kept their doors locked, and that also was not
usual in the Shire.
Marmaduke helped his friends into a small boat that lay at the
stage. He then cast off and taking a pair of oars pulled across the
river. Frodo and Bingo had often been to Buckland before.
Bingo's mother was a Brandybuck. Marmaduke was Frodo's
cousin, since his mother Yolanda was Folco Took's sister, and
Folco was Frodo's father. Marmaduke was thus Took plus
Brandybuck, and that was apt to be a lively blend.' But Odo had
never been so far East before. He had a queer feeling as they
crossed the slow silent river, as if he had now at last started, as if he
was crossing a boundary and leaving his old life on the other shore.
They stepped quietly out of the boat. Marmaduke was tying it
up, when Frodo said suddenly in a whisper: 'I say, look back! Do
you see anything?'
On the stage they had left they seemed to see a dark black
bundle sitting in the gloom; it seemed to be peering, or sniffing,
this way and that at the ground they had trodden.
'What in the Shire is that?' said Marmaduke.
'Our Adventure, that we have been and left behind on the other
side; or at least I hope so,' said Bingo. 'Can horses get across the
River?'
'What have horses got to do with it? They can get across, I
suppose, if they can swim; but I have never seen them do it here.
There are bridges. But what have horses to do with it?'
'A great deal!' said Bingo. 'But let's get away!' He took Mar-
maduke by the arm and hurried him up the steps on to the path
above the landing. Frodo looked back, but the far shore was now
shrouded in mist and nothing more could be seen.
'Where are you taking us for the night?' asked Odo. 'Not to
Brandy Hall?'
'Indeed not!' said Marmaduke. 'It's crowded. And anyway I
thought you wanted to be secret. I am taking you to a nice little
house on the far side of Bucklebury. It's a mile more, I am afraid,
but it is quite cosy and out of the way. I don't expect anyone will
notice us. You wouldn't want to meet old Rory just now, Bingo!
He is in a ramping mood still, about your behaviour. They treated
him badly at the inn at Bywater on the party night (they were more
full up than Brandy Hall); and then his carriage broke down on
the way home, on the hill above Woodhall, and he blames you for
these accidents as well.'
'I don't want to see him, and I don't much mind what he says or
thinks,' said Bingo. 'I wanted to get out of the Shire unseen, just to
complete the joke, but now I have other reasons for wanting to be
secret. Let's hurry.'
They came at length to a little low one-storied house. It was an
old-fashioned building, as much like a hobbit-hole as possible: it
had a round door and round windows and a low rounded roof of
turf. It was reached by a narrow green path, and surrounded by a
circle of green lawn, round which close bushes grew. It showed no
lights.
Marmaduke unlocked the door, and light streamed out in
friendly fashion. They slipped quickly in, and shut the light and
themselves inside. They were in a wide hall from which several
doors opened. 'Here we are!' said Marmaduke. 'Not a bad little
place. We often use it for guests, since Brandy Hall is so frightfully
full of Brandybucks. I have got it quietly ready in the last day or
two.
'Splendid fellow! ' said Bingo. 'I was dreadfully sorry you had to
miss that supper.'
'So was I,' said Marmaduke. 'And after hearing the accounts of
Rory and Melissa (11) (both entirely different, but I expect equally
true), I am sorrier still. But I had a merry ride with Gandalf and
the dwarves and Elves.' We met some more Elves on the way, (13)
and there was some fine singing. I have never heard anything like
it before.'
build all round about. That was the origin of the village of
Bucklebury-by-the-River. A great deal of the land on the west side
of the river still belonged to the family, almost as far as Woodhall,
but most of the actual Brandybucks lived in Buckland: a thickly
inhabited strip between the River and the Old Forest, a sort of
colony from the old Shire.
The people of the old Shire, of course, told strange tales of the
Bucklanders; but as a matter of fact the Bucklanders were hobbits,
and not really very different from other hobbits of the North,
South, or West - except in one point: they were fond of boats and
some of them could swim. Also they were unprotected from the
East except by a hedge, THE HEDGE. It had been planted ages ago.
It now ran all the way from Brandywine Bridge to Haysend in a
big loop, furthest from the River behind Bucklebury, something
like forty miles from end to end." It was thick and tall, and was
constantly tended. But of course it was not a complete protection.
The Bucklanders kept their doors locked, and that also was not
usual in the Shire.
Marmaduke helped his friends into a small boat that lay at the
stage. He then cast off and taking a pair of oars pulled across the
river. Frodo and Bingo had often been to Buckland before.
Bingo's mother was a Brandybuck. Marmaduke was Frodo's
cousin, since his mother Yolanda was Folco Took's sister, and
Folco was Frodo's father. Marmaduke was thus Took plus
Brandybuck, and that was apt to be a lively blend.(10) But Odo had
never been so far East before. He had a queer feeling as they
crossed the slow silent river, as if he had now at last started, as if he
was crossing a boundary and leaving his old life on the other shore.
They stepped quietly out of the boat. Marmaduke was tying it
up, when Frodo said suddenly in a whisper: 'I say, look back! Do
you see anything? '
On the stage they had left they seemed to see a dark black
bundle sitting in the gloom; it seemed to be peering, or sniffing,
this way and that at the ground they had trodden.
'What in the Shire is that?' said Marmaduke.
'Our Adventure, that we have been and left behind on the other
side; or at least I hope so,' said Bingo. 'Can horses get across the
River?'
'What have horses got to do with it? They can get across, I
suppose, if they can swim; but I have never seen them do it here.
There are bridges. But what have horses to do with it?'
'A great deal!' said Bingo. 'But let's get away!' He took Mar-
maduke by the arm and hurried him up the steps on to the path
above the landing. Frodo looked back, but the far shore was now
shrouded in mist and nothing more could be seen.
'Where are you taking us for the night?' asked Odo. 'Not to
Brandy Hall?'
'Indeed not!' said Marmaduke. 'It's crowded. And anyway I
thought you wanted to be secret. I am taking you to a nice little
house on the far side of Bucklebury. It's a mile more, I am afraid,
but it is quite cosy and out of the way. I don't expect anyone will
notice us. You wouldn't want to meet old Rory just now, Bingo!
He is in a ramping mood still, about your behaviour. They treated
him badly at the inn at Bywater on the party night (they were more
full up than Brandy Hall); and then his carriage broke down on
the way home, on the hill above Woodhall, and he blames you for
these accidents as well.'
'I don't want to see him, and I don't much mind what he says or
thinks,' said Bingo. 'I wanted to get out of the Shire unseen, just to
complete the joke, but now I have other reasons for wanting to be
secret. Let's hurry.'
They came at length to a little low one-storied house. It was an
old-fashioned building, as much like a hobbit-hole as possible: it
had a round door and round windows and a low rounded roof of
turf. It was reached by a narrow green path, and surrounded by a
circle of green lawn, round which close bushes grew. It showed no
lights.
Marmaduke unlocked the door, and light streamed out in
friendly fashion. They slipped quickly in, and shut the light and
themselves inside. They were in a wide hall from which several
doors opened. 'Here we are!' said Marmaduke. 'Not a bad little
place. We often use it for guests, since Brandy Hall is so frightfully
full of Brandybucks. I have got it quietly ready in the last day or
two.'
'Splendid fellow! ' said Bingo. 'I was dreadfully sorry you had to
miss that supper.'
'So was I,' said Marmaduke. 'And after hearing the accounts of
Rory and Melissa (11) (both entirely different, but I expect equally
true), I am sorrier still. But I had a merry ride with Gandalf and
the dwarves and Elves.' We met some more Elves on the way,(13)
and there was some fine singing. I have never heard anything like
it before.'
'Did Gandalf send me any message?' asked Bingo.
'No, nothing special. I asked him, when we got to Brandywine
Bridge, if he wouldn't come along with me and wait for you, so as
to be a guide and helping hand. But he said he was in a hurry. In
fact, if you want to know, he said: "Bingo is now old enough and
foolish enough to look after himself for a bit."'(14)
"I hope he is right,' said Bingo.
The hobbits hung up their cloaks and sticks, and piled their
packs on the floor. Marmaduke went forward and flung open a
closed door. Firelight came out and a puff of steam.
'Bath! ' cried Odo. '0 blessed Marmaduke! '
'Which way shall we go: eldest first, or quickest first? You will
be last either way, Odo,' said Frodo.
'Ha! ha!' said Marmaduke. 'What kind of an innkeeper do you
think I am? In that room there are three tubs; and also a copper
over a merry furnace that seems to be nearly on the boil. There are
also towels, soap, mats, jugs, and what not. Get inside!'
The three rushed in and shut the door. Marmaduke went into
the kitchen, and while he was busy there he heard snatches of
competing songs mixed with the sound of splashing and wallow-
ing. Over all the rest Odo's voice suddenly rose in a chant:
Bless the mater 0 my feet and toes!
Bless it O my ten fingers!
Bless the water, O Odo!
And praise the name of Marmaduke! (15)
Marmaduke knocked on the door. 'All Bucklebury will know
you have arrived before long,' he said. 'Also there is such a thing as
supper. I cannot live on praise much longer.'
Bingo came out. 'Lawks!' said Marmaduke looking in. The
stone floor was all in pools. Frodo was drying in front of the fire;
Odo was still wallowing.
'Come on, Bingo!' said Marmaduke. 'Let's begin supper, and
leave them! '
They had supper in the kitchen on a table near the open fire.
The others soon arrived. Odo was the last, but he quickly made up
for lost time. When they had finished Marmaduke pushed back
the table, and drew chairs round the fire. 'We'll clear up later,' he
said. 'Now tell me all about it!'(16)
Bingo stretched his legs and yawned. 'It's easy in here,' he said,
'and somehow our adventure seems rather absurd, and not so
important as it did out there. But this is what happened. A Black
Rider came up behind us yesterday afternoon (it seems a week
ago), and I am sure he was looking for us, or me. After that he kept-
on reappearing (always behind). Let me see, yes, we saw him four
times altogether, counting the figure on the landing-stage, and
once we heard his horse,(17) and once we thought we heard just a
sniff.'
'What are you talking about?' said Marmaduke. 'What is a black
rider? '
'A black figure on a horse,' said Bingo. 'But I will tell you all
about it.' He gave a pretty good account of their journey, with
occasional additions and interruptions by Frodo and Odo. Only
Odo was still positive that the sniff they thought they heard was
really part of the mystery.
'I should think you were making it all up, if I had not seen that
queer shape this evening,' said Marmaduke. 'What is it all about, I
wonder?'
'So do we!' said Frodo. 'Do you think anything of Farmer
Maggot's guess, that it has something to do with Bilbo?'
'Well, it was only a guess anyway,' said Bingo. 'I am sure
old Maggot does not know anything. I should have expected the
Elves to tell me, if the Riders had anything to do with Bilbo's
adventures.'
'Old Maggot is rather a shrewd fellow,' said Marmaduke. 'A
good deal goes on behind his round face which does not come out
in his talk. He used to go into the Old Forest at one time, and had
the reputation of knowing a thing or two outside the Shire.
Anyway I can guess no better. What are you going to do about it?'
'There is nothing to do, ' said Bingo, 'except to go home. Which
is difficult for me, as I haven't got one now. I shall just have to go
on, as the Elves advised. But you need not come, of course.'
'Of course not,' said Marmaduke. 'I joined the party just for
fun, and I am certainly not going to leave it now. Besides, you will
need me. Three's company, but four's more. And if the hints of
the Elves mean what you think, there are at least four Riders, not
to mention an invisible sniff, and a black bundle on the landing-
stage. My advice is: let us start off even earlier tomorrow than we
planned, and see if we can't get a good start. I rather fancy Riders
will have to go round by the bridges to get across the River.'
'But we shall have to go much the same way,' said Bingo. 'We
shall have to strike the East Road near Brandywine Bridge.'
'That's not my idea,' said Marmaduke. 'I think we should avoid
the road at present. It's a waste of time. We should actually be
going back westward if we made for the road-meeting near the
Bridge. We must make a short cut north-east through the Old
Forest. I will guide you.'
'How can you?' asked Odo. 'Have you ever been there?'
'0 yes,' said Marmaduke. 'All the Brandybucks go there
occasionally, when the fit takes them. I often go - only in daylight,
of course, when the woods are fairly quiet and sleepy. Still I know
my way about. If we start early and push along we ought to be
quite safe and clear of the Forest before tomorrow night. I have
got five good ponies waiting - sturdy little beasts: not speedy of
course, but good for a long day's work. They're stabled in a shed
out in the fields behind this house.'
'I don't like the idea at all,' said Odo. 'I would rather meet these
Riders (if we must meet them) on a road, where there is a chance
of meeting ordinary honest travellers as well. I don't like woods,
and I have heard queer tales of the Old Forest. I think Black
Riders will be very much more at home there than we shall.'
'But we shall probably be out of it again before they get in,' said
Marmaduke. 'It seems to me silly, anyway, when you are begin-
ning an adventurous journey to start by going back and jogging
along a dull river-side road - in full view of all the numerous
hobbits of Buckland.' Perhaps you would like to call and take
leave of old Rory at the Hall. It would be polite and proper; and he
might lend you a carriage.'
'I knew you would propose something rash,' said Odo. 'But I
am not going to argue any more, if the others agree. Let's vote -
though I am sure I shall be the odd man out.'
He was - though Bingo and Frodo took some time to make up
their minds.
'There you are! ' said Odo. 'What did I say this morning? Three
to one! Well, I only hope it comes off all right.'
'Now that's settled,' said Marmaduke, 'we had better get to bed.
But first we must clear up, and do all the packing we can. Come
on! '
It was some time before the hobbits finished putting things
away, tidying up, and packing what they needed in the way of
stores for their journey. At last they went to bed - and slept in
proper beds (but without sheets) for the last time for many a long
day." Bingo could not go to sleep for some time: his legs ached.
He was glad he was riding in the morning. At last he fell asleep into
a vague dream, in which he seemed to be lying under a window
that looked out into a sea of tangled trees: outside there was a
snuffling.
NOTES.
1. It is at first sight puzzling that Frodo should say that 'Buckland is
almost exactly south-east from Woodhall', and again immediately
below that they could strike the road again 'above Buckland', since
later in this chapter (p. 100) Buckland is described as 'a thickly
inhabited strip between the River and the Old Forest', defended by
the Hedge some forty miles long - clearly too large an area to
be described as 'almost exactly south-east from Woodhall'. The
explanation must be, however, that my father changed the meaning
of the name Buckland in the course of the chapter. At first Buckland
was a place, a village, rather than a region (at its first occurrence it
replaced Bury Underwood, which in turn replaced Wood Eaton,
p. 35 note 5), and it still was so here; but further on in the chapter
the village of Bucklebury-by-the-River emerged (p. 92), and Buck-
land then became the name of the Brandybucks' land beyond the
River. See note 5, and the note on the Shire Map, p. 107.
2. See the note on the Shire Map, p. 107.
3. A hastily pencilled note on the typescript here reads: 'Sound of
hoofs going by not far off.' See p. 287.
4. Maggot was later struck out in pencil and replaced by Puddifoot,
but only in this one instance. On the earliest map of the Shire (see
p. 107) the farm is marked, in ink, Puddifoot, changed in pencil to
Maggot. The Puddifoots of Stock are mentioned in FR, p. 101.
5. Here again Buckland still signifies the village (see note x); but
Bucklebury appears shortly after (p. 92), the name being typed over
an erasure.
6. The substance of this passage about hobbit-holes and hobbit-houses
was afterwards placed in the Prologue. See further pp. 294, 312.
7. Towers built on the western coasts of Middle-earth by exiles of
Numenor are mentioned in the second version of The Fall of
Numenor (V.28, 30). - The substance of this passage was also
afterwards placed in the Prologue (see note 6), and there also the
towers are called 'Elf-towers'. Cf. Of the Rings of Power in The
Silmarillion, p. 292: 'It is said that the towers of Emyn Beraid were
not built indeed by the exiles of Numenor, but were raised by Gil-
galad for Elendil, his friend.'
8. came at last back to the mad: this is of course the road they had been
walking on originally, 'the road to Buckland', at this time there was
no causeway road running south from the Brandywine Bridge on the
west bank of the river (and no village of Stock).
9. In FR (p. 109) the distance is 'well over twenty miles from end to
end.' See p. 298.
10. This genealogy was afterwards wholly abandoned, of course, but
the mother of Meriadoc (Marmaduke) remained a Took (Esmeralda,
who married Saradoc Brandybuck, known as 'Scattergold').
11. Melissa Brandybuck appeared in the fourth version of 'A Long-
expected Party', on which occasion she danced on a table with
Prospero Took (p. 38).
12. Bingo told Gildor (p. 63) that Gandalf 'went off with the dwarves
and the Rivendell elves as soon as the fireworks were over.' This is
the first appearance of the story that Marmaduke/Meriadoc had
been at Hobbiton but had left early.
13. We met some more Elves on the way: these were the Elves of Gildor's
company, who thus already knew about the Party when Bingo,
Frodo and Odo encountered them (p. 68, note 17).
14. Cf. the note cited on p. 41: 'Where is G[andalf] asks Odo - said I
was old and foolish enough now to take care of myself said B.'
15. This 'chant' was emended on the typescript thus:
Bless the water, O my feet and toes!
Praise the bath, O my ten fingers!
Bless the water, O my knees and shoulders!
Praise the bath, O my ribs, and rejoice!
Let Odo praise the house of Brandybuck,
And praise the name of Marmaduke for ever.
This new version belongs to the time of the manuscript portion at
the end of the chapter (note 16).
16. Here the typescript ends, and the remainder is in manuscript; see
p. 109.
17. and once we heard his horse: this is a reference to the revised passage
in the second chapter, where it is told that a Black Rider stopped his
horse for a moment on the road beside the tree in which the hobbits
were sitting (p. 55 and note 11).
18. This is a reference to the road within Buckland. Cf. p. 53: 'the
ordinary way to Buckland was along the East Road to the meeting of
the Water and the Brandywine River, where there was a bridge, and
then south along the River.'
19. It is clear from this that my father had not yet foreseen the hobbits'
visit to the house of Tom Bombadil.
Note on the Shire Nap.
There are four extant maps of the Shire made by my father, and two
which I made, but only one of them, I think, can contain an element or
layer that goes back to the time when these chapters were written (the
first months of 1938). This is however a convenient place to give some
indications concerning all of them.
I. An extremely rough map (reproduced as the frontispiece), built up
in stages, and done in pencil and red, blue, and black inks;
extending from Hobbiton in the West to the Barrow-downs in the
East. In its inception this was the first, or at least the first that
survives. Some features were first marked in pencil and then inked
over.
II. A map on a smaller scale in faint pencil and blue and red chalks,
extending to the Far Downs in the West, but showing little more
than the courses of roads and rivers.
III. A map of roads and rivers on a larger scale than II, extending from
Michel Delving in the West to the Hedge of Buckland, but without
any names (see on map V below).
IV. A small scale map extending from the Green Hill country to Bree,
carefully drawn in ink and coloured chalks, but soon abandoned
and marking only a few features.
V. An elaborate map in pencil and coloured chalks which I made in
1943 (see p. 200), for which III (showing only the courses of roads
and rivers) was very clearly the basis and which I followed closely.
No doubt III was made by my father for this purpose.
VI. The map which was published in The Fellowship of the Ring; this I
made not long before its publication (that is to say, some ten years
after map V).
In what follows I consider only certain features arising in the course of
this chapter.
Buckland is almost exactly south-east from Woodhall (p. 89). Buck-
land was still here the name of the village (see note 1 above); Bucklebury
first appears on p. 92. On map I Bucklebury does indeed lie south-east
(or strictly east-south-east) from Woodhall, but on map II the Ferry is
due east, and on III it is east-north-east, whence the representation on
my maps V and VI. In the original edition of FR (p. 97) the text had here
'The Ferry is south-east from Woodhall', which was corrected to 'east' in
the revised edition (second impression 1967) when my father observed
the discrepancy with the published map. The shifting had clearly come
about unintentionally. (It may be noticed incidentally that all the maps
show Woodhall on a side road (the 'lane') going off from that to
Buckland; see p. 66, note 10).
The road bean away to the left... and then sweeps mund south when it
gets nearer to the River (p. 89). This southward sweep is strongly
marked on map I (and repeated on map II), where the Buckland road
joins the causeway road above the village of Stock (as Frodo says in FR,
p. 97: 'It goes round the north end of the Marish so as to strike the cause-
way from the Bridge above Stock'). At the time when this chapter was
written there was no causeway road (note 8). This is another case where
the text of FR accords with map I, but not with the published map (VI);
in this case, however, my father did not correct the text. On map III the
Buckland road does not 'sweep round south': but after bearing away to
the left or north (before reaching Woodhall) it runs in a straight line due
east to meet the road from the Bridge. This I followed on my map V; but
the village of Stock was not marked on III, which only shows roads and
rivers, and I placed the road-meeting actually in the village, not to the
north of it. Although, as I clearly recollect, map V was made in his study
and in conversation with him, my father cannot have noticed my error in
this point. The published map simply follows V.
One other point may be noticed here. Marmaduke twice (pp. 100,
103) refers to 'bridges' over the Brandywine, but none of the maps shows
any other bridge but that which carried the East Road, the Brandywine
Bridge.
*
My father's letter to Stanley Unwin quoted on page 44 shows that he
had finished this chapter by 4 March 1938. Three months later, on 4 June
1938, he wrote to Stanley Unwin saying:
I meant long ago to have thanked Rayner for bothering to read the
tentative chapters, and for his excellent criticism. It agrees strikingly
with Mr Lewis', which is therefore confirmed. I must plainly bow to
my two chief (and most well-disposed) critics. The trouble is that
'hobbit talk'* amuses me privately (and to a certain degree also my boy
Christopher) more than adventures; but I must curb this severely.
Although longing to do so, I have not had a chance to touch any story-
writing since the Christmas vacation.
And he added that he could not 'see any loophole left for months.' On 24
July he said in a letter to Charles Furth at Allen and Unwin:
The sequel to the Hobbit has remained where it stopped. It has lost my
favour, and I have no idea what to do with it. For one thing the original
Hobbit was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very
happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a
sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link.
For another nearly all the 'motives' that I can use were packed into the
original book, so that a sequel will appear either 'thinner' or merely
repetitional. For a third: I am personally immensely amused by
hobbits as such, and can contemplate them eating and making their
rather fatuous jokes indefinitely; but I find that is not the case with
even my most devoted 'fans' (such as Mr Lewis, and? Rayner Unwin).
Mr Lewis says hobbits are only amusing when in unhobbitlike situa-
tions. For a last: my mind on the 'story' side is really preoccupied with
the 'pure' fairy stories or mythologies of the Silmarillion, into which
even Mr Baggins got dragged against my original will, and I do not
(* Rayner Unwin had said that the second and third chapters 'have I think a
little too much conversation and "hobbit talk" which tends to make it lag a little.')
think I shall be able to move much outside it - unless it is finished (and
perhaps published) - which has a releasing effect.
At the beginning of this extract my father was repeating what he had said
in his letters of 17 and 18 February quoted on pp. 43 - 4, when he had
written no more than 'A Long-expected Party'. But it is very hard to see
why he said here that he found the sentence in The Hobbit, that Bilbo
'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordin-
arily long', 'an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link", since
what he had written at this stage was not about Bilbo but about his
'nephew' Bingo, and in so far as Bilbo was mentioned nothing had been
said to show that he did not remain happy till the end of his extraordin-
arily long days.
This then is where the narrative stopped, and stayed stopped through
some six months or more. With abundant 'hobbit-talk' on the way, he
had got Bingo, Frodo, and Odo to Buckland on the way to Rivendell,
whither Gandalf had preceded them. They had encountered the Black
Riders, Gildor and his company of Elves, and Farmer Maggot, where
their visit ended in a much less satisfactory way than it would do later,
through an outrageous practical joke on Bingo's part (the comic potential
of which had by no means been exhausted); they had crossed the
Brandywine, and arrived at the little house prepared for them by
Marmaduke Brandybuck. In his letter to Charles Furth just cited he said
that he had 'no idea what to do with it', but Tom Bombadil, the Willow-
man and the Barrow-wights were already envisaged as possibilities (see
pp. 42-3).
On 31 August 1938 he wrote again to Charles Furth, and now a great
change had taken place:
In the last two or three days... I have begun again on the sequel to the
'Hobbit' - The Lord of the Ring. It is now flowing along, and getting
quite out of hand. It has reached about Chapter VII and progresses
towards quite unforeseen goals.
He said 'about Chapter VII' on account of uncertainty over chapter-
divisions (see p. 132).
The passage in manuscript at the end of the present chapter (see note
i 6 above) was (I feel certain) added to the typescript at this time, and was
the beginning of this new burst of narrative energy. My father had now
decided that the hobbits' journey would take them into the Old Forest,
that 'dubious region' which had appeared in the third version of 'A Long-
expected Party' (p. 29), and where he had already suggested in early
notes (p. 43) that the hobbits should become lost and caught by the
Willow-man. And 'the sequel to The Hobbit' is given - for the first time,
it seems - a title: The Lord of the Ring (see p. 74 and note 3).
V.
THE OLD FOREST AND THE
WITHYWINDLE.
In the letter of 31 August 1938 quoted at the end of the last chapter my
father said that 'in the last two or three days' he had turned again to the
book, that it was 'flowing along, and getting quite out of hand', and that it
had reached 'about Chapter VII'. It is clear that in those few days the
hobbits had passed through the Old Forest by way of the Withywindle
valley, stayed in the house of Tom Bombadil, escaped from the Barrow-
wight, and reached Bree,
There is very little preliminary sketching of the original fourth chap-
ter, and such as there is I give here. There is first a page dashed down in
soft pencil and now very difficult to read; I introduce some necessary
punctuation and small connective words that were omitted, and expand
the initial letters that stand for names.
They got on to the ponies and rode off into the mist. After
riding more than an hour they came to the Hedge. It was tall and
netted over with silver cobwebs.
'How do we get through this?' said Odo.
'There is a way,' said Marmaduke. Following him along the
Hedge they came to a small brick-lined tunnel. It went down a
gully and dived right under the Hedge, coming out some twenty
yards at the far side, where it was closed by a gate of close iron
bars. Marmaduke unlocked this, let them out, and locked it again.
As it snapped back they all felt a sudden pang.
'There,' said Marmaduke. 'You have now left the Shire - and
are [?outside] and close to the edge of the Old Forest.'
'Are the stories about it true?' said Odo.
'I don't know what stories you mean - if you mean the old bogey
stories our nurses used to tell us, about goblins and wolves and
things of that sort, no. But it is queer. Everything in the Old
Forest is very much more alive, more aware of what is going on,
than in the Shire. And they don't like strangers. The trees watch
you. But they don't do much in daylight. [?Occasionally] the most
malicious ones may drop a branch or stick a root out or grasp at
you with long trailers. But at night things can get most disturbing
- I am told. I have only once been in the Old Forest, and then only
near the edge, after dark. I thought the trees were all whispering to
each other although there was no wind, and the branches waved
about and groped. They do say the trees actually move and can
surround strangers and hem them in. They used long ago to attack
the Hedge, come and plant themselves right by it and lean over it.
But we burn[t] the ground all along the east side for miles and they
gave it up. There are also queer things living deep in the Forest
and on the far side. But I have not heard that they are very fierce -
at least not in daytime. But something makes paths and keeps
them open. There is the beginning of a great and broad one that
goes more or less in our direction. That is the one I am making
for.'
The ground was rising steadily and as their ponies plodded
along the trees became darker and thicker and taller. There was no
sound, save an.occasional drip; but they all got an uncomfortable
feeling which steadily increased that they were being watched -
with disapproval if not dislike. Marmaduke tried to sing, but his
voice soon fell to a hum and then died away. A small branch fell
from an old tree with a crack on the ground behind them. They
stopped, startled, and looked round.
'The trees seem to object to my singing,' said Marmaduke
cheerfully. 'All right, we'll wait till we get to a more open point.'
Clearing hillock view sun up mist goes turns hot
Trees bar way. They turn [?always...... side]
Willowman. Meeting with Tombombadil.
[Struck out: Barrow-wights]
Camp on the downs
Whereas this piece begins as narrative and tails off into notes, another
page is expressly a 'sketch' of the story to be written:
The path winds on and they get tired. They cannot get any
view. At last they see a bare hillock (crowned by a few pines) ahead
looking down onto the path. They reach this and find the mist
gone, and the sun very hot and nearly above. x t o'clock. They
rest and eat. But they can see only forest all round, and cannot
make out either Hedge or line of the road northward, but the bare
downland East and South lies green-grey in the distance. Beyond
the hillock the path turns southwards. They determine to leave it
and strike N.E. by the sun. But trees bar the way. They are going
downhill, and brambles and bushes, hazels and whatnot block
them. Every..... [?opening] leads them away to their right.
Eventually when it is already afternoon they find themselves
coming to a willow-bordered river - the Withywindle.(1) Mar-
maduke knows this flows through the forest from the downs to join
the Brandywine at Haysend. There seems some sort of rough path
going upstream. But a great sleepiness comes on them. Odo and
Bingo cannot go on without a rest. They sit down with their backs
to a great willow, while Frodo and Marmaduke attend to the
ponies. Willowman traps Bingo and Odo. Suddenly a singing is
heard in the distance. (Tom Bombadil not named). The Willow
relaxes its hold.
They get through to end of forest as evening comes on, and
climb on to the downs. It gets very cold - mist is followed by a
chilly drizzle. They shelter under a big barrow. Barrow-wight
takes them inside. They wake to find themselves buried alive.
They shout. At last Marmaduke and Bingo begin a song. An
answering song outside. Tom Bombadil opens the stone door and
lets them out. They go to his house for the night - two Barrow-
wights come [?galloping] after them, but stop every time Tom
Bombadil turns and looks at them.
At this stage, then, their first encounter with Tom Bombadil was to be
very brief, and they would not be his guests until after their escape from
the barrow up on the downs; but no narrative of this form is found, and
doubtless none was written.
It is of course possible that other preliminary drafting has been lost,
but the earliest extant text of the original fourth chapter (numbered 'IV'
but with no title) looks like composition ab initio, with many words and
sentences and even whole pages rejected and replaced at the time of
writing. For most of its length, however, this is an orderly and legible
manuscript, though rapidly written, and increasingly so as it proceeds
(see note 3). It is then remarkable that this text reaches at a stroke the
narrative as published in FR (Chapter 6, 'The Old Forest'), with only the
most minor differences - other than the different cast of characters
(largely a matter of names) and different attribution of 'parts', and often
and for substantial stretches with almost exactly the wording of the final
form. My father might well say that The lard of the Ring was 'now
flowing along'.
There are a few particular points to notice. First, as regards the
characters, the 'spoken parts' are variously distributed as between the
first form and the final. Fredegar Bolger is of course not present to see
them off at the entrance to the tunnel under the Hedge, and his question
'How are you going to get through this?' (FR p. 120) is given to Odo
('How do we get through this?', cf. p. x to). The verse 0! Wanderers in
the shadowed land,(2) Frodo's in FR (p. 123), is here Marmaduke's, but
changed, probably immediately, to Frodo Took's. Pippin's objection to
taking the path by the Withywindle (FR pp. 126 - 7) is Bingo's; and in the
scene with Old Man Willow the parts are quite distinct. In the original
version it is Bingo and Odo who are totally overcome by sleep and lay
themselves against the willow-trunk, and it is Marmaduke who is more
resistant and alarmed at the onset of drowsiness. Frodo Took ('more
adventurous') goes down to the river-bank (as does Frodo Baggins in
FR), and falling asleep at the Willow's feet is tipped into the water and
held under by a root, while Marmaduke plays the later part of Sam in
rounding up the ponies, rescuing Frodo (Took or Baggins) from the
river, and discussing with him how to release the prisoners from the tree.
Yet despite the later redistribution of parts in this scene, and the advent
of Sam Gamgee, the old text is very close to the final form, as may be
seen from this example (cf. FR p. 128).
Marmaduke gripped him [Frodo Took] by the back of his jacket,
and dragged him from under the tree-root, and laid him on the
bank. Almost at once he woke, and coughed and spluttered.
'Do you know,' he said, 'the beast threw me in! I felt it and saw
it: the big root just twizzled round and threw me in.'
'You were dreaming,' said Marmaduke. 'I left you asleep,
though I thought it rather a silly place to sit in.'
'What about the other two? ' asked Frodo. 'I wonder what sort of
dreams they've had?'
They went round to the landward side. Marmaduke then
understood the click. Odo had vanished. The crack he lay in had
closed to, so that not a chink could be seen. Bingo was trapped; for
his crack had closed to about his waist...
There are also a few minor points of topography to mention. It is said
in the outline (p. 111) that the hillock was crowned with pines, and
this was retained: it had 'a knot of pine-trees at the top', under which the
hobbits sat. In FR (p. 124) the hill is likened to a bald head, and the trees
about it to 'thick hair that ended sharply in a circle round a shaven
crown.' - When later they came to the end of the gully and looked out
from the trees at the Withywindle, they were at the top of a cliff:
Suddenly the woodland trees came to an end, and the gully ended at
the top of a bank that was almost a cliff. Over this the stream dived,
and fell in a series of small waterfalls. Looking down they saw that
below them was a wide space of grass and reeds...
Marmaduke scrambled down to the river, and disappeared into the
long grass and low bushes. After a while he reappeared and called up to
them from a patch of turf some thirty feet below. He reported that
there was fairly solid ground between the bank and the river...
In FR (p. 126) it is clear that the hobbits, following the little stream
down the gully, had reached the level of the Withywindle valley while
still in the deep woodland:
Coming to the opening they found that they had made their way down
through a cleft in a high steep bank, almost a cliff. At its feet was a wide
space of grass and reeds...
[Merry] passed out into the sunshine and disappeared into the long
grasses. After a while he reappeared, and reported...
Subsequently, in the original version, there is anxiety about the descent
of the ponies from the cliff; they got down in fact without difficulty, but
Frodo Took 'put too much weight on a grassy lump that stuck out like a
step, and went down with his head over heels for the last fifteen feet or so;
but he came to no great harm at the bottom, for the ground was soft.' In
FR (p. 127) the hobbits merely 'filed out' from the trees.
The last part of the chapter, in which Tom Bombadil appears, and
which ends with the same words as in FR ('a golden light was all about
them'), is so close to the final form (3) that only one small matter need be
mentioned. It is made just as clear here as in FR that the path which the
hobbits followed beside the Withywindle lay on the north side of the
river, the side from which they descended out of the forest, and it is
therefore strange that the approach to Tom Bombadil's house should be
described thus:
The grass under their feet was smooth and short, and seemed to be
mown and shaven. The forest edge behind them was as clipped and
trim as a hedge. The path was edged with white stones; and turning
sharp to the left went over a little bridge. It then wound up onto the top
of a round knoll...
