Read The Treason of Isengard for Free Online Page A
Authors: J. R. R. Tolkien
dark. There was something mysterious in that; I think more than one power was at work. The Ring was trying to get back to its master. It had ruined Gollum, and could make no further use of him; he was too small and mean. It had already slipped from one owner's hand and betrayed him to death. It now left Gollum: and that would probably have proved Gollum's death, if the finder had not been the most unlikely creature imaginable: a Baggins all the way from the Shire! But behind all that there was something at work beyond any design of the Ringmaker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you were also meant to have it, and that may be an encouraging thought, or it may not.'
'It isn't,' said Frodo, 'though I am not sure that I understand you. But how have you learned all this about the Ring, and about Gollum? Do you really know it all, or are you guessing?'
'I have learned some things, and guessed others,' answered Gandalf. 'But I am not going to give you an account of the last few years just now. The story of Gilgalad and Isildur and the One Ring is well known to the learned in Lore. I knew it myself, of course, but I have consulted many other Lore-masters. Your ring is shown to be that One Ring by the fire-writing, quite apart from other evidence.'
'And when did you discover that?' asked Frodo interrupting.
'Just now in this room, of course,' answered Gandalf sharply.
'But I expected to find it. I have come back from many dark journeys to make that final test. It is the last proof, and all is now clear. Making out Gollum's part, and fitting it into the gap in the history, required some thought; but I guessed very near the truth. I know more of the minds and histories of the creatures of Middle-earth than you imagine, Frodo.'
'But your account does not quite agree with Bilbo's, as far as I can remember it.'
'Naturally. Bilbo had no idea of the nature of the Ring, and so could not guess what was behind Gollum's peculiar behaviour.
But though I started from hints and guesses, I no longer need them. I am no longer guessing about Gollum. I know. I know because I have seen him.'(9)
'You have seen Gollum!' exclaimed Frodo in amazement.
'The obvious thing to try and do, surely,' said Gandalf.
'Then what happened after Bilbo escaped from him?' asked Frodo. 'Do you know that?'
'Not so clearly. What I have told you is what Gollum was willing to tell - though not, of course, in the way I have reported it. Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words. For instance, you may remember that he told Bilbo that he had been given the Ring as a birthday present long ago when such rings were less uncommon.(10) Very unlikely on the face of it: no kind of magic ring was ever common in his part of the world. Quite incredible, when one suspects what ring this one really was.(11) It was a lie, though with a grain of truth. I fancy he had made up his mind what to say, if necessary, so that the stranger would accept the Ring without suspicion, and think the gift natural. And that is another hobbit-like thought! Birthday present! It would have worked well with any hobbit. There was no need to tell the lie, of course, when he found the Ring had gone; but he had told that lie to himself so many times in the darkness, trying to forget Deagol,(12) that it slipped out, whenever he spoke of the Ring. He repeated it to me, but I laughed at him. He then told me more or less the true story, but with a lot of snivelling and snarling. He thought he was misunderstood and ill-treated...
In the third version of this chapter Gandalf had said (VI.321): 'Very unlikely on the face of it: incredible when one suspects what kind of ring it really was. It was said merely to make Bilbo willing to accept it as a harmless kind of toy' (i.e., Gollum, speaking - according to Gandalf s elaborate theory - from that part of his mind that wished to get rid of the Ring, said off the top of his
'It isn't,' said Frodo, 'though I am not sure that I understand you. But how have you learned all this about the Ring, and about Gollum? Do you really know it all, or are you guessing?'
'I have learned some things, and guessed others,' answered Gandalf. 'But I am not going to give you an account of the last few years just now. The story of Gilgalad and Isildur and the One Ring is well known to the learned in Lore. I knew it myself, of course, but I have consulted many other Lore-masters. Your ring is shown to be that One Ring by the fire-writing, quite apart from other evidence.'
'And when did you discover that?' asked Frodo interrupting.
'Just now in this room, of course,' answered Gandalf sharply.
'But I expected to find it. I have come back from many dark journeys to make that final test. It is the last proof, and all is now clear. Making out Gollum's part, and fitting it into the gap in the history, required some thought; but I guessed very near the truth. I know more of the minds and histories of the creatures of Middle-earth than you imagine, Frodo.'
'But your account does not quite agree with Bilbo's, as far as I can remember it.'
'Naturally. Bilbo had no idea of the nature of the Ring, and so could not guess what was behind Gollum's peculiar behaviour.
But though I started from hints and guesses, I no longer need them. I am no longer guessing about Gollum. I know. I know because I have seen him.'(9)
'You have seen Gollum!' exclaimed Frodo in amazement.
'The obvious thing to try and do, surely,' said Gandalf.
'Then what happened after Bilbo escaped from him?' asked Frodo. 'Do you know that?'
'Not so clearly. What I have told you is what Gollum was willing to tell - though not, of course, in the way I have reported it. Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words. For instance, you may remember that he told Bilbo that he had been given the Ring as a birthday present long ago when such rings were less uncommon.(10) Very unlikely on the face of it: no kind of magic ring was ever common in his part of the world. Quite incredible, when one suspects what ring this one really was.(11) It was a lie, though with a grain of truth. I fancy he had made up his mind what to say, if necessary, so that the stranger would accept the Ring without suspicion, and think the gift natural. And that is another hobbit-like thought! Birthday present! It would have worked well with any hobbit. There was no need to tell the lie, of course, when he found the Ring had gone; but he had told that lie to himself so many times in the darkness, trying to forget Deagol,(12) that it slipped out, whenever he spoke of the Ring. He repeated it to me, but I laughed at him. He then told me more or less the true story, but with a lot of snivelling and snarling. He thought he was misunderstood and ill-treated...
In the third version of this chapter Gandalf had said (VI.321): 'Very unlikely on the face of it: incredible when one suspects what kind of ring it really was. It was said merely to make Bilbo willing to accept it as a harmless kind of toy' (i.e., Gollum, speaking - according to Gandalf s elaborate theory - from that part of his mind that wished to get rid of the Ring, said off the top of his