'Elves and Dragons,' I says to him. 'Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don't
go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you,' I says
to him. And I might say it to others,' he added with a look at the stranger and the miller.
But the Gaffer did not convince his audience. The legend of Bilbo's wealth was now too firmly
fixed in the minds of the younger generation of hobbits.

‘I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as
well as you deserve.’ This was unexpected and rather difficult. There was some scattered clapping,
but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.

Gandalf laughed. ‘I hope he will. But nobody will read the book, however it ends.'
'Oh, they may, in years to come. Frodo has read some already, as far as it has gone. You'll keep
an eye on Frodo, won't you?'
'Yes, I will – two eyes, as often as I can spare them.'

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

'Maybe not,' answered Gandalf. 'Hobbits are, or were, no concern of his. Yet he is great among
the Wise. He is the chief of my order and the head of the Council. His knowledge is deep, but his
pride has grown with it, and he takes ill any meddling.’

'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.
'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to
decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given, us.

'But this is terrible!' cried Frodo. 'Far worse than the worst that I imagined from your hints and
warnings. O Gandalf, best of friends, what am I to do? For now I am really afraid. What am I to
do? What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!'
'Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has
been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end,
because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.'

'O Fair Folk! This is good fortune beyond my hope,' said Pippin. Sam was speechless. 'I thank
you indeed, Gildor Inglorion,' said Frodo bowing.  'Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo, a star shines on
the hour of our meeting,' he added in the high-elven speech.

'I knew that danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it in our
own Shire. Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?'
'But it is not your own Shire,' said Gildor. 'Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others
will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence
yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.'

'And it is also said,' answered Frodo: 'Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no
and yes.'
'Is it indeed?' laughed Gildor. 'Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous
gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.’

'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.'

Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by.

'Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people,' he said. 'Sharp blades are good to
have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, or far away into dark and danger.' Then he told them
that these blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the
Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dûm in the Land of Angmar.
'Few now remember them,' Tom murmured, 'yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten
kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless.'

'The lesson in caution has been well learned,' said Strider with a grim smile. 'But caution is one
thing and wavering is another.

The landlord jumped with surprise. 'You!' he cried. 'You're always popping up. What do you
want now?'
'He's here with my leave,' said Frodo. 'He came to offer me his help.'
'Well, you know your own business, maybe,' said Mr. Butterbur, looking suspiciously at Strider.
'But if I was in your plight, I wouldn't take up with a Ranger.'
'Then who would you take up with?' asked Strider. 'A fat innkeeper who only remembers his
own name because people shout it at him all day?

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Pippin subsided; but Sam was not daunted, and he still eyed Strider dubiously. 'How do we
know you are the Strider that Gandalf speaks about?' he demanded. 'You never mentioned Gandalf,
till this letter came out. You might be a play-acting spy, for all I can see, trying to get us to go with
you. You might have done in the real Strider and took his clothes. What have you to say to that?'
'That you are a stout fellow,' answered Strider; 'but I am afraid my only answer to you, Sam
Gamgee, is this. If I had killed the real Strider, I could kill you. And I should have killed you
already without so much talk. If I was after the Ring, I could have it – NOW!'
He stood up, and seemed suddenly to grow taller. In his eyes gleamed a light, keen and
commanding. Throwing back his cloak, he laid his hand on the hilt of a sword that had hung
concealed by his side. They did not dare to move. Sam sat wide-mouthed staring at him dumbly.
'But I am the real Strider, fortunately,' he said, looking down at them with his face softened by
a sudden smile. 'I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.'

Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the Sea. That house was, as Bilbo had
long ago reported, `a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or
just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all'. Merely to be there was a cure for
weariness, fear, and sadness.

`Hurray!' cried Pippin, springing up. `Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the
Ring!'
'Hush!' said Gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. `Evil things do not come into
this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the
master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world! We are
sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.'

