dwarves beards
Not all of the ideas hinted at in this list of motifs and incidents are now recoverable, but the general outline of the tale is clear: the meeting with Medwed (Beorn) would shortly follow, prior to the wizard’s departure and their subsequent travails in Mirkwood. If the ideas are more or less in sequence, as seems to be the case, the ‘disappearance’ of Bladorthin suggests that the wizard would leave the party after they had entered Mirkwood, and that his absence would occur suddenly and inexplicably. Originally the ‘long wanderings’ were intended to be of much greater duration than came to be the case in the published text; the cancelled reference to ‘spring’ probably refers to the coming of the next year’s springtime while they are still lost without their guide in Mirkwood. The added reference to the dwarves’ beards might be another allusion to this (i.e., their beards growing long in their travels, à la ‘Rip Van Winkle’TN7), or it might be a glimpse of the spider-story (cf. Chapter VIII). The chestnuts (if that is indeed the correct reading for this nigh-illegible word) probably form their food during their wanderings once the provisions they brought with them give out; starvation in the forest remained a serious threat right into the published book (paralleling an important folklore motif found in ‘Hansel & Gretel’, ‘The Babes in the Woods’, and elsewhere).
The ‘swans’ vanished from the story without a trace; whether the dwarves were eventually to follow swans from the marshes to the Long Lake as Tuor follows swans in ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ (BLT II.152) or simply saw swans (or swan-boats; see the illustration on p. 244 of The Annotated Hobbit) on the lake once they got there is now impossible to say. The ‘ball of twine’ anticipates the Theseus theme with Bilbo’s ball of spider-thread that plays a large part in the manuscript of the Mirkwood chapter – an important scene that did not make it into the published book. The party’s capture by elves is already foreseen, but here it seems to follow their belated arrival at the Long Lake. The reference to the Sea-elves, rather than the Wood-elves, is at first surprising but upon closer examination turns out to fit well not just with Tolkien’s concepts at the time but even with the published Silmarillion; see my commentary following Chapter IX. Note that the outline does not carry the story all the way to the end of the tale – it mentions nothing about the dragon and quest’s end, for example – but it does contain the seeds for the next four chapters.
The text continues at the start of a fresh page (manuscript page 79; Marq. 1/1/7:3):
‘I always meant to see you all safe [added: (if possible)] over the mountains’ said the wizard. ‘And more by good luck than by good management,TN8 have done it. But we are now a deal further than I meant to go, for after all this is not my adventure.TN9 I said I would get a burglar to help you, and I have, but I didn’t say I would come burgling with you.’
‘Still you are in an awkward plight, and so am I. We have no food, no ponies (except shanks’TN10) – and you don’t know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are miles south now [> still] of the path you would have followed, if we hadn’t met the goblins. Very few people live in these parts, unless they have come into it since I was here last, which is some long years ago. But there is a person I know, who lives not far away.TN11 He made these steps on the hill.TN12 But he doesn’t come here often, so it is no good waiting for him. We must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, I think I shall be off and wish you like the eagles “farewell where ever you fare”.’
They begged him, not to go [> not to leave them]. They offered him dragon-gold. But he wouldn’t saying anything different. ‘We shall see, we shall see’ said he ‘and I think I have earned some of your dragon-gold already – when you have got it’.
[added: Then] They took off their clothes and bathed in the river which was cool [>shallow] and clear and stony-bed. Then refreshed if still hungry they went on;TN13 and over the ford, and marched through the long green grass and down the avenues of wide oaks and tall elms.
‘What’s
‘He calls it the carrock because carrock is his word for it’ said Bladorthin ‘he calls things like that carrocks, and this one the carrock because it is the only [one] near his home, & he knows it well.’
‘Who calls it – who knows it[?]’
‘The Somebody that I spoke about – a very great person. You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly (one by one [> 2 by 2] in fact, I think) and you must be careful not to annoy him. He can be appalling when angry, though charming otherwise [> kind enough if humoured] – and [> but] he gets angry easily.
