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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 18 2022, 1:59pm
Post #1 of 42
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It's time for some BS!
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Here are 3 Book Spoilers on the restoration of Esgaroth. The first is a hope of Bard's, the second is the Master of Lake-town's plan and the third is King Bard's plan realized... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From Fire and Water: The Hobbit ...[Immediately after Smaug's attack - Bard's thoughts] "...the thought came into his heart of the fabled treasure of the Mountain lying without guard or owner... ...and of Dale rebuilt, and filled with golden bells..."
From Fire and Water: The Hobbit ..."Only five days after the death of the dragon [the Elves] came upon the shores and looked on the ruins of the town. Their welcome was good... ...and the men and their Master were ready to make any bargain for the future in return for the Elvenking's aid.
...Their plans were soon made... ...some men of crafts and many skilled elves; and they busied themselves... ...raising many huts by the shore against the oncoming winter... ...also under the Master's direction they began the planning of a new town, designed more fair and large even than before, but not in the same place. They removed northward higher up the shore; for ever after they had a dread of the water where the dragon lay... ...twisted upon the floor of the shallows....."
From The Last Stage: The Hobbit ..."One autumn evening some years afterwards... ...there was a ring at [Bilbo's] door. It was Gandalf and... ...Balin.
... ...They fell to talking of their times together... ...and Bilbo asked how things were going in the lands of the Mountain... ...Bard had rebuilt the town in Dale and men had gathered to him from the Lake and from South and West, and all the valley had become tilled again and rich... ...Lake-town was refounded and was more prosperous than ever, and much wealth went up and down the Running River; and there was friendship in those parts between elves and dwarves and men."
We have been there and back again.
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(This post was edited by grammaboodawg on May 18 2022, 2:01pm)
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Ginger
Rohan
May 18 2022, 3:02pm
Post #2 of 42
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Reading these lines gives me the heebie jeebies
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"for ever after they had a dread of the water where the dragon lay... ...twisted upon the floor of the shallows....."
Even though I'm safe at my desk. I wouldn't want to live near the area either.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 19 2022, 1:06pm
Post #4 of 42
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Here's a Book Spoiler that peeks in on Sam's relatives… for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Shadow of the Past: The Fellowship of the Ring Cousin Hal
..."'Queer things you do hear these days, to be sure,' said Sam.
...'Ah,' said Ted, 'you do, if you listen. But I can hear fireside-tales and children's stories at home, if I want to.'
...'No doubt you can,' retorted Sam, 'and I daresay there's more truth in some of them than you reckon. Who invented the stories anyway? Take dragons now... ...what about these Tree-men, these giants, as you might call them? They do say that one bigger than a tree was seen up away beyond the North Moors not long back.'
...'Who's they?'
..."'My cousin Hal for one. He works for Mr. Boffin at Overhill and goes up to the Northfarthing for the hunting. He saw one.'
...'Says he did, perhaps. Your Hal's always saying that he's seen things; and maybe he sees things that ain't there.'
...'But this one was as big as an elm tree, and walking--walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch.'
...'Then I bet it wasn't an inch. What he saw was an elm tree, as like as not.'
...'But this one was walking, I tell you; and there ain't no elm tree on the North Moors... ...you can't deny that others besides our Halfast have seen queer folk crossing the Shire--crossing it, mind you: there are more that are turned back at the borders. The Bounders have never been so busy before.'"
From The Taming of Sméagol: Two Towers Gamgees and Ropes
..."To the complete surprise of both the hobbits it came loose. Sam fell over, and the long grey coils slithered silently down on top of him. Frodo laughed. 'Who tied the rope?' he said. 'A good thing it held as long as it did! To think that I trusted all my weight to your knot!'
...Sam did not laugh. 'I may not be much good at climbing, Mr. Frodo,' he said in injured tones, 'but I do know something about rope and about knots. It's in the family, as you might say. Why, my grand-dad, and my uncle Andy after him, him that was the Gaffer's eldest brother, he had a rope-walk over by Tighfield many a year. And I put as fast a hitch over the stump as any one could have done, in the Shire or out of it.'"
From Lothlórien: Fellowship of the Ring Uncle Andy
..."When this slender bridge had been made, the Company passed over, some cautiously and slowly, others more easily. Of the hobbits... ...Sam shuffled along, clutching hard, and looking down into the pale eddying water as if it was a chasm in the mountains.
...He breathed with relief when he was safely across. 'Live and learn! as my gaffer used to say. Though he was thinking of gardening, not of roosting like a bird, nor of trying to walk like a spider. Not even my uncle Andy ever did a trick like that!'"
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 20 2022, 12:32pm
Post #5 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 20, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. Passing Weathertop.
(determined from text - referencing Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."The Company of Hobbit, Wizard, and Dwarves has passed Weathertop as the Road turns more east."
May 20, 3018 (S.R. 1418)
1. Spring at Bag End.
(not from the appendices-no text)
...Frodo and Gandalf enjoy a peaceful Spring in Bag End and make plans for the fall as the Conspirators make plans of their own.
May 20, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. The Fellowship rests in Minas Tirith.
