`You don't say much in all your tales about the Elves, sir,' said Sam, suddenly plucking up courage...

He had noted that Faramir seemed to refer to Elves with reverence, and this even more than his courtesy, and his food and wine, had won Sam's respect and quieted his suspicions.
`No indeed, Master Samwise,' said Faramir, `for I am not learned in Elven-lore. But there you touch upon another point in which we have changed, declining from N�menor to Middle-earth. For as you may know, if Mithrandir was your companion and you have spoken with Elrond, the Edain, the Fathers of the N�menoreans, fought beside the Elves in the first wars, and were rewarded by the gift of the kingdom in the midst of the Sea, within sight of Elvenhome. But in Middle-earth Men and Elves became estranged in the days of darkness, by the arts of the Enemy, and by the slow changes of time in which each kind walked further down their sundered roads. Men now fear and misdoubt the Elves, and yet know little of them. And we of Gondor grow like other Men, like the men of Rohan; for even they, who are the foes of the Dark Lord, shun the Elves and speak of the Golden Wood with dread.
`Yet there are among us still some who have dealings with the Elves when they may, and ever and anon one will go in secret to L�rien, seldom to return. Not I. For I deem it perilous now for mortal man wilfully to seek out the Elder People. Yet I envy you that have spoken with the White Lady.'
`The Lady of L�rien! Galadriel!' cried Sam. `You should see her indeed you should, sir. I am only a hobbit, and gardening's my job at home, sir, if you understand me, and I'm not much good at poetry � not at making it: a bit of a comic rhyme, perhaps. now and again, you know, but not real poetry � so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to be sung. You'd have to get Strider, Aragorn that is, or old Mr. Bilbo, for that. But I wish I could make a song about her. Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime. But that's a lot o' nonsense, and all wide of my mark.'
'Then she must be lovely indeed,' said Faramir. `Perilously fair.'
`I don't know about _perilous_,' said Sam. `It strikes me that folk takes their peril with them into L�rien, and finds it there because they've brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock; or drownd yourself, like a hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame. Now Boro � ' He stopped and went red in the face.
`Yes? _Now Boromir_you would say? ' said Faramir. `What would you say? He took his peril with him? '
`Yes sir, begging your pardon, and a fine man as your brother was if I may say so. But you've been warm on the scent all along. Now I watched Boromir and listened to him, from Rivendell all down the road � looking after my master, as you'll understand, and not meaning any harm to Boromir � and it's my opinion that in L�rien he first saw clearly what I guessed sooner: what he wanted. From the moment he first saw it he wanted the Enemy's Ring! '
`Sam! ' cried Frodo aghast. He had fallen deep into his own thoughts for a while, and came out of them suddenly and too late.
'Save me! ' said Sam turning white, and then flushing scarlet. `There I go again! _When ever you open your big mouth you put your foot in it the Gaffer used to say to me_, and right enough. O dear, O dear!
`Now look here, sir! ' He turned, facing up to Faramir with all the courage that he could muster. `Don't you go taking advantage of my master because his servant's no better than a fool. You've spoken very handsome all along, put me off my guard, talking of Elves and all. But _handsome is as handsome does_ we say. Now's a chance to show your quality.'
'So it seems,' said Faramir, slowly and very softly, with a strange smile. `So that is the answer to all the riddles! The One Ring that was thought to have perished from the world. And Boromir tried to take it by force? And you escaped? And ran all the way � to me! And here in the wild I have you: two halflings, and a host of men at my call, and the Ring of Rings. A pretty stroke of fortune! A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality! Ha!' He stood up, very tall and stern, his grey eyes glinting.