The History of the Hobbit

by John D. Rateliff

  Now you can understand why Bladorthin listening to their growling and yelping began to feel that they were in a very bad place, and had not yet escaped at all.TN23 He wasn’t going to let them have it all their own way all the same, though he could not do much up here in a tall tree with wolves all round on the ground below.

  He gathered the great huge pine cones off the branches of his tree. He set one alight with bright blue fire and threw it whizzing down among the circle of wolves. It struck one on the back, and immediately his shaggy coat caught fire, and he was leaping to and fro yelping horribly. Then another came, and another, one [blue >] in blue-flames, one in red, another green. They burst on the ground in the middle of the circle and went off in coloured sparks and smoke. A very big one struck the chief wolf on the nose, and he leaped in the air ten feet – and then rushed round and round the circle biting even at the other wolves in anger, fright, and pain.

  The dwarves and even Bilbo shouted [with >] and cheered. The rage of the wolves was terrific, and the commotion they made filled all the forest. Wolves are terrified of fire at all times, and this was a most horrible and uncanny fire. If a spark got in your coat it stuck and burned into you, and unless you rolled over quick you were soon all in flames. You should just have seen the wolves rolling over and over to put the sparks on their backs out, and those that were burning running about howling, and setting others alight, till their own friends chased them away, and they fled off into the forest crying and yammering and looking for water.

  ‘What is all this uproar in the forest tonight?’ said the Lord of the Eagles. He was sitting, black in the moonlight, on the top of a pinnacle of rock that stood out [from >] alone on the Eastern edge of the Mountains. ‘I hear wolves’ voices. Are the goblins busy at mischief in the woods?’ He [called to two of his servants from >] swept up into the air, and immediately two of his army [> guards] leapt up to follow him from rocks on either hand. They circled in the sky and looked down upon the ring of the wargs, a tiny spot far far below. But eagles have keen eyes and can see a great distance, and the lord of the eagles of the misty mountains had eyes that could look straight at the sun unblinking, and could see anything moving on the ground a mile below even in the light of the moon.

  So [they <?looked> >] though they could not see the people in the trees, they could [see >] make out the commotion among the wolves and the tiny flashes of fire, and hear the yelping and howling coming up faint from far beneath them. Also they could see the glint of the moon on goblin-spears and helmet, as long lines of wicked folk crept down the hill sides from their gate, and wound into the wood.

  They knew then that some wickedness was going on, though they could not understand what was the matter with the wolves. [Eagles hate the goblins >] Eagles are not kind or gentle birds. They kill.TN24 But they are proud and strong, and they do not love the [cancelled: ev[il]] goblins. When they take any notice of them at all (which is seldom, for they don’t eat such creatures) they swoop on them and drive them shrieking to their caves, and stop whatever wickedness they are up to at the time. The Goblins [hate them and fear >] hate the eagles and fear them.

  Tonight the Lord of the Eagles was filled with curiosity to know what was going on. So he summoned many of the eagles to him, and they flew slowly away from the mountains, and [sank slo[wly] >] then slowly circling ever round and round came down, down, down towards the ring of the wolves and the meeting place of the goblins.

  A very good thing too. Dreadful things had been going on down there. The wolves that had caught fire and fled into the forest had set fire to it in places. It was summerTN25 and there had been little rain on this side of the mountains for some time. Yellowing bracken, fallen branches, deep piled pine-needles, dead trees were soon burning here and there. All round the clearing of the wargs flames were leaping. But the wolves did not leave the trees. Maddened and angry they were leaping and howling round the trunks, and cursing the dwarves in their horrible language with their eyes shining as red and fierce as the flames.

  Then suddenly the goblins came running up, yelling. They thought a battle with the woodmen was going on, but they soon learned what had really happened. Some of them actually sat down and laughed. The others waved their spears, and clashed their shafts against their shields.