(not from the appendices)
..."The Hobbits still remained in Minas Tirith, with Legolas and Gimli; for Aragorn was loth for the Fellowship to be dissolved.... ...In those days the Companions of the Ring dwelt together in a fair house with Gandalf, and they went to and fro as they wished."
2. Elrond and Arwen come to Lórien.
(from the appendices-no text)
...[There's nothing in the story or appendices of what occurred to bring Elrond and Arwen to Lothlórien other than to imply they've gone to join with Galadriel and then journey together to Minas Tirith.]
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 21 2022, 1:42pm
Post #6 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 21-23, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. Bilbo and Company continue east.
(determined from text - referencing Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."Far behind, the Weather Hills show less and less. Ahead, company begins to see the tops of the Trollshaws. The road becomes rough."
This is a short entry, so let's take a closer look at this:
...The Weather Hills span east of Bree-land and north-west of the Lone-lands (located between Bree-land and the Trollshaws along the Great East Road) in central Eriador. Weathertop, or Amon Sûl, lays at the southern end of the range.
...When Angmar was formed, the range was fortified (to include Weathertop) by Argeleb I, the seventh king of Dúnedain, in an attempt to return Arnor to its former glory. Once the most regal and prominent feature of the Lone-lands rising above the road, Weathertop was a proud tower of vision and vigilance and the home of the strongest palantír of the north. However, it fell in battle to the Witch-king of Angmar, and has sat derelict in the wild ever since.
... Marks of this fortification still existed in the path of Thorin and Company and when Aragorn led the hobbits from Bree to Rivendell. No other peak in any nearby area matches Weathertop's height. Any traveller is affected by its fashion and power and are moved by its ruin.
[Info gleaned from Tolkien Gateway and Lotro-Wiki.com]
... While The Weather Hills might not be mentioned by name in the texts of either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien does mention them in APPENDIX A: ANNALS OF THE KINGS AND RULERS: ERIADOR, ARNOR, AND THE HEIRS OF ISILDUR. They are also named on Christopher Tolkien's maps and he refers to them in his notes for ALDARION AND ERENDIS in Unfinished Tales.
[Info supplied by Otaku-sempai 5/20/2020]
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 22 2022, 1:17pm
Post #7 of 42
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Here's a Book Spoiler of another milestone of Gandalf and Aragorn's special bond and work in the War of the Ring… for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Palantír: The Two Towers ..."Gandalf looked at Aragorn, and then to the surprise of the others, he lifted the covered stone, and bowed as he presented it.
... 'Receive it, lord!' he said; 'in earnest of other things that shall be given back. But if I may counsel you in the use of your own, do not use it--yet! Be wary!'
... 'When have I been hasty or unwary, who have waited and prepared for so many long years?' said Aragorn.
... 'Never yet. Do not then stumble in the end of the road... ...But at the least keep this thing secret. You, and all others that stand here! The hobbit, Peregrin, above all should not know where it is bestowed. The evil fit may come on him again. For alas! he has handled it and looked in it, as should never have happened. He ought never to have touched it in Isengard, and there I should have been quicker. But my mind was bent on Saruman, and I did not guess the nature of the stone, until it was too late... ...at this time we have been strangely fortunate. Maybe, I have been saved by this hobbit from a grave blunder. I had considered whether or not to probe this stone myself to find its uses. Had I done so, I should have been revealed to him myself. I am not ready for such a trial, if indeed I shall ever be so. But even if I found the power to withdraw myself, it would be disastrous for him to see me, yet--until the hour comes when secrecy will avail no longer.'
... 'That hour is now come, I think,' said Aragorn.
... 'Not yet... ...There remains a short while of doubt, which we must use. The Enemy, it is clear, thought that the stone was in Orthanc--why should he not? And that therefore the hobbit was captive there, driven to look in the glass for his torment by Saruman. That dark mind will be filled now with the voice and face of the hobbit... ...it may take some time before he learns his error. We must snatch that time. We have been too leisurely. We must move. The neighbourhood of Isengard is no place now to linger in. I will ride ahead at once with Peregrin Took. It will be better for him then lying in the dark while others sleep.'"
We have been there and back again.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
May 22 2022, 2:48pm
Post #8 of 42
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Today in (modern) Middle-earth:
May 22, 1980 (Common Era)
1. Nazanin Boniadi is born in Tehran, Iran.
Iranian-born British actress Nazanin Boniadi celebrates her forty-second birthday today. Ms. Boniadi plays Bronwyn in Amazon Prime's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 23 2022, 12:35pm
Post #9 of 42
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It's time for some special BS! May 23
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May 23, 2000
1. Half-way point of principal photography LotR.
May 23, 2000 was the middle of principal photography for The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson had special vests made for the crew to wear to earmark the day.
So to celebrate the day in the here and now, here's a special Book Spoiler to look at things in the middle... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
1. Right away, we have this place called "Middle-earth". Convenient, eh? :D
2. The Gaffer is telling a stranger and others: "I saw Mr. Bilbo when he came back, a matter of sixty years ago, when I was a lad... ...while the sale was on. And in the middle of it all Mr. Bilbo comes up the Hill with a pony..."
