text stringlengths 7 4.56k |
|---|
He laughed at me, for my words were empty, and he knew it. |
But harder than stone is the flesh and bone Of a troll that sits in the hills alone. |
‘Pick up those prisoners!’ shouted Uglu´k. ‘Don’t play any tricks with them! If they are not alive when we get back, someone else will die too.’ An Orc seized Pippin like a sack, put its head between his tiedtreated Merry in the same way. The Orc’s clawlike hand gripped Pippin’s arms like iron; the nails bit into him. ... |
‘The enemy,’ men murmured. ‘The dike is down. Here they come pouring through the breaches! And they carry torches, it seems. |
They passed through the lane; but hardly had Frodo touched the ground when with a deep rumble there rolled down a fall of stones and slithering snow. The spray of it half blinded the Company as they crouched against the cliff, and when the air cleared again they saw that the path was blocked behind them. |
‘All right,’ said Shagrat, ‘but we’ll talk of that later. Wait till we get to the Under-way. There’s a place there where we can talk a bit, while the lads go on.’ Shortly afterwards Sam saw the torches disappear. Then there was a rumbling noise, and just as he hurried up, a bump. As far as he could guess the Orcs had t... |
The ferry-boat moved slowly across the water. The Buckland shore drew nearer. Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before. 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 ... |
‘That is a line of trees,’ said Merry, ‘and that must mark the Road. |
‘The Corsairs of Umbar!’ men shouted. ‘The Corsairs of Umbar! Look! The Corsairs of Umbar are coming! So Belfalas is taken, and the Ethir, and Lebennin is gone. The Corsairs are upon us! It is the last stroke of doom!’ And some without order, for none could be found to command them in the City, ran to the bells and tol... |
‘Seems so,’ said Sam. ‘Well, we can but wait and see.’ And with that he sat down beside Frodo under the shadow of the cliff. |
Beaver the builder, buck the leaper, Bear bee-hunter, boar the fighter; Hound is hungry, hare is fearful . . . |
But soon there were few left in Minas Tirith who had the heart to stand up and defy the hosts of Mordor. For yet another weapon, swifter than hunger, the Lord of the Dark Tower had: dread and despair. |
But that desire was yet far away, and long now had she been hungry, lurking in her den, while the power of Sauron grew, and light and living things forsook his borders; and the city in the valley was dead, and no Elf or Man came near, only the unhappy Orcs. |
‘I am so sleepy,’ he said, ‘that soon I shall fall down on the road. |
As dusk drew down on the fourth day, he was looking back over the bowed heads of Frodo and Aragorn and the following boats; he was drowsy and longed for camp and the feel of earth under his toes. |
‘ ‘‘To Bag End,’’ says they. |
They’re all Elvish enough, but they’re not all the same. Now these folk aren’t wanderers or homeless, and seem a bit nearer to the likes of us: they seem to belong here, more even than Hobbits do in theNothing seems to be going on, and nobody seems to want it to. If there’s any magic about, it’s right down deep, where ... |
Adventures of Five Hobbits. The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends. |
It was early April and the sky was now clearing after heavy rain. |
‘No more, no more!’ cried the Elves laughing. ‘You have eaten enough already for a long day’s march.’ ‘I thought it was only a kind of cram, such as the Dale-men make for journeys in the wild,’ said the Dwarf. |
‘Whither do you run, Master Peregrin?’ he cried. |
‘And it’s a good thing neither half of the old villain don’t know what master means to do,’ he thought. ‘If he knew that Mr. Frodo is trying to put an end to his Precious for good and all, there’d be trouble pretty quick, I bet. Anyhow old Stinker is so frightened of the Enemy – and he’s under orders of some kind from ... |
‘And that, Frodo, is the end of my account. May Elrond and the others forgive the length of it. But such a thing has not happened before, that Gandalf broke tryst and did not come when he promised. |
‘It’ll be near the back, I guess,’ Sam muttered. ‘The whole Tower climbs backwards-like. And anyway I’d better follow these lights.’ He advanced down the passage, but slowly now, each step more reluctant. Terror was beginning to grip him again. There was no sound save the rap of his feet, which seemed to grow to an ech... |
The road had been made in a long lost time, and for perhaps thirty miles below the Morannon it had been newly repaired, but as it went south the wild encroached upon it. The handiwork of Men of old could still be seen in its straight sure flight and level course: now and again it cut its way through hillside slopes, or... |
