No-legs lay on One-leg, Two-legs
sat near Three-legs, Four-legs
got someAnswer: fish on a little table,
man sitting on a stool,
and cat has the bones
what have I got in my pocket? :-)
Gollum
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?Answer: mountains
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless it flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.Answer: wind
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt
cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes, it fills.
It comes first and follows after
Ends life, kills laughterAnswer: dark
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsting, never drinking,
All in mail, never clinkingAnswer: fish
This thing all things devour:
Birds, beasts, trees and flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stone to meal;
Slays kings, ruins town
And beats high mountains downAnswer: time
Fifteen birds in five fir trees,
Their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
But, funny little birds, they had no wings!
O what shall we do with the funny little things?
Roast'em alive, or stew them in a pot;
Fry them, boil them and eat them hot?
Burn, burn tree and fern!
Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch
To light the night for our delight,
Ya hey!
Bake and toast'em, fry and roast'em!
Till beards blaze, and eyes glaze;
Till hair smells and skins crack,
fat melts and bones black
in cinders lie
beneath the sky!
So dwarves shall die,
and light the night for our delight,
Ya hey!
Ya-harri-hey!
Ya hey!
The wind was on the withered heath,
but in the forest stirred no leaf:
there shadows lay by night and day,
and dark things silent crept beneath.
The wind came down from mountains cold,
and like a tide it roared and rolled;
the braches groaned, the forest moaned,
and leaves were laid upon the mould.
The wind went on from West to East;
all movement in the forest ceased,
but shrill and harsh across the marsh
its whisling voices were released.
The grasses hissed, their tassles bent,
the reeds were rattling- on it went
o'er shaken pool under heavens cool
where raing clouds were torn and rent.
It passed the lonely Mountain bare
and swept above the dragon's lair:
there black and dark lay boulders stark
and flying smoke was in the air.
It left the world and took its flight
over the wide seas of the night.
The moon set sail upon the gale
and stars were fanned to heaping light.
Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
Old fat spider can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
won't we stop,
Stop your spinning and look for me?
Old Tomnoddy, all big body,
Old Tomnoddy can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Down you drop!
You'll never catch me up your tree!
Lazy Lob and crazy Cob
are weaving webs to wind me.
I am far more sweet than other meat,
but still they cannot find me!
There am I, naughty little fly;
you are fat and lazy.
You cannot trap me, though you try,
in you cobwebs crazy.
Down the swift dark stream you go
Back to lands you once did know!
Leave the halls and cavern's deep,
Leave the northern mountains steep,
Where forest wide and dim
Stoops in shadow grey and grim!
Float beyond the world of trees
Out into the whispering breeze,
Past the rushes, past the reeds
Past the marsh's waving weeds
Through the mist that riseth white
Up from mere and pool at night!
Follow, follow stars that leap
Up the heavens cold and steep;
Turn when dawn comes over land,
Over rapid, over sand,
South away! and South away!
Seek the sunlight and the day,
Back to pasture, back to mead,
Where the kine and oxen feed!
Back to gardens on the hills
Where the berry swells and fills
Under sunlight, under day!
South away! and South away!
Down the swift dark you go
Back to lands you once did know!
The King beneath the mountains,
The king of carven stone,
the Lord of silver fountains
Shall come unto his own!
His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be re-strung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.
The woods shall wave on mountains
And grass shall shine and burn,
All sorrow fail and saddness
At the Mountain-King's return!
Under the Mountain dark and tall
The King has come into his hall!
His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread,
And ever so his foes shall fall.
The sword is sharp, the spear is long,
The arrow swift, the Gate is strong;
the heart is bold that looks on gold;
The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong.
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.
On silver necklaces they strung
the light of stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, from twisted wire
the melody of harps they wrung.
The mountain throne once more is freed!
O! wandering folk, the summons heed!
Come haste! come haste! across the waste!
the king of friend and kin has need.
Now call we over mountains cold,
'Come back unto the caverns old!
There at the Gates the King awaits,
His hands are rich with gems and gold.
The King is come unto his hall
Under the Mountain dark and tall
The Worm of Dread is slain and dead,
And ever so our foes shall fall!
The dragon is withered
His bones are now crumbled;
His armour is shivered,
His splendour is humbled!
Though sword shall be rusted,
And throne and crown perish
With strength that men trusted
And wealth that they cherish,
Here grass is still growing,
And the leaves are yet swinging
the white water flowing,
And elves are yet singing
Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
Come back to the valley!
The stars are far brighter
Their gems without measure,
The moon is far whiter
Than silver in treasure:
The fire is more shining
On hearth in the gloaming,
The gold won by mining,
So why go a-roaming?
O! Tra-la-la-lally
Come back to the valley.
O! where are you going,
So late in returning?
The river is flowing,
The stars are all burning!
O! whither so laden
So sad and so dreary?
Here elf and elf-maiden
Now welcome the weary
With tra-la-la-lally
Come back to the valley,
Tra-la-la-lally
Fa-la-la-lally
Fa-la!
Sing all ye joyful, now sing all together!
The wind's in the tree-top, the wind's in the heather,
The stars are in blossom, the moon is in flower,
And bright are the windows of Night in her fewer.
Dance all ye joyful, now dance all together!
Soft is the grass, and let foot be like feather!
The river is silver, the shadows are fleeting;
Merry is May-time, and merry our meeting.
Sing we now softly, and dreams let us weave him!
Wind him in slumber and their let us leave him!
The wanderer sleepeth. Now soft be his pillow!
Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow!
Sigh no more Pine, till the wind of the morn!
Fall Moon! Dark be the land!
Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash and Thorn!
Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!
Roads go ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
by streams that never find the sea:
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home a far.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hill they long have known.
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