3. When Frodo was distributing Bilbo's mathoms: "In the middle of the commotion the Sackville-Bagginses arrived. Frodo had retired for a while... ...When Otho loudly demanded to see Frodo..."
4. "To Frodo's astonishment and distress the wizard threw it suddenly into the middle of the glowing corner of the fire."
5. Gildor invites the hobbits to come along: "'You had best walk in the middle so that you may not stray.'"
6. The hobbits come to Bombadil's: "Nothing could be seen of the house in the dark: it stood back from the lane in the middle of a wide circle of lawn surrounded by a belt of low trees inside the outer hedge."
7. Nob helps out: "'I've ruffled up the clothes and put a bolster down the middle of each bed.'"
8. Aragorn finds a beryl: "'I found it in the mud in the middle of the Bridge'"
9. Bilbo chastises Elrond: "'...you have disturbed me--in the middle of making up a song.'"
10. Saruman monologues to Gandalf: "'The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning.'"
11. Gandalf approaches the door of Moria: "He stepped up to the rock again, and lightly touched with his staff the silver star in the middle beneath the sign of the anvil."
12. Gandalf follows his nose: "'I do not like the feel of the middle way; and I do not like the smell of the left-hand way: there is foul air down there, or I am no guide.'"
13. "The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white."
14. "Merry and Pippin in the middle boat were ill at ease, for Boromir sat muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails..."
15. "Treebeard lowered himself slowly onto this (with only the slightest sign of bending at his middle)"
16. "'Isengard is a sort of ring of rocks or hills, I think, with a flat space inside and an island or pillar of rock in the middle, called "Orthanc.'"
17. "'Now, now!' said Gimli. 'We are beginning the story in the middle. I should like a tale in the right order, starting with that strange day when your fellowship was broken.'"
18. While Faramir was questioning Frodo: "Sam had been getting more and more impatient and angry at this conversation. These last words were more than he could bear, and bursting into the middle of the ring, he strode up to his master's side."
19. Faramir speaks to Frodo and Sam: "'For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the West, which were Númenóreans, and the Middle Peoples [Encyclopedia of Arda: Descendants of the Edain], Men of the Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim and their kin that dwell still far in the North; and the Wild, the Men of Darkness... ...We are become Middle Men, of the Twilight.'"
20. "...the middle door of the Black Gate was thrown open with a great clang, and out of it there came an embassy from the Dark Tower."
21. "...rage blazed in Sam's heart to a sudden fury. He sprang up, ran, and went up the ladder like a cat. His head came out in the middle of the floor of a large round chamber. A red lamp hung from its roof; the westward window-slit was high and dark. Something was lying on the floor by the wall under the window, but over it a black orc-shape was straddled. It raised a whip a second time, but the blow never fell. With a cry Sam leapt across the floor, Sting in his hand."
22. "Inside it was filled with a grey dust, soft and fine, in the middle of which was a seed, like a small nut with a silver shale."
And finally:
23. "'You tried to give us the slip once before and failed, Frodo,' he said. 'This time you have nearly succeeded, but you have failed again. It was not Sam, though, that gave you away this time, but Gandalf himself!'
...'Yes,' said Gandalf; 'for it will be better to ride back three together than one alone. Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.'
...Then Frodo kissed Merry and Pippin, and last of all Sam, and went aboard; and the sails were drawn up, and the wind blew, and slowly the ship slipped away down the long grey firth; and the light of the glass of Galadriel that Frodo bore glimmered and was lost."
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 24 2022, 1:03pm
Post #10 of 42
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This is a Book Spoiler of one of my favourite moments from Fellowship of the Ring; when Frodo's awareness is really apparent... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From Lothlórien: The Fellowship of the Ring ...[The Company comes to Cerin Amroth] "The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful... ...No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain.
... He... ...saw that Sam was now standing beside him, looking round with a puzzled expression, and rubbing his eyes as if he was not sure that he was awake. 'It's sunlight and bright day, right enough,' he said. 'I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars: but this is more elvish than anything I ever heard tell of. I feel as if I was inside a song, if you take my meaning.'
... Haldir... ...seemed indeed to take the meaning of both thought and word. He smiled. 'You feel the power of the Lady of the Galadrim,' he said. 'Would it please you to climb with me up Cerin Amroth?'
... They followed him as he stepped lightly up the grass-clad slopes. Though he walked and breathed, and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same cool wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or change or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien.
... They entered the circle of white trees... ...the South Wind blew upon Cerin Amroth and sighed among the branches. Frodo stood still, hearing far off great seas upon beaches that had long ago been washed away, and sea-birds crying whose race had perished from the earth.
... Haldir... ...was now climbing to the high flet. As Frodo prepared to follow him, he laid his hand upon the tree beside the ladder: never before had he been so suddenly and so keenly aware of the feel and texture of a tree's skin and of the life within it. He felt a delight in wood and the touch of it, neither as forester nor as carpenter; it was the delight of the living tree itself."
