The Knife and the Tree

The long trek to the Great Smials of Tuckborough has paid off. There are a few false starts: Gaerondil finds and rejects volumes on swine, show chickens, and split-rail fences, while Redandir, predictably, selects To Win a Lass, and Hermanniadoc goes for Fireside Tales of the Shire. But once again, it is Lirisseya whose unerring research skills find the right volume -- a book called The Green Thumb by Old Gardner Greenleaves contains a sketch of the very flower the Elves are researching! 

Approaching the inn whose sign Oxslip described, the Elves discover a bewildering variety of hobbits who are astounded to see them. Naturally, the hobbits are curious as to what these outlandish Big Folk might want, and talk turns quickly to the mysterious flower and keepers of herb-lore throughout the Shire.