Book 1, Chapter 6 Summary

Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin leave early in the morning and look for the gate in the hedge that protects Buckland from the Old Forest. Finally finding it, they lead their ponies through the gate and into the trees.

As they walk, Merry explains that the Forest is very alive and very aware of what people are doing in it: The trees will try to drop branches on people's heads and trip them with roots. In fact, the trees even move and change the paths that run through them. Merry also relates the story of how the Forest tried to climb over the hedge into Buckland, but the Bucklanders chopped down several of the trees and built a huge bonfire with the wood in order to ward off the Forest. Since then, as Merry says, the Forest has been angry.

After...