We have been there and back again.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
May 24 2022, 1:47pm
Post #11 of 42
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A place not constrained by the flow of time
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"Frodo stood still, hearing far off great seas upon beaches that had long ago been washed away, and sea-birds crying whose race had perished from the earth."
Passages like this send chills up my spine. The past and present flow together here, unconstrained. "Living memory", but somehow not "memory", in the mortal sense!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 25 2022, 12:39pm
Post #12 of 42
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Here's a Book Spoiler of Frodo thinking of his friends as he thinks of leaving the Shire... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From Three Is Company: The Fellowship of the Ring ..."From Frodo's mind the bright morning--treacherously bright, he thought--had not banished the fear of pursuit; and he pondered the words of Gildor. The merry voice of Pippin came to him. He was running on the green turf and singing.
... 'No! I could not!' he said to himself. 'It is the one thing to take my young friends walking over the Shire with me, until we are hungry and weary, and food and bed are sweet. To take them into exile, where hunger and weariness may have no cure, is quite another... ...The inheritance is mine alone. I don't think I ought even to take Sam.' He looked at Sam Gamgee, and discovered that Sam was watching him.
... 'Well, Sam... ...What about it? I am leaving the Shire as soon as ever I can--in fact I have made up my mind now not even to wait a day at Crickhollow, if it can be helped.'
... 'Very good, sir!'
... 'You still mean to come with me?'
... 'I do.'
... 'It is going to be very dangerous, Sam... ...Most likely neither of us will come back.'
... 'If you don't come back, sir, then I shan't, that's certain...' '...Don't you leave him! they said to me. Leave him! I said. I never mean to. I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon; and if any of those Black Riders try to stop him, they'll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said. They laughed.'
... 'Who are they, and what are you talking about?'
... 'The Elves, sir. We had some talk last night; and they seemed to know you were going away, so I didn't see the use of denying it. Wonderful folk, Elves, sir! Wonderful!'
... 'They are,' said Frodo. 'Do you like them still, now you have had a closer view?'
... 'They seem a bit above my likes and dislikes, so to speak,' answered Sam slowly. 'It don't seem to matter what I think about them. They are quite different from what I expected--so old and young, and so gay and sad, as it were.'
... Frodo looked at Sam rather startled, half expecting to see some outward sign of the odd change that seemed to have come over him. It did not sound like the voice of the old Sam Gamgee that he thought he knew. But it looked like the old Sam Gamgee sitting there, except that his face was unusually thoughtful."
We have been there and back again.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
May 25 2022, 2:04pm
Post #14 of 42
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Today in (modern) Middle-earth:
May 25, 1939 (Common Era)
1. Sir Ian Murray McKellen born in Burnley, United Kingdom.
Ian McKellen celebrates his eighty-third birthday today. Happy birthday Gandalf!
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 26 2022, 1:27pm
Post #15 of 42
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This is a Book Spoiler of a conversation between Sam and Faramir... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Window on the West: The Two Towers ..."Men now fear and misdoubt the Elves, and yet know little of them. And we of Gondor... ...shun the Elves and speak of the Golden Wood with dread.
... 'Yet there are among us still some who have dealings with the Elves when they may, and ever and anon one will go in secret to Lórien, seldom to return... ...I deem it perilous now for mortal man wilfully to seek out the Elder People. Yet I envy you that have spoken with the White Lady.'
... 'The Lady of Lórien! Galadriel!' cried Sam. 'You should see her, indeed you should, sir. I am only a hobbit, and gardening's my job at home, sir, if you understand me, and I'm not much good at poetry—not at making it: a bit of a comic rhyme, perhaps, now and again, you know, but not real poetry—so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to be sung... ...But I wish I could make a song about her. Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime. But that's a lot o' nonsense, and all wide of my mark.'
... 'Then she must be lovely indeed,' said Faramir. 'Perilously fair.'
... 'I don't know about perilous,' said Sam. 'It strikes me that folk takes their peril with them into Lórien, and finds it there because they've brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock; or drownd yourself, like a hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame."
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(This post was edited by grammaboodawg on May 26 2022, 1:31pm)
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 26 2022, 2:04pm
Post #16 of 42
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Here's to the WONDERFUL gent who has given so much to our world... Middle-earth. I chuckle when I remember his commentary from the LotR eedvds of how he questioned all the running he did as Gandalf at the age of 61!!! Then he kept running again in The Hobbit :D How very cool!!
Happiest of Birthdays, dear Sir. And THANK YOU!
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 27 2022, 2:13pm
Post #17 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 27, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. The escort of Arwen leaves Lórien.
(from the appendices-no text)
...Arwen is leaving Lothlórien to travel to Minas Tirith via Edoras along with Elrond (Lord of Rivendell), Galadriel and Celeborn (Lady and Lord of the Galadrim), Glorfindel and Erestor (Elrond's chief counsellor), and other members of the household of Rivendell.
