The History of the Hobbit

by John D. Rateliff

But I do not suppose there > any of that wise race that linger here now. >] They live many a year and their memories are long, and they hand [on] their wisdom to their children. I had many friends [> knew many] among the ravens of the rocks when I was a dwarf-lad. This very ridge we are on was once named ‘Ravenhill’ for there was a wise and famous pair [added: old Kark and his wife] that dwelt here above the guard-chamber. But I do not suppose that any of that ancient race linger here now.’TN12

  No sooner had he finished speaking than the old thrush gave a loud call, and immediately flew away.

  ‘[That old bird >] We may not understand him, but that old bird understood [> understands] us, I am sure’ said Thorin. ‘Keep watch now, & see what happens!’

  Before long there was a fluttering of wings, and back came the Thrush; but with him came another most decrepit old bird. He was getting blind, he could hardly fly, and the top of his head was bald. He was an aged raven of great size. He alighted stiffly on the ground before them, slowly flapped his wings and bobbed towards Thorin.

  ‘O Thorin, Thrain’s son, Thror’s son, & Balin son of Fundin’ he croaked, and Bilbo found he could understand what he said. ‘I am Roäc son of Carc. Carc is dead, but he was well-known to you once. It is a hundred years and three and fifty since I came out of the egg, but I do not forget what my father told me. [Now] I am the chief of the great Ravens of the Mountain. We are few [and we >] but we remember still the King that was of old. The others are mostly gone south, where there are great tidings – some are tidings of joy to you, and some you will not think so good. Behold! the birds are gathering back again to the Mountain from South and East and West, for word has gone forth that Smaug is dead!’

  ‘Dead?’ shouted the dwarves. ‘Dead! Then we have been in needless fear – and the treasure is ours!’ They sprang up and began to caper about for joy.

  ‘Yes, dead’ said Roäc. ‘The thrush, may his feathers never fail, has seen it [> saw him die], and we may trust his words. He saw him fall in battle with the men of Esgaroth the third night back from now, at the rising of the moon. So much for joy, Thorin Oakenshield. You may go back to your halls in safety; all the treasure is yours – for the moment. But many are gathering hither other than [> besides] the birds. The news of the death of the guardian has gone far and wide, & many are eager for a share of the spoil. Already an army is on the way, and carrion birds are with them, hoping for battle and slaughter. The Elvenking is coming hither; and by the Lake men murmur that their sorrows are due to you; For they are homeless and many are dead, & Smaug has destroyed their town. They purpose too to find amends from your treasure, whether you are alive or dead (as they expect). [I have sp[oken] > I have >] Your own wisdom must decide your course; but thirteen is small remnant of the great folk of Durin that now is scattered far. If you will hearken to my advice you will trust [rather Bard the bow-man; for he it was that shot >] not the Master of the lake-men, but rather him that shot the dragon with his bow. Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true. We would see peace once more among dwarves and men and elves after the long desolation; but it may cost you dear in gold. I have spoken.’

  Then Thorin burst forth in wrath [> anger]: ‘our thanks Roäc Carc’s son. You and your people shall not be forgotten. But none of our gold shall thieves or the violent have while we are still alive. If you would earn our thanks still more bring us news of any approach [> that draw near]. Also I would beg you, if any of you are yet young and strong of wing, that you would send messengers to our kin in the mountains of the North, both west from here and East, and tell them of our plight. But go specially to my cousin Dain at [> in] the Iron hills, for he has many people well armed and bid him hasten [> and dwells nearest to this place; and bid him hasten].’TN13

  ‘I will not say if this plan be good or bad’ [said >] croaked Roäc; but I will [cancelled: try to] do what can be done,’ and off he slowly flew.

  ‘Back now to the mountain’ said Thorin. ‘We have little time to lose.’

  ‘And little food to use!’ cried Bilbo, always practical on such points. In any case he felt that the adventure was properly speaking over with the death of Smaug – in which he was muchTN14 mistaken – and would have given much of his share of the profits for a peaceful winding-up of these affairs.

