Letter to Tom Bombadil

[page 2] Article on Runes As I Said before, Runes were the alphabet of the Germanic Tribes. It is believed by historians that the tribes got the Runes from a derivation of Roman capital of Greek. But, they might as well have come from the Etruscan script which, to this day, has not been deciphered. The Roman origin is more likely as the Etruscans had little outside contact and the Greeks shunned the "barbarians." Thus the Runes have existed from approximately 500 A.D. to the century before Columbus. It is supposedly started in the Balkans and its use traveled up the Danube until it met Denmark. At this point, the Runic alphabet was similar to that used on Thror's map in _The Hobbit_, as presented in the last issue. The Vikings acted a srole similar to the Phonecians at this point, spreading the Runes to Scandinavia and to Great Britain. In Britain it was used by the Druids for magical incantations and inscriptions. In Scandinavia, Runes were used for stone markers, grave-stones, or caskets. In some case, Rune stones have been found in America which were Runed by early Scandinavian explorers. Of the two, Scandinavin and Anglo-Saxon, the Anglo-Saxon Runes are more definite and usable to us. At first, the Anglo-Saxon Runes were only 24 in number, as that was then considered a magical number. Later, they grew in size to the second alphabet written below. Of the two, I find the first easier to use. Next issue: The Runes in _The Lord of the Rings._ (Similar to the Runes of the Trilogy, the "Q","X," etc. are Missing. Instead of inventing your own letters, try using a "KW" for "Q" and and "EKS: for "X.") <Handwritten.> See Later page <right-pointing arrow> (FOR RUNES) <End handwriting.> [page 7] Yes, yes, before I forget, here are the Runes I had promised you earlier.

{Image: Two carts of various runes and their Latin/English transliterations.
The first chart is labled "EARLY ANGLO SAXON RUNES", the second is labled "LATER ANGLO SAXON RUNES".}