return

1036 the return of the king
a skyless world, in which his eye, through dim gulfs of shadowy
air, saw only ever-mounting slopes, great walls of stone
behind great walls, and frowning precipices wreathed with
mist. He sat for a moment half dreaming, listening to the
noise of water, the whisper of dark trees, the crack of stone,
and the vast waiting silence that brooded behind all sound.
He loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them
marching on the edge of stories brought from far away; but
now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of
Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet
room by a fire.
He was very tired, for though they had ridden slowly, they
had ridden with very little rest. Hour after hour for nearly
three weary days he had jogged up and down, over passes,
and through long dales, and across many streams. Sometimes
where the way was broader he had ridden at the king’s side,
not noticing that many of the Riders smiled to see the two
together: the hobbit on his little shaggy grey pony, and the
Lord of Rohan on his great white horse. Then he had talked
to Théoden, telling him about his home and the doings of
the Shire-folk, or listening in turn to tales of the Mark and
its mighty men of old. But most of the time, especially on
this last day, Merry had ridden by himself just behind the
king, saying nothing, and trying to understand the slow sonorous
speech of Rohan that he heard the men behind him
using. It was a language in which there seemed to be many
words that he knew, though spoken more richly and strongly
than in the Shire, yet he could not piece the words together.
At times some Rider would lift up his clear voice in stirring
song, and Merry felt his heart leap, though he did not know
what it was about.
All the same he had been lonely, and never more so than
now at the day’s end. He wondered where in all this strange
world Pippin had got to; and what would become of Aragorn
and Legolas and Gimli. Then suddenly like a cold touch on
his heart he thought of Frodo and Sam. ‘I am forgetting
them!’ he said to himself reproachfully. ‘And yet they are