“You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” -J. R. R. Tolkien

Here below are the notes* Samwise Gamgee took along the journey.  (Based “Flight to the Ford,” The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Fonstad).

THE JOURNAL OF SAMWISE GAMGEE

Oct. 15 – Day 23 (9th from Weathertop): 6 miles

(374)

Photo by Free-Photos, Pixabay

“Even more climbing, this time in the rain, so there’s been a lot of slipping too.  We’re keeping Mr. Frodo warm and covered as best we can.  He’s not been awake for most of the ride.

“We had a strange visit from a bird I have never seen in my entire life and never thought to see.  My Old Gaffer told me they existed long ago.  I couldn’t believe my own eyes but Merry and Strider saw it too.  It’s one of those Bumbebeebirds whose wings are so fast they sound like the buzzing of a bee.  They are from far south in the lands of rain and heat.  So my Old Gaffer said his father told him.  And his father’s father said that he had a friend from those lands, not a hobbit but what he was I cannot recollect.  This friend told him that these birds are a symbol of luck, devotion, permanence, and the cycle of life.  We could use some of that luck for certaint.

“The Bumblebeebird’s feathers were so colorful and bright that even the rain couldn’t dim them.  It came to drink water from the one plant growing from the side of this cliff against all odds as it were, clinging there for life.  The leaf was sheltered from the storm and the bird hovered there a moment to drink.   It was there and then gone so fast it felt like a dream.  But better that beautiful bit of dream than this waking nightmare.

“Strider says we’ll get to Rivendell in three or four more days. I don’t know if Mr. Frodo has three of four more days or even a one. I can’t sleep. I feel so helpless.  I hope we can look back on this some day from in front of a safe and warm fire and say, ‘But we made it, and if we had know we would we would not have worried so terribly much!’  May it be.”

From: “The Journal of Samwise Gamgee, 23 Sept – 20 Oct, 3018.

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Feature Photo by Willgard, Pixabay

*This journal is a fanfiction creation by Niki Flow, based the beautiful works of J.R.R. Tolkien; on the meticulous milestone-marker notes in The Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Fonstad and on the Eowyn Challenge website:

Bag End to Rivendell with Frodo and Company:  458 Miles