  ‘Back to the mountain’ cried the dwarves, as if they had not heard; so back with them he had to go.

  As you have heard some of the events that were going on about already you will see that the dwarves still had some days before them. They laboured hard, for tools were still to be found in plenty in their old halls [added: and at such work they were greatly skilled] and [added: as they worked] the ravens brought them constant tidings.

  This last sentence was cancelled and replaced by an expanded passage crowded into the left margin:

  They explored the halls once more, & found as they had expected that, but the main Gate remained open. All the others save the more [> smaller] secret door, had long ago been broken and blocked by smaug. So now they laboured hard in fortifying the Eastern Gate. Tools were to still be had in plenty that the miners and quarriers and builders of old had used, and at such work they were greatly skilled. As they worked the Ravens brought them constant tidings.

  Thus they learned [after four days’ toil that the joined host of the elves >] that the Elvenking had turned aside to [the] Lake, and they still had breathing space. Better still they heard that three of their ponies were wandering wild far down upon the river banks, not far from where their stores had been left. So while the others went on with their chief task of fortifying the gate, Fili and Kili were sent guided by a raven to [bring in such suppl[ies] >] find the ponies and bring back all they could.

  [It was four days >] They were four days gone, and by that time they knew that the joined armies of the lake-men and Elves were hastening towards them. But now their hopes were more high, for they had food for some weeks with care, and the gate was block[ed] with a wall of squared stones laid dry but very thick and high across the opening. There were holes in it [for see >] from which they could see or shoot, but no entrance. They climbed in and out by ladders, or hauled stuff up with ropes. For the issuing of the river [> stream] they had contrived an arch [> a small arch], [but they so altered its bed near the entrance that >] under the new wall, but near the entrance they so altered its [narrow] bed that a wide pool [stood >] stretched from the mountain wall to the head of the falls over which it went on towards Dale, and approach to the Gate was only by a narrow path that wound close to the high [bank >] cliff southward. [There was no pasture for the ponies, so these they took >] The ponies they had brought only to the head of the steps above the old bridgeTN15 and unloading them had bidden return to their mortal masters,TN16 and sent them back riderless to the south.

  The[re] came an evening [> a night] when suddenly there were many lights as of fires and torches away East [ the >] in Dale before them. ‘They have come,’ called Balin ‘and their camp is great. They must have come into the valley under the covering of dusk; and most are on the north side of the River.’

  That night they [> the dwarves] slept little. The morning was still pale when they saw a company approaching. From behind their wall they watch[ed] them come up the valley’s head and climb [ >] slowly up. Soon they saw that both men of the lake armed as for war, and elvish bowmen were among them. At last they climbed the rocks and appeared at the fall’s head; and great was their surprise to see the pool before them, and the [blocked gate >] gate blocked with a wall of new-hewn stone.

  Then Thorin hailed them: ‘Who are you’ he called in a loud voice ‘that come as if to war to the gates of Thorin son of Thrain, king under the Mountain, and what do you desire?’

  But they answered nothing; some turned swiftly back and [the] others after gazing long at the gate and its defences soon followed them. That day the camp was moved, and came right between the arms of the mountain. The rocks echoed then with voices an
d with song, as they had not done for many a day. There was sound [too] of elven-harps and sweet music; and Bilbo longed to escape and go forth and join in the feasting by the fires. Even the dwarves [> Thorin was] moved, & muttered that he would things had fallen out other-wise, and that he might welcome such folk as friends.TN17 But Thorin scowled.

  A pencilled addition, scribbled at the end of the paragraph and in the left margin, introduces the idea of dwarven music as a counter to the elven song outside:

  But the dwarves themselves brought forth the[ir] harps and <?instruments> regained from the hoard & made music to heart[en] and they sang again songs as they had done in B’s .

