Today's bit of info: There really is a Brandywine River! It is in Pennsylvania and it branches off the Delaware River. Go to http://cfpms.ucf.k12.pa.us/uhistory/brandywine.html for more information.
The Forgotten Quest
Peregrin Took put down his book as he heard a knock on the front door. "Who could it be at this time of day? It's not even tea-time yet!" he said aloud. He sighed and turned back to his reading. Whoever was outside the door knocked impatiently. He grumbled unhappily and put his book down. "Coming!" he called to the door. He opened the door and there stood someone that Peregrin Took did not expect.
At first, it seemed to be Gandalf, but then Pippin realized it was not Gandalf; for this traveler wore brown, and had more color in his skin than Gandalf and Saruman. He had a brown beard with flecks of grey and white; and his hazel eyes were friendly, like the eyes of Gandalf, yet they showed less wisdom and more knowledge. He carried a wooden staff from some unknown tree, and it held upon the top a carving of a bird that Pippin had never seen before. Pippin blinked.
Noticing the staff, he exclaimed, "You must be a wizard! You're not Saruman, are you? No, wait, he was killed…well, you're not Gandalf, that's for sure…" Pippin trailed off, confused.
The visitor laughed. "No, I am not Saruman, and I am not Gandalf. I am Radagast, and my color is Brown. I am searching for a Meriadoc and a Peregrin. Do you know where I may find them?"
"Well, I'm Peregrin, Pippin, if you please; Merry's off in Buckland, you'll have to continue down the Brandywine to get to there. Are you a friend of Gandalf? Or were you a friend of Saruman?" Pippin asked, not wanting to invite in a stranger until he knew whose side the stranger was on.
"I am a friend of Gandalf, and I was a friend of Saruman until he began to meddle in the Dark Lord's affairs and got himself caught in the War of the Ring," Radagast replied. Pippin squinted up at him suspiciously, but Radagast's eyes showed honesty. He smiled.
"Oh, good! Please, come in, come in!" Pippin opened the door so Radagast had room to stoop down and enter the hobbit-hole. "Any friend of Gandalf should be a friend of mine, as Sam would have said anyways. I remember now: Gandalf told Merry and me a bit about you. It's not quite tea-time, but if you stay a bit then you'll meet Merry; he's coming over for tea today."
Radagast smiled and thanked him, and stepped into the hobbit-hole. Hobbit-holes are very comfortable, even if you are too tall to be in one, so of course Radagast was very pleased to have been invited in; and if he was not, he was afterwards. He sat down at the table while Pippin hurried around the kitchen trying to find something for his guest. Finally, Pippin sat down, and Radagast smiled.
"You said Saruman was killed?" Radagast asked him.
"Yes. He had been ruining the Shire, and so Frodo–Frodo Baggins, that is–told him to go and never return. His…servant, Grima Wormtongue, stabbed him in the back, but Grima fell with four hobbit-arrows in his back. We are not Elf-archers, but even Merry has learned to handle a bow and arrow," Pippin explained proudly, laughing at his own example of Meriadoc Brandybuck. He then continued: "And you said you were supposed to come look for Merry and me? Who sent you, and why?"
Radagast nodded. "I was passing through Fangorn—lovely forest, really—and happened to come upon an Ent. Treebeard, he said his name was. I had not seen an Ent for a long time; so long, that even Treebeard thought it was a long time. He asked what tidings I had from the world outside Fangorn, and I told him of the War and the destruction of the Ring by a halfling.
"At this he started. 'Halfling…hoom, hobbits, you say?' he said. 'There are two hobbits, Meriadoc and Peregrin, of the Shire. They visited Fangorn once. They promised to look…hroom hoom…for the Entwives. If you can, visit them and send back word if they have found them yet…the time of the Ents will soon be over if they are not found.'
"He seemed very sad as he said this, and I could not help but be sympathetic. Treebeard told me that this Shire was away north and west, so I journeyed there and ended up here looking for Meriadoc and Peregrin," Radagast concluded, sitting back in his chair.
