By the living God The man is right! I must be dumb.
Now turn we Back to our rings again.--I said, the sons Made their complaints: each one before the Judge Made oath that from his father’s very hand He had the Ring--and so in truth he had-- After his father’s promise, long before, That one day he should own the Ring and all Its rights--and this no less was true. The father, Each one averr’d, could ne’er have played him false. Rather than credit this--rather than nurse Against so loved a father, such a thought, How fain soever he had been to think Nothing but good of them, he must believe His brothers guilty of foul treachery. But surely one day he would find a way To unmask the villains--he would be avenged!
And now, the Judge? I am intent to hear What thou wilt put into his mouth. Speak on!
On this wise spake the Judge: “Either ye bring Right soon your father here before me, else I spurn you from my seat. What! think ye I Am here to answer riddles? Or do ye wait Until the true Ring find a tongue and speak? Yet stay! ’Tis said that in the true Ring lives A magic gift, to make the owner loved-- Well-pleasing before God and man. So good, This shall decide the cause; for never, surely, In this the false can emulate the true. Which of the three of ye is best beloved By the other twain? Marry, speak out! Ye are dumb! Mysterious power, that only backward works, Not outward from within! Lo, each of you Loves best of all--himself! So are ye all Deceived, and all deceivers. All your rings Are manifestly false. Belike the true Was irrecoverably lost; and so Your father, to conceal the loss, made three In place of one.”
“And so,” the Judge continued, “if ye now Are bent on Law, on that alone, and counsel Such as I can, will none--I bid you hence. But, if I counselled you, my rede were this: Take ye the matter simply as it lies. Each from your father had his ring--let each Be well persuaded that the ring he holds Is the true Ring. It may be that your father Was minded to maintain the tyranny Of the one Ring no longer. And ’tis certain He loved you all, and loved you each alike. Would not have one exalted, one oppressed. Mark that! and be it yours to emulate His great impartial love. Strive, each of you, To show the Ring’s benignant might his own; Yea, help the mystic power to do its kind, With gentleness, with loving courtesy, Beneficence to man, and unto God The deep devotion of the inmost soul. And when, full many a generation hence, Within your children’s children’s children’s hearts The mystery of the Ring is manifest, Lo! in a thousand thousand years, again Before this judgment-seat I summon you, Where one more wise than I shall sit and speak. Now go your ways.” So spake the modest Judge.