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So, thought Frodo. There was some mechanism of revealing the magic of the
ring. What might it be? Putting it on? He had tried that already. Certainly
that had been most interesting, but he was led to believe that it was something
further. He turned to Gandalf.
“Gandalf, can you tell me the means of activating the magic of this ring?”
Gandalf nodded, his thick beard shaking.
“What is it then?,” asked Frodo.
Gandalf was silent.
“Can you speak?”, he tried.
Gandalf shook his head.
Ah! His thick beard was acting as a gag! It was dangerous to be an old man indeed!
Well, then, he would have to approach the puzzle from a different direction.
“Can you answer me yes and no by nodding and shaking your head?”
Nod, nod.
Now he was getting somewhere!
“Is the magic of the ring activated by something I say?”
A shake.
“Something I do?”
The wizard nodded enthusiastically.
“Does it require me to interact with some other item?”
Nod.
“Something I have on me?”
A shake.
“Something in my house?”
Nod, nod.
Progress! But what could it be? His table? His larder? Somehow that didn’t seem
right. The ring of power had been forged in the fires of Mount Doom. Perhaps
it retained some affinity with - of course!
“Gandalf, do I need to use fire?”
A happy, energetic nod. He had the answer! Frodo turned and cast the ring into
his fireplace.
Slowly, strange symbols appeared around the ring. A phrase, previously dormant,
was being revealed by the action of the heat. Potent magic indeed!