The History of the Hobbit Read online

  In the odd behavior of the dwarves over the gold plundered from the trolls’ lair, we see once again the dwarven association with curses and malefic magic:

  The coins they carried out and loaded onto ponies and took them away and buried them very secretly not far from the track by the river, with a deal of spells and curses over them, just in case (p. 97)

  For more on dwarven curses, see pp. 598–9.

  (ii)

  Bilbo’s Contract

  As already noted in the discussion of Fimbulfambi’s Map (p. 23), Tolkien delighted in providing his readers with physical objects from the world of the story. Some of these, such as the map of the Mountain, found their way into print as part of the books they were meant to accompany, although not as he had envisioned them. Others, such as the pages from the Book of Mazarbul meant to accompany the Moria chapters of The Lord of the Rings, proved too difficult to reproduce and languished for decades, only to be printed at last in art books, divorced from their proper context. Another fine example is the previously unpublished copy of Bilbo’s contract (plate two of the Frontispiece), written in tengwar, the most famous of Tolkien’s invented alphabets. Since it uses the name ‘Thorin’ for the chief dwarf rather than ‘Gandalf’, it obviously belongs to a later stage of composition and in fact was made sometime between February 1937 and February 1938.11

  The tengwar text is a semiphonetical transcription (for example, the word ‘honour’, in Thorin’s closing line is spelled ‘onr’). The text is essentially that of the published book, differing from the draft mainly in the name-change from ‘Gandalf and company’ to ‘Thorin & Co’ (he even signs the facsimile with his initial, þ[orin] O[akenshield]) and in the addition of extra legalese. Thus ‘necessary preparations’ becomes ‘requisite preparations’. More amusingly, the terms of the contract are expanded to cover a number of eventualities: after the phrase ‘one fourteenth share of total profits’ are added the following riders:

  . . . total profits (if any); all travelling expenses guaranteed in any event; funeral expenses to be defrayed by us or our representatives, if occasion arises and the matter is not otherwise arranged for.

  – i.e., if the burglar has not been eaten or met with some similar fate. The comic precision of these terms later becomes important in the climax, when fair distribution of the treasure becomes the moral crux upon which the resolution of the story depends.

  In addition to this facsimile, Tolkien also made three illustrations of the troll-scene, only one of which was used. Together, they illustrate the whole encounter. The first, and best, of the pictures, ‘Trolls’ Hill’ (Plate IV [bottom]), shows the fire Dwalin spotted off in the distance as a single red spot on an otherwise black-and-white drawing; the necessity for colour reproduction was probably the key factor in this slightly ominous picture’s exclusion. The second, the sinister picture included in The Hobbit (‘The Trolls’), shows a dwarf approaching a forest clearing where three monstrous figures lurk just out of sight among the trees.12 The third and final illustration (Plate V [top]) shows the great lumpish figures of the trolls turning to stone at sunrise; also clearly visible are the wizard with his staff, Bilbo hiding in the thorn bushes, and the captive dwarves.

  Another illustration probably intended for this chapter is the ‘The Hill: Hobbiton’ (Plate IV [top]), which in one version or another has long served as a frontispiece for the published book; the whole sequence is reproduced in Artist & Illustrator (H-S#92–98), while Anderson places three examples in their proper place, near the beginning of ‘Chapter 2: Roast Mutton’ (DAA.62–3). As noted in Text Note 2 (p. 98), the placement of Bag-End at the top and the Great Mill at the bottom shows us the route Bilbo took in his mad dash to keep his appointment with Gandalf & Company. The change of the rendezvous from the Great Mill to first the Green Man and then the Green Dragon Inn obscured the picture’s direct tie to the action, relegating it to a background piece. In all versions, we can see Bag-End centered in the distance, with the winding road Bilbo ran down (‘a mile or more’) before meeting the dwarves outside the Mill.

  Text of Bilbo’s Contract

  For purposes of comparison, I give here the text from the Second Phase manuscript (pp. 88–9) followed by Taum Santoski’s transcription of the tengwar document.

  Manuscript text:

  Gandalf and company to Burglar Bilbo, greetings! For your hospitality our sincerest thanks, and for your offer of professional assistance our grateful acceptance. Terms cash on delivery up to and not exceeding one fourteenth share of total profits. Thinking it unnecessary to disturb your esteemed repose we have proceeded in advance to make necessary preparations, and shall await your respected person at the Great Mill across the river at 11 a.m sharp. Trusting you will be punctual we remain yours deeply G & Co.

  Tengwar text from the facsimile document:

  Thorin and Company to Burglar Bilbo

  Greeting!

  For your hospitality our sincerest thanks, and for your offer of professional assistance our grateful acceptance. Terms: cash on delivery, up to and not exceeding one fourteenth of total profits (if any); all travelling expenses guaranteed in any event; funeral expenses to be defrayed by us or our representatives, if occasion arises and the matter is not otherwise arranged for.

