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Interesting thought, Gordis! It occurs to me that the triple emphasis has a proverbial background: 'Third time pays for all'; 'Alle guten Dinge sind drei' (all good things are three); and frequent usages of 'three times' in fairy tales and legends. In this case, I should think that it makes plain the motivation for men's acceptance of the rings. It is for that very reason, that they wish to avoid mortality, that they are so willing to become enslaved to Sauron.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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