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| Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth: |
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(illustration by Alan Lee) |
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Legolas's leaving song:
"To the Sea, to the Sea!
The white gulls are crying,
The wind is blowing,
and the white foam is flying.
West, west away,
the round sun is falling.
Grey ship, grey ship,
do you hear them calling,
The voices of my people
that have gone before me;
I will leave, I will leave
the woods that bore me;
For our days are ending
and our years failing.
I will pass the wide waters
lonely sailing.
Long are the waves
on the Last Shore falling,
Sweet are the voices
in the Lost Isle calling,
In Eressëa, in Elvenhome
that no man can discover,
Where the leaves fall not:
land of my people for ever!"
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Bilbo's end of journey song:
"The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet."
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(illustration by John Howe) |
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Frodo's walking-song:
"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
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Elvish walking-song:
"A! Elbereth Gilthoniel!
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath,
Gilthoniel, A! Elbereth!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the Western Seas."
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The Lord of the Rings
Part III. The Return of the King
Quotes from Tolkien's Novel
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Epilogue: The Shire
This page contains many major plot spoilers so if you have not finished the book,
you may want to stop reading now! |
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"At last the hobbits had their faces turned towards home. They were eager now to
see the Shire again; but at first they rode only slowly, for Frodo had been ill at ease. When they came to the Ford
of Bruinen, he had halted, and seemed loth to ride into the stream; and they noted that for a while his eyes appeared
not to see them or things about him. All that day he was silent. It was the sixth of October.
'Are you in pain, Frodo?' said Gandalf quietly as he rode by Frodo's side.
'Well, yes I am,' said Frodo. 'It's my shoulder. The wound aches, and the memory of darkness is
heavy on me. It was a year ago today.'
'Alas! There are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured.' said Gandalf.
'I fear it may be so with mine,' said Frodo. 'There is no real going back. Though I may come to
the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a
long burden. Where shall I find rest?'
Gandalf did not answer." |
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" 'Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together,' said Merry.
'We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded.'
'Not to me,' said Frodo. 'To me it feels more like falling asleep again'." |
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" 'Very well, Mr. Baggins,' said the leader, pushing the barrier aside. 'But don't
forget I've arrested you.'
'I won't,' said Frodo. 'Never. But I may forgive you'." |
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" 'If I hear not allowed much oftener,' said Sam, 'I'm going to get angry'." |
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" 'All the same,' said Frodo to all those who stood near, 'I wish for no killing;
not even of the ruffians, unless it must be done, to prevent them from hurting hobbits.' [...]
Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been to prevent
the hobbits in their wrath at their losses, from slaying those of their enemies who threw down their weapons." |
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"Saruman laughed again. '[...] One ill turn deserves another. It would have been a
sharper lesson, if only you had given me a little more time and more Men. Still I have already done much that you will find
hard to mend or undo in your lives. And it will be pleasant to think of that and set it against my injuries.'
'Well, if that is what you find pleasure in,' said Frodo, 'I pity you. It will be a pleasure of
memory only, I fear. Go at once and never return!'
[...] The hobbits recoiled. But Frodo said: 'Do not believe him! He has lost all power, save his
voice that can still daunt you and deceive you, if you let it. But I will not have him slain. It is useless to meet
revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing. [...] And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood.
He was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against. He is fallen and his cure is
beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.'
Saruman rose to his feet, and stared at Frodo. There was a strange look in his eyes of mingled
wonder and respect and hatred. 'You have grown, Hafling,' he said. 'Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel.
You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt of your mercy. I hate it and you!
Well, I go and I will trouble you no more. But do not expect me to wish you health and long life. You will have neither.
But that is not my doing. I merely foretell.' " |
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"One evening Sam came into the study and found his master looking very strange.
He was very pale and his eyes seemed to see things far away.
'What's the matter, Mr. Frodo?' said Sam.
'I am wounded,' he answered, 'wounded; it will never really heal'." |
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"Then, Frodo kissed Merry and Pippin, and last of all Sam, and went abroad; and the
sails were drawn up, and the wind blew, and slowly the ship slipped away down the long grey firth; and the light of the
glass of Galadrial that Frodo bore glimmered and was lost. And the ship went out into the High Sea on into the West, until
at last on a night of rain, Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over
the water. And then it seemed to him as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to
silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.
But to Sam the evening deepened to darkness as he stood at the Haven; and as he looked at the
grey sea he saw only a shadow on the waters that was soon lost in the West. There still he stood far into the night,
hearing only the sigh and murmur of the waves on the shores of Middle-Earth, and the sound of them sank deep into his
heart. Beside him stood Merry and Pippin, and they were silent." |
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