The Hobbit (3 page)

The trees like torches biased with light,

The bells were ringing in the dale

And men looked up with faces pale;

The dragons ire more fierce than fire

Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;

The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.

They fled their hall to dying fall

Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim

To dungeons deep and caverns dim

We must away, ere break of day,

To win our harps and gold from him!

As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands

and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt upprobably somebody lighting a wood-fire-and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again. He got up trembling. He had less than half a mind to fetch the lamp, and more than half a mind to pretend to, and go and hide behind the beer barrels in the cellar, and not come out again until all the dwarves had gone away. Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him with eyes shining in the dark.

Where are you going? said Thorin, in a tone that seemed to show that he guessed both halves of the hobbits mind.

What about a little light? said Bilbo apologetically.

We like the dark, said the dwarves. Dark for dark business! There are many hours before dawn.

Of course! said Bilbo, and sat down in a hurry. He missed the stool and sat in the fender, knocking over the poker and shovel with a crash. Hush! said Gandalf. Let Thorin speak! And this is bow Thorin began. Gandalf, dwarves and Mr. Baggins! We are not together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit-may the hair on his toes never fall out! all praise to his wine and ale!- He paused for breath and for a polite remark from the hob-bit, but the compliments were quite lost on-poor Bilbo Baggins, who was wagging his mouth in protest at being called audacious and worst of all fellow conspirator, though no noise came out, he was so flummoxed. So Thorin went on:

We are met to discuss our plans, our ways, means, policy and devices. We shall soon before the break of day start on our long journey, a journey from which some of us, or perhaps all of us (except our friend and counsellor, the ingenious wizard Gandalf) may never return. It is a solemn moment. Our object is, I take it, well known to us all. To the estimable Mr. Baggins, and perhaps to one or two of the younger dwarves (I think I should be right in naming Kili and Fili, for instance), the exact situation at the moment may require a little brief explanation- This was Thorins style. He was an important dwarf. If he had been allowed, he would probably have gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling any one there anything that was not known already. But he was rudely interrupted. Poor Bilbo couldnt bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. All the dwarves sprang Bp knocking over the table. Gandalf struck a blue light on the end of his magic staff, and in its firework glare the poor little hobbit could be seen kneeling on the hearth-rug, shaking like a jelly that was melting. Then he fell flat on the floor, and kept on calling out struck by lightning, struck by lightning! over and over again; and that was all they could get out of him for a long time. So they took him and laid him out of the way on the drawing-room sofa with a drink at his elbow, and they went back to their dark business.

Excitable little fellow, said Gandalf, as they sat down again. Gets funny queer fits, but he is one of the best, one of the best-as fierce as a dragon in a pinch.

If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realise that this was

only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Tooks great-

granduncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a

horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the

Green Fields, and knocked their king Gol-firnbuls head clean off with a

wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.

In the meanwhile, however, Bullroarers gentler descendant was reviving in the drawing-room. After a while and a drink he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. This is what he heard, Gloin speaking: Humph! (or some snort more or less like that). Will he do, do you think? It is all very well for Gandalf to talk about this hobbit being fierce, but one shriek like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon and all his relatives, and kill the lot of us. I think it sounded more like fright than excitement! In fact, if it bad not been for the sign on the door, I should have been sure we had come to the wrong house. As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow bobbing and puffing on the mat, I had my doubts. He looks more like a grocer-than a burglar!

Then Mr. Baggins turned the handle and went in. The Took side had won. He suddenly felt he would go without bed and breakfast to be thought fierce. As for little fellow bobbing on the mat it almost made him really fierce. Many a time afterwards the Baggins part regretted what he did now, and he said to himself: Bilbo, you were a fool; you walked right in and put your foot in it.

Pardon me, he said, if I have overheard words that you were saying. I dont pretend to understand what you are talking about, or your reference to burglars, but I think I am right in believing (this is what he called being on his dignity) that you think I am no good. I will show you. I have no signs on my door-it was painted a week ago-, and I am quite sure you have come to the wrong house. As soon as I saw your funny faces on the door-step, I had my doubts. But treat it as the right one. Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert. I bad a great-great-great-granduncle once, Bullroarer Took, and Yes, yes, but that was long ago, said Gloin. I was talking about you. And I assure you there is a mark on this door-the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward, thats how it is usually read. You ^an say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Some of them do. Its all the same to us. Gandalf told us that there was a man of the sort in these parts looking for a Job at once, and that he had arranged for a meeting here this Wednesday tea-time.

