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the field of cormallen 1247
‘The fourteenth of the New Year,’ said Gandalf; ‘or if you
like, the eighth day of April in the Shire-reckoning.* But
in Gondor the New Year will always now begin upon the
twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell, and when you were
brought out of the fire to the King. He has tended you, and
now he awaits you. You shall eat and drink with him. When
you are ready I will lead you to him.’
‘The King?’ said Sam. ‘What king, and who is he?’
‘The King of Gondor and Lord of the Western Lands,’
said Gandalf; ‘and he has taken back all his ancient realm.
He will ride soon to his crowning, but he waits for you.’
‘What shall we wear?’ said Sam; for all he could see was
the old and tattered clothes that they had journeyed in, lying
folded on the ground beside their beds.
‘The clothes that you wore on your way to Mordor,’ said
Gandalf. ‘Even the orc-rags that you bore in the black land,
Frodo, shall be preserved. No silks and linens, nor any
armour or heraldry could be more honourable. But later I
will find some other clothes, perhaps.’
Then he held out his hands to them, and they saw that one
shone with light. ‘What have you got there?’ Frodo cried.
‘Can it be——?’
‘Yes, I have brought your two treasures. They were found
on Sam when you were rescued, the Lady Galadriel’s gifts:
your glass, Frodo, and your box, Sam. You will be glad to
have these safe again.’
When they were washed and clad, and had eaten a light
meal, the Hobbits followed Gandalf. They stepped out of the
beech-grove in which they had lain, and passed on to a long
green lawn, glowing in sunshine, bordered by stately darkleaved
trees laden with scarlet blossom. Behind them they
could hear the sound of falling water, and a stream ran down
before them between flowering banks, until it came to a
greenwood at the lawn’s foot and passed then on under an
* There were thirty days in March (or Rethe) in the Shire calendar.