"
There my pretty lady is, River-woman's daughter,
Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water."
Words of
Tom BombadilFrom
The Fellowship of the Ring I 6
The Old Forest
A mysterious being - apparently some kind of water-spirit - associated with the River Withywindle in the Old Forest. She was the mother of Goldberry, who was for this reason known as the 'River-daughter'.
In the poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", we discover a little more about the River-woman. She lived in a deep pool beneath the Withywindle with her daughter, until Goldberry was taken by Bombadil as his wife. She was saddened to be left alone in her hollow - one of the last lines of the poem has the reeds in her river sighing at the loss of her daughter Goldberry.
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- Updated 11 August 2008
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