Since it was not until a week later that he referred to the sudden and totally unexpected appearance of Faramir on the scene, it seems to me that when he wrote this letter he had not progressed much if at all beyond the end of the Oliphaunt episode; for in the manuscript of the chapter that became 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit' the leader of the Gondorians is Falborn, not Faramir, and there is as yet no indication that he will play any further part (cf. the outline on p. 135).(18)
This chapter (including what became 'The Black Gate is Closed') was read to C. S. Lewis on the first of May 1944 (Letters no. 65).
This is a convenient place to set down the notes on names added later to the page transcribed on p. 132:
Change Black Mountains to the White Mountains. Hebel [Orolos>] Uilos Nor[?ais]
Alter the Morannon to Kirith Naglath Cleft of the Teeth
Gorgor
The two King Stones Sern Ubed (denial)
Sern Aranath
Rohar?
To these pencilled notes my father added in ink:
Not Hebel but Ephel. Et-pele > Eppele. Ephel-Dúath. Ephel [Nimras >] Nimrais. Ered Nimrath.
With Kirith Naglath cf. Naglath Morn, p. 122; and on the reference to Sern Ubed and Sern Aranath see p. 132. On the change of the Black Mountains to the White see VII.433.
NOTES.
1. In the manuscript as in the draft, 'The moon was not due until late that night'; in TT 'the moon was now three nights from the full, but it did not climb over the mountains till nearly midnight.'
2. That the illegible word is re-entrant seems assured by the recurrence of this word in perfectly clear form and in the same context in the text given on p. 134. In the present text at this point there is drawn a wavy line; this clearly indicates the line of the mountains pierced by a very wide valley running up into a point.
3. The illegible word is certainly not pointing. It begins with an f or a g and probably ends in ing, but does not suggest either facing or gazing.
4. The word Ubed, occurring twice here and again in the further notes on names on this page (where it is translated 'denial'), is written at all occurrences in precisely the same way, and I do not feel at all certain of the third letter.
5. Before the words 'The red eye' were written my father drew an Old English S-rune (cf. VII.382), but struck it out.
6. The remainder of this page carries disjointed passages: as elsewhere my father probably had it beside him and used it for jotting down narrative 'moments' as they came into his mind. The first reads:
that great mountain's side was built Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard, where Gandalf walked now deep in thought.
On this see note 8. Then follows:
For a third night they went on. They had good water in plenty, and Gollum was better fed. Already he was less famished to look at. At early morning when they lay hidden for rest, and at evening when they set out again, he would slip away and return licking his lips. Sometimes in the long night he would take out something ..... and would crunch it as he walked. ..... and lay under a deep bank in tall bracken under the shadow of pine trees. Water flowed not far away, cold, good to drink. Gollum slipped away, and returned shortly, licking his lips; but he brought with him also a present for the hobbits. Two rabbits he had caught.
With Sam's having no objection to rabbit but a distaste for what Gollum brought, and a reference to his prudent wish, in contrast to Frodo's indifference, to save the elvish waybread for worse times ahead, these exceedingly difficult 'extracts' come to an end. It was clearly here that the episode of the stewed rabbit entered; but it seems scarcely possible to define how my father related it to the whole sequence of the journey from the Black Gate.
7. On the continued hesitation between Elostirion and Osgiliath at this time see p. 122 and note 7.
8. The last sentence is in fact, and rather oddly, completed by the first passage given in note 6, thus:
There glimmered through the night the snows on Mount Mindolluin; but though Frodo's eyes stared out into the west wondering where in the vastness of the land his old companions might now be, he did not know that under / that great mountain's side was built Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard, where Gandalf walked now deep in thought.
See the Note on Chronology below.
9. This sentence replaced a form of it in which Sam's reckoning had been that they had 'a bare ten days' supply of waybread: that left eight.' In the manuscript of 'The Passage of the Marshes', corresponding to that in TT p. 231, Sam said 'I reckon we've got enough to last, say, 10 days now'. This was changed to 'three weeks or so', no doubt at the same time as the sentence in the present text was rewritten.