But the path was already on the left side of the river as it went upstream.
Later on, this text was very heavily corrected, and the FR version all but
achieved; yet this detail was retained: 'The path was bordered with white
stones; and turning sharp to the left it led them over a wooden bridge.'
Later again, the word 'left' was changed to 'right', implying that Tom
Bombadil's house lay on the south side of the Withywindle. In FR there
is no mention of a bridge. My father's map of the Shire (see p. 107:
map I) probably shows that he changed his mind on this point; for the
underlying pencil shows 'TB', with a dark mark beside it, on the south
side, whereas the ink overlay shows the house to the north of the stream.
See further pp. 327 - 8.
NOTES.
1. The first occurrence of the name Withywindle,
2. The verse has shadow-land for shadowed land in the first line, but is
otherwise as in FR. Rough working for a verse in this place is also
found. My father first wrote: 'O wanderers in the land of trees I
despair not for there is no wood', but this was broken off and the
following suggested:
think not of hearth that lies behind
but set your hearts on distant hills
beyond the rising of the sun.
The journey is but new begun,
the road goes ever on before
past many a house and many a door
over mater and under wood
3. Towards the end of the chapter the manuscript becomes extremely
confused. From the point where Marmaduke and Frodo Took
discover that Bingo and Odo are trapped by the Willow-man my
father changed from ink to pencil, and degenerating into a rapid
scribble the chapter seems to have petered out in the course of their
rescue by Tom Bombadil; but he subsequently erased most of the
pencilled text, or overwrote it in ink, and continued on in ink to
the end of the chapter. This concluding portion departs from the
preliminary sketch given on p. 112, where the hobbits after their
rescue went up on to the Downs and were captured by the Barrow-
wight; here, as in FR, Tom invites them to come to his house, and
goes on ahead up the path beside the Withywindle. The last part of
the manuscript is probably, strictly speaking, a subsequent addition;
but the matter is of slight importance, since all this writing obviously
belongs to the same period of work, at the end of August 1938.
Note on Tom Bombadil.
Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Old Man Willow, and the Barrow-wight
had already existed for some time, appearing in print in the pages of The
Oxford Magazine (Vol. LII, no. 13, 15 February 1934). In a letter of
1954 my father said:
I don't think Tom needs philosophizing about, and is not improved by
it. But many have found him an odd or indeed discordant ingredient.
In historical fact I put him in because I had already 'invented' him
independently (he first appeared in the Oxford Magazine) and wanted
an 'adventure' on the way.*
On a small isolated piece of paper are found the following verses. At
the top of the page my father wrote: 'Date unknown - germ of Tom
Bombadil so evidently in mid 1930s'; and this note was written at the
same time as the text, which is certainly quite late. There is no trace of
the text from which it was copied.
(Said I)
'Ho! Tom Bombadil
Whither are you going
With John Pompador
Down the River rowing?'
(* The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 153. Some major observations on Tom
Bombadil are found in this letter and in no. 144.)
(Said he)
'Through Long Congleby,
Stoke Canonicorum,+
Past King's Singleton
To Bumby Cocalorum -
To call Bill Willoughby
Whatever he be doing,
And ax Harry Larraby
What beer he is a-brewing.'
(And he sang)
'Co, boat! Row! The willows are a-bending,
reeds are leaning, wind is in the grasses.
Flow, stream, flow! The ripples are unending;
green they gleam, and shimmer as it passes.
Run, fair Sun, through heaven all the morning,
rolling golden. Merry is our singing.
Cool the pools, though summer be a-burning;
in shady glades let laughter run a-ringing!'
The poem published in The Oxford Magazine in 1934 bore the title
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (in earlier forms it was The History of
Tom Bombadil). Many years later (1962) my father made it the first poem
in the collection to which it gave the title (and added also a new poem,
Bombadil Goes Boating, in which he meets Farmer Maggot in the
Marish). Various changes were made in this later version, and references
to the Withywindle were introduced, but the old poem was very largely
preserved. In it are to be found the origin of many things in this and the
following chapters - the closing crack in the Great Willow (though in the
poem it was Tom himself who was caught in it), the supper of 'yellow
cream and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter', the 'nightly noises'
that included the tapping of the branches of Old Man Willow on the
window-pane, the words of the Barrow-wight (who in the poem was
inside Tom's house) 'I am waiting for you', and much else.
+ Mediaeval name of what is now Stoke Canon in Devonshire.
VI.
TOM BOMBADIL.
A very brief outline shows my father's first thoughts for the next stage of
the hobbits' journey: their visit to the house of Tom Bombadil.
Tom Bombadil rescues them from Willow Man. He says it was
lucky he came that way - he had gone to the water-lily pool for
some white water-lilies for Goldberry (my wife).
He turns out to know Farmer Maggot. (Make Maggot not a
hobbit, but some other kind of creature - not dwarf, but akin to
Tom Bombadil). They rest at his house. He says only way out is
along his path beside the Withywindle. Description of feast and
[? willow] fire. Many noises at night.
Tom Bombadil wakes them singing derry dol, and opening all
the windows (he lives in a little house under the down-side facing
the forest edge and the [?east corner] of the wood). He tells them
to go north but avoid the high Downs and barrows. He manas
them of barrow-wights; tells them a song to sing if the barrow-
wights frighten them or
A cold day. The mist thickens and they get lost.
This scheme was written at great speed in pencil. As will be seen shortly,
at this stage the hobbits only spent the one night with Tom Bombadil,
and left the following morning. Another set of notes, also obviously
preceding the first actual narrative text, is also very difficult to read:
Water-lily motive - last lilies of summer for Goldberry.
Relation of Tom Bombadil to Farmer Maggot ( Maggot not a
hobbit?)
Tom Bombadil is an 'aborigine' - he knew the land before men,
before hobbits, before barrow-wights, yes before the necromancer
- before the elves came to this quarter of the world.
Goldberry says he is 'master of water, wood and hill'. Does all
this land belong to him? No! The land and the things belong to
themselves. He is not the possessor but the master, because he
belongs to himself.
Description of Goldberry, with her hair as yellow as the flag-
lilies, her green gown and light feet.
Barrow-wights related to Black-riders. Are Black-riders actually
horsed Barrow-wights?
The guests sleep - there is a noise as of wind surging in the edges
of the forest and..... through the panes and gables and the
doors. Galloping of [?horses] round the house.
The first actual narrative (incomplete) of this chapter is a very rough
and difficult manuscript in ink, becoming very rough indeed before it
peters out on the first morning at Bombadil's house. It has no title, but is
rather oddly numbered 'V or VI'. Here, even more than in the last
chapter, the final form - until just at the end - is already present in all but
detail of expression.
Most interesting is the story of the hobbits' dreams during the night,
which is told thus:
In the dead night Bingo woke and heard noises: a sudden fear
came over him [?so that] he did not speak but lay listening
breathless. He heard a sound like a strong wind curling round the
house and shaking it, and down the wind came a galloping, a
galloping, a galloping: hooves seemed to come charging down the
hillside from the east, up to the walls and round and round, hooves
thudding and wind blowing, and then dying away back up the hill
and into the darkness.
'Black riders,' thought Bingo. 'Black riders, a black host of
riders,' and he wondered if he would ever again have the courage
even in the morning to leave the safety of these good stone walls.
He lay and listened for a while, but all had become quiet again,
and after a while he fell asleep. At his side Odo lay dreaming. He
turned and groaned, and woke to the darkness, and yet the dream
went on. Tap, tap, squeak: the noise was like branches fretting in
the wind, twigs like fingers scraping wall and window... [@c. as
in FR p. 138].
It was the sound of water that Frodo heard falling into his sleep
and slowly waking him. Water streaming gently down at first, and
then spreading all round the house, gurgling under the walls...
[@c. as in FR p. 139].
Meriadoc (1) slept on through the night in deep content.
As told here, there seems no reason not to understand that Black
Riders (or Barrow-wights) actually came and rode round Tom Bom-
badil's house during the night. It will be seen that it is said explicitly that
Bingo moke, and after a while fell asleep. In the initial sketch given on
p. 112 (where the hobbits only went to stay with Tom after their capture
by a Barrow-wight up on the Downs) 'Two Barrow-wights come
[?galloping] after them', cf. also the note on p. 118: 'Barrow-wights re-
lated to Black-riders. Are Black-riders actually horsed Barrow-wights?' -
followed by 'Galloping of [? horses] round the house.' In any case, the
end of the present text (unhappily so eccentrically scribbled as to make
its interpretation extremely difficult) is explicit. Here, as in the later
story, Bingo waking looks out of the east window of their room on to the
kitchen-garden grey with dew.
He had expected to see turf right up to the walls, turf all pocked
with hoof-marks. Actually his view was screened by a tall line of
green beans on poles, but above and far beyond them the grey top
of the hill loomed up against the sunrise. It was a grey morning
with soft clouds, behind which were deeps of yellow and pale red.
The light was broadening quickly and the red flowers on the beans
began to shine against the wet green leaves.
Frodo looks from the western window, as does Pippin in FR, and sees
the Withywindle disappearing into the mist below, and the flower-
garden: 'there was no willow-tree to be seen.'
'Good morning, merry friends! ' said Tom, opening the east
window wide. A cool air flowed in. 'The sun will [?heat] you when
the day is older. I have been walking far, leaping on the hill-tops,
since the grey twilight [? came] and the night foundered, wet grass
underfoot.......'
When they were dressed [struck out as written: Tom took them
up the hillside] the sun was already risen over the hill, and the
clouds were melting away. In the forest valley trees were appear-
ing like tall heads rising out of the curling sea of mist. They were
glad of breakfast - indeed they were glad to be awake and safe and
at the merry end of a day again. The thought of going was heavy on
them - and not only for fear of the road. Had it been a [? merry]
road and the road home they would still have wished to tarry
there.
But they knew that could not be. Bingo too found in his heart
that the noise of hoofs was not only dream. They must escape
quickly or else... [? pursued] here. So he made up his mind to get
such help and advice as [?old] Bombadil could or would give.
'Master,' he said, 'we cannot thank you for your kindness for it
has been beyond thanks. But we must go, against our wish and
quickly. For I heard horsemen in the night and fear we are
pursued.'
Tom looked at him. 'Horsemen,' he said. 'Dead men [?riding
the wind. 'Tis long since they came hence.] What ails the Barrow-
wights to leave their old mounds? You are strange folk to come out
of the Shire, [? even stranger than my news told me.] Now you had
best tell me all - and I will give you counsel.'
Here the text ends, but following it are these notes in pencil:
Make it sudden rainy day. They spend it at Tom's house, and
tell him the tale; and he of Willow-man and the.......(2) He is
concerned about the riders; but says he will think of counsel. Next
day is fine. He takes them to the hilltop. They.... the barrows.
This is where the story of the wet second day spent in long talk with
Bombadil entered; before this the weather was to have become fine, and
the hobbits were to have left when they had told Tom their story and
received his advice. In this earliest narrative Bingo was so convinced of
the reality of what he had heard in the night that he raised the matter with
Tom, and Tom seems to take him seriously; and in this context the word
'Actually' (retained in FR) in 'Actually his view was screened by a tall line
of beans on poles' suggests that if it had not been for this he would indeed
have seen the turf 'all pocked with hoof-prints.'
A second narrative followed, obviously written immediately after the
first, and this is complete. Here the chapter is numbered 'V', still without
title. The first text was now refined and ordered in expression, the
morning bodes rain, and the new version becomes, to the point where the
first ended, scarcely distinguishable from that of FR, except in the
matter of the 'dreams'. These are still told in the same unambiguous
language as if they were real events in the night; but nothing more is said
of them afterwards than is said in FR. In the final story Frodo's dream is a
vision of Gandalf standing on the pinnacle of Orthanc and of the descent
of Gwaihir to bear him away, but that vision is still accompanied by the
sound of the Black Riders galloping out of the East; and it was that sound
that woke him. It is still said that he thought in the morning to find the
ground round the house marked by hoofs, but this is now no more than a
way of emphasising the vividness of his experience in the night.
The remainder of the second version of the chapter generally
approaches extraordinarily closely to the final form,(3) but there are not a
few interesting differences.
In Tom Bombadil's long talk with the hobbits on the second day, his
voice is described as 'always in a sing-song or actually singing' (cf. FR
p. 140: 'Often his voice would turn to song'). The passage concerning
Old Man Willow was first written thus:
Amongst his talk there was here and there much said of Old Man
Willow, and Merry learned enough to content him (more than
enough, for it was not comfortable lore), though not enough for
him to understand how that grey thirsty earth-bound spirit had
become imprisoned in the greatest Willow of the Forest. The tree
did not die, though its heart went rotten, while the malice of the
Old Man drew power out of earth and water, and spread like a net,
like fine root-threads in the ground, and invisible twig-fingers in
the air, till it had infected or subjugated nearly all the trees on both
sides of the valley.(5)
Bombadil's talk about the Barrow-wights of the Barrow-downs re-
mained almost word for word into FR (pp. 141 - 2), with one difference:
for FR 'A shadow came out of dark places far away' this text has 'A dark
shadow came up out of the middle of the world'; in the underlying
pencilled text (see note 3) can be read 'a dark shadow came up out of the
South.' At the end of his talk, where FR has 'still on and back Tom went
singing out into ancient starlight', the present version has 'and still
further Tom went singing back before the Sun and before the Moon, out
into the old starlight.'
A detail worth remarking is the sentence in the old version: 'Whether
the morning and evening of one day or of many days had passed Bingo
could not tell (nor did he ever discover for certain).' The bracketed
words were soon to be removed, when the dating of the journey to Bree
became precise; the hobbits stayed with Bombadil on the 26th and 27th
of September, and left on the morning of the 28th (see p. 160).
Tom Bombadil's answer to Bingo's question 'Who are you, Master?'
has some interesting differences from the final form (FR p. 142):
'Eh, what?' said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinted in the
gloom. 'I am an Aborigine, that's what I am, the Aborigine of this
land. [Struck out at once: I have spoken a mort (6) of languages
and called myself by many names.] Mark my words, my merry
friends: Tom was here before the River or the Trees. Tom
remembers the first acorn and the first rain-drop. He made paths
before the Big People, and saw the Little People arriving. He was
here before the kings and the graves and the [ghosts >] Barrow-
wights. When the Elves passed westward Tom was here already -
before the seas were bent. He saw the Sun rise in the West and the
Moon following, before the new order of days was made. He knew
the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark
Lord came from Outside.'
In FR Tom Bombadil calls himself 'Eldest', not 'Aborigine' (cf. the
notes given on p. 117: 'Tom Bombadil is an "aborigine"'); and the
reference here to his having seen 'the Sun rise in the West and the Moon
following' was dropped (though 'Tom remembers the first acorn and the
first rain-drop', which was retained, says the same). These words are
extremely surprising; for in the Quenta Silmarillion which my father had
only set aside at the end of the previous year it is told that 'Rana [the
Moon] was first wrought and made ready, and first rose into the region of
the stars, and was the elder of the lights, as was Silpion of the Trees'
(V. 240); and the Moon first rose as Fingolfin set foot upon Middle-earth,
but the Sun when he entered Mithrim (V.250).
Tom Bombadil was 'there' during the Ages of the Stars, before
Morgoth came back to Middle-earth after the destruction of the Trees; is
it to this event that he referred in his words (retained in FR) 'He knew the
dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came
from Outside'? It must be said that it seems unlikely that Bombadil would
refer to Valinor across the Great Sea as 'Outside', especially since this
was long ages 'before the seas were bent', when Numenor was drowned;
it would seem much more natural to interpret the word as meaning 'the
Outer Dark', 'the Void' beyond the Walls of the World. But in the
mythology as it was when my father began?he Lord of the Rings Melkor
entered 'the World' with the other Valar, and never left it until his final
defeat. It was only with his return to The Silmarillion after The Lord of
the Rings was completed that there entered the account found in the
published work (pp. 35 - 7) of the First War, in which Melkor was
defeated by Tulkas and driven into the Outer Dark, from which he
returned in secret while the Valar were resting from their labours on the
Isle of Almaren, and overthrew the Lamps, ending the Spring of Arda. It
seems then that either Bombadil must in fact refer to Morgoth's return
from Valinor to Middle-earth, in company with Ungoliant and bearing
the Silmarils, or else that my father had already at this date developed a
new conception of the earliest history of Melkor.
After the reference to Farmer Maggot, from whom Tom Bombadil got
his knowledge of the Shire, and whom he 'seemed to regard as a person of
more importance than they had fancied' (FR p. 143), this text adds: We
are kinsfolk, he and I. In a way of speaking: distantly and far back, but
near enough for friendship' (in the original draft: 'We are akin, he said,
distantly, very distantly, but near enough to count'). Cf. the notes given
on p. 117, concerning the possibility that Farmer Maggot was not a
hobbit at all, but a being of a wholly different kind, and akin to
Bombadil.(7) At the end of this passage, the reference in FR to Tom's
dealings with Elves, and to his having had news of the flight of Frodo
(Bingo) from Gildor, is absent from the present text. (Tom indeed said
earlier, FR p. 137, that he and Goldberry had heard of their wandering,
and 'guessed you'd come ere long down to the water', and this is found in
both the original texts).
Of Tom's questioning of Bingo it is said here that Bingo 'found himself
telling him more about Bilbo Baggins and his own history and about the
business of his sudden flight than he told before even to his three friends',
in FR (p. 144) this became 'telling him more about Bilbo and his own
hopes and fears than he had told before even to Gandalf.' It may be noted
that in the old narrative thus far there has been no suggestion that Bingo's
departure from Hobbiton was a 'sudden flight' - except perhaps in the
'foreword' given in Chapter III, where Gandalf said to him before the
Party 'But you must go quickly' (p. 83).
The episode of Tom and the Ring is told in virtually the same words as
in FR, the only and very slight difference being that when Bingo put on
the Ring Tom cried: 'Hey, come Bingo there, where be you a-going?
What be you a-grinning at? Are you tired of talking? Take off that Ring of
yours and sit down a moment. We must talk a while more...' Against
this my father wrote later: 'Make the seeing clearer', and substituted
(after 'where be you a-going? '): 'Did you think I should not see when you
had the Ring on? Ha, Tom Bombadil's not as blind as that yet. Take off
your golden Ring, and sit down a moment.'
Lastly, at the very end of the chapter, the rhyme that Tom Bombadil
taught the hobbits to sing if in need of him is different from that in FR:
Ho! Tom Bombadil! Whither do you wander?
Up, down, near or far? Here, there, or yonder?
By hill that stands, wood that grows, and by the mater falling,
Here now we summon you! Can you hear us calling?
This rhyme was at first present in the next chapter, when Bingo sang it in
the barrow; but it was replaced there at the time of writing by Ho! Tom
Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo! etc., as in FR (p. 153). In the present
passage my father wrote in the margin: 'Or substitute rhyme in chapter
VI', and that was done (FR p. 145).
NOTES.
1. This is the first occurrence of Meriadoc for Marmaduke in a manu-
script as originally written.
2. The word looks very much like badgers. If this is so, it must be a
reference to the badgers who captured Tom Bombadil in the poem
('By the coat they caught him, pulled Tom inside the hole, down
their tunnels brought him'); see The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
(1962), pp. 12 - 13 (the verses describing Tom's encounter with the
badgers were left virtually unchanged in the later version). In the
next text of this chapter Tom was telling the hobbits 'an absurd story
about badgers and their odd ways' when Bingo slipped on the Ring;
and this was retained in FR.
3. The story of the wet second day at Bombadil's was written ab initio in
pencil, then a part of the manuscript overwritten in ink; for the last
part of the chapter, from supper on the second day, there is both
pencilled draft and manuscript in ink. But it is clear that all this work
was continuous and overlapping.
4. The question about Old Man Willow on the night before is asked by
Merry (by Frodo in FR); i.e. by one who had not been imprisoned in
the tree.
5. A passage very close to that in FR (from 'Tom's words laid bare the
hearts of trees') was substituted, probably while the manuscript was
in progress or very soon after.
6. a mort: a great many.
7. Conceivably, some pencilled emendations to the typescript of the
third chapter were added at this time and in this connection. Frodo
Took's words of Farmer Maggot, 'He lives in a house' (p. 92), were
thus extended: 'He is not a hobbit - not a pure hobbit anyway. He is
rather large and has hair under his chin. But his family has had these
fields time out of mind.' And when Maggot appears (p.94), 'a large
round hobbit-face' was changed to 'a large round hair-framed face.'
Afterwards, in the Prologue to LR, the hobbits of the Eastfarthing
were decribed as being 'rather large and heavy-legged'. 'they were
well known to be Stoors in a large part of their blood, as indeed was
shown by the down that many grew on their chins. No Harfoot or
Fallohide had any trace of a beard.' See p. 294.
There has already been a hint earlier that Farmer Maggot was not
altogether what he appeared to be, in Merry s remark (p. 103): He
used to go into the Old Forest at one time, and had the reputation of
knowing a thing or two outside the Shire.' This was retained in FR
(p.113).
VII.
THE BARROW-WIGHT.
My father's earliest thoughts on the encounter with the Barrow-wight
(written down while he was working on the story of the hobbits in the Old
Forest) have been given on p. 112. When he came to write this chapter
he began with a pencilled draft' that took the story as far as the hobbits'
waking beside the standing stone in the hollow circle on the Downs, and
leading their ponies down from it into the fog (FR p. 149). Like many of
his preliminary drafts, this would be virtually illegible had he not
followed it closely in the first full manuscript (in ink), for words that
could be interpreted in a dozen ways without context can then be
identified at once. In this case he did no more than improve the hasty
wording of the draft, and add the passage describing the view northwards
from the stone pillar, with the dark line in the distance that Merry took
for trees bordering the East Road.
If the draft continued beyond this point it is lost now; but in fact the
manuscript in ink could well be the primary composition. There is
however a very rough pencilled plot-outline for the story from the point
where 'Bingo comes to himself inside a barrow', and this outline con-
tinues the story to Rivendell. This is so rapidly written and now so faint
that I cannot after much effort make it all out. The worst part, however,
is at the beginning, extending from Bingo's finding himself in the barrow
to Tom's waking Odo, Frodo, and Merry, and from what is legible it can
be seen that while very concise and limited all the essentials of the
narrative were present. I shall not therefore try to represent this part, but
give the remainder of the outline in full in this place, since it is of great
interest in showing my father's thoughts on the further course of the
story at this juncture - i.e. before the 'Barrow-wight' chapter had been
completed.
Tom sings a song over Odo Frodo Merry. Wake now my
merry...!
.........(2) of the [?pillar] and how they became separated.
Tom puts a blessing or a curse on the gold and lays it on the top of
the mound. None of the hobbits will have any but Tom takes a
brooch for Goldberry.
Tom says he will go with them, after chiding them for sleeping
by the stone pillar. They soon find the Road and the way seems
short. They turn along the Road. [? Gallops] come after them.
Tom turns and holds up his hand. They fly back.(3) As dusk falls
they see a... light. Tom says goodbye - for Goldberry will be
waiting.
They sleep at the inn and hear news of Gandalf. Jolly landlord.
Drinking song.
Pass rapidly over rest of journey to Rivendell. Any riders on the
Road? Make them foolishly turn aside to visit Troll Stones. This
delays them. One day at last they halted on a rise and looked
forward to the Ford. Galloping behind. Seven (3? 4?) Black-
riders hastening along the Road. They have gold rings and
crowns. Flight over Ford. Bingo [written above: Gandalf?] flings
a stone and imitates Tom Bombadil. Go back and ride away! The
Riders halt as if astonished, and looking up at the hobbits on the
bank the hobbits can see no faces in their hoods. Go back says
Bingo, but he is not Tom Bombadil, and the riders ride into the
ford. But just then a rumbling rush is heard and a great [? wall] of
water bowling stones roars down the river from the mountains.
Elves arrive.
The Riders draw back just in time in dismay. The hobbits ride
as hard as they can to Rivendell.
At Rivendell sleeping Bilbo Gandalf. Some explanations.
Ringmail of Bingo in barrow and the dark rocks - (the 3 hobbits
had dashed past the rocks when suddenly they all became [? shut]
off??) Gandalf had sent the water down with Elrond's permission.
Gandalf astonished to hear about Tom.
Consultation of hobbits with Elrond and Gandalf.
The Quest of the Fiery Mountain.
This projection ends here. While my father had already conceived the
scene at the Ford, with the sudden rising of the Bruinen (and the cry
of Bingo/Frodo to the Riders: Go back!), Strider (not at first called
Strider) would only emerge with the greatly increased significance of
the Inn (which here first appears) at Bree in the next chapter; and
there is no hint of Weathertop. If the 'dark rocks' are the 'two huge
standing stones' through which Bingo/Frodo passed in the fog on the
Downs (FR p. 150) - they are called 'standing rocks' in the first version -
it is odd that discussion of this was postponed till the hobbits reached
Rivendell; but possibly the words 'some explanations' imply that
Gandalf was able to throw light on what had happened.(4) On the 'Ring-
mail of Bingo in barrow' see p. 223. The Cracks of Earth in the depths
of the Fiery Mountain are named by Gandalf as the only heat great
enough to destroy Bilbo's ring (p. 82); here for the first time the Fiery
Mountain enters the story as the goal for which they will in the end be
bound.
The first full manuscript of this chapter (simply headed 'VI' and as
usual at this stage without title) is fully legible for most of its length, but
as so frequently becomes quicker and rougher, ending in rapid pencil.
This my father went over here and there in ink, partly to improve the
expression, partly to clarify his own writing; this certainly belongs to the
same period, but after he had started on the next chapter.
As with the previous two chapters, the final form of FR Chapter 8
('Fog on the Barrow-downs') is very largely present: for most of its
length only very minor alterations were made afterwards. In what
follows I note points of difference that seem to me of interest, though
most are very slight.
In the opening paragraph the song and vision 'in dreams or out of
them' is told in the same words in the old text, but is ascribed not to Bingo
(Frodo in FR) alone, but to all the hobbits.
When they looked back over the forest and saw the knoll on which they
had rested before their descent to the Withywindle valley, 'the fir-trees
growing there could be seen now small and dark in the West' (see p. 113).
When the hobbits became separated in the fog, and Bingo cried out
miserably 'Where are you?' (FR p. 150), my father at first had a quite
different story in mind:
'Here! Here! ' came the voices suddenly plain and not far to the
right. Plunging blindly towards them he bumped suddenly into
the tail of a pony. An undoubted hobbit-voice (it was Odo's) gave
a shriek of fright, and [he] fell over something on the ground. The
something kicked him, and gave a yell. 'Help! ' it cried in the
undoubted voice of Odo.
'Thank goodness,' said Bingo, rolling on the ground in Odo's
arms. 'Thank goodness I have found you! '
'Thank goodness indeed!' said Odo in a relieved voice; 'but
need you really run away without warning and then jump down
out of the sky on top of me?'
My father rejected this as soon as written, and wrote instead, as in FR:
'There was no reply. He stood listening', etc.
A first version of the Barrow-wight's incantation was rejected and
replaced by the form that appears in FR (p. 152); but the changes made
were very slight except in line 7, where for 'till the dark lord lifts his hand'
the first version had 'till the king of the dark tower lifts his hand.'(5) In the
rough workings for this verse my father wrote: 'The dark lord sits in the
tower and looks over the dark seas and the dark world', and also 'his hand
stretches over the cold sea and the dead world.'
The arm 'walking on its fingers' crept towards Frodo Took (Sam in
FR); and where in FR 'Frodo fell forward over Merry, and Merry's face
felt cold', in the old version Bingo fell forward over Frodo Took. There is
no evident pattern in the changed ascriptions when the 'cast of charac-
ters' was altered; so later in the chapter Odo says 'Where are my clothes?'
(Sam in FR), and when Tom Bombadil says 'You won't find your clothes
again' it is Frodo Took who asks 'What do you mean?' (Pippin in FR).
In general I do not further note such points unless they seem significant.
On the rejected form of the rhyme taught to the hobbits by Tom
Bombadil and sung by Bingo in the barrow see p. 123. The first two
lines of the rejected rhyme were used later in the chapter, when Tom
goes off after the ponies (FR p. 155).
When Merry said 'What in the name of wonder?' as he felt the gold
circlet that had slipped over one eye, the old version continues: 'Then he
stopped, and a shadow came over his face. I begin to remember,> he
said. "I thought I was dead - but don't let us speak of it."' There is no
mention of the Men of Carn Dum (FR p. 154).
Tom Bombadil's names for the ponies go back to the beginning, with
the exception of 'Sharp-ears', who was first called 'Four-foot'! When he
bade the treasures lying in the sun on the top of the mound lie there 'free
to all finders, bird, beast, elves or men and all kind creatures', he added:
'For the makers and owners of these things are not here, and their day is
long past, and the makers cannot claim them again until the world is
mended." And when he took the brooch for Goldberry he said: 'Fair was
she who long ago wore this on her shoulder, and Goldberry shall wear it
now, and we shall not forget them, the vanished folk, the old kings, the
children and the maidens, and all those who walked the earth when the
world was younger.'
While in the outline given on p. 125 the hobbits refuse to take anything
from the treasure in the mound, in the first text the story is that Tom
chose for them 'bronze swords, short, leaf-shaped and keen', but nothing
further is said in description of them (cf. FR p. 157), though the
following was added in pencil and perhaps belongs to the time of the
writing of the manuscript: 'These, he said, were made many ages ago by
men out of the West. They were foes of the Ring-lord.' The manuscript
continues:
and they hung them from the leather belts beneath their jackets;
though they did not yet see the purpose of them. Fighting had not
occurred to any of them as among the possible adventures that
their flight might bring them to. As far as Bingo could remember
even the great and heroic Bilbo had somehow avoided using his
small sword even on goblins - and then he remembered the
spiders of Mirkwood and tightened his belt.
Of the hints in Tom's words in FR concerning the history of Angmar and
the coming of Aragorn there is of course no suggestion.
As already noted, the end of the chapter is roughly pencilled and here
and there overwritten in ink. The crossing of the dyke - boundary of an
old kingdom, about which 'Tom seemed to remember something un-
happy and would not say much' - and their coming at last to the Road is
much as in FR (p. 158), but the remainder is best given in full, as
originally pencilled, so far as that can be made out.
Bingo rode down onto the track and looked both ways. There
was no one in sight. 'Well, here we are again at last!' he said. 'I
suppose we haven't lost more than a day by Merry's short cut. We
had better stick to the beaten way after this.'
'You had better,' said Tom, 'and ride fast.'
Bingo looked at him. Black riders came back into his thought.
He looked a little anxiously back towards the setting sun, but the
road was brown and empty. 'Do you think,' he asked hesitatingly,
'do you think we shall be - er, pursued tonight?'
'Not tonight,' said Tom. 'No, not tonight. Not perhaps the next
day. Not perhaps for days to come.
The next passage is very confused and little can be made out (of the first
pencilled text); as overwritten in ink it reads:
But I cannot say for certain. Tom is not master of the Riders that
come out of the Black Land far beyond his country.' All the same
the hobbits wished that Tom was coming with them. They felt
that he would know how to deal with them - if anyone did. They
were now at last going forward into lands wholly strange to them,
and beyond all but the most distant legends of the Shire, and they
began to feel really lonely, exiled, and rather helpless. But Tom
was now wishing them a final farewell, bidding them have good
heart, and ride till dark without halting.
The pencilled text continues:
But he encouraged them - a little - by telling them that he guessed
the Riders- (or some of them) were seeking now among the
mounds. For he seemed to think that the Riders and Barrow-
wights had some kind of kinship or understanding. If that were so,
it might prove in the end well that they had been captured. They
learned from him that some miles away along the road was the old
village of Bree, on the west side of Bree-hill.(6) It had an inn that
could be trusted: the White Horse [written above: Prancing
Pony). The keeper was a good man and not unknown to Tom.
'Just you mention my name and he will treat you fairly. There you
can sleep sound, and after that the morning will speed you well
upon your way. Go now with my blessing.' They begged him to
come as far as the inn and drink once more with them. But he
laughed and refused, saying: 'Tom has his house to mind, and
Goldberry is waiting.' Then he turned, tossed up his hat, leaped
on Lumpkin's back, and rode over the bank and away singing into
the gathering dusk.
This passage, as far as 'Go now with my blessing', was rejected, and
a new version written in ink on a separate sheet; this second text is the
same as Tom's farewell speech in FR p. 159 ('Tom will give you good
advice...'), but it is here written out in verse-lines, and with these
differences: the 'worthy keeper' is Barnabas Butterbur, not Barliman,
and the reference to him is followed by:
He knows Tom Bombadil, and Tom's name will help you.
Say 'Tom sent us here ' and he will treat you kindly.
There you can sleep sound, and afterwards the morning
Will speed you upon your way. Co now with my blessing!
Keep up your merry hearts, and ride to meet your fortune!
That these revisions are later than the first pencilled draft of the next
chapter is seen from the fact that throughout that draft the innkeeper's
name was Timothy Titus, not yet Barnabas Butterbur (p. 140 note 3).
The end of this chapter is again overwritten in ink, but so far as I can
make out this was only to clarify the almost illegible pencilled text:
The hobbits stood and watched him out of sight. Then, feeling
heavy at heart (in spite of his encouragement), they mounted their
ponies, not without some glances back along the Road, and went
off slowly into the evening. They did not sing, or talk, or discuss
the events of the night before, but plodded silently along. Bingo
and Merry rode in front, Odo and Frodo, leading the spare pony,
were behind.
It was quite dark before they saw lights twinkling some distance
ahead. Before them rose Bree Hill, barring the way, a dark slope
against the misty stars, and under it and on its western side nestled
the little village.
NOTES.
1. This draft is in fact continuous with that for the Bombadil chapter
(p. 123 note 3), but my father soon after drew a line on the pencilled
text between 'and led them with candles back to their bedroom' and
2. 'That night they heard no noises', entering the chapter-number 'VI?'.
The illegible word begins Expl but the remainder does not seem to be
(Expl) anatton.
3. Cf. the outline given on p. 112: 'two Barrow-wights come [?gallop-
ing] after them, but stop every time Tom Bombadil turns and looks at
them.'
4. In a very early form of the chapter 'Many Meetings' (a passage
retained word for word in FR, pp. 231 - 2) Bingo says to Gandalf at
Rivendell: 'You seem to know a great deal already. I have not spoken
to the others about the Barrow. At first it was too horrible, and
afterwards there were other things to think about. How did you know
about it?' And Gandalf replies: 'You have talked long in your sleep,
Bingo.' But I doubt that this is relevant.
