In short, we should view the Third Phase text, and the final chapters of the book, as still part of the original two-to-three-year impetus of composition, written after a gap of no more than a year from where he left off, not as the return to an abandoned work that had languished untouched for three years or more. The very fact that Tolkien had in the meantime decided to go back to the beginning of the story and create the First Typescript – at 129 single-spaced pages a significant investment of time and energy for a ten-fingered typist like himself who carefully revised as he typed – is a testament to his faith in the story. Far from lying abandoned between the breaking off of the Second Phase and the drafting of the Third Phase, during that period all he had so far achieved of the story was in fact laboriously being put into legible form where it could be shared with others. The great differences between these final chapters and the early parts of the book are the result of internal development within the story, the working out of the twin complications Tolkien introduced late in the Second Phase. Tolkien’s decision to cut the Gordian knot of Bard’s legitimate claim to an indeterminate portion of the treasure versus Thorin’s inability to accept any negotiation or compromise that meant parting with any of the treasure because of his succumbing to dragon-sickness, and his decision to raise the stakes by re-introducing virtually all the creatures encountered earlier in the book into one grand melee, avoids the anticlimax of a long dénouement following the dragon’s death and creates a climax even more comprehensive and, ultimately, more satisfactory than the dragon-quest Bilbo had originally set out on.
Chapter XVb
King Bard
The Third Phase text began with the creation of the First Typescript, when Tolkien returned to the beginning of the story and produced a legible, polished version of almost all the material he had written so far, incorporating into earlier chapters changes made necessary by developments in later chapters, such as the changes in names of some characters, and inserting the chapter breaks for the first time into the hitherto continuous text. This typescript reached as far as typescript page 129, the page describing the death of Smaug (Marq. 1/1/64:3; the third page in Chapter XIII [> XIV]). Tolkien then created the ‘fair copy’ version of the chapter describing Bilbo and the dwarves’ adventures inside the mountain (Chapter XIV [> XIII]; Marq. 1/1/14), carefully written on good paper, numbering the pages a-m to show that they formed a separate sequence. We can show that this ‘fair copy’ text of what is now Chapter XIII is later than the first few pages of the typescript of what is now Chapter XIV by the pagination of the latter: the First Typescript has sequential page numbers neatly typed in the upper left corner of each page from Chapter I through the third page of Chapter XIII [> XIV]. When Chapter XIII (The Death of Smaug) became Chapter XIV (‘Fire and Water’) and later a typed version of the new Chapter XIII (‘Not at Home’; Marq. 1/1/63) was inserted in place of the ‘fair copy’ text, the new typed pages lacked any typed page numbers and are instead numbered 127–34 in black ink, while the first three pages of ‘Fire and Water’ were re-numbered in the same ink: 127 > 135, 128 > 136, and 129 > 137, followed by page 1 of the Third Phase manuscript. Similarly, we know the next typescript page in ‘Fire and Water’ (Marq. 1/1/64:4) is later than the new typescript of the transposed chapter because it lacks any typed page number and instead is numbered in ink ‘138’; close comparison of the text also confirms that it derives from the Third Phase manuscript, not the earlier Second Phase version of this passage. In short, it was here that the ‘beautifully typed copy’ Elaine Griffiths recalled borrowing (Ann Bonsor radio interview; see also DAA.12) ended and the ‘rather roughly done’ ending chapters described by thirteen-year-old Christopher (see page xvii) began.
Thus, the circulating copy of Bilbo’s adventures which Tolkien loaned to Lewis, Griffiths, the Reverend Mother, the thirteen-year-old girl, and possibly others, which he called the ‘home manuscript’ in a later letter to Allen & Unwin, was a composite of typescript and fair copy manuscript:
• typescript pages I through 126 (Chapters I through XII)
• fair copy pages ‘a’ through ‘m’ (Chapter XIV > XIII)
• typescript pages 127 through 129 plus Third Phase manuscript pages I through 45 (Chapters XIII > XIV through XIX/end).
The First Typescript carried the story up to the words ‘And in the very midst of their talk a tall figure stepped from the shadows. He was drenched’ at the bottom of typescript page 129 (Marq. 1/1/64:3). The Third Phase manuscript begins in mid-sentence with the next word on page 1 ‘with water’ (the Second Phase text has a pencilled mark at this exact point indicating where the First Typescript ceased and the Third Phase manuscript took its place; see page 551 and Text Note 12 following Chapter XIII on page 554).
Like the first half of the Second Phase manuscript (manuscript pages 13–117), the Third Phase manuscript is written on good-quality ‘foolscap’ paper, unlike the larger pages (lined on one side and torn from student exam books) which had supplied the paper for the latter half of the Second Phase (i.e., manuscript pages 118–67 and the ‘little bird’ fragment).
The first seven pages of this new manuscript present a new draft of material which has already appeared in Chapters XIII and XVa of this book, but I include the overlap and give the entire Third Phase manuscript here for purposes of comparison to show how Tolkien expanded and polished the material in the course of making a fresh draft.