[Who is he>] The dwarves turned round when they heard Bladorthin talking like this to Bilbo. ‘Is that the person you are taking us to now?’ they asked. ‘Wasn’t there anybody more easy tempered! Hadn’t you better explain a little bit clearer?’ – and so on.
‘[No there wasn’t >] Yes it jolly well is! No there wasn’t! I was just beginning to . . . [added: explain]’ and so on, answered Bladorthin.
‘His name is Medwed. He is very strong. He is a skin-changer’.
‘What! a furrier; a man who calls rabbits conies and turns their skins into arctic fox??’ said Bilbo.TN14
‘Good gracious heavens no no no No!’ said Bladorthin. ‘In the name of thunder [> all wonder] don’t mention the word furrier again as long as you are within a hundred miles of him, nor meat [> fur] rug, cape, tippet muff any other such idiotic words. He is a skin-changer – he is sometimes a huge black-bear, sometimes a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard.TN15
‘I can’t tell you much more. Whether he is a bear descended from the great bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came,TN16 or a man descended from the old men who lived there before Smaug invaded the land and the goblins came into the hills out of the North, I can’t say. At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own.
‘He lives [in] an oak-wood, and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses, which are nearly as marvellous as himself for they work for him and talk to him. But he does not eat them. He eats wild things often [> sometimes, not often]. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees. He likes cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide. I have seen him sitting all alone on the top of the carrock at night watching the moon sinking towards the Misty Mountains. I believe he does that often, and I believe he sometimes sleeps in the little cave [> and that is why I believe he once came from the mountains].’
But Bilbo and the Dwarves had [added: now] plenty to think about; and they said [> spoke] very little any more. They had still a long long walk before them. Up slope and down slope [> up slope and down dale] they went. Sometimes they rested under the trees, and Bilbo was so hungry he would have eaten acorns, if they had been ripe enough yet to fall [> have fallen to the ground].
It was mid afternoon before they noticed that great patches of flowers had begun to spring up, all the same kinds growing together as if they had been planted. But especially there was clover, great waving patches of coxcomb clover, and ordinary red clover, and wide stretches of short white sweet honeysmelling clover. There was a buzzing and whirring and a droning in the air. Bees were busy every where. And such bees. Bilbo had never seen anything like them. ‘If one was to sting me I should swell as big again as I am’ he thought. They were bigger than hornets, much bigger. Why the drones were as big as a small thumb, and [their bands of gold shone >] the bands of yellow on their deep black bodies shone like fiery gold.
‘We are getting near’ said Bladorthin ‘we are on the edge of his bee-pasture[s].’
After a while they came to a belt of tall old oaks, and beyond them to a high thorn hedge through which you could not see nor scramble.TN17
‘You had better wait here’ said the wizard [added: to the dwarves] ‘and when I call or whistle come after me – one by one [> in pairs] mind, about five minutes between each [> each pair] o
f you. There is [a] gate somewhere round this way.’ And with that he went off along the hedge taking Mr Baggins with him.TN18
They soon came to a high broad wooden gate, and beyond it they could see gardens, and a cluster of low wooden buildings, some made of unshaped logs, and thatched – barns, stables, sheds, and [a] long low house. All inside the hedge were rows and rows of hives with [fancy >] bell-shaped tops made of straw. The noise of the great bees flying to and fro and crawling in and out filled all the air.
The wizard and the hobbit pushed open the heavy creaking gate and went down a wide track towards the house. Some horses trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces, then off they galloped in front of them to the house. ‘They have gone to tell him’ said Bladorthin, and as he said it they came upon a courtyard three walls of which were made by the wooden house and its two wings. There was a great oak trunk lying, and many lopped branches beside it. Standing beside it [> near] was a huge man with a thick black-beard and hair, and great [bare] arms and legs with knotted muscles. He was dressed in loose black fur as low as his knees, and was leaning on a large axe. The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.