The hall of Elrond's house was filled with folk: Elves for the most part, though there were a few
guests of other sorts. Elrond, as was his custom, sat in a great chair at the end of the long table upon
the dais; and next to him on the one side sat Glorfindel, on the other side sat Gandalf.
Frodo looked at them in wonder, for he had never before seen Elrond, of whom so many tales
spoke; and as they sat upon his right hand and his left, Glorfindel, and even Gandalf, whom he
thought he knew so well, were revealed as lords of dignity and power. Gandalf was shorter in
stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad
shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great
snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire.
Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was of shining gold, his face fair and young and fearless
and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom,
and in his hand was strength.
The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of
many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was
set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of
stars. Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior in
the fulness of his strength. He was the Lord of Rivendell and mighty among both Elves and Men.
In the middle of the table, against the woven cloths upon the wall, there was a chair under a
canopy, and there sat a lady fair to look upon, and so like was she in form of womanhood to Elrond
that Frodo guessed that she was one of his close kindred. Young she was and yet not so. The braids
of her dark hair were touched by no frost, her white arms and clear face were flawless and smooth,
and the light of stars was in her bright eyes, grey as a cloudless night; yet queenly she looked, and
thought and knowledge were in her glance, as of one who has known many things that the years
bring. Above her brow her head was covered with a cap of silver lace netted with small gems,
glittering white; but her soft grey raiment had no ornament save a girdle of leaves wrought in silver.
So it was that Frodo saw her whom few mortals had yet seen; Arwen, daughter of Elrond, in
whom it was said that the likeness of Lúthien had come on earth again; and she was called
Undómiel, for she was the Evenstar of her people. Long she had been in the land of her mother's
kin, in Lórien beyond the mountains, and was but lately returned to Rivendell to her father's house.
But her brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, were out upon errantry: for they rode often far afield with the
Rangers of the North, forgetting never their mother's torment in the dens of the orcs.
Such loveliness in living thing Frodo had never seen before nor imagined in his mind; and he
was both surprised and abashed to find that he had a seat at Elrond's table among all these folk so
high and fair. Though he had a suitable chair, and was raised upon several cushions, he felt very
small, and rather out of place; but that feeling quickly passed. The feast was merry and the food all
that his hunger could desire. It was some time before he looked about him again or even turned to
his neighbours.

`It is now many years ago,' said Glóin, `that a shadow of disquiet fell upon our people. Whence
it came we did not at first perceive. Words began to be whispered in secret: it was said that we were
hemmed in a narrow place, and that greater wealth and splendour would be found in a wider world.
Some spoke of Moria: the mighty works of our fathers that are called in our own tongue Khazaddûm;
and they declared that now at last we had the power and numbers to return.'
Glóin sighed. `Moria! Moria! Wonder of the Northern world! Too deep we delved there, and
woke the nameless fear. Long have its vast mansions lain empty since the children of Durin fled.
But now we spoke of it again with longing, and yet with dread; for no dwarf has dared to pass the
doors of Khazad-dûm for many lives of kings, save Thrór only, and he perished. At last, however,
Balin listened to the whispers, and resolved to go; and though Dáin did not give leave willingly, he
took with him Ori and Óin and many of our folk, and they went away south.
"That was nigh on thirty years ago. For a while we had news and it seemed good: messages
reported that Moria had been entered and a great work begun there. Then there was silence, and no
word has ever come from Moria since.

Aragorn smiled at him; then he turned to Boromir again. `For my part I forgive your doubt,' he
said. 'Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in
the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself. I have had a hard life and a
long; and the leagues that lie between here and Gondor are a small part in the count of my journeys.
I have crossed many mountains and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into the far
countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars are strange.
'But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For here the heirs of Valandil have ever dwelt in
long line unbroken from father unto son for many generations. Our days have darkened, and we
have dwindled; but ever the Sword has passed to a new keeper. And this I will say to you, Boromir,
ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the
Enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only.
`If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things
there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond
your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us.
Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep
from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there
be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all
gone into the grave?
`And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful
names. "Strider" I am to one fat man who lives within a day's march of foes that would freeze his
heart or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it
otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to
keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass
has grown.
`But now the world is changing once again. A new hour comes. Isildur's Bane is found. Battle is
at hand. The Sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith.'

