CHAPTER 2

It was a warm and bright summer morning, quite early, when they set out for the Old Forest. Merry was riding Stybba, Pippin was on Sable, and Sam on Bill. Frodo rode Pybba, the sturdy little gelding from Rohan, his gift from his cousin on Merry’s last birthday. Though Merry and Pippin usually traveled in armor and livery, today they just wore hobbit garments, though they had their swords. They had decided it was just too hot for armor.

Merry dismounted and took out the key to the gate in the Hedge. Saradoc had not been happy when Merry had asked him for it, but he did not gainsay him. Merry was an adult now for some years. But his father was still a bit apprehensive, remembering the last time his son had entered the Old Forest. This time all he said was “Be careful, and don’t be a year coming back.”

They rode slowly through the tunnel in the Hedge, and Merry dismounted to open the iron gate at the end. They passed through, and shut it behind them. None of them could forbear remembering the last time they had done so. Sam gave a shudder.

Turning, they looked across the hollow, and the path leading to the eaves of the Old Forest. It looked somehow different than last time.

They mounted, and rode silently up the path, but as they came beneath the trees, it did not seem to vanish as it had the last time they were there. Instead, the path seemed straighter, wider, and less difficult than it had been.

“Am I just remembering wrong, Mr. Merry, or does this place seem more cheerful than it used to?” asked Sam in wonder.

“I do believe so, Sam. The trees do not have that angry feeling as they used to, nor does it seem as stuffy and dark.”

Pippin was looking around. “The trees almost seem friendly. I thought maybe it was just that this forest seemed lighter after having been in Fangorn, but I do think it really does feel differently.”

Frodo did not speak, but gazed about him, feeling his spirits quietly lift.

Without the hostility of the trees to hinder them, it took them very little time to make their way to the Bonfire Glade, and it was as good a place as any to take out the provisions for elevenses. They dismounted and sat themselves down to enjoy the meal.

Merry looked around in mild disbelief. “I’m not taking anything for granted, in spite of how friendly it all seems. Don’t anyone lean against the trees or fall asleep.” But even as he spoke his words of caution, he did not really believe that they would be necessary.

But Pippin was walking about the edges of the glade, eyeing the trees speculatively.

Merry and Frodo looked at him in alarm. “No!” they both said at the same time.

Pippin looked back at them innocently. “I didn’t say anything,” he said in an aggrieved tone.

Frodo raised one brow. “Of course you didn’t. We know that gleam in your eye by now.”

Merry looked at him firmly. “You are not climbing any of those trees!”

“Oh well, it was just a thought. Do we have any cheese with us?”

The four hobbits ate contentedly, chatting in hobbit fashion. Soon they heard the faint sound of a cheerful voice getting louder as it came towards them.  

Hey dol! Merry dol! Ring a dong dillo!
Ho! Tom! Jolly Tom! Tom Bombadillo!
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow
Old Tom Bombadil, he is a clever fellow!
All along under trees, the forest path he’s taking
 To bold and sturdy hobbit-lads, good friends a-waiting…”

He burst into the clearing, skipping and dancing, in his battered old hat with blue feather waving, stomping in his yellow boots, and his brown beard wagging.

The hobbits greeted Tom eagerly, glad to see his cheerful face.

He stepped back, grinning, and put one hand each on top of Merry’s and Pippin’s heads. “Ho, now, my hearty lads, what have you been drinking?” He laughed. “So tall you’ve grown and sturdy! The leaf-light in your eyes a-twinkling.”

“Ent-draughts, Tom” said Pippin.

“We met with Treebeard in Fangorn Forest,” added Merry.

“Ent-draughts, indeed,” laughed Tom. “My eyes did not deceive me. So you have met the old Tree-herd, and gone with him a-walking.”

He looked at Sam, who had a hand on Bill’s bridle. “And you, I see have found again this friend who’d gone a-wandering.”

“My Bill?” asked Sam. “He came here? You sent him to Butterbur?”

Tom grinned and nodded, giving the pony an affectionate slap on the rump. Then he turned and looked at Frodo, and his whole demeanor changed.

“Frodo.” He looked him in the eye, and Frodo felt all the ages of the world in his gaze. “Have you cast away all your burden?”

And Frodo solemnly and carefully replied, “The Ring is gone, Master, destroyed.”

Tom Bombadil nodded, and there was sorrow in his eyes, now. Frodo knew then that what he had not said had been understood.

Tom clapped his hands and whistled, and in a few seconds, his pony Fatty Lumpkin came trotting up the path, tossing his head and giving every appearance of a grin on his pony face.

He vaulted onto the pony’s back with amazing agility for one of his bulk. “Come now, my little lads, Goldberry is waiting. Up the Withywindle is the path we will be taking.” And he trotted quickly off, leaving the hobbits to scramble on their own ponies and race after him.

“Tom,” asked Merry, after they had been riding for a time, listening all the while to his cheerful nonsense singing, “why is the Old Forest so much nicer now? Is it because the Dark Lord is gone?”

“The Forest is as the Forest is. Hobbits who come timid and fearful waken sleeping malice. Hobbits who are bold and brave bring no darkness with them. And hobbits who have taken Ent-draughts are quick to see the difference; as do the trees a-watching them and waiting for their moment.” He laughed, and began again his singing, and quickly Pippin joined in, followed soon by Merry and Sam, and finally even Frodo.

They made a jolly company through the forest wending.