Stories > Dreamlord's page > A Wizard at Work
The Gardens of Lorien are a place of eternal
tranquillity. However, as
I
was tending the many-coloured flowers and enjoying the delicate music
of the purling streams and the rustling
leaves not long ago - the chords of nature were suddenly joined by a
mysterious
noise...
A fizz?
A sputter?
And now a series of distant explosions!
It had been very long - even by my reckoning - since
such an
unexplained
disturbance entered
the lands of Dreams. Following these noises, along ancient paths now
seldom
travelled by,
I came to a small and distant lake on the edge of my realm.
What I saw first was a magnificent display of
strange lights and
colours:
of fire and splendour.
Below was a crouching figure clad in robes of white in concentration so
deep that even my approach went
unnoticed. Not until I clad myself in the raiment of Arda to appear
before
his
eyes and spoke words of mild regret at this commotion, did he pause in
his experiments.
"Thy skills grow ever more diverse, Olorin.
But for these colourful
experiments
I have not given thee leave nor hast thou sought it... Why, pray, dost
thou practice these hidden
arts?"
I did not speak in anger as much as
in wonder...
"Nay, Lord", he said, stroking his long beard
thoughtfully. "In this
have
I neglected to confer with thee. I regret
that my art hath utterly consumed me, indeed barring all else from my
thought.…
For I have laboured hard to
prepare a spectacle worthy of something very special." His dark eyes
glittered
beneath the bushy eyebrows. "It
has come to my attention that on this very eve the Valar Guild - who
have
done us much service over the years
- will celebrate yet another anniversary. I put all else aside to
meet this time limit, yea even my experiments
with pipe-weed in the pastures which thou hast provided!"
As you can imagine this put things in an entirely
new perspective. For
an occasion such as this, it was my
bidding that nightingales and babbling brooks endure this noise and
those
in need of rest and tranquillity must
await the completion of Olorin's crucial task.
So, my friends - please stand back and watch. And
listen. Listen to the
words of one who envisioned this, saw
it with his mind’s eye and put it to paper where it shall sparkle till
the end of time:…
"The fireworks
were by Gandalf; they were not only brought by him but
designed
and made by him; and the
special effects, set pieces, and
flights of rockets were let off by
him.
But there was also a generous distribution
of squibs, crackers,
backarappers, sparklers,
torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains,
goblin-barkers
and thunder-claps. They were
all superb.
The art of Gandalf improved
with age.
There were rockets like a flight
of scintillating birds singing with sweet
voices.
There were green trees with
trunks of dark smoke: their leaves opened like
a whole spring unfolding in a
moment, and their shining
branches dropped glowing flowers down upon
the
astonished members,
disappearing with a sweet
scent just before they
touched their upturned faces.
There were fountains of
butterflies that flew glittering into the
trees;
there were pillars of coloured fires that rose
and turned into eagles, or
sailing ships, or a phalanx of flying swans;
there was a red thunderstorm and a shower of yellow rain; there was a forest
of silver spears that sprang
suddenly into the air with a yell like an
embattled army, and came down
again into the Water with a hiss like a
hundred
hot snakes."
(- Italicized quote slightly modified from Fellowship of the Ring, "A
Long-Expected Party". )