"Old Treebeard's still after those Entwives! If I had a moment to spare, I would go off and find them for him, but I am so busy–" Pippin was interrupted by a knock on his large, round door. He jumped up. "See? Oh, that's Merry! Teatime already? My how time flies –" he trailed off as he hurried to open the door for his friend.
"Pippin, my lad!" Merry smiled as he greeted an apparently disheveled and rushed Took. Pippin smiled and let him in. Merry stepped into the hobbit-hole and looked around the familiar home. He knew it like the back of his hand, and almost as well as his own hobbit-hole by the Brandywine. Yes, he knew every single bit of this hobbit-hole; after all, he had been here almost every day for tea since the War of the Ring ended (and when Merry wasn't at Pippin's house, Pippin came over to Merry's). From the bedrooms (where he sometimes spent the night) to the living-room, from the kitchen to the old man sitting at the table–Merry started. Old man sitting at the table? At first he though it was Gandalf, for the two were very similar. There was the same look of deep wisdom in this man's eyes, and the same style of cloak that he wore. Yet it was not Gandalf, for Gandalf wore colors of grey and white (according to his Order), while this man wore many shades of brown, save for the hints of age in the greys and whites of his beard and hair. Merry's eyes widened.
"And who might this be?!" Merry asked, startled, suddenly realizing why Pippin had looked so surprised. The stranger stood up, bent due to the height of the ceiling, leaning slightly upon a wooden walking stick with a strange bird upon it. Looking at Merry, the old man said: "Master Meriadoc?"
Merry was completely baffled, but recovered his wits quickly, being reminded of the need for secrecy and security with strangers upon his travels. He stood tall and put his hands on his hips as if addressing a young hobbit who had given him what Sam called "sauce." "Pippin, who is this fellow? You haven't been letting in ruffians have you?" Merry inspected the stranger. "You aren't Gandalf, are you? No, you are much different, and Gandalf never wore brown. Who are you? And how do you know my name?" He looked back and forth between the stranger and Pippin, confused.
Radagast chuckled and Pippin clapped a hand on Merry's shoulder. "Merry, this is Radagast. He is a Wizard, like Gandalf, but he is different. Gandalf was Grey, and then he was White–that's higher, now–but Radagast is, ah, Brown. He is a bit lower, if I'm remembering correctly. Remember Gandalf told us a bit about him the other day? Well Radagast and Gandalf are friends, and Radagast just came in from Fangorn with Treebeard –remember him? I did wonder how he was doing–and anywho, Radagast has just come from there! Treebeard told him to stop by, always thinking of friends, he is…and we really ought to help him out you know; after all he could have crushed us like termites out there in Fangorn, but he didn't, and look where we are today! So, Radagast was just telling me the latest tidings from the Ents; don't you remember them Merry? Remember when Gandalf told us a bit about Radagast?" Pippin concluded, looking eagerly at Merry.
While Pippin explained to Merry, his eyes got wider and wider, and finally he had that look on his face as we all do when we finally understand someone. As Pippin talked about helping Treebeard, Merry nodded in agreement, and when Pippin concluded he smiled broadly. "Of course I remember, Pippin!" He laughed. "You know I always pay attention when Gandalf talks, in case he tells of some big affair that's going to happen and if I don't listen I'll miss it! Like Strider and that Arwen he married, or Faramir and Eowyn–I wonder how they are doing?–or Eomer or Treebeard! I do hope he finds the Entwives," Merry ended sadly.
Radagast chuckled again, sitting down. "So I have found Masters Merry and Pippin. I have brought Treebeard's tidings…"–Radagast repeated the Ent's words for Merry–"And I am afraid that the Ents will disappear from this Middle-Earth if the Entwives are not found soon. This is the Age of Men, but I do hate sad endings, and even though Men will dominate and other races will fade, they will not fade immediately. I do think it would be good for the Ents and Entwives to be together before the end."
