Re: Tom Bombadil

On 20 Oct 2024 13:50:30 GMT, Stephan Seitz <stse+usenet@rootsland.net>
wrote:

Hello!
>
I have some questions about Tom Bombadil.
>
After reading the LotR I would say the following:
>
- the hobbits don't know Tom;

The ones we encounter may not, but there are more Hobbits in the world
than just those.

- Tom doesn't cross his own borders, not even for free ale;

Only if the Barrows are inside his borders -- and didn't Tom wave
goodbye (as it were) before those were reached precisely because they
are not inside his borders? And yet, he rescues them from the Wights.

- Tom knows and meets Farmer Maggot (probably in the Old Forrest if
 Buckland or the Marish aren't part of Tom's country), maybe he does
 business with him; after all Tom has bread and butter but no cows or
 corn fields;
>
So far, so good. But after finally getting my hands at the new version
of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", things aren't so clear anymore.
>
- the Buckland hobbits know Tom, the poems about Tom were written by
 them;
- Tom Bombadil is a bucklandish name given to this strange woodman by
 the Buckland hobbits;
- Tom visits the hobbits (including Farmer Maggot) from time to time
 and likes to drink ale ;-)

The old version, IIRC, is much the same. But it has been quite some
time since I read it.

I suppose it depends, in part, on /when/ the poems were written by the
Hobbits in relation to the events in /LOTR/.

So what now? If the mysterious woodman Tom Bombadil is so known to the
hobbits that they have givven him this name and are making poems about
him, why don't Merry and Frodo remember at least his name?
>
Can Tom cross his borders to visit friends? Or are Buckland and the
Marish part of his country? After all nothing is really said about the
borders.

I think it is more a matter of not wanting to do so than not being
able to do so.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"