The Tale
The next day is much as the
one before, except it seems even quieter and the stifling atmosphere heavier as
they pass under the trees. Gollum pauses to sniff the air quite often, and then
urges the hobbits to go faster.
By afternoon the trees (ilex,
oak, and ash) spread out and the cover becomes scattered over the long launds (glades
or grassy areas between trees) between them, sprinkled profusely with
celandine, anemones, and woodland hyacinths. They see no birds or beasts, which
makes Gollum nervous. They move quickly and cautiously from one shadow to the
next.
By the end of the day, when
the light is fading, they come to the end of the forest. Before them is a deep
dim valley. The road ahead leads to woods again. To the right the Mountains of
Gondor glow in the sunset; to the left are the dark walls of Mordor. Frodo
seems to see ‘dim tops and broken pinnacles of old towers forlorn and dark.’ He
asks Gollum if he knows where they are.
Gollum answers they are in
dangerous places. On the left is the valley of Minas Morgul, the tower of the
Moon; a road leaves from there to Osgiliath, a ruined city ‘full of enemies.’ He says they shouldn’t have taken the nasty
Men’s advice; they’ve come far off their path and must turn east. They can’t
use the road either. ‘Cruel peoples come this way.’ Frodo looks at the road;
though empty it feels ‘as if things might indeed be passing up and down that
eyes could not see.’
Frodo decides not to decide
what to do just yet. They’ve walked long and far. Perhaps they should just rest
at the edge of the wood. Gollum says they shouldn’t rest at night anymore. They
should press on. Sam objects they have to rest, even if the get up to march in
the middle of the night; there’ll still be plenty of dark left. Gollum
reluctantly agrees.
They climb up into the
branches of a holm-oak. Gollum curls up and goes to sleep right away. The
hobbits eat but do not sleep.
A little after midnight
Gollum wakes up and sniffs the air (which seems his usual method of determining
the time of night. He asks if Frodo and Sam have rested and slept. Sam growls
they’ve done neither. Gollum drops right out of the tree onto all fours. Frodo
and Sam follow more slowly.
They head out eastwards. The
land slopes upward and becomes broken and hard. The fact that they can hardly
see anything doesn’t help. In fact, a looming darkness is coming from the East,
eating up the dim stars. The sinking moon ‘is ringed all about with a sickly
yellow haze.’ Gollum turns and announces it will be day soon and they must
hurry and find a place to hide.
They follow him wearily. He
leads them at last to a hogback of land, covered with ancient and thick gorse
bushes, burned here and there. The bushes are so tall the hobbits can walk
upright under their cover.
They reach the further edge
of the hill and hide under ‘a tangled knot of thorns’, where there is a hollow
hall roofed with new spring growth. They sit and rest, too tired to eat, and
wait for the day to dawn.
But dawn never comes, ‘only
a dead brown twilight.’ In the East there is a red light that is not the sun.
The mountains before them loom blackly. Frodo asks which way they should go and
Sam asks if they have to think about it just yet.
‘Perhaps not, perhaps not,’
said Gollum. ‘But we must go soon, to the Cross-roads. Yes, to the Cross-roads.
That’s the way over there, yes, Master.’
Bits and Bobs
A ‘hogback’ is a long hill
or mountain range with steep sides and a narrow crest.
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