1 A/N: This chapter is very much just 'this happened, then that happened'
without any detail. The reason is I find this part of the book very boring,
and its too long to write much about it. If you're confused read TTT and
substitute my Michelle bits into it, then you should be fine. Like I said,
once we have Legolas and Michelle back together, things might liven up a
bit, you never know! Ciao people!
2 Luv Elf Crumpet xXx
3
4 Chapter 21
It was further than it looked. The ground was still rising steeply, and was now becoming increasingly stony. The light grew broader as they went on, and soon they saw that there was a rock-wall before them: the side of a hill, or the abrupt end of some long root thrust out by the distant mountains. No trees grew on it, and the sun was falling full on its stony face. The twigs of trees at its foot were stretched out stiff and still, as if reaching out to the warmth.
In the face of the stony wall there was something like a stair: natural perhaps, and made by the weathering and splitting of rock, for it was rough and uneven. High up, almost level with the tops of the forest-trees, there was a shelf under a cliff. Nothing grew there but a few grasses and weeds at its edge, and one old stump of a tree with only two branches left: it looked almost like the figure of some gnarled old man, standing there, blinking in the morning light.
"Up we go!" said Merry, cheerfully. "Now for a breath of air and a sight of the land!" They climbed and scrambled up the rock. If the stair had been made, it was for bigger feet and longer legs than theirs. They eventually came to the shelf, almost at the feet of the old stump. They turned around and looked eastward. They saw that they had only come three or four miles into the forest: the heads of the trees marched down the slopes towards the plain. There, near the fringe of the forest, tall spires of curling black smoke went up, wavering and floating towards them.
"The wind is changing," said Merry. "It's turned east again. It feels cool up here."
"Yes," said Michelle. "I'm afraid this is only a passing gleam, and it will all go grey again."
"What a pity!" said Pippin, "This shaggy old forest looked so different in the sunlight. I almost felt I liked the place."
"Thought you liked the forest? That's good." Came a voice from behind them. "That's uncommonly kind of you. Turn around and let me have a look at your faces. I almost feel that I dislike you all, but do not let us be hasty. Turn around." Michelle snapped out of the trance she was in at the sound of the strange voice. She turned around and looked at the large Man- like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least 14 ft. high, very sturdy, with a tall head and hardly any neck.
"ARGH!" she screamed. She tripped over her own feet as she tried to back away in fear. "OH MY GOD! A TALKING TREE!" The creature sighed, and lifted the tree of them in the air to look at them properly. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. At any rate the arms, at a short distance from the trunk, were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown, smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment, they all noticed little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a very green light.
"Hrum, Hoom," murmured the voice, a deep ice like a very deep woodwind instrument, "Very odd indeed! Do not be hasty, that is my motto."
"What's a motto?" whispered Pippin to Merry, curiously.
"Nothing, what's the motto with you?" Merry said, before cracking up and falling over from laughing. When he eventually stopped he stood up again. "Or not."
"Anyway," it continued talking to the hobbits. "But if I had seen you, before I heard your voices – I liked them: they remind me of something I cannot remember – if I had seen you before I heard you, I should have trodden on you, taking you for little Orcs, and found my mistake afterwards. Very odd you are, indeed. Root and twig, very odd!" Pippin then plucked up the courage to ask the question burning in his mind.
"Please," he said, "Who are you? And what are you?"
"Hrum, now," it said, "Well, I am an Ent, or that's what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do."
"An Ent?" said Merry, "What's that? But what do you call yourself? What's your real name?"
"Hoo now!" replied Treebeard. "Hoo! Now that would be telling! Not so hasty. And I am doing the asking. You are in my country. What are you, I wonder? I cannot place you. You," he said to Michelle - who was shaking with fear 1) from the height, and 2) from the fact that a tree was talking to her, "You are of the men."
"Human, thank you very much." Said Michelle, indignantly but still frightened. "I am not a man, I am a woman!" Treebeard ignored her.
