The Return Of The Shadow Part 23

4. In this phase Ferney is spelt thus; Ferny in the original version and in FR.

5. The word ran in the erased note to the second text of the attack on Crickhollow ('Behind him ran Odo...', p. 328) is rather surprising, since it seems pointless: if Odo was to accompany Gandalf there seems no reason why he should not ride pillion from the first - and in any case he would have been quickly left far behind.

6. It is perhaps surprising that Gandalf should expect Frodo and his companions to have pa.s.sed through Bree on the Tuesday, since he knew from Odo that they left the house at Crickhollow on the Monday morning and had gone into the Old Forest. When they would get to Bree was presumably now far more uncertain than if they had taken the Road (hostile interventions apart). Possibly this survives from the old form of the story - 'They should be here by Tuesday, if they can follow a plain road', p. 151 - when Gandalf had no reason to think that they had not simply ridden the East Road from the Brandywine Bridge. See note 11.

7. How d.i.c.k the Riders know that there were four hobbits? (In the old variant versions, pp. 152, 157, they knew even that the four hobbits had five ponies). Presumably they surmised it: they knew that three had come to Bucklebury Ferry and been met there by another. Beyond that they had no knowledge (on the Wednesday night when they came to the inn) of Frodo and his companions. - At some point my father struck out the word four; see note 14.

8. This episode derives from the old 'B' version, p. 157; but there the Rider questioned Trotter, who did not answer. The relations between the versions here are: Old version 'A'(p. 151): (Monday) One Rider questions b.u.t.terbur at the inn-door (Tuesday) Four Riders come to the inn-door, and one questions b.u.t.terbur Old version'B'(p. 157): (Monday) One Rider questions Trotter on the Road (Tuesday) Four riders meet Trotter on the Road, and one questions him The present version: (Monday) One Rider goes through Bree (p. 339), and meets Trotter on the Road east of Bree without speech (p.342) (Wednesday) Four Riders come to the inn-door, and one questions b.u.t.terbur (pp. 339 - 40); they are seen by Trotter (p.342) 9. The change in Trotter's speech remarked by Frodo, deriving from the original form of the story (p. 154), survived in FR (p. 178), though the significance is there quite different: 'I think you are not really as you choose to look. You began to talk to me like the Bree- folk, but your voice has changed.'

10. Narothal ('Firefoot'), the first name given to Gandalf's white horse, was replaced later in pencil by the suggestions: 'Fairfax, Snowfax', and pencilled in the margin is 'Firefoot Arod? Aragorn', but these latter were struck out. Arod became in LR the name of a horse of Rohan.

11. A pencilled note on the ma.n.u.script says: 'Since he has been to Crickhollow he must know of Old Forest' - i.e. Gandalf must know from Odo that the other hobbits went into the Old Forest. At the same time my father pencilled into the text at this point: 'I trusted Tom Bombadil to keep them out of trouble.'

12. This lane is marked on the sketch-map of Bree given on p. 335.

13. 'Narothal' changed in pencil to 'Fairfax'; see note 10.

14. four hobbits: see note 7. Subsequently my father struck out four, and wrote instead: hobbits, three or more.

XXI. THE THIRD PHASE (3): TO WEATHERTOP AND RIVENDELL.

The next chapter, numbered X and with the t.i.tle 'Wild Ways to Weathertop', belongs with the base-form of 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony' and is continuous with it; but it begins by repeating almost exactly the end of that chapter, from 'Frodo made no answer' to '"Read it!" said Trotter' (p. 343). Then follows: Frodo looked carefully at the seal before he broke it. It seemed certainly to be Gandalf's, as did the writing also, and the runic G . Inside was the following message. Frodo read it and then repeated it aloud for the benefit of Folco and Sam.