As with so many of Tolkien’s manuscripts, the Third Phase text began as fair copy, very neatly and legibly written in Tolkien’s best script on good paper. And as is also typical with Tolkien’s fair copies, the handwriting begins to deteriorate (in this case, after the first twenty pages or so), but even so this text remains much more legible than most.
Finally, the Third Phase manuscript includes a number of cancelled pages; those that survive after they had been superseded by replacement text do so because after he struck through the rejected text Tolkien re-used the verso for a later page. Thus, for example, what seem to be the original second, third, and fourth pages of the Third Phase were all cancelled but survive because they form the versos of pages 14, 9, and 8, respectively. See Text Notes 3, 4, and 7 for the cancelled texts. There is evidence that other cancelled pages once existed but did not survive.
with water, his black hair hung wet over his face and shoulders, and a fierce light was in his eyes.
‘Bard is not lost!’ he cried. ‘I am Bard, slayer of the dragon. I dived from Esgaroth only when no one else was left, and only when the enemy was slain. I am of the race of Girion, Lord of Dale. I will be your king!’
‘King Bard! King Bard!’ they shouted; and the Master ground his chattering teeth, as he sat upon the earth.
‘Girion was Lord of Dale, not king of Esgaroth’, he said. ‘In this lake-town we have always elected masters from the old and wise, and have not endured the rule of mere fighting men. Let King Bard go back to his own kingdom; and anyone go with him that wish to. Dale is [added: now] free; and he has slain the slayer of his fathers; nothing hinders his return. But the wise will stay here and rebuild our town, and hope to enjoy again in time its riches and its peace, any that prefer the mountain-shadowed valley to this water-side can go with him!’TN1
‘We will have King Bard!’ the people clamoured. ‘We have had enough of the old men and money-counters’.
‘I am the last man to undervalue Bard the bowman’ said the Master warily (for Bard had come & stood now close beside him). ‘He has tonight earned a chief place in the list of our benefactors, and is worthy of many imperishable songs. But, why, O people?’ – and here the Master rose and spoke very loud and clear – ‘why do I get all your blame? Who aroused the dragon from his
e, and aid for our widows and orphans?’
As you see the Master had not earned his position for nothing. For the moment the people quite forgot the idea of a new king, and turned their angry thoughts towards Thorin and his company. Wild and bitter words were shouted from many sides; and some of those who before had sung the old songs loudest, were now heard as loudly crying that the dwarves had stirred the Dragon up against them deliberately!
‘Fools!’ said Bard. ‘Why waste words and wrath on those unhappy creatures? Doubtless they perished first in fire, before Smaug came to us.’ Then even as he was speaking, the thought of the fabled treasure of the Mountain came [suddenly >] into his heart, and he fell suddenly silent; and he thought of the Master’s words, and of Dale rebuilt, and filled with golden bells, if he could but find the men.
At last he spoke again: ‘This is no time Master for angry words, or for considering weighty plans and great changes. There is work to do. I serve you still – though after a while, I may think again of your words, and go North with any that will follow me’.TN4 Then he strode off to help in the ordering of the camps and in the care of the sick and wounded. But the Master scowled at his back as he went, and remained sitting on the ground. He thought much, but he said little, unless it was to call loudly for men to bring him fire and food.
Now everywhere Bard went he found talk running like fire among the people concerning the vast treasure that was now without a guard. Men spoke of the recompense for all their harm that they would soon get from it, and wealth over and to spare wherewith to buy rich things from the South;TN5 and it cheered them greatly in their plight. That was fortunate, for their night was bitter and miserable. Shelters could be contrived for few, and there was little food. Many took ill of wet and cold and anguish [> sorrow] that night, and afterwards died, who had escaped uninjured from the town; and in the days that followed there was much sickness and great hunger. Meanwhile Bard took the lead, and ordered things as he wished, though always in the Master’s name; but he had a hard task to govern the people, and to arrange [> direct] the preparations for their protection and recovery. Probably most of them would have perished in the winter that now hurried [onwards >] after autumn, if help had not been to hand.TN6
But help came swiftly; for Bard had at once had [swift >] speedy messengers sent up the river to the Forest to ask help of the King of the Elves, and these messengers had found a host already on the move, although it was only the second day after the fall of Smaug.TN7
The Elven king had received news of what passed from his scouts and from the birds that loved his folk. Very great indeed was the commotion among all things with wings that dwelt on the borders of the desolation of the dragon. The air was filled with circling flocks, and swift-flying messengers sped here and there across the sky. Above the borders of the forest the air was filled with the noise of birds whistling, crying and piping. Far over Mirkwood the tidings spread: [added: ‘Smaug is dead’] Leaves rustled and startled ears were lifted. Even before the Elvenking rode [from his <?halls> >] forth the news had passed west even to the pinewoods of the Misty Mountains, and the Goblins were at council in their halls.
