joy and content. and aragorn gave to faramir ithilien to be his princedom, and bade him dwell in the hills of emyn arnen within sight of the city.

'for,' said he, 'minas ithil in morgul vale shall be utterly destroyed, and though it may in time to come be made clean, no man may dwell there for many long years.'

and last of all aragorn greeted eomer of rohan, and they embraced, and aragorn said: 'between us there can be no word of giving or taking, nor of reward; for we are brethren. in happy hour did eorl ride from the north, and never has any league of peoples been more blessed, so that neither has ever failed the other, nor shall fail. now, as you know, we have laid theoden the renowned in a tomb in the hallows, and there he shall lie for ever among the kings of gondor, if you will. or if you desire it, we will come to rohan and bring him back to rest with his own people.'

and eomer answered: 'since the day when you rose before me out of the green grass of the downs i have loved you, and that love shall not fail. but now i must depart for a while to my own realm, where there is much to heal and set in order. but as for the fallen, when all is made ready we will return for him; but here let him sleep a while.'

and eowyn said to faramir: 'now i must go back to my own land and look on it once again, and help my brother in his labour; but when one whom i long loved as father is laid at last to rest, i will return.'

so the glad days passed; and on the eighth day of may the riders of rohan made ready, and rode off by the north-way, and with them went the sons of elrond. all the road was lined with people to do them honour and praise them, from the gate of the city to the walls of the pelennor. then all others that dwelt afar went back to their homes rejoicing; but in the city there was labour of many willing hands to rebuild and renew and to remove all the scars of war and the memory of the darkness.

the hobbits still remained in minas tirith, with legolas and gimli; for aragorn was loth for the fellowship to be dissolved. 'at last all such things must end,' he said, 'but i would have you wait a little while longer: for the end of the deeds that you have shared in has not yet come. a day draws near that i have looked for in all the years of my manhood, and when it comes i would have my friends beside me.' but of that day he would say no more.

in those days the companions of the ring dwelt together in a fair house with gandalf, and they went to and fro as they wished. and frodo said to gandalf: 'do you know what this day is that aragorn speaks of? for we are happy here, and i don't wish to go; but the days are running away, and bilbo is waiting; and the shire is my home.'

'as for bilbo,' said gandalf, 'he is waiting for the same day, and he knows what keeps you. and as for the passing of the days, it is now only may and high summer is not yet in; and though all things may seem changed, as if an age of the world had gone by, yet to the trees and the grass it is less than a year since you set out.'

'pippin,' said frodo, 'didn't you say that gandalf was less close than of old? he was weary of his labours then, i think. now he is recovering.'

and gandalf said: 'many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder. and aragorn himself waits for a sign.'

there came a day when gandalf could not be found, and the companions wondered what was going forward. but gandalf took aragorn out from the city by night, and he brought him to the southern feet of mount mindolluin; and there they found a path made in ages past that few now dared to tread. for it led up on to the mountain to a high hallow where only the kings had been wont to go. and they went up by steep ways, until they came to a high field below the snows that clad the lofty peaks, and it looked down over the precipice that stood behind the city. and standing there they surveyed the lands, for the morning was come; and they saw the towers of the city far below them like white pencils touched by the sunlight, and all the vale of anduin was like a garden, and the mountains of shadow were veiled in a golden mist. upon the one side their sight reached to the grey emyn muil, and the glint of rauros was like a star twinkling far off; and upon the other side they saw the river like a ribbon laid down to pelargir, and beyond that was a light on the hem of the sky that spoke of the sea.

and gandalf said: 'this is your realm, and the heart of the greater realm that shall be. the third age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved. for though much has been saved, much must now pass away; and the power of the three rings also is ended. and all the lands that you see, and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of men. for the time comes of the dominion of men, and the elder kindred shall fade or depart.'

'i know it well, dear friend,' said aragorn, 'but i would still have your counsel.'

'not for long now,' said gandalf. 'the third age was my age. i was the enemy of sauron; and my work is finished. i shall go soon. the burden must lie now upon you and your kindred.'

'but i shall die,' said aragorn. 'for i am a mortal man, and though being what i am and of the race of the west unmingled, i shall have life far longer than other men, yet that is but a little while; and when those who are now in the wombs of women are born and have grown old, i too shall grow old. and who then shall govern gondor and those who look to this city as to their queen, if my desire be not granted? the tree in the court of the fountain is still withered and barren. when shall i see a sign that it will ever be otherwise?'

'turn your face from the green world, and look where all seems barren and cold!' said gandalf.

then aragorn turned, and there was a stony slope behind him running down from the skirts of the snow; and as he looked he was aware that alone there in the waste a growing thing stood. and he climbed to it, and saw that out of the very edge of the snow there sprang a sapling tree no more than three foot high. already it had put forth young leaves long and shapely, dark above and silver beneath, and upon its slender crown it bore one small cluster of flowers whose white petals shone like the sunlit snow.

then aragorn cried: 'ye! utuvienyes! i have found it! lo! here is a scion of the eldest of trees! but how comes it here? for it is not itself yet seven years old.'

and gandalf coming looked at it, and said: 'verily this is a sapling of the line of nimloth the fair; and that was a seedling of galathilion, and that a fruit of telperion of many names, eldest of trees. who shall say how it comes here in the appointed hour? but this is an ancient hallow, and ere the kings failed or the tree withered in the court, a fruit must have been set here. for it is said that, though the fruit of the tree comes seldom to ripeness, yet the life within may then lie sleeping through many long years, and none can foretell the time in which it will awake. remember this. for if ever a fruit ripens, it should be planted, lest the line die out of the world. here it has lain, hidden on the mountain, even as the race of elendil lay hidden in the wastes of the north. yet the line of nimloth is older far than your line, king elessar.'

then aragorn laid his hand gently to the sapling, and lo! it seemed to hold only lightly to the earth, and it was removed without hurt; and aragorn bore it back to the citadel. then the withered tree was uprooted, but with reverence; and they did not burn it, but laid it to rest in the silence of rath dinen. and aragorn planted the new tree in the court by the fountain, and swiftly and gladly it began to grow; and when the month of june entered in it was laden with blossom.

'the sign has been given,' said aragorn, 'and the day is not far off.' and he set watchmen upon the walls.

it was the day before midsummer when messengers came from amon din to the city, and they said that there was a riding of fair folk out of the north, and they drew near now to the walls of the pelennor. and the king said: 'at last they have come. let all the city be made ready!'

upon the very eve of midsummer, when the sky was blue as sapphire and white stars opened in the east, but the west was still golden and the air was cool and fragrant, the riders came down the north-way to the gates of minas tirith. first rode elrohir and elladan with a banner of silver, and then came glorfindel and erestor and all the household of rivendell, and after them came the lady galadriel and celeborn, lord of lothlorien, riding upon white steeds and with them many fair folk of their land, grey-cloaked with white gems in their hair; and last came master elrond, mighty among elves and men, bearing the sceptre of annuminas, and beside him upon a grey palfrey rode arwen his daughter, evenstar of her people.

and frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on her brow and a sweet fragrance about her, was moved with great wonder, and he said to gandalf: 'at last i understand why we have waited! this is the ending. now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!'

then the king welcomed his guests, and they alighted; and elrond surrendered the sceptre, and laid the hand of his daughter in the hand of the king, and together they went up into the high city, and all the stars flowered in the sky. and aragorn the king elessar wedded arwen undomiel in the city of the kings upon the day of midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment.