The Treason of Isengard (8 page)

14. The change noted in VI.320, whereby Gandalf ceases to be the one who actually tracked Gollum down, belongs to this 'fourth phase'.

15. Above -ruin was pencilled -naur, sc. Orodnaur.

16. In the draft revision A of this passage Faramond is called

'Faramond II and the heir apparent'; cf. VI.251, where Faramond's precursor Frodo Took is called 'Frodo the Second... the heir and rather desperate hope of the Hole of Took, as the clan was called.'

17. In the draft revision A at this point 'Ham (that is Hamilcar)' was replaced by 'Freddy (that is Fredegar)', but Ham/Hamilcar was then restored. Cf. the note dated August 1939 given in VI.373:

'Odo > Fredegar Hamilcar Bolger'.

18. In the genealogy in LR, Appendix C, Gaffer Gamgee was 92, and he died at the age of 102.

19. Neither Budgeford nor Bridgefields appear on my father's original map of the Shire (frontispiece to Vol. VI). On my large map of the Shire made in 1943 (VI.107) both names were lightly pencilled in by him, Budgeford being the crossing of the Water by the road (pencilled in at the same time) to Scary. See note 22.

20. The second version stands as the opening of a chapter, numbered

'X' and without title (corresponding to the 'second opening' of Chapter XI 'A Knife in the Dark' in FR, after the 'Crickhollow episode'); the third likewise, but numbered 'XI' (because by then the 'Bree' chapter had been divided, see p. 40), and with an erased title 'The Way to Weathertop'.

21. In some rough chronological workings there is a reference to Gandalf's being besieged in 'the West Towers', which is what Trotter called the Elf-towers in VI.155, 159.

22. Hamilcar's family now comes from Bridgefields in the Eastfar-thing. Budgeford was written in later, perhaps much later. See note 19.

III.

THE FOURTH PHASE (2):

FROM BREE TO THE FORD OF RIVENDELL.

Chapter IX: 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (i).

The Cow Jumped over the Moon'.

The 'third phase' version of this chapter (VI.331 ff.) had been developed in two forms, in the first of which the story of the coming of Gandalf and Odo to Bree was told by Butterbur, while in the second (the 'red version' as my father called it) it was told by the narrator (VI.344 - 7); and in the second the coming of the four Riders to the west gate of Bree on the evening of Wednesday 28 September was described (VI.347 - 8). The already complex manuscript was then used for a rough, drastic recasting of the narrative, the 'blue version' (see VI.343): this belongs with the new plot, and all reference to a visit of Gandalf to Bree in the days immediately preceding Frodo's arrival is cut out. A 'blue' rider to the original 'third phase' manuscript is written on the back of a calendar page for September 1939.

So far as it went, this was effectively a draft ('A') for a new version of this always crucial chapter; and in this case my father set aside the now chaotic 'third phase' manuscript entirely (though taking from it the pages containing the text of The Cat and the Fiddle), and it got left behind in England many years later; the 'fourth phase' version is a new manuscript ('B'), and this went to Marquette. Notably, this bears a date on the first page: 'Revised Version Oct. 1939'.

It remained at this time a single, very long chapter, extending through FR Chapter 10 'Strider'; but my father decided (doubtless on account of its length) to divide it into two chapters, 'IX' and 'X', both called 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony', but with sub-titles; and these names remained for a long time. This arrangement was apparently made soon after the new text was completed, and it is convenient to follow it here.

The new version, to the point where the hobbits returned from the common room of the inn after Frodo's 'accident', now reaches, except in a few features, the final form, and variation even from the precise wording of FR is infrequent. The most notable respect in which it differs is that at this stage my father preserved the account of the black horsemen who spoke to Harry Goatleaf the gatekeeper on the evening of the 28th of September:

The fog that enveloped the Downs on Wednesday afternoon lay deep about Bree-hill. The four hobbits were just waking from their sleep beside the Standing Stone, when out of the mist four horsemen rode from the West and passed through the gates at dusk....

The episode closely follows that in the 'red version' of the 'third phase'

(VI.347 - 8), but of course Harry Goatleaf no longer refers to 'a hobbit riding behind an old man on a white horse, last night', and his conversation with the Rider takes this form:

'We want news!' hissed a cold voice through the key-hole.

'What of?' he answered, shaking in his boots.

'News of hobbits, riding on ponies out of the Shire. Have they passed?'

Harry wished they had, for it might have satisfied these riders if he could have said yes. There was a threat in the cold voice; but he dared not risk a yes that was not true. 'No sir!' he said in a quavering voice. 'There's been no Shire-hobbits on ponies through Bree, and there isn't likely to be any.'

A hiss came through the key-hole, and Harry started back, feeling as if something icy cold had touched him. 'Yes, it is likely!' said the voice fiercely. 'Three, perhaps four. You will watch. We want Baggins. He is with them. You will watch. You will tell us and not lie! We shall come back.'(1)

This episode was struck from the text, but I cannot say when this was done.

The conversation between Frodo and Merry and the gatekeeper is as in FR. The gatekeeper still however calls out to 'Ned' (his brother, presumptively) to watch the gate a while, since he has 'business up at The Pony' (as in VI.349); then follows: 'He had been gone only a moment, and Ned had not yet come out, when a dark figure climbed in quickly over the gate and vanished in the dark in the direction of the inn.' The reference to Harry Goatleaf's visit to the inn was afterwards struck out, and does not appear in FR (see below).

There is now, as is to be expected, no reference to Tom Bombadil when the hobbits arrive at The Prancing Pony, and Frodo's pseudonym is 'Mr Green' (see p. 37); the reference in FR (p. 167) to the Underhills of Staddle is of course absent. Folco is still Folco, corrected to Pippin, which shows that this text was written before the revised ending of Chapter V (pp. 30, 35).(2) Frodo still noticed the gatekeeper among the company in the common room of the inn, wondering whether it was his night off duty, but this was struck out, and does not appear in FR. Folco/Pippin now tells the story of the collapse of the 'Town Burrow' in Michel Delving, though the fat Mayor is unnamed. Trotter is of course a Man, but the description of him is that of the old versions (VI.137, 334): he is still, as he was when he was a hobbit, 'queer-looking, brown-faced', with a short-stemmed pipe under his long nose, and nothing is said of his boots (FR p. 168).

When Bill Ferney and the Southerner left the common room, 'Harry the gatekeeper went out just behind them.' This, like the other references to the gatekeeper's presence at the inn noted above, was struck out. An isolated note of this time proposes: 'Cut out Harry - he is unnecessary': clearly referring to his visit to the inn after the arrival of the hobbits and his vaguely sinister association with Bill Ferney, not to his function as gatekeeper, which is certainly necessary. It is curious therefore that in the typescript that followed the present manuscript this last reference, though very clearly crossed out in the manuscript, was reinstated, and so appears in FR (p. 172), but quite anomalously, since all the references to his presence at the inn up to this point had been removed.

Chapter X: 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (ii).

All that is gold does not glitter'.

In the 'blue version' recasting of the 'third phase' narrative, or 'A', the story of Trotter's 'eavesdropping' beside the Road reaches the final form, in association with the new ending to Chapter VIII (p. 37): he hears the hobbits talking with Bombadil, and Frodo declaring that he is to be called 'Mr Green' (for the previous story, in which Trotter overheard Gandalf and Odo talking, see VI.337). After Trotter's 'I should advise him and his friends to be more careful what they say and do' (FR p. 176) there follows in A:

'I have not "left my name behind", as you put it,' said Frodo stiffly. 'My reason for taking another here is my own affair. I do not see why my real name should interest anyone in Bree; and I have still to learn why it interests you. Mr Trotter may have an honest reason for spying and eavesdropping; but if so I should advise him to explain it!'

