return

1338 the return of the king
Smials. But after a while in sensible hobbit-fashion it was just
called New Row. It was a purely Bywater joke to refer to it as
Sharkey’s End.
The trees were the worst loss and damage, for at Sharkey’s
bidding they had been cut down recklessly far and wide over
the Shire; and Sam grieved over this more than anything else.
For one thing, this hurt would take long to heal, and only his
great-grandchildren, he thought, would see the Shire as it
ought to be.
Then suddenly one day, for he had been too busy for
weeks to give a thought to his adventures, he remembered
the gift of Galadriel. He brought the box out and showed it
to the other Travellers (for so they were now called by everyone),
and asked their advice.
‘I wondered when you would think of it,’ said Frodo.
‘Open it!’
Inside it was filled with a grey dust, soft and fine, in the
middle of which was a seed, like a small nut with a silver
shale. ‘What can I do with this?’ said Sam.
‘Throw it in the air on a breezy day and let it do its work!’
said Pippin.
‘On what?’ said Sam.
‘Choose one spot as a nursery, and see what happens to
the plants there,’ said Merry.
‘But I’m sure the Lady would not like me to keep it all for
my own garden, now so many folk have suffered,’ said Sam.
‘Use all the wits and knowledge you have of your own,
Sam,’ said Frodo, ‘and then use the gift to help your work
and better it. And use it sparingly. There is not much here,
and I expect every grain has a value.’
So Sam planted saplings in all the places where specially
beautiful or beloved trees had been destroyed, and he put a
grain of the precious dust in the soil at the root of each. He
went up and down the Shire in this labour; but if he paid
special attention to Hobbiton and Bywater no one blamed
him. And at the end he found that he still had a little of the