: Treebeard said nothing of the kind! How can you even suggest
: that?

Because it was late, and I was tired, and I was thinking of the passage where Treebeard asks: "...What is going on? What is Gandalf up to?"

And then Merry asks if Treebeard KNEW Gandalf (past tense). And Treebeard says, "Yes, I do know him: the only wizard that really cares about trees. Do you know him?"

And then Pippin says they did, and Treebeard says (after some more rumblings), "But you speak of Master Gandalf, as if he was in a story that had come to an end."

Then Pippin says Gandalf is dead and Treebeard says, "Hoo, come now! Hoom, hm, ah well. Hoom ah, well I do not know what to say. Come now!"

On the other hand, I was misremembering the passage where Gandalf (in "The White Rider") tells Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas that he had seen Treebeard four days previously, and Treebeard had paused, but Gandalf ignored him.

So, Treebeard knew Gandalf was alive, but they had not spoken. (And this time I checked the book, so I'm sure of what I'm saying now.)
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