�Eventually he fell into a vague dream , in which he seemed to be looking out of a high window over a dark sea of tangled trees. Down below among the roots there was the sound of creatures crawling and snuffling. He felt sure they would smell him out sooner or later.

Then he heard a noise in the distance. At first he thought it was a great wind coming over the leaves of the forest. Then he knew it was not leaves, but the sound of the Sea far-off; a sound he had never heard in his waking life, though it had often troubled his dreams. Suddenly he found he was out in the open. There were no trees after all. He was on a dark heath, and there was a strange salt smell in the air. Looking up he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone on a high ridge. A great desire came over him to climb the tower and see the Sea. He started to struggle up the ridge towards the tower: but suddenly a light came in the sky, and there was a noise of thunder.�

�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.�

He had a strange feeling as the slow gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front. He scratched his head and for a moment had a passing wish that Mr.Frodo could have gone on living quietly at Bag End.

But as many of us have noticed, these are the parts of the story that seem to hold together least successfully, or to make the least sense in "real world" terms (which are the terms in which they're given - presumably swords are swords and a stone wall is a stone wall, in Middle-earth and our real Earth). Those interested in pursuing the "vast game" (Tolkien's term!) spot these problems quickly, and may even become frustrated at Tolkien's apparent lack of attention to consistency, cause and effect, and history in this regard.

Squire http://newboards.theonering.net/...i?post=824821#824821 - part of the subthread thread about game-like details versus other interests that I mentioned earlier

'Where is he?' said Frodo, looking round, as if he expected a masked and sinister figure to come out of a cupboard.

The Conspiracy: that was a nice surprise to find out that Merry knew what was going on, and that they�d all been in the know for quite some time, with Sam as the ringleader. Some of the weight came off Frodo�s shoulders knowing he wouldn�t have to say goodbye to his friends nor face the scary unknown alone.

The overwhelming sense I get in this chapter, particularly, is of Merry's competence, in pretty much everything he takes on. He's one who watches, listens, makes connections, explores... and when the time comes to act, he knows just what to do and how to accomplish it. Looking ahead in the stories, it's setting up the challenge for him of letting go of those he sees as his 'charges', particularly Pippin, so they may grow in leadership as well.

I must say that I felt that Farmer Maggot was a harder version of Hobbits than those of Hobbiton which we meet firstly in the tale. Merry continues this trend. Maggot keeps dogs, is tough with trespassers etc. Merry is also probably more aware of things happening outside the Shire or at the least on its borders than Frodo and Sam might be. One thing I have wondered about Farmer Maggot was that whilst we know that he has actually met Tom Bombadil and is even on frequent, friendly terms with him, had he also met Strider or if not him one of the Rangers and aware of their existence and role? They did have similar jobs in similar places after all!!

It seems quite a well-established crossing - someone has nicely maintained the path down to it (bollards, no less!) and there are lamps alight there, suggesting night-time travellers are common enough to make it worthwhile illuminating the landing area. But it seems to be self-service (at this time and season, of course - there could be a ferryman who operates it for some hours and lights the lamps at the end of his or her shift).
Merry is mentioned pushing of with a pole, but I'm supposing the ferry is not a punt (in which the craft is propelled by pushing the pole against the river bed). My reason for guessing this is that punting only works - for fairly obvious reasons - in shallow water, and all the more so if the punt pole has to be handled by a 3-4 foot hobbit. A river shallow enough for a hobbit to punt across probably wouldn't be the sort of obstacle to a horseman that would require the horse to swim (which is what Frodo and Merry discuss later). So I'm imagining the river is pretty deep, and that the pole is for starting and for fending off.


For myself, I do see Merry punting. The relative depth if a horse is to swim wouldn't be as relative I think as the bank: 'on the other side, the bank was steep...' (3rd par.)

From a practical standpoint, that's the part that negates the horse jumping in: he won't be able to get out. So I could see the river being rather shallow, and slow-moving. And wide enough to slowly pole over, and give Sam enough time to regret adventuring for a second (like Bilbo missing his kettle - more of Sam inheriting Bilbo's literary heritage!)



When they get to the other bank, Merry ties the ferry up. This sounds like it is done very calmly - standard operating procedure rather than a an unusual anti-pursuit step (to prevent the Rider they have seen behind them hauling the ferry back to the other bank again and so getting across). But if it is the standard thing you do it seems rather odd when you think about it - any law-abiding hobbit traveller coming to the West (Marish) bank and hoping to get across is now stranded.
There is the odd detail that no boats are left on the west bank: dead handy now of course, but I wonder why that might be the custom? Surely the Bucklanders are not expecting an invasion from the Shire? Or mushroom rustlers, perhaps?

Well, from the Buckland viewpoint, the world is a bit dicier! But from a practical viewpoint, if Buckland feared attack from the Hobbiton side the ferry would have been left on Buckland's shore surely? It almost seems that in its default state, this particular ferry is in the open-door position. Or is it due to Merry - rather local royalty, as it were - having crossed and being entrusted with the ferry workings?

I wonder where the image of a "masked and sinister figure in the cupboard" comes from, in terms of hobbit culture? We readers get that Tolkien is making fun of pulp spy fiction from the 19th and early 20th century. But who in the Shire would think of a 'spy', not as a small-town snitch or eavesdropper or peeping tom, but as a full-fledged bandit, mask and all? This unlikely turn of speech on the narrator's part, conveying Frodo's thoughts, ultimately suggests that the Shire has a ripe literary culture (dramatics seem too outlandish to contemplate) of which there are very few other signs in the story at all.

I sometimes think this entire 'conspiracy' subplot, starting with Sam's episode in Chapter 2 and ending more or less here (but picked up faintly in the Bree chapters, too), are one of Tolkien's weaker and less original inventions. We know from HoME that he self-edited fairly well, given some of the nonsense we see in the abandoned first drafts (especially in these early chapters), but the underbrush is thick indeed and sometimes he seems to have just let it slide rather than rethink and recompose.

Hoping to catch up some tonight.