The Prancing Pony, Wednesday, Sept. 28. Dear F. Where on earth are you? Not still in the Forest, I hope! Could not help being late, but explanations must wait. If you ever get this letter, I shall be ahead of you. Hurry on, and don't stop anywhere! Things are worse than I thought and pursuit is close. Look out for hors.e.m.e.n in black, and avoid them. They are perilous: your worst enemies. Don't use It again, not on any account. Don't move in the dark. Try and catch me up. I dare not wait here, but I shall halt at a place known to the bearer, and look out for you there. I am giving this to a ranger known as Trotter: dark rather lean hobbit, wears wooden shoes. He is an old friend of mine, and knows a great deal. You can trust him. He mill guide you to appointed place through wild country. N.B. Odo Baggins is with me. Hurry on! Yours Frodo looked at the trailing handwriting: it seemed as plainly genuine as the seal. 'It is dated Wednesday and from this house,' he said. 'How did you come by it?'

'I met Gandalf by appointment near Archet,' answered Trotter. 'He did not leave Bree by the Road, but went up a side lane and round the hill the other way.'

'Well, Trotter,' said Frodo after a pause, 'it would have made things easier and saved a lot of time and talk, if you had produced this letter at once. Why did you invent all that tale about eavesdropping? '

'I didn't invent it,' laughed Trotter. 'I gave old Gandalf quite a shock when I popped up from behind the hedge. But he was very glad when he saw who I was. He said it was the first bit of luck he had had for some while. It was then that we arranged that I was to wait about here in case you were behind, while he pushed on and tried to draw the Riders after him. I know all about your troubles including the Ring, I may say.'

'Then there's nothing more for me to say,' said Frodo, 'except that I am glad we have found you. I am sorry if I have been unnecessarily suspicious.'

The conversation proceeds very much as in the original story (p. 155), as far as the 'subsidence' of Folco (Odo) beneath Trotter's opinion of him.(1) Then follows: 'We shall all perish, tough or not, unless we have strange good luck, as far as I can see,' said Frodo. 'I cannot understand why you want to be mixed up in our troubles, Trotter.'

'One reason is that Gandalf asked me to help you,' he replied quietly.

'What do you advise then?' asked Frodo. 'I don't quite understand this letter: don't stop anywhere it says, and yet don't move in the dark. Is it safe to stop here till morning?' Frodo looked at the comfortable fire and the soft candlelight in the room, and sighed. 'No, it probably isn't safe - but it would be far more dangerous to start off by night. So we must wait for daylight and hope for the best. But we had better start early - it is a long way to Weathertop.' 'Weathertop? ' said Folco. 'Where and what is that?'

'The appointed place mentioned in the letter,' Trotter replied. 'It is a hill, just north of the Road, somewhere about halfway to Rivendell from here.(2) It commands a very wide view all round. But you will start nearly two days behind Gandalf, and you'll have to go fast or you won't find him there.'

'In that case let's get to bed now, while there is still some night left!' said Folco yawning. 'Where's that silly fellow Merry? It would be too much, if we had to go out now and look for him.'

Merry's story of the Black Rider whom he saw outside the inn and followed differs in this, that whereas in the original version (pp. 161 - 2) the Rider went through the village from west to east and stopped at Bill Ferny's house (hole), here 'He was coming from the east,' Merry went on. 'I followed him down the Road almost to the gate. He stopped there at the keeper's house, and I thought I heard him talking to someone. I tried to creep near, but I did not dare to get very close. In fact, I am afraid I suddenly began to s.h.i.+ver and shake, and bolted back here.'

'What's to be done?' said Frodo, turning to Trotter.

'Don't go to your rooms! ' he answered at once. 'I don't like this at all. Harry Goatleaf was here tonight and went off with Bill Ferney. It's quite likely that they have found out which rooms you have got.

While in the remainder of the chapter there are advances in detail to the text of FR (from p. 186, the end of Chapter 10 'Strider', to p. 201, in the course of Chapter 11 'A Knife in the Dark'), the narrative of this third phase version follows the original (pp. 162 - 71) closely in almost all points where that differed from FR, and ends at the same point.