5. The 'dark tower' of the Necromancer is referred to by Gandalf in the
text given in Chapter III (p. 81), and indeed goes back to The Hobbit,
where at the end of Chapter VII 'Queer Lodgings' Gandalf speaks of
the 'dark tower' of the Necromancer, in the south of Mirkwood. But it
is difficult to feel sure where at this stage my father imagined the Dark
Tower to stand. Tom Bombadil says (p. 129) that he 'is not master of
the Riders that come out of the Black Land far beyond his country',
and the name Mordor had certainly arisen: cf. the second version of
The Fall of Numenor (V.29, 31), 'And they came at last even to
Mordor the Black Country, where Sauron, that is in the Gnomish
tongue named Thu, has rebuilt his fortresses.' See further p. 218
note 17.
6. My father first put 'an old village which had an inn', but the change to
'the old village of Bree, on the west side of Bree-hill. It had an inn' was
almost certainly made as he wrote (and 'Prancing Pony' above 'White
Horse' likewise). This is where the name first appears, based on Brill
in Buckinghamshire, a place which he knew well, for it sits on a hill in
the Little Kingdom of Farmer Giles of Ham (see Carpenter, Bio-
graphy, p. 160). The name Brill is derived from the old British word
bre 'hill', to which the English added their own word hyll; cf. LR
Appendix F (p. 414), and the Guide to the Names in The Lard of the
Rings (in Lobdell, A Tolkien Compass, 1975), entry Archet.
VIII.
ARRIVAL AT BREE.
My father continued on into a description of the Breelanders without a
break. Subsequently he wrote over the original pencilled text in ink, and
in that form, necessarily, I give it here.'
Little in a sense - it had perhaps some 50 houses on the hillside,
and a large inn because of the goings and comings on the Road
(though those were now less than they had once been). But it was
actually a village built by Big People - mainly (the nearest settled
habitation of that large and mysterious race to the Shire). Not
many lived as far West as that in those days, and the Bree-folk
(together with the neighbouring villages of Staddle and Crick)
were an odd and rather isolated community, belonging to nobody
but themselves (and more accustomed to dealing with hobbits,
dwarves, and the other odd inhabitants of the world than Big
People were or are). They were brown-faced, dark-haired, broad,
shortish, cheerful and independent. They nor any one else knew
why or when they had settled where they were. The land there-
abouts and for many miles eastward was pretty empty in those
days. There were hobbits about, of course - some higher up on the
slopes of Bree-hill itself, and many in the valley of Combe on the
east side. For not all hobbits lived in the Shire by any means. But
the Outsiders were a rustic, not to say (though in the Shire it was
often said) uncivilized sort. Some were in fact no better than
tramps and wanderers, ready to dig a hole in any bank, and to stay
there just as long or short a time as it suited them. So the folk of
Bree were, you see, familiar enough with hobbits, civilized or
otherwise - for Brandywine Bridge was not so far off. But our
hobbits were not familiar with Bree-folk, and the houses seemed
strange, large and tall (almost hillocks), as they trotted in on their
ponies.
My father then struck this out, and began again. He was still numbering
the pages continuously from the beginning of Chapter VI (the story of
the Barrow-wight), but when he reached Bingo's song at the inn he
realised that he was well into a new chapter, and wrote in 'VII' at this
point, i.e. at the beginning of this new account of the people of Bree.
Once again there is no title.
The manuscript of this chapter is an exceedingly complicated docu-
ment: pencil overlaid with ink (sometimes remaining partly legible,
sometimes not at all), pencil not overlaid but struck through, pencil
allowed to stand, and fresh composition in ink, together with riders on
slips and complex directions for insertions. There is no reason to suppose
that the 'layers' are significantly separated in time, but the story was
evolving as my father wrote: and the only way to present a coherent text
is to give the manuscript in its last form. The chapter is given almost in
full, since although much was retained it can only be seen clearly from a
complete text just what the story was; but for convenience I divide it into
two chapters in this book, breaking the narrative at the point where FR
Chapter g 'At the Sign of The Prancing Potty' ends and 10 'Strider'
begins.
The interrelations of chapter-structure in the following part of the
story are inevitably complex, and can best be seen from a table:
Original text.
VII. Arrival at Bree, and
Bingo's song.
Conversation with Trotter
and Butterbur.
Attack on the inn.
Journey to Weathertop.
VIII. Attack on Weathertop.
Weathertop to Rivendell.
This Book.
VIII. 9. 'At the Sign of The
Prancing Pony'.
IX. 10. 'Strider'.
11.'A Knife in the Dark'.
X.
XI. 12. 'Flight to the Ford'.
It will be seen at the beginning of this text that the presence of Men at
Bree had been temporarily abandoned, and the description of their
appearance in the rejected passage just given is now applied to the
hobbits of the Bree-land; the innkeeper is a hobbit, and?he Prancing
Pony has a round front door leading into the side of Bree-hill.
They were hobbit-folk of course that lived in Bree (and the
neighbouring villages of Combe and Archet).(2) Not all the hobbits
lived in the Shire by any means, but the Outsiders were a rustic,
not to say (though in the Shire it was often said) uncivilized lot,
and not held in much account. There were probably a good many
more of them scattered about in the West of the world in those
days than people in the Shire imagined, though many were indeed
no better than tramps and wanderers, ready to dig a rough hole in
any bank, and stay only as long as it suited them. The villagers of
Bree, Combe, and Archet, however, were settled folk (in reality
not more rustic than most of their distant relations in Hobbiton) -
but they were rather odd and independent, and belonged to
nobody but themselves. They were browner-skinned, darker-
haired, slightly stouter, a good deal broader (and perhaps a trifle
tougher) than the average hobbit of the Shire. Neither they nor
anyone else knew why or when they had settled just there; but
there they were, moderately prosperous and content. The land all
round about was very empty for leagues and leagues in those days,
and few folk (Big or Little) would be seen in a day's march. Owing
to the Road the inn at Bree was fairly large; but the comings and
goings, East or West, were less than they had been, and the inn
was now chiefly used as a meeting-place for the idle, talkative,
sociable or inquisitive inhabitants of the villages and the odd
inhabitants of the wilder country round about.
When our four hobbits at last rode into Bree they were very
glad. The inn door was open. It was a large round door leading
into the side of Bree-hill, at which the road turned, looping to the
right, and disappeared in the darkness. Light streamed into the
road from the door, over which there was a lamp swinging and
beneath that a sign - a fat white pony standing on his hind legs.
Over the door was painted in white letters: The Prancing Pony by
Barnabas Butterbur.(3) Someone was singing a song inside.
As the hobbits got off their ponies the song ended and there was
a burst of laughter. Bingo stepped inside, and nearly bumped into
the largest and fattest hobbit that he had ever set eyes on in all his
days in the well-fed Shire. It was obviously Mr Butterbur himself.
He had on a white apron and was scuttling out of one door and in
through another with a tray full of full mugs. 'Can we... ?' said
Bingo.
'Half a moment if you please,' the landlord shouted over his
shoulder, and vanished into a babel of voices and a cloud of smoke
beyond the door. In a moment he was out again wiping his hands
on his apron. 'Good evening, master,' he said. 'What may you be
wanting? '
'Beds for four and stabling for five ponies,' said Bingo, 'if that
can be managed. We have come far today. Are you Mr Butterbur,
perhaps? '
'That's right,' he answered, 'Barnabas is my name, Barnabas
Butterbur at your service - if it is possible. But the house is nearly
full, and so are the stables.'
'I was afraid it might be,' said Bingo. 'I hear it is an excellent
house. We were specially recommended to stop here by our friend
Tom Bombadil.'
'In that case anything can be managed!' said Mr Butterbur,
slapping his thighs and beaming. 'Come right inside! And how is
the old fellow? Mad and merry, but merrier than mad, I'll be
bound! Why didn't he come along too, and then we should have
had some fun! Hi! Nob!(4) Come here! Where are you, you woolly-
footed slow-coach? Take the guests' bags! Where's Bob? You
don't know? Well, find out! Double sharp. I haven't got six legs,
nor six arms, nor six eyes either. Tell Bob.there's five ponies that
have to be stabled. And well, mind you. Well, you must make
room then, if they have to go in bedrooms!(5) Come right inside,
sirs, all of you. Pleased to meet you! What names did you say? Mr
Hill, Mr Rivers, Mr Green, and Mr Brown.(6) Can't say I have
heard those names before, but I am pleased to meet you and hear
them now.' Bingo had made them up, of course, on the spur of the
moment, suddenly feeling that it would not be at all wise to
publish their real names in a hobbit-inn on the high road. Hill,
Rivers, Green, Brown sounded much stranger as names to hob-
bits than they do to us, and Mr Butterbur had his own reasons for
thinking them unlikely. However, he said nothing about that yet.
'But there,' he went on, 'I dare say there are lots of queer names
and queer folk that we never hear of in these parts. We don't see so
many Shire-folk in these days. Time was when the Tooks, now,
often came along to have a crack with me or my old dad. Rare good
people were the Tooks. They say they had Bree blood in 'em, and
were not quite like other Shire-folk, but I don't know the rights of
it. But there! I must be running off. But wait a minute now! Four
riders and five ponies? Let me see, what does that remind me of?
Never mind, it will come back. All in good time. One thing drives
out another, as they say. I am a bit busy tonight. Lots of folk have
dropped in, unexpected. Hi, Nob! Take these bags to the guests'
rooms. That's right. Seven to ten down the west passage. Be quick
now! And will you be wanting supper? You will. I thought so.
Soon, I shouldn't wonder. Very well, masters, soon it shall be.
This way now! Here's a room will suit you nicely, I hope. Excuse
me, now. I must be trotting. 'Tis hard work for two legs, but I
don't get thinner. I'll look in again later. If you want anything,
ring the hand-bell, and Nob will come. If he don't, shout!
Off he went, leaving them feeling a little breathless. He had not
stopped talking to them (mixed with the giving of orders and
instructions to other scuttling hobbits in the passages) from the
time that he welcomed Bingo, until he ushered them into a small
but cosy private parlour. There was a bit of bright fire burning;
there were some very comfortable chairs, and there was a round
table, already spread with a white cloth. On it was a large hand-
bell. But Nob, a small round curly-haired red-faced hobbit, came
bustling back long before they thought of using it.
'Will you be wanting anything to drink, masters?' he asked. 'Or
shall I show you your rooms, while supper is making?'
They were washed, and in the middle of a good deep mug of
beer each, before Mr Butterbur came trotting in again, followed
by Nob. A fine smell came with them. In a twinkling the table was
laid. Hot soup, cold meats, new loaves, mounds of butter, cheese
and fresh fruits, all the good solid plain food dear to hobbit-hearts,
was set before them in plenty. They went at it with a will - not
without a passing thought (in Bingo's mind especially) that it had
to be paid for, and that they had no endless store of money. The
time would come all too soon when they would have to pass good
inns (even if they could find them).(7) Mr Butterbur hovered round
for a bit, and then prepared to leave. 'I don't know whether you
would care to join the company after supper,' he said, standing in
the door. 'But perhaps you would rather find your beds. Still, the
company would be pleased to welcome you, if you had a mind. We
don't get travellers from the Shire - outsiders we call 'em, begging
your pardon - too often in these days; and we like to hear the news,
or any new song you may have in mind. But as you like, sirs. Ring
the bell, if you wish for anything.'
There was nothing omitted that they could wish for, so they did
not need to ring the bell. So refreshed and encouraged did they
feel at the end of their supper (about 55 minutes steady going, not
hindered by unnecessary talk) that they decided to join the
company. At least Odo, Frodo, and Bingo did. Merry said he
thought it would be too stuffy. 'I shall either sit here quietly by the
fire, or else go out for a snuff of the air outside. Mind your Ps and
Qs, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret,
and are Mr Hill, Mr Green, and Mr Brown."All right,' they said.
'Mind yourself! Don't get lost, and don't forget that it is safest
indoors.' Then they went and joined the company in the big
meeting-room of the inn. The gathering was large, as they dis-
covered as soon as their eyes became used to the light. This came
chiefly from a large fire on a wide hearth, for the rather dim rays of
three lamps hanging from the roof were clouded with smoke.
Barnabas Butterbur was standing near the fire. He introduced
them, so quickly that they did not catch half the names he
mentioned, nor discover to whom the names they caught be-
longed. There seemed to be several Mugworts (an odd name to
their way of thinking), and also other rather botanical names like
Rushlight, Heathertoes, Ferny, and Appledore (not to mention
Butterbur); there were also some (to hobbits) natural names like
Banks, Longholes, Brockhouse, Sandheaver, and Tunnelly,
which were not unknown among the more rustic inhabitants of the
Shire.
But they got on well enough without surnames (which were
very little used in that company). On the other side the company,
as soon as they discovered that the strangers were from the
Shire, were disposed to be friendly, and curious. Bingo had not
attempted to conceal where they came from, knowing that their
clothes and talk would give them away at once. But he gave out
that he was interested in history and geography, at which there
was much wagging of heads (although neither of these words were
familiar in Bree-dialect); and that he was writing a book (at which
there was silent astonishment); and that he and his friends were
going to try and find out something about the various scattered
eastern hobbits. At this a regular chorus of voices broke out, and if
Bingo had really been going to write such a book (and had had
many ears and sufficient patience) he would have learned a good
deal in a few minutes, and also obtained lots of advice on who to
apply to for more and profounder information.
But after a time, as Bingo did not show any sign of writing a
book on the spot, the company returned to more recent and
engaging topics, and Bingo sat in a corner, listening and looking
round. Odo and Frodo made themselves very quickly at home,
and were soon (rather to Bingo's disquiet) giving lively accounts of
recent events in the Shire. There was some laughter and wagging
of heads, and some questions. Suddenly Bingo noticed that a
queer-looking, brown-faced hobbit, sitting in the shadows behind
the others, was also listening intently. He had an enormous mug
(more like a jug) in front of him, and was smoking a broken-
stemmed pipe right under his rather long nose. He was dressed in
dark rough brown cloth, and had a hood on, in spite of the
warmth, - and, very remarkably, he had wooden shoes! Bingo
could see them sticking out under the table in front of him.
'Who is that over there?' said Bingo, when he got a chance
to whisper to Mr Butterbur. 'I don't think you introduced him.'
'Him?' said Barnabas, cocking an eye without turning his head.
'O! that is one of the wild folk - rangers we call 'em. He has been
coming in now and again (in autumn and winter mostly) the last
few years; but he seldom talks. Not but what he can tell some rare
tales when he has a mind, you take my word. What his right name
is I never heard, but he's known round here as Trotter. You can
hear him coming along the road in those shoes: clitter-clap - when
he walks on a path, which isn't often. Why does he wear 'em? Well,
that I can't say. But there ain't no accounting for East or West, as
we say here, meaning the Rangers and the Shire-folk, begging
your pardon.' Mr Butterbur was called away at that moment, or he
might have whispered on in that fashion indefinitely.
Bingo found Trotter looking at him, as if he had heard or
guessed all that was said. Presently the Ranger, with a click and a
jerk of his hand, invited Bingo to come over to him; and as Bingo
sat down beside him he threw back his hood, showing a long
shaggy head of hair, some of which hung over his forehead. But it
did not hide a pair of keen dark eyes. 'I'm Trotter,' he said in a low
voice. 'I am very pleased to meet you, Mr - Hill, if old Barnabas
had your name right?'(9) 'He had,' said Bingo, rather stiffly: he
was feeling far from comfortable under the stare of those dark
eyes.
'Well, Mr Hill,' said Trotter, 'if I were you, I should stop your
young friends from talking too much. Drink, fire, and chance
meetings are well enough, but - well, this is not the Shire. There
are queer folk about - though I say it as shouldn't,' he added with a
grin, seeing Bingo's look. 'And there have been queer travellers
through Bree not long back,' he went on, peering at Bingo's face.
Bingo peered back, but Trotter made no further sign. He
seemed suddenly to be listening to Odo. Odo was now giving a
comic account of the Farewell Party, and was just reaching
Bingo's disappearing act. There was a hush of expectation. Bingo
felt seriously annoyed. What was the good of vanishing out of the
Shire, if the ass went away and gave their. names to a mixed crowd
in an inn on the highway! Even now Odo had said enough to set
shrewd wits (Trotter's for instance) guessing; and it would soon
become obvious that 'Hill' was no other than Bolger-Baggins (of
Bag-end Underhill). And Bingo somehow felt that it would be
dangerous, even disastrous, if Odo mentioned the Ring.
'You had better do something quick! ' said Trotter in his ear.
Bingo jumped on the table, and began to talk. The attention was
shifted from Odo at once, and several of the hobbits laughed and
clapped (thinking possibly that Mr Hill had been taking as much
ale as was good for him). Bingo suddenly felt very nervous, and
found himself, as was his habit when making a speech, fingering
the things in his pocket. Vaguely he felt the chain and the Ring
there, and jingled it against a few copper coins; but this did not
help him much, and after a few suitable words, as they would have
said in the Shire (such as 'We are all very much gratified by the
kindness of your reception', and things of that sort), he stopped
and coughed. 'A song! A song!' they shouted. 'Come on now,
Master, sing us something.' In desperation Bingo began an absurd
song, which Bilbo had been fond of (he probably wrote it).(10)
[Song].(11)
There was loud applause. Bingo had a good voice, and the
company was not over particular. 'Where's old Barney?' they
cried. 'He ought to hear this. He ought to larn his cat the fiddle,
and then we'd have a dance. Bring in some more ale, and let's have
it again! ' They made Bingo have another drink and then sing the
song once more, while many of them joined in; for the tune was
well-known and they were quick at picking up words.
Much encouraged Bingo capered about on the table; and when
he came a second time to 'the cow jumped over the moon', he
jumped in the air. Much too vigorously:(12) for he came down bang
into a tray full of mugs, and then slipped and rolled off the table
with a crash, clatter, and bump. But what interested the company
far more and stopped their cheers and laughter dead was his
vanishing. As Bingo rolled off the table he simply disappeared
with a crash as if he had thudded through the floor without making
a hole.
The local hobbits sprang to their feet and shouted for Barnabas.
They drew away from Odo and Frodo, who found themselves left
alone in a corner and eyed darkly and doubtfully from a distance,
as if they were the companions of a travelling wizard of dubious
origin and unknown powers and purpose. There was one swarthy-
faced fellow who stood looking at them with a knowing sort of look
that made them feel uncomfortable. Very soon he slipped out of
the door followed by one of his friends: not a well-favoured pair.(13)
Bingo in the meanwhile feeling a fool (quite rightly) and not
knowing what else to do crawled away under the tables to the
corner by Trotter, who was sitting still quite unconcerned. He
then sat back against the wall, and took off the Ring. By bad luck
he had been fingering it in his pocket just at the fatal moment, and
had slipped it on in his sudden surprise at falling.
'Hullo! ' said Trotter. 'What did you mean by that? Worse than
anything your friends could have said. You've fair put your foot
and finger in it, haven't you?'
'I don't know what you mean,' said Bingo (annoyed and
alarmed).
'O yes you do,' said Trotter. 'But we had better wait till the
uproar has died down. Then, if you don't mind, Mr Bolger-
Baggins, I should like a quiet word with you.'
'What about?' said Bingo, pretending not to notice the sudden
use of his proper name. 'O, wizards, and that sort of thing,' said
Trotter with a grin. 'You'll hear something to your advantage.'
'Very well,' said Bingo. 'I'll see you later.'
In the meantime argument in a chorus of voices had been going
on by the fireplace. Mr Butterbur had come trotting in, and was
trying to listen to many conflicting accounts at the same time.
The next part of the text, as far as the end of Chapter g in FR, is almost
word for word the same as in the final version, with only such differences
as are to be expected: 'Mr Underhill' of FR is 'Mr Hill', 'There's Mr
Took, now: he's not vanished' is 'There's Mr Green and Mr Brown,
now: they've not vanished', and there is no mention of the Men of Bree,
of the Dwarves, or of the strange Men - it is simply 'the company' that
went off in a huff. But at the end, when Bingo said to the landlord: 'Will
you see that our ponies are ready?', the old narrative differs:
'There now!' said the landlord, snapping his fingers. 'Half a
moment. It's come back to me, as I said it would. Bless me! Four
hobbits and five ponies! '
As already explained, though I end this chapter here the earliest version
goes on into what was afterwards Chapter 10 'Strider' without a break;
see the table on p. 133.
NOTES.
1. Bits of the underlying text can in fact be made out: enough to show
that the conception of Bree as a village of Men, though with 'hobbits
about', was present.
2. Crick (p. 132) has disappeared for good (but cf. 'Crickhollow');
Staddle also, but only temporarily.
3. Barnabas Butterbur is written in ink over the original name in
pencil: Timothy Titus. Timothy Titus was the name of the inn-
keeper in the underlying pencilled text throughout the chapter.
This was a name that survived from an old story of my father's, of
which only a couple of pages exist (no doubt all that was ever written
down); but that Timothy Titus bore no resemblance whatsoever to
Mr Butterbur.
4. Nob was at first called Lob; this survived into the inked manuscript
stage and was then changed.
5. The original pencilled text went on from here:
Come right inside. Pleased to meet you. Mr Took, did you say?
Lor now, I remember that name. Time was when Tooks would
think nothing of riding out here just to have a crack with my old
dad or me. Mr Odo Took, Mr Frodo Took, Mr Merry Brandy-
buck, Mr Bingo Baggins. Lemme see, what does that remind me
of? Never mind, it will come back. One thing drives out another.
Bit busy tonight. Lots of folk dropped in. Hi, Nob! Take these
bags (etc.)
My father struck this out, noting 'hobbits must hide their names',
and wrote these two passages on an added slip in pencil:
Mr Frodo Walker, Mr Odo Walker - can't say I have met that
name before. (Bingo had made it up on the spur of the moment,
suddenly realizing that it would not be wise to publish their real
names in a hobbit-inn on the high road).
What name did you say - all Walkers, Mr Ben Walker and three
nephews. Can't say I have met that name before, but I'm pleased
to meet you.
These also were struck out, and the passage that follows in the text
('Come right inside, sirs, all of you...'), in pencil overwritten in
ink, was adopted.
6. In the underlying pencilled text of this passage my father wrote
Ferny but at once changed it to Hill; and in the text in ink he wrote
Fellowes but changed it to Green. Later on, in rejected pencilled
drafting, Mr Butterbur says: 'You don't say, Mr Mugwort. Well, as
long as Mr Rivers and the two Mr Fellowes don't vanish too
(without paying the bill) he is welcome' (i.e. to vanish into thin air,
as Mugwort has asserted that he did: FR p. 173).
7. Cf. Bingo's words to Gildor, p. 62: 'I had come to the end of my
treasure.' The present passage was rejected and does not appear in
FR: but cf. p. 172 note 3.
8. Appledore. 'apple-tree' (Old English apuldor). -In FR (p. 167) these
'botanical' names are primarily names of families of Men in Bree.
9. The underlying pencilled text still had here: 'I am very pleased to
meet Mr Bingo Baggins', and Trotter's next words began. "Well, Mr
Bingo...' See note 5.
10. Here follows: 'It went to a well-known tune, and the company
joined in the chorus', referring to the song which was originally
given to Bingo here (see note 11), where there is a chorus; the
sentence was struck out when 'The Cat and the Fiddle' was chosen
instead.
11. My father first wrote here 'Troll Song', and a rough and unfinished
version of it is found in the manuscript at this point. He apparently
decided almost at once to substitute 'The Cat and the Fiddle', and
there are also two texts of that song included in the manuscript, each
preceded by the words (as in FR p. 170):
It was about an Inn, and I suppose that is what brought it to
Bingo's mind. Here it is in full, though only a few words of it are
now generally remembered.
For the history and early forms of these songs see the Note on the
Songs at the Prancing Pony that follows. - That there was to be a
song at Bree is already foreseen in the primitive outline given on
p. 126: 'They sleep at the inn and hear news of Gandalf. Jolly
landlord. Drinking song.'
12. In the original text, where the song was to be the Troll Song, the
comments of the audience on the cat and the fiddle are of course
absent. Instead, after 'the company was not over particular', there
followed:
They made him have a drink and then sing it all over again. Much
encouraged Bingo capered about on the table, and when he came
a second time to 'his boot to bear where needed' he kicked in the
air. Much too realistically: he overbalanced and fell...
The line His boot to bear where needed is found in the version of the
Troll Song written for this episode.
13. As the people of Bree were conceived at this stage, the ill-favoured
pair would presumably be hobbits; and indeed in the next chapter
Bill Ferny is explicitly so (p. 165). His companion here is the origin
of the 'squint-eyed Southerner' who had come up the Greenway
(FR p. 168); but there is no suggestion as yet of that element in what
was still a very limited canvas.
Note on the Songs at the Prancing Pony.
(i) The Troll Song.
When my father came to the scene where Bingo sings a song in The
Prancing Pony he first used the 'Troll Song' (note 11 above). The
original version of this, called The Root of the Boot, goes back to his time
at the University of Leeds; it was privately printed in a booklet with the
title Songs for the Philologists, University College, London, 1936 (for
the history of this publication see pp.144-5). My father was extremely
fond of this song, which went to the tune of The fox went out on a minter's
night, and my delight in the line If bonfire there be, 'tis underneath is
among my very early recollections. Two copies of this booklet came into
my father's possession later (in 1940-1), and at some time undetermin-
able he corrected the text, removing some minor errors that had crept in.
I give the text here as printed in Songs for the Philologists, with these
corrections.
A troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
And long and long he had sat there lone
And seen no man nor mortal -
Ortal! Portal!
And long and long he had sat there lone
And seen no man nor mortal.
Up came Tom with his big boots on;
'Hallo!'says he, 'pray what is yon?
It looks like the leg o'me nuncle John
As should be a-lyin ' in churchyard.
Searchyard, Birchyard! etc.
'Young man,' says the troll, 'that bone I stole;
But what be bones, when mayhap the soul
In heaven on high hath an aureole
As big and as bright as a bonfire?
On fire, yon fire!'
Says Tom: 'Oddsteeth! 'tis my belief,
If bonfire there be, 'tis underneath;
For old man John was as proper a thief
As ever more black on a Sunday -
Grundy, Monday!
But still I doan 't see what is that to thee,
Wi'me kith and me kin a-makin'free:
So get to hell and ax leave o'he,
Afore thou gnaws me nuncle!
Uncle, Bunck!'
In the proper place upon the base
Tom boots him right - but, alas! that race
Hath a stonier seat than its stony face;
So he rued that net on the rumpo,
Lumpo, Bumpo!
Now Tom goes lame since home he came,
And his bootless foot is grievous game;
But troll's old seat is much the same,
And the bone he boned * from its owner!
Donor, Boner!
(* bone: steal, make off with.)
In addition to correcting errors in the text printed in Songs for the
Philologists my father also changed the third line in verse 3 to Hath a
halo in heaven upon its poll.
The original pencilled manuscript of the song is still extant. The title
was Pero @ Podex ('Boot and Bottom'), and verse 6 as first written went:
In the proper place upon the base
Tom boots him right - but, alas! that race
Hath as stony a seat as it is in face,
And Pero was punished by Podex.
Odex! Codex!
My father made a new version of the song for Bingo to sing in The
Prancing Pony, suitable to the intended context, and as already ment-
ioned this is found in the manuscript of the present chapter; but it is still
in a rough state, and uncertain, and was abandoned when still incom-
plete. When he decided that he would not after all use it in this place he
did not at once reintroduce it into The Lord of the Rings; it will be seen
in Chapter XI that while the visit of the hobbits to the scene of Bilbo's
encounter with the three Trolls was fully present from the first version,
there was no song. It was only introduced here later; but the earlier drafts
of Sam's 'Troll Song' proceed in series from the version intended for
Bingo at Bree.
Songs for the Philologists.
The origin of the material in this little booklet goes back to Leeds
University in the 1920s, when Professor E. V. Gordon (my father's
co! league and close friend, who died most untimely in the summer of this
same year, 1938) made typescripts for the use of students in the
Department of English. 'His sources', in my father's words, 'were MSS
of my own verses and his... with many additions of modern and
traditional Icelandic songs taken mostly from Icelandic student song-
books.'
In 1935 or 1936 Dr. A. H. Smith of London University (formerly a
student at Leeds) gave one of these typescripts (uncorrected) to a group
of Honours students there for them to set up on the Elizabethan printing-
press. The result was a booklet bearing the title
SONGS FOR THE PHILOLOGISTS.
By J. R. R. Tolkien, E. V. Gordon & Others.
Privately Printed in the Department of
English at University College, London
MCMXXXVI.
In November 1940 Winifred Husbands of University College wrote to
my father and explained that 'when the books were ready, Dr Smith
realised that he had never asked your permission or that of Professor
Gordon, and he said that the books must not be distributed till that had
been done - but, so far as I know, he has never written or spoken to you
on the subject, though I spoke of it to him more than once. The sad result
is that most of the copies printed, being left undistributed in our rooms in
Gower Street, have perished like the press itself in the fire which
destroyed that part of the College building.' My father was therefore
asked to give his retrospective permission. At that time there were 13
copies known to her, but subsequently she found more, I do not know
how many; my father received two (p. 142).
There are 30 Songs for the Philologists, in Gothic, Icelandic, Old,
Middle and Modern English, and Latin, and some poems in a macaronic
mixture of languages. My father was the author of 13 (6 in Modern
English, 6 in Old English, i in Gothic), and E. V. Gordon of two. Three
of my father's Old English poems, and the one in Gothic, are printed
with translations as an appendix to Professor T. A. Shippey's The Road
to Middle-earth (1982).*
(ii) The Cat and the Fiddle.
'The Cat and the Fiddle', which became Bingo's song at The Prancing
Pony, was published in 1923 in Yorkshire Poetry, Vol. II no. 19 (Leeds,
the Swan Press). I give here the text as it is found in the original
manuscript, written on Leeds University paper.
THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE,
or
A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret
Unlocked.
They say there's a little crooked inn
Behind an old grey hill,
Where they brew a beer so eery brown
The man in the moon himself comes down,
And sometimes drinks his fill.
(* This is a convenient place to cite my father's explanation of the significance of
the Birch-tree that appears in two of the poems given by Professor Shippey (see
his book pp. 206- 7); cf. also 'Birchyard' in the chorus to verse a of The Root of the
Boot. In a note on one of his copies of Songs for the Philologists my father wrote:
'B, B, Bee and (because of the runic name of B) Birch all symbolize mediaeval
and philological studies (including Icelandic); while A, and Ac (oak = F)
denote 'modern literature'. This more pleasing heraldry (and friendly rivalry and
raillery) grew out of the grim assertion in the Syllabus that studies should be
"divided into two Schemes, Scheme A and Scheme B". A was mainly modern
and B mainly mediaeval and philological. Songs, festivities and other gaieties
were however mainly confined to B.')
And there the ostler has a cat
That plays a five-stringed fiddle;
Mine host a little dog so clever
He laughs at any joke whatever,
And sometimes in the middle.
They also keep a homed cow,
'Tis said, with golden hooves -
But music turns her head like ole,
And makes her wave her tufted tail,
And dance upon the rooves.
But O! the rows of silver dishes
And the store of silver spoons:
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
On Saturday afternoons.
The man in the moon had drunk too deep,
The ostler's cat was totty,*
A dish made love to a Sunday spoon,
The little dog saw all the jokes too soon,
And the cow was dancing-dotty.
The man in the moon had another mug
And fell beneath his chair,
And there he called for still more ale,
?hough the stars mere fading thin and pale,
And the dawn was on the stair.
Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
'The white horses of the Moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits,
For their master's been and drowned his wits,
And the Sun 'll be rising soon -
Come play on your fiddle a hey-diddle-diddle,
A jig to wake the dead. '
So the cat played a terrible drunken tune,
While the landlord shook the man in the moon:
"Tis after three, 'he said.
They rolled him slowly up the hill
And bundled him in the moon,
And his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
And the dish embraced the spoon.
(* totty: tottery, shaky, dizzy.)
The cat then suddenly changed the tune,
The dog began to mar,
The horses stood upon their heads,
The guests all bounded from their beds,
And danced upon the floor.
The cat broke all his fiddle-strings,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog howled to see such fun,
In the middle the Saturday dish did run
Away with the Sunday spoon.
The mund moon rolled off down the hill,
But only just in time,
For the Sun looked up with fiery head,
And ordered everyone back to bed,
And the ending of the rhyme.
The two versions found in the manuscript of the present chapter move
progressively towards the final form, and with emendations made to the
second of them it is virtually attained (FR pp. 170 - 2).
IX.
TROTTER AND THE JOURNEY TO
WEATHERTOP.
The original titleless chapter VII continues without a break through
what became in FR Chapter 10 'Strider', ending part way through FR
Chapter r x 'A Knife in the Dark', but the first part of the narrative to be
given now exists in two structurally quite distinct forms (both written
legibly in ink). These my father marked 'Short' and 'Alternative', but for
the purposes of this chapter I shall call them A ('Alternative') and B
('Short'). The relation between the two is a textual conundrum, though I
think it can be explained," the question is however of no great import-
ance for the history of the narrative, since the two versions obviously
belong to the same time. I give first the alternative A (on which my father
subsequently wrote 'Use this version').
'There now!' said the landlord, snapping his fingers. 'Half a
moment. It's come back to me, as I said it would. Bless me! Four
hobbits and five ponies! There's been some enquiries for a party of
your description in the last few days; and perhaps I might have a
word with you.'
'Yes, certainly! ' said Bingo with a sinking feeling. 'But not here.
Won't you come to our room?'
'As you wish,' said the landlord. 'I'll be coming along to bid you
good night and see that Nob has brought all you need, as soon as
I've seen to a thing or two: we may have a word then.'
Bingo, Odo, and Frodo made their way back to their parlour.(2)
There was no light. Merry was not there, and the fire had burned
low. It was not until they had puffed up the embers into a blaze
and put on a faggot that they discovered Trotter had come with
them. There he was calmly sitting in a chair in the corner.
'Hullo!'said Odo. 'What do you want?'
'This is Trotter,' said Bingo hastily. 'I believe he wants a word
with me too.'
'I do and I don't,' said Trotter. 'That is: I have my price.'
'What do you mean?' asked Bingo, puzzled and alarmed.
'Don't be frightened. I mean just this: I will tell you what I
know, and give you what I've got, and what's more I'll keep your
secret under my hood (which is closer than you or your friends
keep it) - but I shall want my reward.'
'And what will that be, pray?' said Bingo, angrily; he not
unnaturally suspected that they had met a rascal, and he thought
uncomfortably of his small remaining purse of money.(3) All of it
would hardly satisfy a rascal, and he could not spare any of it.
'Not much,' answered Trotter with an amused grin. 'Just this:
you must take me along with you, until I want to leave you! '
'Oh, indeed!' replied Bingo, surprised but not much relieved.
'But even if I was likely to say yes, I would not promise any such
thing until I knew a lot more about you, and your news, Mr
Trotter.'
