Chapter 5: Tom Bombadil

Chapter Five: Tom Bombadil

At dawn the next day the company entered the Old Forest without a word. Silently they passed through a small door that was the only entrance from the Shire to the Old Forest, for a tall hedge blocked off the rest of the forest. Soon the early morning daylight disappeared as they began to pass through the many species of trees in the wood. Sunlight that managed to emerge through the entangling branches was rare, so it was somewhat difficult to keep to the dark path.

As they went deeper into the woods, the trail became rougher and the forest darker. Their original plan was to keep to the trail going northeast, but it seemed that the forest had other ideas. When they tried going north or east, the path always steered them south or west. They could not go into the trees for they were so thick that it would be hard going through unscathed.

After a while, one of them finally spoke up.

"I thought we were attempting to go northeast?" Jack asked Frodo.

Frodo nodded. "Yes, but it seems that the trees have other ideas. They keep on blocking us."

Anamaria laughed aloud. "Moving trees? Whoever 'eard of such a thing?"

Merry shot her a look. "The Old Forest isn't a normal forest, Anamaria. Years ago this forest actually tried to fight against the people of Buckland- grew over the hedge at a rapid pace, and would not stop despite the fact that the residents of Buckland cut it back constantly. It wasn't until they made a great bonfire that the forest finally ceased its attempts to cross the hedge."

Anamaria narrowed her eyes. "Thinking trees. Bloody hell."

"As interesting as that is, that still doesn't change the fact that we are heading in the wrong direction," said Jack pointedly.

"There isn't much we can do," Merry snapped, his patience growing thin. He had not wanted to go through the forest in the first place.

Jack held up his hands in mock surrender. "Just saying."

In the end, the citizens of the Caribbean were sure to stay as far away from the trees as possible. Anamaria kept close to the center of the path and kept on looking at the wood with dark eyes. Jack, while seemingly nonchalant about the situation, was also careful to not step on any protruding tree roots. Gibbs was right behind him, hand resting on his sword and darkly muttering something about witchcraft. Elizabeth was having a trying time keeping her dress from entangling itself in anything, while her husband had his hand protectively on hers, his own eyes vigilant on their surroundings.

Many hours later, quite a while after they had stopped attempting to go in any direction that the forest did not agree to, they reached a river. It was mid afternoon and the Old Forest had steered them south the whole time. When Merry saw the river he groaned audibly.

"Well, at least now I know where we are. We are completely off course. This is the Withywindle; we're in the southern part of the Old Forest. However, if we just follow this river, we should get out of the forest soon enough. Once we are out of the woods, we go north across the Barrow-downs, and then take the East Road to Bree. Then…" He paused.

"Then we will see what there is to see," Frodo ended for him. "Come along then. The sooner we are out of here, the better. We do not want to spend the night in here." All of them nodded in agreement and followed the river's course.

A couple minutes later, Jack yawned. "I'm tired," he stated. He, however, was only stating what everyone else was experiencing; all of them were slowly, but surely becoming very weary and each of his companions slowly nodded in silent agreement.

"Let's rest under that large willow tree," Pippin suggested. Without further discussion, the group dropped their bags and rested against or near the tree. Slowly, one by one, they dozed off.

O0O0O0O

A quick shout broke the silence in the area. Swiftly afterwards there was a large splash, and with that last sound the company woke up. They saw that Anamaria was in the river, cursing loudly enough to disturb any remaining wildlife nearby. She quickly got out and started yelling some more.

"That bloody tree threw me in the river!" she screamed, glaring at it darkly.

Jack's eyes slightly widened as he glanced at the forest about them, slowly considering the implications. "Very interesting," he muttered. He put a hand on the back of his neck and slightly leaned back, glancing at the branches above him, before he realized something was wrong.

"Where's my hat?" he asked himself. A quick look around quickly led to its discovery: half of it was sticking out of the willow tree. He jumped up, ran over to the willow, and started tugging on his hat. It was not coming out at all; in fact, it seemed that the hat was going deeper into the tree. He finally gave up and stopped pulling, looking at the tree darkly and silently devising new ways to retrieve his hat.

