So Frodo says to me “Who are you master?”

I answer “"Don't you know my name yet? That is the only answer. ... But you are young and I am old. Eldest that's what I am. ... Tom was here before the river and trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. .... When the Elves passed westward Tom was already here, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the starts when it was fearless."

I was, of course, going by the name of Tom Bombadil at the time. Names, however, mean little to me, they are a human artifice and I have had many.

To the Morris Dancers of the English countryside I am “Jack In The Green”. My role in their dances typifies the ancient view of me. I was viewed as the Lord of Misrule, as wild as the ancient forest. My role is to disrupt the dancers, cavorting amongst them, upsetting the rhythm of the dance. I am also the subject of one of the most important alliterative poems of Medieval literature, Sir Gawain And The Green Knight. At one stage Sir Gawain lops off my head, I pick it up and laugh. I am symbolic of the seasonal nature of life in the forest, a representation of the conquest of spring and summer over the symbolic death of winter.

Many of you will know the story of Robin Hood and his wild existence in Sherwood forest. What you may not know is that I am the original Robin Hood. I existed in English mythology long before the Robin of Loxley character was grafted on and Maid Marion and the Merry Men existed. It was not until 1939 that Lady Raglan named me The Green Man but the name was embraced by the public. Since then this is primarily the name by which I am known.

Like the howl of the wolf at dusk in the wilderness I resonate in the dark recesses of your primitive mind. Suppress your knowledge of me if that makes you comfortable. I care not; I am not a spirit that particularly concerns itself with the comings and goings of men. My realm is the ancient forest, my friends are the giant oak and elm. The time of men is but a flicker of a shadow in the ancient forest.