Also as I led
thee out of the house when we last met, so shall I lead thee out of
the Dale to-day, and I will go with thee a little way on the waste;
and therefore am I shod this morning, as thou seest, for the ways on
the waste are rough. And now I bid thee have courage while my hand
holdeth thine. For afterwards I need not bid thee anything; for thou
wilt have enough to do when thou comest to thy Folk, and must needs
think more of warriors then than of maidens.'
He looked at her and longed for her, but said soberly: 'Thou art
kind, O friend, and thinkest kindly of me ever. But methinks it were
not well done for thee to wend with me over a deal of the waste, and
come back by thyself alone, when ye have so many foemen nearby.'
'Nay,' she said, 'they be nought so near as that yet, and I wot that
Folk-might hath gone forth toward the north-west, where he looketh to
fall in with a company of the foemen. His battle shall be a guard
unto us.'
'I pray thee turn back at the top of the outgate,' said he, 'and be
not venturesome. Thou wottest that the pitcher is not broken the
first time it goeth to the well, nor maybe the twentieth, but at last
it cometh not back.
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