Editing Goldberry (section)

== Appearances ==

[[File:Monet w1686.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Goldberry is associated with [[Nymphaeaceae|water lilies]], and her house is surrounded by a water lily pond. Painting by [[Claude Monet]], 1897]]

Goldberry first appeared in Tolkien's 1934 poem, ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'',<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=216–217}}</ref> re-worked into a 1962  poetry collection of [[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil|the same name]].<ref name=Century/> The poem tells of how she drags Tom into the river before he escapes, returning later to capture her and make her his bride.<ref name=Century/> 
 
In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', the first volume of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Frodo and his companions [[Sam Gamgee|Sam]], [[Merry Brandybuck|Merry]], and [[Pippin Took|Pippin]] encounter Goldberry and Tom in the [[Old Forest]] near [[Buckland (Middle-earth)|Buckland]]. After the [[Hobbit]]s are rescued from [[Old Man Willow]], the couple offers them refuge in their cottage, which is surrounded by a pond of [[Nymphaeaceae|water lilies]]. The hobbits' stay is brief but strange, for Bombadil and Goldberry are clearly more than they seem. Like her earlier incarnation, Goldberry retains a link with nature, and more particularly running water. She is described as having a mermaid adornment on her hair, her gown "rustled softly like the wind on the flowered banks of a river" as she ran, and the songs she sings to the hobbits remind them of "ponds and waters larger than they had ever known."<ref name="Old Forest" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 6 "The Old Forest"}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 7 "In the House of Tom Bombadil"}}</ref>

Goldberry's final reference in Tolkien's works prior to his death is in the poem ''Once Upon a Time'', published in 1965.<ref name="Hammond Scull Addenda 2014">{{cite web |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author1-link=Wayne G. Hammond |author2-link=Christina Scull |title=Tom Bombadil Addenda & Corrigenda |url=https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/tom-bombadil-addenda-corrigenda/ |publisher=Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull <!--major Tolkien scholars--> |access-date=23 March 2021 |date=30 December 2014}}</ref> Described as wearing "a wild-rose crown", she blows away a [[dandelion clock]] from within a [[Cuckoo Flower|lady-smock]].{{efn|[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Once_upon_a_Time The full text of ''Once upon a Time''] is available on [[Tolkien Gateway]].}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |chapter=Once Upon a Time |editor1-last=Hillier |editor1-first=Caroline |title=Winter's Tales for Children 1 |date=1965 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |location=London |pages=44–45 |oclc=664346095 }}</ref>