It is now Trotter who imitated Frodo's head in the bed with a mat. The pony is expressly said to be Bill Ferney's, and is described as 'a bony, underfed, and rather dispirited animal.' There were two men looking over the hedge round Ferney's house: Ferney himself, and 'a southerner with a sallow face, and a sly and almost goblinish look in his slanting eyes.' This latter is not identified with the 'squint-eyed southerner' who left the inn the night before with Ferney and the gate-keeper (p. 336). In the old story (p. 165) it was Bill Ferny standing there alone, whom Bingo thought 'goblinish'. It is still Trotter who has the apples, and who hits Ferney on the nose with one. Archet, Combe, and Staddle are referred to as in FR (p. 193), in keeping with what is said of them in the description of the Bree-land at the opening of Chapter IX (p. 332), and Trotter's plan is now to make for Archet and pa.s.s it on the east (cf. p. 165 and note 21).

The lights in the eastern sky seen by the travellers from the Midge- water Marshes do not appear until the whole story of Gandalf's movements at this time had been changed. Trotter replies to Frodo's question 'But surely we were hoping to find Gandalf there?' (FR p. 195, original version p. 167) thus: 'Yes - but my hope is rather faint. It is four days since we left Bree, and if Gandalf has managed to get to Weathertop himself without being too hotly pursued, he must have arrived at least two days ago. I doubt if he has dared to wait so long, on the mere chance of your following him: he does not know for certain that you are behind or have got his messages...'

He still says: '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...'

The chronology is thus (cf. p. 175): Wed. Sept. 28. Gandalf and Odo left Bree.

Thurs. Sept. 29. Frodo and companions reached Bree.

Fri. Sept. 30. Trotter, Frodo and companions left Bree; night in Chetwood.

Sat. Oct. 1. Night in Chetwood.

Sun. Oct. 2. First day and camp in marshes.

Mon. Oct. 3. Second day and camp in marshes.

Tues. Oct.4. Leaving the marshes. Camp by stream under alders.

On this day Trotter calculated that Gandalf, if he reached Weathertop, must have arrived there 'at least two days ago', i.e. on Sunday 2 October, which allows as much as four days and nights for the journey from Bree on horseback.

In the original version they reached Weathertop on 5 October, whereas in FR they camped at the feet of the hills that night (see p. 175). In the present text my father retained the former story, but then changed it to that of FR: By night they had reached the feet of the hills, and there they camped. It was the night of October the fifth, and they were six days out from Bree. In the morning they found, for the first time since they left the Bree-land [> Chetwood], a track plain to see.

It will be seen shortly that this change was made before the chapter was finished.

The pa.s.sage following Folco's question 'Is there any barrow on Weathertop? ' (FR p. 197) remains exactly as in the original text (p. 169), with Elendil for Valandil; and when they reach the summit all remains as before, with only the necessary change of Merry's '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' to 'I don't blame Gandalf for not waiting long - if he ever came here.' But the paper that flutters from the cairn bears a different message (see p. 170): Wednesday Oct. 5. Bad news. We arrived late Monday. Odo vanished last night. I must go at once to Rivendell. Make for Ford beyond Trollshaw with all speed, but look out. Enemies may attempt to guard it.

G . (3).

'Odo!' cried Merry. 'Does that mean that the Riders have got him? How horrible!'

'Our missing Gandalf has turned out disastrous,' said Frodo. 'Poor Odo! I expect this is the result of pretending to be Baggins. If only we could all have been together! '

'Monday! ' said Trotter. 'Then they arrived when we were in the marshes, and Gandalf did not leave till we were already close to the hills. They cannot have caught any glimpse of our miserable little fires on Monday, or on Tuesday. I wonder what happened here that night. Still it is no good guessing: there is nothing we can do but make for Rivendell as best we may.'(4) 'How far is Rivendell?' asked Frodo, looking round wearily. The world looked wild and wide from Weathertop.

