There was a white paved road running round the circuit of the walls. On the south side there was a bridge over the dike leading to great gates set on the side where the ends of the wall overlapped. They passed within into deep shadow where the two green walls ended [? in a] lane. They saw no folk on guard,(2) but there were many soft voices overhead, and in the distance he [sc. Frodo] heard a voice falling clear out of the air above them.
The original pencilled text continues for some distance from this point, but my father partly overwrote it in ink, and (more largely) erased it wholly before the new text was set down in its place. Here and there bits of the original text were retained, and where it was not erased but overwritten a name or a phrase can be made out. There was no long interval between the two forms of the text; my father may in any case have rewritten this section mainly because it was so nearly illegible.
They passed along many paths and climbed many flights of steps, until they saw before them amid a wide lawn a fountain. It sprang high in the air and fell in a wide basin of silver, from which a white stream ran away down the hill. Hard by stood a great tree. At its foot stood three tall elves. They were clad in grey mail and from their shoulders hung long white cloaks. 'Here dwell Keleborn and Galadriel,(3) the Lord and Lady of the Galadrim,' said Halldir.(4) 'It is their wish that you should go up and speak to them.'
One of the elf-wardens then blew a clear note on a small horn, and a ladder was let down. 'I will go first,' said Haldir. 'Let the chief hobbit go next, and with him Legolas. The others may follow as they wish. It is a long climb, but you may rest upon the way.'
As he passed upwards Frodo saw many smaller flets to this side or that, some with rooms built on them; but about a hundred feet above the ground they came to a flet that was very wide - like the deck of a great ship. On it was built a house so large that almost it might have been a hall of men upon the earth. He entered behind Haldir, and saw that he was in a chamber of oval shape, through the midst of which passed the bole of the great tree. It was filled with a soft golden light. Many elves were seated there. The roof was a pale gold, the walls of green and silver. On two seats at the further end sat side by side the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien. They looked tall even as they sat, and their hair was white and long.(5) They said no word and moved not, but their eyes were shining.
Haldir led Frodo and Legolas before them, and the Lord bade them welcome, but the Lady Galadriel said no word, and looked long into their faces.
'Sit now, Frodo of the Shire,' said Keleborn. 'We will await the others.' Each of the companions he greeted courteously by name as they entered. 'Welcome, Ingold son of Ingrim!'(6) he said. 'Your name is known to me, though never in all your wanderings have you sought my house. Welcome, Gimli son of Gloin! It is almost out of mind since we saw one of Durin's folk in Calas Galadon. But today our long law is broken: let it be a sign that though the world is dark, better things shall come, and friendship shall grow again between our peoples.'
When all the Company had come in and were seated before him, the Lord looked at them again. 'Is this all?' he asked. 'Your number should be nine. For so the secret messages from Rivendell have said. There is one absent whom I miss, and had hoped much to see. Tell me, where is Gandalf the grey?'(7) 'Alas!' said Ingold. 'Gandalf the grey went down into the shadows. He remains in Moria, for he fell there from the Bridge.'
At these words all the Elves cried aloud with grief and amazement. 'This is indeed evil tidings,' said Keleborn, 'the most evil that have here been spoken for years uncounted. Why has nothing been said to us of this before?' he asked, turning to Haldir.
'We did not speak of it to [your people >] Haldir,' said Frodo. 'We were weary and danger was too nigh, and after- wards we were overcome with wonder.(8) Almost we forgot our grief and dismay as we walked on the fair paths of Lothlorien. But it is true that Gandalf has perished. He was our guide, and led us through Moria; and when our escape seemed beyond hope he saved us, and fell.'
'Tell me the full tale,' said Keleborn.
Ingold then recounted all that had happened upon the pass of Caradras and afterwards; and he spoke of Balin and his book and the fight in the Chamber of Mazarbul, and the fire, and the narrow bridge, and the coming of the Balrog.