'Excellent!' said Trotter, crossing his legs. 'You seem to be
coming to your senses again; and that is all to the good. You have
not been half suspicious enough so far. Very well then: I will tell
you what I know, and leave the rest to you. That's fair enough.'
'Go on then! ' said Bingo. 'What do you know?'
'Well, it's like this,' said Trotter, dropping his voice; he got up
and went to the door, opened it quickly, looked out, and then shut
it quietly and sat down again. 'I have quick ears, and though I
can't disappear into thin air, I can take care no one sees me, when I
don't wish them to. I was behind a hedge when a party of travellers
was halted by the Road not far west from here. There was a cart
and horses and ponies; a whole pack of dwarves, one or two elves,
and - a wizard. Gandalf, of course; there's no mistaking him,
you'll agree. They were talking about a certain Mr Bingo Bolger-
Baggins and his three friends, that were supposed to be riding on
the Road behind. A bit incautious of Gandalf, I must say; but
then, he was speaking low and I have quick ears, and was lying
pretty close.
'I followed him and his party here to this inn. There was a
fine commotion for a Sunday morning, I can tell you, and old
Barnabas was running round in rings; but they kept themselves
to themselves and did not talk outside closed doors. That would be
five days ago.(4) They went away next morning. Now up comes a
hobbit and three friends out of the Shire, and though he gives out
the name of Hill, he and his friends seem to know a lot of the
doings of Gandalf and of Mr Bolger-Baggins of Underhill. I can
put two and two together. But that need not trouble you: for I am
going to keep the answer under my hood, as I said. Maybe Mr
Bolger-Baggins has his own good reasons for leaving his name
behind. But if so, I should advise him to remember that there are
more folk than Trotter that can add two and two together; and not
all are to be trusted.'
'I am obliged to you,' said Bingo, feeling relieved, for Trotter
did not seem to know anything very serious. 'I have my reasons for
leaving my name behind, as you put it; but I can't quite see how
any one else would guess my real name from what has occurred,
unless he had your skill in eavesdropping, in - er - collecting
information. Nor what use my real name would be to anybody in
Bree.'
'Can't you?' said Trotter rather grimly; 'but eavesdropping, as
you put it, is not unknown in Bree, and besides, I have not told
you all yet.'
But at that moment he was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Mr Barnabas Butterbur was there, with a tray of candles, and Nob
behind him with jugs of hot water. 'Thinking you might wish to
give some orders before you went to bed,' said the landlord,
putting the candles on the table, 'I've come to wish you a good
night. Nob! Take the water to the rooms.' He came in and shut the
door.
'It's like this, Mr - er - Hill,' he said. 'I've been asked more than
once to look out for a party of four hobbits from the Shire, four
hobbits with five ponies. Hullo, Trotter, you here! '
'It's all right,' said Bingo. 'Say what you want. Trotter has my
leave to stay.' Trotter grinned.
'Well,' began Mr Butterbur again, 'it's like this. Five days ago
(yes, that's right, it would be Sunday morning, when all was quiet
and peaceful) up rode a whole pack of travellers. Queer folk,
dwarves and what not, with a cart and horses. And old Mr Gandalf
was with them. Now says I to myself, there's been some doings in
the Shire; and they'll be returning from the Party.'
'From the Party? ' said Bingo. 'What Party?'
'Lor bless you, yes, sir! From the party your Mr Green was
telling of. Mr Bolger-Baggins' party. A rare lot of traffic went
westward through here earlier in the month. Some Men there
were too. Great Big Folk. There hasn't been anything like it in my
time. Those that would say anything gave out that they were going
or taking stuff to a Mr Bolger-Baggins' birthday party. It seems he
was a relation of that Mr Bilbo Baggins there was once strange
tales about. Indeed they are still told in Bree, sir; though I daresay
they are forgotten in the Shire. But we are slower-moving in Bree,
so to speak, and like to, hear old-tales again. Not that I believe all
these stories, mind you. Legends, I call 'em. They may be true,
and then again mayhap they ain't. Now, where was I? Yes. Last
Sunday morning in came old Mr Gandalf and his dwarves and all.
"Good morning," said I. "And where may you be going to, and
where may you be coming from?" says I pleasant like. But he
winks at me, and says nothing, and neither did any of his folk. But
later on he drew me aside, and he said: "Butterbur," said he, "I
have some friends behind that will be passing your way before
long. They should be here by Tuesday,(5) if they can follow a plain
road. They are hobbits: one is a round-bellied little chap (begging
your pardon, sir) with red cheeks, and the others just young
hobbits. They'll be riding on ponies. Just tell them to push along,
will you? I'll go on slow from here, and they had best catch
me up, if they can. Now don't go telling anybody else, and don't
encourage them to stop here for a holiday. Your beer's good; but
they must take what they can quick, and move on. See?"
'Thankyou,' said Bingo, thinking Mr Butterbur had finished;
and relieved again to find that there seemed nothing very serious
behind the mystery.
'Ah, but wait a minute,' said Barnabas Butterbur, dropping his
voice. 'That wasn't the end of it. There was others that enquired
after four hobbits; and that's what is puzzling me. On Monday
evening there came riding in a big fellow on a great black horse. All
hooded and cloaked he was. I was standing by my door, and he
spoke to me. Very strange I thought his voice, and could hardly
make out his talk at first. I did not like the looks of him at all. But
sure enough he was asking for news of four hobbits with five
ponies (6) that were riding out of the Shire. There's something funny
here, thought I; but remembering what old Mr Gandalf said, I
gave him no satisfaction. "I haven't seen any such party," I said.
"What may you,be wanting with them, or with me?" At that he
whipped up his horse without another word, and rode off east-
ward. The dogs were all yammering, and the geese a-screaming,
as he went through the village. I was not sorry to see him go, I can
tell you. But I heard tell later that three were seen going along the
road towards Combe behind the hill, though where the other two
sprang from no one could say.
'But will you believe me, they came back, or some others as like
'em as night and dark followed after them. On Tuesday evening,
there was a bang at the door, and my dog in the yard set up a
yelping and a howling. "It's another of they black Men,' said Nob
coming to fetch me with his hair all on end. Sure enough it was,
when I went to the door: not one though, but four of 'em; and one
was sitting there in the twilight with his horse nigh on my
doorstep. He stooped down at me, and spoke in a sort of whisper.
It made me go queer down me back, if you understand me, as if
someone had poured cold water behind me collar.(7) It was the same
story: he wanted news of four hobbits with five ponies. But he
seemed more pressing and eager like. Indeed to tell you the truth
he offered me a tidy bit of gold and silver if I would tell him which
way they had gone, or promise to watch out for them.
'"There's lots of hobbits and ponies round here and on the
Road," said I (thinking things mighty curious, and not liking the
sound of his voice). "But I haven't seen any party of that sort. If
you give me a name, maybe I could give a message, if they happen
to call at my house." At that he sat silent for a moment. And then,
sir, he says: "The name is Baggins, Bolger-Baggins," and he
hissed out the end of it like a snake. "Any message?" says I, all of a
twitter. "Nay, just tell him that we are seeking him in haste," he
hissed; "you may see us again, perhaps," and with that he and his
fellows rode away, and disappeared quick in the darkness, being
all wrapped up in black, like.
'Now what do you make of that, Mr Hill? I must say that it
comes in my mind to wonder if that is your right name, begging
your pardon. But I hope I have done right: for it seems to me that
those black fellows mean no good by Mr Bolger-Baggins, if that is
who you are.'
'Yes! He is Mr Bolger-Baggins all right,' said Trotter suddenly.
'And he ought to be grateful to you. He has only himself and his
friends to thank, if all the village knows his name by now.'
'I am grateful,' said Bingo. 'I am sorry I cannot tell you the
whole story, Mr Butterbur. I am very tired, and rather worried.
But to put it briefly, these - er - black riders are just what I'm
trying to escape. I should be very grateful (and so also will
Gandalf be, and I expect old Tom Bombadil as well) if you would
forget that anyone but Mr Hill passed this way; though I hope
these abominable riders won't bother you any more.'
'I hope not indeed! ' said Barnabas.
'Well, now good night!' said Bingo. 'Thank you again for your
kindness.'
'Good night, Mr Hill. Good night, Trotter! ' said Barnabas.
'Good night, Mr Brown, sir, and Mr Green. Bless me now,
where's Mr Rivers?'
'I don't know,' said Bingo; 'but I expect he is outside. He said
something about going out for a breath of air. He'll be in before
long.'
'Very well. I'll not go locking him out,' said the landlord. 'Good
night to you all!' With that he went out, and his feet died away
down the passage.
'There now! ' said Trotter, before Bingo could speak. 'Old
Barnabas has told you a good deal of what I still had to say. I saw
the Riders myself. There are seven at least. That rather alters
things, doesn't it?'
'Yes,' said Bingo, hiding his alarm as well as he could. 'But we
knew already that they were after us; and they did not find out
anything new, it seems. How lucky that they came before we
arrived! '
'I should not be sure,' said Trotter. 'I've still some more to add.
[Added in pencil: I first saw the Riders last Saturday away west
of Bree, before I ran across Gandalf. I am not at all sure they
were not following his trail, too. I also saw those that called on
Barnabas. And] on Tuesday night I was lying on a bank under the
hedge of Bill Ferny's garden; and I heard Bill Ferny talking. He is
a queer fellow, and his friends are like him. You may have noticed
him among the company: a swarthy fellow with a scowl. He
slipped out just after the song and the 'accident'. I wouldn't trust
him. He would sell anything to anybody. Do you take my mean-
ing? I did not see who Ferny was talking to, nor did I hear what
was said: the voices were hisses and whispers. That is the end of
my news. You must do what you like about my 'reward'. But as for
my coming with you, I will say just this: I know all the lands
between the Shire and the Mountains, for I've wandered over
most of them in the course of my life; and I'm older now than I
look. I might prove useful. For I fancy you'll have to leave the
open Road after tonight's accident. I don't think somehow that
you will be wanting to meet any of these Black-riders, if you can
help it. They give me the creeps.' He shuddered, and they saw
with surprise that he had drawn his hood over his face which was
buried in his hands. The room seemed very still and quiet and the
lights dim.
'There! It has passed!' he said after a moment, throwing back
his hood and pushing his hair from his face. 'Perhaps I know or
guess more about these Riders then even you do. You do not fear
them enough - yet. But it seems likely enough to me that news of
you will reach them before the night is old. Tomorrow you will
have to go swiftly and secretly (if possible). But Trotter can take
you by ways that are little trod. Will you have him?'
Bingo made no answer. He looked at Trotter: grim and wild
and rough-clad. It was hard to know what to do. He did not doubt
that most of his tale was true (borne out as it was by the landlord's
account); but it was less easy to feel sure of his good intent. He had
a dark look - and yet there was something in it, and in his speech
which often strayed from the rustic manner of the rangers and
Bree-folk, that seemed friendly, and even familiar. The silence
grew, and still Bingo could not make up his mind.
'Well, I'm for Trotter, if you want any help in deciding,' said
Frodo at last. 'In any case I daresay he could follow us wherever
we went, even if we refused.'
'Thank you!' said Trotter, smiling at Frodo. 'I could, and I
should, for I should feel it my duty. But here is a letter which I
have for you - I daresay it will help you to make up your mind.'
To Bingo's amazement he took from a pocket a small sealed
letter and handed it over. On the outside it was inscribed: 'B from
G X.
'Read it,' said Trotter.
Bingo looked carefully at the seal before he broke it. It seemed
undoubtedly to be Gandalf's, as was the writing and the Rune @.
Inside was the following message. Bingo read it aloud.
Monday morning Sept. 26. Dear B. Don't stop long in Bree - not
for the night, if you can help it. Have learned some news on the
way. Pursuit is getting close: there are 7 at least, perhaps more.
On no account use It again, not even for a joke. Don't move in
dark or mist. Push along by day! Try and catch me up. I cannot
wait here for you; but I shall go slow for a day or two. Look out for
our camp on Weathertop Hill.(9) I shall wait there as long as I dare.
I am giving this to a ranger (wild hobbit) known as Trotter: he is
dark, long-haired, has wooden shoes! You can trust him. He is an
old friend of mine and knows a great deal. He mill guide you
to Weathertop and further if necessary. Push along! Yours
Candalf X.(10)
Bingo looked at the trailing handwriting - it seemed as plainly
genuine as the seal. 'Well, Trotter!' he said, 'if you had told me
right away that you had this letter, it would have smoothed things
out a lot, and saved a lot of talk. But why did you invent all that
about eavesdropping?'
'I did not,' laughed Trotter. 'I gave old Gandalf quite a start
when I popped up from behind the hedge. I told him he was lucky
that it was an old friend. We had a long talk, about various things -
Bilbo and Bingo and the [added in pencil: Riders and the] Ring, if
you want to know. He was very pleased to see me, as he was in a
hurry and yet anxious to get in touch with you.'
'Well, I must admit I am glad to have a word from him,' said
Bingo. 'And if you are a friend of Gandalf's then we are lucky to
meet you. I am sorry if I was unnecessarily suspicious.'
'You weren't,' said Trotter. 'You weren't half suspicious
enough. If you had had previous experience of your present
enemy, you would not trust your own hands without a good look,
once you knew that he was on your track. Now I am suspicious:
and I had to make quite sure that you were genuine first, before
handing over any letter. I've heard of shadow-parties picking up
messages that were not meant for them - it has been done by
enemies before now. Also, if you want to know, it amused me to
see if I could induce you to take me on - just by my gifts of
persuasion. It would have been nice (though quite wrong) if you
had accepted me for my manners without testimonial! But there, I
suppose my looks are against me! '
'They are! ' said Odo laughing. 'But handsome is as handsome
does, we say in the Shire, and anyway I daresay we shall all look
much the same before long, after lying in hedges and ditches.'
'It will take more than a few days (or weeks or years) wandering
in the world to make you look like Trotter,' he answered, and Odo
subsided. 'You would die first, unless you are made of tougher
stuff than you look to be.'
'What are we to do?' said Bingo. 'I don't altogether understand
his letter. Gandalf said "don't stay in Bree." Is Barnabas Butter-
bur all right?'
'Perfectly!' said Trotter. 'As sound a hobbit as you would find
between the West Towers and Rivendell. Faithful, kind, shrewd
enough in his plain business; but not overcurious about anything
but the daily events among the simple Bree-folk. If anything
strange happens he just invents an.explanation or else forgets it.
"Queer," he says, and scratches his head, and goes back to his
larder, or his brewhouse. That is just as well for you! I expect he
has now convinced himself that there was "some mistake", and
that the light was tricky, and that all the hobbits in the room
merely imagined that "Mr Hill" disappeared. The black riders will
become ordinary travellers looking for a friend, in a week or two -
if they don't come back.'
'Well, is it safe then to stay the night here?' said Bingo, with
a look at the comfortable fire and the candle-light. 'I mean,
Gandalf said: "push along"; but also: "don't move in the dark".'
It is here that the alternative version B (see p. 148 and note x) joins or
merges with version A just given (though before this point, as will be
seen, there are substantial passages in common). The beginning of the
narrative is here quite different:
'There now!' said the landlord, snapping his fingers. 'Half a
moment. It's come back to me, as I said it would. Bless me! Four
hobbits and five ponies! I think I have a letter for your party.'
'A- letter! ' said Bingo, holding out his hand.
'Well,' said he, hesitating; 'he did say that I must be careful to
deliver it to the right hands. So perhaps, if you don't mind, you
would be so good as to tell me, who you might expect a message
from.'
'Gandalf?' said Bingo. 'An old - er - man' (he thought perhaps
wizard was an inadvisable word) 'with a tall hat and a long beard?'
'Gandalf it was,' said Butterbur; 'and old he is, but there is no
call to describe him. All folk know him. A wizard they say he is;
but that's as may be. But what may your first name be, if you will
excuse my asking, sir?'
'Bingo.'
'Ah! ' said Barnabas." 'Well, that seems all right; though he did
say that you should be here by Tuesday, not Thursday, as it is.(12)
Here is the letter.' From his pocket he drew a small sealed
envelope, on which was written: To Bingo from G. (X) by the hand
of Mr B. Butterbur, landlord of the Prancing Pony, Bree.
'Thank you very much, Mr Butterbur,' said Bingo, pocketing
the letter. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I will say good night. I am
very tired.'
'Good night, Mr Hill! I'll be sending water and candles to your
room as soon as may be.' He trotted off; and Bingo, Frodo, and
Odo made their way back to their parlour.
Version B now agrees with version A virtually word for word from here
(p. 148) to Trotter's words 'but eavesdropping, as you put it, is not
unknown in Bree, and besides, I have not told you all yet' (p. 150), at
which point in A he was interrupted by the arrival of Mr Butterbur; thus
in B also, Trotter tells them of his overhearing Gandalf talking about
Bingo with the Dwarves and Elves on the Road west of Bree. B now
diverges again:
... Besides, I have not yet told you the most important part.
There were other folk enquiring after four hobbits.'
Bingo's heart sank: he guessed what was coming. 'Go on,' he
said quietly.
'On Monday evening at the west end of the village I nearly ran
into a horse and rider going fast in the dusk: all hooded and
cloaked in black he was, and his horse was tall and black. I hailed
him with a curse, not liking the looks of him; and he halted and
spoke. He had a strange voice, and I could hardly make out his talk
at first. Sure enough, he was asking for news of four hobbits with
five ponies that were riding out of the Shire. I stood still and did
not answer; and he brought his horse step by step nearer to me.
When he was quite close he stooped and sniffed. Then he hissed,
and rode off through the village, eastward. I heard the dogs
yammering, and geese screaming. From the talk in the inn that
night I gathered that three riders had been seen in the dusk going
along the Road towards Combe behind the hill; though I don't
know where the other two sprang from.
'On Tuesday I was on the look-out all day. Sure enough, as
evening drew in, I saw the same riders again, or others as like them
as night is to darkness - coming down the Road from the West
again. Four this time, though, not three. I hailed them from
behind a hedge as they passed; and they all halted suddenly, and
turned towards my voice. One of them - he seemed larger and
mounted on a taller horse - came forward in my direction. "Where
are you going, and what is your business?" I said. The rider leaned
forward as if he was peering - or smelling; and then riding to the
hedge he spoke in a sort of whisper. I felt cold shivers run down
my back. It was the same story: he wanted news of four hobbits
and five ponies. But he seemed more pressing and eager. Indeed
(and it is that that is worrying me at the moment) he offered a deal
of silver and gold, if I could tell him which way they had gone, or
promise to watch out for them. "I have seen no such party," I said,
"and I am a wanderer myself, and maybe shall be far West 'or East
by tomorrow. But if you give me a name, maybe I could give a
message, if I happen to meet such folk in my way." At that he sat
silent for a while; and then he said suddenly: "The name is
Baggins, Bolger-Baggins," and he hissed out the end of it like a
snake. "What message?" I asked all trembling. "Just tell him that
we are seeking him in haste," he hissed; and with that he rode
away with his companions, and their black robes were quickly
swallowed up in the dark. What do you think of that? It rather
alters things, doesn't it?'
'Yes,' said Bingo, hiding his alarm as well as he could. 'But we
knew already that they were after us; and they do not seem to have
found out anything new.'
'If you can trust me!' said Trotter, with a look at Bingo. 'But
even so, I should not be too sure. I've a little more to tell. On
Tuesday night I was lying on a bank under the hedge of Bill
Ferny's garden...
Here version B returns again to the other (p. 153), and is almost word for
word the same as far as 'The silence grew, and still Bingo could not make
up his mind' (p. 154), the only difference being that after 'Bingo did not
doubt that most of his tale was true' the words '(borne out as it was by the
landlord's account)' are necessarily absent, since in this version Mr
Butterbur has not encountered the Riders. Now follows in B:
'I should take a look at that letter of Gandalf's, if I were you,'
said Trotter quietly. 'It might help you to make up your mind.'
Bingo took the letter, which he had almost forgotten, out of his
pocket. He looked at the seal carefully before he broke it. It
seemed certainly to be Gandalf's, as was the writing, and the runic
@. He opened it, and read it aloud.
The letter is the same as in version A, except at the end, since in this story
Gandalf gave the letter not to Trotter but to the landlord: (13)
... If you meet a ranger (mild hobbit: dark, long-haired, has
wooden shoes!) known as Trotter, stick to him. You can trust
him. Old friend of mine: I have seen him, and told him to look
out for you. He knows a lot. He mill guide you to Weathertop
and further if necessary. Push along! Yours
Gandalf (X).
Bingo looked at the trailing handwriting. It seemed as plainly
genuine as the seal. 'Well, Trotter,' he said, 'if you had told me
right away that you had seen Gandalf to speak to, and that he had
written this letter, it would have smoothed things out a lot, and
saved a lot of talk.'
'As for the letter,' said Trotter, 'I knew nothing about it, till old
Barnabas brought it out. Gandalf put two strings to his bow. I
expect he was afraid I might miss you.'
'But why did you invent all that tale about eavesdropping?'
'I did not invent it,' laughed Trotter. 'It was true. I gave old
Gandalf quite a start when I popped up from behind the hedge.
The two texts coincide again from this point (p. 154) - except of course
that Trotter does not say here 'I had to make quite sure that you were
genuine first, before handing over any letter', but simply 'I had to mate
sure that you were genuine.' But when Bingo says 'I don't altogether
understand this letter. He says "don't stop in Bree" ' (p. 155), in version
B he gets no further, for:
At that moment there came a knock on the door. Mr Butterbur
was there again, with a tray of candles, and Nob behind him with
jugs of hot water. 'Here's your water and lights, if you be wishing
for your beds,' said he. 'But your Mr Rivers has not come in yet. I
hope he will not be long, for I've a mind for bed myself, but I
won't leave the locking-up to anyone else tonight; not with these
pestering black foreigners about.'
'Where can Merry have got to?' said Frodo. 'I hope he's all
right.'
'Give him a few more minutes, Mr Butterbur,' said Bingo. 'I am
sorry to bother you.' 'Very good,' he said, putting the candles on
the table. 'Nob, take the water to the rooms! Good night, sirs.' He
shut the door.
'What I was going to say,' Bingo went on quietly after a
moment, 'was: why not stop in Bree? Is Butterbur all right? Of
course, Tom Bombadil said so; but I'm learning to be suspicious.'
'Old Barnabas! ' said Trotter. 'He's perfectly all right. As sound
a hobbit as there is between the West Towers and Rivendell.
Gandalf was only afraid you might be too comfortable here!
Barney is faithful, kind, shrewd in plain business - and not
overcurious about anything but the daily events among his Bree-
folk. If anything strange happens, he just invents an explanation,
or puts it out of his mind as soon as possible. "Queer," he says, and
scratches his head, and then goes back to his larder or his
brewhouse.'
'Well, is it safe to stay the night here?' said Bingo, with a look at
the comfortable fire and the candles. 'At any rate Gandalf said
"Don't move in the dark".'
At this point the two versions finally merge. It will be seen that the
essential differences of B from A are these. In B, Butterbur has Gandalf's
letter and gives it to Bingo at the outset (though Bingo does not read it
there and then). Trotter not only, as in A, 'eavesdrops' on Gandalf and
his companions on the Road west of Bree, but he, not Butterbur, has the
encounter with the Riders, and not of course at the inn door but on the
road. The 'material' of the two accounts is closely similar, allowing for
the Butterburian quality of the one, and the difference of place.
In version A Trotter, to help him make up his mind, gives Bingo the
letter when Mr Butterbur has gone; in B, he reminds Bingo about it (as in
FR p. r Sr ). And in B, Butterbur only now comes into the parlour, so that
the realisation that Merry has not come back is postponed.
A characteristic combination of, or selection from, these divergent
accounts is found in the relation between the final story in FR and the two
original variants; for A is followed in mating Mr Butterbur enter in the
middle of the conversation between the hobbits and Trotter/Strider -
but B in mating it Butterbur who has Gandalf's letter. It is extremely
characteristic, again, that Trotter's 'eavesdropping' on Gandalf and his
companions behind the hedge on the Road west of Bree survives in FR
(p. 176), but becomes the eavesdropping of Strider on the hobbits
themselves - for, of course in FR Gandalf had been in Bree and left the
letter long before, at the end of June, and at the time of the Birthday
Party was far away. But while the relative chronology, as between
Gandalf's movements and those of the hobbits, would be entirely
reconstructed, that of the latter was never changed.
Thurs. Sept. 22.Birthday Party. Gandalf and Merry, with
Dwarves and Elves, left
Hobbiton (after the
fireworks).
Fri. Sept. 23. Bingo, Frodo, and Odo
left Hobbiton and slept
out.
Sat. Sept. 24. The hobbits passed the
night with Gildor and the
Elves.
Sun. Sept. 25. The hobbits reached. Gandalf and his.
Buckland at night. companions arrived at
Bree in the morning.
Mon. Sept. 26. The hobbits in the Old. Gandalf and his.
Forest; first night with. companions left Bree,
Tom Bombadil. Gandalf leaving letter for
Bingo. Black Rider comes
to the inn (or encounters
Trotter on the Road).
Tues. Sept. 27. Second night with Tom. Four Riders come to the.
Bombadil. inn (or Trotter encounters
them on the Road).
Wed. Sept. 28. Hobbits captured by
Barrowight.
Thurs. Sept. 29. Hobbits arrive at Bree.
The same dates for the hobbits' movements appear in The Tale of
Years in LR Appendix B (p. 372). That the 22nd of September, the day
of the Birthday Party, was a Thursday first appears in the fourth version
of 'A Long-expected Party' (FR p. 34); originally it was a Saturday (see
PP. ax, 38).
For the significance of the additions in pencil on pp. 153-4, whereby
Trotter is made to have seen the Riders 'away west of Bree' already on
the Saturday, before Gandalf arrived there, and to have spoken with
Gandalf about them when they met, see p. 217, note 11.
From the point where the two versions join, the text (in ink over
pencil) proceeds thus. I give it in full, since though much was retained in
FR there are a very great many differences in detail.
'You mustn't,' said Trotter; 'and so you can't help staying here
tonight. What has been done can't be helped; and we must hope
that all will be well. I don't think anything will get inside this inn,
once it is locked. But, of course, we must get off as early as may be
in the morning. I shall be up and about sooner than the Sun and
Ill see all is ready. You are two or three days behind - somehow.
Perhaps you will tell me as we go along what you have been up to.
Unless you start early, and go fast, I doubt if you'll find any camp
on Weathertop.'
'In that case let's get to bed now! ' said Odo yawning. 'Where's
that silly fellow Merry? It would be too much, if we had to go out
now and look for him.'
At that very moment they heard a door slam, and feet running
in the passage. Merry came in with a rush, shut the door hastily,
and leaned against it. He was out of breath. They stared at him in
alarm for a moment; then he gasped: 'I've seen one, Bingo. I've
seen one! '
'What?' they cried all together.
'A Black Rider! '
'Where?'said Bingo.
'Here. In the village,' he answered. 'I had come back from a
stroll, and was standing just outside the light from the door,
looking at the stars: it is a fine night, but dark. I felt something
coming towards, if you know what I mean: there was a sort of dark
shadow; and then I saw him for a second,(14) just as he passed
through the beam of light from the door. He was leading his horse
along the grass-edge on the other side of the Road, and hardly
made a sound.'
'Which way did he go?' asked Trotter.
Merry started, noticing the stranger for the first time. 'Go on,'
said Bingo. 'This is a messenger from Gandalf. He will help us.'
'I followed him,' said Merry. 'He went through the village, right
to the east end, where the Road turns round the foot of the hill.
Suddenly he stopped under a dark hedge; and I thought I heard
him speaking, or whispering, to someone on the other side. I
wasn't sure, though I crept as near as I dared. But I'm afraid I
came over all queer and trembling suddenly, and bolted back.'
'What's to be done?' said Bingo, turning to Trotter.
'Don't go to your rooms! ' said Trotter at once. 'That must have
been Bill Ferny - for his hole is at the east end of Bree; and it is
more than likely that he will have found out which rooms you have
got. They have small windows looking back west and the outside
walls are not very thick. We'll all stay in here, bar the door and
window, and take turns to watch.' But first we had better fetch
your baggage - and arrange the beds! '
At this point my father interrupted his original pencilled draft text to set
down a sketch of the story to come, and since he did not overwrite this
part of the manuscript in ink it can be read - or could be, if it were not
written in a scribble at the very limit of legibility and beyond.
That was done. Pillows put in beds. Nothing happens that night - i
but in the morning windows open, pillows on floor. The ponies 1
have all vanished. Timothy [i.e. Timothy Titus the landlord] in a
great state. They..... [?a bill]. He pays for ponies [?but there
are] no more to be had. Shortage in the village. They go on with
Trotter on foot. Trotter takes them to a wild hobbit hole, and
[? gets his friend] to run on ahead and send a message to Weather-
top by pony? Trotter [?guides them by quiet paths off the....]
road and going through the woods. Once far in distance on a hill
which looked down on to a piece of the road they thought they saw
a Black Rider sitting on his horse [?scanning] the road [?and the
country round].
..... Weathertop [?about] 50 [written beside: 100] miles from
Bree.
Commanding view all round.
Gandalf had gone, but left a pile of stones - message. Waited
two days. Must go on. Push on for ford. Help will be easy from
Rivendell, if I get there.
They come to Troll Stones..... of Road. Here owing to River
ahead they [?are obliged] to go back to Road. Black Riders
evidently expect them to visit Troll-wood [> Trollshaw] and are
waiting on road where path joined it.
At this stage, then, my father did not at all foresee the attack on the
hobbits at Weathertop, just as in the earlier sketch given on p. 126 he did
not foresee the attack on the inn. The visit to the Troll Stones had already
been envisaged in that sketch (there described as 'foolish'), and there as
here the Riders would only finally come upon them at the Ford.
This is the first occurrence of the name Trollshaw, which appears on
the LR map (Trollshaws) but nowhere in the text.
The text in ink continues:
Trotter was now accepted as a member of the party, indeed as
their guide. They at once did as he suggested; and creeping to
their bedrooms they disordered the clothes, and put a pillow
longwise in each bed. Odo added a brown fur mat, a more realistic
substitute for his head. When they were all gathered in the sitting-
room again, they piled their things on the floor, pushed a low chair
against the door, and shut the window. Peeping out Bingo saw it
was still a clear night: he then closed and barred the heavy inside
shutters, drew the curtains, and blew out the candles. The hobbits
lay on their blankets with their feet towards the fire. Trotter lay in
the chair against the door. They did not talk much, but fell asleep
one by one.(16) Nothing happened in the night to disturb them.
Both Merry and Bingo woke up once in the early and still dark
hours, fancying they had heard or felt something moving; but
soon they fell asleep again. They noticed that Trotter seemed to be
sitting awake in his chair with his eyes open. It was also Trotter
that drew the curtains and opened the shutters and let in the early
light. He seemed to be able to do with next to no sleep. As soon as
he had roused them they tiptoed along the passage to their
bedrooms.
There they found how good Trotter's advice had been. The
windows were open and swinging, and the curtains were flapping.
The beds were tossed about, and the pillows flung on the floor -
ripped open. Odo's mat was torn to pieces.
Trotter promptly went in search of Mr Butterbur, and roused
him out of bed. What exactly he said to him he did not tell Bingo;
but the landlord appeared very quickly, and he seemed very
frightened, and very apologetic.
'Never has such a thing happened in my time, or my dad's,' said
he, raising his hands in horror. 'Guests unable to sleep in their
beds, and all. What are we coming to? But this has been a queer
week, and no mistake.' He did not seem surprised that they were
anxious to leave as soon as possible; before folk were up and about;
and bustled off to get them some breakfast at once, and have their
ponies got ready.
But before long he came back in dismay. The ponies had
vanished! The stabledoors had been broken open in the night, and
they were gone, and all the other ponies in the place as well. This
was crushing news. They were already probably too late to
overtake Gandalf. On foot there was no hope of it - they could not
reach Weathertop for days, nor Rivendell for weeks.
'What can we do, Mr Butterbur? ' asked Bingo desperately. 'Can
we borrow any more ponies in the village, or the neighbourhood?
Or hire them?' he added rather doubtfully.
'I doubt it,' said Mr Butterbur. 'I doubt if there be four riding-
ponies left in all Bree; and I don't suppose one of them is for sale or
hire. Bill Ferny has one, a poor overworked creature; but he won't
part with that for less than thrice its worth, not if I know him. But
I'll do what I can. I'll rout out Bob and send him round right
away.'
In the end, after an hour and more's delay, it turned out that
only one pony could be got - and that had to be bought for six
silver pennies (a high price for those parts). But Mr Barnabas
Butterbur was an honest hobbit, and a generous one (not but what
he could afford to be both); and he insisted on paying Mr Rivers
(that is Merry) for the lost five animals, 20 silver pennies,' less the
cost of their food and lodging. That made a very valuable addition
to their travelling funds, since silver pennies were very valuable in
those days; but it was not at the moment much comfort for their
loss and delay. It must have been rather a serious blow for poor old
Barnabas, even though he was comfortably off.*
Of course all this bother about the ponies not only took time,
but brought the hobbits and their affairs very much into public
notice. There was no chance of keeping their departure secret any
longer - much to their dismay, and to Trotter's. Indeed they did
not get off until after nine o'clock, and by that time all the Bree-
folk were out to watch them go. After saying farewell to Nob
and Rob,' and taking leave of Mr Butterbur, they tramped off,
(* Footnote. Still, I believe he came out on the right side in the end; for
it turned out that the ponies, wild with terror, had escaped, and having a
great deal of sense eventually made their way to find old Fatty Lumpkin.
And that proved useful. For Tom Bombadil saw them, and was afraid
that disaster had befallen the hobbits. So he went off to Bree to find out
what he could; and there he learned all that Barnabas could tell him (and
a bit more). Also he bought the ponies off Barnabas (as they belonged to
him now). That was very much to the delight of Fatty Lumpkin, who
now had friends to whom he could tell tales, and (as they were his
juniors) on to whom he could shift most of the little work there was to do.)
anxious and downhearted. Trotter walked in front leading their
only pony, which was laden with the greater part of their luggage.
Trotter was chewing an apple: he seemed to have a pocketful
of them. Apples and tobacco, he said, were the things he most
missed when he could not get them. They took no notice of the
many inquisitive heads poking out of doors or popping over fences
as they passed through the village; but as they drew near to the
east end, Bingo saw-a squat sullen-faced hobbit (rather goblinish,
he thought to himself): he was looking over a hedge. He had black
eyes, a large mouth, and an unpleasant leer, and was smoking a
blackened pipe. He took the pipe out of his mouth, and spat back
over his shoulder as they went by.
'Morning, Trotter! ' he said. 'Found some new friends?' Trotter
nodded, but did not answer.