From here the text follows the old version (pp. 170 - 1 ) almost exactly - with the revised form of Trotter's answer concerning the distance to Rivendell, p. 171 - to the end of the chapter, with Trotter, Frodo, and Merry slipping down from the summit of Weathertop to find Sam and Folco in the dell (where the original Chapter Vl I also ended).

Since Gandalf and Odo left Bree on the morning of Wednesday 28 September but did not reach Weathertop till late on Monday 3 October, they took longer even than Trotter had calculated (p. 355): nearly six days on horseback, whereas Trotter says (in this text as in the old, p. 171) that it would take 'a ranger on his own feet' about a week from Bree to Weathertop (in the rejected pa.s.sage of the old text, p. 170, Trotter said that he reckoned it was 'about 120 long-miles' by the Road). Trotter's words ' I wonder what happened here that night', referring to the night on which Odo vanished (Tuesday 4 October), show that the night camp at the foot of the hills on 5 October had entered the narrative, and that it was now Thursday 6 October, for he would not say 'that night' if he meant 'last night'. The chronology given on p. 355 can therefore be completed for this stage of the development of the narrative thus: Mon. Oct. 3. Second day and camp in the marshes. Gandalf and Odo reach Weathertop late.

Tues. Oct. 4. Leaving the marshes. Camp by stream under alders. Odo disappears from Weathertop at night.

Wed. Oct. 5. Camp at feet of hills Gandalf leaves Weathertop.

Thurs. Oct. 6. Trotter, Frodo and companions reach Weathertop.

The next chapter, numbered XI but without t.i.tle,(5) begins with an account of what Sam and Folco had been doing (FR p. 201), which is where the corresponding chapter VIII in the original version began (p 177).

Sam and Folco had not been idle. They had explored the small dell and the surrounding valley. Not far away they had found a spring of clear water, and near it footprints not more than a day or two old. In the dell itself they had found recent traces of a fire and other signs of a small camp. But the most unexpected and most welcome discovery was made by Sam. There were some large fallen rocks at the edge of the dell nearest to the hill-side. Behind them Sam came upon a small store of fire-wood neatly stacked; and under the wood was a bag containing food. It was mostly cakes of cram(6) packed in two small wooden boxes, but there was also a little bacon, and some dried fruits.

'Old Gandalf has been here, then,' said Sam to Folco. 'These packets of cram show that. I never heard tell of anyone but the two Bagginses and the wizard using that stuff. Better than dying of hunger, they say, but not much better.'

'I wonder if it was left for us, or if Gandalf is still about somewhere near,' said Folco. 'I wish Frodo and the other two would come back.'

Sam was more grateful for the cram when the others did return, hurrying back to the dell with their alarming news. There was a long journey ahead of them before they could expect to get help; and it seemed plain that Gandalf had left what food he could spare in case their own supplies were short.

'It is probably some that he did not need after poor Odo's disappearance,' said Frodo. 'But what about the wood?'

'I think they must have collected it on the Tuesday,' said Trotter, 'and were preparing to wait here in camp for some time. They would have to go some distance for it, as there are no trees close at hand.'

It was already late afternoon, and the sun was sinking. They debated for some while what they ought to do. It was the store of fuel that finally decided them to go no further that day, and to camp for the night in the dell.

The text now follows the old version (pp. 177 - 9) fairly closely. To Merry's question 'Can the enemies see?' Trotter now replies: 'Their horses can see. They do not themselves see the world of light as we do; but they are not blind, and in the dark they are most to be feared.' Trotter no longer says that there were Men dwelling in the lands away to the South of them; nor is it told that they took it in turns to sit on guard at the edge of the dell. The pa.s.sage describing Trotter's tales is a characteristic blending of the old version (p. 179) with new elements that would survive into FR (p. 203): As night fell and the light of the fire began to s.h.i.+ne out brightly, Trotter began to tell them tales to keep their minds from fear. He knew much lore concerning wild animals, and understood something of their languages; and he had strange tales to tell of their hidden lives and little known adventures. He knew also many histories and legends of the ancient days, of hobbits when the s.h.i.+re was still unexplored, and of things beyond the mists of memory out of which the hobbits came. They wondered how old he was, and where he had learned all this lore.

