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.Anyhow we are near the roots ofthe Last Mountain.Part of the name of this place might be Wellinghall, ifit were turned into your language.I like it.We will stay here tonight.' Heset them down on the grass between the aisles of the trees, and theyfollowed him towards the great arch.The hobbits now noticed that as hewalked his knees hardly bent, but his legs opened in a great stride.Heplanted his big toes (and they were indeed big, and very broad) on theground first, before any other part of his feet.For a moment Treebeard stood under the rain of the falling spring, andtook a deep breath; then he laughed, and passed inside.A great stone tablestood there, but no chairs.At the back of the bay it was already quitedark.Treebeard lifted two great vessels and stood them on the table.Theyseemed to be filled with water; but he held his hands over them, andimmediately they began to glow, one with a golden and the other with a richgreen light; and the blending of the two lights lit the bay; as if the sunof summer was shining through a roof of young leaves.Looking back, thehobbits saw that the trees in the court had also begun to glow, faintly atfirst, but steadily quickening, until every leaf was edged with light: somegreen, some gold, some red as copper; while the tree-trunks looked likepillars moulded out of luminous stone.'Well, well, now we can talk again,' said Treebeard.'You are thirsty Iexpect.Perhaps you are also tired.Drink this!' He went to the back of thebay, and then they saw that several tall stone jars stood there, with heavylids.He removed one of the lids, and dipped in a great ladle, and with itfilled three bowls, one very large bowl, and two smaller ones.'This is an ent-house,' he said, 'and there are no seats, I fear.Butyou may sit on the table.' Picking up the hobbits he set them on the greatstone slab, six feet above the ground, and there they sat dangling theirlegs, and drinking in sips. The drink was like water, indeed very like the taste of the draughtsthey had drunk from the Entwash near, the borders of the forest, and yetthere was some scent or savour in it which they could not describe: it wasfaint, but it reminded them of the smell of a distant wood borne from afarby a cool breeze at night.The effect of the draught began at the toes, androse steadily through every limb, bringing refreshment and vigour as itcoursed upwards, right to the tips of the hair.Indeed the hobbits felt thatthe hair on their heads was actually standing up, waving and curling andgrowing.As for Treebeard, he first laved his feet in the basin beyond thearch, and then he drained his bowl at one draught, one long, slow draught.The hobbits thought he would never stop.At last he set the bowl down again.'Ah -- ah,' he sighed.'Hm, hoom,now we can talk easier.You can sit on the floor, and I will lie down; thatwill prevent this drink from rising to my head and sending me to sleep.'On the right side of the bay there was a great bed on low legs; notmore than a couple of feet high, covered deep in dried grass and bracken.Treebeard lowered himself slowly on to this (with only the slightest sign ofbending at his middle), until he lay at full length, with his arms behindhis head, looking up at the ceiling.upon which lights were flickering, likethe play of leaves in the sunshine.Merry and Pippin sat beside him onpillows of grass.'Now tell me your tale, and do not hurry!' said Treebeard.The hobbits began to tell him the story of their adventures ever sincethey left Hobbiton.They followed no very clear order, for they interruptedone another continually, and Treebeard often stopped the speaker, and wentback to some earlier point, or jumped forward asking questions about laterevents.They said nothing whatever about the Ring, and did not tell him whythey set out or where they were going to; and he did not ask for anyreasons.He was immensely interested in everything: in the Black Riders, inElrond, and Rivendell, in the Old Forest, and Tom Bombadil, in the Mines ofMoria, and in Lothlurien and Galadriel.He made them describe the Shire andits country over and over again.He said an odd thing at this point.'Younever see any, hm, any Ents round there do you?' he asked.'Well, not Ents,Entwives I should really say.''Entwives?' said Pippin.'Are they like you at all?'Yes, hm, well no: I do not really know now, said Treebeard thoughtfully.'But they would like your country, so I just wondered.'Treebeard was however especially interested in everything thatconcerned Gandalf; and most interested of all in Saruman's doings.Thehobbits regretted very much that they knew so little about them: only arather vague report by Sam of what Gandalf had told the Council.But theywere clear at any rate that Ugl®k and his troop came from Isengard, andspoke of Saruman as their master.'Hm, hoom!' said Treebeard, when at last their story had wound andwandered down to the battle of the Orcs and the Riders of Rohan.'Well,well! That is a bundle of news and no mistake.You have not told me all, noindeed, not by a long way.But I do not doubt that you are doing as Gandalfwould wish.There is something very big going on, that I can see, and whatit is maybe I shall learn in good time, or in bad time.By root and twig,but it is a strange business: up sprout a little folk that are not in theold lists, and behold the Nine forgotten Riders reappear to hunt them, andGandalf takes them on a great journey, and Galadriel harbours them in CarasGaladhon, and Orcs pursue them down all the leagues of Wilderland: indeedthey seem to be caught up in a great storm.I hope they weather it!''And what about yourself?' asked Merry.'Hoom, hm, I have not troubled about the Great Wars,' said Treebeard;'they mostly concern Elves and Men.That is the business of Wizards: Wizardsare always troubled about the future.I do not like worrying about thefuture.I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogetheron my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care forthem, not even Elves nowadays.Still, I take more kindly to Elves than toothers: it was the Elves that cured us of dumbness long ago, and that was agreat gift that cannot be forgotten, though our ways have parted since.Andthere are some things, of course, whose side I am altogether not on; I amagainst them altogether: these -- burbrum' (he again made a deep rumble ofdisgust)' -- these Orcs, and their masters.'I used to be anxious when the shadow lay on Mirkwood, but when itremoved to Mordor, I did not trouble for a while: Mordor is a long way away.But it seems that the wind is setting East, and the withering of all woodsmay be drawing near.There is naught that an old Ent can do to hold backthat storm: he must weather it or crack.'But Saruman now! Saruman is a neighbour: I cannot overlook him.I mustdo something.I suppose.I have often wondered lately what I should do about Saruman.''Who is Saruman?' asked Pippin.'Do you know anything about hishistory?' 'Saruman is a Wizard,' answered Treebeard.'More than that Icannot say.I do not know the history of Wizards
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