Another way, darker, more difficult to find, more secret. But Sme´agol knows it. Let Sme´agol show you!’ ‘Another way!’ said Frodo doubtfully, looking down at Gollum with searching eyes. |
‘I wonder if they think of us at all,’ he said, ‘and what is happening to them all away there.’ He waved his hand vaguely in the air before him; but he was in fact now facing southwards, as he came back to Shelob’s tunnel, not west. Out westward in the world it was drawing to noon upon the fourteenth day of March in th... |
‘Yes,’ answered Gandalf, ‘he has gone at last.’ ‘I wish – I mean, I hoped until this evening that it was only a joke,’ said Frodo. ‘But I knew in my heart that he really meant to go. He always used to joke about serious things. I wish I had come back sooner, just to see him off.’ ‘I think really he preferred slipping o... |
‘I’ve made up my mind,’ he kept saying to himself. But he had not. Though he had done his best to think it out, what he was doing was altogether against the grain of his nature. ‘Have I got it wrong?’ he muttered. ‘What ought I to have done?’ As the sheer sides of the Cleft closed about him, before he reached the actua... |
Then his own will stirred; slowly it forced the hand back and set it to find another thing, a thing lying hidden near his breast. Cold and hard it seemed as his grip closed on it: the phial of Galadriel, so long treasured, and almost forgotten till that hour. As he touched it, for a while all thought of the Ring was ba... |
‘Does he feel no fear?’ muttered the Dwarf. ‘In any other cave Gimli Glo´in’s son would have been the first to run to the gleam of gold. But not here! Let it lie!’ Nonetheless he drew near, and saw Aragorn kneeling, while Ella- dan held aloft both torches. Before him were the bones of a mighty man. He had been clad in ... |
The Nazguˆl screeched and swept away, for their Captain was not yet come to challenge the white fire of his foe. The hosts of Morgul intent on their prey, taken at unawares in wild career, broke, scat- tering like sparks in a gale. The out-companies with a great cheer turned and smote their pursuers. Hunters became the... |
‘A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the ... |
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. |
‘Step forward, Sam!’ said Merry; and Sam stood up with a face scarlet up to the ears. ‘Here’s our collector of information! And he collected a lot, I can tell you, before he was finally caught. After which, I may say, he seemed to regard himself as on parole, and dried up.’ ‘Sam!’ cried Frodo, feeling that amazement co... |
Yet he felt in his heart that Faramir, though he was much like his brother in looks, was a man less self-regarding, both sterner andFaramir. ‘Then maybe you can see it in your mind’s eye: a great horn of the wild ox of the East, bound with silver, and written with ancient characters. That horn the eldest son of our hou... |
‘If only I could have my wish, my one wish,’ he sighed, ‘to go back andfind him!’Thenat lastheturnedto theroadin frontandtook aOnly a few steps; and now only a few more and he would be going down and would never see that high place again. And then suddenly he heard cries and voices. He stood still as stone. Orc-voices.... |
Down on the Road, where it swept to the right to go round the foot of the hill, there was a large inn. It had been built long ago when the traffic on the roads had been far greater. For Bree stood at an old meeting of ways; another ancient road crossed the East Road just outside the dike at the western end of the villa... |
Indeed it certainly would; for this is the One, and he is exerting all his power to find it or draw it to himself. |
‘They cannot conquer for ever!’ said Frodo. And then suddenly the brief glimpse was gone. The Sun dipped and vanished, and as if at the shuttering of a lamp, black night fell.Chapter 8 THE STAIRS OF CIRITH UNGOL Gollum was tugging at Frodo’s cloak and hissing with fear and impatience. ‘We must go,’ he said. ‘We mustn’t... |
‘No, before breakfast,’ said Sam. ‘But if you’re short of sleep cold water on the neck’s like rain on a wilted lettuce. There! Now I can keep awake long enough to eat a bit.’ They were led then to seats beside Faramir: barrels covered with pelts and high enough above the benches of the Men for their con- venience. Befo... |
‘It comes from Mordor, lord,’ he said. ‘It began last night at sunset. |
‘ ‘‘Let me go away!’’ he whined. ‘‘Let me go away! My messages are useless now.’’ ‘ ‘‘They are indeed,’’ said Treebeard. ‘‘But you have only two choices: to stay with me until Gandalf and your master arrive; or to cross the water. Which will you have?’’ ‘The man shivered at the mention of his master, and put a foot int... |
