It is possible that it was a kind of Huornwife, an Entwife that had retreated to the green confines of the Old Forest and fallen asleep again out of grief, weariness and distaste at the fact that there were no gardens around for them.
But the old man is right; it wasn't exactly a reliable witness. Rather like a UFO sighting, or a Loch Ness Monster surfacing; you believe it or you don't.
I, however, do not believe that the Entwives all perished. I think it far more likely that they simply reverted back to their treeish or huorn form, thus melding without trace back into the shadows of geography; that would certainly explain why no records exist from any party of them having been actually destroyed, while still explaining their dissapearance. Any of Sauron's expeditions find them? Apparently not. It is unlikely that they could have been captured by slavers. For a start they were too strong, if the power of the he-Ents is anything to go by. Basically, if someone had found and destroyed them, there'd be a record.
[ November 12, 2002: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]
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