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"The Scouring of the Shire" is the penultimate chapter of the epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and the eighteenth chapter of ''The Return of the King''. The hobbits, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, return home to the Shire to find that it has been despoiled and corrupted by ruffians and their leader, the wizard Saruman, now known as Sharkey. It is notable for being left out in all film adaptations of the novel to date, thus giving the films a rather simple happy ending. The author denied that the chapter was an allegory of the state of Britain during the aftermath of World War II. The chapter had been planned from the beginning and, instead, Tolkien drew on his childhood at the end of the 19th century: ==Chapter summary== Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin come to the Brandywine Bridge, which is barred at both ends, late at night. They are taken in, after some convincing, by the group of hobbits who are supposed to be guarding the bridge. After setting off for Hobbiton the next morning the four hobbits are met by Shiriffs at Frogmorton and placed under 'arrest' for breaking a number of rules the night before. Unable to keep up with the hobbits on ponies, the sheriffs give up and allow them to continue. Reaching the village of Bywater, the hobbits are confronted by a group of ruffians who are quickly scared away by the sword-wielding Pippin, Merry, and Sam, after their leader insults Frodo. (Pippin and Merry, having partaken of Treebeard's Ent-draught, have grown by inches, and indeed are now the tallest hobbits ever seen in the Shire.) The hobbits decide to 'raise the Shire'; Sam recruits Tom Cotton and his sons who rouse the village of Bywater; after some discussion, Pippin rides off to Tookland to rally his kin. Soon after Pippin's departure a gang of twenty ruffians from Hobbiton try to take Farmer Cotton prisoner but, after the leader of the gang is shot dead, the other ruffians quickly surrender and are locked away under guard. The next morning the hobbits at Bywater learn that Thain Paladin II has raised Tookland and is pursuing ruffians that have fled south, and that Pippin will be returning with all the hobbits his father could spare. The hobbits also learn that a much larger group of ruffians is heading towards them; fortunately, Pippin returns in time with one hundred Tooks at his back. Merry and Pippin lead the Battle of Bywater, the last battle in the War of the Ring, and the only battle in the Shire since the Battle of Greenfields. The hobbits learn that the true "Chief" is not Lotho Sackville-Baggins as expected, but rather the wizard Saruman, now known as Sharkey, who has taken up residence at Frodo's former home, Bag End, along with his servant Wormtongue. Though the hobbits allow the pair to leave the Shire unharmed, Frodo offers Wormtongue the opportunity to stay. However, Saruman reveals Wormtongue killed Lotho, causing Wormtongue to cut Saruman's throat; Wormtongue is in turn killed by the hobbits, who shoot him with arrows. A column of mist arises from Saruman's corpse and is blown away in the wind, a scene reminiscent of Sauron's demise. Frodo covers the suddenly shrivelled skull of Saruman and turns away. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Scouring of the Shire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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