Immediately, though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, three advancing. In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long... |
At last there came a pause in the Ent-voices; and looking up they saw Treebeard coming towards them, with another Ent at his side. |
The only part that seemed really to rouse him and hold his atten- tion was the account of the crowning and marriage of Aragorn. ‘I was invited to the wedding, of course,’ he said. ‘And I have waited for it long enough. But somehow, when it came to it, I found I had so much to do here; and packing is such a bother.’ Whe... |
Sam and Pippin sat near, and they began to hum, and then to sing softly: Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe. |
The blade scored it with a dreadful gash, but those hideous folds could not be pierced by any strength of men, not though Elf or Dwarf should forge the steel or the hand of Beren or of Tu´rin wield it. SheNow splaying her legs she drove her huge bulk down on him again. |
They had been going for a long while – Pippin had tried to keep count of the ‘ent-strides’ but had failed, getting lost at about three thousand – when Treebeard began to slacken his pace. Suddenly he stopped, put the hobbits down, and raised his curled hands to his mouth so that they made a hollow tube; then he blew or... |
At the top of the lane the party halted, and Frodo and his friends went on; and they came at last to the once beloved place. The garden was full of huts and sheds, some so near the old westward windows that they cut off all their light. There were piles of refuse everywhere. |
And when you’ve finished discussing us, perhaps you’ll say who you are, and why you can’t let two tired travellers rest.’ The tall green man laughed grimly. ‘I am Faramir, Captain of Gondor,’ he said. ‘But there are no travellers in this land: only the servants of the Dark Tower, or of the White.’ ‘But we are neither,’... |
‘Nonetheless we put an end to them. But we have been too long away. We are needed south and west. Will you not come? There are spare horses as you see. There is work for the Sword to do. Yes, and we could find a use for Gimli’s axe and the bow of Legolas, if they will pardon my rash words concerning the Lady of the Woo... |
‘Stay where you are!’ said Gandalf. ‘Draw no weapons! Wait! and it will pass you by!’ A mist gathered about them. Above them a few stars still glim- mered faintly; but on either side there arose walls of impenetrable gloom; they were in a narrow lane between moving towers of shadow. |
‘Well, not very well, Mr. Frodo.’ ‘Of course not. But never mind. You can see me on my way. Tell Rose that you won’t be away very long, not more than a fortnight; and you’ll come back quite safe.’ ‘I wish I could go all the way with you to Rivendell, Mr. Frodo, and see Mr. Bilbo,’ said Sam. ‘And yet the only place I re... |
Mithril! I have never seen or heard tell of one so fair. Is this the coat that Gandalf spoke of ? Then he undervalued it. But it was well given!’ ‘I have often wondered what you and Bilbo were doing, so close in his little room,’ said Merry. ‘Bless the old hobbit! I love him more than ever. I hope we get a chance of te... |
‘Don’t be alarmed! I mean just this: I will tell you what I know, and give you some good advice – but I shall want a reward.’ ‘And what will that be, pray?’ said Frodo. He suspected now that he had fallen in with a rascal, and he thought uncomfortably that he had brought only a little money with him. All of it would ha... |
He came back to Frodo, and then of his elven-rope he cut a short piece to serve his master as a girdle and bind the grey cloak close about his waist. The rest he carefully coiled and put back in his pack. |
‘Now tell me your tale, and do not hurry!’ said Treebeard. |
Beneath the mountain’s arm within the Wizard’s Vale through years uncounted had stood that ancient place that Men called Isen- gard. Partly it was shaped in the making of the mountains, but mighty works the Men of Westernesse had wrought there of old; and Saruman had dwelt there long and had not been idle. |
Too soon. For Sam still stood upon his feet, and dropping his own sword, with both hands he held the elven-blade point upwards, fend- ing off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob, with the driving force of her own cruel will, with strength greater than any warrior’s hand, thrust herself upon a bitter spike. Deep, deep it p... |
‘My blood runs chill,’ said Gimli, but the others were silent, and his voice fell dead on the dank fir-needles at his feet. The horses would not pass the threatening stone, until the riders dismounted and led them about. And so they came at last deep into the glen; and there stood a sheer wall of rock, and in the wall ... |