'Morning, gentles! ' he said to the hobbits. 'I suppose you know
who you are going with? That's dirty Trotter, that is; or so he calls
himself - though I have heard other names not so pretty. But
maybe a ranger is good enough for you.'
Trotter turned round quickly. 'Bill Ferny!' he said. 'You put
your ugly face out of sight, or you'll get it broken. Not that that'll
do it much harm.' With a sudden flick, quick as lightning, half an
apple left his hand and hit Bill square on the nose. He ducked and
vanished with a yowk;(19) and they did not listen to the curses that
came from behind the hedge.
After leaving the village they went along the Road for some
miles. It wound to the right, round the south side of Bree hill, and
then began to run downwards into wooded country.(20) Away north
of the Road they could see first Archet on some higher ground like
an island in the trees; and then down in a deep hollow, to the east
of Archet, wisps of rising smoke that showed where Combe lay.
After the Road had run down some way and left Bree hill behind,
they came on a narrow track that ran northward away from the
Road. 'This is where we leave the open, and take to cover!' said
Trotter. 'Not a short cut, I hope,' said Bingo. 'It was a short cut
through woods that made us two days late before.' 'Ah, but you
had not got me with you,' said Trotter. 'My cuts, short or long,
don't go wrong.' His plan, as far as they could gather, not knowing
the country, was to pass near Combe ' and keep under cover of the
woods while the Road was still near, and then to steer as straight as
they could over the wild country to Weathertop Hill. They would
in that way (if all went well) cut off a great loop of the Road, which
further on bent away south to avoid the Flymarshes [written
above: Midgewater]. Trotter also had a notion that if he came
across any of his friends among the wild hobbits, one that he could
trust, they might send him on ahead on the pony to Weathertop.
But the others did not think well of his plan, as it would mean
carrying heavy packs, and thought the Flymarshes [written
above: Midgewater] would prove bad enough (from Trotter's
description) without that.(22) However, in the meantime walking
was not unpleasant. Indeed, if it had not been for the disturbing
events of the night before, they would have enjoyed this part of the
journey better than any up to that time. The sun was shining, clear
but not hot. The woods were still leafy and full of colour, and
seemed peaceful, clean, and wholesome. Trotter guided them
confidently among the many crossing ways, although very soon
they themselves lost all sense of direction; but as he explained to
them, they were not yet going in a straight line, but making a zig-
zag course, to put off any pursuit.
'Bill Ferny will have watched where we left the Road, for
certain,' he said; 'but I don't think he will follow us far himself,
though he knows the land round here well enough. It's what he
tells other - people that matters. If they think we have made for
Combe, so much the better.' Whether because of Trotter's skill or
for some other reason, they saw no sign, and heard no sound, of
any other living thing all that day, and all the next day: neither
two-footed (save birds), nor four-footed (except foxes and
rabbits). On the third day out from Bree they came out of the
woodlands. Their way had trended downwards all the time, and
now they came to flatter and more difficult country.
They were on the borders of the Midgewater Marshes. The
ground became damper, in places boggy, and here and there there
were pools, and wide stretches of reeds and rushes, full of hidden
warbling birds. They had to pick their way carefully to keep both
dry-footed and on their line. At first they made fair progress: in
fact they were probably going quite as quickly on foot as they
could have done mounted. But as they went on their way became
slower and more dangerous. The marshes were wide and treach-
erous, and across them there was only a winding ranger-trail,
which it taxed Trotter's skill to find. The flies became a torment:
particularly the clouds of tiny midges that crept up their sleeves
and breeches and under their hair.
'I'm being eaten alive! ' said Odo. 'Midgewater! There are more
midges than water. What do they live on, when they can't get
hobbits? '
They were two miserable days in this lonely and unpleasant
country. Their camping places were damp and cold, for there was
no good fuel. Armfuls of dry reeds and rush and grass blazed away
all too soon. And of course the biting things would not let them
sleep. There were also some abominable over-grown cousins of
the cricket that squeaked all round, and nearly drove Bingo wild.
He hated crickets, even when he was not kept awake by bites to
listen to them. But these crickets were shriller than any cricket he
had met, and even more persistent. They were more than glad,
when early on the fifth day from Bree they saw the land before
them slowly rising again, sloping up until in the distance it became
a line of low hills.(23)
To the right of the line there was a tall conical hill with a slightly
flattened top. 'That is Weathertop,' said Trotter. 'The old Road,
which we have left far away on our right, runs to the south of it,
and passes not far from its foot. We might reach it by noon
tomorrow; and I suppose we had better make for it.'
'What do you mean?' asked Bingo.
'I mean: when we do get there, it is not certain what we shall
find. It is close to the Road.'
'But was not Gandalf going to camp there?'
'Yes - but what with one thing and another, you are already
three or even four days behind the time when he expected you to
get there. You will be four or five days late by the time we reach the
top. I wonder very much if we shall find him there. On the other
hand, if certain persons were warned that you went east out of
Bree, and have failed to find us in the wilderness, they may not
unlikely make for Weathertop themselves. It commands a wide
view of the lands all round. Indeed there are many birds and
beasts in this country that could see us as we stand here from that
hill-top. There are even some of the rangers that on a clear day
could spy us from there, if we moved. And not all the rangers are
to be trusted, nor all the birds and beasts.'
The hobbits looked anxiously at the distant hill. Odo looked up
in the pale sky, as if he feared to see hawks or eagles hovering over
them. 'You make me feel most uncomfortable,' said Bingo; 'but I
suppose it is all for our good. We ought to realize what danger we
are in. What do you advise us to do?'
'I think,' answered Trotter slowly and as if he was for the first
time not quite sure of his plans, 'I think the best thing is to go
straight forward, or as straight as we can, from this point, and
make for the line of hills. There we can strike certain paths that I
know, and in fact will bring us to Weathertop from the North, and
less openly. Then we shall see what we shall see.'
There seemed nothing else to do. In any case they could not
stop in that comfortless land, and the line of march that Trotter
proposed was more or less in the direction that they must take, if
ever they were to get to Rivendell. All that day they plodded
along, until the cold and early evening came down. The land
became drier and more barren; but mists and vapours lay behind
them on the wide marshes. A few melancholy birds were piping,
until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows.
They thought how its soft light would be glancing through the
cheerful windows looking on to the garden at Bag-end far away.
They came upon a stream that wandered down from the hills to
lose itself in the stagnant marshland, and this they followed while
the light lasted. It was already nearly dark when they camped
under some stunted alder-trees on the stony banks of the stream;
now dark before them loomed the bare side of the nearest hill,
bleak and barren. They set a watch that night, but those that were
not watching slept uneasily. The moon was waxing, and in the
early night hours a grey cold light lay on the land.
Next morning they set out again soon after sunrise. There was a
frost in the air, and the sky was a pale clear blue. They felt
refreshed, as if they had had a night of good sleep, and were glad to
have left the damp heavy air of the marshes. Already they were
getting used to much walking, and to short commons (or shorter at
any rate than they would have thought possible to walk on in the
Shire). Odo declared that Bingo was looking twice the hobbit that
he was.
'Very odd,' said Bingo, tightening his belt, 'considering that
there is actually a great deal less of me. I hope the thinning-process
won't go on indefinitely, or I shall become a wraith.'
'Don't speak of such things!' said Trotter quickly, and with
surprising earnestness.
Before long they reached the feet of the hills; and there they
found, for the first time since they left the Road, a track plain to
see. This they took, turning and following it south-west.(24) It led
them up and down, following a line of country that contrived to
keep them hidden as often and as long as possible from view,
either from the hill-tops above, or from the flats to the West. It
dived into dells, and hugged steep banks, and found crossings
over the streams, and ways round the bogs that these made in
hollow places. Where it crossed a flatter and more open space it
often had lines of large boulders on either side, screening the
marchers almost like a hedge.
'I wonder who made this path, and what for?' said Frodo, as
they passed along one of these avenues, where the stones were
unusually large and closely set. 'I am not sure I quite like it - it has
a, well, rather barrow-wightish look? Is there any barrow on
Weathertop? '
'No!' said Trotter. 'There is no barrow on Weathertop nor on
any of these hills. The Men of the West did not live here. I do not
know who made this path, nor how long ago, but it was made to
provide a way to Weathertop that could be defended. It is told by
some that Gilgalad and Valandil [later > Elendil] made a fort and
strong place here in the Ancient Days, when they marched East.'
'Who was Gilgalad?' asked Frodo; but Trotter did not answer,
and seemed to be lost in thought.(25)
It was already mid-day when they came towards the south-
eastern end of the line of hills, and saw before them, in the pale
clear light of the October sun, a green-grey ridge leading up like a
sagging bridge on to the northward side of the tall conical hill.
They decided to make for the top at once, while the day was broad.
Concealment was no longer possible, and they could only hope for
the best. Nothing could be seen moving on the hill.
After an hour's slow plodding climb, Trotter reached the crown
of the hill. Bingo and Merry followed, tired and breathless. The
last slope had been steep and stony. Odo and Frodo were left
below with the baggage and the pony, in a sheltered hollow under
the western flank of the hill. On the top they found only a pile of
stones - a cairn of long forgotten meaning. There was no sign of
Gandalf, or of any living thing. All about and below them was a
wide view, for the most part of a land empty, deserted, and
featureless - except for patches of woodland away to the south,
where they caught also the occasional glint of distant water.
Beneath them, on the southward side, ran the ribbon of the Old
Road, coming out of the West and winding up and down until it
faded behind a ridge of dark land in the East. It too was empty.
Nothing was moving on it. Following its line eastward they beheld
the Mountains - now plain to see, the nearer foothills brown and
brooding, with taller greyer shapes behind, and behind them
again the high white peaks glimmering out of clouds.
'Well, here we are!' said Merry. 'And very cheerless and un-
inviting it all looks. There is no water, and no shelter. I don't
blame Gandalf for not waiting here! He would have to leave the
waggon, and horses, and most of his companions, too, I expect,
down near the Road.'
'I wonder,' said Trotter thoughtfully. 'He must certainly have
come here, since he said he would. It is not like him to leave no
sign. I hope nothing has happened to him - though it is not easy to
imagine him coming to grief.' He pushed the pile of stones with his
foot, and the topmost stones fell down with a clatter. Something
white, set free, began to flutter in the wind. It was a piece of paper.
Trotter seized it eagerly, and read out the message scrawled on it:
Waited three days. Must go. What has happened to you. Push on
for the Ford beyond Troll-shaw, as fast as you can. Help will
come there from Rivendell, as soon as I can manage it. Be
watchful. G. (X)
'Three days!' said Trotter. 'Then he must have left while we
were still in the marshes. I suppose we were too far away for any
glimpse of our miserable fires.'
'How far is the Ford, and Rivendell?' said Bingo wearily. The
world looked wild and wide from the hill-top.
'Let me think! ' said Trotter. 'I don't know if the Road has ever
been measured beyond the Forsaken Inn - a day's journey east of
Bree. But the stages, in days taken by waggon, pony, or horse, or
on foot, are pretty well known, of course. I should reckon it is
about 120 long-miles from Bree to Weathertop - by the Road,
which loops south and north. We have come a shorter but not
quicker way: between So and go miles in the last six days. It is
nearer 40 than 30 miles from Brandywine Bridge to Bree. I don't
know, but I should make the count of miles from your Bridge to
the Ford under the Misty Mountains a deal over 300 miles. So it
must be close on 200 from Weathertop to the Ford. I have heard it
said that from Bridge to Ford can be done in a fortnight going hard
with fair weather; but I have never met any that had made the
journey in that time. Most take nigh on a month, and poor hobbit-
folk on foot take more.
This passage, from 'But the stages, in days taken by waggon, pony, or
horse, or on foot', was enclosed within square brackets; and against it my
father wrote: '? -Cut out - as this though it can be kept as a narrative time
guide is too cut and dried and spoils the feeling. ?' He then wrote the
following replacement on a slip (cf. FR p. 200):
Some say it is so far, and some say otherwise. It is a queer Road,
And folk are glad to reach their journey's end, be the time longer
or shorter. But I know how long it would take me, with fair
weather and no illfortune, just a poor ranger on his own feet:
between three weeks and a month going hard from Brandywine
Bridge to the Ford under the Misty Mountains. More than two
days from the Bridge to Bree, a week from Bree to Weathertop.
We have made it in that time, but we have come by a shorter way,
for the Road bends south and north. Say ten days. Then we have a
fortnight before us, maybe less, but more likely more.'
'A fortnight!' said Bingo. 'A lot may happen in that time.' They
all fell silent. Bingo felt for the first time in that lonely place the
full realization of his danger and exile. He wished that his fortune
had left him in the quiet and beloved Shire. He stared at the
hateful' Road - leading back westward - to his old home. Suddenly
he was aware that two black specks were moving along the ribbon,
going westward, and looking closer he saw now that several more
were crawling slowly eastward to meet them. He gave a cry and
clutched Trotter's arm. 'Look! ' he said, pointing.
'Get down!' cried Trotter, pulling Bingo flat on the ground
beside him. Merry flung himself alongside. 'What is it?' he whis-
pered. 'I don't know, but I fear,' said Trotter. They wormed their
way to the edge of the flat hilltop and peered out from behind a
stony outcrop. The light was not bright, for the clear morning had
faded, and clouds crawled slowly out of the East and had now
caught the sun, as it began to go west. They could see the black
specks, but neither Bingo nor Merry could make out their shape
for certain. Yet something told them that there below were Black
Riders assembling on the Road, beyond the hill's foot. 'Yes,' said
Trotter, whose keener sight left him in no doubt. 'The enemy is
here.'
Hastily they crawled away, and slipped down the north side of
the hill to find Odo and Frodo.
Here the original Chapter VII, which I have divided into two, ends.
NOTES.
1. Of the original pencilled draft, overwritten by version B, little can
now be read; it was dashed down in faint pencil, and except here and
there the text in ink effectively obliterates it. Enough can be seen,
however, to show that the story was that of version B (in which
Gandalf's letter was given to the landlord of the inn, not to Trotter);
and though this is less certain, I suspect that at this stage there was
no mention of Black Riders having come to Bree before Bingo,
Merry, Frodo, and Odo arrived. On the other hand, it is perfectly
clear that when my father wrote out version B on top of the original
draft he had version A in front of him.
The explanation of this odd situation can be seen, I think, in the
fact that version B is much longer than the pencilled draft and not at
all closely associated with it; some of it is on slips added in. I think
that my father wrote out version A first, on the basis of the pencilled
draft, but changed the story as he did so (by giving Gandalf's letter
to Trotter, and introducing Butterbur's story of the Riders who
came to the inn); he then returned to the pencilled draft and wrote
version B on top of it, going back to the story that the letter had been
entrusted to Butterbur, and again introducing the story of the Black
Riders at Bree but ascribing it now to Trotter, who encountered
them on the Road. For this text he used version A and followed it
very closely so far as the changed story allowed. Thus the textual
history was:
(1) Original pencilled draft: Gandalf's letter left with Butter-
bur; (probably) no story as yet of Black Riders having
already come to Bree.
(2) Version A: the story changed: Gandalf's letter left with
Trotter; Butterbur tells of the coming of the Riders to the
inn.
(3) Version B, written over the original draft, but using much of
the wording of A: Gandalf's letter left with Butterbur;
Trotter tells of his encounters with the Riders on the Road.
Finally, some new phrases in B were written back into A.
2. It is with this sentence that Chapter 10 'Strider' begins in FR, but
I include the preceding passage here since it forms part of the
narrative which is treated in alternative ways (see p. 156).
3. Cf. p. 141 note 7. But even though the old idea that Bingo 'had come
to the end of his treasure' (and that a vague object of his 'Journey'
was that it might bring him some more, p. 62) disappeared, it
remained in FR (p. 175) that 'he had brought only a little money
with him.'
4. That would be five days ago: see the chronology given on p. 160.
Gandalf and his companions arrived at the inn on Sunday morning,
and it was now Thursday night.
5. They should be here by Tuesday: Gandalf had assumed that they
would follow the Road from the Brandywine Bridge to Bree, and
take two days over it. Cf. Trotter's calculations (pp. 170 - 1): 'It is
nearer 40 than 30 miles from Brandywine Bridge to Bree', and 'More
than two days from the Bridge to Bree' (on foot).
6. How did the Black Riders know this? See p. 350, note 7.
7. Here my father wrote: 'Now he described your party very exactly,
sir, more exactly than Mr Gandalf did: colour of your ponies, look
of your faces,' but struck it out as soon as written, probably because
it was not consistent with his conception of the Black Riders: he had
already said (p. 75) that for Ring-wraiths 'Everything becomes very
faint like grey ghost pictures against the black background in which
you live; but you can smell better than you can hear or see.' It seems
very likely that the idea of the 'wraith-world', into which in some
sense the bearer of a Ring entered if he put it on his finger, and in
which he then became fully visible to the denizens of that world, had
already arisen; a hint of this appears in Gildor's words (p. 64) 'I
guess that the use of the ring helps them more than you', and in
Gandalf's letter in the present chapter he is urgent that Bingo should
never wear the Ring for any purpose - now that he has learned that
the Riders are in pursuit.
8. These words are at the bottom of a manuscript page. At the bottom
my father scribbled in pencil:
Nov. 19 Motive trailing Gandalf. Gandalf drawing them off. No
camp at Weathertop or again Gandalf leads them off.
With this cf. the pencilled addition on p. 153: 'I first saw the Riders
last Saturday away west of Bree, before I ran across Gandalf. I am
not at all sure they were not following his trail too.'
'Nov. 19' presumably refers to the date of the note, i.e. 19
November 1938; by then my father had got well beyond this point in
the narrative, judging by what he said in a letter to Stanley Unwin of
13 October 1938: 'I have worked very hard for a month... on a
sequel to The Hobbit. It has reached Chapter XI (though in rather
an illegible state)...'
9. The first mention of Weathertop Hill; the actual first occurrence of
the name must be in the original pencilled draft of Gandalf's letter,
which can be partly made out (note 13).
10. The runes are the Old English runes, as in The Hobbit. Gandalf uses
the English (Common Germanic) rune X for G in writing his name,
but uses also as a sign for himself a rune @. In the Angerthas (LR
Appendix E pp. 401 - 4) this rune meant (in the usage of the
Dwarves of Moria) [ng].
11. Oddly, the manuscript in ink has here Timothy, not Barnabas; but
it can only be a slip, returning momentarily to the landlord's original
name (p. 140 note 3).
12. Tuesday, not Thursday: see note 5.
13. The ending of the letter can be read in the pencilled draft:
Don't be out after dark or in mist. Push along. Am so anxious that I
shall wait [?two] days for you..... Weathertop Hill. If you meet a
ranger (wild hobbit) called Trotter, stick to him. I have told him to
look out. He will guide you to Weathertop and further if necessary.
Push along.
14. The text as first written here (in ink: the pencilled text beneath is
illegible) had: 'I felt something moving behind me, and when I
turned I saw one going along the Road.' - For 'coming towards' in
the revised sentence perhaps read 'coming towards me'.
15. bar the door and window was written in above and take turns to
watch, which was not struck out. See note 16.
16. The underlying pencilled text can be read here:
They did not talk much but fell asleep one by one. Trotter
watched for three hours; he said he could do with very little sleep.
Next came Merry. Nothing happened...
A first version in ink reads:
He could do with very little (he said): 'give me three hours, and
then wake me, and I will watch for the rest of the time.' Bingo
took the first watch; the others talked for a while and then fell
asleep.
At this point FR Chapter 10 'Strider' ends, and Chapter 11 'A Knife
in the Dark' begins - where that chapter takes up the story at Bree
again: of the attack by the Black Riders on the house at Crickhollow
with which it begins there is as yet no trace.
17. 20 (silver pennies) was later changed to 25.
18. Rob: at previous occurrences (pp. 135, 164) the name of the ostler at
?he Prancing Pony is certainly Bob, as in FR.
19. a yowk: the verb yowk 'howl, bawl, yelp' is given in Joseph Wright,
The English Dialect Dictionary.
20. A tiny pencilled sketch in the body of the manuscript, belonging
with the underlying draft, shows the Road, after it has curved down
round the south side of Bree-hill, bending up north again and
continuing the same line east of Bree as it had to the west of the
village.
21. Combe changed in pencil to Archet (as in FR, p. 193).
22. These two sentences, from Trotter also had a notion, were enclosed
in square brackets, probably at the time of writing. Cf. the outline
(p. 162): 'Trotter takes them to a wild hobbit hole, and gets his
friend to run on ahead and send a message to Weathertop by pony?'.
23. The pencilled text beneath the ink can be read sufficiently to show
that the passage of the marshes (unnamed) was described in a couple
of sentences.
24. Since at the end of the next sentence my father wrote 'from the flats
to the East', which is an obvious slip and which he later corrected to
'West', it seems likely that the 'south-west' course of the track along
the feet of the hills is also a slip for 'south-east'; a little later it is said
that 'they came towards the south-eastern end of the line of hills.'
25. For the story of Gil-galad and Elendil and the Last Alliance as it was
at this time see the second version of The Fall of Numenor $14
(V. 28-9) and pp. 215 - 16. Though Elendil is present in The Fall of
Numenor my father does not seem to have been entirely satisfied
with the name: here he wrote Valandil first, and in the original draft
of the next chapter he changed Elendil temporarily to Orendil
(p. 197 note 3). In The Lost Road Valandil was the name of Elendil's
father (V.60, 69), and in a later version of The Fall of Numenor
Valandil is Elendil's brother (V.33).
In the latter part of this chapter, from the point where the variant
versions join (pp. 159, 161), all the essential structure of the immediate
narrative in FR (pp. 185 - 201) is in place, though the larger bearings and
the glimpses of ancient history are conspicuously absent. The narrative
runs in a narrower dimension in any case, from the fact that there are no
Men in the story: Butterbur is a hobbit, the wild 'rangers', of whom
Trotter is one, are hobbits, Bill Ferny is a hobbit (p. 165) - though it is
true that the range of hobbit character is greatly extended by these
'Outsiders' who live beyond the Shire's borders.
A few specific points of difference may be briefly mentioned. The
pony bought in Bree is not in fact said to be Ferny's (p. 164), though it
seems to be implied; and the subsequent history of the five ponies from
Buckland, recorded in the footnote to the text (p. 164), was afterwards
largely changed (FR p. 191). The encounter of Merry with the Black
Rider outside the inn at Bree does not end with his being attacked; and it
is Trotter who plays the later part of Sam in having a pocketful of apples
and discomfiting Bill Ferny with one on the nose.
The journey from Bree to Weathertop has the same structure as that in
FR (pp. 194-7), except at the end. The chronology is:
Days out of Bree Date Place
1. Fri. Sept. 30. In the woods (Chetwood).
2. Sat. Oct. 1. In the woods.
3. Sun. Oct. 2. First day and camp in the marshes.
4. Mon. Oct. 3. Second day and camp in the marshes.
5. Tues. Oct. 4. Camp by the stream under alders.
But in FR the hobbits made another night camp at the feet of the western
slopes of the Weather Hills - and that was 'the night of the fifth of
October, and they were six days out from Bree' (p. 197); this camp is not
in the original version, and thus they reached Weathertop on Wednesday
October 5. Trotter on Weathertop says that they have covered between
80 and go miles 'in the last six days'. he was including that day also, for it
was already after noon.
In the old story Gandalf stayed on Weathertop for three days, and he
left there a note in a pile of stones, written on paper. This message ('Help
will come there [i.e. to the Ford] from Rivendell, as soon as I can manage
it') gives the first clear indication in the story of what Gandalf's intentions
were; and with this can be taken the words scribbled on the manuscript
that are given in note 8. Gandalf was trying to lure the Riders after him.
Looking back over the whole of the original Chapter VII, the story
from the hobbits' arrival in Bree to the sight of the Black Riders on the
Road far below the summit of Weathertop, there appears again and in the
most striking form the characteristic of my father's writing that elements
emerge suddenly and clearly conceived, but with their 'meaning' and
context still to undergo huge further development, or even complete
transformation, in the later narrative (cf. p. 71). A small example here is
the face that Bingo thought 'goblinish' as they walked out of Bree (p. 165)
- which is here the face of Bill Ferny (a hobbit): in FR (p. 193) it will be
that of 'the squint-eyed southerner' whom Frodo glimpsed through the
window of Ferny's house, and thought that he looked 'more than half like
a goblin.' In a 'chrysalis' state are the 'Rangers', wanderers in the
wilderness, and Trotter is a Ranger, grim and weatherworn, deeply
learned in the lore of the wild, and in many other matters; but they are
hobbits, and of any further or larger significance that they might have in
the history of Middle-earth there is no hint. Trotter is at once so fully
realized that his tone in this part of the narrative (indeed not a few of his
actual words) was never changed afterwards; yet such little as is glimpsed
of his history at this stage bears no relation whatsoever to that of Aragorn
son of Arathorn. He is a hobbit, marked out by wearing wooden shoes
(whence his name Trotter); there seems to be something in his history
that gives him a special knowledge of, and horror of, the Ring-wraiths
(p. 153); and Bingo finds something about him that distinguishes him
from other 'Rangers', and is in a way familiar (p. 154). These things will
be explained later, before they are finally swept away.
X.
THE ATTACK ON WEATHERTOP.
This chapter, numbered VIII, and titleless as usual (though later my
father pencilled in 'A Knife in the Dark'), begins on the same manuscript
page as the end of the last; it was obviously continuous work, and the
manuscript proceeds as before, in ink, rapid but always legible, over
pencilled drafts of which only words or phrases here and there are visible
(see p. 188). The text goes on through FR Chapter 12 'Flight to the Ford'
without any sort of break, but as with the original Chapter VII I divide it
into two (see the table on p. 133).
There was a hollow dell beneath the north-west shoulder of
Weathertop, right under the long ridge that joined it to the hills
behind. There Odo and Frodo had been left to wait for them.
They had found the signs of a recent camp and fire, and, a great
(and most unexpected) boon, behind a large rock was piled a small
store of fire-wood. Better still, under the fuel they found a wooden
case with some food in it. It was mostly cram-cakes, but there was
some bacon, and some dried fruits. There was also some tobacco!
Cram was, as you may remember, a word in the language of the
men of Dale and the Long-lake - to describe a special food they
made for long journeys. It kept good indefinitely and was very
sustaining, but not entertaining, as it took a lot of chewing and had
no particular taste. Bilbo Baggins brought back the recipe - he
used cram after he got home on some of his long and mysterious
walks. Gandalf also took to using it on his perpetual journeys. He
said he liked it softened in water (but that is hard to believe). But
cram was not to be despised in the wilderness, and the hobbits
were extremely grateful for Gandalf's thoughtfulness. They were
still more grateful when the three others came down with their
alarming news, and they all realized that they had a long journey
still ahead, before they could expect to get help. They immedi-
ately held a council, and found it hard to decide what to do. It was
the presence of the fire-wood (of which they could not have carried
much away) that finally decided them to go no further that day,
and to camp for that night in the dell.(1) It seemed unsafe, not to say
desperate, to go on at once, or until they found out whether their
arrival at the hill was known or expected. For, unless they were to
make a long detour back north-west along the hills, and abandon
the direction of Rivendell altogether for a while, it would not be
easy to find any cover or concealment. The Road itself was
impossible; but they must at least cross it, if they were to get into
the more broken land, full of bushy thickets, immediately to the
south of it. To the north of the Road, beyond the hills, the land
was bare and flat for many miles.
'Can the - er - enemy see?' asked Merry. 'I mean, they seem
usually to have smelt rather than seen, at least in the daytime. But
you made us lie down flat.'
'I don't know,' said Trotter, 'how they perceive what they seek;
but I fear them. And their horses can see.'(2)
It was now already late afternoon. They had had no food since
breakfast. In spite of their fear and uncertainty they were very
hungry. So down in the dell where all was still and quiet they made
a meal - as good a meal as they dared take, after they had examined
their stores. But for Gandalf's present they would not have dared
to have more than a bite. They had left behind the countries where
inns or villages could be found. There were Big People (so Trotter
said) away to the South of them. But North and East the neigh-
bouring lands were empty of all save birds and beasts, unfriendly
places deserted by all the races of the world: Elves, Men,
Dwarves, or Hobbits, and even by goblins. The more adven-
turous Rangers journeyed occasionally into those regions, but
they passed and did not stay. Other wanderers were rare, and of no
good sort: Trolls might stray at times down out of the further hills
and Mountains. Only on the Road would travellers be found, Big
People rarely in those days, Elves perhaps sometimes, most often
Dwarves hurrying along on business, and with no help and few
words to spare for strangers.
So now - since Gandalf had gone - they had to depend on what
they carried with them - probably until they found their way at
last to Rivendell. For water they were obliged to trust to chance.
For food they could perhaps just have managed to go ten or eleven
days; and now with Gandalf's additions they could with economy
probably hold out for more than a fortnight. It might have been
worse. But starving was not their only fear.
It became very cold as evening fell. There was some mist again
over the distant marshes; but the sky above cleared again, and the
clouds were blown away by a chill east wind. Looking out from the
lip of the dale [read dell] they could see nothing but a grey land
quickly vanishing in shadows, under an open sky filling slowly
with twinkling stars.
They lit a small fire down at the lowest point in the hollow, and
sat round it clothed and wrapped in every garment and blanket
they possessed: at least Bingo and his companions did so. Trotter
seemed content with a single blanket, and sat some little way from
the fire puffing his short pipe. They took it in turns to sit on guard
on the edge of the dell, at a point where the steep sides of
Weathertop Hill, and the gentler slope down from the ridge, could
be seen - as far as anything could be seen in the gathering dusk.
As the evening deepened Trotter began to tell them tales to keep
their minds from fear. He knew much lore concerning wild
animals, and claimed to speak some of their languages; and he had
strange stories to tell of their lives and little known adventures. He
knew also many histories and legends of the ancient days, of
hobbits when the Shire was still wild, and of things beyond the
mists of memory out of which the hobbits came. They wondered
where he had learned all his lore.
'Tell us of Gil-galad!' said Frodo - 'you spoke that name not
long ago,(3) and it is still ringing in my ears. Who was he?'
'Don't you know!' said Trotter. 'Gil-galad was the last of the
great Elf-kings: Gil-galad is Starlight in their tongue. He over-
threw the Enemy, but he himself perished. But I will not tell that
tale now; though you will hear it, I think, in Rivendell, when we
get there. Elrond should tell it, for he knows it well. But I will tell
you the tale of Tinuviel - in brief, for in full it is a long tale of
which the end is not known, and there is no one that remembers it
in full as it was told of old, unless it be Elrond. But even in brief it
is a fair tale - the fairest that has come out of the oldest days.' He
fell silent for a moment, and then he began not to speak, but to
chant softly:
Put in Light on Linden Tree. [sic] emended. Or the alliterative
lines. Follow with brief Tinuviel story.
My father then went straight on in the manuscript to the beginning of a
prose resume of the story of Beren and Luthien. He had not gone far with
this, however, when he abandoned it, and returning to Trotter's words
about the story changed the end of them to: 'It is a fair tale, though it is
sad as are the tales of Middle-earth, and yet it may lift up the hearts of the
enemies of the Enemy.' He then wrote:
Lo Beren Gamlost the boldhearted (4)
but struck this out also. He had suggested just above that 'the alliterative
lines' might be used. He was referring to the passage of alliterative verse
that preceded Light as Leaf on Lindentree as published in The Gryphon
(Leeds University) in 1925,(5) a passage itself closely related to lines in the
second version of the alliterative Lay of the Children of Hurin, 355 ff.,
where Halog, one of Turin's guides on the journey to Doriath, sang this
song 'for hearts' uplifting' as they wandered in the forest. But he now
decided against the alliterative lines for this place, and wrote in the
manuscript a new version of Light as Leaf on Lindentree. This text of the
poem moves it far towards the final version in FR pp. 204 - 5, but has
elements surviving from the old poem that were afterwards lost, and
elements common to neither. There are many later emendations to the
text, and many alternative readings (mostly taken up into the final
version) written at the time of composition; but here I give the primary
text without variants or later corrections.
The leaves mere long, the grass was thin,
The fall of many years lay thick,
The tree-mots twisted out and in,
The rising moon was glimmering.
Her feet ment lilting light and quick
To the silver flute oflleerin:(6)
Beneath the hemlock-umbels thick
Tinuviel was shimmering.
The noiseless moths their wings did fold,
The light was lost among the leaves,
As Beren there from mountains cold
Came wandering and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock leaves
And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
And her hair like shadow following.
Enchantment took his weary feet,
That over stone mere doomed to mam,
And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,
And grasped at moonbeams glistening.
Through woven woods of Elvenhome
They fled on swiftly dancing feet,
And left him lonely still to mam,
In the silent forest listening.
He heard at times the flying sound
Of feet as light as linden leaves,
Or music welling underground
In the hidden halls of Doriath.
But withered were the hemlock sheaves,
And one by one with sighing sound
Whispering fell the beechen leaves
In the wintry woods of Doriath.
He sought her ever, wandering far
Where leaves of years mere thickly strewn,
By light of moon and ray of star
In frosty heavens shivering.
Her mantle glistened in the moon,
As on a hill-top high and far
She danced, and at her feet was strewn
A mist of silver quivering.
When minter passed she came again,
And her song released the sudden spring,
Like rising lark, and falling rain,
And melting water bubbling.
There high and clear he heard her sing,
And from him fell the minter's chain;
No more he feared by her to spring
Upon the grass untroubling.
Again she fled, but clear he called:
Tinuviel, Tinuviel.
She halted by his voice enthralled
And stood before him shimmering.
Her doom at last there on her fell,
As in the hills the echoes called;
Tinuviel, Tinuviel,
In the arms of Beren glimmering.
As Beren looked into her eyes
Within the shadows of her hair
The trembling starlight of the skies
He saw there mirrored shimmering.
Tinuviel! O elven-fair!
Immortal maiden elven-wise,
About him cast her shadowy hair
And white her arms were glimmering.
Long was the way that fate them bore
O'er stony mountains cold and grey,
Through halls of iron and darkling door
And woods of night-shade morrowless.
The Sundering Seas between them lay
And yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
In the forest singing sorrowless.
He paused before he spoke again. 'That is a song,' he said, 'that
tells of the meeting of Beren the mortal and Luthien Tinuviel,
which is but the beginning of the tale.
'Luthien was the daughter of the elven-king Thingol of Doriath
in the West of the Middle-world, when the earth was young. Her
mother was Melian, who was not of the Elf-race but came out of
the Far West from the land of the Gods and the Blessed Realm of
Valinor. It is said that the daughter of Thingol and Melian was the
most fair maiden that ever was or shall be among all the children of
the world. No limbs so fair shall again run upon the green earth,
no face so beautiful shall look upon the sky, till all things are
changed.
