> No one had a more attentive audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer. He held forth at The Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater road; and he spoke with some authority, for he had tended the garden at Bag End for forty years, and had helped old Holman in the same job before that.
> A notice appeared on the gate at Bag End: no admittance except on party business. Even those who had, or pretended to have Party Business were seldom allowed inside. Bilbo was busy: writing invitations, ticking off answers, packing up presents, and making some private preparations of his own. From the time of Gandalf’s arrival he remained hidden from view.
> The Red Witch calls for her Chariot of Ten, and orders her cloak of gold.
> He abdicated as Lord of Life and Death, and retreated beyond the Middle Worlds.
> How many of you have entered the programmed boudoir, to have enormous issues raised and settled, and found that time passes so rapidly? Precisely.
> “Pity,” he says, and repeats the Possibly Proper Death Litany.
> Those few steps we took
upon the whited path rise before me now: It was cold and growing colder; we had no light, and fog had begun to roll
in from Gyoll in earnest. A few birds had come to roost in the pines and cypresses, and flapped uneasily from tree to
tree.
> I was caught in a hundred nets at
once. My eyes were open, but I could see nothing - only the black web of the roots. I swam, and could feel that
though my arms and legs moved among their millions of fine tendrils, my body did not. I grasped them by the
handful and tore them apart, but when I had torn them I was immobilized as ever.
> "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't hear you." The smile came again and she tilted her lovely head to one side. "I told you
how happy I was to see your face, and asked if you would bring my meals in the future, and what this was you
brought me."
So many unbreakable laws broken in these texts that one hardly knows where to start issuing citations.
> I did not see what she meant, and said nothing.
> I clasped Terminus Est as I had the false sword at my elevation, and lifted her above my head, taking care not to strike the ceiling. She shifted as though I wrestled a serpent.
> "Here, Master Carnifex," the old man said to me, "I'll make you a light." He puffed at a bit of punk until it was
bright enough to ignite a stub of candle. The room was small, and held no furniture but a bed. In it, asleep on his
side (as it appeared) with his back toward us and his legs drawn up, was the largest man I had ever seen - a man who
might fairly have been called a giant.
> He darted out the door, and was back in a moment carrying an ironwood walking stick with a gilt-brass knob.
Doubtless all those come from before the software bugs were fixed that would have prevented their publication.
> Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony.
> Therefore when they beheld them, the more did they love them, being things other than themselves, strange and free, wherein they saw the mind of Ilúvatar reflected anew, and learned yet a little more of his wisdom, which otherwise had been hidden even from the Ainur.
> Manwë has no thought for his own honour, and is not jealous of his power, but rules all to peace.
> And the host of the Teleri passed over the Misty Mountains, and crossed the wide lands of Eriador, being urged on by Elwë Singollo, for he was eager to return to Valinor and the Light that he had beheld; and he wished not to be sundered from the Noldor, for he had great friendship with Finwë their lord.
> She went then to the gardens of Lórien and lay down to sleep; but though she seemed to sleep, her spirit indeed departed from her body, and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos.
> There they dwelt, and if they wished they could see the light of the Trees, and could tread the golden streets of Valmar and the crystal stairs of Tirion upon Túna, the green hill; but most of all they sailed in their swift ships on the waters of the Bay of Elvenhome, or walked in the waves upon the shore with their hair gleaming in the light beyond the hill.
> For Fëanor began to love the Silmarils with a greedy love, and grudged the sight of them to all save to his father and his seven sons; he seldom remembered now that the light within them was not his own.
> Then Fingolfin said: 'I will release my brother.' But Fëanor spoke no word in answer, standing silent before the Valar. Then he turned and left the council, and departed from Valmar.
Not idly fall the commas upon these texts. These are not errors. They are deliberate acts.
> But as they came above him they wheeled and flew suddenly down, and alighted with a great plash and churning of water.
If you remove this one, you'll break the parse:
> Then Tuor spoke, and feared no longer.
> This is a story of how a
Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things
altogether unexpected.
> Then they went back, and found Thorin with his
feet on the fender smoking a pipe.
> “To think it will soon be June!” grumbled Bilbo, as he splashed along
behind the others in a very muddy track. It was after tea-time; it was
pouring with rain, and had been all day; his hood was dripping into his
eyes, his cloak was full of water; the pony was tired and stumbled on
stones; the others were too grumpy to talk.
I do know that we browbeat children with poor marks in our schools if they do these things. So of course they are scandalized to see respected writers committing such transgressive acts.
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…