In TT (p. 260) it is said at this point that 'Six days or more had passed' since Sam made his reckoning of the remaining lembas, whereas here it is 'Two days or more'. Three days had in fact passed, the 3rd, 4th and 5th of February (p. 118). In TT the length of the journey had been increased, both by the two extra days during which they crossed the Noman-lands {pp. 112, 120), and by an extra day added to the journey from the Morannon to the place of the stewed rabbit episode (p. 135).
10. re-entrant: see note 2.
11. The brief remainder of this outline is illegible because my father wrote across it notes in ink on another subject (see p. 145).
12. It is not clear that it was first conceived as an ambush, which perhaps only arose when the story came to be written - and it was then that my father added to the manuscript at an earlier point 'They had come to the end of a long cutting, deep, and sheer-sided in the middle, by which the road clove its way through a stony ridge' (TT p. 258).
13. In a pencilled draft so faint and rapid as to be largely illegible another name is found instead of Mablung, and several names preceded Damrod, but I cannot certainly interpret any of them.
14. Rivendell is still Imladrist and the Halflings are still the Halfhigh (see VII.146). Boromir is called 'Highwarden of the White Tower, and our captain general', as in TT (p. 266).
15. Damrod in TT; the speeches of Damrod and Mablung were shifted about between the two.
16. Cf. the Etymologies, V.372, stem MBUD 'project': * andambunda 'long-snouted', Quenya andamunda 'elephant', Noldorin anda- bon, annabon.
17. Sarn Gebir: an interesting instance of the former name reappearing mistakenly - unless my father used Sarn Gebir deliberately, remembering that I had not read any of Book IV, in which the name Emyn Muil was first used. Cf. however p. 165 note 7.
18. It is clear that in the manuscript the chapter halted at Sam's words (TT p. 270) 'Well, if that's over, I'll have a bit of sleep.' The following brief dialogue between Sam and Mablung (with the hint that the hobbits will not be allowed to continue their journey unhindered: 'I do not think the Captain will leave you here, Master Samwise') was written in the manuscript as the beginning of the next chapter ('Faramir'), and only subsequently joined to the preceding one and made its conclusion; and by then Falborn had become Faramir.
Note on the Chronology.
The brief time-scheme B has the following chronology (see pp. 118, 135):
(Day 3)
Feb. 4 Frodo, Sam and Gollum come to the Barren Lands and Slag-mounds. Stay there during day and sleep. At night they go en 12 miles and come before the Morannon on Feb. 5.
(Day 4)
Feb. 5 Frodo, Sam and Gollum remain hidden all day. Pass southward to Ithilien at dusk.
(Day 5)
Feb. 6 Full Moon. Stewed rabbit. Frodo and Sam taken by Faramir. Spend night at Henneth Annûn.
There are two other schemes ('C' and 'D'), the one obviously written shortly after the other, both of which begin at February 4. As originally written, both maintain the chronology of B, but both give some information about other events as well, and in this they differ. Scheme C reads thus:
(Day 3)
Feb. 4 Gandalf and Pippin pass Fords and reach mouth of Coomb about 2.30 a.m. [Added: and rides on till day- break and then rests in hiding. Rides again at night.]
Théoden sets out
from Dolbaran and reaches Helm's Deep soon after dawn.
Frodo comes to the Barren Lands and Slag-mounds and stays there during day.
(Day 4)
Feb. 5 Théoden leaves Helm's Deep on return journey. Aragorn rides on ahead with Gimli and Legolas.
Gandalf abandons secrecy and after short rest rides all day to Minas Tirith. He and Pippin reach Minas Tirith at sunset.
At dawn on Feb. 5 Frodo comes before the Morannon. Frodo, Sam and Gollum lie hid all day and go south towards Ithilien at nightfall.