Will glanced around, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Where's Elizabeth?"

Frodo looked about too as he gained his bearings. "And where are Merry and Pippin?"

They heard muffled screams; at first they could not tell where they were coming from, but soon enough discovered that the noise came from inside the tree. All those outside of the tree quickly ran up to the base of the willow.

"Elizabeth!" Will shouted. He saw her hand sticking out and grasped it tightly. "Don't worry, we will get you out!" He took out his sword, and Jack, Gibbs, and Anamaria swiftly followed. Jack, of course, was most concerned about his hat.

They heard a shout from the other side of the tree. "Don't!" someone yelled. "He says that he will suffocate us if you hack him!"

"They can talk, too?" Anamaria asked herself as she reluctantly put away her sword. "That's great."

Jack looked up at the tree with a new, grudging respect. "Interesting."

The others also put away their swords as it soon became evident that the willow would make good with its threat. Frodo started searching around nervously, and then without warning darted off, screaming for help. The others looked after him worriedly. Jack shrugged and went back to trying to pull his hat out of the tree, which had already sunk lower into the wood.

Suddenly everyone heard singing coming from somewhere further down the river path. "Hey dol! Merry dol! Ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! Hop along! Fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!"

Will glanced at Jack wryly. "Sounds like one of your types."

Jack looked wounded. "My songs are much better than that."

The singing ceased for a minute, and then suddenly Frodo came back with the strangest looking man they had ever seen. He wore yellow boots, a bright blue coat, and a huge hat. A long brown beard framed his jolly red face. About a foot higher than the hobbits, he was too tall to be one of them, but too short to be a Man. He wore a huge smile on his face- an expression that convinced the people of the Caribbean that he was utterly mad.

"What's wrong, me lads?" the strange man asked. He looked at all of them curiously.

"Our friends are stuck in the willow tree," Frodo explained hurriedly. "We tried getting them out, but nothing is working!"

The man laughed. "That's it? Old Tom knows all the forest's secrets, knows Old Man Willow's secrets. Naught worse than that? We will have them out soon enough my hearties!" The man walked- or more like danced- over to the tree, and whispered something like a song into the bark. The willow tree shivered, and suddenly out popped Elizabeth, Merry, and Pippin. Will caught Elizabeth, Anamaria caught Pippin, and Gibbs caught Merry.

Jack frowned. "And my hat!" he demanded. The hat flew out of the tree towards Jack. Jack jumped up to catch it, but tripped on one of the willow's roots that had suddenly appeared behind him, and fell into the river. "I won't forget that soon," Jack muttered darkly to the tree as he stood and retrieved his hat.

As soon as everyone was all right, they stood together and surveyed the stranger. All of them (other than Jack, who was too busy making sure his hat and clothes were dry) thanked him.

The stranger laughed. "Anytime, no problem here!" he said in a singsong voice. "Now, you shall come home with me! The table is all laden with yellow cream, honeycomb, and white bread and butter. Goldberry is waiting. Time enough for questions around the supper table. You follow me as quick as you are able!" With that, he started dancing quickly away.

The others followed him as fast as possible. Even though he was only dancing he was very fast and it was hard to keep up with him, especially with all their heavy bags weighing them down.

"Is it just me, or is this man a lunatic?" Will asked as they ran after him. Gibbs nodded quickly.

"Yea, and I can't understand a single word he says," he stated.

They kept running until finally they emerged from the forest. It was just past sunset and quickly getting dark. They found themselves on a green plain, with the trees on the edge of the flat land well kept and the grass short and trimmed. They still followed the man along the river until they came to a well-kept house. It was the only building they could see in the area, but the cheery lights streaming out of the windows made them quickly forget that.

They saw the man standing in the doorway, still singing nonsense. He waved to them, motioning them inside. Once they came to the doorway, slowly, one by one, as if in a dream, they stepped inside.

They all sat down together at a long table and thanked him repeatedly for his kindness, but he just laughed.

"Not a problem, not a problem, my hearties! Now that we are in my nice, cozy home, we shall say introductions, starting with myself. I am Tom Bombadil, Master of the waters, trees, and air, spouse to fair Goldberry."