May 27, 3020 (S.R. 1420)
1. Spring in the Shire.
(not from the appendices-no text)
...The hobbits of the Shire enjoy the fairest spring they can remember while continuing to heal the hurts caused by Sharkey and his brute-squad.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
May 27 2022, 5:44pm
Post #18 of 42
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May 27, 1922 (Common Era)
1. Christopher Frank Carandini Lee born in Belgravia, London, UK.
Sir Christopher Lee (d. 2015) were he still alive would be 100 years old today. Lee was Saruman in Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 28 2022, 2:04pm
Post #19 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 28, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. The road swings southeast through open country. Ahead are the hills of the Trollshaws.
(from Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."Mostly it had been as good as May can be, even in merry tales, but now it was cold and wet. In the Lone-lands they had to camp when they could, but at least it had been dry.
..."To think it will soon be June," grumbled Bilbo as he splashed along behind the others in a very muddy track. It was after tea-time; it was pouring with rain, and had been all day; his hood was dripping into his eyes, his cloak was full of water... ...the others were too grumpy to talk. "And I'm sure the rain has got into the dry clothes and into the food-bags," thought Bilbo. "Bother burgling and everything to do with it! I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!" It was not the last time that he wished that!"
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 29 2022, 1:41pm
Post #20 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 29, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. The weather turns trollish; and the Company realizes Gandalf is missing.
(from Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."...Soon it was nearly dark.... ...Not until then did they notice that Gandalf was missing. So far he had come all the way with them, never saying if he was in the adventure or merely keeping them company for a while. He had eaten most, talked most, and laughed most. But now he simply was not there at all!
..."Just when a wizard would have been most useful, too," groaned Dori and Nori (who shared the hobbit's views about regular meals, plenty and often).
...They decided in the end that they would have to camp where they were.... ...They moved to a clump of trees, and though it was drier under them, the wind shook the rain off the leaves, and the drip, drip, was most annoying. Also the mischief seemed to have got into the fire. Dwarves can make a fire almost anywhere out of almost anything, wind or no wind; but they could not do it that night....
...There they all sat glum and wet and muttering, while Oin and Gloin went on trying to light the fire, and quarrelling about it. Bilbo was sadly reflecting that adventures are not all pony-rides in May-sunshine, when Balin, who was always their look-out man, said: "There's a light over there...!'
..."...Now it is the burglar's turn... ...You must go on and find out all about that light, and what it is for, and if all is perfectly safe and canny," said Thorin to the hobbit. "Now scuttle off, and come back quick, if all is well. If not, come back if you can! If you can't, hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl, and we will do what we can."
...Off Bilbo had to go, before he could explain that he could not hoot even once like any kind of owl any more than fly like a bat. But at any rate hobbits can move quietly in woods, absolutely quietly.... ...he got right up to the fire—for fire it was—without disturbing anyone. And this is what he saw.
...Three very large persons sitting round a very large fire of beech-logs. They were toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gravy off their fingers... ...Also there was a barrel of good drink at hand, and they were drinking out of jugs.
...But they were trolls... ...Even Bilbo, in spite of his sheltered life, could see that...
..."...Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer," said one of the trolls.
..."Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough," said a second....
......After hearing all this Bilbo ought to have done something at once. Either he should have gone back quietly and warned his friends that there were three fair-sized trolls at hand in a nasty mood, quite likely to try toasted dwarf, or even pony, for a change; or else he should have done a bit of good quick burgling.... ...Of the various burglarious proceedings he had heard of picking the trolls' pockets seemed the least difficult, so at last he crept behind a tree just behind William.
......Bilbo plucked up courage and put his little hand in William's enormous pocket. There was a purse in it, as big as a bag to Bilbo. "Ha!" thought he warming to his new work as he lifted it carefully out, "this is a beginning!"
...It was! Trolls' purses are the mischief, and this was no exception. "'Ere, 'oo are you?" it squeaked, as it left the pocket; and William turned round at once and grabbed Bilbo by the neck....
..."...Blimey, Bert, look what I've copped!" said William.
..."What is it?" said the others coming up.
..."Lumme, if I knows! What are yer?"
..."Bilbo Baggins, a bur—a hobbit," said poor Bilbo, shaking all over, and wondering how to make owl-noises before they throttled him.
..."A Burrahobbit?" said they a bit startled. Trolls are slow in the uptake...."
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 30 2022, 12:41pm
Post #21 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
May 30, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. Gandalf keeps the trolls arguing until dawn.
(from Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
...""No sooner did Tom see Balin come into the light than he gave an awful howl. Trolls simply detest the very sight of dwarves (uncooked)... ...before Balin, who was wondering where in all this commotion Bilbo was, knew what was happening, a sack was over his head, and he was down.
..."There's more to come yet," said Tom, "or I'm mighty mistook. Lots and none at all, it is," said he. "No burra-hobbits, but lots of these here dwarves... ...As each dwarf came up and looked at the fire, and the spilled jugs, and the gnawed mutton, in surprise, pop! went a nasty smelly sack over his head, and he was down. Soon Dwalin lay by Balin, and Fili and Kili together, and Dori and Nori and Ori all in a heap, and Oin and Gloin and Bifur and Bofur and Bombur piled uncomfortably near the fire...