`There is little need to tell of them,' said Aragorn. `If a man must needs walk in sight of the
Black Gate, or tread the deadly flowers of Morgul Vale, then perils he will have. I, too, despaired at
last, and I began my homeward journey. And then, by fortune, I came suddenly on what I sought . . .’

A great king and sorcerer he was of old, and now he wields a deadly fear.

` "Radagast the Brown! " laughed Saruman, and he no longer concealed his scorn. "Radagast the
Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the wit to play the part that I
set him. For you have come, and that was all the purpose of my message. And here you will stay,
Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker,
Saruman of Many Colours! "
'I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of
all colours. and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.
' "I liked white better," I said.
' "White! " he sneered. "It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can
be overwritten; and the white light can be broken."
' "In which case it is no longer white," said I. "And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is
has left the path of wisdom."
' "You need not speak to me as to one of the fools that you take for friends," said he. "I have not
brought you hither to be instructed by you, but to give you a choice."

' "Saruman," I said, "I have heard speeches of this kind before, but only in the mouths of
emissaries sent from Mordor to deceive the ignorant. I cannot think that you brought me so far only
to weary my ears.”

`Then it was late in coming,' said Gandalf, 'as you will see. I was in an evil plight. And those
who know me will agree that I have seldom been in such need, and do not bear such misfortune
well. Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider's treacherous web! Yet even the most subtle
spiders may leave a weak thread.

`No, I should not put it so,' said Gandalf. `Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is
his own master. But he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And now he is
withdrawn into a little land, within bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting
perhaps for a change of days, and he will not step beyond them.'

'Ah, alas!' cried Glóin. 'When will the day come of our revenge? But still there are the Three.
What of the Three Rings of the Elves? Very mighty Rings, it is said. Do not the Elf-lords keep
them? Yet they too were made by the Dark Lord long ago. Are they idle? I see Elf-lords here. Will
they not say?'
The Elves returned no answer. `Did you not hear me, Glóin?' said Elrond. `The Three were not
made by Sauron, nor did he ever touch them. But of them it is not permitted to speak. So much only
in this hour of doubt I may now say. They are not idle. But they were not made as weapons of war
or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or
hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained.

'Despair, or folly?' said Gandalf. `It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end
beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been
weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our
cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in
the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he
judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the
Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning.'
'At least for a while,' said Elrond. `The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither
strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as
much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world:
small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.'

Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him, and Frodo felt his heart pierced by the sudden keenness of the glance. `If I understand aright all that I have heard,' he said, `I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?

For a while the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey and of the perils that lay
ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted
from their minds. The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the
present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it
came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

'Loud and clear it sounds in the valleys of the hills,' he said, `and then let all the foes of Gondor
flee!' Putting it to his lips he blew a blast, and the echoes leapt from rock to rock, and all that heard
that voice in Rivendell sprang to their feet.
Slow should you be to wind that horn again, Boromir, said Elrond. 'until you stand once more on
the borders of your land, and dire need is on you.'
`Maybe,' said Boromir. 'But always I have let my horn cry at setting forth, and though thereafter
we may walk in the shadows, I will not go forth as a thief in the night.'

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. His enemy halted again,
facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the
thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.
`You cannot pass,' he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. `I am a servant of the
Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame
of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'

'Alas! I Fear we cannot stay here longer,' said Aragorn. He looked towards the mountains and
held up his sword. `Farewell, Gandalf! ' he cried. 'Did I not say to you: _if you pass the doors of
Moria, beware_? Alas that I spoke true! What hope have we without you? '
He turned to the Company. `We must do without hope,' he said. `At least we may yet be
avenged. Let us gird ourselves and weep no more! Come! We have a long road, and much to do.'