  Goblins are not particularly frightened by fire.TN26 They got all the wolves together in a pack. They rushed round, and stamped, and beat, and beat and stamped until nearly all the flames were put out – but they did not put out the fire that was nearest to the trees where the dwarves were. No they fed that fire with branches, and bracken. Soon there was a ring of fire all round the dwarves, a ring which the goblins kept from spreading outwards; but it crept slowly on till it nearly licked those trees. Smoke was in Bilbo’s eyes, he could feel the heat of the flames, and through the reek he could see the goblins dancing round & round it like people round a mid summer bonfire, and outside the dancers stood the wolves at a respectful distance watching & waiting.TN27

  Horrible things the goblins sang; and then they would stop and call out.

  ‘Fly away little birdies, fly away if you can

  Come down little birds or [get roasted > get >] you will

  get roasted in your nests.

  Sing sing little birds, why don’t you sing.

  Fifteen birds in a five fir trees

  their feathers were fanned by a fiery breeze.

  [The goblins > They had >] But funny little birds they had

  no wings

  O what shall we do with the funny little things

  Roast em alive; or stew em in a pot

  Fry them, broil them, and eat em hotTN28

  ‘Go away little boys’ said Bladorthin. ‘[Birds >] It isn’t bird-nesting time. Also naughty little boys that play with fire get punished’. He said it to make them angry, and show them he was not afraid of them (though of course he was, wizard though be might be); but they took no notice. They went on singing.

  Burn, burn tree and fern!

  Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch

  To light the night for our delight,

  Ya hey!

  Bake and toast ’em, fry and roast ’em!

  till beards blaze, and eyes glaze;

  till hair smells and skins crack,

  fat melts, and bones black

  in cinders lie

  beneath the sky!

  So dwarves shall die,

  and light the night for our delight,

  Ya hey!

  Ya-harri-hey!

  Ya hoi!TN29

  And with ‘ya hoi’ the flames were under Bladorthin’s tree, and soon beneath the others. The bark caught fire, the lower branches crackled. [cancelled: Still they clung on – but]

  Then Bladorthin climbed to the top of his tree; the light [> sudden splendour] flashed from his wand like lightning, and he got ready to spring down right amid the spears of the goblins. [They scrambled away from > gave back >] That would have been the end of him, even though he might have [got >] killed many as [he] came down among them like a thunder bolt. But he never leaped.

  Just at that moment the lord of eagles swept above the scene, seized him in his talons and was gone.

  The goblins howled, and began to scatter. That was the worst thing they could have done, but the sudden black shadow of the swooping eagle terrified them. If they had stuck near the fire the eagles would . . .TN30

  At once he was back for Bladorthin had spoken to him; and he cried to his eagles. Some swept down upon the wolves and goblins that were not too near the fire. The goblins yelled the wolves howled; arrows and spears went up into the air. [added: But] Down swept some of the eagles; the black shadow of their wings struck terror into their enemies, their talons tore at them. Others flew to the tree-tops and seized the dwarfs,TN31 as they scrambled up as high as they dared. Poor little Bilbo was nearly left behind again, but he caught hold of Dori’s legs as Dori was borne off, and up they went above the tumult & the flames, swinging in the air with his arms nearly
breaking.

  Far below the goblins and the wolves were scattering here and there in the woods. Eagles were still circling and sweeping above the battleground. The flames were leaping high, and crash fell the trees in which the dwarves had sheltered [added: in a flurry of sparks & smoke]. But the light was now faint below, [added: a red twinkle on the black floor].

  They were high up in the sky, going up in strong sweeping circles ever upwards. Bilbo never forgot that flight, clinging on to Dori’s ankles, while he moaned ‘my arms my arms.’ (and Dori kept on saying ‘my poor legs my poor legs’). Heights made him [> Bilbo] giddy at the best of times.TN32 His head swam if he looked down and saw the country [> dark lands] opening wide [added: underneath] touched here and there with the moonlight on a hillside or a stream. The pale peaks of the mountains were coming nearer, moonlit spikes of rock, with black shadows [> sticking out of black shadows]. Summer or not it seemed cold. The flight ended only just before poor Bilbo’s arms gave way. He loosed Dori’s ankles with a gasp and fell on to the rough platform of an eagle’s eyrie. There he lay without speaking, and his only thought was [> his thoughts were] a mixture of surprise at being saved from the fire, and fear lest he fall off that narrow place into the dark shadows on each side.

