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the steward and the king 1271
in the City there was labour of many willing hands to rebuild
and renew and to remove all the scars of war and the memory
of the darkness.
The hobbits still remained in Minas Tirith, with Legolas
and Gimli; for Aragorn was loth for the fellowship to be
dissolved. ‘At last all such things must end,’ he said, ‘but I
would have you wait a little while longer: for the end of the
deeds that you have shared in has not yet come. A day draws
near that I have looked for in all the years of my manhood,
and when it comes I would have my friends beside me.’ But
of that day he would say no more.
In those days the Companions of the Ring dwelt together
in a fair house with Gandalf, and they went to and fro as they
wished. And Frodo said to Gandalf: ‘Do you know what this
day is that Aragorn speaks of ? For we are happy here, and I
don’t wish to go; but the days are running away, and Bilbo
is waiting; and the Shire is my home.’
‘As for Bilbo,’ said Gandalf, ‘he is waiting for the same
day, and he knows what keeps you. And as for the passing
of the days, it is now only May and high summer is not yet
in; and though all things may seem changed, as if an age of
the world had gone by, yet to the trees and the grass it is less
than a year since you set out.’
‘Pippin,’ said Frodo, ‘didn’t you say that Gandalf was less
close than of old? He was weary of his labours then, I think.
Now he is recovering.’
And Gandalf said: ‘Many folk like to know beforehand
what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured
to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes
the words of praise louder. And Aragorn himself waits for a
sign.’
There came a day when Gandalf could not be found, and
the Companions wondered what was going forward. But
Gandalf took Aragorn out from the City by night, and he
brought him to the southern feet of Mount Mindolluin; and
there they found a path made in ages past that few now dared