"But you do not seem to come into the lists that I learned when I was young. But that was a long, long time ago, and they may have made new lists. Let me see! Let me see! How did it go?" Treebeard recited part of a list, in which hobbits weren't mentioned.
The conversation continued for quite a while, and covered many topics. Firstly they discussed hobbits being left out of all old lists and stories, then Merry and Pippin introduced themselves and Michelle, then they spoke about Ents, then about their being in Fangorn, then about Saruman and Gandalf, then finally about what Merry, Pippin and Michelle were going to do. They left all their belongings at Parth Galen and had little provisions. It was decided that they would go to Treebeard's home.
Through all of this conversation, and that which was held in going to Treebeard's home, Michelle stayed silent. She was lost in her own thoughts. Mostly, she thought about Boromir, though her mind did often wander to fellowship. The same questions ran through her mind. Where were they? Were they alive? Were they together? Michelle had to stop herself from crying again.
It was dusk by the time they reached Treebeard's home.
"Hm! Here we are!" Treebeard said, breaking his long silence. "I have brought you about seventy-thousand ent-strides, but what that comes to in the measurement of your land I do not know. Anyhow we are near the roots of the Last Mountain. Part of the name of this place might be Wellinghall, if it were turned into your language. I like it. We will stay here tonight." He set them down on the grass between the aisles of trees, and they followed him towards a great arch. For the moment, Treebeard stood beneath the rain of a falling spring, and took a deep breath; then laughed and passed inside.
Inside stood a great stone table, but no chairs. At the back of the bay it was already quite dark. Treebeard tree great vessels and stood them on the table. They seemed to be filled with water; but he held his hands them, and immediately they began to glow, one with golden light, one with a rich green light and one with a pale red light; the blending of the three lights lit the bay, as if the sun of summer was shining through a roof of young leaves.
Treebeard asked them about their 'tale'. He got them to describe every last detail. He got Merry and Pippin to describe the Shire over and over again, then asking them if they ever saw Entwives. This puzzled the hobbits immensely, not knowing what an Entwife was. The conversation then changed to Wizards, then back to Entwives again. Treebeard recited them an elvish song about Ents and Entwives, then retired to bed. Well, actually, to stand being as Ents stand up to sleep.
2 Luv Elf Crumpet xXx
3
4 Chapter 21
It was further than it looked. The ground was still rising steeply, and was now becoming increasingly stony. The light grew broader as they went on, and soon they saw that there was a rock-wall before them: the side of a hill, or the abrupt end of some long root thrust out by the distant mountains. No trees grew on it, and the sun was falling full on its stony face. The twigs of trees at its foot were stretched out stiff and still, as if reaching out to the warmth.
In the face of the stony wall there was something like a stair: natural perhaps, and made by the weathering and splitting of rock, for it was rough and uneven. High up, almost level with the tops of the forest-trees, there was a shelf under a cliff. Nothing grew there but a few grasses and weeds at its edge, and one old stump of a tree with only two branches left: it looked almost like the figure of some gnarled old man, standing there, blinking in the morning light.
"Up we go!" said Merry, cheerfully. "Now for a breath of air and a sight of the land!" They climbed and scrambled up the rock. If the stair had been made, it was for bigger feet and longer legs than theirs. They eventually came to the shelf, almost at the feet of the old stump. They turned around and looked eastward. They saw that they had only come three or four miles into the forest: the heads of the trees marched down the slopes towards the plain. There, near the fringe of the forest, tall spires of curling black smoke went up, wavering and floating towards them.
"The wind is changing," said Merry. "It's turned east again. It feels cool up here."
"Yes," said Michelle. "I'm afraid this is only a passing gleam, and it will all go grey again."
"What a pity!" said Pippin, "This shaggy old forest looked so different in the sunlight. I almost felt I liked the place."
"Thought you liked the forest? That's good." Came a voice from behind them. "That's uncommonly kind of you. Turn around and let me have a look at your faces. I almost feel that I dislike you all, but do not let us be hasty. Turn around." Michelle snapped out of the trance she was in at the sound of the strange voice. She turned around and looked at the large Man- like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least 14 ft. high, very sturdy, with a tall head and hardly any neck.
