we're your friends, frodo. we're horribly afraid, but we're coming with you or following you like hounds. well, there's a question for us. do we have a few friends following us like hounds? well, the bond of friendship between sam and frodo is one of the moral triumphs. to work -- triumphs of the work. do you remember when they're near the end of their quest, they're weak from thirst and exhaustion? they're nearly overwhelmed by the desolation of the landscape, right? the black skies, the noxious fumes, the ash and the burned stone and the smell of death. it is a scene not unlike what tolkien experienced at a battle of his own. frodo, weakened by the great burden of carrying the ring, begins to crawl on his hands. sam looked at him and wept in his heart, but no tears came to his dry and stinging eyes. i said i'd carry film if it broke my back, he said, and i will. come, mr. frodo, i can't carry it for you, but i can carry you. i suspect, ladies and gentlemen, only individuals who knew friendship of this kind, w