Part 26 (1/2)

They were so deep in the doings of the s.h.i.+re that they did not notice the arrival of another hobbit. For several minutes he stood by them, looking at them with a smile. Suddenly they looked up. 'Ah, there you are, Peregrin!' said Bilbo. 'Trotter!' said Frodo.

'Both right! ' laughed Trotter.

'Well, that is tiresome of Gandalf! ' exclaimed Frodo. 'I knew you reminded me of some one, and he laughed at me.(5) Of course, you remind me of yourself, and of Folco, and of all the Tooks. You came once to Buckland when I was very small, but I never quite forgot it, because you talked to Old Rory about lands outside the s.h.i.+re, and about Bilbo who you were not allowed to see. I have wondered what became of you. But I was puzzled by your shoes. Why do you wear them? '

'I shall not tell you the reason now,' said Trotter quietly.

'No, Frodo, don't ask that yet,' said Bilbo, looking rather unhappy. 'Come on, Perry! I want your help. This song of mine has got to be finished this evening.'

At this point, while in the middle of writing the second text, my father wrote across it: '?? Trotter had better not be a hobbit - but a Ranger, remainder of Western Men, as originally planned.' Of course, looking back over the texts from Trotter's first appearance, there is no possibility that my father had 'originally planned' to make Trotter anything but a hobbit. The first suggestion that he might not be appears in Queries and Alterations (p. 223, $6). But by 'originally planned' my father may well have been thinking no further back than to the drafts for the opening of the 'Bree' chapter in the third phase (p. 331), where the idea that the Rangers were Men, 'the last remnant of the kingly people from beyond the Seas', first emerged, though this was not taken up in the chapter as actually written at that time. It may be that he had felt for some time that Trotter should not be a hobbit, but (as he said of the name 'Bingo', p. 221) he was now too used to the idea to change it. Even now, he did not follow up his directive, and Trotter remains Peregrin Boffin.

As in FR, Frodo sits alone and falls asleep during the music; but the song Earendil was a mariner is not present (though the word '? Messenger' written at the top of the page is a hint of it).(6) He woke to the sound of ringing laughter. There was no longer any music, but on the edge of his waking sense was the echo of a voice that had just stopped singing. He looked, and saw that Bilbo was seated on his stool, set now near to the middle fire, in the centre of a circle of listeners.

'Come now, tell us, Bilbo!' said one of the Elves, 'which is the line which Peregrin put in?'

'No! ' laughed Bilbo. 'I leave you to guess - you pride yourselves on your judgement of words.'

'But it is difficult to discriminate between two hobbits,' they laughed.

'Nonsense!' said Bilbo. 'But I won't argue the matter. I'm sleepy, after so much sound and song!' He got up and bowed and came back beside Frodo.

'Well, that's that,' he said. 'It went off better than I expected. As a matter of fact, quite a lot of it was Peregrin's.'

'I am sorry I did not hear it,' said Frodo. 'I heard the Elves laughing as I woke up.'

'Never mind,' said Bilbo. 'You'll hear it again, very likely. Just a lot of nonsense, anyway. But it is difficult to keep awake here, until you get used to it - not that hobbits ever acquire the Elves' appet.i.te for song and poetry and tales of all sorts. They will be going on for a long while yet.

The words of the chant to Elbereth (identical in both texts) are different from the form in FR: Elbereth Gilthoniel sir evrin pennar oriel dir avos-eithen miriel bel daurion sel aurinon pennaros evrin eriol.

The sweet syllables fell like clear jewels of mingled word and sound, and he halted for a moment looking back.

'That is the opening of the chant to Elbereth,' said Bilbo. 'They will sing that and other songs of the Blessed Realm many times tonight.'

Bilbo led Frodo back to his upper room. There they sat for some while, looking at the bright stars through the window, and talking softly. They spoke no longer of the small and happy news of the s.h.i.+re far away, but of the Elves, and of the wide world, and its perils, and of the burden and mystery of the Ring.

When Sam came to the door (at the end of the chapter in FR) Bilbo said: 'Quite right, Sam! Though I never expected to live long enough to be ordered about by Ham Gamgee's boy. Bless me, I am near 150 and old enough to be your great-grandfather.'

