The Return of the Shadow. Christopher Tolkien

felt all weariness slip away, and yet sleep came softly down upon him. He was already half wrapped in warm dreams as he ate; and afterwards he could remember nothing more than the taste of bread – yet a bread that was like the best hobbit-bread ever baked (and that was Bread indeed) eaten after a long fast, only this bread was better. Frodo afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light under the trees, the elf-faces, the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream. But he remembered taking a draught that had the warmth of a golden autumn afternoon and the cool of a clear fountain; and he remembered too the taste of fruits, sweet as wild berries, richer than the tended fruits of hobbit-gardens (and those are fruits indeed).

      Bingo sat and ate and drank and talked, and simply remembered having had something of all the foods he liked best; but his mind was chiefly on the talk. He knew something of the elf-tongue, and listened eagerly. Now and again he spoke to those that served him and thanked them in their own language. They smiled on him and said laughing: ‘Here is a jewel among hobbits!’²²

After a while Odo and Frodo fell fast asleep, and were lifted up and borne away to bowers under the trees; they were laid there upon soft beds and slept the night away. But Bingo remained talking with Gildor, the leader of the Elves.²³

      ‘Why did you choose this moment to set out?’ asked Gildor.

      ‘Well, really it chose itself,’ answered Bingo. ‘I had come to the end of my treasure. It had always held me back from the Journey which half of my heart wished for, ever since Bilbo went away; but now it was gone. So I said to my stay-at-home half: “There is nothing to keep you here. The Journey might bring you some more treasure, as it did for old Bilbo; and anyway on the road you will be able to live more easily without any. Of course if you like to stay in Hobbiton and earn your living as a gardener or a carpenter, you can.” The stay-at-home half surrendered; it did not want to make other people’s chairs or grow other people’s potatoes. It was soft and fat. I think the Journey will do it good. But of course the other half is not really looking for treasure, but for Adventure – later rather than sooner. At the moment it also is soft and fat, and finding walking over the Shire quite enough.’

      ‘Yes!’ laughed Gildor. ‘You still look just like an ordinary hobbit!’

      ‘I daresay,’ said Bingo. ‘But my birthday the day before yesterday²⁴ seems already a long way behind. Still a hobbit I am, and a hobbit I shall always be.’

      ‘I only said look,’ replied the Elf. ‘You seem to me a most peculiar hobbit inside, quite as peculiar as Bilbo; and I think strange things will happen to you and your friends. If you go looking for Adventure, you usually find as much of it as you can manage. And it often happens that when you think it is ahead, it comes on you unexpectedly from behind.’

      ‘So it seems,’ said Bingo. ‘But I did not expect it ahead or behind so soon – not in our own Shire.’

‘But it is not your Shire alone, nor for ever,’ said Gildor. ‘The Wide World is all about it. You can fence yourselves in, but you have no means of fencing it out.’

      ‘All the same, it is disturbing,’ said Bingo. ‘I want to get to Rivendell, if I can – though I hear the road has not grown easier of late years. Can you tell me anything to guide me or help me?’

      ‘I do not think you will find the road too hard. But if you are thinking of what you call the Black Rider, that is another matter. Have you told me all your reasons for leaving secretly? Did Gandalf tell you nothing?’

‘Not even a hint, at least none that I understood. I seldom saw him after Bilbo went away, twice a year at most. I saw him last spring, when he turned up unexpectedly one night; and I told him then of the plan I was beginning to make for the Journey. He seemed pleased, and told me not to put it off later than the autumn. He came again to help me with the Party, but we were too busy then to talk much, and he went off with the dwarves and the Rivendell elves as soon as the fireworks were over. He did hint that I might meet him again in Rivendell, and suggested that I should make for that place first.’

      ‘Not later than the autumn!’ said Gildor. ‘I wonder. He may all the same not have known that they were in the Shire; yet he knows more about them than we do. If he did not tell you any more, I do not feel inclined to do so, for fear of frightening you from the Journey. Because I think it is clear that your Journey started none too soon; by what seems strange good luck you went just in time. You ought to go on, and not turn back, though you have met adventure, and danger, much sooner than you expected. You ought to go quickly; but you must be careful, and look not only ahead, but also behind, and even perhaps to both sides as well.’

      ‘I wish you would say things plainer,’ said Bingo. ‘But I am glad to be told that I ought to go on; for that is what I want to do. Only I now rather wonder if I ought to take Odo and Frodo. The original plan was just a Journey, a sort of prolonged (and perhaps permanent) holiday from Hobbiton, and I am sure they did not expect any more adventures for a long time than getting wet and hungry. We had no idea we should be pursued.’

      ‘O come! They must have known that if you intend to go wandering out of the Shire into the Wide World, you must be prepared for anything. I cannot see that it makes so much difference, if something has turned up rather soon. Are they not willing to go on?’

      ‘Yes, they say so.’

      ‘Then let them go on!²⁵ They are lucky to be your companions: and you are lucky to have them. They are a great protection to you.’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I think the Riders do not know that they are with you, and their presence has confused the scent, and puzzled them.’

      ‘Dear me! It is all very mysterious. It is like solving riddles. But I have always heard that talking to Elves is like that.’

      ‘It is,’ laughed Gildor. ‘And Elves seldom give advice; but when they do, it is good. I have advised you to go to Rivendell with speed and care. Nothing else that I could tell you would make that advice any better.²⁶ We have our own business and our own sorrows, and those have little to do with the ways of hobbits or of other creatures. Our paths cross those ways seldom, and mostly by accident. In our meeting there is perhaps something more than accident, yet I do not feel sure that I ought to interfere. But I will add a little more advice: if a Rider finds you or speaks to you, do not answer, and do not name yourself. Also do not again use the ring to escape from his search. I do not know,²⁷ but I guess that the use of the ring helps them more than you.’

      ‘More and more mysterious!’ said Bingo. ‘I can’t imagine what information would be more frightening than your hints; but I suppose you know best.’

      ‘I do indeed,’ said Gildor, ‘and I will say no more.’

      ‘Very well!’ said Bingo. ‘I am now all of a twitter; but I am much obliged to you.’

      ‘Be of good heart!’ said Gildor. ‘Sleep now! In the morning we shall have gone; but we will send our messages through the land. The wandering Companies shall know of you and your Journey. I name you elf-friend, and wish you well. Seldom have we had such delight in strangers; and it is pleasant to hear words of our own tongue from the lips of other wanderers in the World.’

      Bingo felt sleep coming upon him, even as Gildor finished speaking. ‘I will sleep now,’ he said. Gildor led him to a bower beside Odo and Frodo, and he threw himself upon a bed, and fell at once into a dreamless slumber.

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