(Day 5)
Feb. 6 Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. They are taken by Faramir. Battle with the Southrons. Frodo spends night at Henneth Annûn.
Scheme D, certainly following C, runs as follows (as originally written):
(Day 3)
Feb. 4 Gandalf and Pippin begin their ride to Minas Tirith (pass Fords and reach mouth of Deeping Coomb about 2 a.m.). At dawn come to Edoras (7.30). Gandalf fearing Nazgûl rests all day. Orders assembly to go to Dunhar-row. Nazgûl passes over Rohan again.
(Day 4)
Feb. 5 Gandalf rides all night of 4 - 5 and passes into Anórien. Pippin sees the beacons blaze up on the mountains. They see messengers riding West.
Aragorn (with Legolas and Gimli) rides fast by night (4-5) to Dunharrow via Edoras, reaches Edoras at morning and passes up Harrowdale. Théoden with Eomer and many men goes by mountain-roads through south [sic] skirts of mountains to Dunharrow, riding slowly.
Frodo at dawn comes before the Morannon. At night- fall Frodo with Sam and Gollum turns south to Ithilien.
(Day 5)
Feb. 6 Full Moon (rises about 9.20 p.m. and sets about 6.30 a.m. on Feb. 7). Gandalf rides all night of 5 - 6 and sights Minas Tirith at dawn on 6th.
Théoden comes out of west into Harrowdale some miles above Dunharrow, and comes to Dunharrow before nightfall. Finds the muster already beginning.
Frodo and Sam in Ithilien; taken by Faramir; battle with Southrons; night at Henneth Annûn.
On the statement in scheme D that Théoden came down into Harrowdale some miles above Dunharrow see p. 259. The full moon of February 6 is the full moon of February 1, 1942, as explained in VII.369.
It will be seen that in their dating these time-schemes proceed from the schemes A and B (see p. 118}, in which the day passed by Frodo among the slag-mounds was February 4, and in which he came before the Morannon at dawn on February 5. While these schemes obviously belong to 1944, and were made when Book IV was largely or entirely written (pp. 182, 226), it seems clear that they preceded the chronological problems that my father referred to in his letters of 12 and 16 October 1944 (see p. 100): for in the second of these he mentioned that he had made a small alteration in Frodo's journey, 'two days from Morannon to Ithilien', and this change is not present in these schemes, C and D.
Scheme D was revised at that time to provide the extra day in the journey from the Morannon to Ithilien, and this was done by revising the dates backwards: thus Frodo now comes before the Morannon on February 4, and on February 5 'lies in heather on the borders of Ithilien' (see p. 135 and TT p. 257); thus the episode of the stewed rabbit still takes place on February 6. Since this scheme only begins on February 4 it is not shown how the earlier arrival before the Morannon was achieved.
It is clear therefore that scheme S was devised following the chronological modifications of 12-16 October 1944; for in S the extra day in the journey from the Morannon was present from its making, and the date of the extra day was February 5 (as in Scheme D revised), because in this scheme the date of the Breaking of the Fellowship was put back from January 26 to January 25 (see pp. 101, 119). The chronology in S I take therefore to represent the structure when my father wrote on 16 October 'I think I have solved it all at last':
(Day 3)
Feb. 3 Frodo etc. reach slag-mounds at dawn, and stay in a hole all day, going on at nightfall. Nazgûl passes high up on way to Isengard about 5 p.m. Another one hour after
midnight.
Gandalf and company leave Isengard and camp at Dolbaran. Episode of the Orthanc-stone. Nazgûl passes over about 11 p.m.
(Day 4)
Feb. 4 Frodo etc. reach dell in sight of Morannon at daybreak, and lie hid there all day. See the Harad-men march in. At dusk they start southward journey.
Gandalf and Pippin ride east. Sight Edoras at dawn.
Nazgûl passes over Edoras about 8 a.m.