'A Balrog!' said Keleborn.(9) 'Not since the Elder Days have I heard that a Balrog was loose upon the world. Some we have thought are perhaps hidden in Mordor [?or] near the Mountain of Fire, but naught has been seen of them since the Great Battle and the fall of Thangorodrim.(10) I doubt much if this Balrog has lain hid in the Misty Mountains - and I fear rather that he was sent by Sauron from Orodruin, the Mountain of Fire.'
'None know,' said Galadriel, 'what may lie hid at the roots of the ancient hills. The dwarves had re-entered Moria and were searching again in dark places, and they may have stirred some evil.'(11)
There was a silence. At length Keleborn spoke again. 'I did not know,' he said, 'that your plight was so evil. I will do what I can to aid you, each according to his need, but especially that one of the little folk that bears the burden.'
'Your quest is known to me,' said Galadriel, [?seeing] Frodo's look, 'though we will not here speak more openly of it. I was at the White Council, and of all those there gathered none did I love more than Gandalf the Grey. Often have we met since and spoken of many things and purposes. The lord and lady-of Lothlorien are accounted wise beyond the measure of the Elves of Middle-earth, and of all who have not passed beyond the Seas. For we have dwelt here since the Mountains were reared and the Sun was young.(12)
'Now we will give you counsel.(13) For not in doing or contriving nor in choosing this course or that is my skill, but in knowledge of what was and is, and in part of what shall be. And I say that your case is not yet without hope; yet but a little this way or that and it will fail miserably. But there is yet hope, if all the Company remains true.' She looked at each in turn, but none blenched. Only Sam blushed and hung his head before the Lady's glance left him. 'I felt as if I hadn't got nothing on,' he explained afterwards. 'I didn't like it - she seemed to be looking inside me, and asking me whether I would like to fly back to the Shire.' Each of them had had a similar experience, and had felt as if he had been presented with a choice between death and something which he desired greatly, peace, ease [written above: freedom), wealth, or lordship.
'I suppose it was just a test,' said Boromir. 'It felt almost like a temptation. Of course I put it away at once. The men of Minas Tirith at any rate are true.'(14) What he had been offered he did not say.
'Now is the time for any to depart or turn back who feels that he has done enough, and aided the Quest as much as he has the will or power to do. Legolas may abide here with my folk, as long as he desires, or he may return home if chance allows. Even Gimli the dwarf may stay here, though I think he would not long be content in my city in what will seem to him a life of idleness. If he wishes to go to his home, we will help him as much as we can; as far as the Gladden Fields and beyond. He might hope thus to find the country of the Beornings, where Grimbeorn Beorn's son the Old is a lord of many sturdy men. As yet no wolf or orc make headway in that land.'
'That I know well,' said Gimli. 'Were it not for the Beornings the passage from Dale to Rivendell would not be possible.(15) My father and I had the aid of Grimbeorn on our way west in the autumn.'
'You, Frodo,' said Keleborn, 'I cannot aid or counsel. But if you go on, do not despair - but beware even of your right hand and of your left. There is also a danger that pursues you, which I do not see clearly or understand. You others of the little folk I could wish had never come so far. For now unless you will dwell here in exile while outside in the world many years run by, I see not what you can do save go forward. It would be vain to attempt to return home or to Rivendell alone.'
The whole of this passage, from 'Now is the time for any to depart', is marked off with directions 'To come in later' and 'At beginning of next chapter before they go'. At the top of the page, and no doubt written in after this decisi
on was made, is the following:
'Now we have spoken long, and yet you have toiled and suffered much, and have travelled far,' said Keleborn. 'Even if your quest did not concern all free lands deeply, you should here have refuge for a while. In this city you may abide until you are healed and rested. We will not yet think of your further road.'
