The Hobbit / Хоббит. 10 класс

Suddenly the red light shone very brightly through the trees not far ahead. “Now it is the burglar’s turn,”[23] they said. “Bilbo, you must go and find out all about that light, and what it is for,” said Thorin to the hobbit. “Now go, and come back quickly, if all is well. If not, come back if you can! It you can’t, hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl, and we will do what we can.”

So Bilbo had to go off, before he could explain that he could not hoot even once like any kind of owl. But hobbits can move absolutely quietly in woods. And he came up to the fire without disturbing anyone. There he saw three very large trolls sitting round a very large fire. They were roasting mutton on long spits of wood. There was a barrel of good drink nearby, and they were drinking out of jugs.

“Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and mutton again tomorrow, Tom” said one of the trolls.

“Yes, Bert. We haven’t had a bit of manflesh[24] for ages,” said another troll. “Why did William bring us here?” he said. “Shut your mouth!” answered William, the troll, sitting next to them. Bilbo was standing in the shadows. He had heard that stealing things from the trolls’ pockets was really easy, so he crept behind a tree just behind William.

Bert and Tom went off to the barrel. William was having another drink. Then Bilbo put his little hand in William’s huge pocket. There was a purse in it. He lifted it carefully out. But suddenly the purse said, “Hey, who are you?” and William turned round at once and grabbed Bilbo by the neck.

“Bert, look what I’ve caught!” said William.

“What is it?” said the others coming up.

“I don’t know! Who are you?”

“Bilbo Baggins, a bur – a hobbit,” said poor Bilbo.

“A burrahobbit?” said they.

“What was a burrahobbit doing in my pocket?” said William.

“And can you cook them?” said Tom.

“You can try,” said Bert.

“But he is so small!” said William.

“Perhaps there are more like him nearby, and we can make a pie,” said Bert. “Are there any more of your sort in these woods?” said he looking at Bilbo.

“Yes, lots,” said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away. “No, none at all, not one,” he said at once.

“What do you mean?” said Bert.

“Please don’t cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself. I’ll cook beautifully for you, a perfectly beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won’t have me for supper.”

“Poor little thing![25] Let him go!” said William.

“But first let him explain ‘lots and none at all’,” said Tom. “I don’t want anyone cut my throat in my sleep. Hold his toes in the fire, till he talks!”

“No!” said William. “I caught him anyway.”

“You’re a fat fool, William,” said Bert, and the trolls started fighting.

Right in the middle of the fight Balin came up. The dwarves had heard noises from a distance, and after waiting for some time, they started to creep towards the light as quietly as they could. But as soon as Tom saw Balin, he gave an awful cry. Trolls simply hate dwarves (uncooked). Bert and Bill stopped fighting at once, and quickly put a sack over Balin’s head.

Soon other dwarves appeared and all of them got into sacks. Bilbo was lying under a bush, not moving.

Just then Gandalf came back. But no one saw him. The trolls had just decided to roast the dwarves now and eat them later.

“That’s not a good idea,” said a voice. Bert thought it was William’s.

“Don’t start the argument, Bill,” he said, “or it will take all night.”

“Who’s a-arguing?” said William, who thought it was Bert that had spoken.

“You are,” said Bert.

“You’re a liar,” said William; and so the argument started. Soon the trolls started fighting.

“Now stop it!” said Tom and Bert together. “The dawn comes early!”

“At dawn you will turn into stone!” said a voice that sounded like William’s. But it wasn’t. Just at that moment the light came over the hill. William never spoke because he stood turned to stone; and Bert and Tom also turned into stones as they looked at him. And there they stand to this day; for trolls, as you probably know, must be underground before dawn, or they turn into stone and never move again. That is what had happened to Bert and Tom and William. “Excellent!” said Gandalf, as he stepped from behind a tree, and helped Bilbo up.

Then they untied the sacks and let out the dwarves.

“Don’t waste our time now. The trolls must have a cave or a hole somewhere nearby. We must look into it!”

They searched about, and soon found the marks of trolls’ stony boots going away through the trees. They followed the tracks up the hill, until they came on a big door of stone leading to a cave. But they could not open it, not though they all pushed while Gandalf tried various spells.

