although probably a long one, and not a suitable crossing for heavy siege
engines like Grond. From LotR (emphasis added):
“'Yet,' said Denethor, 'we should not lightly abandon the outer defenses, the
Rammas made with so great a labour. And the Enemy must pay dearly for the
crossing of the River. That he cannot do, in force to assail the City,
either north of Cair Andros because of the marshes, or southwards towards
Lebennin because of the breadth of the River, that needs many boats. It is
at Osgiliath that he will put his weight, as before when Boromir denied him the
passage.'”
And from the section on the Druedain in Unfinished Tales (emphasis added):
“Another note says that historians in Gondor believed that the first Men to
cross the Anduin were indeed the Druedain. They came (it was believed) from
lands south of Mordor, but before they reached the coasts of Haradwaith they
turned north into Ithilien, and eventually finding a way across the Anduin
(probably near Cair Andros) settled in the vales of the White Mountains and
the wooded lands at their northern
feet.”
“I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language. (And, of course, the more 'life' a story has the more readily will it be susceptible of allegorical interpretations: while the better a deliberate allegory is made the more nearly will it be acceptable just as a story.)” (From Tolkien Letter # 131.)
