The voice is right, and your face is no worse than it was, Sam. Also true for Alan and Shawn. Join The Man of the West and The Lord of the Mark as our hobbit heroes are just what the Shire needs in the third of our five episodes on The Scouring of the Shire. Sam gets a bit tongue-tied; Farmer Exposition, uh Cotton, acts as bait; and the big ruffian makes a fatal mistake. We watch Sam adore Rosie (it’s not the ribbons in her hair), conclude that the ruffians haven’t read the Prologue, and learn how the Gaffer has been getting along. Also, we have no truck with Lotho.
Recommended Reading
The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Silmarillion
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Carpenter, Humphrey ed. (William Morrow, paperback)
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion
Scull, Christina & Wayne Hammond (William Morrow, hardcover)
Tolkien wrote in the unpublished epilogue when Rosie felt that Sam is going to return: “All the children were in bed. Lights were glimmering still in Hobbiton and in many houses dotted about the darkening countryside. Sam stood at the door and looked away eastward. He drew Mistress Rose to him and held her close to his side. ‘March 18th,’ he said. ‘This time seventeen years ago, Rose wife, I did not think I should ever see thee again. But I kept on hoping.’
[‘And I never hoped at all, Sam,’ she said, ‘until that very day; and then suddenly I did. In the middle of the morning I began singing, and father said “Quiet lass, or the Ruffians will come,” and I said “Let them come. Their time will soon be over. My Sam’s coming back.” And he came.’] {this insertion, brackets and all, is part of the original manuscript}
‘And you came back,’ said Rose.
‘I did,’ said Sam; ‘to the most belovedest place in all the world. I was torn in two then, lass, but now I am all whole. And all that I have, and all that I have had I still have.’
They went in and shut the door. But even as he did so Sam heard suddenly the sigh and murmur of the sea on the shores of Middle-earth.”