The War of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien Read Free Book Online

are the door-wardens: Meriadoc son of Caradoc of Buckland is my name; and my companion is Peregrin son of Paladin of Tuckborough.(4) Far in the North is our home. The lord Saruman is within, but
    [alas, he is indisposed and unable to receive guests. o] at the moment he is closeted with one Wormtongue discussing urgent business.'
    'It is possible that we could help in the debate,' laughed Gandalf. 'But where is Treebeard? I have no time to jest with young hobbits.'
    'So we find you at last,' said Aragorn. 'You have given us a long journey.'
    'How long have you been at Isengard?' said Gimli.

    'Less than a day,' said Pippin.(5)

    I turn now to the first version of the story, that is the first completed and coherent manuscript. In this, Theoden's words with Gandalf about riding to Isengard (TT p. 149) have a different outcome:

    'Nonetheless to Isengard I go,' said Gandalf. 'Let those who are weary rest. For soon there will be other work to do. I shall not stay long. My way lies eastward. Look for me in Eodoras, ere the moon is full!'
    'Nay,' said Theoden. 'In the dark hour before dawn I doubted. But we will not part now. I will ride with you, if that is your counsel. And now I will send out messengers with tidings of victory through all the vales of the Mark; and they shall summon all men, old and young, to meet me at Eodoras, ere the moon wanes.'
    'Good!' said Gandalf. 'Then in one hour we ride again....'(6) After a brief hour of rest and the breaking of their fast, those who were to ride to Isengard made ready to depart.(7) The account of the treatment of the men of Dunland and the burials (TT p. 150) reaches the final form,(8) but the description of the departure of the trees in the night and of the valley after they had gone, told in almost the same words as in TT,(9) first entered at this point, whereas in TT it is postponed till much later in the chapter (p. 158).
    The passage of the wood, and Gimli's description to Legolas of the Caves of Helm's Deep, reach in the completed manuscript of the first version almost exactly the form in TT (pp; 152 - 3), but with a slight structural difference, in that here the company had already left the trees and come to the road-parting when this conversation took place: They passed through the wood and found that they had come to the bottom of the coomb, where the road from Helm's Deep branched, going one way to Eodoras and the other to the fords of the Isen. Legolas looked back with regret.
    'Those are the strangest trees that ever I saw,' he said...

    Thus at the end of their talk together the old version again differs:

    'You have my promise,' said Legolas. 'But now we must leave all that behind. How far is it to Isengard, Gandalf?'

    'It is about twelve [later > fourteen o eleven] leagues from the bottom of Deeping Coomb to the outer wall of Isengard,'(10) said the wizard, turning round.
    'And what shall we see there?' asked Gimli. 'You may know, but 1 cannot guess.'
    'I do not know myself for certain,' answered Gandalf. 'Things may have changed again, since I was there last night. But we shall all know before long. If we are eager for the answer to riddles, let us quicken the pace!'
    [Added: 'Lead us!' said Theoden. 'But do not let Shadowfax set a pace we cannot keep!'
    The company rode forward now with all the speed they could, over the wide grasses of the Westemnet.]

    Thus the Caves of Helm's Deep do not receive from Gandalf here the name 'the Glittering Caves of Aglarond', which was only added to the typescript text at a later stage (see p. 77).
    The first version of the story now becomes decisively different from that in The Two Towers (pp. 154 ff.).

    The sun shone upon the vale about them. After the storm the morning was fresh, and a breeze was now flowing from the west between the mountains. The swelling grass-lands rose and fell, with long ridges and shallow dales like a wide green sea. Upon their left long slopes ran swiftly down to the Isen River, a grey ribbon that bent