When they were getting tired and angry, Bilbo asked, “Will this key help? I found it on the ground where the trolls had their fight.” He showed a large key. Perhaps it had fallen out of William’s pocket, very luckily, before he turned into stone.

Gandalf grabbed the key and put it into the key-hole. Then the stone door opened, and they all went inside. There were bones on the floor and a horrible smell was in the air; but there was a lot of food on shelves and on the ground, and in the corner there were many pots full of gold coins. On the walls there were several swords of various shapes and sizes. Two of them were really beautiful. Gandalf and Thorin each took one of these; and Bilbo took a knife in a leather sheath.

“Let’s get out of this horrible smell!” said Fili. So they carried out the pots of coins and the food, also one barrel of ale which was still full. Now they had bread and cheese, and plenty of ale, and bacon to toast. After that they slept, and they did nothing more till the afternoon. Then they brought up their ponies, and carried away the pots of gold, and buried them very secretly not far from the track by the river, putting very many spells over them, just in case they had the chance to come back and pick them up. When that was done, they all went on towards the East.

Chapter 3

A Short Rest

One morning they crossed a river at a wide shallow place. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top of it, leading their ponies, they saw the great mountains very near. It seemed only a day’s easy journey from the feet of the nearest.

“Is that The Mountain?” asked Bilbo. He had never seen a thing that looked so big before.

“Of course not!” said Balin. “That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains. And it is a long way from them to the Lonely Mountain in the East where Smaug lies on our treasure.”

Now Gandalf led the way. “We must not miss the road,” he said. “We need food and rest. Also it is very necessary to go through the Misty Mountains by the proper path, or else you will get lost in them, and have to come back and start at the beginning again (if you ever get back at all).”

And then he said, “You have come to the very edge of the Wild. Not far away there is a valley where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House. I sent a message, and we are expected.”

Morning passed, afternoon came; but there was no sign of any house. They went on and on. Suddenly Gandalf’s horse stopped. “Here it is at last!” he called, and the others gathered round him and looked over the edge. They saw a valley far below. They could hear the water running at the bottom; and there was a light on the valley-side across the water. The air grew warmer as they got lower. Their spirits rose as they went down and down. Finally they came to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream.

“Hmm! It smells like elves![26]” thought Bilbo, and he looked up at the stars. They were burning bright and blue. Just then there came a song like laughter in the trees. They were elves of course.

Soon Bilbo saw their silhouettes. He loved elves but he was a little frightened of them, too. Dwarves don’t get on well with them. Even respectable dwarves like Thorin and his friends think them foolish, or get annoyed with them.

“Well, well!” said a voice. “Just look! Bilbo the hobbit on a pony, my dear! Isn’t it fantastic!”

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

“Welcome to the valley!” he said.

“Thank you!” said Thorin; but Gandalf was already off his horse and among the elves, talking merrily with them.

“You are a little lost,” said the elf. “We will show you the way, but you should go on foot, until you are over the bridge. You can have supper over there,” he said.

The dwarves wanted to have supper as soon as possible, so they went on, leading their ponies, till they came to the river. It was flowing fast and noisily. There was only a narrow bridge of stone without a parapet; and over that they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his pony. The elves had brought bright lanterns to the shore, and they sang a merry song.

“Thank you, Good People! And good night!” said Gandalf, who came last.

“Good night!” answered elves.

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

They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they didn’t want to leave.

The master of the house was a friend of elves – one of those people whose fathers came into the history before the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief. He was noble and good-looking, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as respected as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. His house was perfect.

All of the guests, the ponies as well, grew refreshed and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended. Their bags were filled with food. Their plans were improved with the best advice. So the time came to leave, and they went on again with the early sun on midsummer morning.

Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls’ place, and he said: “These were not made by trolls. They are very old swords of the High Elves of the West. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. Keep them well!”

“We will do that,” Thorin and Gandalf said.

Then Erond looked at their map. The moon was shining brightly. He held up the map and the white light shone through it.

“What is this?” he said. “There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say ‘five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.’”

“What are moon-letters?” asked the hobbit full of excitement. He loved maps, and he also liked runes and letters.

“Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them,” said Elrond, “not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens.”

“What do they say?” asked Gandalf and Thorin together.

“Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks,” read Elrond, “and the setting sun with the last light of Durin’s Day will shine upon the key-hole.”

