“Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!”

“Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! My darling!Light goes the weather-wind and the feathered starling.Down along under the Hill, shining in the sunlight,Waiting on the doorstep for the cold starlight,There my pretty lady is, River-woman's daughter,Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water.Old Tom Bombadil water-lilies bringingComes hopping home again. Can you hear him singing?Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! and merry-o,Goldberry, Goldberry, merry yellow berry-o!Poor old Willow-man, you tuck your roots away!Tom's in a hurry now. Evening will follow day.Tom'sgoing hom again water lilies-bringing.Hey! Come derry dol! Can you hear me singing?”

“Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!By water, wood and hill, by reed and willow,By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!”

“Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the Master:His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.”

“Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the Little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.”

“Ring a ding dillo del! derry, del, my hearties! If you come soon you'll find breakfast on the table. If you come late you'll get grass and rain-water!”

“If you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link. If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things along the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there.-- (J.R.R. Tolkien to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955.)”