The passage in praise of Luthien that follows is almost word for word
the same as that in the Quenta Silmarillion (1937), largely retained in the
published work (p. 165, 'Blue was her raiment...').
'But Beren was son of Barahir the Bold. In those days the
fathers of the fathers of Men came out of the East; and some there
were that journeyed even to the West of Middle-earth, and there
they met the Elves, and were taught by them, and became wise,
but they were mortal and shortlived, for such is their fate. Yet
many of them aided the Elves in their wars. For in that time the
Elves besieged the Enemy in his dreadful fortress in the North.
Angband it was called, the Halls of Iron beneath the thunderous
towers of the black mountain Thangorodrim.
'But he broke the siege, and drove Elves and Men ever south-
ward; and Barahir was slain. Ruin came upon the West-lands, but
Doriath long endured because of the power and enchantment of
Melian the Queen that fenced it about so that no evil could come
within. In the song it is told (7) how Beren flying southward through
many perils came at last into the hidden kingdom and beheld
Luthien. Tinuviel he called her, which is Nightingale, for he did
not yet know her name.
'But Thingol the Elven-king was wroth, despising him as a
mortal, and a fugitive; and he sent Beren upon a hopeless quest ere
he could win Luthien. For he commanded him to bring him one of
the three jewels from the crown of the King of Angband, out of the
deeps of the Iron Halls. These were the Silmarils renowned in'
song, filled with power and a holy light, for they had been made by
the Elves in the Blessed Realm, but the Enemy had stolen them,
and guarded them with all his strength. Yet Beren achieved that
Quest, for Luthien fled from her father's realm and followed after
him; and with the aid of Huan hound of the Gods, who came
out of Valinor, she found him once again; and together thereafter
they passed through peril and darkness; and they came even to
Angband and beguiled the Enemy, and overthrew him, and took a
Silmaril and fled.
'But the wolf-warden of the dark gate of Angband bit off the
hand of Beren that held the Silmaril, and he came near to death.
Yet it is told that at length Luthien and Beren escaped and
returned to Doriath, and the king and all his people marvelled.
But Thingol reminded Beren that he had vowed not to return save
with a Silmaril in his hand.
'"It is in my hand even now," he answered.
'"Show it to me!" said the king.
'"That I cannot do," said Beren, "for my hand is not here," and
he held up his maimed arm. And from that hour he was named
Beren Erhamion the Onehanded.
'Then the tale of the Quest was told in the king's hall and his
mood was softened, and Luthien laid her hand in Beren's before
the throne of her father.
'But soon fear came upon Doriath. For the dread wolf-warden
of Angband, being maddened by the fire of the Silmaril that
consumed his evil flesh within, roamed through the world, wild
and terrible. And by fate and the power of the jewel he passed the
guarded borders and came ravening even into Doriath; and all
things fled before him. Thus befell the Wolf-hunt of Doriath, and
to that hunt went King Thingol, and Beren Erhamion, and Beleg
the Bowman and Mablung the heavy-handed, and Huan the
hound.
'And the great wolf leaped upon Beren and felled him and
grievously wounded him; and Huan slew the wolf but himself was
slain. And Mablung cut the Silmaril from the belly of the wolf,
and gave it to Beren, and Beren gave it to Thingol. Then they bore
Beren back with Huan at his side to the king's hall. And Luthien
bade him farewell before the gates, bidding him await her beyond
the Great Seas; and he died in her arms.
'But the spirit of Luthien fell down into darkness, for such was
the doom upon the elven-maid for her love of a mortal man; and
she faded slowly, as the Elves do under the burden of a grief
unbearable. Her fair body lay like a flower that is suddenly cut off
and lies for a while unwithered on the grass;4 but her spirit
journeyed over the Great Seas. And it is said that she sang before
the Gods, and her song was made of the sorrows of the two
kindreds, of Elves and Men. So fair was she and so moving was her
song that they were moved to pity. But they had not the power
long to withhold within the confines of the world the spirits of
mortal men that died; nor to change the sundered fate of the two
kindreds.
'Therefore they gave this choice to Luthien. Because of her
sorrow and of the Silmaril that was regained from the Enemy, and
because her mother Melian came from Valinor, she should be
released from the Halls of Waiting, and return not to the woes of
Middle-earth, but go to the Blessed Realm and dwell with the
Gods until the world's end, forgetting all sadness that her life had
known. Thither Beren could not come. The other choice was
this. She might return to earth, and take with her Beren for a
while, there to dwell with him again, but without certitude of life
or joy. Then she would become mortal even as he; and ere long
she should leave the world for ever, and her beauty become only
a memory of song, until that too faded. This doom she chose,
forsaking the Blessed Realm, and thus they met again, Beren and
Tinuviel, beyond the Great Seas, as she had said; and their paths
led together, and passed long ago beyond the confines of the
world. So it was that Luthien alone of all the Elven-kin has died
indeed. But by her choice the Two Kindreds were joined, and she
is the fore-mother of many in whom the Elves see yet, though the
world changeth, the likeness of Luthien the beloved whom they
have lost.'(9)
As Trotter was speaking, the darkness closed in; night fell on
the world. They could see his queer eager face dimly lit in the glow
of the red wood-fire. Above him was a black starry sky. Suddenly a
pale light appeared behind the crown of Weathertop behind him.
The moon, now nearly half-full, was climbing slowly above the
hill that overshadowed them. The stars above its top grew pale.
The story ended. The hobbits moved and stretched. 'Look!'
said Merry. 'The moon is rising. It must be getting late.' The
others looked up. Even as they did so they saw something small
and dark on the hill-top against the glimmer of the moonlight. It
was perhaps only a large stone or jutting rock shown up by the pale
light.
At that moment Odo, who had been on guard (being less
reluctant than the others to miss Trotter's tale-telling) came
hurrying down to the fire. 'I don't know what it is,' he said, 'but I
feel that something is creeping up the hill. And I thought (I
couldn't be sure) that away there, westwards, where the moon-
light is falling, there were two or three black shapes. They seemed
to be moving this way.'
'Keep close beside the fire, with your faces outwards! ' said
Trotter. 'Get some of these pine-wood sticks ready in your hands! '
For a long while they sat there silent and alert with their backs
turned to the little fire, which was thus almost.entirely screened.
Nothing happened. There was no sound or movement. Bingo was
just about to whisper a question to Trotter, who sat next to him,
when Frodo gasped: 'What's that?' 'Sh,' said Trotter.
It was just as Odo had said: over the lip of the hollow, on the
side away from the hill, they felt a shadow rise, one shadow or
more than one. They strained their eyes, and the shadows seemed
to grow. Soon there could be no doubt: three or four tall black
figures were standing there, on the slope above them. Bingo
fancied that he heard faintly a sound like breath being drawn in
with a hiss. Then the shapes advanced slowly.
Terror seized Odo and Frodo, and they threw themselves flat
on the ground. Merry shrank to Bingo's side. Bingo was no less
afraid; he was quaking as if he was bitter cold. But his fear was
swallowed up in a sudden temptation to put on the Ring. It seized
him, and he could think of nothing else. He did not forget the
Barrow, nor the message of Gandalf, but he felt a desperate desire
to disregard all warnings. Something seemed to be compelling
him; he longed to yield. Not with the hope of escaping, or of doing
anything, good or bad. He simply felt that he must take the Ring,
and put it on his finger. He could not speak. He struggled for a
while, but resistance became unbearable; and at last he slowly
drew out the chain, unfastened the Ring, and put it on the fore-
finger of his left hand.
Immediately - though everything else remained as before, dim
and dark - the shapes became terribly clear. He seemed able to see
beneath their black wrapping. There were three tall figures: in
their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their
black mantles were long grey robes, upon their grey hair were
helms of silver;(10) in their haggard hands were swords of steel.
Their eyes fell upon him and pierced him, as they rushed towards
him. Desperate, he drew his own sword; and it seemed to him that
it flickered redly as if it was a fire-brand. Two of the figures halted.
But the third was taller than the others. His hair was long and
gleaming, and on it was a crown. The hand that held the long
sword glowed with a pale light. He sprang forward and bore down
upon Bingo.
At that moment Bingo threw himself forward onto the ground,
and he heard himself crying aloud (though he did not know why):
Elbereth! Gilthoniel! Gurth i Morthu.(11) At the same time he struck
at the feet of his enemy. A shrill cry rang out in the night; and he
felt a pain like a dart of poisoned ice touch his [added: left]
shoulder. Even as he swooned Bingo caught a glimpse of Trotter
leaping out of the darkness with a flaming fire-brand in each hand.
With a last effort he slipped the Ring from his finger, and closed
his hand on it.
NOTES.
1. This passage, from 'Better still, under the fuel they found a wooden
case', is an insertion on a slip, certainly written at the same time as
the main text, replacing the (ink) text as first written:
Gandalf, it would seem, had taken thought for them. It was the
presence of fuel that decided them to go no further that day, and
to make their camp in the dell.
With the passage here about cram, not found in FR, cf. The Hobbit,
Chapter XIII 'Not at Home':
If you want to know what cram is, I can only say that I don't know
the recipe, but it is biscuitish, keeps good indefinitely, is sup-
posed to be sustaining, and is certainly not entertaining, being in
fact very uninteresting except as a chewing exercise. It was made
by the Lake-men for long journeys.
In the Etymologies (V.365) cram, defined as 'cake of compressed
flour or meal (often containing honey and milk) used on long
journeys', appears as a Noldorin word (stem KRAB- 'press'). - In FR
the fire-wood, alone of the stores found on Weathertop, survived,
but it had been left by Rangers, not by Gandalf.
2. Strider gives a much more elaborate and informed account of the
perceptions of the Ring-wraiths in FR (p. 202). See p. 173, note 7.
3. See p. 169 and note 25.
Beren's name Camlost or Gamlost ('Empty-handed') occurs in the
4. Quenta Silmarillion (interrupted at the end of 1937); for the
variation in the initial consonant see V.298, 301.
5. For the text and textual history of Light as Leaf on Lindentree see
III.108 - 10, 120 - 3.
6. To the silver flute of Ilverin: in Light as Leaf on Lindentree (III. 108)
Dairon is named here. The name Ilverin occurs in The Book of Lost
Tales as one of the many names of Littleheart, the 'Gong-warden' of
Mar Vanwa Tyalieva (I.46, 255), but there seems no basis to seek
any kind of connection. In the margin my father at some point
pencilled other names: Neldorin, Elberin, Diarin. See note g, at
end.
7. Trotter has mentioned no song, but it is of course the Lay of
Leithian that is meant.
8. Struck out at the time of writing:
But her spirit came to the Halls of Waiting, where are the places
appointed for the Elven-kin beyond the Blessed Realms in the
West, on the confines of the world. And she knelt before the Lord
[of the Halls of Waiting]
9. This concluding paragraph of Trotter's tale is very close to the
account of the Choices of Luthien that my father had written while
the Quenta Silmarillion was with the publishers at the end of 1937,
and which appears in the published Silmarillion on p. 187; see
V.293, 303-4.
There are other very roughly written texts giving a resume of a
part of 'The Silmarillion' found among the papers at this point.
They attempt to condense a much greater part of the history of the
Elder Days than that strictly concerned with the story of Beren and
Luthien, and have interesting features which must be mentioned,
though their discussion scarcely falls within the history of the
writing of The Lord of the Rings. Most notable is the following
passage:
For as it is told the Blessed Realms of the West were illumined by
the Two Trees, Galathilion the Silver Cherry, and Galagloriel
that is Golden Rain. But Morgoth, the greatest of the Powers,
made war upon the Gods, and he destroyed the Trees, and fled.
And he took with him the immortal gems, the Silmarils, that were
made by the Elves of the light of the Trees, and in which alone
now the ancient radiance of the days of bliss remained. In the
north of the Middle-earth he set up his throne Angband, the Halls
of Iron under Thangorodrim the Mountain of Thunder; and he
grew in strength and darkness; and he brought forth the Orcs and
goblins, and the Balrogs, demons of fire. But the High Elves of
the West forsook the land of the Gods and returned to the earth,
and made war upon him to regain the jewels.
The names Galathilion and Caladloriel first appear in the Quenta
Silmarillion (V.209 - 10) as the Gnomish names for Silpion and
Laurelin. 'Silver Cherry' and 'Golden Rain' are not the actual
meanings of the names (as seems to be implied here): see the
Etymologies in Vol. V, stems GALAD- (where the form Galagloriel is
also given), LAWAR-, THIL-. That the blossom of Silpion was like that
of a cherry-tree, and the flowers of Laurelin like those of the
laburnum ('Golden Rain') was however often said (see e.g. V.209).
On Morgoth 'the greatest of the Powers' see V. 157 and note 4.
Very curious is the statement here that when Morgoth returned to
Middle-earth after the destruction of the Trees 'he brought forth the
Orcs and goblins, and the Balrogs, demons of fire.' It was certainly
my father's view at this period that the Orcs were then first
engendered (see V. 233, $62 and commentary), but the Balrogs were
far older in their beginning (V. 212, $18), and indeed came to rescue
Morgoth from Ungoliante at the time of his return: 'to his aid there
came the Balrogs that lived yet in the deepest places of his ancient
fortress.'
The term 'High Elves' is here used to mean the Elves of Valinor,
not, as in the Quenta Silmarillion, the First Kindred (Lindar,
Vanyar): see V. 214, $25 and commentary.
A very surprising point is the mention, a little later in this text, of
Finrod Inglor the fair (see p. 72). In the first edition of LR
(Appendices) Finrod was still the name of third son of Finwe, as in
the Quenta Silmarillion, and his son was Felagund (in QS also
named Inglor); it was not till the second edition of 1966 that Finrod
son of Finwe became Finarfin, and his son Inglor Felagund became
Finrod Felagund.
In another of these drafts the minstrel of Doriath is named Iverin,
not Dairon; see note 6.
10. My father first wrote here: 'upon their long grey hair were crowns
and helms of pale gold'. This was no doubt changed at once, with
the emergence immediately below of the tall king, a crown on his
long hair. See p. 198 note 6.
11. For Morthu see V.393, stem THUS-.
*
My father's practice at this time of overwriting his first pencilled drafts
largely denies the possibility of seeing the earliest forms of the narrative.
In this chapter the underlying text can only be made out here and there
and with great difficulty; but at least it can be seen that the opening
passage quickly declined into an abbreviated outline for the story.
Trotter's tales were only to be concerned with animals of the wild;
and then follows at once: 'Fight in dell', with a sketch in a few lines,
scribbled down at great speed, of which however something can be
disinterred:
Bingo is tempted to put on ring. He does so. The riders [?come] at
him. He sees them plain - fell white faces..... He draws his sword
and it shines like fire. They draw back but one Rider with long silver
hair and a [? red hand] leaps forward. Bingo..... hears himself shout-
ing Elbereth Gilthoniel..... struck at the leg of the Rider. He felt
..... cold [? pain] in the shoulder. There was a flash.....
The attack on the dell entered before the idea that Trotter should chant
to them, and tell them a tale of ancient days; and the material of his tale
remains in this manuscript in a very rough state, the primary stage of
composition, obviously demanding the compression that it afterwards
received.
More developed pencilled drafting takes up again from the point
where Trotter comes to an end, and from what can be read it seems that
the final story of the attack by the Ring-wraiths was now fully present.
Then, apart from a few details (as that there are three Ring-wraiths, not
five), the text written in ink on top of the draft achieved the finished
story: no element in the potent scene, the fearful suspense on the cold
hillside in the moonlight, the dark shapes looking down on the hobbits
huddled round the fire, the irresistible demand on the Ringbearer to
reveal himself, and the final revelation of what lay beneath the black
cloaks of the Riders, is absent - and all is told virtually in the very words
of The Fellowship of the Ring. The significance of the Ring, in its power
to reveal and to be revealed, its operation as a bridge between two worlds,
two modes of being, has been attained, once and for all.
The completeness, and the resonance, of this scene on Weathertop
Hill is the more remarkable, when we consider that (in relation to The
lard of the Rings as it was ultimately achieved) all was still extremely
restricted in scope. If the nature of the Ring in its effect on the bearer was
now fully conceived, there is as yet no suggestion that the fate of Middle-
earth lay within its tiny circle. It is indeed far from certain that the idea of
the Ruling Ring had yet arisen. Of the great lands and histories east and
south of the Misty Mountains - of Lothlorien, Fangorn, Isengard,
Rohan, the Numenorean kingdoms - there is no shadow of a hint. I very
much doubt that when the Ring-wraiths rose up over the lip of the dell
beneath Weathertop my father foresaw any more of the Journey than that
the Ring must pass over the Mountains and find its end in the depths
of the Fiery Mountain (p. 126). In October 1938 he could still say to
Stanley Unwin (see p. 173) that he had hopes of being able to submit the
new story early in the following year.
XI.
FROM WEATHERTOP TO THE FORD.
The manuscript of the original Chapter VIII continues, without any
break, in the same form, ink over pencil. While in the earlier part of this
chapter I have given the full original text even in the concluding passage,
where there is scarcely any material difference from FR (since the attack
of the Ring-wraiths is a scene of exceptional importance), in this part I do
not do so throughout. The narrative is very close to that of FR Chapter
12, 'Flight to the Ford' (with a fair number of minor differences and
some less minor), and for much of its length the wording almost the
same. In those parts where the original text is not given, however, it
can be understood that all differences of any significance are remarked.
After it is told that the hobbits (Sam in FR) heard Bingo's voice crying
out strange words, it is further said that they 'had seen a red flash; and
Trotter came dashing up with flaming wood.' So also in the fragmentary
outline given on pp. r 88 - g 'There was a flash'; but this is absent in FR.
Perhaps the reference is to Bingo's sword that 'flickered redly as if it was a
firebrand' (p. 186), a detail preserved in FR p. 208. Trotter's first return
to the dell is slightly differently told, but this is chiefly because Sam's
distrust of Strider is of course absent, and there is nothing in the old
version corresponding to Strider's words to Sam apart (FR pp. 209-10).
When Trotter lifted the black cloak from the ground he said only: 'That
was the stroke of your sword. What harm it did to the Rider I do not
know. Fire is better.'
Athelas is not said to have been brought by Men of the West to Middle-
earth: 'it is a healing plant, known only to Elves, and to some of those
who walk in the wild: athelas they name it.'(1) A curious detail is that when
athelas was applied to Bingo's wound he 'felt the pain and the sense of
frozen cold lessen in his right side'; and again later in the chapter 'his
right arm was lifeless' (FR p. 215). Similarly, when Bingo drew his
sword and faced the Riders at the Ford, my father first wrote: 'His sword
he had hung at his right side; with his left hand he gripped the hilt and
drew it', though this he struck out. He evidently decided that it was
Bingo's left shoulder that was stabbed, and therefore wrote in the word
'left' in the description of the actual wounding (p. 186); but he did not
correct the occurrences of 'right' just mentioned.
When they left the dell beneath Weathertop they took Gandalf's
firewood with them ('For Trotter said that from now onwards fire-wood
must always be a part of their stores, when they were away from trees').
Nothing is said of the rejuvenation of Bill Ferny's pony (if indeed it was
Bill Ferny's, p. 175). The distant cries of Black Riders which they heard
as they crossed the Road in FR (p. 211) are absent from the old version.
The description of the eastward journey from Weathertop is at first
fairly close to that in FR, though the timing is slightly different; but the
geography was to be significantly altered. I give the passage following the
words 'Even Trotter seemed tired and dejected' (FR p. 212) in full.
Before the first day's march was over Bingo's pain began to grow
again, but for a long time he did not speak of it. In this way three or
four days passed without the ground or the scene changing much,
except that behind them Weathertop slowly sank, and before
them the distant mountains loomed a little nearer. The weather
remained dry, but was grey with cloud; and they were oppressed
with the fear of pursuit. But of this there was no sign by day;
and though they kept watch by night nothing happened. They
dreaded to see black shapes stalking in the dim grey night under
the waxing moon veiled by thin cloud; but they saw nothing, and
heard nothing, but the sigh of withering leaves and grass. It
seemed that, as they had hardly dared to hope, their swift crossing
of the Road had not been marked, and their enemy had for the
moment lost their trail.
At the end of the fourth day the ground began once more to rise
slowly out of the wide shallow valley into which they had come.
Trotter now bent their course again towards the north-east; and
before long, as they reached the top of a slow-climbing slope, they
saw ahead a huddle of wooded hills. Late on the fifth day they
came to a ridge on which a few gaunt fir-trees stood. A little below
them the Road could be seen curving away towards a small river
that gleamed pale in a thin ray of sunshine, far away on their right.
Next day, early in the morning, they again crossed the Road.
Looking anxiously along it, westward and eastward, they hurried
quickly across, and went towards the wooded hills.
Trotter was still leading them in as straight a line as the country
allowed towards the distant Ford. In the hills their path would be
more uncertain, but they could no longer keep to the south side of
the Road, because the land became bare and stony and ahead lay
the river. 'That river,' he said, 'comes down out of the Mountains,
and flows through Rivendell.(2) It is not wide, but it is deep and
strong, being fed by the many small torrents that come out of the
wooded hills. Over these the Road goes by little fords or bridges;
but there is no ford or bridge over the river until we come to the
Ford under the Mountains.' The hobbits looked at the dark hills
ahead, and though they were glad to leave the cheerless lands
behind them, the land ahead seemed threatening and unfriendly.
In the developed geography, the Road traverses two rivers between
Weathertop and Rivendell: the Hoarwell or Mitheithel that flowed down
out of the Ettenmoors, crossed by the Last Bridge, and the Loudwater or
Bruinen, crossed by the Ford of Rivendell; these rivers joined a long way
to the south, becoming the Greyflood. In the original story, on the other
hand, there is only one river, not named, flowing down through Riven-
dell and crossed at the Ford.
In FR the travellers came down, early in the morning on the seventh
day out from Weathertop, to the Road (i.e. approaching it from the
south), and went along it for a mile or two to the Last Bridge, where
Strider found the elf-stone lying in the mud; they crossed the bridge,
and after a further mile turned off the Road to the left and went up into
the hills. In the original story, they came to the Road early on the sixth
day and crossed it, going up into the hills; there is no river (Hoarwell)
and no bridge. Some sort of explanation is given why they had to cross
the Road here and stay no longer to the south of it: 'the land became bare
and stony and ahead lay the river.' But the fact of there being no ford or
bridge over the river except that below Rivendell only meant that that is
where they would have to cross; it does not in itself explain why they
could not stay south of the Road until they got there. Thus it is only the
'bare and stony' nature of the land south of the Road that really offers an
explanation: Trotter sought to pass through country that provided more
concealment? The 'real' explanation, it might be said, why they crossed
the Road and went up into the wooded hills is quite other: my father had
already suggested, when sketching out the story from the Barrow-downs
to Rivendell (p. 126), that the hobbits should 'foolishly turn aside to visit
Troll Stones'. On the other hand, Trotter was taking the straightest line
to the Ford that he could (p. 191), and the sketches on p. 201 show
clearly that the great southward loop of the Road (already mentioned in
the original text, p. 199) must force him to cross it and go up into the hills
to the north. - On the different chronology in the two versions see the
Note on Chronology, p. 219.
When they came into the hills, the conversation with Trotter arising
from their sight of the ruined towers is somewhat different from that with
Strider in FR (pp. 213 - 14):
'Who lives in this land?' he [Bingo] asked; 'and who built these
towers? Is this troll-country?'
'No,' said Trotter; 'trolls do not build. No one lives in this land.
Men once dwelt here, ages ago. But none now remain. They were
an evil people, as far as tales and legends tell; for they came under
the sway of the Dark Lord. It is said that they were overthrown by
Elendil, as King of Western Men, who aided Gilgalad, when they
made war on the Dark Lord.(3) But that was so long ago that the
hills have forgotten them, though a shadow still lies on the land.'
'Where did you learn such tales?' asked Frodo, 'if all the land is
empty and forgetful? The birds and beasts do not tell tales of that
sort.
'Many things are remembered in Rivendell,' said Trotter.
'Have you often been to Rivendell?' said Bingo.
'I have,' said Trotter; 'many a time; and I wonder now that I
was ever so foolish as to leave it. But it is not my fate to sit quiet,
even in the fair house of Elrond.'
The journey in the hills north of the Road had lasted for three days
when the weather turned to rain, but two in FR (p. 214); thus the shorter
journey from Weathertop till the return to the Road is made up, though
there is still a difference of one day, since they had reached Weathertop a
day earlier in the original story (p. 175): as I understand it, the first
morning after the rain (FR p. 215) was in the old version that of October
16, but in FR that of October 17. When the rain stopped, on the eleventh
day from Weathertop, and Trotter climbed up to see the lie of the land,
he said when he came back:
'We have got too far to the North; and we must find some way to
turn southwards, or at least sharp to the East. If we keep on as we
are going, we shall get into impassable country among the skirts of
the Mountains. Somehow or other we must strike the Road again
before it reaches the Ford. But even if we manage that fairly
quickly, we still cannot hope to get to Rivendell for some days yet,
four or even five I fear.'
In the night spent up on the ridge (FR pp. 215 - 16) Sam's questioning of
Strider concerning Frodo's wound is given to Merry; and Frodo's dream
that 'endless dark wings were sweeping over him, and that on the wings
rode pursuers seeking for him in all the hollows of the hills' is present. It
is not said in the original text that 'the trees about him seemed shadowy
and dim', nor on the following day that 'a mist seemed to obscure his
sight' (FR pp. 215, 217); but later, when Glorfindel searched Bingo's
wound with his finger (FR p. 223), 'he saw his friends' faces more clearly,
though all day he had been troubled by the feeling that a shadow or a mist
was coming between him and them.'
When they came to the old trolls turned to stone, 'Trotter walked
forward unconcernedly. "Hullo, William!" he said, and slapped the
stooping troll soundly.' And he said: '"In any case you might have
noticed that Bert has got a bird's nest behind his ear."' In FR the trolls'
names from The Hobbit were excluded.
After 'They rested in the clearing for a while, and had their midday
meal right under the shadow of the trolls' large legs' the original narrative
goes straight on with 'In the afternoon they went on down through the
woods'; there is no suggestion that the Troll Song would be introduced
here (see p.144). Their return to the Road is thus described:
Eventually they came out upon the top of a high bank above the
Road. This was now beginning to bend rather away from the
river, and clung to the feet of the hills, some way up the side of the
narrow valley at the bottom of which the river ran. Not far from
the borders of the Road Trotter pointed out a stone in the grass;
on it roughly cut and much weathered could still be seen two runic
letters G B in a circle: (X B)
'That,' he said, 'is the stone that once marked the place where
Gandalf and Bilbo hid the trolls' gold.' Bingo looked at it - rather
sadly: Bilbo and he himself had long ago spent all that gold.
The Road, bending now northward, lay quiet under the
shadows of early evening. There was no sign of any other travel-
lers to be seen.
Only minor differences (except in one matter) are to be recorded in the
encounter with Glorfindel: the whole scene was present, and in very
much the same words, from the beginning. The sentence in FR (p. 221)
'To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form
and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil' is absent.(4) To Trotter
Glorfindel cried out: Ai Padathir, Padathir! Mai govannen!(5) But it is
not said subsequently that he spoke to Trotter 'in the elf-tongue' (FR
p. 224); rather he spoke 'in a low tone.' The drink that Glorfindel gave
them instantly reminded the hobbits of the drink in Bombadil's house,
'for the drink they took was refreshing like spring-water, but filled them
also with a sense of warm vigour.' 'Cram-cake' is mentioned together
with the stale bread and dried fruit which is all they had to eat.
The conversation with Glorfindel on the road is different from that in
FR (p. 222), for the number of the Black Riders was not known to
anybody at this stage (not even to my father), and in FR Gandalf had not
yet reached Rivendell when Glorfindel and others were sent out by
Elrond nine days before - Elrond having heard news from the Elves led
by Gildor whom the hobbits encountered in the Shire. The element of
Glorfindel's leaving the jewel on the Last Bridge is also of course absent
(p.192)
'This is Glorfindel, one of those that dwell in Rivendell,' said
Trotter. 'He has news for us.'
'Hail and well met at last! ' said Glorfindel to Bingo. 'I was sent
from Rivendell to look on the Road for your coming. Gandalf was
anxious and afraid, for unless something evil had befallen you,
you should have come there days ago.'
'We have not been on the Road for many, many days until this
day,' said Bingo.
'Well, now you must return to it, and go with all speed,' said
Glorfindel. 'A day's swift riding back westward there is a company
of evil horsemen, and they are travelling this way with all the haste
that frequent search of the land upon either side of the Road allows
them. You must not halt here, nor anywhere tonight, but must
journey on as long and far as you are able. For when they find your
trail, where it rejoined the Road, they will search no longer but
ride after you like the wind. I do not think they will miss your
footsteps where the path runs down from Trolls-wood; for they
have a dreadful skill in hunting by scent, and darkness helps and
does not hinder them.'
'Then why must we go on now by night, against the warning of
Gandalf?'asked Merry.
'Do not fear Gandalf's warning now,' answered Glorfindel.
'Speed is your chief hope; and now I will go with you. And I do
not think that there is any peril ahead; but the pursuit is hard
behind.'
'But Bingo is wounded and sick and weary,' said Merry. 'He
should not ride any more without rest! '
Glorfindel shook his head and looked grave, when he heard the
account of the attack upon the dell under Weathertop, and the
hurt to Bingo's arm. He looked at the knife-hilt that Trotter had
kept, and now drew out to show him. He shuddered.
'There are evil things written on that hilt,' he said, 'though
maybe they are not for your eyes to see. Keep it till we get to
Rivendell, Padathir, but be wary, and handle it as little as you
may.'
The chief structural difference in the narrative of this chapter from
that in FR appears in Glorfindel's words 'I do not think that there is any
peril ahead'; contrast FR (p. 222): 'There are five behind us... Where
the other four may be, I do not know. I fear that we may find the Ford is
already held against us.'
Only three Riders (at first) came out of the tree-hung cutting through
which the Road passed before the flat mile to the Ford, not five as in FR
(p. 225). The story is the same that Bingo halted, feeling the command of
the Riders upon him to wait, but filled with sudden hatred drew his
sword; and that Glorfindel cried to his horse, so that it sped away
towards the Ford. But all the Riders were behind; there was no ambush
by four of them lying in wait at the Ford. The conclusion of the chapter I
give in full.
'Ride on! Ride on!' cried Glorfindel and Trotter; and then
Glorfindel spoke a word in the elf-tongue: nora-lim, nora-lim. At
once the white horse sprang away and sped along the last lap of the
Road. At the same moment the black horses of the Riders leaped
down in pursuit; and others following came flying out of the
wood. Bingo looking back over his shoulder thought he could
count [as many as twelve )] at least seven. They seemed to run
like the wind, and to grow swiftly larger and darker as they
overtook him stride by stride. He could no longer see his friends.
Through them and over them the Riders must now be hurtling.
Bingo turned and lay forward, encouraging with urgent words.
The Ford still seemed far ahead. Once more he looked back. It
seemed to him that the Riders had cast aside their hoods and black
cloaks; they appeared now to be robed in white and grey. Swords
were in their pale hands, helm and crown were on their heads;(6)
their cold eyes glittered from afar.
Fear now swallowed up Bingo's mind. He thought no longer of
his sword. No cry came from him. He shut his eyes and clung to
the mane of the horse. The wind whistled in his ears, and wildly
the bells rang, clear and shrill. It seemed bitter cold.
Suddenly he heard the splash of water. It foamed about his feet.
He felt the stumbling scramble of the horse as it struggled up the
stony path, climbing the steep further bank of the river. He was
across the Ford! But the Riders were now hard behind.
At the top of the bank the horse halted snorting. Bingo turned
about and opened his eyes. [Struck out as soon as written:
Forgetting that the horse belonged to the folk of Rivendell and
knew all that land, he determined to face his enemies, thinking it
useless to] He felt that it was useless to try to escape over the long
uncertain path from the Ford to the lip of Rivendell - if once the
Riders crossed. Though they had all thought of the Ford as the
goal of their flight and the end of peril, it came to him now that he
knew of nothing that would prevent the dread Riders from
crossing as easily as he. In any case he felt now commanded
urgently to halt, and though again hatred stirred in him he had no
longer the strength to refuse. He saw the horse of the foremost
Rider check at the water, and rear up. With a great effort he stood
in his stirrups and brandished his sword.
'Go back! ' he cried. 'Go back to the Dark Lord and follow me no
more.' His voice sounded shrill in his ears. The Riders halted,
but Bingo had not the power of Tom Bombadil. They laughed - a
harsh chilling laughter. 'Come back! Come back! ' they called. 'To
Mordor we will take you.'(9) 'Go back,' he whispered. 'The Ring,
the Ring,' they cried with deadly voices, and immediately their
leader rode forward into the water, closely followed by two others.
'By Elbereth and Luthien the fair,'(10) said Bingo with a last
effort, lifting up his sword, 'you shall have neither me nor it.'
Then the leader, who was now half across the river, stood up
menacing in his stirrup and raised up his hand. Bingo grew dumb;
he felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his eyes grow misty. His
sword broke and fell out of his shaking hand. The horse under him
reared and snorted, as the foremost of the black horses came near
the shore.
Even at that moment there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise
of loud waters rolling many stones. Dimly he saw the river rise,
and come galloping down along its course in a plumed cavalry
of waves. The three Riders that were still upon the Ford dis-
appeared, overwhelmed and buried under angry foam. Those that
were behind drew back in dismay.
With his last failing sense Bingo heard cries, and it seemed to
him that behind the Riders there appeared suddenly one shining
white figure followed by other smaller and more shadowy figures
waving flames. Redly they flamed in the white mist that was over
all. Two of the Riders turned and rode wildly away to the left
down the bank of the river; the others borne by their plunging
horses were driven into the flood, and carried away. Then Bingo
heard a roaring in his ears and felt himself falling, as if the flood
had reached up to the high bank, and engulfed him with his
enemies. He heard and saw no more.
NOTES.
1. In the Lay of Leithian my father wrote athelas against the passage
where
Huan came and bore a leaf,
of all the herbs of healing chief,
that evergreen in woodland glade
there grew with broad and hoary blade
for the allaying of Beren's wound (III.266, 269).
2. That river... flows through Rivendell: see the note on Rivendell,
pp. 204-5.
3. In the underlying pencilled text, which is here visible for a stretch,
Trotter's words about the 'Big People' who used to live in those
regions are much the same, but he says that they were overthrown
by Elendil Orendil and Gil-galad; apparently Orendil was substi-
tuted for Elendil in the act of writing. Both names were struck out,
and then Elendil again written in. See p. 174 note 25.
4. The 'bit and bridle' of Glorfindel's horse flickered and flashed, as in
the First Edition, where the Second Edition has 'headstall'. Cf.