'No sir, and I never expected to be doing it.'

'It is Gandalf's fault, said Frodo. 'He chose Sam to be my companion in adventure, and Sam takes his task seriously.'

This was replaced at the time of writing by the ending in FR. Bilbo was in fact 128.

Both texts continue on briefly into what became 'The Council of Elrond' in FR (the t.i.tle that my father had given to the 'third phase' text Chapter XII, p. 362, afterwards called 'Many Meetings', when he antic.i.p.ated that it would contain the Council as well as the 'many meetings' that preceded it).

Frodo awoke early next day, feeling refreshed and well. Sam brought him breakfast, and would not allow him to get up till he had eaten it. Then Bilbo and Gandalf carne and talked for a while. Suddenly a single bell rang out. [All the remainder of the text from this point was struck out; see p. 399.]

'Bless me! ' said Gandalf. 'The council is in half an hour. That is the warning. I must be off. Bilbo will bring you to the place, as soon as you are ready. Sam had better come with you.'

The council was held in a high glade among the trees on the valley-side far above the house. A falling stream ran at the side of : the meeting place, and with the trickling and bubbling of the water was mingled the sound of many birds. There were twelve seats of carved stone in a wide circle; and behind them many other :- smaller seats of wood. The ground was strewn with many red and yellow leaves, but the trees above were still clothed with fading green; a clear sky of pale blue hung high above, filled with the light of morning.

When Bilbo, Frodo and Sam arrived Elrond was already seated, and beside him, as at the feast, were Gandalf and Glorfindel. Gloin was there also with [an attendant >] a younger dwarf, whom Frodo later discovered was Burin son of Balin.(7) A strange elf, a messenger from the king of the Wood-elves... Eastern Mirkwood was seated beside Burin.(8) Trotter (as Frodo continued to call him instead of Peregrin or the Elvish equivalent Ethelion) was there, and all the rest of the hobbit party, Merry, Folco, and Odo. There were besides three other counsellors attendant on Elrond, one an Elf named Erestor, and two other kinsmen of Elrond, of that half-elvish folk whom the Elves named the children of Luthien.(9) And seated alone and silent was a Man of n.o.ble face, but dark and sad.

'This is Boromir,' said Elrond. 'He arrived only yesterday, in the evening. He comes from far away in the South, and his tidings may be of use to us.'

It would take long to tell of all that was spoken in that council under the fair trees of Rivendell. The sun climbed to noon and was turning westward before all the tidings were recounted. Then Elves brought food and drink for the company. The sun had fallen low and its slanting light was red in the valley before an end was made of the debate and they rose and returned down the long path to the house.

Both texts end at this point. At the end of the second my father wrote: '(The Council must be behind closed doors. Frodo invited to presence of Elrond. Tidings of the world. They decide Ring must be destroyed.)'

While Trotter is Peregrin Boffin, and the long-awaited 'recognition' between Trotter and Frodo takes place, Odo is still present: but in the papers dated August 1939, where the identification of Trotter with Peregrin Boffin first appears, Odo appears to be emphatically abandoned. Once again, Odo seems to have proved unsinkable, even though, as discussed on p. 375, Folco had effectively a.s.sumed his character. - Of course, these 'Rivendell' ma.n.u.scripts may very well belong to the same time, and a step-by-step reconstruction cannot be expected. In any case, the removal of Odo and (much more) the ident.i.ty of Trotter were questions long revolved, and such notes as 'Trotter had better not be a hobbit' or 'Odo must be cut out' are rather the traces of a long debate than a series of clear-cut, successive decisions.

The text just given was continued in a further ma.n.u.script of different form, in which appears the first complete version of the Council of Elrond; but before going on to this, two sides of a single isolated page seem undoubtedly to represent my father's first expressed ideas for the Council. It was written in pencil so faint and rapid that it would be largely illegible had my father not gone over it in ink; and he himself could not be sure in places of what he had written, but had to make guesses at words, marking them with queries. In representing this extraordinarily interesting text I give these guessed words of his in italic within brackets. At the head of the page is an isolated direction that the 'Weathertop business' must be 'simplified'. It would be interesting to know what he had in mind: the only 'complication' that was, in the event, removed was the disappearance of Odo, and it may be that this is what he was referring to. It is clear from the first line of this text that the 'third phase' story of Odo was present.