......Thorin came last—and he was not caught unawares. He came expecting mischief, and didn't need to see his friends' legs sticking out of sacks to tell him that things were not all well... ...he jumped forward to the fire, before they could leap on him. He caught up a big branch all on fire at one end; and Bert got that end in his eye before he could step aside... ...Bilbo did his best. He caught hold of Tom's leg—as well as he could, it was thick as a young tree-trunk—but he was sent spinning up into the top of some bushes, when Tom kicked the sparks up in Thorin's face.
...Tom got the branch in his teeth for that, and lost one of the front ones... ...But just at that moment William came up behind and popped a sack right over Thorin's head and down to his toes. And so the fight ended. A nice pickle they were all in now: all neatly tied up in sacks, with three angry trolls (and two with burns and bashes to remember) sitting by them, arguing whether they should roast them slowly, or mince them fine and boil them, or just sit on them one by one and squash them into jelly: and Bilbo up in a bush, with his clothes and his skin torn, not daring to move for fear they should hear him....
......It was just then that Gandalf came back. But no one saw him. The trolls had just decided to roast the dwarves now and eat them later---that was Bert's idea, and after a lot of argument they had all agreed to it.
..."No good roasting 'em now, it'd take all night," said a voice. Bert thought it was William's.
..."Don't start the argument all over again, Bill," he said, "or it will take all night."
..."Who's a-arguing?" said William, who thought it was Bert that had spoken.
..."You are," said Bert.
..."You're a liar," said William; and so the argument began all over again. In the end they decided to mince them fine and boil them...
..."...No good boiling 'em! We ain't got no water, and it's a long way to the well and all," said a voice. Bert and William thought it was Tom's....
......And so the argument began all over again, and went on hotter than ever, until at last they decided to sit on the sacks one by one and squash them, and boil them next time.
..."Who shall we sit on first?" said the voice....
..."...Now stop it!" said Tom and Bert together. "The night's getting' on, and dawn comes early. Let's get on with it!"
..."Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!" said a voice that sounded like William's. But it wasn't. For just at that moment the light came over the hill, and there was a mighty twitter in the branches. William never spoke for he stood turned to stone as he stooped; and Bert and Tom were stuck like rocks as they looked at him. And there they stand to this day all alone, unless the birds perch on them; for trolls... ...must be underground before dawn, or they go back to the stuff of the mountains they are made of, and never move again....
..."...Excellent!" said Gandalf, as he stepped from behind a tree, and helped Bilbo to climb down out of a thornbush. Then Bilbo understood. It was the wizard's voice that had kept the trolls bickering and quarrelling, until the light came and made an end of them....
......They searched about, and soon found the marks of trolls' stony boots going away through the trees. They followed the tracks up the hill, until hidden by bushes they came on a big door of stone leading to a cave.... ...among an untidy litter of plunder, of all sorts from brass buttons to pots full of gold coins standing in a corner. There were lots of clothes, too, hanging on the walls—too small for trolls, I am afraid they belonged to victims—and among them were several swords of various makes, shapes, and sizes. Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jewelled hilts.
...Gandalf and Thorin each took one of these; and Bilbo took a knife in a leather sheath. It would have made only a tiny pocket-knife for a troll, but it was as good as a short sword for the hobbit.
..."These look like good blades," said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them curiously. "They were not made by any troll, nor by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them.""
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 30 2022, 10:10pm
Post #22 of 42
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It's time for some special BS! Memorial Day
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In honour of Memorial Day... for veterans and military throughout the world... lest we forget.
From The Return Journey: The Hobbit ..."They buried Thorin deep beneath the Mountain, and Bard laid the Arkenstone upon his breast.
..."There let it lie till the Mountain falls!" he said. "May it bring good fortune to all his folk that dwell here after!"
Upon his tomb the Elvenking then laid Orcrist, the elvish sword that had been taken from Thorin in captivity. It is said in songs that it gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached, and the fortress of the dwarves could not be taken by surprise."
From The King of the Golden Hall ..."At the foot of the walled hill the way ran under the shadow of many mounds, high and green. Upon their western sides the grass was white as with a drifted snow: small flowers sprang there like countless stars amid the turf.
...'Look!' said Gandalf. 'How fair are the bright eyes in the grass! Evermind they are called, Simbelmynë in this land of Men, for they blossom in all the season of the year, and grow where dead men rest.... ...We are come to the great barrows where the sires of Théoden sleep.'
...'Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right,' said Aragorn. 'Many long lives of men it is since the golden hall was built.'
...'Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,' said Legolas, 'and but a little while does that seem to us.'
...'But to the Riders of the Mark it seems so long ago... ...that the raising of this house is but a memory of song, and the years before are lost in the mist of time. Now they call this land their home... ...their own, and their speech is sundered from their northern kin.' Then he began to chant softly in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and Dwarf; yet they listened, for there was a strong music in it.
...'That, I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim,' said Legolas; 'for it is like to this land itself; rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains. But I cannot guess what it means, save that it is laden with the sadness of Mortal Men.'
...'It runs thus in the Common Speech,' said Aragorn...
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harp string, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning? Thus spoke a forgotten poet long ago in Rohan... ...So men still sing in the evening.'"