"ARGH!" she screamed. She tripped over her own feet as she tried to back away in fear. "OH MY GOD! A TALKING TREE!" The creature sighed, and lifted the tree of them in the air to look at them properly. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. At any rate the arms, at a short distance from the trunk, were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown, smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment, they all noticed little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a very green light.
"Hrum, Hoom," murmured the voice, a deep ice like a very deep woodwind instrument, "Very odd indeed! Do not be hasty, that is my motto."
"What's a motto?" whispered Pippin to Merry, curiously.
"Nothing, what's the motto with you?" Merry said, before cracking up and falling over from laughing. When he eventually stopped he stood up again. "Or not."
"Anyway," it continued talking to the hobbits. "But if I had seen you, before I heard your voices – I liked them: they remind me of something I cannot remember – if I had seen you before I heard you, I should have trodden on you, taking you for little Orcs, and found my mistake afterwards. Very odd you are, indeed. Root and twig, very odd!" Pippin then plucked up the courage to ask the question burning in his mind.
"Please," he said, "Who are you? And what are you?"
"Hrum, now," it said, "Well, I am an Ent, or that's what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do."
"An Ent?" said Merry, "What's that? But what do you call yourself? What's your real name?"
"Hoo now!" replied Treebeard. "Hoo! Now that would be telling! Not so hasty. And I am doing the asking. You are in my country. What are you, I wonder? I cannot place you. You," he said to Michelle - who was shaking with fear 1) from the height, and 2) from the fact that a tree was talking to her, "You are of the men."
"Human, thank you very much." Said Michelle, indignantly but still frightened. "I am not a man, I am a woman!" Treebeard ignored her.
"But you do not seem to come into the lists that I learned when I was young. But that was a long, long time ago, and they may have made new lists. Let me see! Let me see! How did it go?" Treebeard recited part of a list, in which hobbits weren't mentioned.
The conversation continued for quite a while, and covered many topics. Firstly they discussed hobbits being left out of all old lists and stories, then Merry and Pippin introduced themselves and Michelle, then they spoke about Ents, then about their being in Fangorn, then about Saruman and Gandalf, then finally about what Merry, Pippin and Michelle were going to do. They left all their belongings at Parth Galen and had little provisions. It was decided that they would go to Treebeard's home.
Through all of this conversation, and that which was held in going to Treebeard's home, Michelle stayed silent. She was lost in her own thoughts. Mostly, she thought about Boromir, though her mind did often wander to fellowship. The same questions ran through her mind. Where were they? Were they alive? Were they together? Michelle had to stop herself from crying again.
It was dusk by the time they reached Treebeard's home.
"Hm! Here we are!" Treebeard said, breaking his long silence. "I have brought you about seventy-thousand ent-strides, but what that comes to in the measurement of your land I do not know. Anyhow we are near the roots of the Last Mountain. Part of the name of this place might be Wellinghall, if it were turned into your language. I like it. We will stay here tonight." He set them down on the grass between the aisles of trees, and they followed him towards a great arch. For the moment, Treebeard stood beneath the rain of a falling spring, and took a deep breath; then laughed and passed inside.
Inside stood a great stone table, but no chairs. At the back of the bay it was already quite dark. Treebeard tree great vessels and stood them on the table. They seemed to be filled with water; but he held his hands them, and immediately they began to glow, one with golden light, one with a rich green light and one with a pale red light; the blending of the three lights lit the bay, as if the sun of summer was shining through a roof of young leaves.
Treebeard asked them about their 'tale'. He got them to describe every last detail. He got Merry and Pippin to describe the Shire over and over again, then asking them if they ever saw Entwives. This puzzled the hobbits immensely, not knowing what an Entwife was. The conversation then changed to Wizards, then back to Entwives again. Treebeard recited them an elvish song about Ents and Entwives, then retired to bed. Well, actually, to stand being as Ents stand up to sleep.