The character of the manuscript now changes again. Very roughly written in ink, it is evidently the continuation of the original pencilled text that was over-written or erased in the preceding section (see p. 245). At the top of the first page of this part are notes on the names of the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien. In pencilled text visible in the last section their original names Tar and Finduilas had changed to Aran and Rhien (note 3), and then to Galdaran and Galdri(e)n (note 9) - Galadriel on p. 246 belongs with the later, overwritten text. Their names now change further:
Galathir = Galad-hir tree-lord
Galadhrien = Galad-rhien tree-lady
The name of the Lord does not appear in the concluding part of this chapter, but the name of the Lady is Galadrien (at the first occurrence only, Galdrien), with pencilled correction in some cases to Galadriel. This is a convenient place to set out my father's original scheme for the next part of the story. This was written at furious speed but has fortunately proved almost entirely decipherable.
They dwell 15 days in Caras Galadon.
Elves sing for Gandalf. They watch weaving and making of the silver rope of the fibre under mallorn bark. The [? trimming] of arrows.
King Galdaran's mirror shown to Frodo. Mirror is of silver filled with fountain water in sun.
Sees Shire far away. Trees being felled and a tall building being made where the old mill was.(16) Gaffer Gamgee turned out. Open trouble, almost war, between Marish and Buckland on one hand - and the West. Cosimo Sackville-Baggins very rich, buying up land. (All / Some of this is future.)
King Galdaran says the mirror shows past, present, and future, and skill needed to decide which.
Sees a grey figure like Gandalf [?going along] in twilight but it seems to be clad in white. Perhaps it is Saruman.
Sees a mountain spouting flame. Sees Gollum?
They depart. At departure Elves give them travel food. They describe the Stone hills, and bid them beware of Fangorn Forest upon the Ogodruth or Entwash. He is an Ent or great giant.
It is seen that it was while my father was writing the 'Lothlorien' story ab initio that the Lady of Lothlorien emerged (p. 233); and it is ] also seen that the figure of Galadriel (Rhien, Galadrien) as a great power in Middle-earth was deepened and extended as he wrote. In this sketch of his ideas, written down after the story had reached Caras Galadon, as the name Galdaran shows (note 9), the Mirror belongs to the Lord (here called King).
It is also interesting to observe that the images of the violated Shire seen in the Mirror were to be Frodo's. The Stone hills mentioned at the end of this outline are mentioned also in the plot-notes given on p. 233, where the 'parting of the ways' is to take place 'at Stonehills'. The Entwash (though not the Elvish name Ogodruth) has been named in the elaborate outline that followed the conclusion of the story of Moria (p. 210): 'Merry and Pippin come up Entwash into Fangorn and have adventure with Treebeard.' Here the name Entwash clearly implies that Treebeard is an Ent, and he is specifically so called (for the first time) in the outline just given; but since Treebeard was still only waiting in the wings as a potential ingredient in the narrative this may be only a slight shift in the development of the word. The Troll-lands north of Rivendell were the Entish Lands and Entish Dales (Old English ent 'giant'); and only when Treebeard and the other 'Ents' had been fully realised would the Troll-lands be renamed Ettendales and Ettenmoors (see p. 65 note 32).
I return now to the narrative, which as I have said recommences here in its primary form (and thus we meet again here the names Gal(a)drien, Hathaldir, and Elfstone, which had been superseded in the rewritten section of the draft text).
'Yet let not your hearts be troubled,' said the Lady Galdrien.
'Here you shall rest tonight and other nights to follow.'
That night they slept upon the ground, for they were safe within the walls of Caras Galadon. The Elves spread them a pavilion among the trees not far from the fountain, and there they slept until the light of day was broad.
All the while they remained in Lothlorien the sun shone and the weather was clear and cool like early spring rather than mid-winter. They did little but rest and walk among the trees, and eat and drink the good things that the Elves set before them. They had little speech with any for few spoke any but the woodland tongue. Hathaldir had departed to the defences of the North. Legolas was away all day among the Elves. [Marginal addition of the same time as the text: Only Frodo and Elfstone went much among the Elves. They watched them at work weaving the ropes of silver fibre of mallorn bark, the [? trimming] of arrows, their broidery and carpentry.]
