"Paradise Found" Beorn's Home

I finally found Paradise and I had to travel across the earth to find it in the South Island of New Zealand!  This is the home of Beorn the "skin-changer".  In "The Hobbit" Beorn is a fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien. He appears in The Hobbit as a "skin-changer", a man who could assume the appearance of a great black bear.  In The Hobbit film trilogy, Beorn is portrayed by Mikael Persbrandt in the films The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies.

 

 

I took a Jeep Safari tour of the locations where the film was made around Queenstown. The jeep's name was Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór, King under the Mountain.  The tour guide was very knowledgeable and we had a tea party in the forest a few miles down the road from Beorn's house.  It was an Hobbit "Adventure!"

Beorn's Song Shadow Mountain

 

Sung by Beorn

The wind was on the withered heath,

but in the forest sirred no leaf:
there shadows lay by night and day,
and dark things crept beneath.

The wind came down from mountains cold,
and like a tide it roared and rolled;
the branches groaned, the forest moaned,
and leaves were laid upon the mould.

The wind went on from West to East;
all movement in the forest ceased,
but shrill and harsh across the marsh
its whistling voices were released.

The grass hissed, their tassels bent,
the reeds were rattling-on it went
o'er shaken pool under heavens cool
where racing clouds were torn and rent.

It passed the lonely Mountain bare
and swept above the dragon's lair:
there black and dark lay boulders stark
and flying smoke was in the air.

It left the world and took its flight
over the wide seas of the night.
the moon set sail upon the gale,
and stars were fanned to leaping light.

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Beorn, Creature of the Night

Beorn, creature of the night,
Your path is far and wide,
Some say you growl with the tongue of bears,
Born from the ancient bears of the mountains,
Thriving on milk and wild honey,
Did you come from the Misty Mountains?
Do you hear your ancient people cries?
Friend nor foe have you,
Part man, Part bear
I hear the rustling of leaves,
Whistling voices in the wind,
I see you running through the darkness,
I dare not move but stand still like the trees,
You sit alone above the clouds,
Nightfall after nightfall,
Watching the moonlight sink,
Beyond the mountains silhouette,
Waiting to reclaim your ancient home.

By PL Fallin