  Thinking it unnecessary to disturb your esteemed repose, we have proceeded in advance to make requisite preparations, and shall await your respected person at the Green Dragon Inn, Bywater, at 11 a.m. sharp. Trusting that you will be punctual,

  —We have the honour to remain

  Yours deeply

  Thorin & Co.

  * * *

  † See page 110

  Chapter III

  Rivendell

  Once again the text continues without break, although this time what later became the third chapter starts at the top of a new page (manuscript page 32; Marq. 1/1/3:1); the chapter title for this short chapter (‘A Short Rest’) was added much later.

  They did not sing or tell stories anymore that day, even though the weather improved; nor the next day, nor the day after.TN1 They camped under the stars, and their horses had more to eat than they did. For there was plenty of grass, but their bags were getting low, even with what [Gandalf >] Bladorthin had brought back on his white horse.

  One afternoon they forded the river at a wide shallow place full of the noise of stones and foam. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top leading their ponies, they saw the great mountains had marched down very near to them. Already they were [> seemed to be] only a day’s amble from the feet of them [> the nearest mountain]. Dark and drear they looked, though there were patches of sunlight on their brown sides, and behind their shoulders the tips of snow peaks gleamed.

  ‘Is that the mountain [> Mountain]’ said Bilbo in a solemn voice; looking at the nearest one – a bigger thing than he had ever seen before.

  ‘Of course not!’ said Balin ‘this is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains,TN2 and we have got to get through or over or under them somehow, before we get to the wide land beyond. And it is the deal of a way and all from the tother side of these mountains to the Lonely Mountain in the East where Smaug lies on our treasure’.

  ‘Oh!’ said Bilbo, & just at that moment he felt tireder than he ever remembered. He was thinking once again of his comfy chair beside the fire in his favourite sitting room in his hobbit hole with the kettle singing. Not for the last time.

  Now Bladorthin led the way. ‘We must not miss it, or we shall be quite done for’ he said. ‘We need food for one thing, and rest (in reasonable safety) – and it is very necessary to tackle the misty mountains by the one and only proper path, or else we shall get lost in them, and never come back.TN3

  They asked him where he was making for. ‘You are now at the very Edge of the Wild’ he answered. ‘Somewhere ahead is the Last Decent HouseTN4 – I have been there already and they are expecting us.’

  You would fancy it ought to have been easy to make straight for that h
ouse: There seemed no trees, and no hills, and no breaks in the ground, though it sloped up ahead to meet the feet of the mountain, the colour of heather and rock, with grass green and moss green where the rivers and rivulets were.TN5

  That is what it looked like in the afternoon sun. Still you couldn’t see a house. Then when you rode on a bit you began to understand that that house might be hidden anywhere at all between you and the mountains. There were quite unexpected valleys [full of trees >] narrow with steep sides that you came on all of a sudden, and look into surprised to find them full of trees and a rushing water at the bottom. There were gullies you could almost jump over, but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were ravines that you couldn’t jump across, or get down into or climb out of. There were bogs, green pleasant sort of patches some of them with flowers growing; but ponies never came out again that walked on that grass with packs on their backs.

  And it was a much much wider land from the ford to the mountain than ever you bargained for. And the only road [> path] was marked by white stones. Some of the stones were small enough,TN6 and heather and moss were half over others. Altogether it was a slow business.

  It seemed only a little way they had gone following Bladorthin, his head and beard wagging this way and that as he searched for the path, when the day began to fail. Tea time had long gone by, and it seemed suppertime soon would do the same. There were moths and flies about. There was no moon. Bilbo’s pony began to stumble on the stones.

  They came to the edge of a steep fall in the ground so suddenly that Bladorthin’s horse nearly fell over it.TN7 ‘There it is’ said the wizard and they came to the edge and looked, and they saw a valley far below. They could hear the noise of hurrying water rising from rocks at the bottom, the scent of trees was in the air, and there was a light on the valley side across the water.

  Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dark down the steep zigzag path into that valley. The air grew warmer as they got [added: lower] down, and the smell of the pine trees made him drowsy till he nodded and bumped his nose on his pony’s neck, or got nearly shaken out of his seat when it slipped on [> by a sudden trip over] a stone or a root. But they all felt a deal more cheery when they came to the bottom. There was [a] comfortable sort of feeling in that valley in the twilight. The noise of the water under the bridge they crossed by had a wholesome sound.TN8 There was green grass in patches among the rocks of the river’s shores. ‘Hm’ said the hobbit; ‘it feels like elves’TN9 – and he looked up at the stars. They were burning bright; and just then there was a burst of laughter in the trees.

  O! What are you doing,

  And where are you going?

  Your ponies need shoeing!

  The river is flowing!

  O! tra-la-la-lally

  here down in the valley!

  O! What are you seeking,

  And where are you making?

  The faggots are reeking,

  The bannocks are baking!

  O! tril-lil-lil-lolly

  the valley is jolly,

  ha! ha!

