‘At once I took my leave of Denethor, but even as I went north-
wards, messages came to me out of Lorien that Aragorn had passed that
way, and that he had found the creature called Gollum. There-
fore I went first to meet him and hear his tale. Into what deadly perils
he had gone alone I dared not guess.’
‘There is little need to tell of them,’ said Aragorn. ‘If a man must
needs walk in sight of the Black Gate, or tread the deadly flowers of
Morgul Vale, then perils he will have. I, too, despaired at last, and
I began my homeward journey. And then, by fortune, I came sud-
denly on what I sought: the marks of soft feet beside a muddy pool.
But now the trail was fresh and swift, and it led not to Mordor but
away. Along the skirts of the Dead Marshes I followed it, and then
I had him. Lurking by a stagnant mere, peering in the water as the
dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. He was covered with green slime.
He will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle.
Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than the marks of his
teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my journey, the road back,
watching him day and night, making him walk before me with a
halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and
food, driving him ever towards Mirkwood. I brought him there at
last and gave him to the Elves, for we had agreed that this should be
done; and I was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank. For my
part I hope never to look upon him again; but Gandalf came and
endured long speech with him.’
‘Yes, long and weary,’ said Gandalf, ‘but not without profit. For
one thing, the tale he told of his loss agreed with that which Bilbo
has now told openly for the first time; but that mattered little, since
I had already guessed it. But I learned then first that Gollum’s ring
came out of the Great River nigh to the Gladden Fields. And I learned
also that he had possessed it long. Many lives of his small kind. The
power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span;
but that power only the Great Rings wield.
‘And if that is not proof enough, Galdor, there is the other test
that I spoke of. Upon this very ring which you have here seen held
aloft, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still
be read, if one has the strength of will to set the golden thing in the
fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read:
Ash nazg durbatuluˆk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluˆk
agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.’
The change in the wizard’s voice was astounding. Suddenly it
became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to
pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All
trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears.
‘Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue
in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey,’ said Elrond, as the shadow passed
and the company breathed once more.
‘And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again,’ answered
Gandalf. ‘Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For
if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West,
then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise
have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice;
and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black
Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew
that they had been betrayed:
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to
bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.
‘Know also, my friends, that I learned more yet from Gollum. He
was loth to speak and his tale was unclear, but it is beyond all doubt
that he went to Mordor, and there all that he knew was forced from
him. Thus the Enemy knows now that the One is found, that it was
long in the Shire; and since his servants have pursued it almost to
our door, he soon will know, already he may know, even as I speak,
that we have it here.’
* * *
All sat silent for a while, until at length Boromir spoke. ‘He is a
small thing, you say, this Gollum? Small, but great in mischief. What
became of him? To what doom did you put him?’
‘He is in prison, but no worse,’ said Aragorn. ‘He had suffered
much. There is no doubt that he was tormented, and the fear of
Sauron lies black on his heart. Still I for one am glad that he is safely
kept by the watchful Elves of Mirkwood. His malice is great and
gives him a strength hardly to be believed in one so lean and withered.
He could work much mischief still, if he were free. And I do not
doubt that he was allowed to leave Mordor on some evil errand.’
‘Alas! alas!’ cried Legolas, and in his fair Elvish face there was
great distress. ‘The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told.
They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may
seem to this company. Sme´agol, who is now called Gollum, has
escaped.’
‘Escaped?’ cried Aragorn. ‘That is ill news indeed. We shall all
rue it bitterly, I fear. How came the folk of Thranduil to fail in their
trust?’
‘Not through lack of watchfulness,’ said Legolas; ‘but perhaps
through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from
others, and that more is known of our doings than we could wish.
We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf ’s bidding, much
though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for
his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons
under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black
thoughts.’
‘You were less tender to me,’ said Glo´ in with a flash of his eyes,
as old memories were stirred of his imprisonment in the deep places
of the Elven-king’s halls.
‘Now come!’ said Gandalf. ‘Pray, do not interrupt, my good Glo´ in.
That was a regrettable misunderstanding, long set right. If all the
grievances that stand between Elves and Dwarves are to be brought
up here, we may as well abandon this Council.’
Glo´ in rose and bowed, and Legolas continued. ‘In the days of fair
weather we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree
standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we
let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind;
but we set a guard at the tree’s foot. One day he refused to come
down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned
the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well as with his hands;
so they sat by the tree far into the night.
‘It was that very night of summer, yet moonless and starless, that
Orcs came on us at unawares. We drove them off after some time;
they were many and fierce, but they came from over the mountains,
and were unused to the woods. When the battle was over, we found
that Gollum was gone, and his guards were slain or taken. It then
seemed plain to us that the attack had been made for his rescue, and
that he knew of it beforehand. How that was contrived we cannot
guess; but Gollum is cunning, and the spies of the Enemy are many.
The dark things that were driven out in the year of the Dragon’s fall
have returned in greater numbers, and Mirkwood is again an evil
place, save where our realm is maintained.
‘We have failed to recapture Gollum. We came on his trail among
those of many Orcs, and it plunged deep into the Forest, going south.
But ere long it escaped our skill, and we dared not continue the hunt;
for we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil
place; we do not go that way.’
‘Well, well, he is gone,’ said Gandalf. ‘We have no time to seek
for him again. He must do what he will. But he may play a part yet
that neither he nor Sauron have foreseen.
