The Hobbit (14 page)

The dwarves groaned and looked most distressed, and Bilbo wept. They had begun to think Gandalf was going in come all the way and would always be there to help them out of difficulties. I am not going to disappear this very instant, said he. I can give you a day or two more. Probably I can help you out of your present plight, and I need a little help myself. We have no food, and no baggage, and no ponies to ride; and you dont know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are still some miles north of the path which we should have been following, if we had not left the mountain pass in a hurry. Very few people live in these parts, unless they have come here since I was last down this way, which is some years ago. But there is somebody that I know of, who lives not far away. That Somebody made the steps on the great rock-the Carrock I believe he calls it. He does not come here often, certainly not in the daytime, and it is no good waiting for him. In fact it would be very dangerous. 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 wherever you fare! They begged him not to leave them. They offered him dragon-gold and silver and jewels, but he would not change his mind.

We shall see, we shall see! he said, and I think I have earned already some of your dragon-gold when you have got it.

After that they stopped pleading. Then they took off their clothes and bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and stony at the ford. When they had dried in the sun, which was now strong and warm, they were refreshed, if still sore and a little hungry. Soon they crossed the ford (carrying the hobbit), and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and the tall elms.

And why is it called the Carrock? asked Bilbo as he went along at the wizards side.

He called it the Carrock, because carrock is his word for it. He calls things like that carrocks, and this one is the Carrock because it is the only one near his home and he knows it well.

Who calls it? Who knows it?

The Somebody I spoke of-a very great person. You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly, two by two, I think; and you must be careful not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humoured. Still I warn you he gets angry easily.

The dwarves all gathered round when they heard the wizard talking like this to Bilbo. Is that the person you are taking us to now? they asked. Couldnt you find someone more easy-tempered? Hadnt you better explain it all a bit clearer?-and so on.

Yes it certainly is! No I could not! And I was explaining very carefully, answered the wizard crossly. If you must know more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer.

What! a furrier, a man that calls rabbits conies, when he doesnt turn their skins into squirrels? asked Bilbo.

Good gracious heavens, no, no, NO, NO! said Gandalf. Dont be a fool Mr. Baggins if you can help it; and in the name of all wonder dont mention the word furrier again as long as you are within a hundred miles of his house, nor, rug, cape, tippet, muff, nor any other such unfortunate word! He is a skin-changer. He changes his skin; sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.

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 is marvellous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide. I once saw him sitting all alone on the top of the Carrock at night watching the moon sinking towards the Misty Mountains, and I heard him growl in the tongue of bears; The day will come when they will perish and I shall go back! That is why I believe he once came from the mountains himself.

Bilbo and the dwarves had now plenty to think about, and they asked no more questions. They still had a long way to walk before them. Up slope and down dale they plodded. It grew very hot. Sometimes they rested under the trees, and then Bilbo felt so hungry that he would have eaten acorns, if any had been ripe enough yet to have fallen to the ground. It was the middle of the 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. Especially there was clover, waving patches of cockscomb clover, and purple clover, and wide stretches of short white sweet honey-smelling clover. There was a buzzing and a whirring and a droning in the air. Bees were busy everywhere. And such bees! Bilbo had never seen anything like them.

If one was to sting me, he thought, I should swell up as big again as I am!

They were bigger than hornets. The drones were bigger than your thumb, a good deal, and the bands of yellow on their deep black bodies shone like fiery gold.

We are getting near, said Gandalf. We are on the edge of his bee-pastures.

After a while they came to a belt of tall and very ancient oaks, and beyond these to a high thorn-hedge through which you could neither see nor scramble.

You had better wait here, said the wizard to the dwarves; and when I call or whistle begin to come after me you will see the way I go-but only in pairs, mind, about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two, he had better come alone and last. Come on Mr. Baggins! There is a gate somewhere round this way. And with that he went off along the hedge taking the frightened hobbit with him.

They soon came to a wooden gate, high and broad, beyond which they could see gardens and a cluster of low wooden buildings, some thatched and made of unshaped logs; barns, stables, sheds, and a long low wooden house. Inside on the southward side of the great hedge were rows and rows of hives with bell-shaped tops made of straw. The noise of the giant 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, very sleek and well-groomed, trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces; then off they galloped to the buildings.

They have gone to tell him of the arrival of strangers, said Gandalf. Soon they reached a courtyard, three walls of which were formed by the wooden house and its two long wings. In the middle there was lying a great oak-trunk with many lopped branches beside it. Standing near was a huge man with a thick black beard and hair, and great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles. He was clothed in a tunic of wool down to 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. They dont look dangerous. You can be off! 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 Gandalf.