‘I wonder if old Gandalf has been here,’ he said to Pippin. ‘Who- ever it was put this stuff here meant to come back it seems.’ Strider was greatly interested in these discoveries. ‘I wish I had‘It is just as I feared,’ he said, when he came back. ‘Sam and Pippin have trampled the soft ground, and the marks are spoilt ... |
Then without turning Aragorn cried aloud so that all could hear:without looking back they rode the mountain-fields, until they came to a bridge over the growing torrent and found a road that went down into the land. |
Already, years before, Gollum had beheld her, Sme´agol who pried into all dark holes, and in past days he had bowed and worshipped her, and the darkness of her evil will walked through all the ways of his weariness beside him, cutting him off from light and from regret. |
Many times he repeated these words in different order, or varied them. Then he tried other spells, one after another, speaking now faster and louder, now soft and slow. Then he spoke many single words of Elvish speech. Nothing happened. The cliff towered into the night, the countless stars were kindled, the wind blew c... |
‘That is Weathertop,’ said Strider. ‘The Old Road, which we have left far away on our right, runs to the south of it and passes not far from its foot. We might reach it by noon tomorrow, if we go straight towards it. I suppose we had better do so.’ ‘What do you mean?’ asked Frodo. |
Payment is only put off. Leg it!’ Neither Pippin nor Merry remembered much of the later part of the journey. Evil dreams and evil waking were blended into a long tunnel of misery, with hope growing ever fainter behind. They ran, and they ran, striving to keep up the pace set by the Orcs, licked every now and again with... |
Upon it sat a shape, black-mantled, huge and threatening. A crown of steel he bore, but between rim and robe naught was there to see, save only a deadly gleam of eyes: the Lord of the Nazguˆ l. To the air he had returned, summoning his steed ere the darkness failed, and now he was come again, bringing ruin, turning hop... |
They had ridden for some five hours and were far out upon the western plain, yet more than half their journey lay still before them. In a great circle, under the starry sky and the waxing moon, they now made their bivouac. They lit no fires, for they were un- certain of events; but they set a ring of mounted guards abo... |
‘Also there is this!’ said Bilbo, bringing out a parcel which seemed to be rather heavy for its size. He unwound several folds of old cloth, and held up a small shirt of mail. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded w... |
There was plenty of everything left for Frodo. And, of course, all the chief treasures, as well as the books, pictures, and more than enough furniture, were left in his possession. There was, however, no sign nor mention of money or jewellery: not a penny-piece or a glass bead was given away. |
Whether the morning and evening of one day or of many days had passed Frodo could not tell. He did not feel either hungry or tired, only filled with wonder. The stars shone through the window and the silence of the heavens seemed to be round him. He spoke at last out of his wonder and a sudden fear of that silence: ‘Wh... |
At first Merry and Pippin were struck chiefly by the variety that they saw: the many shapes, and colours, the differences in girth, and height, and length of leg and arm; and in the number of toes and fingers (anything from three to nine). A few seemed more or less related to Treebeard, and reminded them of beech-trees... |
‘He suspects, but he does not know – not yet. Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlo´rien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away. We must depart into the Wes... |
‘And do not forget that old man!’ said Gimli. ‘I should be happier if I could see the print of a boot.’ ‘Why would that make you happy?’ said Legolas. |
Now the cries of clear strong voices came ringing over the fields. |
‘Ropes indeed!’ answered an Elf from the boats. ‘Never travel far without a rope! And one that is long and strong and light. Such are these. They may be a help in many needs.’ ‘You don’t need to tell me that!’ said Sam. ‘I came without any, and I’ve been worried ever since. But I was wondering what these were made of, ... |
For east or west all woods must fail... |
‘Yes, sir. I don’t know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can’t turn back. |
But Imrahil said: ‘So victory is shorn of gladness, and it is bitter bought, if both Gondor and Rohan are in one day bereft of their lords. E´omer rules the Rohirrim. Who shall rule the City meanwhile? Shall we not send now for the Lord Aragorn?’ And the cloaked man spoke and said: ‘He is come.’ And they saw as he step... |