(Day 5)
Feb. 5 Frodo etc. reach borderlands and lie in heather sleeping all day. At night go on into Ithilien.
Gandalf passes into Anórien.
(Day 6)
Feb. 6 Frodo etc. camp in Ithilien. Episode of Stewed Rabbit. Frodo captured by Faramir and taken to Henneth Annûn.
[Gandalf and Pippin reach Minas Tirith.]
The original entries concerning Gandalf on February 5 and 6 in this scheme cannot be read after the words 'Gandalf passes into Anórien', because they were afterwards overwritten, but it is clear that as in scheme D he reached Minas Tirith at dawn on February 6.
In this chapter relation to the movements of other members of the original Company arises in the rejected passage given on p. 133, interrupted in the manuscript but concluded as shown in note 8. In this passage, written before the episode of the stewed rabbit and the coming of the men of Gondor had entered the story, Frodo was walking southward through Ithilien, and in the late night of February 6 - 7 (the second of this journey) he saw the full moon sinking in the West. In its light he glimpsed from far off the snows on Mount Mindolluin; and at that same time Gandalf was walking 'deep in thought' below that mountain in Minas Tirith. When the story was entirely changed by the entry of Faramir it was from Henneth Annûn, that night, and in the original draft of 'The Forbidden pool' appears his sad speculation on the fate of his former companions 'in the vastness of the nightlands' (TT p. 293). When that was written the story was still that Gandalf and Pippin had already reached Minas Tirith.
In the final chronology the relations were altered. Pippin riding with Gandalf on Shadowfax caught as he fell asleep on the night of March 7 - S 'a glimpse of high white peaks, glimmering like floating isles above the clouds as they caught the light of the westering moon. He wondered where Frodo was, and if he was already in Mordor, or if he was dead; and he did not know that Frodo from far away looked on that same moon as it set beyond Gondor ere the coming of the day' (The Return of the King p. 20). That was still the night that Frodo passed in Henneth Annûn; but now Gandalf did not ride up to the wall of the Pelennor until dawn of the ninth of March.
V. FARAMIR.
On the 26th of April 1944 my father said (Letters no. 63) that he needed to know how to stew a rabbit; on the 30th (no. 64) he wrote that 'A large elephant of prehistoric size, a war-elephant of the Swertings, is loose' (but made no mention of anything further); on the 4th of May (no. 65), having read a chapter to C. S. Lewis on the 1st, he was 'busy now with the next'; and on the 11th (no. 67) he said that he had read his 'fourth new chapter ("Faramir")' to Lewis and Williams three days before.(1) It seems, then, that what was afterwards called 'The Window on the West' was achieved in not much more than a week. That must have been a time of intense and concentrated work, for the volume of writing that went into this chapter, the redrafting and reshaping, is remarkable. It is also very complex, and it has taken me a lot longer than a week to determine how the chapter evolved and to try to describe it here. In what follows I trace the development fairly closely, since in 'Faramir' there are bearings on other parts of The Lord of the Rings and much of special interest in Faramir's discourse on ancient history, most notably in his remarks on the languages of Gondor and the Common Speech (entirely lost in The Two Towers).
The various draft-sequences that constitute the history of the chapter are so confusing that I shall try to make my account clearer by using letters to distinguish them when it seems helpful. There was only one manuscript made, titled 'XXXVI. Faramir':(2) this is a good clear text, not extensively emended later, and in it the
final form was achieved, with however certain important exceptions. It must have been from this text (referred to in this chapter as 'the completed manuscript', or simply 'the manuscript') that my father read 'Faramir' to Lewis and Williams on 8 May 1944. At this time the chapter began at Sleep while you may,> said Mablung: see p. 139 note 18.
The original draft for the end of what became 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit', which I will call 'A', continued on from Sam's 'If that's over I'll have a bit o' sleep' (TT p. 270) thus:
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 8 - The War of the Ring Page 18
