Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring: Quotes: The Lone-lands and Weathertop

Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth:
(illustrations by Alan Lee)

Song for Lúthien Tinúviel:
"The leaves were long, the grass was green,
      The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
      Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinúviel was dancing there
      To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
      And in her raiment was glimmering.

There Beren came from mountains cold,
      And lost he wandered under leaves,
And where the Elven-river rolled
      He walked alone and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock-leaves
      And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
      And her hair like shadow following.

Enchantment healed his weary feet
      That over hills were doomed to roam;
And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,
      And grasped at moonbeams glistening.
Through woven woods in Elvenhome
      She lightly fled on dancing feet,
And left him lonely still to roam
      In the silent forest listening.

He heard there oft the flying sound
      Of feet as light as linden-leaves,
Or music welling underground,
      In hidden hollows quavering.
Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,
      And one by one with sighing sound
Whispering fell the beechen leaves
      In the wintry woodland wavering.

He sought her ever, wandering far
      Where leaves of years were thickly strewn,
By light of moon and ray of star
      In frosty heavens shivering.
Her mantle glinted in the moon,
      As on hill-top high and far
She danced, and at her feet was strewn
      A mist of silver quivering.

When winter passed, she came again,
      And her song released the sudden spring,
Like rising lark, and falling rain,
      And melting water bubbling.
He saw the elven-flowers spring
      About her feet, and healed again
He longed by her to dance and sing
      Upon the grass untroubling.

Again she fled, but swift he came.
      Tinúviel! Tinúviel!
He called her by her elvish name;
      And there she halted listening.
One moment stood she, and a spell
      His voice laid on her: Beren came,
And doom fell on Tinúviel
      That in his arms lay glistening.

As Beren looked into her eyes
      Within the shadows of her hair,
The trembling starlight of the skies
      He saw there mirrored shimmering.
Tinúviel the elven-fair,
      Immortal maiden elven-wise,
About him cast her shadowy hair
      And arms like silver glimmering.

Long was the way that fate them bore,
      O'er stony mountains cold and grey,
Through halls of iron and darkling door,
      And woods of nightshade morrowless.
The Sundering Seas between them lay,
      And yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
      In the forest singing sorrowless."


	The Lord of the Rings Part I. The Fellowship of the Ring Quotes from Tolkien's Novel


	Midgewater.
	" 'I am being eaten alive!' cried Pippin. 'Midgewater! There are more midges than water!' 'What do they live on when they can't get hobbit?' asked Sam, scratching his neck."

	"All that day they plodded along, until the cold and early evening came down. The land became drier and more barren; but mists and vapours lay behind them on the marshes. A few melancholy birds were piping and wailing, until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows; then an empty silence fell. The hobbits thought of the soft light of sunset glancing through the cheerful windows of Bag End far away."

	Weathertop.
	illustration by Ted Nasmith
	"In that lonely place Frodo for the first time fully realised his homelessness and danger. He wished bitterly that his fortune had left him in the quiet and beloved Shire. He stared down at the hateful Road, leading back westwards - to his home."

	'The Riders [...] do not see the world of light as we do, but our shapes cast shadows in their minds, which only the noon sun destroys; and in the dark they perceive many signs and forms that are hidden from us: then they are most to be feared. And at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it. Senses, too, there are other than sight or smell. We can feel their presence - it troubled our hearts, as soon as we came here, and before we saw them; they feel ours more keenly. Also,' he added, and his voice sank to a whisper, 'the Ring draws them.' (Aragorn/Strider)

	"Over the lip of the little dell, on the side away from the hill, they felt, rather they saw, a shadow rise, one shadow or more than one. They strained their eyes, and the shadows seemed to grow. Soon there could be no doubt: three or four tall black figures were standing there on the slope, looking down on them. So black were they that they seemed like black holes in the deep shade behind them. Frodo thought that he heard a faint hiss as of venomous breath and felt a piercing chill. Then the shapes slowly advanced. Terror overcame Pippin and Merry, and they threw themselves flat on the ground. Sam shrank to Frodo's side. Frodo was hardly less terrified than his companions; he was quaking as if he was bitter cold, but his terror was swallowed up in a sudden temptation to put on the Ring. [...] He shut his eyes and struggled for a while; but resistance became unbearable, and at last he slowly drew out the chain, and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand. 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 grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel."