So when the Dale-wardens who were down in the meadow heard the music
and beheld who were coming, they bade the companies of the Dale and
the Shepherds and the Woodlanders who were down there to pitch their
banners in a half circle about the ingle of the meadow which was made
by the streams of Wildlake and the Weltering Water, and gather to
them to be ordered there under their leaders of scores and half-
hundreds and hundreds; and even so they did. But the banners of the
Dale without the Burg were the Bridge, and the Bull, and the Vine,
and the Sickle. And the Shepherds had three banners, to wit
Greenbury, and the Fleece, and the Thorn.
As for the Woodlanders, they said that they were abiding their great
banner, but it should come in good time; 'and meantime,' said they,
'here are the war-tokens that we shall fight under; for they are good
enough banners for us poor men, the remnant of the valiant of time
past.' Therewith they showed two great spears, and athwart the one
was tied an arrow, its point dipped in blood, its feathers singed
with fire; and they said, 'This is the banner of the War-shaft.
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