Of course there is a mark, said Gandalf. I put it there myself. For very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal.

He scowled so angrily at Gloin that the dwarf huddled back in his chair; and when Bilbo tried to open his mouth to ask a question, he turned and frowned at him and stuck oat his bushy eyebrows, till Bilbo shut his mouth tight with a snap. Thats right, said Gandalf. Lets have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to !6te enough for all of you. If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself. You may (possibly) all live to thank me yet. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and lets have little light on this!

On the table in the light of a big lamp with a red shad he spread a piece of parchment rather like a map.

This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin, he said in answer to the dwarves excited questions. It is a plan of the Mountain. I dont see that this will help us much, said Thorin disappointedly after a glance. I remember the Mountain well enough and the lands about it. And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred.

There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain, said Balin, but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there. There is one point that you havent noticed, said the wizard, and that is the secret entrance. You see that rune on the West side, and the hand pointing to it from the other runes? That marks a hidden passage to the Lower Halls.

It may have been secret once, said Thorin, but how do we know that it is secret any longer? Old Smaug had lived there long enough now to find out anything there is to know about those caves.

He may-but he cant have used it for years and years. Why? Because it is too small. Five feet high the door and three may walk abreast say the runes, but Smaug could not creep into a hole that size, not even when he was a young dragon, certainly not after devouring so many of the dwarves and men of Dale.

It seems a great big hole to me, squeaked Bilbo (who had no experience of dragons and only of hobbit-holes) He was getting excited and interested again, so that he forgot to keep his mouth shut. He loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink. How could such a large door be kept secret from everybody outside, apart from the dragon? he asked. He was only a little hobbit you must remember.

In lots of ways, said Gandalf. But in what way this one has been hidden we dont know without going to see. From what it says on the map I should guess there is a closed door which has been made to look exactly like the side of the Mountain. That is the usual dwarves method I think that is right, isnt it? Quite right, said Thorin.

Also, went on Gandalf, I forgot to mention that with the map went a key, a small and curious key. Here it is! he said, and handed to Thorin a key with a long barrel and intricate wards, made of silver. Keep it safe! Indeed I will, said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung about his neck and under his jacket. Now things begin to look more hopeful. This news alters them much for-the better. So far we have had no clear idea what to do. We thought of going East, as quiet and careful as we could, as far as the Long Lake. After that the trouble would begin. A long time before that, if I know anything about the loads East, interrupted Gandalf.

We might go from there up along the River Running, went on Thorin taking no notice, and so to the ruins of Dale-the old town in the valley there, under the shadow of the Mountain. But we none of us liked the idea of the Front Gate. The river runs right out of it through the great cliff at the South of the Mountain, and out of it comes the dragon too-far too often, unless he has changed.

That would be no good, said the wizard, not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply lot to be found. Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary). That is why I settled on burglary-especially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar. So now lets get on and make some plans.

Very well then, said Thorin, supposing the burglar-expert gives us some ideas or suggestions. He turned with mock-politeness to Bilbo. First I should like to know a bit more about things, said he, feeling all confused and a bit shaky inside, but so far still lookishly determined to go on with things. I mean about the gold and the dragon, and all that, and how it got there, and who it belongs to, and so on and further. Bless me! said Thorin, havent you got a map? and didnt you hear our song? and havent we been talking about all this for hours?

All the same, I should like it all plain and clear, said he

obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalfs recommendation. Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth-by which he meant: What am I going to get out of it? and am I going to come back alive?

O very well, said Thorin. Long ago in my grandfather Thrors time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map. It had been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, but now they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too. Anyway they grew immensely rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again and treated with great reverence by the mortal men, who lived to the South, and were gradually spreading up the Running River as far as the valley overshadowed by the Mountain. They built the merry town of Dale there in those days. Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skilful most richly. Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the. fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days. So my grandfathers halls became full of armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the toy-market of Dale was the wonder of the North.