Merry and Pippin sat down at the table, and Radagast sighed. Pippin suddenly remembered the tea, and as he stood up, Merry stood up also. "Yes, Treebeard deserves to have his Entwives back. After all, he is not evil or cruel–although he did do a number on Isengard. The Ents are going to, well, fade away, like Radagast said." Merry sighed, and sat down again. Radagast nodded in agreement. "But what can we do? We're just two little hobbits—"
"—Who survived the War of the Ring and are soldiers of Rohan and Gondor, and one of those two little hobbits helped kill a Black Rider; whose best friends went up into Mordor thinking the same thing and destroyed a Lord so Dark that the bravest men quailed before him," Pippin interrupted. Merry looked up at him. "These two little hobbits," he continued, "can go out on a small adventure for an old friend and find his Entwives. Merry, it won't take long; we'll go out and look and be back in time for dinner!"
At this Radagast looked up at him, surprised. Having not met hobbits before, he did not know as well as Gandalf what they were capable of. "I do not think you shall be back in time for dinner," Radagast replied, "but this would be a very kind and important thing that you could do for the Ents. You have already changed Middle-Earth; but Ents do not…participate as much as other races. It would take a great deal to change their lives, but I am sure that this would mean a great deal to them. Fangorn would be…" Radagast tried to think of a word to describe their utter gratefulness. Failing, he continued, "You would be considered saviors of Fangorn and of the Ents. A friendship with the Ents may come in handy sometime. Think about it."
He paused, letting this sink in. Merry's eyes grew wider and wider, and Pippin half-smiled, thinking. Suddenly, Merry stood up. "Count me in, Radagast!"
I was tending the gardens as I do always, when Wandlimb called me. She spoke more slowly than usual, which was odd. She told me of times when the world was young to lighten my heart, and she told me of our husbands. My heart was rekindled with hope, and my thoughts from this morning returned to me. We have become too hasty, we have. There has been great need to speak quickly, and many of our words in our beautiful long speech have become abbreviated. I told her this, and she spoke softly, using the long words instead of abbreviations and contractions. It made me smile, and I was happy for a time.
I walked among the trees that used to be tall and strong, and dared to go to where the forest thinned to the New River. We thought there might have been some of the Old River in it, for it was similar in taste but did not make things grow. The strange creatures who live here do not go near the River unless it is necessary, and when that is the case most feel uneasy in the crafts they have created to master the water. When one falls in I cry, for these things have no respect for the River, and have not learned to swim (being smaller than I, this is necessary, for they cannot wade in the River) and once they fall into the water they rarely ever resurface. It makes me sad, but I watch them still.
I dared to venture into the open, in hopes of seeing the Golden One. She always brought hope and comfort to me. I stood watching, waiting, when I heard clear singing from over the hill. It was not Elvish, for the Elves do not sound so merry when they sing. This voice was feminine, and it was glad, and my heart rejoiced. I had little need for serious songs; my heart was heavy often now with tragedy and sadness. Then I was happier, for it was the Golden One, and I hid between the trees in case she was not alone. But she was and she came into the forest, and she comforted me, as she always does.
We talked and sang and danced, and I was jealous for she moved more freely than I. She brought hope to my heart, and knew of my deep sorrow, for she too was in love, with a man I had seen only once and never met. The Golden One was known well in these woods, for she shared our love for things that grow, and she often helped us in the gardens and talked to us with her soothing words. She was wise and powerful in her own way. It was truly quite remarkable, how she never was hasty and knew our ways well. She never told us her true name, as we never told her ours (our names are much too long to say in her speech, so we shortened them for her). She was fair-haired, so we called her the Golden One and she liked it. She said it was similar to her true name and at this, we were satisfied. But she never stayed long, and after she comforted me, she bid me good-bye and left the forest.
The Golden One did not live far, but it was outside of the forest and she had her own gardens to tend. The Sun was setting then, and I watched it from beside my favorite tree and thought of the prophecy that stated that we will find our husbands when we have both lost all that we now have. I thought of what we now have and wept.