'That's the line to take! ' laughed Trotter. 'But you wait till old Butterbur has had his private word with you - you'll soon find out how your real name could be guessed, and why it may be interesting in Bree. As for myself: I was looking for Mr Frodo Baggins, because I had been told to look for him. And I have already given you hints, which you have understood well enough, that I know about the secret you are carrying.'

'Don't be alarmed!' he cried, as Frodo half rose from his seat, and Sam scowled. 'I shall take more care of the secret than you do. But now I had better tell you some more about myself.'

At that moment he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Mr Butterbur was there with a tray of candles...

Butterbur now has only news of the Black Riders to communicate.

The story he tells is as before (VI.338-40), but the first Rider passed through Bree on the Tuesday, not the Monday, preceding, three not four of them came to the inn-door, and of course he does not refer to Gandalf and 'Baggins' (Odo) having gone off eastwards. The conversation continues:

' "Baggins!" said I. "If you are looking for hobbits of that name, you'd best look in the Shire. There are none in Bree. The last time one of that name came here was nigh on a score of years back.(3) Mr Bilbo Baggins he was, as disappeared out of Hobbiton: he went off East long enough ago.

'At that name he drew in his breath and sat up. Then he stooped at me again. "But there is also Frodo Baggins," said he,(4) in a whisper like a knife. "Is he here? Has he been? Do not lie to us!"

'I was all of a twitter, I can tell you; but I was angry as well.

"No is the answer," said I; "and you'll get no lies here, so you'd best be civil. If you have any message for any party, you may leave it, and I'll look out for them." "The message is wait," said he. "We may return." And with that the three of them turned their horses and rode off into the fog. Now, Mr Green, what do you say to that?'

'But they asked for Baggins, you say, not Green,' said Frodo warily.

'Ah!' said the landlord with a knowing wink. 'But they wanted news of hobbits out of the Shire, and such a party doesn't come here often. It would be queer, if there were two different parties. And as for Baggins: I've heard that name before. Mr Bilbo was here more than once, in my dad's time and mine; and some funny tales have come out of the Shire since he went off: vanished with a bang while he was speaking, they say.

Not that I believe all the tales that come out of the West - but here you go vanishing in the middle of a song by all accounts, right in my house. And when I have time to scratch my head and think, I remember noticing your friends call you Frodo, and I begin to wonder if Baggins should not come next. "Maybe those black men were right," I says to myself. Now the question is, what shall I say, if they come back? Maybe you want to see them, and more likely not. They mean no good to anyone, I'll wager. Now you and your friends seem all right in spite of your pranks, so I thought I had best tell you and find out what you wish.'

'They mean no good at all,' said Frodo. 'I did not know they had passed through Bree, or I should have stayed quiet in this room, and I wish I had. I ought to have guessed it, from the way the gatekeeper greeted us - and you, Mr Butterbur; but I hoped perhaps Gandalf had been here asking for us. I expect you know who I mean, the old wizard. We hoped to find him here or have news of him.'

'Gandalf!' said the landlord. 'Know him! I should think I do.

He was here not so long back, in the summer. A good friend of mine is Gandalf, and many a good turn he has done me. If you had asked after him sooner I should have been happier. I will do what I can for any friends of his.'

'I am very grateful,' said Frodo, 'and so will he be. I am sorry I can't tell you the whole story, but I assure you we are up to no mischief. I am Frodo Baggins, as you guess, and these - er -

Black Riders are hunting for me, and we are in danger. I should be thankful for any sort of help, though I don't want you to get into trouble on my account. I only hope these Riders won't come back.'

'I hope not indeed,' said the landlord with a shiver. 'But spooks or no spooks, they'll have to mend their manners at my door.'

The latter part of this version is in hasty pencil, and soon after this point it peters out without further significant development. Obviously Gandalf's letter will still come from Trotter, not from Butterbur.