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The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Main:
TIME - August 16:
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Sat, 12:49pm
Views: 1842
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TIME - August 16
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Today in Middle-earth
August 16, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. The Company reaches the Enchanted Stream.
(determined from text – referencing Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."...they found their path blocked by a running water. It flowed fast and strong but not very wide right across the way, and it was black, or looked it in the gloom. It was well that Beorn had warned them against it, or they would have drunk from it... ...and filled some of their emptied skins at its bank. As it was they only thought of how to cross it without wetting themselves in its water. There had been a bridge of wood across, but it had rotted and fallen leaving only the broken posts near the bank.
...Bilbo kneeling on the brink and peering forward cried: "There is a boat against the far bank! Now why couldn't it have been this side!"
..."...Fili picked up the hook when he had drawn it back, rather doubtfully all the same. This time he threw it with greater strength.
..."Steady!" said Bilbo, "you have thrown it right into the wood on the other side now. Draw it back gently." Fili hauled the rope back slowly, and after a while Bilbo said: "Carefully! It is lying on the boat; let's hope the hook will catch."
...It did. The rope went taut, and Fili pulled in vain. Kili came to his help, and then Óin and Glóin. They tugged and tugged, and suddenly they all fell over on their backs. Bilbo was on the lookout... ...caught the rope, and with a piece of stick fended off the little black boat as it came rushing across the stream. "Help!" he shouted, and Balin was just in time to seize the boat before it floated off down the current.
..."It was tied after all," said he… …"That was a good pull, my lads; and a good job that our rope was the stronger..."
......they were all soon on the far bank safe across the enchanted stream. Dwalin had just scrambled out with the coiled rope on his arm, and Bombur (still grumbling) was getting ready to follow, when something bad did happen. There was a flying sound of hooves on the path ahead. Out of the gloom came suddenly the shape of a flying deer. It charged into the dwarves and bowled them over… …High it sprang and cleared the water with a mighty jump. But it did not reach the other side in safety. Thorin was the only one who had kept his feet and his wits. As soon as they had landed he had bent his bow and fitted an arrow in case any hidden guardian of the boat appeared. Now he sent a swift and sure shot into the leaping beast. As it reached the further bank it stumbled. The shadows swallowed it up, but they heard the sound of hooves quickly falter and then go still.
...Before they could shout in praise of the shot... ...a dreadful wail from Bilbo put all thoughts of venison out of their minds. "Bombur has fallen in! Bombur is drowning!" he cried. It was only too true. Bombur had only one foot on the land when the hart bore down on him, and sprang over him. He had stumbled, thrusting the boat away from the bank, and then toppled back into the dark water….
......They could still see his hood above the water when they ran to the bank. Quickly they flung a rope with a hook towards him. His hand caught it, and they pulled him to the shore. He was drenched from hair to boots... ...When they laid him on the bank he was already fast asleep, with one hand clutching the rope so tight that they could not get it from his grasp; and fast asleep he remained in spite of all they could do."
[[The Enchanted Stream is never called a “river” in the text. Only on CJRT’s map is it labeled “Enchanted R.” note from Bracegirdle 2014]
We have been there and back again.
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(This post was edited by grammaboodawg on Sat, 12:51pm)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by grammaboodawg
(Elvenhome) on Sat, 12:51pm
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