The Forgotten Quest
Peregrin Took put down his book as he heard a knock on the front door. "Who could it be at this time of day? It's not even tea-time yet!" he said aloud. He sighed and turned back to his reading. Whoever was outside the door knocked impatiently. He grumbled unhappily and put his book down. "Coming!" he called to the door. He opened the door and there stood someone that Peregrin Took did not expect.
At first, it seemed to be Gandalf, but then Pippin realized it was not Gandalf; for this traveler wore brown, and had more color in his skin than Gandalf and Saruman. He had a brown beard with flecks of grey and white; and his hazel eyes were friendly, like the eyes of Gandalf, yet they showed less wisdom and more knowledge. He carried a wooden staff from some unknown tree, and it held upon the top a carving of a bird that Pippin had never seen before. Pippin blinked.
Noticing the staff, he exclaimed, "You must be a wizard! You're not Saruman, are you? No, wait, he was killed…well, you're not Gandalf, that's for sure…" Pippin trailed off, confused.
The visitor laughed. "No, I am not Saruman, and I am not Gandalf. I am Radagast, and my color is Brown. I am searching for a Meriadoc and a Peregrin. Do you know where I may find them?"
"Well, I'm Peregrin, Pippin, if you please; Merry's off in Buckland, you'll have to continue down the Brandywine to get to there. Are you a friend of Gandalf? Or were you a friend of Saruman?" Pippin asked, not wanting to invite in a stranger until he knew whose side the stranger was on.
"I am a friend of Gandalf, and I was a friend of Saruman until he began to meddle in the Dark Lord's affairs and got himself caught in the War of the Ring," Radagast replied. Pippin squinted up at him suspiciously, but Radagast's eyes showed honesty. He smiled.
"Oh, good! Please, come in, come in!" Pippin opened the door so Radagast had room to stoop down and enter the hobbit-hole. "Any friend of Gandalf should be a friend of mine, as Sam would have said anyways. I remember now: Gandalf told Merry and me a bit about you. It's not quite tea-time, but if you stay a bit then you'll meet Merry; he's coming over for tea today."
Radagast smiled and thanked him, and stepped into the hobbit-hole. Hobbit-holes are very comfortable, even if you are too tall to be in one, so of course Radagast was very pleased to have been invited in; and if he was not, he was afterwards. He sat down at the table while Pippin hurried around the kitchen trying to find something for his guest. Finally, Pippin sat down, and Radagast smiled.
"You said Saruman was killed?" Radagast asked him.
"Yes. He had been ruining the Shire, and so Frodo–Frodo Baggins, that is–told him to go and never return. His…servant, Grima Wormtongue, stabbed him in the back, but Grima fell with four hobbit-arrows in his back. We are not Elf-archers, but even Merry has learned to handle a bow and arrow," Pippin explained proudly, laughing at his own example of Meriadoc Brandybuck. He then continued: "And you said you were supposed to come look for Merry and me? Who sent you, and why?"
Radagast nodded. "I was passing through Fangorn—lovely forest, really—and happened to come upon an Ent. Treebeard, he said his name was. I had not seen an Ent for a long time; so long, that even Treebeard thought it was a long time. He asked what tidings I had from the world outside Fangorn, and I told him of the War and the destruction of the Ring by a halfling.
"At this he started. 'Halfling…hoom, hobbits, you say?' he said. 'There are two hobbits, Meriadoc and Peregrin, of the Shire. They visited Fangorn once. They promised to look…hroom hoom…for the Entwives. If you can, visit them and send back word if they have found them yet…the time of the Ents will soon be over if they are not found.'
"He seemed very sad as he said this, and I could not help but be sympathetic. Treebeard told me that this Shire was away north and west, so I journeyed there and ended up here looking for Meriadoc and Peregrin," Radagast concluded, sitting back in his chair.