  There is no indication here that Tolkien intended to include an actual song at this point, but an unnumbered page in pencil on a loose sheet of student paper (1/1/16:12) survives that is clearly the very first rough workings for the poem that was later inserted here (i.e., in the resumed First Typescript). The typescript version of the preceding paragraph notes that ‘their song . . . was much like the song they had sung long before in Bilbo’s little hobbit-hole’ (1/1/65:4), and indeed one stanza of the final poem is identical (the third in the new poem and the second in the old) and another reproduces three lines out of four (the fourth in both poems, differing only in one line and one word), while the other stanzas reuse some of the rhymes and phrasing from the earlier poem (compare DAA.321–2 with DAA.44–5). The two are clearly meant to be companion pieces, depicting the hoped-for goal at the onset of the quest and its apparent achievement at what Bilbo had optimistically hoped would be its end.

  Under the Mountain dark and tall

  [The King is > returns his ha[ll] >] The King is come

  unto his hall

  The [<?thane> >] worm of dread

  This foe is dead the worm of dread

  [And so shall his foes >] And ever so his foes shall fall

  [The Gate is strong, the >]

  The sword is sharp the spear is long

  The arrow swift the Gate is strong

  The heart is bold that looks on gold TN18

  That wrong.TN19

  [It . >]

  It fears not

  The is swift the [> No more the dwarves]

  The king shall suffer TN20 [> shall suffer wrong]

  The Dwarves lift up the hearts afar

  Where ever folk of Durin are.

  Come haste come haste across the waste

  The king has need of friend <&> [> friend and k.]TN21

  [The dwarves >] The mountain throne once more is freed

  O folk of Durin O wandering folk the summons heed

  The king of kin and friend hast need.

  the melody of harp they wrung

  Now call their voices over mountains cold

  Come back unto the cavern old

  Rejoice where [added: hoarded] silver lies and gold

  Here at the gates the king [added: now] awaits

  his hands [are >] with silver > with gifts of silver

  and of gold

  Despite its extreme roughness, this first draft is recognizably the same poem as the final piece in the published book, the main differences being the insertion of two stanzas from the companion poem in Chapter I (one of which was slightly altered in the process), thus expanding it from the five stanzas of the draft to the seven of the final poem, the combination of the draft’s third and fourth stanzas into a single stanza (the fifth) in the final, and the addition of a final stanza that recaps the first but with its lines in slightly different order. The poem appears in its final form in the continuation of the First Typescript exactly as in the published book and, like all the other poems in The Hobbit, Tolkien left it unaltered from the first printing onwards.

  The next morning a company of spearmen came and they bore amid them the green banner of the Elvenking and the blue banner of the Lake; and they came by the narrow path [and >] until the[y] stood right before the wall at the gate.

  Again Thorin asked the same questionTN22 as before, and this time it was answered. A tall man stood forward dark of hair and he cried:

  ‘Hail Thorin! [We >] Why do you fence yourself like a robber in his hold. We are not [added: yet] foes, and we rejoice that you are alive beyond our hope. [But still > We come hither > we came hither not >] We came expecting to find none living here, yet now that we are met there seems to be much matter for a parley and & a council.’

  ‘Who are you and of what would you parley’ answered Thorin.

  ‘I am Bard and by my hand was the Dragon slain and your treasure delivered. Is not that a matter that concerns you? Moreover I am by right descent the heir of Girion of Dale, and in your hoard is mingled much of the wealth of his halls and towers, which of old Smaug stole. Is not that a matter of which we may speak? Further in his last battle Smaug destroyed the town of Esgaroth, and I am yet the servant of its master. I would speak for him and ask whether you have no thought for the sorrow and misery of his people, who aided you in your distress, and on whom you have thus far brought ruin only, if undesigned, in recompense.’

  Now these were fair and true words, if [hars[h] >] proudly and grimly spoken, and Bilbo thought that Thorin would admit what justice was in them. But he did not reckon with the power that gold [added: has] upon which a dragon has long brooded, nor with dwarvish hearts.TN23 Long hours in the past days had Thorin spent in the treasury, and the lust of it was heavy upon him. Though he hunted chiefly for the Arkenstone, yet he had an eye for every other thing that here was gathered, and about most were wound old memories of the labours and the sorrows of his race.TN24

  ‘You put your worst cause in [last >] the chief place he answered.TN25 To the treasure of my people you have no claim because Smaug who stole it from us also robbed you of life and home. The treasure is not Smaug’s that his heirs should pay for his evil deeds with it!TN26 The price of the goods that we had of the lake-men we will fairly pay [and > in due time > hour] – but nothing will we give, not a loaf’s worth, under threat of force. While an armed host lies before our doors, we look on you as thieves and foes.

