Sauron Defeated by J. R. R. Tolkien Read Free Book Online Page A

daylight die.

    But still I sit and think of you;
    I see you far away
    Walking down the homely roads
    on a bright and windy day.
    It was merry then when I could run
    to answer to your call,
    could hear your voice or take your hand;
    but now the night must fall.
    And now beyond the world I sit,
    and know not where you lie!
    O master dear, will you not hear
    my voice before we die?

    The second verse was altered on the manuscript:

    For they are gone, for ever lost,
    and buried here I lie
    and deep beneath the shadows sink
    where hope and daylight die.

    At the same time the last two lines of the song became: 0 Master, will you hear my voice
    and answer ere we die?

    In this form the song appears in the second manuscript E. At a later stage it was rewritten on this manuscript to become virtually a different song, but still retaining almost unchanged the second half of the original first verse, which now became the opening lines: In western lands the Sun may shine;
    there flower and tree in Spring
    are opening, are blossoming,
    and there the finches sing.

    Further correction of these lines on the manuscript produced the final form (RK p. 185).

    A last point concerns the ladder: 'Suddenly the answer dawned on Sam: the topmost chamber was reached by a trap-door in the roof of the passage', RK p. 185. In my account of the fair copy manuscript of
    'The Choices of Master Samwise' I did not describe a development in the last words of Shagrat and Gorbag that Sam overheard before they passed through the under-gate of the Tower (TT p. 351). In the draft text, only Shagrat speaks:

    'Yes, up to the top chamber,' Shagrat was saying, 'right at the top.
    No way down but by the narrow stair from,the Look-out Room below. He'll be safe there.'

    In the fair copy this was retained, but Shagrat begins 'Yes, that'll do'
    (as if the suggestion had come from Gorbag), and 'the ladder' was substituted for 'the narrow stair'. It is thus seen that this element in the story was already present when Book IV was completed. The further development in the conversation of the orcs, in which Gorbag argues against Shagrat's proposal, and Shagrat declares that he does not trust all of his own 'lads', nor any of Gorbag's, nor Gorbag himself (and does not mention that the topmost chamber was reached by ladder), was added to the first typescript of 'The Choices of Master Samwise'
    at this time, as is seen from the fact that rough drafting for it is found on a page carrying drafts for passages for 'The Land of Shadow'.

    Curiously, my father wrote at the head of this: 'No way up but by a ladder, as if this idea had only now emerged.(15)

    NOTES.

    1. When Sam came back to the stone door of the orc-passage 'on the inner side he found the catch' (whereas in RK he could not find it and had to climb over). This was retained in the second draft B.
    2. For earlier names of the Towers of the Teeth see the Index to The War of the Ring, entries Naglath Morn, Nelig Myrn. The name Nargos here is a reversion to one of the original names (Gorgos and Nargos) of the towers guarding Kirith Ungol, when that was still the name of the chief pass into Mordor: see VII.344 and note 41.
    3. These two orcs, who survived into the final text (RK p. 178), originally appeared in outline IV (p. 9) as messengers sent to Barad-dur. At that time there was no suggestion that they did not make good their errand.
    4. At this stage, presumably, 'The Pyre of Denethor' and 'The Houses of Healing' constituted the two parts of Chapter XLIX
    (VIII.386), while the remainder of Book V was divided between L
    and LI (the fair copy manuscript of 'The Black Gate Opens' is numbered LI).
    5. In the event, of course, Frodo did not fight, and no draft of this period suggests that he did. Possibly at this stage, before he had come to write the new story of the rescue of Frodo, my father was still thinking in terms of the original plot in 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien', when Frodo was more active (VII.335 ff.).
    6.