Ring Wraiths. They will get (no P new?) horses (in time ?). Odo's capturing explained.

Ring offered to Elrond. He refuses. 'It is a peril to all possessors: more to myself than all others. It is fate that the hobbits should rid the world of it.'

'What will then become of the other rings?' 'They will lose their power. But we must sacrifice that power in order to destroy the Lord. As long as anyone in the world holds the Ruling Ring there is a chance for him to get it back again. Two things can be done. We can send it West, or we can destroy it. If we had sent it West long ago that would have been well enough. But now the power of the Lord is grown too great, and he is fully awake. It would be too perilous - and his war would come over the s.h.i.+re and destroy the Havens.'(10) [In the margin is written Radagast.] They decide that the Ring must be taken to the Fiery Mountain. How? - it can hardly be reached except by pa.s.sing over the borders of the Land of Mordor. Bilbo? No - 'It would kill me now. My years are stretched, and I shall live some time yet. But I have no longer strength for the Ring.' Frodo volunteers to go. Who shall go with him? Gandalf. Trotter. Sam. Odo. Folco. Merry. (7) Glorfindel and Frar [written beneath: Burin] son of Balin. South along mountains. Over the Red Pa.s.s down the Red way to the Great River. 'Beware!' said Gandalf 'of the Giant Treebeard, who haunts the Forest between the River and the South Mts.' Fangorn? After a time of rest they set out. Bilbo bids farewell; gives him Sting and his armour. The others are armed. Snow storm.

The reverse of the page, while not continuous with the first side, was certainly written at the same time, and is again in ink over faint pencil: First he was asked to give as complete an account of the journey as possible. The story of their dealings with Tom Bombadil seemed to interest Elrond and Gandalf most. Much that was said was now known already to Frodo. Gandalf spoke long, making clear to all the history of the Ring, and the reason why the Dark Lord so greatly desired it. 'For not only does he desire to discover and control the lost rings, those of the Elves and dwarves - but without the Ring he is still shorn of much power. He put into that Ring much of his own power, and without it is weaker than of old [and obliged to lean more on servants].(11) Of old he could guess or half see what were the hidden purposes of the Elflords, but now he is blind as far as they are concerned. He cannot make rings until he has regained the master ring. And also his mind is moved by revenge and hatred of the Elves and Men that (disputed him?). 'Now is the time for true speaking. Tell me, Elrond, if the Three Rings still are? And tell me, Gloin, if you know it, whether any of the Seven remain?' 'Yes, the Three still are,' said Elrond, 'and it would be ill indeed if Sauron should discover where they be, or have power over their rulers; for then perhaps his shadow would stretch even to the Blessed Realm.'

'Yes! Some of the Seven remain,' said Gloin. 'I do not know whether I have the right to reveal this, for Dain did not give me orders concerning it. But Thrain of old had one that descended from his sires. We do not now know where it is. We think it was taken from him, ere you found him in the dungeons long ago [or maybe it was lost in Moria].(12) Yet of late we have received secret messages from Mordor demanding all such rings as we have or know of. But there are others still in our power. Dain has one - and on that his fortune is founded: his age, his wealth, and (....... ?) future. Yet of late we have received secret messages from Mordor bidding us yield up the rings to the Master, and threatening us and all our allies of Dale with war.(13) It is on this account that I am now come to Rivendell. For the messages have asked often concerning one Bilbo, and offered us peace if we would obtain from him (willing or unwilling) his ring. That they said they would accept in lieu of all. I now understand why. But our hearts are troubled, for we guess that King Brand's heart is afraid, and that the Dark Lord will (move?) eastern men to some evil. Already there is war upon the (southern?) borders. And (of course that matter whereof?) I seek counsel, the disappearance of Balin and his people, is now (revealed?) as part of the same evil.'

Boromir the (lord? Land?) of Ond. These men are besieged by wild men out of the East. They send to the (F..... ?) of Balin of Moria. He promised a.s.sistance.

