Wruxled in White by Lindariel

Wruxled in White

This recently discovered poem fragment in the Anglo-Saxon alliterative style may have formed part of a longer work, now lost, about the Istari at the end of the Third Age.

Once-grey waistcoat,     now walnut stained,
warms though winter     wallops the wild.
Watching world with     waggle of beard,
whiskered as walrus,     his wain he steers
through water's walm     at wane of night.
Wants not for a wick     white smoke to taste.
Heavy of haft,     whole shells agleam,
wampum¹ wields he,     waiting for chance
to wallop if wasp     should wander near.
Gandalf Greyhame,     gangly booted
warlock, wandreth     wruxled in white.²

¹  Some have tentatively identified this hapax legomena as Early Primitive Elvish, a combination of njwamat (community, eating collectively) and pumu (a bubble or other hollow space). They have not, however, explained why one would use a dining room to swat a wasp. Others are content to assume it is simply an unusual weapon, decorated with shells and possibly flexible like a flyswatter.

²  Burrow, Morris, Gordon, and Tolkien all differ on the actual meaning of wruxled. Indeed, Tolkien himself posited different definitions over the years. This particular use by the Professor, however, seems to align with his own last-published interpretation of the word by referring to Olórin Redux as "transformed into white."

Chapter End Notes

The word "wruxled" appears in two 14th century poems, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Cleanness" (aka "Purity").  There is academic disagreement about what it meant.  Being a Tolkien geek, I went with his opinion.