"Then you own these lands?" Will asked him. Tom shook his head.

"Oh no! They all own themselves; I am just the master of them. Neither tree nor branch has ever caught Tom! I have no fear of them. Now, who are you, and what are five children of Men and four hobbits doing in the forest?"

Frodo spoke. "I am Frodo Baggins. They are Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck."

Will then added, "I am Will Turner. This is my wife Elizabeth, and they are Jack, Gibbs, and Anamaria."

"Wife, eh?" Tom said, glancing at Elizabeth. "I shall find my own now."

"You need not look," said a voice from atop the staircase of the home. As one, the company looked up and saw a fair-headed maiden dressed in green; she wore a kind smile on her face.

Tom grinned. "There's my pretty Goldberry."

The woman glided down the stairs. She went into an adjourning room and soon came out with a large tray laden with food. She put down many plates of bread, butter, and honey, which the company stared at hungrily. When she set down jugs of water, Jack frowned and then said with a charming grin, "Hey, love, you don't happen to have a bit of ale, eh?" Gibbs looked up eagerly at the question and even Will could not hide his interest. The hobbits, too, were keeping their ears open; hobbits, after all, do love their drink.

Goldberry smiled and said, "We do not carry ale often in this house." With that, she finished serving and sat down on the other side of the table across from Tom, and then they all started eating. Elizabeth and Goldberry merrily chatted with each other while Tom questioned the others.

"So, my hearties, what were all of you doing in the forest? No place for strangers."

Frodo answered for the group. "We are heading to Bree. The roads are… err…"

"Filled with Black Riders that chill your very bones," finished Pippin.

"We voted on which route to take, and ended up with the Old Forest."

Tom nodded. "That's curious business enough, but just as curious is all of you together! I haven't heard of such wandering bands before. How did you all end up like this?"

While they were now filled with food and greatly comforted, those of the Caribbean remembered Gandalf's warning and, while it seemed silly in such a cheery setting to heed it, were careful not to reveal their true nature to him. After all, only the wizard, Bilbo, and Frodo knew where they were really from, even though Sam, Merry, and Pippin were certainly suspicious of their claim of just being "friends with Gandalf and Bilbo".

Tom did not seem convinced, but he only nodded and did not press the issue further. "Gandalf, Gandalf, I know of him- it has been a long time since we've talked. But still," he said suddenly, "what business do you have in Bree?"

Frodo kept it simple. "We are to meet Gandalf there."

"Gandalf!" said Tom with a laugh. "Gandalf does have his mysteries! But come, come," he said without further explanation of his statement, "dinner is done and we will now tell stories by the fireside! Come along my hearties!"

Elizabeth went with Goldberry, who she took a great liking to, to help with the dishes while the others went with Tom to the fireplace. Tom told several stories about the world and both the group from the Shire and the Caribbean learned a great amount of things that night. As they shared stories of their own, Will and the others talked about their life in the Caribbean, and though they never mentioned any names they often said more than they meant to say. It was as if this comfortable home loosened their tongues beyond their complete control. The hobbits also discussed many things concerning the Shire and events there. Frodo said much more than he meant to; he spoke about Bilbo's party, the black riders, and finally he even ended up speaking about the Ring.

Tom listened to all of their stories with no interruptions. However, as Frodo talked about the One Ring, he suddenly said, "Show me this precious Ring!"

To everyone's amazement (including Frodo's), he unresistingly took out the Ring and handed it to Tom.

As Tom was fiddling with it and pulling it on and off (he did not disappear, to everyone's amazement), Jack came out of his dreamy state and watched the Ring intensely. It was his first time seeing the Ring closely, and he suddenly felt a great lust for this precious treasure; greater than any lust he held for any treasure before. He knew that he would cherish it beyond all other riches, and that this simple, but beautiful ring would turn all his dreams into reality. He watched as the Ring went up into the air and nearly panicked with Frodo when it disappeared. Tom laughed and handed it back to the hobbit with a smile. Jack quickly turned his head away to hide his expression, but only one thought went through his mind: he must have that ring!