'Tell us of Gilgalad,' said Merry suddenly, when he paused at the end of a story of the Elf-kingdoms. 'You spoke that name not long ago, and it is still ringing in my ears. I seem to remember hearing it before, but I cannot remember anything else about it.'

'You should ask the possessor of the Ring about that name,' answered Trotter in a low voice. Merry and Folco looked at Frodo, who was staring into the fire.

From this point the ma.n.u.script is defective, two sheets being missing; but a rejected page carries the story a little further before tailing off: 'I know only the little that Gandalf told me,' he said. 'Gilgalad was the last of the great elf-kings. Gilgalad is Starlight in their tongue. With the aid of King Elendil, the Elf-friend, he overthrew the Enemy, but they both perished. And I would gladly hear more if Trotter will tell us. It was the son of Elendil that carried off the Ring. But I cannot tell that tale. Tell us more, Trotter, if you will.' 'No,' said Trotter. 'I will not tell that tale now, in this time and place with the servants of the Enemy at hand. Perhaps in the house of Elrond you will hear it. For Elrond knows it in full.'

'Then tell us some other tale of old,' said Merry...

Trotter's song, and his story of Beren and Luthien, are thus missing here; and the ma.n.u.script takes up again at 'As Trotter was speaking they watched his strange eager face...' From this point the text of FR, as far as the end of Chapter ir 'A Knife in the Dark' was achieved, with scarcely any difference even of wording, except for these points: Folco stands for Pippin; there were still three Riders, not five, in the attack on the dell; and Frodo as he threw himself on the ground cried out Elbereth! Elbereth!

At this point Chapter 12 'Flight to the Ford' begins in FR, but as in the original text (p. 190) the present version continues without break to the Ford of Rivendell. The relations of chapter-structure between the present phase and FR can be shown thus (and cf. the table on p. 133): As is characteristic of these third phase chapters, the present text advances largely towards the form in FR in detail of wording and description, but retains many features of the original version; thus the 'red flash' seen at the moment of the attack on Weathertop survives, of the slash in the black robe Trotter still says only 'What harm it did to the Black Rider I do not know', and the distant cries of the Riders as they crossed the Road are not heard, while on the other hand the firewood left by Gandalf is no longer said to have been taken with them, and the rejuvenation of Bill Ferney's pony is described (for these elements in the narrative see pp. 190 - 1). Trotter now speaks aside to Sam, but what he says is different: 'I think I understand things better now,' he said in a low voice. 'Our enemies knew the Ring was here; perhaps because they have captured Odo, and certainly because they can feel its presence. They are no longer pursuing Gandalf. But they have now drawn off from us for the time, because we are many and more bold than they expected, but especially because they think they have slain or mortally wounded your master - so that the Ring will inevitably come soon into their power.'

The rest of his words to Sam are as in FR (p. 210). - In the discussion of what it were best to do now (FR p. 211) the present version reads: The others were discussing this very question. They decided to leave Weathertop as soon as possible. It was already Friday morning, and the two days that Gandalf's message had asked for would soon be up. In any case it was no good remaining in so bare and indefensible a place, now that their enemies had discovered them, and knew also that Frodo had the Ring. As soon as the daylight was full they had some hurried food and packed.

For 'the two days that Gandalf's message had asked for' see notes 3 and 4.

The chronology of the journey remains as in the original text (see pp. 192 - 3, 219): they still recrossed the Road on the morning of the sixth day from Weathertop (the seventh in FR), and spent three days in the hills before the weather turned to rain (two in FR). But the lag of one day that remained between the original text and FR (owing to their earlier arrival on Weathertop), so that they reached the Ford of Rivendell on 19 October, is no longer present (see p. 356).