Here this text ends. Against the pa.s.sage beginning '”Yes! Some of the Seven remain,” said Gloin' my father wrote: 'No! This won't do - otherwise the dwarves would have been more suspicious of Bilbo.' In this text, again, there is an apparent contradiction of the 'August 1939 papers: Bilbo gives his mailcoat to Frodo at Rivendell, and had therefore taken it with him when he left Bag End - a story that first appears under the date August 1939' (p. 371, $2), whereas it is also proposed there that the 'Odo-story' be abandoned - a story that is expressly present here. - The Fellows.h.i.+p of the Ring is to consist of five 's.h.i.+re hobbits', Frodo, Sam, Merry, Folco, and Odo, with Trotter, Gandalf, Glorfindel, and the dwarf Frar (> Burin).

Whatever the relative age of these texts, and they can scarcely be far apart, there have now appeared the younger Dwarf, Balin's son, who had come with Gloin - precursor of Gimli Gloin's son in LR; the Elf from Mirkwood, precursor of Legolas; Erestor, counsellor of Elrond; two kinsmen of Elrond; and Boromir - so named unhesitatingly from the start (14) - from the Land of Ond far in the South. The Land of Ond is named in an outline dated August 1939 (p. 381). Treebeard is no longer placed in 'the Forest of Neldoreth' (p. 384), but in 'the Forest between the [Great] River and the South Mountains' - the first mention of the mountains that would afterwards be Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains; and Gandalf warns against him (as well he might, having been his captive, 'in Fangorn', p. 363).

The pa.s.sage concerning the Three Rings of the Elves and the Seven Rings of the Dwarves is to be compared with a pa.s.sage in the third phase version of 'Ancient History', p. 320, where Gandalf says that he does not know what has become of 'the Three Rings of Earth, Sea, and Sky', but believes that 'they have long been carried far over the Great Sea' - which is to be a.s.sociated no doubt with Elrond's words in the present text: 'it would be ill indeed if Sauron should discover where they be, or have power over their rulers; for then perhaps his shadow would stretch even to the Blessed Realm.' In the same pa.s.sage of 'Ancient History' Gandalf says that 'the foundation of each of the Seven h.o.a.rds of the dwarves of old was a golden ring', and that it is said that all the Seven Rings perished in the fire of the dragons: 'Yet that account, maybe, is not wholly true.' With the menacing messages to King Dain out of Mordor here cf. Queries and Alterations (p. 226, $ 11 ): 'The dwarves might have received threatening messages from Mordor - for the Lord suspected that the One Ring was in their h.o.a.rds.' In the same note it is said that 'after a time no word was heard of them [Balin and his companions]. Dain feared the Dark Lord'; so also Gloin says here that 'the disappearance of Balin and his people is now revealed as part of the same evil.' At this time the story was that Sauron demanded the return of the Rings which the Dwarves still possessed - or Bilbo's Ring 'in lieu of all'; in FR (p. 254) they were offered the return of three of the ancient Rings of the Dwarves if they could obtain Bilbo's Ring.

The reference to Thrain, father of Thorin Oakens.h.i.+eld, in the dungeons of the Necromancer, where Gandalf found him, goes back to The Hobbit (Chapter I); but the story emerges here that he possessed one of the Rings of the Dwarves, and that it was taken from him after his capture (see FR pp. 281 - 2, and LR Appendix A III, pp. 353 - 4, 357 - 8).

The 'Many Meetings' text (extant in two forms) given on pp. 391 ff. continued into the beginning of an account of the Council of Elrond, held in the open in a glade above the house; but from the words '”Bless me!” said Gandalf. ”The council is in half an hour”' (p. 395) my father struck it through, and added the note at the end saying that the Council must be held 'behind closed doors' (p. 396). A new ma.n.u.script now begins, taking up at '”Bless me!” said Gandalf', and in this is found the first complete narrative of the deliberations of the Council. This was originally paginated 'XII' with page-numbers consecutive from 'Suddenly a single bell rang out' (p. 395). As noticed before, my father at this stage saw all the meetings and discussions at Rivendell as const.i.tuting a single chapter, and had given the number and t.i.tle 'XII. The Council of Elrond' to the third phase chapter which begins with Frodo waking up at Rivendell (p. 362).