From The Houses of Healing: The Return of the King ..."Then Aragorn laid his hand on Merry's head, and passing his hand gently through the brown curls, he touched the eyelids, and called him by name. And when the fragrance of athelas stole through the room... ...suddenly Merry awoke, and he said:
...'I am hungry. What is the time?'
...'Past supper-time now,' said Pippin; 'though I daresay I could bring you something, if they will let me.'
...'They will indeed,' said Gandalf. 'And anything else that this Rider of Rohan may desire... ...in Minas Tirith, where his name is in honour.'
...'Good!' said Merry. 'Then I would like supper first, and after that a pipe.' At that his face clouded. 'No, not a pipe. I don't think I'll smoke again.'
...'Why not?' said Pippin.
...'Well,' answered Merry slowly. 'He is dead. It has brought it all back to me. He said he was sorry he had never had a chance of talking herb-lore with me. Almost the last thing he ever said. I shan't ever be able to smoke again without thinking of him, and that day, Pippin, when he rode up to Isengard and was so polite.'
...'Smoke then, and think of him!' said Aragorn. 'For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning. Though your service to him was brief, it should be a memory glad and honourable to the end of your days.'
...Merry smiled. 'Well then,' he said, 'if Strider will provide what is needed, I will smoke and think.... ...Pippin remained behind. 'Was there ever any one like him?' he said. 'Except Gandalf, of course. I think they must be related. My dear ass, your pack is lying by your bed, and you had it on your back when I met you. He saw it all the time, of course. And anyway I have some stuff of my own. Come on now! Longbottom Leaf it is. Fill up while I run and see about some food. And then let's be easy for a bit. Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can't live long on the heights.'
...'No, I can't; at least not yet. But at least we can know about them now, and honor them. It is best to love what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher, and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not. I am glad I know about them, a little. But I don't know why I am talking like this. Where is that leaf? And get my pipe out of my pack, if it isn't broken.'"
From The Field of Cormallen: The Return of the King ..."Frodo and Sam were led apart and brought to a tent, and there their old raiment was... ...set aside with honour; and clean linen was given to them. Then Gandalf came and in his arms, to the wonder of Frodo, he bore the sword and the elven-cloak and the mithril-coat that had been taken from him in Mordor. For Sam he brought a coat of gilded mail, and his elven-cloak all healed of the soils and hurts that it had suffered; and then he laid before them two swords.
...'I do not wish for any sword,' said Frodo.
...'Tonight at least you should wear one,' said Gandalf.
...Then Frodo took the small sword that had belonged to Sam.... '...Sting I gave to you Sam,' he said.
...'No, master! Mr. Bilbo gave it to you, and it goes with his silver coat; he would not wish anyone else to wear it now.'
Frodo gave way; and Gandalf, as if he were their esquire, knelt and girt the sword-belts about them, and then rising he set circlets of silver upon their heads. And when they were arrayed they went to the great feast; and they sat at the King's table with Gandalf, and King Éomer of Rohan, and the Prince Imrahil and all the chief captains; and there also were Gimli and Legolas... [and all paused for]... the Standing Silence..."
..."'And I,' said Legolas, 'shall walk in the woods of the fair land, which is rest enough.'
'To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,
The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.
West, west away, the round sun is falling.
Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling,
The voices of my people that have gone before me?
I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;
For our days are ending and our years failing.
I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.
Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling,
Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling,
In Eressëa, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,
Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!' And so singing Legolas went away down the hill."
From Many Partings; The Return of the King ..."Often long after the hobbits were wrapped in sleep they would sit together under the stars, recalling the ages that were gone and all their joys and labours in the world, or holding council, concerning the days to come. If any wanderer had chanced to pass, little would he have seen or heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved in stone, memorials of forgotten things now lost in unpeopled lands. For they did not move or speak with their mouth, looking from mind to mind and only their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went to and fro."
From The Scouring of the Shire: The Return of the King ..."At last all was over. Nearly seventy of the ruffians lay dead on the field, and a dozen were prisoners. Nineteen hobbits were killed, and some thirty were wounded. The dead ruffians were laden on waggons and hauled off to an old sand-pit nearby and there buried: in the Battle Pit.... ...The fallen hobbits were laid together in a grave on the hill-side, where later a great stone was set up with a garden about it. So ended the Battle of Bywater, 1419, the last battle fought in the Shire, and the only battle since the Greenfields, 1147, away up in the Northfarthing. In consequence, though it happily cost very few lives, it has a chapter to itself in the Red Book, and the names of all those who took part were made into a Roll, and learned by heart by Shire-historians. The very considerable rise in the fame and fortune of the Cottons dates from this time; but at the top of the Roll in all accounts stand the names of Captains Meriadoc and Peregrin."
From The Grey Havens: The Return of the King ..."'Where are you going, Master?' cried Sam, though at last he understood what was happening.
...'To the Havens, Sam,' said Frodo.
...'And I can't come.'
...'No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not further than the Havens. Though you too were a Ring-bearer.... ...Your time may come. Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.'
...'But,' said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, 'I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.'