They spoke much of Gandalf, and ever as they themselves were healed of hurt and weariness the grief of their loss seemed more bitter. Even the Elves of Lothlorien seemed to feel the shadow of that fall. Often they heard near them the elves singing, and knew that they made songs and laments for the grey wanderer [written above: pilgrim], as they called him, Mithrandir.(17) But if Legolas was by he would not interpret, saying that it passed his skill. Very sweet and sad the voices sounded, and having words spoke of sorrow to their hearts though their minds understood them not.(18)
On the evening of the third day Frodo was walking in the cool twilight apart from the others. Suddenly he saw coming towards him the Lady Galadrien gleaming in white among the stems. She spoke no word but beckoned to him. Turning back she led him to the south side of the city, and passing through a gate in a green wall they came into an enclosure like a garden. No trees grew there and it was open to the sky, which was now pricked with many stars.(19) Down a flight of white steps they went into a green hollow through which ran a silver stream, flowing down from the fountain on the hill. There stood upon a pedestal carved like a tree a shallow bowl of silver and beside it a ewer. With water from the stream she filled the bowl, and breathed on it, and when the water was again still she spoke.
'Here is the mirror of Galadrien,' she said. 'Look therein!' Sudden awe and fear came over Frodo. The air was still and the hollow dark, and the Elf-lady beside him tall and pale. 'What shall I look for, and what shall I see?' he asked. 'None can say,' she answered, 'who does not know all that is in your heart, in your memory, and your hope. For this mirror shows both the past and the present, and that which is called the future, in so far as it can be seen by any in Middle-earth.(20) But those are wise who can discern [to] which of [these] three [the] things that they see belong.'
Frodo at last stooped over the bowl. The water looked hard and black. Stars were shining in it. Then they went out. The dark veil was partly withdrawn, and a grey light shone; mountains were in the distance, a long road wound back out of sight. Far away a figure came slowly: very small at first, but slowly it drew near. Suddenly Frodo saw that it was like the figure of Gandalf. So clear was the vision that he almost called aloud the wizard's name. Then he saw that the figure was all clothed in white, not in grey, and had a white staff. It turned aside and went away round a turn of the road with head so bowed that he could see no face. Doubt came over him: was it a sight of Gandalf on one of his many journeys long ago, or was it Saruman? (21)
Many other visions passed over the water one after another. A city with high stone walls and seven towers, a great river flowing through a city of ruins, and then breathtaking and strange and yet known at once: a stony shore, and a dark sea into which a bloodred sun was sinking among black clouds, a ship darkly outlined was near the sun. He heard the faint sigh of waves upon the shore. Then... nearly dark and he saw a small figure running - he knew that it was himself, and behind him [?stooped to the ground] came another black figure with long arms moving swiftly like a hunting dog.(22) He turned away in fear and would look no more.
Frodo bent his head. 'And what do you wish?' he said at last.
'That what should (26) be shall be,' she said. 'And that you should do with all your might that which is your task. For the fate of Lothlorien you are not answerable; but only for the doing of your own task.'
Here the narrative ends (and on the last page of the manuscript my father wrote 'Chapter ends with Lady's words to Frodo' - meaning of course the whole story from Dimrill Dale), but the text continues at once with Sam's vision in the Mirror (see note 19), which my father did not at this stage integrate with what he had just written. What Sam saw in the water appeared already in the preliminary outline (p. 249), though there given to Frodo.
(Put in Sam's vision of the Shire before the ring scene.)
Sam saw trees being felled in the Shire. 'There's that Ted Sandyman,' he said, 'a-cutting down trees that.shouldn't be. Bless me, if he's not felling them on the avenue by the road to Bywater where they serve only for shade. I wish I could get at him. I'd fell him.' Then Sam saw a great red building with a tall [? smoke] chimney going up where the old mill had been. 'There's some devilry at work in the Shire,' he said. 'Elrond knew what was what, when he said Mr Brandybuck and Pippin should go back.'(27)
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 33