The rain that Trotter judged had fallen some two days before at the place where they crossed the Road again (FR p. 213) is now mentioned, but the River h.o.a.rwell (Mitheithel) and the Last Bridge have still not emerged. The river which they could see in the distance, unnamed in the first version (p. 191), is now given a name: 'the Riven River, that came down out of the Mountains and flowed through Rivendell' (later in the chapter it is called 'the Rivendell River').

The conversation between Trotter, Folco and Frodo arising from the ruined towers in the hills remains as in the first version (pp. 192 - 3; FR p.214).

When the rain stopped, and Trotter climbed up to see the lie of the land, he observed in the first version (p. 193) that 'if we keep on as we are going, we shall get into impa.s.sable country among the skirts of the Mountains.' This now becomes: 'we shall get up into the [Dimrill-lands >] Dimrilldales far north of Rivendell.'(7) He continues, approaching Strider's words in FR: 'It is a troll-country, I have heard, though I have not been there. We could perhaps find our way through and come round to Rivendell from the north; but it would take long, and our food would not last. Anyway we ought to follow Gandalf's last message and make for the Rivendell Ford. So somehow or other we must strike the Road again.'

The encounter with the Stone Trolls follows the first version: Trotter slapped the stooping troll, called him William, and pointed out the bird's nest behind Bert's ear. There is still no suggestion of Sam's Troll Song; and when Frodo saw the memorial stone he 'wished that Bilbo had brought home no treasure more perilous than stolen money rescued from trolls.' The description of the Road here is nearly that of the First Edition of FR (see p. 200): 'At this point the Road had turned away from the river, leaving it at the bottom of a narrow valley, and clung close to the feet of the hills, rolling and winding northward among woods and heather-covered slopes towards the Ford and the Mountains.'

Glorfindel now calls Trotter not Padathir (p. 194) but Du-finnion, calling out Ai, Du-finnion! Mai govannen! The pa.s.sage beginning with Trotter's signalling to Frodo and the others to come down to the road is found in two forms, the second to all appearance immediately replacing the first. The first runs: Hail and well met at last! ' said Glorfindel to Frodo. 'I was sent from Rivendell to look for your coming. Gandalf feared that you might follow the Road.'

'Gandalf has arrived at Rivendell then?' cried Merry. 'Has he found Odo? '

'Certainly there is a hobbit of that name with him,' said Glorfindel; 'but I did not hear that he had been lost. He rode behind Gandalf from the north out of Dimrildale.'

'Out of Dimrildale?' exclaimed Frodo.

'Yes,' said the elf; 'and we thought that you also might go that way to avoid the peril of the Road. Some have been sent to seek for you in that country. But come! There is no time now for news or debate, until we halt. We must go on with all speed, and save our breath. Hardly a day's ride back westward there are hors.e.m.e.n, searching for your trail along the Road and in the lands on either side...

Glorfindel continues as in the first version (p. 195). The replacement pa.s.sage differs mostly in small points: Glorfindel does not say of Odo 'but I did not hear that he had been lost', Dimrilldale is so spelt (cf. p. 360), in place of Dimrildale in the rejected text; and the interjections of Merry and Frodo are reversed. The important difference lies in Glorfindel's words: 'There are hors.e.m.e.n back westward searching for your trail along the Road, and when they find the place where you came down from the hills, they will ride after us like the wind. But they are not all: there are others, who may be before us now, or upon either hand. Unless we go with all speed and good fortune, we shall find the Ford guarded against us by the enemy.'

From Frodo's faintness and Sam's objection to Glorfindel's urging the text of FR to the end of the chapter is achieved almost to the last word.(8) Yet there remain certain differences. Only three Riders came out of the tree-hung cutting behind the fugitives; and 'out from the trees and rocks away on the left other Riders came flying. Three rode towards Frodo; three galloped madly towards the Ford to cut off his escape.' And at the very end 'Three of the Riders turned and rode wildly away to the left down the bank of the River; the others, borne by their terrified and plunging horses, were driven into the Rood and carried away.' This is derived from the first version (p. 197), where however there were only two Riders that escaped the flood. The ma.n.u.script was changed to the reading of the final paragraph of the chapter in FR, where no Riders escaped, and this was done before or in the course of the writing of the next chapter (see p. 364).

