The Return of the Shadow. Christopher Tolkien

back, and evening was coming on, by the time they had come to the end of the straight stretch. There the road bent southward, and began to wind again as it entered a wood of ancient scattered oak trees.¹⁰

Close to the road they came on the huge hulk of an aged tree.¹¹ It was still alive and had leaves on small branches that it had put out round the broken stumps of its long fallen limbs; but it was hollow, and could be entered by a great crack on the far side. The hobbits went in and sat upon the floor of old leaves and decayed wood. There they rested and had a meal, talking quietly and listening in between.

      They had just finished and were thinking of setting out again, when they heard quite clearly the sound of hoofs walking slow along the road outside. They did not move. The hoofs stopped, as far as they could judge, on the road beside their tree, but only for a moment. Soon they went on again and faded away – down the road, in the direction of Buckland. When Bingo at last stole out of the tree and peered up and down the road, there was nothing to be seen.

      ‘Most peculiar!’ he said, coming back to the others. ‘I think we had better wait inside here for a bit.’

      It grew almost dark inside the tree-trunk. ‘I really think we shall have to go on now,’ said Bingo. ‘We have done very little to-day and we shan’t get to Buckland tomorrow night at this rate.’

      Twilight was about them, when they crept out. There was no living sound, not even a bird-call in the wood. The West wind was sighing in the branches. They stepped into the road and looked up and down again.

      ‘We had better risk the road,’ said Odo. ‘The ground is much too rough off the track, especially in a fading light. We are probably making a fuss about nothing. It is very likely only a wandering stranger who has got lost; and if he met us, he would just ask us the way to Buckland or Brandywine Bridge, and ride on.’

      ‘I hope you are right,’ said Bingo. ‘But anyway there is nothing for it but the open road. Luckily it winds a good deal.’

      ‘What if he stops us and asks if we know where Mr Bolger-Baggins lives?’ said Frodo.

      ‘Give him the true answer: Nowhere,’ said Bingo. ‘Forward!’

They were now entering the Woody End, and the road began to fall gently but steadily, making south-east towards the lowlands of the Brandywine River. A star came out in the darkening East. They went abreast and in step, and their spirits rose; the uncomfortable feeling vanished, and they no longer listened for the sound of hoofs. After a mile or two they began to hum softly, as hobbits have a way of doing when twilight closes in and the stars come out. With most hobbits it is a bed-song or a supper-song; but these hobbits hummed a walking-song (though not, of course, without any mention of bed and supper). Bilbo Baggins had made the words (the tune was as old as the hills), and taught it to Bingo as they walked in the lanes of the Water-valley and talked about Adventure.

       Upon the hearth the fire is red,

       Beneath the roof there is a bed;

       But not yet weary are our feet,

       Still round the corner we may meet

       A sudden tree or standing stone

       That none have seen, but we alone.

       Tree and flower and leaf and grass,

       Let them pass! Let them pass!

       Hill and water under sky,

       Pass them by! Pass them by!

       Still round the corner there may wait

       A new road or a secret gate,

       And even if we pass them by,

       We still shall know which way they lie,

       And whether hidden pathways run

       Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

       Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,

       Let them go! Let them go!

       Sand and stone and pool and dell,

       Fare you well! Fare you well!

       Home is behind, the world ahead,

       And there are many paths to tread

       Through shadow to the edge of night,

       Until the stars are all alight.

       Then world behind and home ahead,

       We’ll wander back to fire and bed.

       Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,

       Away shall fade! Away shall fade!

       Fire and lamp and meat and bread,

       And then to bed! And then to bed! ¹²

      The song ended. ‘And now to bed! And now to bed!’ sang Odo in a loud voice. ‘Hush!’ said Frodo. ‘I think I hear hoofs again.’

      They stopped suddenly, and stood as silent as tree-shadows, listening. There was a sound of hoofs on the road some way behind, but coming slow and clear in the stillness of the evening. Quickly and quietly they slipped off the road and ran into the deeper shade under the oak-trees.

      ‘Don’t let’s go too far!’ said Bingo. ‘I don’t want to be seen, but I want to see what I can this time.’

      ‘Very well!’ said Odo; ‘but don’t forget the sniffing!’

      The hoofs drew nearer. They had no time to find any hiding-place¹³ better than the general darkness under the trees; so Odo and Frodo lay behind a large tree-trunk, while Bingo slipped on his ring and crept forward a few yards towards the road. It showed grey and pale, a line of fading light through the wood. Above it the stars were now coming out thick in the dim sky, but there was no moon.

      The sound of hoofs ceased. As Bingo watched he saw something dark pass across the lighter space between two trees, and then halt. It looked like the black shade of a horse led by a smaller black shadow. The black shadow stood close to the point where they had left the road, and it swayed from side to side. Bingo thought he heard the sound of sniffing. The shadow bent to the ground, and then began to crawl towards him.

      At that moment there came a sound like mingled song and laughter. Voices clear and fair rose and fell in the starlit air. The black shadow straightened and retreated.¹⁴ It climbed on to the shadowy horse and seemed to vanish across the road into the darkness on the other side. Bingo breathed again.

      ‘Elves!’ said Frodo in an excited whisper behind him. ‘Elves! How wonderful! I have always wished to hear elves singing under the stars; but I did not know any lived in the Shire.’

      ‘Oh yes!’ said Bingo. ‘Old Bilbo knew there were some down in the Woody End. They don’t really live here, though; but they often come across the river in spring and autumn. I am very glad they do!’

      ‘Why?’ said Odo.

      ‘You didn’t see, of course,’ said Bingo; ‘but that black rider (or another of the same sort) stopped just here and was actually crawling towards us, when the song started. As soon as he heard the voices he slipped away.’

      ‘Did he sniff?’ asked Odo.

      ‘He did,’ said Bingo. ‘It is mysterious, uncomfortably mysterious.’

      ‘Let’s