  O! Where are you going

  With beards all a-wagging?

  No knowing, no knowing

  What brings Mister Baggins

  And Balin and Dwalin

  down into the valley

  in June

  ha! ha!

  O! Will you be staying,

  Or will you be flying?

  Your ponies are straying!

  The daylight is dying!

  To fly would be folly,

  To stay would be jolly

  And listen and hark

  Till the end of the dark

  to our tune

  ha! ha!

  So they laughed and sang in the trees. Elves of course, and soon Bilbo could see them as the dark deepened. He loved them as nice hobbits do, and he was a little bit frightened of them too.TN10 Dwarves don’t get on so well with them. Even decent enough dwarves like Gandalf and his friends think them foolish (which is a very foolish thing to think) and get annoyed. But elves laugh at them, [and] most of all at their beards.

  ‘Well well’ said a voice, ‘just look at dear old Bilbo the hobbit on a pony, my dear! Isn’t it delicious!’

  ‘Most astonishing and wonderful’

  And then off they went into another song as ridiculous as the one I have written down in full.

  At last one, a tall young fellow, came out from the trees and bowed to Bladorthin and to Gandalf.

  ‘Welcome to the valley’ he said.

  ‘Thank you’ said Gandalf a bit gruffly. Bladorthin was already off his horse and among the elves talking merrily to them.

  ‘You are a bit off the path’ said the elf, ‘that is if you are making for only way across the water, and the house beyond. We will set you right, but you had best [get off >] get on foot till you are over the bridge. Are you going to stay [added: a bit] and sing with us, or will you go straight on? Supper is preparing over yonder’ he said ‘I can smell the wood fires and the baking’.TN11

  Tired as he was Bilbo would have liked to stay a while. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. Also he would have liked to find out how these people knew his name so pat and all, though Elves are wondrous people for news,TN12 and know what is going on among the peoples of the lands as quick as water flows or quicker.

  But the Dwarves were all for supper just then. So on they went, leading their ponies, [to a >] till they found a good path, and so in the end came down to the river’s very brink. It was flowing fast as mountain streams do of a summer evening when sun has been on the snow far away all day. There was only a narrow bridge without parapet, and narrow as [a] pony could well walk on, and over it they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his pony by the bridle. The elves had brought bright lanterns to the shore, and they sang a merry song as the party went across.

  ‘Don’t dip thy beard in the foam father,’ they cried to Gandalf who was bent almost on hands and knees. ‘It is long enough without watering it. Mind Bilbo doesn’t eat all the cakes’ they called ‘he is too fat to get through key-holes yet’.

  ‘Hush hush good people, and good night’ said Bladorthin who came last. ‘Valley[s] have ears, and elves have over merry tongues. Good night’.

  And so at last they came to the Last Homely House, and found its doors flung wide.

  Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are swift to tell about [> quickly told about], and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable palpitating and even fearsome and gruesome to see or pass through make [> may make] a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, [all >] a week at least, and they found it hard to leave, and Bilbo would gladly have stopped there for ever and ever (not even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble). Yet there is not much to tell about it [> their stay].

  The master of the house was an elf-friend – one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories of the beginning of history and the wars of the Elves and goblins, and the brave men of the North.TN13 There were still some people in those days [who were >] who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was one. He was as good to look at (almost) as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as Christmas. And his house was perfect, whether you liked food or sleep or work or storytelling or singing or just sitting and thinking best. Bad things did not come into that valley.

  I wish I had time [to] tell you even a few of the tales or one or two of the songs that they heard in his house. They all [> All of them], and the ponies as well, grew wonderfully rested and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended, and their bruises and tempers and hopes as well. Their bags were filled with food and provisions light to carry but strong to bring them over the
mountain passes. Their plans were improved, and discussed and made better [> improved with the best advice]. And so the time came to midsummer eve, and they were to go on again with the early sun on midsummer morning. Elrond knew all about all runes of every kind. He looked at [their map >] the swords they had brought from the Trolls’ lair, and he said:

  ‘These are not troll-make. They are old swords, very old swords of the elves that are called Gnomes,TN14 and they were made in Gondolin for the goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon’s hoard, for dragons it was that destroyed that city many ages ago.’ He looked at the keys and he said ‘these are [dwarf-make, and >] troll-keys, but there is one in the bunch that is not. It is a dwarf-key.’

  ‘So it is’ said Gandalf, when he looked at it. ‘Now where did that come from.’

  ‘I couldn’t say’, said Elrond ‘but I should keep it safe and fast if I were you.’ And Gandalf fastened it to a chain and put it round his neck under his jacket.

  [He >] Elrond looked at their map, and he shook his head; for if he did not altogether approve of dwarves and their love of gold, he hated dragons and their cruel wickedness, and he did not like to think of the ruin of the town of dale, and its merry bells, and the burned banks of the bright river Running.

  The moon was shining – it was now getting near the full [>