Adventure 2
The Mirror of Galadriel...
We stayed for many days in Lothlórien, though the number I do not know. Actually, none of us seemed to know; the days just passed right by. On one day Galadriel came to me and Sam and beckoned us to her. She led us to an pedestal with a basin on top. She filled the basin with water from a stream. She told us it was the Mirror of Galadriel, and she asked if we wanted to look.
Sam went first. He was skeptical at first, saying that he probably would only see stars or things he wouldn't understand. At first he did see stars, but it changed to trees from the Shire. As he told me later, and from what I heard him speak as he looked, what he saw was not good. The Hobbits of the Shire were enslaved and doing horrible and dirty work. He got so outraged and
Then it was my turn. I was reluctant to look, after seeing Sam get so disturbed that he was willing to go back to the Shire right then and there. Finally, I decided to look. What I saw didn't comfort me. The first thing I saw was a man walking down a road who reminded me of Gandlaf, though he was clothed all in white, not grey. His head was bowed so that I could not see his face, and I couldn't tell if it was Gandalf or Saruman. Then the vision changed. I saw Bilbo walking about his room. Another change. A ship on the Great Sea. There was a great storm and the ship had mourning sails up. Then the mirror turned dark, like a deep hole. In the darkness a sing Eye slowly grew until it filled the whole Mirror. The Eye was rimmed with fire and glazed yellow like a cat. It was searching hideously this way and that, looking for me, me and the Ring. My Ring began to get heavy and it was dragging me downwards into the Mirror. Then it all stopped.
We left Lothórien the next day. The Elves adorned us with many gifts. Lembas bread, which one piece keeps even a full grown man full for an entire day of heavy work. Also, a cloak for each man, each sewn by Galadriel and her maidens of the finest material in Lórien. They change color to blend in and hide from unwanted onlookers. Wonderfully carved and painted boats that never tip over and in each, three coils of rope. To Aragorn she gave a sheath painted with flowers and leaves of silver and gold, and in the Elvish letters, Andúril, for his sword. Also, a clear green stone set in a silver clasp of an eagle with spread wings. To Boromir, Galadriel gave a belt of gold, and to Merry and Pippin Hobbit sized silver belts, each with a clasp like a flower. Legolas received a bow of the Tree-Elves; longer and stronger than Mirkwood bows, and strung with a string of Elf-hair. With it went a quiver of arrows. Galadriel gave Sam a small box of earth from her garden for when he got back to the Shire. She then turned to Gimli, and asked what an Elf should give to a Dwarf. After much persuasion, Gimli replied a strand of Galadriel's hair, so as to make amends between Dwarves and Elves. To this, she gave him three. Finally she came to me. The light of Eärendur's star caught in a flask to shine bright in dark times.