  He was feeling [cancelled: almost] very queer in his head after the dreadful adventures of the last few days (on only two biscuits!) and found himself asking [> saying]: ‘Now I know what a piece of bacon feels like when it is suddenly picked out of the pan on a fork and put back on the shelf’.

  ‘No you don’t’ he heard Dori saying: ‘because the bacon knows it will get back into the pan sooner or later; [But I have a >] and it is to be hoped we shan’t. Also Eagles are not forks’.

  ‘O no, not a bit like storks, forks I mean’ said Bilbo sitting up and looking anxiously at the Eagle who was perched closed by. He had wondered if he had been saying any thing rude. You oughtn’t to be rude to an eagle, when you only the size of a hobbit, and are up in his eyries at night! But the eagle sharpened his beak on a stone, [added: and trimmed his feathers,] and took no notice.

  Soon another eagle came flying up. ‘The lord of eagles bids you to bring your prisoners down to the great shelf’ he cried and was off. The other seized Dori and flew off into the night, leaving Bilbo all alone; he had hardly strength to wonder what they meant by calling them ‘prisoners’. His own turn came soon. The eagle came back, seized Bilbo in his talons, and swooped off. Only a short way this time. Bilbo was laid down on a wide shelf of rock on the mountain side. There was no path down save by flying, and no path down from it except by jumping over a precipice. There he found all the others sitting with their backs to the wall. The Lord of Eagles also was there, and was speaking to Bladorthin.

  It appeared they knew one another slightly, and were even on fairly friendly terms. Bladorthin had done one of them a service (healed him from an goblin’s arrow’s wound) once upon a time.TN33 So after all ‘prisoners’ only meant prisoners rescued from the goblins after all. They really did seem to have escaped from those dreadful mountains after all, for the Great Eagle was discussing plans for carrying them far away and setting them down well on their way out in the plains below. But he would not take them near places where men lived.TN34 ‘They will shoot at us with great bows’ he said, ‘for they will think we are after their lambs – or their babies. And at other times they might be right. But glad though we are to cheat the goblins of their sport, we will not risk ourselves for dwarves in the plains.’

  ‘Very well’ said Bladorthin, ‘we are already very much obliged to you. But we are nearly dead of [> famished with] hunger’.

  ‘I am dead [> nearly dead] of it’ said Bilbo in a weak voice.

  ‘That can perhaps be arranged [> mended]’ said the Lord of Eagles. And later on you might have seen a bright fire on the shelf of rock, and the figures of the dwarves gathered round it cooking, and smelt the smell of roasting. The eagles had brought up boughs of dry wood, and they had brought rabbits and hares and a lamb.

  The dwarves managed all the preparations. Bilbo was too weak and weary (and he wasn’t much good at skinning rabbits or cutting up meat anyway); Bladorthin had done his share in lighting up the fire for Oin & Gloin had lost their tinder boxes. (Dwarves have never taken to matches). So ended the adventures of the misty mountains. Bilbo slept (with his tummy feeling full again – though he would have liked a bit of bread and butter even better) curled up on the rock. He slept curled up on the hard rock more soundly than ever he had done on his feather bed in his own little hole at home. All night he dreamed of it [> his own home] and wandered about in his sleep into all the different rooms looking for something he couldn’t find, & did not remember what it looked like.

  TEXT NOTES

  1 Note that Balin’s hood is yellow here, an error carried over from the Bladorthin Typescript (cf. p. 32 and Text Note 2 on p. 41). This is significant, as in both typescripts for Chapter I (Marq. Ms. 1/1/51:5 & 1/1/32:5) the hood is described as ‘scarlet’ (and the beard yellow, later changed in ink to ‘white’). This corroborates the evidence of the names, and forms additional proof that the manuscript already extended to this point (and beyond) before the typescript was even begun. For more on the dating of the typescript(s), see the Third Phase.