As for Bilbo he could easily have trotted through his legs without ducking his head to miss the fringe of the mans brown tunic. I am Gandalf, said the wizard.

Never heard of him, growled the man, And whats this little fellow? he said, stooping down to frown at the hobbit with his bushy eyebrows. That is Mr. Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation, said Gandalf. Bilbo bowed. He had no hat to take off, and was painfully conscious of his many missing buttons. I am a wizard, continued Gandalf. 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 Southern borders of Mirkwood?

Yes; not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe. I used to see him now and again, said Beorn. Well, now I know who you are, or who you say you are. What do you want?

To tell you the truth, we have lost our luggage and 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 youve been having trouble with them have you? What did you go near them for? We did not mean to. They surprised us at night in a pass which we had to cross, we were coming out of the Lands over West into these countries-it is a long tale.

Then you had better come inside and tell me some of it, if it wont take all day, said the man leading the way through a dark door that opened out of the courtyard into the house.

Following him 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 rising to the blackened rafters in search of the way out through an opening in the roof. They passed through this dim hall, lit only by the fire and the hole above it, and came through another smaller door into a sort of veranda propped on wooden posts made of single tree-trunks. It faced south and was still warm and filled with the light of the westering sun which slanted into it, and fell golden on the garden full of flowers that came right up to the steps.

Here they sat on wooden benches while Gandalf began his tale, and Bilbo swung his dangling legs and looked at the flowers in the garden, wondering what their names could be, as 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 Beorn. Well to tell you the truth, I did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until I found out if you were busy. I will give a call, if I may. Go on, call away!

So Gandalf gave a long shrill whistle, and presently Thorin and Dori came round the house by the garden path and stood bowing low before them. One or three you meant, I see! said Beorn. But these arent hobbits, they are dwarves!

Thorin Oakenshield, at your service! Dori at your service! said the two dwarves bowing again.

I dont need your service, thank you, said Beorn, but I expect you need mine. I am not over fond of dwarves; but if it is true you are Thorin (son of Thrain, son of Thror, I believe), and that your companion is respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins 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 land of their fathers, away east beyond Mirkwood, put in Gandalf, and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at all. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have brought us to the road that lies to the south of your country, when we were attacked by the evil goblins-as I was about to tell you. Go on telling, then! said Beorn, 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 took refuge in a cave, the hob bit and I and several of our companions

Do you call two several?

Well, no. As a matter of fact there were more than two.

Where are they? Killed, eaten, gone home?

Well, no. They dont seem all to have come when I whistled. Shy, I expect. You see, we are very much afraid that we are rather a lot for you to entertain.

Go on, whistle again! I am in for a party, it seems, and one or two more wont make much difference, growled Beorn.

Gandalf whistled again; but Nori and Ori were there almost before he had stopped, for, if you remember, Gandalf had told them to come in pairs every five minutes.

Hullo! said Beorn. You came pretty quick-where were you hiding? Come on my jack-in-the-boxes!

Nori at your service, Ori at . . . they began; but Beorn interrupted them.

Thank you! When I want your help I will ask for it. Sit down, and lets get on with this tale, or it will be supper-time before it is ended. As soon as we were asleep, went on Gandalf, 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? What were you-a travelling circus? Or were you carrying lots of goods? Or do you always call six a troop?

O no! As a matter of fact there were more than six ponies, for there were more than six of us-and well, here are two more! Just at that moment Balin and Dwalin appeared and bowed so low that their beards swept the stone floor. The big man was frowning at first, but they did their very best to be frightfully polite, and kept on nodding and bending and bowing and waving their hoods before their knees (in proper dwarf-fashion), till he stopped frowning and burst into a chuckling laugh; they looked so comical. Troop, was right, he said. A fine comic one. Come in my merry men, and what are your names? I dont want your service just now, only your names; and then sit down and stop wagging!

Balin and Dwalin, they said not daring to be offended, and sat flop on the floor looking rather surprised.

Now go on again! said Beorn to the wizard.

Where was 1? O yes I was not grabbed. I killed a goblin or two with a flash- Good! growled Beorn. It is some good being a wizard, then. -and slipped inside the crack before it closed. I followed down into the main hall, which was crowded with goblins. The Great Goblin was there with thirty or forty armed guards. I thought to myself even if they were not all chained together, what can a dozen do against so many? A dozen! Thats the first time Ive heard eight called a dozen. Or have you still got some more jacks that havent yet come out of their boxes? Well, yes, there seem to be a couple more here now Fili and Kili, I believe, said Gandalf, as these two now appeared and stood smiling and bowing.