He's also been known to use 'fell' in the sense of a pelt or hide, as in
Bombadil Goes Boating ("'I'll give your otter-fell to Barrow-wights. They'll taw you!'") and in the
Lay of Leithian, where he wrote:
Quote:
His dreadful counsel then they took,
and their own gracious forms forsook;
in werewolf fell and batlike wing
prepared to robe them, shuddering.
|
The first quotation raises another question: what does 'taw' mean? My Concise Oxford has "Make (hide) into leather without use of tannin, esp. by soaking in solution of alum and salt." A dire threat indeed!