"Old Treebeard's still after those Entwives! If I had a moment to spare, I would go off and find them for him, but I am so busy–" Pippin was interrupted by a knock on his large, round door. He jumped up. "See? Oh, that's Merry! Teatime already? My how time flies –" he trailed off as he hurried to open the door for his friend.
"Pippin, my lad!" Merry smiled as he greeted an apparently disheveled and rushed Took. Pippin smiled and let him in. Merry stepped into the hobbit-hole and looked around the familiar home. He knew it like the back of his hand, and almost as well as his own hobbit-hole by the Brandywine. Yes, he knew every single bit of this hobbit-hole; after all, he had been here almost every day for tea since the War of the Ring ended (and when Merry wasn't at Pippin's house, Pippin came over to Merry's). From the bedrooms (where he sometimes spent the night) to the living-room, from the kitchen to the old man sitting at the table–Merry started. Old man sitting at the table? At first he though it was Gandalf, for the two were very similar. There was the same look of deep wisdom in this man's eyes, and the same style of cloak that he wore. Yet it was not Gandalf, for Gandalf wore colors of grey and white (according to his Order), while this man wore many shades of brown, save for the hints of age in the greys and whites of his beard and hair. Merry's eyes widened.
"And who might this be?!" Merry asked, startled, suddenly realizing why Pippin had looked so surprised. The stranger stood up, bent due to the height of the ceiling, leaning slightly upon a wooden walking stick with a strange bird upon it. Looking at Merry, the old man said: "Master Meriadoc?"
Merry was completely baffled, but recovered his wits quickly, being reminded of the need for secrecy and security with strangers upon his travels. He stood tall and put his hands on his hips as if addressing a young hobbit who had given him what Sam called "sauce." "Pippin, who is this fellow? You haven't been letting in ruffians have you?" Merry inspected the stranger. "You aren't Gandalf, are you? No, you are much different, and Gandalf never wore brown. Who are you? And how do you know my name?" He looked back and forth between the stranger and Pippin, confused.
Radagast chuckled and Pippin clapped a hand on Merry's shoulder. "Merry, this is Radagast. He is a Wizard, like Gandalf, but he is different. Gandalf was Grey, and then he was White–that's higher, now–but Radagast is, ah, Brown. He is a bit lower, if I'm remembering correctly. Remember Gandalf told us a bit about him the other day? Well Radagast and Gandalf are friends, and Radagast just came in from Fangorn with Treebeard –remember him? I did wonder how he was doing–and anywho, Radagast has just come from there! Treebeard told him to stop by, always thinking of friends, he is…and we really ought to help him out you know; after all he could have crushed us like termites out there in Fangorn, but he didn't, and look where we are today! So, Radagast was just telling me the latest tidings from the Ents; don't you remember them Merry? Remember when Gandalf told us a bit about Radagast?" Pippin concluded, looking eagerly at Merry.
While Pippin explained to Merry, his eyes got wider and wider, and finally he had that look on his face as we all do when we finally understand someone. As Pippin talked about helping Treebeard, Merry nodded in agreement, and when Pippin concluded he smiled broadly. "Of course I remember, Pippin!" He laughed. "You know I always pay attention when Gandalf talks, in case he tells of some big affair that's going to happen and if I don't listen I'll miss it! Like Strider and that Arwen he married, or Faramir and Eowyn–I wonder how they are doing?–or Eomer or Treebeard! I do hope he finds the Entwives," Merry ended sadly.
Radagast chuckled again, sitting down. "So I have found Masters Merry and Pippin. I have brought Treebeard's tidings…"–Radagast repeated the Ent's words for Merry–"And I am afraid that the Ents will disappear from this Middle-Earth if the Entwives are not found soon. This is the Age of Men, but I do hate sad endings, and even though Men will dominate and other races will fade, they will not fade immediately. I do think it would be good for the Ents and Entwives to be together before the end."
