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Chapter 1.
The great peak of Mount Doom, which lifts its rocky
slopes above the hot, barren deserts of the land of
Mordor, has seldom been seen by ordinary men. Those
who do work in its shadow do so not by chice, and they
labor long in the service of the Dark Lord Sauron. But
of those who have been to Mount Doom, there is one Hobbit
of some note, who went by the name of Frodo Baggins.
He lived late in the Third Age, and was widely known
for his great deeds during the scouring of the Shire.
But this is a story from an earlier time, before his
days of glory.
Frodo was born across the water. He remembered his true
parents only as warmth and love, for they both drowned
shortly after his birth. Afterwards, his childhood seemed
destined to be one of pain and loneliness until he was
adopted by his uncle Bilbo, who brought young Frodo
home past the brown picket fence and through the little
round green wooden door at the front of his hole. There,
Frodo grew up, watching as Bilbo received visitors from
elsewhere in MiddleEarth, dwarves, elves, and occasionally
the great wizard Gandalf, who had long robes, a brown
pointy hat, and a tall staff.
When Frodo was thirty-three years old, Bilbo left. Before
he departed, he made Frodo master of the house and left
him a small, golden ring. “I must be leaving now,” Bilbo
said, “I want to be on the road. I want to see mountains
again. You are but a young man now, Frodo, so I don’t
think that you can understand, but I must go.” So saying,
Bilbo strode out the door and down the road, and he
never returned to Hobbiton again.
Chapter 2.
Some years later, Frodo happened to be working in the
yard, when he glanced up and noticed a horseman riding
by. This figure’s horse was entirely black, and he wore
a long, black cloak and had only a dark sheet where
his face should have been. After the rider had gone,
Frodo turned to his gardener, Sam. He said, “This is
all strange and incorrect. Horsemen should have faces.
Sam, I think it’s time that we found out where that
ring my uncle gave me actually comes from.”