The Influence of William Morris

[littlemanpoet]

The main characters stop in at a little house on "the rise of the hill" with "little windows [...] already yellow with candlelight". They find themselves in a "very pretty room, panelled and carved [...] the chief ornament of which was a young woman, light-haired" her movements "as beautiful as a picture" They have a night of good sleep in the house for "there were no rough noises"

On the morning after restful sleep, one of the guests remarks "we have come to a fairy garden, and there is the very fairy herself amidst of it" The woman's grumpy grandfather is compared to a "gnome or wood-spirit".

Goldberry and Bombadil? The author of the article to which I am indebted, thinks that in Tolkien's description of Bombadil we have an affectionate portrayal of Morris himself.