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Love in the Trees - Page 8

© Michael Martinez

They took a deep draught of the air, and felt that a skip and a few stout strides would bear them wherever they wished. It seemed fainthearted to go jogging aside over the crumpled skirts of the downs towards the Road, when they should be leaping, as lusty as Tom, over the stepping stones of the hills straight towards the Mountains. Goldberry spoke to them and recalled their eyes and thoughts. 'Speed now, fair guests!' she said. 'And hold to your purpose! North with the wind in the left eye and a blessing on your footsteps! Make haste while the Sun shines!' And to Frodo she said: 'Farewell, Elf-friend, it was a merry meeting!' But Frodo found no words to answer. He bowed low, and mounted his pony, and followed by his friends jogged slowly down the gentle slope behind the hill. Tom Bombadil's house and the valley, and the Forest were lost to view. The air grew warmer between the green walls of hillside and hillside, and the scent of turf rose strong and sweet as they breathed. Turning back, when they reached the bottom of the green hollow, they saw Goldberry, now small and slender like a sunlit flower against the sky: she was standing still watching them, and her hands were stretched out towards them. As they looked she gave a clear call, and lifting up her hand she turned and vanished behind the hill. It is Goldberry who bids the Hobbits farewell, not the other way round. She sends them on their way with words of friendship and encouragement, but the severance is final. The Hobbits have passed through an adolescent adventure which can only lead to an inevitable rite of passage, one in which Tom (the Father) oversees their final transition into metaphorical adulthood. Goldberry (the Mother) has, as much as Tom, prepared the Hobbits to take on the larger world. And the allegory, whether intended or coincidental, of a harmonious family life lays a foundation of solid upbringing. The reader is morally assured that the Hobbits have been raised with the right values: they have been taught to be inquisitive, careful, and resolute. Any time they depart from their chosen path, they will remember Tom and Goldberry in some fashion, much as a child hears a parent's admonishment years later, after doing something the parent had warned the child not to do. For this metaphor to work, Goldberry must be every bit as much a woman as Tom is a man. That is, she must be beautiful, alluring, warm, passionate, and nurturing. Goldberry is all of these things, and more. She greets the Hobbits from inside her home, where she is surrounded by white water-lillies in bowls. Her dress is green, streaked with silver, and she wears a gold belt. Frodo's first words to her are, "Fair lady Goldberry."

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