The ma.n.u.script is partly in ink and partly in pencil, but though very rough is legible throughout. Being in the first stage of composition it is full of alterations, phrases or whole pa.s.sages constantly rewritten in the act of composition; and many other corrections, made to pa.s.sages which at the time of writing had been allowed to stand, are probably pretty well contemporary. In general I give the text in its final form, but with more important changes indicated.

'Bless me!' said Gandalf. 'That is the warning bell for the council. We had better make our way there at once.'

Bilbo and Frodo (and Sam [added: uninvited]) followed him down many stairs and pa.s.sages towards the western wing of the house, until they came to the porch where Frodo had found his friends the evening before. But now the light of a clear autumn morning was glowing in the valley. The sky was high and cool above the hill-tops; and in the bright air below a few golden leaves were fluttering from the trees. The noise of bubbling waters came up from the foaming river-bed. Birds were singing and a wholesome peace lay on the land, and to Frodo his dangerous flight and the rumours of the dark shadow growing in the world outside seemed now only like memories of a troubled dream.

But the faces that were turned to meet him were grave.(15) Elrond was there and several others were already seated about him in silence. Frodo saw Glorfindel and Gloin, and Trotter (sitting in a corner).

Elrond welcomed Frodo and drew him to a seat at his knee and presented him to the company, saying: 'Here my friends is the hobbit who by fortune and courage has brought the Ring to Rivendell. This is Frodo son of Drogo.' He then pointed out and named those whom Frodo had not seen before. There was a younger dwarf at Gloin's side, [Burin the son of Balin >] his son Gimli.(16) There were three counsellors of Elrond's own household: Erestor his kinsman (a man of the same half-elvish folk known as the children of Luthien), (17) and beside him two elflords of Rivendell. There was a strange elf clad in green and brown, Galdor, a messenger from the King of the Wood-elves in Eastern Mirkwood.(18) And seated a little apart was a tall man of n.o.ble face, but dark and sad.

'Here,' said Elrond, turning to Gandalf, 'is Boromir from the Land of Ond, far in the South. He arrived in the night, and brings tidings that must be considered.'

It would take long to tell of all the things that were spoken in that council. Many of them were known already to Frodo. Gandalf spoke long, making clear to those who did not already know the tale in full the ancient history of the Ring, and the reasons why the Dark Lord so greatly desired it. Bilbo then gave an account of the finding of the Ring in the cave of the Misty Mountains, and Trotter described his search for Gollum that he had made with Gandalf's help, and told of his perilous adventures in Mordor. Thus it was that Frodo learned how Trotter had tracked Gollum as he wandered southwards, through Fangorn Forest, and past the Dead Marshes,(19) until he had himself been caught and imprisoned by the Dark Lord. 'Ever since I have worn shoes,' said Trotter with a shudder, and though he said no more Frodo knew that he had been tortured and his feet hurt in some way. But he had been rescued by Gandalf and saved from death.(20) In this way the tale was brought slowly down to the spring morning when Gandalf had revealed the history of the Ring to Frodo. Then Frodo was summoned to take up the tale, and he gave a full account of all his adventures from the moment of his flight from Hobbiton. Step by step they questioned him, and every detail that he could tell concerning the Black Riders was examined.(21) Elrond was also deeply interested in the events in the Old Forest and on the Barrow-downs. 'The Barrow-wights I knew of,' he said, 'for they are closely akin to the Riders;(22) and I marvel at your escape from them. But never before have I heard tell of this strange Bombadil. I would like to know more of him. Did you know of him, Gandalf?'

'Yes,' answered the wizard. 'And I sought him out at once, as soon as I found that the hobbits had disappeared from Buckland. When I had chased the Riders from Crickhollow I turned back to visit him. I daresay he would have kept the travellers longer in his home, if he had known that I was near. But I am not sure of it: he is a strange creature, and follows his own counsels, which few can fathom.'(23) 'Could we not even now send messages to him and obtain his help?' asked Erestor. 'It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.'