The first part of the next chapter, numbered XII, is the direct development of the original t.i.tle-less chapter IX, extant in three texts, none of which goes further than the conversation between Bingo and Gloin at the feast in Rivendell (pp. 206 ff., 210 ff.). The new version is given the t.i.tle 'The Council of Elrond'; see pp. 399-400. Here, for reasons that will appear presently, I describe only that portion of the chapter which derives from Chapter IX of the 'first phase'. In this, the text of FR Book II, Chapter I, 'Many Meetings' is achieved for long stretches with only the most minor differences of wording, if any; on the other hand there is still much preserved from the original text. In what follows it can be understood that where no comment is made the FR text was present at this time either exactly or in a close approximation. The date of Frodo's awakening in the house of Elrond is now October 24th, and all the details of date are precisely as in FR (see pp. 219, 360). The references to Sam in the FR text are none of them present in this version as written until the feast itself, but were added in to the ma.n.u.script probably after no very long interval.

Gandalf now adds, after 'You were beginning to fade' (p. 210, FR p. 231), 'Glorfindel noticed it, though he did not speak of it to anyone but Trotter'; and he still says (see p. 206) 'You would have become a wraith before long - certainly, if you had put on the Ring again after you were wounded.' Following his words 'It is no small feat to have come so far and through such dangers, still bearing the Ring' (FR p. 232) the conversation is developed from the earlier text (p. 210) in a very interesting way, naturally still far from the form in FR: '... You ought never to have left the s.h.i.+re without me.'

'I know - but you never came to my party, as was arranged; and I did not know what to do.'

'I was delayed,' said Gandalf, 'and that nearly proved our ruin - as was intended. Still after all it has turned out better than any plan I should have dared to make, and we have defeated the black hors.e.m.e.n.'

'I wish you would tell me what happened! '

'All in good time! You are not supposed to talk or worry about anything today, by Elrond's orders.'

'But talking would stop me thinking and wondering, which are quite as tiring,' said Frodo. 'I am wide awake now, and remember so many things that want explaining. Why were you delayed? You ought to tell me that, at least.'

'You will soon hear all you wish to know,' said Gandalf. 'We shall have a Council, as soon as you are well enough. At the moment I will only say that I was held captive.'

'You!'cried Frodo.

'Yes!' laughed Gandalf. 'There are many powers greater than mine, for good and evil, in the world. I was caught in Fangorn and spent many weary days as a prisoner of the Giant Treebeard. It was a desperately anxious time, for I was hurrying back to the s.h.i.+re to help you. I had just learned that the hors.e.m.e.n had been sent out.

'Then you did not know of the Black Riders before.'

'Yes, I knew of them. I spoke of them once to you: for what you call the Black Riders are the Ring-wraiths, the Nine Servants of the Lord of the Ring. But I did not know that they had arisen again, and were let loose on the world once more - until I saw them. I have tried to find you ever since - but if I had not met Trotter, I don't suppose I ever should have done so. He has saved us all.'

'We should never have got here without him,' said Frodo. 'I was suspicious of him at first, but now I am very fond of him, though he is rather mysterious. 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 daresay you do,' laughed Gandalf. 'I often have that feeling myself, when I look at a hobbit: they all remind me of one another, if you know what I mean.'

'Nonsense!' said Frodo, sitting up again in protest. 'Trotter is most peculiar. And he wears shoes! But I see you are in one of your tiresome moods.' He lay down again. 'I shall have to be patient. And it is rather pleasant resting, after all. To be perfectly honest I wish I need go no further than Rivendell. I have had a month of exile and adventures, and that is nearly four weeks more than enough for me.'

He fell silent and shut his eyes.

For the remainder of Frodo's conversation with Gandalf this text is mostly very close indeed to FR, and only a few differences need be noticed.