...'So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are still my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you. And also you have Rose, and Elanor; and Frodo-lad will come, and Rosie-lass, and Merry, and Goldilocks, and Pippin; and perhaps more that I cannot see. Your hands and your wits will be needed everywhere. You will be the Mayor... ...as long as you want to be, and the most famous gardener in history; and you will read things out of the Red Book, and keep alive the memory of the age that is gone, so that people will remember the Great Danger and so love their beloved land all the more."
From The Lord of the Rings: Appendix A. III: "Durin's Folk" ..."So it was that after Azanulbizar the Dwarves dispersed again. But first with great labour they stripped all their dead, so that Orcs should not come and win there a store of weapons and mail. It is said that every Dwarf that went from that battlefield was bowed under a heavy burden. Then they built many pyres and burned all the bodies of their kin. There was a great felling of trees in the valley, which remained bare ever after, and the reek of the burning was seen in Lórien.*"
..."* Such dealings with their dead seemed grievous to the Dwarves, for it was against their use; but to make such tombs as they were accustomed to build (since they will lay their dead only in stone not in earth) would have taken many years. To fire therefore they turned, rather than leave their kin to beast or bird or carrion-orc. But those who fell in Azanulbizar were honoured in memory, and to this day a Dwarf will say proudly of one of his sires: 'he was a burned Dwarf', and that is enough."
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
May 31 2022, 1:35pm
Post #23 of 42
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A Book Spoiler to honour the fallen in battle... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Riders Of Rohan: The Two Towers ..."At last as the afternoon was waning they came to the eaves of the forest, and in an open glade among the first trees they found the place of the great burning: the ashes were still hot and smoking. Beside it was a great pile of helms and mail, cloven shields, and broken swords, bows and darts and other gear of war... ...not far from the river, where it came streaming out from the edge of the wood, there was a mound. It was newly raised: the raw earth was covered with... ...turves: about it were planted fifteen spears.
...Aragorn and his companions searched far and wide about the field of battle, but the light faded and evening soon drew down, dim and misty. By nightfall they had discovered no trace of Merry and Pippin.
...'We can do no more,' said Gimli sadly. 'We have been set many riddles since we came to Tol Brandir, but this is the hardest to unravel. I would guess that the burned bones of the hobbits are now mingled with the Orcs'. It will be hard news for Frodo, if he lives to hear it; and hard too for the old hobbit who waits in Rivendell. Elrond was against their coming.'
...'But Gandalf was not,' said Legolas.
...'But Gandalf chose to come himself, and he was the first to be lost.... ...His foresight failed him.'
...'The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others,' said Aragorn. 'There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.'"
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hatster
Rohan
May 31 2022, 10:00pm
Post #24 of 42
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I need to tattoo that last line
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somewhere where I can't miss seeing it and live each day with that in mind. As always, thanks for the TIME!
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jun 1 2022, 11:04am
Post #25 of 42
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Today in Middle-earth
June 1, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. The Company enters the woods.
(from Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth)
..."[Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves] leave early and make haste. They enter the woods and continue east on road through the trees. Their road and the woods run into the valley on north as they pass an out-thrust 'toe' of a hill. They make camp near the valley from the north."
Since this is so short, let's see how hobbits like to camp... for a moment of Tolkien-zen
From Three Is Company: The Fellowship of the Ring ... "Leaving the road they went into the deep resin-scented darkness of the trees, and gathered dead sticks and cones to make a fire. Soon they had a merry crackle of flame at the foot of a large fir-tree and they sat round it for a while, until they began to nod. Then... ...they curled up in their cloaks and blankets, and were soon fast asleep... ...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 of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom 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...
... ...The morning came, pale and clammy. Frodo woke up first, and found that a tree-root had made a hole in his back, and that his neck was stiff. 'Walking for pleasure! Why didn't I drive?' he thought, as he usually did at the beginning of an expedition... '...Wake up, hobbits!' he cried. 'It's a beautiful morning!'
... 'What's beautiful about it?' said Pippin, peering over the edge of his blanket with one eye. 'Sam! Get breakfast ready for half-past nine! Have you got the bath-water hot?'
... Sam jumped up, looking rather bleary. 'No, sir, I haven't, sir!' he said.
... Frodo stripped the blankets from Pippin and rolled him over, and then walked off to the edge of the wood... ...When he returned Sam and Pippin had got a good fire going. 'Water!' shouted Pippin. 'Where's the water?'
... 'I don't keep water in my pockets,' said Frodo.
... 'We thought you had gone to find some,' said Pippin, busy setting out the food, and cups. 'You had better go now.'
... 'You can come too,' said Frodo, 'and bring all the water-bottles.' There was a stream at the foot of the hill. They filled their bottles and the small camping kettle at a little fall where the water fell a few feet over an outcrop of grey stone. It was icy cold; and they spluttered and puffed as they bathed their faces and hands.
... When their breakfast was over, and their packs all trussed up again, it was after ten o'clock, and the day was beginning to turn fine and hot. They went down the slope, and across the stream where it dived under the road, and up the next slope, and up and down another shoulder of the hills; and by that time their cloaks, blankets, water, food, and other gear already seemed a heavy burden."
Map of Hobbit & LotR campsites from the Trollshaws to Rivendell.
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