`Now, friends,' said Haldir, `you have entered the Naith of Lórien or the Gore, as you would say,
for it is the land that lies like a spear-head between the arms of Silverlode and Anduin the Great.
We allow no strangers to spy out the secrets of the Naith. Few indeed are permitted even to set foot
there.
`As was agreed, I shall here blindfold the eyes of Gimli the Dwarf. The other may walk free for
a while, until we come nearer to our dwellings, down in Egladil, in the Angle between the waters.'
This was not at all to the liking of Gimli. `The agreement was made without my consent,' he
said. `I will not walk blindfold, like a beggar or a prisoner. And I am no spy. My folk have never
had dealings with any of the servants of the Enemy. Neither have we done harm to the Elves. I am
no more likely to betray you than Legolas, or any other of my companions.'
'I do not doubt you,' said Haldir. 'Yet this is our law. I am not the master of the law, and cannot
set it aside. I have done much in letting you set foot over Celebrant.'
Gimli was obstinate. He planted his feet firmly apart, and laid his hand upon the haft of his axe.
'I will go forward free,' he said, 'or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be
true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness.'
`You cannot go back,' said Haldir sternly. 'Now you have come thus far, you must be brought
before the Lord and the Lady. They shall judge you, to hold you or to give you leave, as they will.
You cannot cross the rivers again, and behind you there are now secret sentinels that you cannot
pass. You would be slain before you saw them.'
Gimli drew his axe from his belt. Haldir and his companion bent their bows. 'A plague on
Dwarves and their stiff necks! ' said Legolas.
'Come!' said Aragorn. `If I am still to lead this Company, you must do as I bid. It is hard upon
the Dwarf to be thus singled out. We will all be blindfold, even Legolas. That will be best, though it
will make the journey slow and dull.'
Gimli laughed suddenly. `A merry troop of fools we shall look! Will Haldir lead us all on a
string, like many blind beggars with one dog? But I will be content, if only Legolas here shares my
blindness.'
`I am an Elf and a kinsman here,' said Legolas, becoming angry in his turn.
`Now let us cry: "a plague on the stiff necks of Elves!"' said Aragorn. `But the Company shall
all fare alike. Come, bind our eyes Haldir! '
`I shall claim full amends for every fall and stubbed toe, if you do not lead us well,' said Gimli
as they bound a cloth about his eyes.
'You will have no claim,' said Haldir. `I shall lead you well, and the paths are smooth and
straight.'
`Alas for the folly of these days! ' said Legolas. 'Here all are enemies of the one Enemy, and yet
I must walk blind, while the sun is merry in the woodland under leaves of gold! '
`Folly it may seem,' said Haldir. 'Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly
shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him. Yet so little faith and
trust do we find now in the world beyond Lothlórien, unless maybe in Rivendell, that we dare not
by our own trust endanger our land. We live now upon an island amid many perils, and our hands
are more often upon the bowstring than upon the harp.

`Happy folk are Hobbits to dwell near the shores of the sea! ' said Haldir. 'It is long indeed since
any of my folk have looked on it, yet still we remember it in song. Tell me of these havens as we
walk.'
`I cannot,' said Merry. `I have never seen them. I have never been out of my own land before.
And if I had known what the world outside was like. I don't think I should have had the heart to
leave it.'
`Not even to see fair Lothlórien? ' said Haldir. 'The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there
are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled
with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.

'Behold! You are come to Cerin Amroth,' said Haldir. `For this is the heart of the ancient realm
as it was long ago, and here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was
built. Here ever bloom the winter flowers in the unfading grass: the yellow _elanor_, and the pale
_niphredil_. Here we will stay awhile, and come to the city of the Galadhrim at dusk.'
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. In winter here no heart could mourn
for summer or for spring. 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 turned and 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.'

`There lies the fastness of Southern Mirkwood,' said Haldir. `It is clad in a forest of dark fir,
where the trees strive one against another and their branches rot and wither.

`Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth,' he said, `and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be
a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread, you and I. Come with me! '

The chamber was filled with a soft light; its walls were green and silver and its roof of gold.
Many Elves were seated there. On two chairs beneath the bole of the tree and canopied by a living
bough there sat, side by side, Celeborn and Galadriel. They stood up to greet their guests, after the
manner of Elves, even those who were accounted mighty kings. Very tall they were, and the Lady
no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and
the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and
bright; but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were
keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.

'Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the
many-pillared halls of Khazad-dûm in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the
stone.' She looked upon Gimli, who sat glowering and sad, and she smiled. And the Dwarf, hearing
the names given in his own ancient tongue, looked up and met her eyes; and it seemed to him that
he looked suddenly into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding. Wonder came
into his face, and then he smiled in answer.
He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying: `Yet more fair is the living land of
Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth! '

`And what gift would a Dwarf ask of the Elves? ' said Galadriel turning to Gimli.
`None, Lady,' answered Gimli. `It is enough for me to have seen the Lady of the Galadhrim, and
to have heard her gentle words.'
`Hear all ye Elves! ' she cried to those about her. `Let none say again that Dwarves are grasping
and ungracious! Yet surely, Gimli son of Glóin, you desire something that I could give? Name it, I
bid you! You shall not be the only guest without a gift.'
`There is nothing, Lady Galadriel,' said Gimli, bowing low and stammering. `Nothing, unless it
might be – unless it is permitted to ask, nay, to name a single strand of your hair, which surpasses
the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of the mine. I do not ask for such a gift. But you
commanded me to name my desire.'
The Elves stirred and murmured with astonishment, and Celeborn gazed at the Dwarf in wonder,
but the Lady smiled. 'It is said that the skill of the Dwarves is in their hands rather than in their
tongues ' she said; `yet that is not true of Gimli. For none have ever made to me a request so bold
and yet so courteous. And how shall I refuse, since I commanded him to speak? But tell me, what
would you do with such a gift? '
`Treasure it, Lady,' he answered, `in memory of your words to me at our first meeting. And if
ever I return to the smithies of my home, it shall be set in imperishable crystal to be an heirloom of
my house, and a pledge of good will between the Mountain and the Wood until the end of days.'
Then the Lady unbraided one of her long tresses, and cut off three golden hairs, and laid them in
Gimli's hand. `These words shall go with the gift,' she said. `I do not foretell, for all foretelling is
now vain: on the one hand lies darkness, and on the other only hope. But if hope should not fail,
then I say to you, Gimli son of Glóin, that your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold
shall have no dominion.

Suddenly the River swept round a bend, and the banks rose upon either side, and the light of
Lórien was hidden. To that fair land Frodo never came again.
The travellers now turned their faces to the journey; the sun was before them, and their eyes
were dazzled, for all were filled with tears. Gimli wept openly.
`I have looked the last upon that which was fairest,' he said to Legolas his companion.
`Henceforward I will call nothing fair, unless it be her gift.' He put his hand to his breast.
`Tell me, Legolas, why did I come on this Quest? Little did I know where the chief peril lay!
Truly Elrond spoke, saying that we could not foresee what we might meet upon our road. Torment
in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back. But I would not have come,
had I known the danger of light and joy. Now I have taken my worst wound in this parting, even if
I were to go this night straight to the Dark Lord. Alas for Gimli son of Glóin! '
`Nay! ' said Legolas. `Alas for us all! And for all that walk the world in these after-days. For
such is the way of it: to find and lose, as it seems to those whose boat is on the running stream. But
I count you blessed, Gimli son of Glóin: for your loss you suffer of your own free will, and you
might have chosen otherwise. But you have not forsaken your companions, and the least reward
that you shall have is that the memory of Lothlórien shall remain ever clear and unstained in your
heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale.'
`Maybe,' said Gimli; `and I thank you for your words. True words doubtless; yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror, be it clear as Kheledzâram. Or so says the heart of Gimli the Dwarf. Elves may see things otherwise. Indeed I have heard that for them memory is more like to the waking world than to a dream. Not so for Dwarves.

`And perhaps that was the way of it,' said Frodo. `In that land, maybe, we were in a time that has
elsewhere long gone by. It was not, I think, until Silverlode bore us back to Anduin that we
returned to the time that flows through mortal lands to the Great Sea. And I don't remember any
moon, either new or old, in Caras Galadhon: only stars by night and sun by day.'
Legolas stirred in his boat. `Nay, time does not tarry ever,' he said; `but change and growth is
not in all things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and
very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them.
Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but
ripples ever repeated in the long long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at
last.'

Watch the movie first, then read the book

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