To Silver Glass
The children show Sam the best places to pasture Bill.
They know every nook and cranny of Rivendell, they say, and laugh. The grown-ups all forget, one little lass with warm green eyes tells him, but we remember. He says, yes, that's always the way, and smiles, not telling them that their elders remember every nook and cranny the children think they have forgotten.
He'd never thought of elves as having children, and pastures for the ponies and sheep and cows, but of course they do. Not many children, not many at all, and it breaks his heart to see the little group of fifteen tell him that of course they're all the children who live here, how many was he expecting? But there are children. Sweet, laughing, bonny children.
And there is pasture, richer pasture than he's ever seen, even on lands long worked by the most conscientious farmers in the Shire. The children smile when he praises it, say that they're glad he likes it, for they've had the charge of this patch for fifty years, and it's their favorite proof they're grown up enough to trust. That staggers him, and they laugh at his shock and go racing over the fields, bouncing up and over rocks and swinging through trees, wild and silly as any hobbit child.
There's another thing to know. Children are children, even when they have a strange, fey light about them, and have lived longer than Sam himself. He has to watch carefully to guard against their tricks.
He doesn't spend much time in the pasture in the beginning. He comes out the first time, to make sure that Bill is well, and then he does not come back until Frodo is well and all is decided.
But after this he spends hours in the meadows with Bill and the children. They think he's fascinating. The first time he falls asleep in the sun he wakes up to find a circle of small, bright eyed, dark haired lads and lasses, watching him with all the still solemnity of their elders. He starts, and they all scatter, laughing freely.
They ask endless questions. Did he i really /i meet the Ringwraiths? Oh! How frightening! Was he scared? Did he shout? Did he i really /i go on a journey with the i Dunadan /i ? Oh! How wonderful! Did he sing one of his songs? What are the fields in the Shire like? How many children did he say live in Hobbiton? Are there i really /i that many? So many children! They say and laugh.
He looks about these children, and sees how few they are in number, and he sees that Rivendell, though busy, is far from full. He asks the children how old they are, and learns that the youngest is one hundred and eighty. He asks a few questions of the older Elves, and learns that there are fewer and fewer children born.
He stands in the meadow with Bill, and knows he sees the whole future of Rivendell dancing about him.
And he begins to see that the Elves are truly fading.