[But >] ‘That will be the last we shall hear of Thorin Oakenshield, [added: I fear]’ said the king. ‘He would have done better to remain my guest. It is an ill wind all the same’ he added ‘that blows no one good’, for he too had not forgotten the legend of the wealth of Thror. So it was that Bard’s men found him now riding [> marching] with all the spearmen and bowmen he could muster; and all the crows were gathered above him, for they thought they saw signs of <?battle and> wars awakening again, such as had not been for a long time. [cancelled: But some of the woodelves were gone direct towards the Mountain:]
Now the king when he received the prayers of the Bard because of his old friendship with the men of the lake; and because he was a lord of good and kindly race turned his marchTN8 which had been purposed to go direct toward the mountain, and turned [> went] along the river towards Lake-Town [> the Long lake]. He had not boats or rafts enough for all his host and they had [> were forced] to go the slower road [> way] by foot, but great store of goods he sent ahead by water. Still elves are light-footed, and though [they] were not much used to the marshes and treacherous lands between the Forest and the Lake, their going was swift; and but four days from the fall of Smaug the[y] came upon the shores of the Lake, and looked on the burnt ruins of the town. Their welcome was good, as may be expected, and the men & their Master were ready to make any bargain for the future in return for the Elvenking’s aid.
Their [<?dangers> were s[oon] >] plans were soon made. With the women and children, the old and the unfit the Master remained behind, & with him were some men of crafts and many skilled elves; and they busied themselves felling trees and with these and such timber as was sent from the Forest they set about the raising of many huts by the shore against the oncoming winter; also under the Master’s direction [farther >] they began the planning of a new town, designed more fairly and more large even than before, but in a place removed somewhat [> a little] northward, for they liked not the water where the body of the dragon lay.
A rider (1/1/15:11), written in pencil on a loose, unnumbered sheet of lined student notepaper, was clearly meant to be inserted at this spot, although there is no indication of its existence or exact placement on the page it supplements:
He would never again to his golden bed, but was lying cold [added: as stone, his bones > twisted] upon the floor of the shallows of the Lake – where forever after his great bones could be seen in calm weather amid the ruined pile of the old town if any dared to cross the accursed spot. But [<?men> >] they rebuilt the town in a different place and none ever
A second rider (1/1/15:12), more carefully written in ink on a small piece of good paper, replaces this with a more polished form of the same passage:
He would never again return to his golden bed but was lying cold as stone, twisted upon the floor of the shallows of the lake, where for ever after his great bones could be seen in calm weather amid the ruined piles of the old town, if any one dared to cross the accursed spot.TN9
At the bottom of this text appear the penciled words ‘new p. 4.’, indicating that this rider is meant to go with Third Phase page 4 (1/1/16:1), which began with the words ‘four days from the fall of Smaug’ a paragraph and a half earlier.
But all the men of arms who were still able, and the most of the host of the king, got ready to march north to the Mountain. It was thus that in seven days from the death of Smaug that the head of their host passed the rock-gates at the end of the lake and came to the desolate lands.
At this point, Tolkien later began a new chapter (Chapter XV: ‘The Gathering of the Clouds’). On the manuscript page itself, in the middle of Third Phase manuscript page 4 (1/1/16:1), only a double skipped line between the third and fourth paragraphs marks the shift in scene. There is some evidence that Tolkien did not intend a chapter break to come here in the ‘home manuscript’; see page 666 below.
Now we will return to Bilbo and the Dwarves. All night one of them in turn had watched, but when morning came no sign of danger had been seen. But still yet more thickly the birds were gathering. Their companies came flying from the south, and the crows that still lived about the mountain were wheeling <&> crying unceasingly [added: above].TN10
‘Something strange is happening’ said Thorin. ‘The time has gone for the autumn wanderings; and there are birds that dwell ever in the land, starlings and flocks of finches – and there are many crows [> carrion birds far off] as if a battle were afoot.’
Suddenly Bilbo pointed: ‘There is that old thrush again’ he cried. ‘He seems to have escaped when Smaug smashed the mountain-side; but I don’t suppose the snails have!’
Sure enough the old thrush was there, and as Bilbo pointed he flew towards them and perched on a stone nea
rby. Then he fluttered his wings and sang; then he cocked his head as if to listen; and again he sang and again he listened.
‘I believe he is trying to tell us something’ said Balin; ‘but I don’t understand the tongue of small [> such] birds, it is very quick and difficult. Do you, Mr Baggins?’
‘Not very well’ said Bilbo (he did not know anything about it as a matter of fact),TN11 ‘but this old fellow seems very excited.’
‘I only wish he was a raven’ said Balin.
‘I thought you did not like them’ said Bilbo. You seemed to be very nervous [> shy] of them when we came this way before.’
‘Those were crows! And nasty suspicious-looking creatures at that, & rude as well. You must have heard the ugly names they were calling after us. But the ravens are different. There used to be a [added: great] friendship between them and the people of Thror, and they were often our scouts and news-bringers [> bringers of secret news to us]. [There are some that still linger here, I know, for I have seen >
The History of the Hobbit Page 78
