'Why, you have nearly finished it, Mr Frodo!' Sam exclaimed. 'Well, you have kept at it, I must say.'
'I have quite finished,' said Frodo. 'The last pages are for you...'
From The Return of the King, book II, chapter IX - The Grey Havens
Mr Frodo has left the task of finishing this book to me, and first of all I shall have to apologise, because I'm not half the writer he is, and not a quarter of the writer dear Bilbo is. I won't fill it with poetry – though Mr Frodo wants me to write down my troll poem, and maybe I'll come to that, if I get the chance; I won't bore my readers with an account of my garden (though I'm rightful proud of the nasturtiums that have come up lately); I think I'm supposed to be carrying on the account of the Fellowship of the Ring, which I'll do as best I can.
Mr Frodo hasn't been right of late: he's too thoughtful for a hobbit, always has been, but he's all detached at the moment. I don't like it, but he says not to worry. He's still suffering from those injuries he got during the war: first a wraith-blade to the shoulder on Weathertop; second a spider-bite from that Shelob on the edge of Mordor. (Ugh! How I hate to write that name!) He didn't describe them much in the account he's written, but I'll tell you now, they affected him more than he'll ever say. I wonder if they'll ever heal. Mr Frodo doesn't think so.
Do you know, I haven't yet introduced myself. I'm Samwise Gamgee, the gardener at Bag End, as you'll know if you've read the rest of this story; I'm married to Rosie Cotton, who I met a long time ago, the prettiest hobbit-maid you ever saw. We have a daughter, our little Elanor: the name was Mr Frodo's idea – he's good at ideas – and it's the name of those flowers in Lothlorien, the pretty golden ones, golden like her hair.
Mr Merry and Mr Pippin have gone back to their homes now; they'd worried their parents sick, I think, on their disappearance: I know my old dad was most surprised to see me alive and well, and carrying a sword, of all things. Mr Merry's a Bucklander, of course, so he's gone off across the River, and Mr Pippin's gone south to Tookborough. I don't think Mr Frodo's mentioned their parentage, so I will: Mr Pippin is the heir of the Took and Thain, and Mr Merry's the heir of the Master of Buckland. I know they'll be well-respected and well-liked when they take their titles. They certainly won over the Shire when they led the hobbits in the Battle of Bywater – which was a dark hour in hobbit history, of course, and now all young hobbits are learned the names of those who died in it. But it was the end of the War of the Ring, and now the Shire's back to normal, in a way. Some think it's better now. If another tree grows where the Party Tree used to be, then I'll agree with them.
I can't tell you much about the Fellowship members who are away south. Strider – no, King Elessar, we should call him – is respected in all of Middle-Earth, and all talk of him tells of his fairness and justice towards all peoples. He has promised to visit the Shire soon, but I think he's most likely busy at the moment, what with all of the other things that need doing. Minas Tirith certainly needed a bit of clearing up, after the Battle of the Pelennor – it was half destroyed, I think, rubble everywhere, and hardly fit for a king.
Legolas and Gimli and Gandalf have presumably gone off somewhere I don't know where, but I know that they'll be doing some good in this world that's been rid of darkness. There's a lot to be done and I know they'll be helping as best they can.
That's all I can say for the moment. At any rate the nasturtiums need watering. It's been good weather lately, very good weather, but I think we need a drop of rain soon, else my garden will start to wilt. But I'm sorry! – I said I wouldn't speak of my garden. I shall then leave off there for now.