Happy Saturday everyone! Whew, this has been a full week, but I still wanted to get our next chapter up.
~
This chapter has a very wistful, autumnal, lingering feel to me -- a lingering while standing on the very brink of change. So yeah, autumnal.
And we get to meet elves! On elves... I don't know exactly what my feelings are. (With the exception of Legolas, whom we won't talk about cause we haven't been properly introduced yet *shush* ;)), I don't tend to think of them in the close friends category. But you can't not like them. I guess like or dislike doesn't really seem to apply. They always seem more like remote, angelic beings that would be more awe-inspiring to meet than anything else. Though on the flip side, though I LOVE hints and shadows and complexities and rich layers of meaning in a good story, in person I would probably get downright irritated with Gildor. Far more than Frodo did. I like knowing what's what, and learning how to wait patiently to find stuff out, or for a given time to ripen, is really really horribly hard in real life. xD
Back to the chapter... we also meet The Black Riders. For all the bone chilling happenings/incidents later, the episode here with the Black Rider sniffing his way off the road and Frodo in back of the tree has always been one of my shivery-est. And, apart from any other factors in why they missed them, I always forget how stealthily quiet hobbits can be.
As a side note, if this is your first time reading (and you're finding it slow in any way) we're gonna start getting into some more action very shortly! ;)
Quotes:
- "A few creatures came and looked at them when the fire had died away. A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed. 'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it." (Kind of an unusual LOTR quote, isn't it?)
- "Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light upon the elf-faces, and the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream. But he remembered that there was bread, surpassing the savour of a fair white loaf to one who is starving; and fruits sweet as wildberries and richer than the tended fruits of gardens; he drained a cup that was filled with a fragrant draught, cool as a clear fountain, golden as a summer afternoon."
- "Courage is found in unlikely places..."
For thought:
- Does your heart turn to journeying in the autumn? Do you like walking in the dark?
- I'm curious... if you've seen the movie, are you noticing events unfolding any differently at this point?
That fox is so weird! This is a very quotable chapter. Some of my favorites:
ReplyDelete"The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out."
and:
"And it is also said," answered Frodo, "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes."
"Is it indeed?" laughed Gildor. "Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill."
Re. the Elves: "like or dislike doesn't really seem to apply" is almost exactly what a character says in the next chapter. :-)
I don't think the Black Riders especially scared me at this point, but this chapter and the previous one definitely made me want to know more.
I have just finished listening to the first of 6 lectures here:
https://mythgard.org/academy/fellowship-of-the-ring/
It covers the prologue and the first three chapters and it is *really* in depth. No timestamps but it's approximately like this:
Prologue
chapter 1 - 28 min
chapter 2 - 56 min
chapter 3 - 1:21 min
Beth,
DeleteIsn't it unusual?? :) I feel like it's like something out of Lewis or definitely Farmer Giles of Ham or something. So funny.
Ooh yes, I love that Gildor quote! I'm glad you added it.
Haha, yes indeed, that's right. I guess it's going in my subconscious? xD
Yes, for me I think it's just one of my earliest LOTR moments from the first time my dad read them aloud when I was little. So it's kinda special to still feel that shiver. ;)
Fascinating! I'll try to give them a listen sometime, thank you!
Tolkien did not lack for natural descriptions in this one! He captured the essence of fall beautifully! Here's my review:https://revealedintime.blogspot.com/2020/10/lotr-read-along-fellowship-of-ring_13.html
ReplyDeleteIvy Miranda,
DeleteMost definitely! Speaking of the seasons, I'm really enjoying doing the read along right now as (if we continue at this pace all the way through going into next year) we would be pretty much paralleling the progression the story itself -- as it starts in Sept and the Ring is destroyed in March, with a few tidy up chapters in the following spring. So it adds to the whole general feel, which is really exciting. :D
The fox bit always makes me chuckle. And I like that the elves echo his thoughts about "how unusual to see hobbits walking around the woods at night" not long after.
ReplyDeleteI do like walking in the dark. We worked third shift for four years when we were first married, and I became acquainted with the night. Though I should say that I like walking in the dark when I know where I'm going and am in a safe place. I wouldn't mind walking around my neighborhood here at night, and I sometimes go to movies at night alone, but I wouldn't go tramping off just anywhere in the dark.
The movie definitely speeds things up -- like it's 17 YEARS here between Bilbo's party and Frodo setting out for Rivendell. In the movie, it's a couple months, max.