towers

764 the two towers
have come all the way from Mirkwood, my good Elf ? A very
great forest it used to be!’
‘And still is,’ said Legolas. ‘But not so great that we who
dwell there ever tire of seeing new trees. I should dearly love
to journey in Fangorn’s Wood. I scarcely passed beyond the
eaves of it, and I did not wish to turn back.’
Treebeard’s eyes gleamed with pleasure. ‘I hope you may
have your wish, ere the hills be much older,’ he said.
‘I will come, if I have the fortune,’ said Legolas. ‘I have
made a bargain with my friend that, if all goes well, we will
visit Fangorn together – by your leave.’
‘Any Elf that comes with you will be welcome,’ said
Treebeard.
‘The friend I speak of is not an Elf,’ said Legolas; ‘I mean
Gimli, Glóin’s son here.’ Gimli bowed low, and the axe
slipped from his belt and clattered on the ground.
‘Hoom, hm! Ah now,’ said Treebeard, looking dark-eyed
at him. ‘A dwarf and an axe-bearer! Hoom! I have good will
to Elves; but you ask much. This is a strange friendship!’
‘Strange it may seem,’ said Legolas; ‘but while Gimli lives
I shall not come to Fangorn alone. His axe is not for trees,
but for orc-necks, O Fangorn, Master of Fangorn’s Wood.
Forty-two he hewed in the battle.’
‘Hoo! Come now!’ said Treebeard. ‘That is a better story!
Well, well, things will go as they will; and there is no need to
hurry to meet them. But now we must part for a while. Day
is drawing to an end, yet Gandalf says you must go ere
nightfall, and the Lord of the Mark is eager for his own
house.’
‘Yes, we must go, and go now,’ said Gandalf. ‘I fear that I
must take your gatekeepers from you. But you will manage
well enough without them.’
‘Maybe I shall,’ said Treebeard. ‘But I shall miss them. We
have become friends in so short a while that I think I must
be getting hasty – growing backwards towards youth, perhaps.
But there, they are the first new thing under Sun or
Moon that I have seen for many a long, long day. I shall not