They rolled the Man slowly up the hill and bundled him into the Moon, While his horses galloped up in rear, And the cow came capering like a deer, and a dish ran up with the spoon. |
There was no sound. Some way ahead, a mile or so, perhaps, was a great grey wall, a last huge upthrusting mass of mountain-stone. |
Sleep! I feel the need of it, as never I thought any dwarf could. Riding is tiring work. Yet my axe is restless in my hand. Give me a row of orc-necks and room to swing and all weariness will fall from me!’ A slow time passed. Far down in the valley scattered fires still burned. The hosts of Isengard were advancing in ... |
‘Nice Master!’ he whispered. ‘Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sme´agol. Good Sme´agol comes. Now let’s go, go quickly, yes. |
‘Trapped!’ cried Gandalf. ‘Why did I delay? Here we are, caught, just as they were before. But I was not here then. We will see what——’ Doom, doom came the drum-beat and the walls shook. |
He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off ! Take it off ! Fool, take it off ! Take off the Ring! The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced ... |
In a dark crevice between two great piers of rock they sat down: Frodo and Sam a little way within, and Gollum crouched upon the ground near the opening. There the hobbits took what they expected would be their last meal before they went down into the Nameless Land, maybe the last meal they would ever eat together. Som... |
But it is no good flying blindly this way with the pursuit just behind. |
With hearts strangely lightened they now rested again, but not for long. They were not going quick enough for Gollum. By his reckoning it was nearly thirty leagues from the Morannon to the Cross-roads above Osgiliath, and he hoped to cover that distance in four journeys. |
As well set your boot to the mountain’s root, For the seat of a troll don’t feel it. |
‘Then I thought in my heart that we drew near to the Sea; for wide was the water in the darkness, and sea-birds innumerable cried on its shores. Alas for the wailing of the gulls! Did not the Lady tell me to beware of them? And now I cannot forget them.’ ‘For my part I heeded them not,’ said Gimli; ‘for we came then at... |
Now Aragorn knelt beside Faramir, and held a hand upon his brow. And those that watched felt that some great struggle was going on. For Aragorn’s face grew grey with weariness; and ever and anon he called the name of Faramir, but each time more faintly to their hearing, as if Aragorn himself was removed from them, and ... |
At last they left the village behind. The escort of children and stragglers that had followed them got tired and turned back at the South-gate. Passing through, they kept on along the Road for some miles. It bent to the left, curving back into its eastward line as it rounded the feet of Bree-hill, and then it began to ... |
At last the old man broke the silence. ‘Well met indeed, my friends,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘I wish to speak to you. Will you come down, or shall I come up?’ Without waiting for an answer he began to climb. |
‘Nob, you woolly-pated ninny!’ he cried. ‘Can’t you give old friends their names? You shouldn’t go scaring me like that, with times as they are. Well, well! And where have you come from? I never expected to see any of you folk again, and that’s a fact: going off into the Wild with that Strider, and all those Black Men ... |
One summer’s evening an astonishing piece of news reached the Ivy Bush and Green Dragon. Giants and other portents on the borders of the Shire were forgotten for more important matters: Mr. Frodo was selling Bag End, indeed he had already sold it – to the Sackville- Bagginses! ‘For a nice bit, too,’ said some. ‘At a ba... |
But you would not have fared any better. We kept as good as we sent, I promise you. Better, because we sent no drink. |
But Sam was now sorrowful at heart, and it seemed to him that if the parting would be bitter, more grievous still would be the long road home alone. But even as they stood there, and the Elves were going aboard, and all was being made ready to depart, up rode Merry and Pippin in great haste. And amid his tears Pippin l... |
In the upper rooms were little rows of hard beds, and on every wall there was a notice and a list of Rules. Pippin tore them down. There was no beer and very little food, but with what the travellers brought and shared out they all made a fair meal; and Pippin broke Rule 4 by putting most of next day’s allowance of woo... |
‘Behold the White Rider!’ cried Aragorn, and all took up the words. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.