‘Ugh, here they are’ he said to the horses in a deep growling voice. ‘They don’t look dangerous – you can be off’ and he laughed a great rolling laugh, put down his axe and came forward.
‘Who are you and what do you want?’ he asked [gruffly] standing in front of them and towering tall above even Bladorthin.TN19 As for Bilbo he could have trotted through his legs without ducking his head to miss the bottom of the man’s fur garment.
‘I am Bladorthin’ said the wizard.
‘Never heard of him’ growled the man. ‘And what’s this little fellow?’ he said stooping down to frown at Mr Baggins with his bushy black eyebrows.
‘That is Mr Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation’ said Bladorthin (Bilbo bowed – he had no hat to take off, and was painfully conscious of his many missing buttons).TN20 ‘I am a wizard – I have heard of you, if you have not heard of me. But perhaps you have heard of my good cousin Radagast who lives near the borders of Mirkwood?’
‘Yes yes: not a bad fellow. Now I know who you are.TN21 What do you want?’
‘To tell you the truth, we have lost our luggage, nearly lost our way, and are rather in need of help – or at least advice. I may say we have had rather a bad time with goblins in the mountains.
‘Goblins?’ said the big man, less gruffly. ‘O! ho! so you’ve been having trouble with them, have you. What did you go near them for?’
‘Did not mean to. They surprised us in the mountains, which we had to cross; we were coming out of the Lands over WestTN22 into these countries. It is a long tale.’
‘You had better come inside and tell me some of it – if it won’t take all day’ said the man, and went in through his big door.
They found themselves in a wide hall with a fire [place] in the middle. Though it was summer there was a wood fire burning and the smoke was going up to the blackened rafters in search of the way out through a great opening in the roof. They passed through this hall and came through another [smaller] door into a sort of veranda with wooden pillars made of tree trunks. It faced south and was still warm, and filled with the light of the westering sun that slanted into it, and fell in gold on the garden full of flowers that came right up to the steps.
There they sat on wooden benches, while Bladorthin began his tale, and Bilbo [sat >] swung his dangling legs and looked at the flowers in the garden, wondering what their names could be – he had never seen half of them before.
‘I was coming over the mountains with a friend or two . . .’ said the wizard.
‘Or two – I can only see one, and a little one at that’ said Medwed.
‘Well to tell you the truth I did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until I found out whether you were busy – I will give a call if I may’.
‘Go on, call away!’
So Bladorthin gave a long shrill whistle, and presently Gandalf and Dori came into [> through] the hall and stood bowing low at the open door behind them.
‘One or three, you meant, I see’ said Medwed. ‘But these aren’t hobbits, these are dwarves!’
‘Gandalf at your service!’
‘Dori at your service’ said the two dwarves bowing again.
‘I don’t need it [> your service]’, said Medwed, ‘but I expect you need mine. I am not over fond of dwarves, but if it is true that you are respectable dwarves & not friends of Goblins, [I will >] and are not up to any mischief in my lands – what are you up to, by the way?’
‘They are on their way to visit the old country of their fathers, away east beyond Mirkwood’ said Bladorthin, ‘and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at all. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have been [> brought] us well to the north of your country, when we were attacked by the wicked goblins – as I was beginning to tell you’.TN23
‘Go on telling then’, said Medwed, who was never [very] polite
‘There was a terrible storm, the stone-giants were out hurling rocks, and at the head of the Pass we found a cave. Into it we went for shelter, the hobbit and I and several of our dwarf friends . . .’
‘Do you call two “several”?’ asked Medwed.
‘Well, no! as a matter of fact there were more than two’.
‘Where are they – killed, eaten, gone home?’
‘Well, no! to tell the truth they didn’t all come when I whistled. Shy, I expect. [After >] You see, we are well aware that we are already rather a lot for you to entertain’.
‘Go on! whistle again. I am in for a party, it seems; and one or two more won’t matter much’, growled Medwed.
Bladorthin whistled again, but Nori and Ori were there bowing in the doorway almost before he had stopped, for (if you remember) he had told them to come along every few [> five] minutes or so.
‘Hello!’ said the big man ‘You came pretty quick – where were you hiding? Come on my jack-in-the-boxes!’
‘Nori at your service. Ori at your . . .’ they began, but ‘Thank you! I will ask for it [> your help] when I need it’ said he. ‘Sit down, and let’s get on with this tale, or it will [be] supper time before we end it.’
‘As soon as we were asleep’ went on Bladorthin ‘a crack at the back of the cave opened, goblins came out, and grabbed the hobbit and the dwarves, and our troop of ponies . . .’
‘Troop of ponies!’ said Medwed ‘What were you – a travelling circus? Or were you carrying lots of goods: – or do you call six a troop?’
‘Well no! as a matter of fact there were more than six of us’ said Bladorthin ‘and well – here are two more’. Instant that moment Balin and Dwalin appeared, and bowed extremely low till their beards swept the stone floor. The big man was frowning, so they did their best to be very polite. They were so comically polite that after a good long frown he burst into a deep chuckling laugh.
‘Troop is right’ he said. ‘A fine comic troupe. Come in my merry men, and what are your names. I don’t want your service; just your names, and then sit down.’
‘Balin & Dwalin’ they said and sat on the floor looking a bit surprised but not daring to be offended.
‘Now go on again!’ said Medwed.
‘Where was I?’ said the wizard. ‘O yes – I was not grabbed. I killed a goblin or two with a flash’ (‘good’ growled Medwed ‘it is some good being a wizard then.’) ‘and slipped inside the crack before it closed. I followed down the passages, and watched from the shadows while the prisoners were dragged before the Great Goblin. The hall was crammed with goblins. The king [> chief] was surrounded with [> by] thirty or forty armed soldiers, so it would have been pretty hopeless, even if they hadn’t been all chained together. I thought “what can a dozen do against so many?” –’
‘A dozen! – that is the first time I have heard eight called a dozen’ said Medwed. ‘Have
you got some more jacks hiding in their boxes?’
‘Well yes, to tell you the truth there is Fili and Kili here as well’ said Bladorthin, as these two now appeared smiling and bowing.
‘That’s enough’ said Medwed ‘sit down and be quiet. [But before we go on – have we come to the end of the party or not. I am tired of these >] Now go on, Bladorthin!’
So Bladorthin went on [with the tale of that >] until he came to the fight in the dark and the loss of the hobbit [>, and the discovery of the lower entrance and their horror when they found that Mr Baggins had been mislaid]. ‘We counted ourselves, & found there was no hobbit – there were only fourteen of us left’.
‘Fourteen! That’s the first time I have heard one from ten make fourteen’ said Medwed. ‘Do you mean nine, or do you mean [there are still some jacks that haven’t >] that you haven’t told me yet all the names of your party?’
‘Well yes, to tell the truth I had not mentioned Oin and Gloin’ said Bladorthin ‘– and well, here they are, if you will forgive them for bothering you.’
‘O let ’em all come’ said Medwed. ‘Come along, come along! Sit down. But even now we have only got yourself and ten dwarves and the hobbit that was lost, and that only makes eleven (plus one mislaid) and not fourteen, unless wizards count differently to ordinary people. But get on with the tale!’ He didn’t show it any more than he could help, but really he was getting rather interested. As a matter of fact in old days he had known the very part of the mountains Bladorthin was now describing, and he nodded, and growled, when he heard of the hobbit’s reappearance, of their scramble [added: down the mountain side] and of the wolf-ring [added: in the woods]. When he heard of their climbing their trees and the wolves all underneath, he got up and strode about muttering ‘I wish I had been there; I would have given them more than fire works!’
‘Well’ said Bladorthin very relieved to see that his story was making a good impression ‘there we were with the wolves gone mad under us, and the forest beginning to blaze in places, when the goblins came down from the mountains, & discovered us. They yelled with delight and sang songs making fun of us:
The History of the Hobbit Page 31