Letters no. 211, p. 279 (14 October 1958):
... bridle was casually and carelessly used for what I suppose
should have been called a headstall. Or rather, since bit was
added (I.221) long ago (Chapter I 12 was written very early) I
had not considered the natural ways of elves with animals.
Glorfindel's horse would have an ornamental headstall, carrying
a plume, and with the straps studded with jewels and small bells;
but Glorfindel would certainly not use a bit. I will change bridle
and bit to headstall.
5. The pencilled text, after various forms struck out, had Ai Rimbedir;
this was then changed to Ai Padathir, etc., with a translation 'Hail
Trotter, Trotter, well met.'
6. helm and crown were on their heads: in the story of the attack on
Weathertop my father first wrote that all three Ringwraiths were
crowned, but changed the text to say that only the leader ('the pale
king' as Bingo called him) wore a crown (pp. 185 - 6 and note 10).
Cf. the citation in note 8 below.
7. The pencilled draft has: 'Ride back to the Dark Tower of your lord.'
For early references to the Dark Tower see p. 131 note 5.
8. It is interesting to look back to the earliest sketch for the flight over
the Ford (p. 126):
One day at last they halted on a rise and looked forward to the
Ford. Galloping behind. Seven (3? 4?) Black-riders hastening
along the Road. They have gold rings and crowns. Flight over
Ford. Bingo flings a stone and imitates Tom Bombadil. Go back
and ride away! The Riders halt as if astonished, and looking up at
the hobbits on the bank the hobbits can see no faces in their
hoods. Go back says Bingo, but he is not Tom Bombadil, and the
riders ride into the ford.
At that stage my father envisaged the hobbits crossing the Ford
together; and the rising of the river does not destroy the Riders:
they 'draw back just in time in dismay.'
The words in the present text, retained in FR, 'Bingo (Frodo)
had not the power of Tom Bombadil', must now refer to Bombadil's
rout of the Barrow-wight; but behind them surely lies the unused
idea of his power to arrest the onset of the evil beings by raising his
hand in authority: cf. the outline given on p. 112, 'two Barrow-
wights come galloping after them, but stop every time Tom Bom-
badil turns and looks at them', and the earlier part of the outline
just cited (p. 125), where when they reach the Road west of Bree
'Tom turns and holds up his hand. They fly back.'
9. This is the first occurrence of the name Mordor in The Lord of
the Rings; see p. 131 note 5.
10. In the pencilled text visible beneath the ink, Bingo took the names of
Gil-galad and Elendil, together with that of Luthien.
In this chapter it is made plain that the commands of the Ring-wraiths
are communicated wordlessly to the bearer of the Ring, and that they
have great power over his will. Moreover the idea has now entered that
the wound of the Ring-wraith's knife produces, or begins to produce, a
similar effect to that brought about by putting on the Ring: the world
becomes shadowy and dim to Bingo, and at the end of the chapter he can
see the Riders plain, beneath the black wrappings that to others cloak
their invisibility.
Note on the course of the Road between Weathertop and Rivendell
This was an element in the geography to which my father made various
alterations in the Revised Edition of?he Lord of the Rings (1966). I set
out first three passages from the chapter 'Flight to the Ford' for
comparison.
(1) Page 212.
Original text:
(the original text has no passage corresponding)
First Edition: 'That is Loudwater, the Bruinen of Rivendell,'
answered Strider. 'The Road runs along it for many leagues to
the Ford.'
Second Edition: 'That is Loudwater, the Bruinen of Rivendell,'
answered Strider. 'The Road runs along the edge of the hills for
many miles from the Bridge to the Ford of Bruinen.'
(2) Page 214.
Original text: The hills now shut them in. The Road looped away
southward, towards the river; but both were now lost to view.
First Edition: The hills now began to shut them in. The Road bent
back again southward towards the River, but both were now
hidden from view.
Second Edition: The hills now began to shut them in. The Road
behind held on its way to the River Bruinen, but both were now
hidden from view.
(3) Page 200.
Original text (p. 194): Eventually they came out upon the top of a
high bank above the Road. This was now beginning to bend
rather away from the river, and clung to the feet of the hills,
some way up the side of the narrow valley at the bottom of
which the river ran.
First Edition: After a few miles they came out on the top of a high
bank above the Road. At this point the Road had turned away
from the river down in its narrow valley, and now clung close
to the feet of the hills, rolling and winding northward among
woods and heather-covered slopes towards the Ford and the
Mountains.
Second Edition: After a few miles they came out on the top of a high
bank above the Road. At this point the Road had left the
Hoarwell far behind in its narrow valley, and now clung close
to the feet of the hills, rolling and winding eastward among
woods (etc.)
Taking first citation (2), from small-scale and large-scale maps made
by my father there is no question that the Road after passing south of
Weathertop made first a great swing or loop to the North-east: cf. FR
p. 211 - when they left Weathertop it was Strider's plan 'to shorten their
journey by cutting across another great loop of the Road: east beyond
Weathertop it changed its course and took a wide bend northwards.' This
goes back to the original text. The Road then made a great bend
southwards, round the feet of the Trollshaws, as stated in the original
text and in the First Edition in citation (2). All my father's maps show the
same course for the Road in respect of these two great curves. The two
sketches on p. 201 are redrawn from very rough large-scale maps which
he made (the second in particular is extremely hard to interpret owing to
the multiplicity of lines made as he pondered different configurations).
In 1943 I made an elaborate map in pencil and coloured chalks for The
Lord of the Rings, and a similar map of the Shire (see p. 107, item V).
These maps are referred to in Letters nos. 74 and 98 (pp. 86, 112). On my
LR map the course of the Road from Weathertop to the Ford is shown
exactly as on my father's maps, with the great northward and southward
swings. On the map that I made in 1954 (published in the first two
volumes of The Lard of the Rings), however, the Road has only a feeble
northward curve between Weathertop and the Hoarwell Bridge, and
then runs in a straight line to the Ford. This was obviously simply
carelessness due to haste on my part. My father doubtless observed it at
the time but felt that on so small a scale the error was not very grievous: in
any case the map was made, and it had been a matter of urgency. But I
think that this error was the reason for the change in the Second Edition
given in citation (2), from 'the Road bent back again southward towards
the River' to 'the Road behind held on its way to the River Bruinen'. my
father was making the discrepancy with the map less obvious. A similar
instance has been seen already in the change that he made in the Second
Edition in respect of the direction of Bucklebury Ferry from Woodhall,
p. 107. In his letter to Austin Olney of Houghton Mifflin, 28 July 1965
(an extract from which is given in Letters no. 274) he said: I have finally
decided, where this is possible and does not damage the story, to take the
maps as "correct" and adjust the narrative.'
Barbara Strachey (who apparently used the First Edition) deduced the
course of the Road very accurately in her atlas, Journeys of Frodo (1981),
map 13 'Weathertop and the Trollshaws'.
Citation (1) from the First Edition is perfectly illustrated in the
sketches on p. 201, which precisely show the Road running alongside the
Loud water 'for many leagues to the Ford.' My father made various small-
scale maps covering a greater or lesser part of the lands in The Lord of the
Rings, on three of which this region appears; and on two of these the
Road is shown approaching the Loudwater at a fairly acute angle, but by
no means running alongside it. On the third (the earliest) the Road runs
close to the river for a long distance before the Ford; and this is less
because the course of the Road is different than because on this map the
river flows at first (after the Ford) in a more westerly direction towards
the Hoarwell (as in the sketch-maps).* On my 1943 map (see above) this
is also and very markedly the case. On the published map, on the other
hand, the Road approaches the river at a wide angle; and this was
another error. It is clear, I think, that the changed Second Edition text in
citation (1), with 'runs along the edge of the hills' instead of 'runs along it
[the Loudwater]', was again made to save the appearance of the map.
Citation (3) in the First Edition seems to contradict (1): the Road runs
along the Loudwater for many leagues to the Ford (1), but when the
travellers came down to the Road out of the Trollshaws it had turned
away from the river (3). But it is probably less a contradiction than a
question of how closely 'runs along the Loudwater' is interpreted. The
second sketch-map seems clear at least to this extent, that it shows the
Road approaching the river, running alongside it for a stretch, and then
(* Barbara Strachey makes the Loudwater bend sharply west just below the
Ford and Row in this direction (before turning south) much further than on my
father's maps, so that the land between the Hoarwell and the Loudwater (called
'the Angle' in LR Appendix A, p. 320) ceases to be at all triangular. She makes
this assumption because from the high ground above the Last Bridge the
travellers could see not only the Hoarwell but also the Loud water, whereas going
by the published map the rivers 'would have been some 100 miles apart and the
hill [on which they stood] would have had to have been a high mountain for it
[the Loudwater] to have been visible.' By bringing this river so far to the west on
her map the distance from the hill above the Last Bridge to the nearest point of
the Loudwater is reduced to about 27 miles. On my father's maps the shortest
distance from the Bridge to the Loudwater varies between (approximately) 45
(on the earliest), 60, and 62 miles; on the published map it is about 75 miles.
Thus the objection that the Loudwater was too far away to be seen is real; but it
cannot be resolved in this way.)
j
bending somewhat away and 'clinging to the feet of the hills' before
returning to it at the Ford.
The changed reading of the Second Edition in (3) - made so as not to
alter the amount of text - makes the words 'narrow valley' refer to the
Hoarwell, and there is no longer any statement at this point about the
course of the Road in relation to the Loudwater. This was clearly another
accommodation to the published map (and is not an entirely happy
solution), as also was 'northward' (cf. Sketch II) to 'eastward'.
Note on the River Hoarwell.
The absence of the River Hoarwell (p. 192), which had still not
emerged in the next version of this part of the story (p. 360), is
interesting. In the original story in Chapter II of The Hobbit, when
Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves were approaching the hills crowned
with old castles on an evening of heavy rain, they came to a river:
... it began to get dark. Wind got up, and the willows along the river-
bank [no river has been mentioned] bent and sighed. I don't know
what river it was, a rushing red one, swollen with the rains of the last
few days, that came down from the hills and mountains in front of
them.
Soon it was nearly dark. The winds broke up the grey clouds...
The river here ran alongside the road (described as 'a very muddy
track'); they only crossed it finally by a ford, beyond which was the great
slope up into the Mountains (beginning of Chapter III, 'A Short Rest').
In the third edition (1966) the passage quoted was changed:
... it began to get dark as they went down into a deep valley with a
river at the bottom. Wind got up, and willows along its banks bent and
sighed. Fortunately the road went over an ancient stone bridge, for the
river, swollen with the rains, came rushing down from the hills and
mountains in the north.
It was nearly night when they had crossed over. The wind broke up
the grey clouds...
The river now becomes the Hoarwell, over which the road passed by the
Last Bridge (and the river which they forded before climbing up towards
Rivendell becomes distinct (the Loudwater), by changing 'they forded
the river' to 'they forded a river'.) But my father did nothing to change
what follows in the original story. There, the company stopped for the
night where they did because that is where they were when it got dart,
and it was beside a river. From that spot the light of the Trolls' fire
became visible. By the introduction of the Last Bridge at this point into
the old narrative, while everything else is left untouched, the company
stops for the night as soon as they have crossed it - near enough to the
river for one of the ponies to break loose and dash into the water, so that
most of the food was lost- and the Trolls' fire is therefore visible from the
Bridge, or very near it. And at the end of the chapter the pots of gold from
the Trolls' lair are still buried 'not far from the track by the river' - a
phrase unchanged from the original story, when the river flowed along-
side the track.
Karen Fonstad puts the matter clearly (The Atlas of Middle-earth,
1981, p. 97), noting the inconsistency between The Hobbit (as it is now)
and The Lord of the Rings as to the distance between the river and the
Trolls' clearing:
The Trolls' fire was so close to the river that it could be seen 'some way
off', and it probably took the Dwarves no more than an hour to reach;
whereas Strider led the Hobbits north of the road [turning off a mile
beyond the Bridge], where they lost their way and spent almost six
days reaching the clearing where they found the Stone-trolls. Lost or
not, it seems almost impossible that the time-pressed ranger would
have spent six days reaching a point the Dwarves found in an hour.
Earlier, apparently in 1960, in an elaborate rewriting of The Hobbit
Chapter II which was never used,* my father had introduced the Last
Bridge at the same point in the narrative; but there the passage of the
river took place in the morning, and the camp from which the Trolls' fire
was seen was made at the end of the day and many miles further east. The
present text of The Hobbit, deriving from corrections made in 1965 and
first published in 1966, here introduces an element from The Lord of the
Rings but fails to harmonise the two geographies. This highly uncharac-
teristic lapse is no doubt to be attributed simply to the haste with which
my father worked under the extreme pressure imposed on him in 1965.
Note on the river of Rivendell.
Trotter says expressly that the river which the Road crosses at the Ford
flows through Rivendell (p. 191). In the corresponding passage in FR
(p. 212) Strider names the river: 'That is Loudwater, the Bruinen of
Rivendell.' Later, in 'Many Meetings' (FR p. 250), it is said that Bilbo's
room 'opened on to the gardens and looked south across the ravine of the
Bruinen'; and at the beginning of 'The Council of Elrond' (FR p. 252)
Frodo 'walked along the terraces above the loud-flowing Bruinen.' This
is quite unambiguous; the maps, however, are not in this point perfectly
clear.
In the map of Wilderland in The Hobbit (endpaper), the unnamed
river receives, some way north of the Ford, a tributary stream, and
Elrond's house is placed between them, near the confluence, and nearer
(* My father was greatly concerned to harmonise Bilbo's journey with the
geography of The Lord of the Rings, especially in respect of the distance and time
taken: in terms of The Lord of the Rings Gandalf, Bilbo, and the Dwarves took far
too long, seeing that they were mounted (see Karen Fonstad's discussion in The
Atlas of Middle-earth, p. 97). But he never brought this work to a definitive
solution.)
the tributary - exactly as in Sketch I on p. 201.* On one of his copies of
The Hobbit my father pencilled in a few later names on the map of
Wilderland, and these included Bruinen or Loudwater against the river
north of the house (again as in Sketch I), and Merrill against the tributary
flowing just to the south of it. f When therefore in The Hobbit (Chapter
III) the elf said to Gandalf:
You are a little out of your way: that is, if you are making for the only
path across the water and to the house beyond. We will set you right,
but you had best get on foot, until you are over the bridge
it would seem to be the Merrill that must be crossed by the bridge.
Barbara Strachey (Journeys of Frodo, maps 15 - 16) shows very un-
ambiguously the ravine of Rivendell as the ravine of the tributary stream,
Elrond's house being some mile and a half from its confluence with the
Loudwater; while Karen Fonstad (The Atlas of Middle-earth, pp. 80,
101, etc.) likewise places Rivendell on the southerly stream - calling it
(p. 127) the Bruinen.
The lines of rivers and Road in Sketch I were first drawn in ink, and
subsequently coloured over in blue and red chalk. When my father did
this he changed the course of the 'tributary stream' south of Elrond's
house by bending it up northwards and joining it to the Bruinen some
way to the east; thus the house at Rivendell is at the western end of land
enclosed between two streams coming down from the Mountains, part-
ing, and then joining again. It might therefore be supposed that both
were called 'Bruinen' (discounting the name 'Merrill' written on the
Wilderland map in The Hobbit). But I do not think that detailed
conclusions can be drawn from this sketch-map.
Note on the Entish Lands.
The name Entish Lands on Sketch I needs a word of explanation.
Originally the region in which the Hoarwell rose was called Dimrill-
dale(s) (p. 360), but when that name was displaced it was briefly called
Hoardale (p. 432 note 3), and then Entish Dales, Entish Lands. Entish
here was used in the Old English sense of ent, 'giant', the Entish Lands
were the 'troll-lands' (cf. the later names Ettendales and Ettenmoors of
this region in FR, containing Old English eoten 'giant'), and are in no
way associated with the Ents of The Lord of the Rings.
(* In two of my father's small-scale maps the tributary stream is not marked,
and Rivendell is a point on or beside the Bruinen; the third is too rubbed and
faint to be sure of, but probably shows the tributary, and Rivendell between the
two streams, as in the Hobbit map, and as my 1943 map certainly does (and that
published in The Lord of the Rings).
+ This name, which I have found nowhere else, is unfortunately not quite
clear, though Me- and -II are certain, and it is hard to read it in any other way. -
Another name added to the Wilderland map was Rhimdath 'Rushdown', the river
flowing from the Misty Mountains into Anduin north of the Carrock (see the
Index to Vol. V, p. 446).)
XII.
AT RIVENDELL.
Some preliminary ideas for this chapter (which in FR is Book II,
Chapter x, 'Many Meetings') have been given on p. 126. The original
narrative draft is extant in a very rough manuscript, first in ink, then in
pencil and petering out. It was variously emended and added to, but I
give it here as my father seems to have set it down - granting that there is
often no clear distinction between changes made at once and changes
made after (and probably no significant distinction in time, in any case).
This and the two following drafts all bear the number 'IX' without title.
He awoke to find himself lying in bed; and also feeling a great
deal better. 'Where am I and what's the time?' he said aloud to
the ceiling. Its dark carved beams were touched by sunlight.
Distantly he heard the sound of a waterfall.
'In Elrond's house, and it is ten o'clock in the morning: the
morning of October 24th to be exact,' said a voice.
'Gandalf!' said Bingo sitting up. There was the wizard sitting in
a chair by the open window.
'Yes,' said the wizard. 'I'm here all tight - and you're lucky to be
here too, after all the absurd things you have done since you left
home.'
Bingo felt too peaceful and comfortable to argue - and in any
case he did not imagine he would get the best of the argument: the
memory came back to him of the disastrous short cut through the
Old Forest, of his own stupidity in the inn, and of his nearly fatal
madness in putting on the ring on Weathertop Hill.
There was a long silence broken only by the soft puffs of
Gandalf's pipe as he blew smoke-rings out of the window.
'What happened at the Ford?' asked Bingo at last. 'It all seemed
so dim somehow, and it still does.'
'Yes!' answered Gandalf. 'You were beginning to fade. They
would have made a wraith of you before long - certainly if you had
put on the Ring (2) again. How does the arm and side feel now?'
'I don't know,' said Bingo. 'It does not feel at all, which is better
than aching, but'- he made an effort - 'I can move it a little again:
yes: it feels as if it were coming back to life. It is not cold now,' he
added, touching his right hand with his left.(3)
'Good! ' said Gandalf. 'Elrond bathed and doctored it for hours
last night after you were brought in. He has great power and skill,
but I was very anxious, for the craft and malice of the Enemy is
very great.'
'Brought in?' said Bingo. 'Of course: the last I remember was
the rush of water. What happened? Where are the others? Do tell
me, Gandalf!'
'What happened - as far as I can make out from Glorfindel and
Trotter (who both have some wits in their different ways) - was
this: the pursuers made straight for you (as Glorfindel expected
they would). The others might have been trampled down, but
Glorfindel made them leap out of the way off the road. Nothing
could save you if the white elf-horse could not; so they followed
cautiously behind on foot, keeping out of sight as much as they
could behind bushes and rocks. When they had got as near to the
Ford as they dared go, they made a fire hastily, and rushed out on
the Riders with flaming brands, just at the moment when the flood
came down. Between the fire and water these pursuers were
destroyed - if they can be wholly destroyed by such means - all but
two that vanished into the wild.
'The rest of your party and the elf then crossed the ford, with
some difficulty as it is too deep for hobbits and deep even for a
horse. But Glorfindel crossed on your pony and regained his
horse. They found you lying on your face in the grass at the top of
the slope: pale and cold. At first they feared you were dead. They
carried you towards Rivendell: a slow business, and I don't know
when they would have arrived, if Elrond had not sent some Elves
out to help you, at the same time as the water was released.'
'Did Elrond make the flood then?' asked Bingo.
'No, I did,'(4) said Gandalf. 'It is not very difficult magic, in a
stream that comes down from the mountains. The sun has been
fairly hot today. But I was surprised to find how well the river
responded. The roar and rush was tremendous.'
'It was,' said Bingo. 'Did you also send Glorfindel?'
'Yes,' said Gandalf, ' - or rather, I asked Elrond to lend him to
me. He is a wise and noble elf. Bilbo is - was - very fond of him. I
also sent Rimbedir (5) (as they call him here) - that Trotter fellow.
From what Merry tells me I gather he has been useful.'
'I should think he has,' said Bingo. 'I was very suspicious of him
at first - but we should never have got here without him. I have
grown very fond of him. I wish indeed that he was going to go on
wandering with me as long as I must wander. It is an odd thing,
you know, but I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere
before.'
'I daresay you do,' said Gandalf. 'I often have that feeling when
I look at a hobbit - they all seem to remind me of one another,
don't you know. Really they are extraordinarily alike! '
'Nonsense,' said Bingo. 'Trotter is most peculiar. However I
feel extremely hobbit-like myself, and I could wish that I was not
doomed to wander. I have now had more than a month of it, and
that is about 28 days too much for me.' He fell silent again, and
began to doze. 'What did those dreadful pursuers do to me in
Weathertop dell?' he said half to himself, on the edge of a shadowy
dream.
'They attempted to pierce you with the sword of the Necro-
mancer,' said Gandalf. 'But by some grace of fortune, or by your
own courage (I have heard an account of the fight) and by the
confusion caused by the elf-name which you cried, only your
shoulder was grazed. But that was dangerous enough - especially
with the ring on. For while the ring was on, you yourself were in
the wraith-world, and subject to their weapons.(6) They could see
you, and you them.'
'Why can we see their horses?'
'Because they are real horses. Just as the black robes they wear
to give shape to their nothingness are real robes.'
'Then why, when all other animals - dogs, horses, ponies - are
filled with terror of them, do these horses endure them on their
backs?'
'Because they are born and bred under the power of the evil
Lord in the dark kingdom. Not all his servants and chattels are
wraiths! '
'It is all very threatening and confusing,' said Bingo sleepily.
'Well, you are quite safe for the present,' said Gandalf, 'and are
mending rapidly. I should not worry about anything now, if I
were you.'
'All right,' said Bingo, and fell fast asleep.'
Bingo was now as you know in the Last Homely House west of
the Mountains, on the edge of the wild, the house of Elrond: that
house was (as Bilbo Baggins had long ago reported) 'a perfect
house, whether you like food or sleep or work or story-telling or
singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of
them all.' Merely to be there was a cure for weariness and sadness.
As evening drew on Bingo woke up and found that he no longer
felt like sleep but had a mind for food and drink, story-telling and
singing. So he got up, and found his arm already nearly as useful
as ever it had been. As soon as he was dressed he went in search of
his friends. They were sitting in the porch of the house that faced
west: shadows were fallen in the valley, but the light was still upon
high eastern faces of the hills far above, and the air was warm. It
was seldom cold in the fair valley of Rivendell. The sound of the
waterfalls was loud in the stillness. There was a scent of trees and
flowers [?in harmony].
'Hullo,' said Merry, 'here is our noble uncle. Three cheers for
Bingo Lord of the Ring! '
'Hush! ' said Gandalf. 'Evil things do not come into this valley,
but nonetheless we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring
is not Bingo, but the Lord of the Dark Tower of Mordor,(8) whose
power is growing again, and we are here sitting only in a fortress of
peace. Outside it is getting dark.'
'Gandalf has been saying lots of cheerful things like that,' said
Odo. 'Just to keep us in order: but it seems impossible somehow to
feel gloomy or depressed in Elrond's house. I feel I could sing - if I
knew how: only I never was any good at making up words or
tunes.'
'You never were,' said Bingo, 'but I daresay even that could be
cured in time, if you stayed here long enough. I feel much the
same myself. Though at the moment I feel more hungry than
anything else.'
His hunger was soon cured. For before long they were sum-
moned to the evening meal. The hall was filled with many folk:
elves for the most part, though there were a few guests and
travellers of various sort. Elrond sat in the high seat, and next to
him sat Gandalf. Bingo did not see Trotter or Glorfindel: they
were probably at one of the other halls among their friends, but to
his surprise he found sitting next to him a dwarf of venerable
appearance and rich dress - his beard was white, nearly as white as
the snow-white cloth of his garments; he wore a belt of silver and a
chain of silver and diamonds.
'Welcome and well met,' said the dwarf, rising and bowing.
'G1oin at your service!' and he bowed again.
'Bingo Bolger-Baggins at your service and your family's,'
replied Bingo. 'Am I right in imagining that you are the G1oin, one
of the twelve companions of the great Thorin?'
'You are,' said he. 'And I need not ask, since I have already been
told that you are the friend and adopted son of our dear friend
Bilbo Baggins. I wonder much what brings four hobbits so far
from their homes. Nothing like it has occurred since Bilbo left
Hobbiton. But perhaps I should not ask this; since Elrond and
Gandalf do not seem disposed to tell?'
'I think we will not speak of such things, at any rate yet,' said
Bingo politely - he wanted to forget about his troubles for the
moment. 'Though I am equally curious to know what brings so
important a dwarf so far from the Mountain.'
Gloin looked at him and laughed - indeed he actually winked. 'I
am no spoil-sport,' he said. 'So I will not tell you - yet. But there
are many other things to tell.'
Throughout the meal they talked together. Bingo told news of
the Shire, but he listened more than he talked, for Gloin had much
to tell of the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain, and of Dale.
There Dain was still king of the dwarfs,(9) and was now ancient
(some zoo years old), venerable, and fabulously rich. Of the ten
companions that had survived the battle, seven were still with
him: Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur and Bofur and Bombur.(10) But the
last was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch
to his chair, and it took four young dwarves to lift him. In Dale the
grandson of Bard, Brand son of Bain, was lord.
My father stopped here, and scribbled down a few notes before at once
beginning the chapter anew. The notes at the end of the first draft
include the following:
What of Balin etc. They went to colonize (Ring needed to found
colony?) Bilbo must be seen. Who is Trotter?
The second text is a clear manuscript, but it had proceeded no farther
than Gandalf's account of the flood in the Bruinen when my father again
stopped and started again. This is an intermediate text much nearer to
the third than to the first, and need not be considered more closely.
The third text, the last in this phase of the work, but again abandoned
before its conclusion (going in fact scarcely any farther than the first
draft), is very close to 'Many Meetings' in FR, but there are many minor
differences (quite apart, of course, from those that are constant at this
stage, as Trotter/Strider-Aragorn and the absence of Sam). The opening
is now almost identical to that in FR, but the date is October 26, and
Gandalf adds, after 'You were beginning to fade', 'Trotter noticed it, to
his great alarm - though of course he said nothing.' But after Gandalf s 'It
is no small feat...' (FR p. 232) the old narrative goes on:
'... But I am delighted to have you all here safe. I am really rather
to blame. I knew there were some risks - but if I had known more
before I left the Shire I should have arranged matters differently.
But things are moving fast,' he added in a lower voice as if to
himself, 'even faster than I feared. I had to get here quickly. But if
I had known the Riders were already out!'
'Did not you know that?' asked Bingo.
'No I did not - not until we came to Bree. It was Trotter that
told me." And if I had not known Trotter and trusted him, I
should have waited for you there. And as it has turned out, he
saved you and brought you through in the end.'
'We should never have got here without him,' said Bingo. 'I was
very suspicious of him at first, but I have grown very fond of him.
Though he is rather queer. I wish that he was going to go on
wandering with me - as long as I must wander. It is an odd thing,
you know, but I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere
before - that, that I ought to be able to put a name to him, a name
different to Trotter.'
'I dare say you do,' laughed Gandalf. 'I often have that feeling
when I look at a hobbit: they all seem to remind me of one another,
if you know what I mean. They are wonderfully alike! '
'Nonsense!' said Bingo, sitting up again in protest. 'Trotter is
most peculiar. And he has shoes! However, I am feeling a very
ordinary hobbit myself at the moment. I wish now that I need not
go any further. I have had more than a month of exile and
adventures, and that is about four weeks more than enough for
me.'(12)
The text now becomes very close to that of FR pp. 233 - 4, but there are
several differences. As in FR, Bingo cannot understand how he can be
out in his reckoning of the date, but in this version Gandalf has told him
that it is the 26th of October (not as in FR the 24th), and he calculates
that they must have reached the Ford on the 23rd (the 20th in FR). On
this question see the Note on Chronology on p. 219. In contrast to the
first draft, where Gandalf says that Bingo was brought in to Rivendell
'last night', he has been unconscious for a long time, and the mortal
danger of his wound is emphasized. Gandalf calls the weapon that was
used 'a deadly blade, the knife of the Necromancer which remains in the
wound', not 'a Morgul-knife', and he explains to Bingo that 'You would
have become a Ring-wraith (the only hobbit Ring-wraith) and you would
have been under the dominion of the Dark Lord. Also they would have
got possession of the Ring. And the Dark Lord would have found some
way of tormenting you for trying to keep it from him, and of striking at all
your friends and kinsfolk through you, if he could.' He says that the
Riders wear black robes 'to give shape to their nothingness in our world',
and he includes among the servants of the Dark Lord 'orcs and goblins'
and 'kings, warriors, and wizards.'
Gandalf's reply to Bingo's question 'Is Rivendell safe?' is similar to
that in FR (pp. 234 - 5), but has some notable features:
'Yes, I hope so. He has seldom overcome any of the Elves in the
past; and all Elves now are his enemies. The Elves of Rivendell
are indeed descendants of his chief foes: the Gnomes, the Elven-
wise ones, that came out of the Far West, and whom Elbereth
Gilthoniel still protects.(13) They fear no Ring-wraiths, for they live
at once in both worlds, and each world has only half power over
them, while they have double power over both. But such places as
Rivendell (or the Shire in its own way) will soon become besieged
islands, if things go on as they are going. The Dark Lord is moving
again. Dreadful is the power of the Necromancer. Still,' he said,
standing suddenly up and sticking out his chin while his beard
stuck out like bristling wire, 'the Wise say that he is doomed in the
end. We will keep up our courage. You are mending rapidly, and
you need not worry about anything at the moment.'
The passage in which Gandalf looked closely at Frodo, and then spoke
to himself, is lacking; but his story of the events at the Ford is in all
essentials the same as in FR, with a few features still retained from the
first draft - most important, Gandalf still says that two of the Riders
escaped into the wild. The difficult passage of the deep ford is still
described, as in the first draft, and Gandalf still says 'I was surprised to
find how well the river responded to a little simple magic.' But Elrond's
power over the river, and Gandalf's waves like white horses with white
riders, now enter. The end of Bingo's talk with Gandalf, however, has
differences:
'... I thought I was drowning - and all my friends and enemies
together. It is wonderful that Elrond and Glorfindel and such
great people should take all this trouble over me - not to mention
Trotter.'
'Well - there are many reasons for that. I am one good reason.
You may discover others.' For one thing they are - were - very
fond of Bilbo Baggins.'
'What do you mean - "are fond of Bilbo"?' said Bingo sleepily.
'Did I say that? Just a slip of the tongue,' answered Gandalf. 'I
thought I said "were".'
'I wish old Bilbo could have been here and heard all about this,'
murmured Bingo. 'I could have made him laugh. The cow
jumped over the moon. Hullo William!' he said. 'Poor old troll!'
and then he fell asleep.
The next section of the narrative follows the first draft (p.208) pretty
closely, but Bingo's discovery of green garments laid out for him now
enters the story, with a further addition that only survived in part in FR:
He put on his own best waistcoat with the gold buttons (which he
had brought in his luggage as his only remaining treasure). But it
seemed very loose. Looking in a little mirror he was startled to see
a very much thinner reflection of Bingo than he had seen for a long
while. It looked remarkably like the young nephew of Bilbo that
used to go tramping with his uncle in the Shire, though it was a bit
pale in the face. 'And I feel like it,' he said, slapping his chest and
tightening his waistcoat strap. Then he went in search of his
friends.
There is nothing corresponding to Sam's entering Frodo's room.
The feast in Elrond's house moves far to the final text. The descrip-
tions of Elrond, Gandalf, and Glorfindel now appear (they were written
on an inserted slip, but it seems to belong to the same time) and in almost
the same words as in FR (p. 239) - but there is mention of Elrond's smile,
'like the summer sun', and his laughter. There is no mention of Arwen.
Bingo 'could not see Trotter, nor his nephews. They had been led to
other tables.'
The conversation with Gloin proceeds as in the first draft, with some
touches and phrases that move it to the final text (FR p.240). Gloin is
now described as 'a dwarf of solemn dignity and rich dress', but he still
winks (as he does not in FR).
At the point where the first draft ends (p. 210) my father only added a
further couple of lines before again stopping:
In Dale the grandson of Bard the Bowman ruled, Brand son of
Bain son of Bard, and he was become a strong king whose realm
included Esgaroth, and much land to the south of the great falls."
On the reverse of the sheet the conversation continues in a different
script and a different ink: Gloin gives an account of Balin's history (his
return to Moria) - but it is Frodo, not Bingo, that he is speaking with,
and this side of the page belongs to a later phase in the writing of the book
(see pp. 369, 391).
A passage on a detached slip, forming part of Gandalf's conversation
with Bingo, seems to belong to the time of the third draft of this chapter.
There is no direction for its insertion into the text, and there is no echo of
it in FR.
Things work out oddly. But for that 'short cut' you would not have
met old Bombadil, nor had the one kind of sword the Riders fear."
Why did not I think of Bombadil before! If only he was not so far
away, I would go straight back now and consult him. We have
never had much to do with one another up till now. I don't think
he quite approves of me somehow. He belongs to a much older
generation, and my ways are not his. He keeps himself to himself
and does not believe in travel. But I fancy somehow that we shall
all need his help in the end - and that he may have to take an
interest in things outside his own country.
Among my father's earliest ideas for this part of the story (p. 126)
appears: 'Gandalf astonished to hear about Tom.' - Another brief
passage on the same slip of paper was struck out at the time of writing:
Not to mention courage - and also swords and a strange and
ancient name. Later on I must be told about that curious sword of
yours, and how you knew the name of Elbereth.'
'I thought you knew everything.'
'No,' said Gandalf. 'You
Some notes that were scribbled down at Sidmouth in Devon in the late
summer of 1938 (see Carpenter, Biography, p. 187) on a page of doodles
evidently represent my father's thoughts for the next stages of the story at
this time:
Consultation. Over M[isty] M[ountains]. Down Great River to
Mordor. Dark Tower. Beyond (?) which is the Fiery Hill.
Story of Gilgalad told by Elrond? Who is Trotter? Glorfindel
tells of his ancestry in Gondolin.
'The Quest of the Fiery Mountain' (preceded by 'Consultation of hobbits
with Elrond and Gandalf') was mentioned in the outline given on p. 126,
but here is the first hint of the journey that was to be undertaken from
Rivendell, and the first mention of the Great River in the context of The
Lord of the Rings.
