In the House of Tom Bombadil The four hobbits stepped over the wide stone threshold, and stood still, blinking. They were in a long, low room, filled with the light of lamps swinging from the beams of the roof; and on the table of dark polished wood stood many candles, tall and yellow, burning brightly. In a chair, at the far side of the room facing the outer door, sat a woman. Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders; her gown was green, green as young reeds, shot with silver like beads of dew; and her belt was of gold, shaped like a chain of flag- lilies set with pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots. About her feet in wide vessels of green and blue earthenware, white water-lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool. ‘Enter, good guests!’ she said, and as she spoke they knew that it was her clear voice they had heard singing. They came a few timid steps further into the room, and began to bow low, feeling strangely surprised and awkward, like folk that, knocking at a cottage door to beg for a drink of water, have been answered by a fair young elf-queen clad in living flowers. But before they could say anything, she sprang lightly up and over the lily-bowls, and ran laughing towards them; and as she ran her gown rustled softly like the wind in the flowering borders of a river. ‘Come, dear folk!’ she said, taking Frodo by the hand. ‘Laugh and be merry! I am Goldberry, daughter of the River.’ Then lightly she passed them and closing the door she turned her back to it, with her white arms spread out across it. ‘Let us shut out the night!’ she said. ‘For you are still afraid, perhaps, of mist and tree-shadows and deep water, and untame things. Fear nothing! For tonight you are under the roof of Tom Bombadil.’

Today, then, we come to the end of this literary adventure we’ve been on together for the past 7 weeks. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! I wanted to leave you with one of my favourite passages from The Lord of the Rings, where the hobbits are invited by Goldberry into the house of Tom Bombadil. It is a place of sanctuary, where they can take a moment to forget their fears and to enjoy company, food and laughter. This is, I think, one thing which makes Tolkien such a master storyteller: of course there are scary characters and events, but there are also many moments of calm and friendship and simple pleasures. Nature is a balm for the characters throughout. There is always hope. Here are a few other quotations from Tolkien which I think of often: ‘“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”’ ‘“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”’ ‘“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”’ ‘Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.’

Activity This one you can do today, or you can work on over the next however long you’d like. I’d like you to write a story. You’ve already written various bits over the last two terms; you might want to use those sections and then put it altogether. As we’ve seen, Tolkien found much inspiration in the tales from Norse mythology. He took elements from these sources and made them his own. If you take away one thing from our journey together, I’d like it to be this: these words, these stories, and anything you read, are now yours. They will make up part of the tapestry of your imagination – so use them! Some tips: The most memorable stories have moments of darkness and of light. If we can feel we know the characters, we’ll care about them more. And as with Gollum, you can create a sense of sympathy even for the ‘bad guys’. We did lots of world-building activities. The more details you know about the world you are creating, the more vivid a picture you can paint. Drawing before writing is a very useful activity! Feel free to give your narrator a distinct voice. Enjoy words! Play with vocabulary! Have fun! Your enjoyment really comes across in your writing! And, as you can imagine, I would love to read what you create!