| Hobbit: �Who goes there?� (One of the Nazgul slashes his head off.) Frodo: �Take it Gandalf! Take it!� Gandalf: �No Frodo.� Frodo: �You must take it!� Gandalf: �You cannot offer me this ring.� Frodo: �I'm giving it to you!� Gandalf: �DON'T tempt me, Frodo! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo, I would use this ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.� Frodo: �But it cannot stay in the Shire!� Gandalf: �No! No it can't.� Frodo: �What must I do?� (Frodo starts to pack) Gandalf: �You must leave. And leave quickly.� Frodo: �Where? Where do I go?� Gandalf: �Get out of the Shire. Head for the village of Bree.� Frodo: �Bree... What about you?� Gandalf: �I'll be waiting for you, at the inn of the Prancing Pony.� Frodo: �And the ring will be safe there?� Gandalf: �I don't know, Frodo. I don't have any answers. I must see the head of my order. He is both wise, and powerful. Trust me, Frodo, he'll know what to do. You'll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you, for the name is not safe outside the Shire. Travel only by day, and stay off the road.� Frodo: �I can cut across country easily enough.� Gandalf: �My dear Frodo. Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.� (A noise is heard from under the window.) Gandalf: �Get down.� (Gandalf slowly moves towards the window, then points his staff out and gives a whack to Sam who is in the bushes, and then pulls him in, on to the table.) Sam: �Oof!� Gandalf: �Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee! Have you been evesdropping?� Sam: �I have been dropping no eaves, sir, honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you follow me.� Gandalf: �A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think?� Sam: �I heard raised voices.� Gandalf: �What did you hear? Speak!!� Sam: �N-nothing important. That is I heard a good deal about a ring, dark lord, and something about the end of the world, but, please Mr Gandalf, sir, please don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything�unnatural!� Gandalf: �No?... Perhaps not. I've thought of a better use for you.� (The next day. ) Gandalf: �Come along, Samwise, keep up. Be careful, both of you. The enemy has many spies in his service. Birds, beasts.� (Gandalf turns to Frodo) Gandalf: �Is it safe?� (Frodo puts his hand onto his pocket.) Gandalf: �Never put it on. For the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power. Always remember, Frodo. The ring is trying to get back to its master. It wants to be found.� (Gandalf rides off into the woods. Sam and Frodo set are walking in a field.) Sam: �This is it.� Frodo: �This is what?� Sam: �If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.� Frodo: �Come on, Sam.� (Sam takes the step) Frodo: �You remember what Bilbo used to say?� Bilbo�s voise: �It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step out onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.� (Scene switches to Gandalf, who rides off to Isengard, to meet with Saruman the White) Saruman: �Smoke rises from the mountain of Doom, and the hour grows late, and Gandalf the Grey rides to Isengard seeking my council. For that is why you have come, is it not? My old friend.� Gandalf: �Saruman.� (bows his head) Saruman: �You are sure of this?� Gandalf: �Beyond any doubt.� Saruman: �So the ring of power has been found.� Gandalf: �All these long years, it was in the Shire, under my very nose.� Saruman: !Yet you did not have the wits to see it. Your love of the Halflings' leaf has clearly slowed your mind.� Gandalf: �But we still have time. Time to counter Sauron if we act quickly.� Saruman: �Time? What time do you think we have?� (The wizards move to Sauron's chambers.) Saruman: �Sauron has regained much of his former strength. He cannot yet take physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency. Concealed within his fortress, the Lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf. A great eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.� Gandalf: �The Eye of Sauron.� Saruman: �He is gathering all evil to him. Very soon he will summon an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle Earth.� Gandalf: �You know all this? How?� Saruman: �I have seen it.� (Gandalf and Saruman walk to the Palanthir.) Gandalf: �A palantir is a dangerous tool, Saruman.� Saruman: �Why? Why should we fear to use it?� (Saruman takes the cover off palantir) Gandalf: �They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones. You do not know who else may be watching. (Puts the cover back onto the palantir and sees the Eye of Sauron) Saruman: �The hour is later than you think. Sauron's forces are already moving. The nine have left Minas Morgul.� Gandalf: �The nine.� Saruman: �They crossed the river Isen on Midsummer's eve, disguised as riders in black.� Gandalf: �They've reached the Shire?� Saruman: �They will find the ring, and kill the one that carries it.� Gandalf: �Frodo!� (Tryes to leave the room, but Saruman closes all the doors with his mind). |
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