  ‘It is in my mind to ask what [recompense you >] share of their inheritance you would have paid to our kindred had you found the hoard unguarded and us dead.’TN27

  ‘A just question’ replied Bard. ‘Yet you are not dead, and we have no thought at least of robbing you alive. [And still >] Moreover the wealthy may have pity on the needy [added: that helped [> befriended] them when they needed help]. And still my other claims remain unanswered.’TN28

  ‘I will not parley, as I have said, with armed men at my gate. Nor at all with the people of the Elvenking, whom I remember with small kindness. In this debate they have no place. Begone now ere our arrows fly. And if you would speak with me again, [added: first] dismiss the elvish host [added: to the woods where it belongs] and come [hither >] to my gates and lay down [first >] your arms upon the threshold.’

  ‘The Elvenking is my friend, and he has succoured the people of Esgaroth in their need, though we have [> they had] no claim but friendship on him,’ answered Bard. ‘We will give you time to repent your words. Gather your wisdom ere we return.’ Then he departed and went back to the camp.TN29

  Ere many hours were past, the banner bearers [and trumpeters >] returned and trumpeters stood forth and blew a blast. ‘In the name of Esgaroth and the Elvenking’ one criedTN30 ‘we bid you [> him] consider the claims that have been urged, or be declared our foes [> foe]. At least shall you deliver one twelfth portion of the treasure unto Bard, as the dragon-slayer, and as the heir of Girion. From that he will himself contribute to the aid of Esgaroth; but if you will have the friendship of the lands about you, as your sires of old, then you will add also somewhat of your own beside.’TN31

  Then Thorin seized a bow of horn, and shot an arrow at the speaker. It smote in his shield and stuck quivering there.TN32

  ‘Since such is your answer’ he called in return ‘I [can >] declare this Mo
untain besieged. You shall not depart from it until you call [> ask] on your side for a truce and a parley. We bear no weapons against you, but we leave you to your gold; and you may eat that, if you will.’

  With that the messengers departed swiftly, and the dwarves were left to consider their case. So [fie[rce] >] grim had Thorin become that they did not dare to murmur against him.TN33 Indeed most of them seem to share his mind, except perhaps for old fat Bombur, and Fili and Kili; and of course for Bilbo. He had by now had more than enough of the Mountain, and being besieged in it was not at all to his taste. It still smelt hatefully of dragon anyway; and food was short and poor.

  TEXT NOTES

  1 The latter half of this paragraph, all the words following ‘his own kingdom’, was cancelled and replaced at once by ‘Dale is now free – but wise men will stay here’ which in turn was changed to ‘ – Dale is now free, and nothing hinders his return. And any that wish can go with him, if they prefer the cold stones under the mountain-shadow to this waterside. The wise will stay here and hope to rebuild our town, and enjoy again in time its peace and riches.’

  2 I cannot read the cancelled word preceding ‘slumber’, but it ends in -dable, possibly mendable.

  3 A cancelled page (1/1/17:3) survives that represents an earlier draft of the Third Phase text that originally followed this passage. Undoubtedly once the second page in the Third Phase text, it survives because its blank verso was used shortly thereafter to become new page 14 [= 1/1/17:2].

  his slumber, I might ask? Who obtained of us rich gifts and ample help, and led us to believe that our old songs would come true? Who played upon our foolish [added: soft hearts] generosity and our pleasant dreams? What sort of gold have they sent down the river to recompense [> reward] us? Dragon-fire and ruin! From whom shall we claim the recompense of our damage, and the help of our widows and orphans?’

  [From which >