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Love in the Trees - Page 5

© Michael Martinez

Bombadil thus allegorizes many of the things which Tolkien felt were good qualities in a man: he is honest, faithful, a good friend, a loving and devoted husband, and he knows not to exceed his own capabilities. Bombadil is so sure of himself because he has learned all he needs to know about himself. But though he has also learned a great deal about "wood, water and hill" -- enough so that he is their Master -- he is still curious, and still asks questions about things happening beyond his little land. Bombadil doesn't sit silently in his castle, walling out the world. He is very much aware of what is going on around him. He continues to interact with at least some of his neighbors. In the poem "Bombadil goes boating", he visits Farmer Maggot in the Shire. And though Tolkien decided, while writing The Lord of the Rings, that Bombadil doesn't visit Bree, he knows Bree and he knows something about Barliman Butterbur, "the worthy keeper" of The Prancing Pony inn. Later on, after Bombadil has kept Merry's ponies for a while, word reaches Bombadil of how Butterbur had to pay Merry for those ponies after they were released from the inn's stable. How did Bombadil here that? Someone or something had to tell him, and the most likely source of news must have been an Elf or Ranger. I think Tom must have gotten on well with the Rangers. Aragorn knew of him, and Bombadil knew of Aragorn (describing Aragorn for the Hobbits in a vision he gave them after freeing them from the barrow). Since the Rangers visited Bree often, and had kept watch over the Shire for many years, they would have had many opportunities to pass through Bombadil's land and exchange news with him. Bombadil, after all, also stayed in touch with Gildor Inglorion, since Gildor asked him to help Frodo on the way out of the Shire. Bombadil therefore has friends, and he is not a true recluse. He remains interesting and yet powerful. And that may explain why Goldberry married him. In the poem, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Goldberry tugs on Tom's beard, pulling him into the water and stealing his hat in a very girlish way:

There his beard dangled long down into the water: up came Goldberry, the River-woman's daughter; pulled Tom's hanging hair. In he went a-wallowing under the water-lillies, bubbling and a-swallowing. 'Hey, Tom Bombadil! Whither are you going?'

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