My father had already asked the question 'Who is Trotter?' and he
would ask it again. A hint of one solution, in the end rejected, has been
met already in Bingo's words to Gandalf in this chapter: 'I keep on
feeling that I have seen him somewhere before - that, that I ought to
be able to put a name to him, a name different to Trotter'; and indeed
earlier, in the inn at Bree (p. 154): 'He had a dark look - and yet there was
something in it... that seemed friendly, and even familiar.'
Also very notable is 'Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin.'
Years later, long after the publication of The Lord of the Rings, my father
gave a great deal of thought to the matter of Glorfindel, and at that time
he wrote: '[The use of Glorfindel] in The Lord of the Rings is one of the
cases of the somewhat random use of the names found in the older
legends, now referred to as The Silmarillion, which escaped reconsider-
ation in the final published form of The Lord of the Rings.' He came to the
conclusion that Glorfindel of Gondolin, who fell to his death in combat
with a Balrog after the sack of the city (II.192 - 4, IV.145), and
Glorfindel of Rivendell were one and the same: he was released from
Mandos and returned to Middle-earth in the Second Age.
A single loose page, which has nothing to connect it with any other
writing, is perhaps the 'story of Gilgalad told by Elrond' mentioned in
these notes, and I give it here. Other than the first, the changes noted
were made subsequently, in pencil on the manuscript written in ink.
'Now in the dark days Sauron the Magician [first written
Necromancer, then Necromancer written again above Magician]
had been very powerful in the Great Lands, and nearly all living
things had served him out of fear. And he pursued the Elves that
lived on this side of the Sundering Sea with especial hatred, for
they did not serve him, although they were afraid. And there were
some Men that were friends of the Elves, though not many in the
darkest of days.'
'And how,' said Bingo, 'did his overthrow come about [> was
his power made less]?'
'It was in this way,' said Elrond. 'The lands and islands in the
North-west of the Great Lands of the Old World were called long
ago Beleriand. Here the Elves of the West had dwelt for a long
while until [> during] the wars with the Power of darkness, in
which the Power was defeated but the land destroyed. Sauron
alone of his chief servants escaped. But still after the Elves had
mostly departed [) Although most of the Elves returned] again
into the West, there were many Elves and Elf-friends that dwelt
[) still dwelt in after days] in that region. And thither came many
of the Great Men of old out of the Far West Island which was
called by the Elves Numenor (but by some Avallon) [) out of the
land of Westernesse (that they called Numenor)]; for Sauron had
destroyed their island [) land], and they were exiles and hated
him. There was a king in Beleriand of Numenorean race and he
was called Elendil, that is Elf-friend. And he made an alliance with
the Elf-king of those lands, whose name is Gilgalad (Starlight),
a descendant of Feanor the renowned. I remember well their
council - for it reminded me of the great days of the ancient war, so
many fair princes and captains were there, yet not so many or so
fair as once had been.'
'You remember?' said Bingo, looking astonished at Elrond. 'But
I thought this tale was of days very long ago.'
'So it is,' said Elrond laughing. 'But my memory reaches back a
long way [> to long ago]. My father was Earendel who was born in
Gondolin seven years before it fell, and my mother was Elwing
daughter of Luthien daughter of King Thingol of Doriath, and I
have seen many ages in the West of the world. I was at the council I
speak of, for I was the minstrel and counsellor of Gilgalad. The
armies of Elves and Men were joined once more, and we marched
eastward, and crossed the Misty Mountains, and passed into the
inner lands far from the memory of the Sea. And we became
weary, and sickness was heavy on us, made by the spells of Sauron
- for we had come at last to Mordor, the Black Country, where
Sauron had rebuilt his fortress. It is on part of that dreary land
that the Forest of Mirkwood now stands,(17) and it derives its
darkness and dread from the ancient evil [added: of the soil].
Sauron could not drive us away, for the power of the Elves was in
those days still very great, though waning; and we besieged his
stronghold for 7 [> 10] years. And at last Sauron came out in
person, and wrestled with Gilgalad, and Elendil came to his
rescue, and both were mortally wounded; but Sauron was thrown
down, and his bodily shape was destroyed. His servants were
dispelled and the host of Beleriand broke his stronghold and razed
it to the ground. Gilgalad and Elendil died. But Sauron's evil
spirit fled away and was hidden for a long while in waste places.
Yet after an age he took shape again, and has long troubled the
northern world [added: but his power is less than of old].
If this extremely interesting piece is compared with the end of the
second version of The Fall of Numenor ('FN II') in V.28 - 9 it will be
seen that while an important new element has entered the two texts are
closely related and have closely similar phrases:.citing the form in FN II,
'in Beleriand there arose a king, who was of Numenorean race, and he
was named Elendil, that is Elf-friend'; the hosts of the Alliance 'passed
the mountains and came into inner lands far from the Sea', 'they came at
last even to Mordor the Black Country, where Sauron... had rebuilt his
fortresses'; 'Thu was thrown down, and his bodily shape destroyed, and
his servants were dispelled, and the host of Beleriand destroyed his
dwelling', 'Thu's spirit fled far away, and was hidden in waste places.'
Moreover in both texts Gil-galad is descended from Feanor. The new
element is the appearance of Elrond as the minstrel and counsellor of Gil-
galad (in FN II $2 Elrond was the first King of Numenor, and a mortal; a
conception now of course abandoned, with the emergence of Elros his
brother, V.332, $28). There is no suggestion here that any sort of
'Council' was in progress: it seems rather that Elrond was recounting the
tale to Bingo, as Trotter had said on Weathertop (p. 179): you will hear
it, I think, in Rivendell, when we get there. Elrond should tell it, for he
knows it well.' But an element survived into FR (II) Chapter 2, 'The
Council of Elrond': Bingo's amazement at the vast age of Elrond, and
Elrond's reply, naming his lineage and recollecting the hosts of the Last
Alliance.(18)
NOTES.
1. On this puzzling date see the Note on Chronology, p. 219.
2. the Ring: changed from that ring.
3. touching his right hand arith his left: on the wound having been
originally in Bingo's right shoulder see p. 190.
4. 'No, I did' changed from 'Yes'. Cf. the original sketch of the story
(p. 126): 'Gandalf had sent the water down with Elrond's per-
mission.'
5. Rimbedir as the Elvish name for Trotter appears in the pencilled
draft of the last chapter, p. ig8 note 5 (Padathir in the overwritten
text in ink). This shows that the present text was written before my
father had rewritten the last chapter, or at least before he had
completed it. Later he replaced Rimbedir by Padathir in the present
passage. - By 'I also sent Rimbedir' Gandalf must mean that he sent
Trotter to them at The Prancing Pony.
6. This passage was changed in the following text to the form in FR
(p. 234), i.e. 'you yourself were half in the wraith-world, and
they might have seized you', with the words 'and subject to their
weapons' removed.
7. From this point the manuscript was continued in rapid pencil.
8. the Dark Tower of Mordor: see note 17.
9. On the plural form dwarfs see V.277.
10. Gloin is missed out (so also in the third text, where his name was
inserted subsequently). The companions of Thorin not named are
(as in FR) Balin, Ori, and Oin.
11. It was Trotter that told me: Gandalf left a letter for Bingo at Bree
before he left on Monday 26 September, and in this he said that he
had 'learned some news on the may' (from Hobbiton): 'Pursuit is
getting close: there are 7 at least, perhaps more' (p. 154). When my
father wrote this he cannot have had in mind Trotter's meeting with
Gandalf on the Road on the Sunday morning (pp. 149, 154),
because the first Black Rider did not come to Bree until the Monday
evening (pp. 151, 157). It was no doubt when he decided that
Gandalf learnt about the Black Riders from Trotter that he added
the passages on p. 153, where Trotter says 'I first saw the Riders last
Saturday away west of Bree, before I ran across Gandalf', and on
p. 154, where he says that their conversation also included the Black
Riders.
12. more than a month (as in the first draft) replaced 30 odd days at the
time of writing. See the Note on Chronology on p. 219.
13. The Elves of Rivendell are indeed descendants of his chief foes: the
Gnomes, the Elvenwise ones: see p. 71.
14. My father added in pencil at the foot of the page, but it is impossible
to say when: 'The Ring is another, and is becoming more and more
important.'
15. Cf. The Hobbit, Chapter X 'A Warm Welcome':
At the southern end [of the Long Lake) the doubled waters [of
the Running River and the Forest River] poured out again over
high waterfalls and ran away hurriedly to unknown lands. In the
still evening air the noise of the falls could be heard like a distant
roar.
16. An isolated note says: 'What of the sword of the Barrow-wights?
Why did the Black Riders fear it? - because it belonged to Western
Men.' Cf. The Two Towers III. 1, p. 17.
17. Elrond's statement here that Mirkwood is itself in Mordor, 'the
Black Country', and that the forest 'derives its darkness from the
ancient evil' of the time when Sauron had his fortress in that region
is interesting. Both here and in the very similar passage in the
second version of The Fall of Numenor (V.29) Sauron is said to have
'rebuilt' his fortress(es) in Mordor, and I take this to mean that
it was in Mordor that he established himself after the downfall
of Morgoth and the destruction of Angband. That fortress was
destroyed by the hosts of the Last Alliance; and in the first version of
The Eall of Numenor (V.18) when Thu was defeated and his
dwelling destroyed 'he fled to a dark forest, and hid himself.' In The
Hobbit the 'dark tower' of the Necromancer was in southern Mirk-
wood. At the end of The Hobbit it is told that the white wizards 'had
at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of
Mirkwood', but it is not said that it was destroyed. If 'it is on part of
that dreary land [Mordor] that the Forest of Mirkwood now stands',
it might be argued that (at this stage of the development of the story)
Sauron had returned there, to 'the Dark Tower of Mordor' - in the
south of Mirkwood. (There seems no positive evidence that the
geography of Middle-earth had yet been extended south and east of
the map of Wilderland in The Hobbit, beyond the conception of the
Fiery Mountain, whose actual placing seems to be entirely vague;
and it certainly cannot be assumed that my father yet conceived of
the mountain-defended land of Mordor far away in the South-east.)
But I do not think this at all probable. Not long after the point
we have reached, my father wrote in the chapter 'Ancient History'
(p. 253) that the Necromancer 'had flown from Mirkwood [i.e. after
his expulsion by the white wizards] only to reoccupy his ancient
stronghold in the South, near the midst of the world in those days, in
the Land of Mordor; and it was rumoured that the Black Tower had
been raised anew.' 'His ancient stronghold' was of course the
fortress destroyed in the,War of the Last Alliance.
18. For previous references to the story of Gil-galad and Elendil in the
texts thus far see pp. 169, 179, 192.
Note on the Chronology.
In the first draft of this chapter Gandalf tells Bingo when he wakes up in
Elrond's house that it is the morning of October 24; but this seems to be
at variance with all the indications of date that have been given. (October
24 is the date in FR, p. 231, but this was differently achieved.)
At Weathertop there is one day's difference between the original
chronology and that of FR: they reached it on October 5 in the old
version, but on October 6 in FR (see p. 175). The hobbits came back to
the Road again from the lands to the south, and crossed it, on the sixth
day from Weathertop (p. 192), i.e. October i x, whereas in FR they took
an extra day (contrast 'At the end of the fourth day the ground began
once more to rise' in the old version, p. 191, with FR p. 212, 'At the end
of the fifth day'): thus there is now a lag of two days between the two
accounts, and in FR they came back to the Road and crossed the Last
Bridge on October 13. In the hills to the north of the Road, on the other
hand, they took a day longer in the old version (see p. 193), and thus
came down out of the hills, and met Glorfindel, on the evening of the
17th (the 18th in FR). There are no further differences in respect of
chronology in this chapter, and therefore in the original story they
reached the Ford on October 19 (October 20 in FR). How then can it be
the 24th of October when Bingo wakes in Rivendell, if, as Gandalf says,
he was 'brought in last night'?
In the second and third versions of the opening of this chapter the date
on which Bingo woke up in Elrond's house becomes October 26, and he
says that it ought to be the 24th: 'unless I lost count somewhere, we must
have reached the Ford on the 23rd.' Gandalf tells him that Elrond tended
him for 'three nights and two days, to be exact. The Elves brought you to
Rivendell at night on the 23rd, and that is where you lost your count';
and he refers to Bingo's having borne the splinter of the blade for 'fifteen
days or more' (seventeen in FR). This does not help at all with the
chronological puzzle, for in all the drafts for the opening of Chapter IX
my father was assuming that the hobbits reached the Ford on October
23, and not, as the actual narrative seems clearly to show, on October r g.
It is equally odd that Gandalf should say that Bingo had borne the
splinter of the blade for 'fifteen days or more', if the crossing of the Ford
actually was on the 23rd and Elrond finally removed the shard 'last night'
(October 25): the total should be 20 (October 6 to 25); in FR the number
is seventeen days (October 7 to 23).
XIII.
'QUERIES AND ALTERATIONS'.
In this chapter I give a series of notes which my father headed Queries
and Alterations. I think that it can be shown clearly that they come from
the time we have now reached.
He had abandoned his third draft for Chapter IX (later to be called
'Many Meetings') at the point where Gloin was telling Bingo about King
Brand of Dale; this is at the bottom of a page that bears the number
IX.8. I have already noticed (p. 213) that on the reverse of this page,
numbered IX.9, the conversation continues - but it is obviously discon-
tinuous with what precedes, being written in different ink and a different
script, and Gloin is now talking to 'Frodo', not 'Bingo'; and in fact, after
this point in the narrative of The Lord of the Rings 'Bingo' never appears
again.
Now the first of these Queries and Alterations is concerned precisely
with the conversation of Bingo and Gloin, and actually refers to the last
page of the 'Bingo' part of the chapter, IX.8 (perhaps it had just been
written). In another of these notes my father was for the first time
considering the substitution of 'Frodo' for 'Bingo'; but he here decided
against it - and when he came to write a new version of 'A Long-expected
Party' (a question discussed in these same notes) Bilbo's heir was still
'Bingo', not 'Frodo'.
I conclude, therefore, that it was just at the time when he abandoned
Chapter IX that he wrote Queries and Alterations; that when he
abandoned it he returned again to the beginning of the book; and that it
was some considerable time - during which 'Bingo' became 'Frodo' -
before he took up again the conversation with Gloin at Rivendell.
There are two pages of these notes, mostly set out in ink in an orderly
and legible way; but there are also many hasty pencilled additions, and
these may or may not, in particular cases, belong to the same time
(granting that the intervals of time are not likely to be great: but in
attempting to trace this history it is 'layers' and 'phases' that are
significant rather than weeks or months). Some of the suggestions
embodied in these notes han no future, but others are of the utmost
interest in showing the actual cmergence of new ideas.
I set them out in what seems to be the order in which they were written
down, taking in the additions as convenient and relevant, and adding one
or two other notes that belong to this time.
(1) Dale Men and Dwarfs at Party - is this good? Rather spoils meet-
ing of Bingo and Gloin (IX.8). Also unwise to bring Big People to
Hobbiton. Simply make Gandalf and dwarfs bring things from
Dale.
For the 'great lumbering tow-haired Men' who went 'stumping on the
hobbit road like elephants' and drank all the beer in the inn at Hobbiton
see p. 20 (the account of them had survived without change into the
fourth version of 'A Long-expected Party'). By 'Dale Men and Dwarfs at
Party' my father meant 'in Hobbiton at that time', not of course that they
were present at the Party. The Men would be abandoned in the next
version of 'A Long-expected Party', but the Dwarves remained into FR
(p. 33). Perhaps my father felt that whereas the Men would certainly
have told Bingo the news from Dale, the Dwarves need have no
particular connection with the Lonely Mountain.
(2) Too many hobbits. Also Bingo Bolger-Baggins a bad name. Let
Bingo = Frodo, a son of Primula Brandybuck but of father Drogo
Baggins (Bilbo's first cousin). So Frodo (= Bingo) is Bilbo's first
cousin once removed both on Took side and on Baggins. Also he
has as proper name Baggins.
[Frodo struck out] No - I am now too used to Bingo.
Frodo [i.e. Took] and Odo are in the know and see Bingo off at
gate after the Party. Would it not be well to cancel sale, and have
Odo as heir and in charge? - though many things could be given
away. The Sackville-Bagginses could quarrel with Odo?
Frodo (and possibly Odo) go on the first stage of road (because
Frodo's news about Black Riders is necessary) [see pp. 54 - 5].
But Frodo says goodbye at Bucklebury. Only Merry and Bingo
ride on into exile - because Merry insists. Bingo originally in-
tended to go alone.
Probably best would be to have only Frodo Took - who sees
Bingo to Bucklebury; and then Merry. Cut out Odo. Even better
to have Frodo and Merry at the gate: Frodo says goodbye then,
and is left in charge of the Shire [i.e. 'in the Shire', at Bag End].
Merry see Black Riders in North.
All of this, from 'No - I am now too used to Bingo', was struck out in
pencil, and at the same time my father wrote 'Sam Gamgee' in the
margin, and to 'Bingo originally intended to go alone' he added 'with
Sam'. It may be that this is where he first set down Sam Gamgee's name.
There is a first hint here, in 'Frodo says goodbye at Bucklebury', of the
hobbit who would remain behind at Crickhollow when the others
entered the Old Forest; while 'Too many hobbits' and 'Cut out Odo' are
the first signs of what before long would become a major problem and an
almost impenetrable confusion.
The genealogy as it now stood in the fourth version of 'A Long-
expected Party' is found on p. 37. Bingo was already Bilbo's first cousin
once removed on the Took side, but his father was Rollo Bolger (and
when Bilbo adopted him he changed his name from Bolger to Bolger-
Baggins). With the appearance of Drogo Baggins, Bingo would become
Bilbo's first cousin once removed on the Baggins side also: we must
suppose that Drogo's father was to be brother of Bilbo's father Bungo
Baggins. In the later genealogy Drogo became Bilbo's second cousin, as
Gaffer Gamgee explained to his audience at The Ivy Bush: 'so Mr. Frodo
is [Mr. Bilbo's] first and second cousin, once removed either way, as the
saying is, if you follow me' (FR p. 3x).
An abandoned genealogy on one of these pages shows my father
evolving the Baggins pedigree. This little table begins with Inigo
Baggins (for a previous holder of this name see p. 17), whose son was
Mungo Baggins, father of Bungo: Mungo, first appearing here, survived
into the final family tree. Bungo has a sister Rosa, who married 'Young
Took'; Rosa also survived, but not as Bilbo's aunt - she became Bungo's
first cousin, still with a Took husband (Hildigrim). In this table Drogo is
Bungo's brother, but it was at this point that the table was abandoned.
The reference in this note to the 'sale' is on the face of it very puzzling.
'A Long-expected Party' was still in its fourth version - when the Party
was given by Bingo Bolger-Baggins, and the major revision whereby it
reverted to Bilbo had not yet been undertaken. Then what 'sale' is
referred to? There has been no sale of Bag End: Bingo 'devised delivered
and made over by free gift the desirable property' to the Sackville-
Bagginses (p. 39). The sale of Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses only
arose with the changed story. There is however another reference to the
sale, in a scribbled list of the days of the hobbits' journey from Hobbiton
found on the manuscript of the Troll Song which Bingo was to sing at
Bree (p. 142 note 11): this list begins 'Party Thursday, Friday "Sale" and
departure of Odo, Frodo, and Bingo,' etc. The fact that the word is here
enclosed in inverted commas may suggest that my father merely had in
mind the auction of Bag End to which Bilbo returned at the end of The
Hobbit: the earlier clear-out of Bilbo's home, which was a sale, made the
word a convenient if misleading shorthand for the clear-out in the new
story, which was not a sale.
At the foot of the page the following note was hastily jotted in pencil,
and then struck out:
(3) Gandalf is against Bingo's telling anyone where he is off to. Bingo
is to take Merry. Bingo is reluctant to give pain to Odo and Frodo.
He tells them - suddenly saying goodbye, and Frodo (Odo) meets
what looks like a hobbit on the way up hill. He asks after Bingo -
and Frodo or Odo tells him he is off to Bucklebury. So Black
Riders know and ride after Bingo.
This is the embryo of the final story, that a Rider came and spoke to
Gaffer Gamgee, who sent him on to Bucklebury (FR p. 85).
(4) Sting. Did Bilbo take this? What of the armour? Various possibili-
ties: (a) Bingo has armour, but loses it in Barrow; (b) Gandalf
urges him to take armour, but it is heavy and he leaves it at
Bucklebury; (c) he likes it, and it saves him in the Barrow, but is
stolen at Bree.
The point is, of course, that he cannot be wearing armour on Weather-
top. With this note compare the mention in the original 'scheme' for
Chapter IX (p. 126) of 'Ring-mail of Bingo in barrow' - this was
apparently to be an element in 'some explanations' when the hobbits
reached Rivendell.
Another note, on another page, is almost the same as this, but asserts
that Bilbo did take Sting, and says that if Bingo's armour was stolen at
Bree 'discovery of the burgled rooms is before night.' The meaning of
this is presumably that according to the existing story (pp. 162 - 3) the
hobbits had taken all their belongings out of the bedrooms into their
parlour before the attack, and that this would have to be changed.
In FR (pp. 290 - 1) Bilbo gave Sting to Frodo at Rivendell, together
with the coat of mithril.
(5) Bree-folk are not to be hobbits. Bring in bit about the upstairs
windows. As a result of the hobbits not liking it, landlord gives
them rooms on side of the house where second floor is level with
ground owing to hill-slope.
The 'bit about the upstairs windows' is presumably the passage in the
original Chapter III (pp. 92 - 3) where the hobbits, approaching Farmer
Maggot's, discuss the inconveniences of living on more than one Hoor. -
In fact, in the original beginning of the Prancing Pony chapter (p. 132)
the people of Bree were primarily Men (with 'hobbits about', 'some
higher up on the slopes of Bree-hill itself, and many in the valley of
Combe on the east side'); so that this new idea was, to some extent, a
reversion. But a pencilled note on the same page, added in afterthought,
asks: 'What is to happen at Bree now? What kind of talk can give away Mr
Hill?' - and I take the implication of this to be that the Bree-folk were
now to be exclusively Men (for they would be less curious and less
informed about the Shire). See p. 236.
(6) Rangers are best not as hobbits, perhaps. But either Trotter (as a
ranger) must be not a hobbit, or someone very well known: e.g.
Bilbo. But the latter is awkward in view of 'happily ever after'. I
thought of making Trotter into Fosco Took (Bilbo's first cousin)
who vanished when a lad, owing to Gandalf. Who is Trotter? He
must have had some bitter acquaintance with Ring-wraiths &c.
This note on Trotter is to be taken with Bingo's feeling that he had
met Trotter before, and should be able to think of his true name (see
p. 214). Bilbo's first cousin Fosco Took has not been mentioned before;
possibly he was to be the son of Bilbo's aunt Rosa Baggins, who married a
Took, according to the little genealogical table described above (p. 222).
The ascription of Fosco Took's vanishing to Gandalf looks back to the
beginning of The Hobbit, where Bilbo says to him. "Not the Gandalf who
was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue
for mad adventures?'
There is here the first suggestion that my father, in his pondering of
the mystery of Trotter, saw the possibility of his not being a hobbit. But
this note, like several of the others, is elliptically expressed. The meaning
is, I think: If rangers are not hobbits, then Trotter is not; but if
nonetheless he is both, he must be a hobbit very well known.
(7) Bingo must NOT put on his Ring when Black Riders go by - in
view of later developments. He must think of doing so but
somehow be prevented. Each time the temptation must grow
stronger.
This refers to the original second chapter, pp. 54, 58. For the ways in
which in the later story Frodo was prevented from putting on the Ring
see FR pp. 84, 88. 'Later developments' refers of course to the evolution
of the concept of the Ring that had by now supervened: the Riders could
see the Ringbearer, as he could see them, when he put it on his finger.
The temptation to do so arose from the Ring-wraiths' power to com-
municate their command to the Ringbearer and make it appear to him
that it was his own urgent desire (see p. 199); but Bingo must not be
allowed to surrender to the temptation until the disaster in the dell under
Weathertop.
(8) Some reason for Gandalf's uneasiness and the flight of Bingo
which does not include Black Riders must be found. Gandalf
knew of their existence (of course), but had no idea they were out
yet. But Gandalf might give some kind of warning against use of
Ring (after he leaves Shire?). Perhaps the idea of suddenly using
Ring at party as a final joke should be a Bingoism, and contrary to
Gandalf (not approved, as in my foreword).
The 'foreword' referred to here is the text given on pp. 76 ff., earliest
form of FR Chapter z 'The Shadow of the Past', - where indeed Gandalf
does not merely 'approve' the idea, but actually suggests it (p. 84).
As regards the first sentence of this note, in the 'foreword' there is a
reference to 'certain strange signs and portents of trouble brewing after a
long time of peace and quiet', but there is no indication of what they were
(p. 85 note 9). In the same text Gandalf says that 'Gollum is very likely
the beginning of our present trouble', but if 'our present trouble' was the
fact that the Dark Lord was known to Gandalf to be seeking the only
missing Ring in the direction of the Shire, it is in no way explained how
he knew this. This was a very serious problem in the narrative structure:
Gandalf cannot know of the coming of the Ring-wraiths, for if he had he
would never have allowed Bingo and his companions to set off alone. The
solution would require complex restructuring of parts of the opening
narrative as it now stood, in respect of Gandalf's movements in the
summer of that year (these in turn involved with the changed story of the
Birthday Party); and would ultimately lead to Isengard.
(9) Why was Gandalf hurrying? Because Dark Lord knew of him and
hated him. He had to get quick to Rivendell, and thought he was
drawing pursuit off Bingo. Also he knew there was a council called
at Rivendell for mid-September (Gloin &c. coming to see Bilbo?).
It was postponed when the news of the Black Riders reached
Rivendell and was not held till Bingo arrived.
For the idea that Gandalf was attempting to draw off the pursuit of the
Black Riders see p. 173 note 8; cf. also his words to Bingo at Rivendell
(p. 211): 'But things are moving fast, even faster than I feared. I had to
get here quickly. But if I had known the Riders were already out!'
This is probably the point at which the idea of the Council of Elrond
arose, though there have been previous mentions of a 'consultation' with
Elrond when the hobbits reached Rivendell (pp. 126, 214).
(10) Should the Elves have Necromancer-rings? See note about their
'being in both worlds'. But perhaps only the High Elves of the
West? Also perhaps Elves - if corrupted - would use rings
differently: normally they were visible in both worlds all the time
and equally with a ring they could appear only in one if they chose.
In the earliest statement about Elves and the Rings (p. 75) it is said that
'the Elves had many, and there are now many elfwraiths in the world,
but the Ring-lord cannot rule them'; this was repeated exactly in the
'foreword' (p. 78), but without the words 'but the Ring-lord cannot rule
them.' I have found no 'note' about the Elves 'being in both worlds', but
my father may have been referring to Gandalf's words in the last chapter
(p. 212): '[The Elves of Rivendell] fear no Ring-wraiths, for they live at
ence in both worlds, and each world has only half power over them, while
they have double power over both.' With his remark here 'But perhaps
only the High Elves of the West [are in both worlds]? ' cf. the final form of
this same passage in FR (p. 235): 'They do not fear the Ringwraiths, for
those who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds,
and against both the Seen and the Unseen they have great power.'
(11) At Rivendell Bilbo must be seen by Bingo &c.
Sleeping - in retirement?
Shadows gathering in the South. Lord of Dale is suspected of
being secretly corrupted. Strange men are seen in Dale?
What happened to Balin, Ori, and Oin? They went out to colonize
- being told of rich hills in the South. But after a time no word was
heard of them. Dain feared the Dark Lord - rumour of his
movements reached him. (One idea was that dwarves need a Ring
as foundation of their hoard, and either Balin or Dain sent to
Bilbo to discover what had become of it. The dwarves might have
received threatening messages from Mordor - for the Lord sus-
pected that the One Ring was in their hoards.)
The thought that Trotter was really Bilbo is obviously not present here;
and cf. the early outline given on p. 126: 'At Rivendell sleeping Bilbo'.
An isolated note elsewhere * says: 'Gloin has come to see Bilbo. News
of the world. Loss of the colony of Balin &c.' But the 'rich hills in the
South' in note (11) are probably the first appearance of the idea of Moria,
deriving from The Hobbit - though the absence of the name here might
suggest that the identification had not yet been made. Cf. also the notes at
the end of the abandoned first draft of the last chapter (p. 210): 'What of
Balin etc. They went to colonize (Ring needed to found colony?)' In the
earliest account of the Rings (p. 75) it was said that the Dwarves
probably had none ('some say the rings don't work on them: they are too
solid'); but in the 'foreword' (p. 78) Gandalf tells Bingo that the Dwarves
were said to have had seven, 'but nothing could make them invisible. In
them it only kindled to flames the fire of greed, and the foundation of
each of the seven hoards of the Dwarves of old was a golden ring.'
Above the words One Ring at the end of note (11) my father wrote
missing. He may therefore have meant only 'the one missing Ring', but
the fact that he used capital letters suggests its great importance - and in
the 'foreword' the missing Ring is the 'most precious and potent of his
Rings' (pp. 81, 87).
(12) Bilbo's ring proved to be the one missing Ring - all others had
come back to Mordor: but this one had been lost.
Make it taken from the Lord himself when Gilgalad wrestled with
him, and taken by a flying Elf. It was more powerful than all the
other rings. Why did the Dark Lord desire it so?
That Bilbo's Ring was the one missing Ring, and that it was the most
potent of them all, is (as just noted) stated in the 'foreword' - the first
sentence of note (12) is the restatement of an existing idea. What is new is
the linking up of its earlier history to Gil-galad's wrestling with the
Necromancer (see p. 216); in the 'foreword' (p. 78) Gollum's Ring had
fallen 'from the hand of an elf as he swam across a river; and it betrayed
him, for he was flying from pursuit in the old wars, and he became visible
(* This note was in fact written in ink across the faint pencilled outline for the
story of the Barrow-wight (p. 125), and is presumably a thought that came to my
father while he was thinking about the story of the arrival in Rivendell which
comes at the end of this outline (p.126).)
to his enemies, and the goblins slew him.' This is where the story of
Isildur began; but now the Elf (later to become Isildur the Numenorean)
has it from Gil-galad, who took it from the Dark Lord. And the question
is asked: 'Why did the Dark Lord desire it so?' Which means, since it is
already conceived to be the most potent of the Rings and therefore self-
evidently a chief object of the Dark Lord's desire, 'In what did its
potency consist?'*
Subsequently my father pencilled rapid additions to the note. He
marked the words 'all others had come back to Mordor' for rejection; and
to the words 'It was more powerful than all the other rings' he added:
though its power depended on the user - and its danger: the simpler
the user and the less he used it. To Gollum it just helped him to hunt
(but made him wretched). To Bilbo it was useful, but drove him
wandering again. To Bingo as Bilbo. Gandalf could have trebled his
power - but he dare not use it (not after he found out all about it). An
Elf would have grown nearly as mighty as the Lord, but would have
become dark.
At this time also he underlined the words 'Why did the Dark Lord desire
it so?', put an exclamation mark against them, and wrote:
Because if he had it he could see where all the others were, and would
be master of their masters - control all the dwarf-hoards, and the
dragons, and know the secrets of the Elf-kings, and the secret [? plans]
of evil men.
Here the central idea of the Ruling Ring is clearly present at last, and it
may be that it was here that it first emerged. But the note in ink and the
pencilled addition (a faint scribble now only just legible) were obviously
written at different times.
On the reverse of the second page of these notes is the following in
pencil:
(13) Simpler Story.
Bilbo disappears on his 100th [written above: 111] Birthday
(* Humphrey Carpenter (Biography, p. 188) cites this note, but interprets it to
be the moment at which the idea of the Ruling Ring emerged:
There was also the problem of why the Ring seemed so important to
everyone - this had not yet been established clearly. Suddenly an idea
occurred to him, and he wrote: 'Bilbo's ring proved to be the one ruling
Ring - all others had come back to Mordor: but this one had been lost.' The
one ruling ring that controlled all the others...
But the note in question most certainly says 'Bilbo's ring proved to be the one
missing Ring' (as the following words show in any case), not 'the one ruling Ring'.
There would be no need to ask 'Why did the Dark Lord desire it so?' if the
conception of the Ruling Ring emerged here.)
party. Bingo is his heir - much to the annoyance of the Sackville-
Bagginses.
['If you want to know what lay behind these mysterious events
we must go back a month or two.' Then have a conversation of
Bilbo and Gandalf.j
The talk dies down; and Gandalf is seldom seen again in
Hobbiton.
Next chapter begins with Bingo's life. Gandalf's furtive visits.
Conversation. Bingo is bored by Shire (ring-restlessness?): and
makes up his mind to go and look for Bilbo. Also he has been
rather reckless and the money is running out. So he sells Bag-
end to the Sackville-Bagginses who thus get it go years too late,
pockets the money, and goes off when 72 (144) - same tendency
to longevity as Bilbo had had. Gandalf encourages him for
reasons of his own. But warns him not to use the Ring outside
the Shire - if he can help it [cf. note (8)]. Bilbo used it for a last
big jest, but you had better not. (Bingo does not tell Gandalf
that looking for Bilbo was his motive).
All this was subsequently struck through; and the passage which is here
enclosed in square brackets was struck out separately, perhaps at the time
of writing.
The narrative structure in its principal relations is now that of the final
story:
Bilbo disappears (putting on the Ring) at his 111th birthday party, and
leaves Bingo as his heir.
Years after, Gandalf talks to Bingo at Bag End; Bingo is anxious to
leave for his own reasons, and Gandalf encourages him to go (but
apparently without telling him much, though he warns him against
using the Ring).
Although the Party now reverts to Bilbo, and is held on his 111th
birthday - his age when he departed out of the Shire in the existing
version of 'A Long-expected Party' (p. 40), Bingo still leaves at the age of
72 - his age when it was he who gave the Party. The bracketed figure 144
is presumably Bilbo's age at the time, as in the existing version, from
which it follows that at the time of Bilbo's Farewell Party Bingo was 39;
the total of their two ages was 150. But what my father had in mind on
this point cannot be said, for he never wrote the story in this form.
The bracketed passage suggests that some account would be given, in a
conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf a month or two before the party,
of what had led up to Bilbo's decision to leave the Shire in this way; and
this account would follow the opening chapter describing the festivity.
What this conversation would be about is suggested by another note,
doubtless written at the same time:
Place 'Gollum' chapter after 'Long-expected party': with a heading: 'If
you want to know what lay behind these mysterious events, we must go
back a month or two.'
This presumably means that my father was thinking of making the
conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf before the Party (but standing
in the narrative after it) cover the story of Gollum and the Ring. The
'Gollum chapter' would thus be in its final place, though the context here
suggested for it would be entirely changed.
Lastly, a scribbled note reads:
(14) Bilbo carries off 'memoirs' to Rivendell.
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