  Curiously enough, Balin’s hood remained yellow in this chapter through both typescripts (1/1/56:1 & 1/1/37:1), even after the change to scarlet in the typescripts to Chapter I. This was clearly just a continuity slip on Tolkien’s part which he caught in the galleys, correcting the colour to ‘red’ before publication.

  2 This paragraph was originally followed by the sentence ‘“Whatever did you drop him for, Bombur” said the wizard.’ which was cancelled and repeated (in slightly altered form) at the end of the following paragraph.

  3 Both here and at the next two occurrences ‘Bombur’ was changed to ‘Dori’ in pencil – i.e., during the preparation of the First Typescript, a re-reading having apparently reminded Tolkien of what he had forgotten in the thirteen intervening manuscript pages: that, after the vivid description of Bombur’s sweaty misery under his unhappy burden, the final paragraph of Chapter IV clearly states that at the time of the attack Bilbo was once more being carried by Dori (cf. p. 134).

  4 The final word in this cancelled passage, following ‘certain’, was left incomplete: it seems to read ‘amo’ and is no doubt short for ‘amount – i.e., ‘with a certain amount of’.

  5 ‘them’ was later altered, in pencil, to ‘the dwarves’, making it clear that the wizard’s estimation of the hobbit remained unchanged.

  6 This passage was later simplified, through ink cancellations and additions, to read ‘more or less how it happened, but not quite.’

  7 Altered in pencil to read ‘to himself & to Elrond’.

  Note the absence here of the phrasing from the book: ‘The wizard, to tell the truth, never minded explaining his cleverness more than once, so now he told Bilbo . . .’; this character-defining passage replaced the more straightforward original in the First Typescript (1/1/56:3).

  8 The original reading of this sentence, ‘a more decent giant’, was changed in pencil to ‘a more or less decent giant’, the reading of the typescripts.

  9 The original account of the wizard’s movements was quite different:

  Still as soon as the wizard heard Bilbo’s yell he guessed what had happened. The crack closed and it was beyond his magic to open it. And he knew where the goblin’s back-gate was – people who knew this part of the mountains at all well (& Bladorthin did) were well aware of it. Off he dashed

  The apparent reason for the rejection of this version must have been Tolkien’s realization of the time involved – for Bladorthin to have finished crossing the mountains, reached the gate, and run all of the way back up to the Goblin-King’s chamber would have taken hours if not days, yet his timely rescue comes only moments after the captive dwarves and hobbit reach the room (having run there at the best pace goblin-whips could muster).
Therefore Tolkien rejected the ‘re-entry through the back-door’ rescue story as soon as he had written it, crossed out the passage, and on the same page continued with the replacement story wherein the wizard takes the same route as the captives, silently shadowing them and awaiting his chance.

  10 Added in the bottom margin and marked for insertion at this point: ‘and they all [did >] laughed too: after all they had killed the Great Goblin [added: as well as several others] & so might be said to have had the best of it so far’.

  11 Teatimish: i.e., ‘tea-time-ish’, that is around tea-time, or late afternoon. See Bilbo’s invitation to the dwarves in Chapter XVIII: ‘If ever you are passing my way . . . don’t forget to knock! Tea is at four, but any of you are welcome at any time!’ (p. 681, emphasis mine; DAA.352).

  Since the scene is set in summer – they had celebrated midsummer in Elrond’s House, and the lack of nuts a few paragraphs later shows that autumn has not yet arrived† – that would still leave several hours of travel time before dark, but Bladorthin’s analysis of the situation (borne out by subsequent events) shows that they will need those hours and must delay no longer.

  † See also p. 207 and Text Note 25 on p. 214.

  12 Note that while the manuscript text specifically states that they have been diverted further south than would have been the case had they not been ambushed in the mountains, the maps agree with the published text that they have actually come too far north (see Plate I [bottom]). This detail merely reinforces how fluid Tolkien’s conception of the geography still was during the drafting of the story.

  13 A partial cancelled word originally came between ‘little’ and ‘mountain stream’, perhaps ‘bab’ – that is, a little babbling mountain stream.