Legolas was at the head of the line of elves as they approached Thranduil. The Elven King wore a crown of autumn leaves and berries to celebrate the bounty and harvest of the forest, and his robes were of the same autumnal colours of red, gold and green.
Legolas bowed to his father and held aloft the basket he carried. “Blessed be Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits!” he cried.
“Blessed be Yavanna!” came the response.
Legolas set the basket at Thranduil’s feet and stepped back. Apples, berries and nuts from trees and bushes, mushrooms gathered from shaded glades all spilled from the basket of woven reeds.
Thranduil waited as the gifts were laid before him – dark red wine from blackberry and elderberry, lighter whites fermented from apples and elderflowers, silks woven from spider thread, bread baked from wheat grown on the fringes of the forest. Children carried crude dolls woven from corn stalks.
As the last basket was placed before Thranduil, Legolas bowed again. “We present to you the fruits of the forest, my lord.”
“Blessed be Yavanna,” Thranduil replied. As his hand touched
Legolas’s shoulder, he smiled. “And you are the greatest gift of all,
my son” he whispered.