“Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before. He had a strange feeling as the slow gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front.”

J.R.R. Tolkien was an English philologist and writer of the early-to-mid 20th century. He crafted the sprawling fantasy world of Middle-earth, immortalized in *The Hobbit* and *The Lord of the Rings*. His work blends deep linguistic scholarship with rich mythic storytelling.