Merry and Pippin sat down at the table, and Radagast sighed. Pippin suddenly remembered the tea, and as he stood up, Merry stood up also. "Yes, Treebeard deserves to have his Entwives back. After all, he is not evil or cruel–although he did do a number on Isengard. The Ents are going to, well, fade away, like Radagast said." Merry sighed, and sat down again. Radagast nodded in agreement. "But what can we do? We're just two little hobbits—"
"—Who survived the War of the Ring and are soldiers of Rohan and Gondor, and one of those two little hobbits helped kill a Black Rider; whose best friends went up into Mordor thinking the same thing and destroyed a Lord so Dark that the bravest men quailed before him," Pippin interrupted. Merry looked up at him. "These two little hobbits," he continued, "can go out on a small adventure for an old friend and find his Entwives. Merry, it won't take long; we'll go out and look and be back in time for dinner!"
At this Radagast looked up at him, surprised. Having not met hobbits before, he did not know as well as Gandalf what they were capable of. "I do not think you shall be back in time for dinner," Radagast replied, "but this would be a very kind and important thing that you could do for the Ents. You have already changed Middle-Earth; but Ents do not…participate as much as other races. It would take a great deal to change their lives, but I am sure that this would mean a great deal to them. Fangorn would be…" Radagast tried to think of a word to describe their utter gratefulness. Failing, he continued, "You would be considered saviors of Fangorn and of the Ents. A friendship with the Ents may come in handy sometime. Think about it."
He paused, letting this sink in. Merry's eyes grew wider and wider, and Pippin half-smiled, thinking. Suddenly, Merry stood up. "Count me in, Radagast!"
I was tending the gardens as I do always, when Wandlimb called me. She spoke more slowly than usual, which was odd. She told me of times when the world was young to lighten my heart, and she told me of our husbands. My heart was rekindled with hope, and my thoughts from this morning returned to me. We have become too hasty, we have. There has been great need to speak quickly, and many of our words in our beautiful long speech have become abbreviated. I told her this, and she spoke softly, using the long words instead of abbreviations and contractions. It made me smile, and I was happy for a time.
I walked among the trees that used to be tall and strong, and dared to go to where the forest thinned to the New River. We thought there might have been some of the Old River in it, for it was similar in taste but did not make things grow. The strange creatures who live here do not go near the River unless it is necessary, and when that is the case most feel uneasy in the crafts they have created to master the water. When one falls in I cry, for these things have no respect for the River, and have not learned to swim (being smaller than I, this is necessary, for they cannot wade in the River) and once they fall into the water they rarely ever resurface. It makes me sad, but I watch them still.
I dared to venture into the open, in hopes of seeing the Golden One. She always brought hope and comfort to me. I stood watching, waiting, when I heard clear singing from over the hill. It was not Elvish, for the Elves do not sound so merry when they sing. This voice was feminine, and it was glad, and my heart rejoiced. I had little need for serious songs; my heart was heavy often now with tragedy and sadness. Then I was happier, for it was the Golden One, and I hid between the trees in case she was not alone. But she was and she came into the forest, and she comforted me, as she always does.
We talked and sang and danced, and I was jealous for she moved more freely than I. She brought hope to my heart, and knew of my deep sorrow, for she too was in love, with a man I had seen only once and never met. The Golden One was known well in these woods, for she shared our love for things that grow, and she often helped us in the gardens and talked to us with her soothing words. She was wise and powerful in her own way. It was truly quite remarkable, how she never was hasty and knew our ways well. She never told us her true name, as we never told her ours (our names are much too long to say in her speech, so we shortened them for her). She was fair-haired, so we called her the Golden One and she liked it. She said it was similar to her true name and at this, we were satisfied. But she never stayed long, and after she comforted me, she bid me good-bye and left the forest.
The Golden One did not live far, but it was outside of the forest and she had her own gardens to tend. The Sun was setting then, and I watched it from beside my favorite tree and thought of the prophecy that stated that we will find our husbands when we have both lost all that we now have. I thought of what we now have and wept.
