How gently men are schooled in war, Faramir thought as he raised the longbow.
First, he had shot blunt arrows with a child's toy of willow. Then, bearing a deadlier bow, he learned to hunt rabbit and deer. Though he pitied the unlucky beasts, a soldier must know how to fare in the wild. Later, he helped shoot the wolves that prowled the timid flocks, and surely this was not wrong.
Now he drew back the arrow, aiming the point of steel at a
soldier. How gently men are schooled in war, so gently that
they see not the lesson.