“Durin, Durin!” said Thorin. “He was the father of the fathers of the eldest race of Dwarves, the Longbeards, and my first ancestor: I am his heir.”

“Then what is Durin’s Day?” asked Elrond.

“The first day of the dwarves’ New Year,” said Thorin, “when the last moon of autumn and the sun are in the sky together.”

Then Elrond gave the map back to Thorin; and then they went down to the water to see the elves dance and sing.

The next morning they rode away, with their hearts ready for more adventure. Now they knew the road that they had to follow over the Misty Mountains to the land beyond.

Chapter 4

Over Hill and Under Hill

The way was long and dangerous. Once there was a terrible thunderstorm, and the dwarves found a dry cave to spend there some time.

It seemed not too large and mysterious. At one end there was room for the ponies. Oin and Gloin wanted to light a fire at the door to dry their clothes, but Gandalf didn’t let them do it. So they put their wet things on the floor, and took dry ones out of their bags; then they made their blankets comfortable, got out their pipes and blew smoke rings. They talked and talked, and forgot about the storm, and discussed what each would do with his share of the treasure; and so they fell asleep one by one. But Bilbo could not go to sleep for a long while; and when he fell asleep, he had very nasty dreams. Suddenly he woke up and saw that a crack had opened at the back of the cave, and was already a wide passage. He was just in time to see the ponies’ tails disappearing into it. Of course he gave a very loud scream.

Out jumped the goblins, great ugly-looking goblins, lots of goblins. There were six to each dwarf, at least, and two even for Bilbo; and they were all grabbed and carried through the crack. But not Gandalf. Bilbo’s scream had wakened him up at once, and when goblins came to grab him, there was a terrible flash like lightning in the cave, and several of them fell dead.

The crack closed, and Bilbo and the dwarves were on the wrong side of it! Where was Gandalf? It was very dark. The passages there were crossed in all directions, but the goblins knew their way. The goblins were very rude, and laughed in their horrible voices.

Now there came a red light before them. The goblins took out whips and whipped the dwarves and Bilbo and forced them to run. Soon they came into a big cavern. There was a great red fire in the middle, and there were torches along the walls, and it was full of goblins. They all laughed and clapped their hands, when they saw the dwarves and little Bilbo. The ponies were already there; and all the packages were broken open.

That was the last time they saw their little ponies, because goblins eat horses and ponies and donkeys, and they are always hungry. Now the goblins chained the prisoners’ hands and linked them all together in a line and dragged them to the far end of the cavern.

There in the shadows on a large flat stone sat a tremendous goblin with a huge head, and armed goblins were standing round him.

“Who are these miserable persons?” said the Great Goblin.

“Dwarves and this!” said one of the drivers, pulling at Bilbo’s chain so that he fell forward onto his knees.

“We found them in our Front Porch.”

“What did you do there?!” said the Great Goblin turning to Thorin. “What can you say?”

“Thorin the dwarf at your service!” he replied – it was just a polite nothing.[27] “We sheltered from a storm in a cave that seemed unused.”

“But what were you doing up in the mountains at all, and where were you coming from, and where were you going to? Tell me the truth, or I will prepare something really uncomfortable for you!”

“We are on a journey to visit our distant relatives who live on the East side of these mountains,” said Thorin.

“He is a liar!” said one of the drivers. “Several of our people were struck by lightning in the cave and died. Also he has not explained this!” He held out the sword which Thorin had worn, the sword which came from the Trolls’ place.

The Great Goblin gave an awful cry of rage when he looked at it. The goblins knew the sword at once. It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver,[28] but the goblins called it simply Biter. They hated it.

“Murderers and friends of elves!” the Great Goblin shouted. “Beat them! Bite them! Take them away to dark holes full of snakes!” He jumped off his seat and himself rushed at Thorin with his mouth open. Just at that moment all the lights in the cavern went out, and the great fire turned into a tower of blue smoke.[29] The sparks were burning holes in the goblins. Soon they were falling over one another and rolling on the floor, biting and kicking.

Suddenly a sword flashed. Bilbo saw it go right through the Great Goblin and he fell dead. Then the sword went back into its sheath.

“Follow me quickly!” said a voice. Dori made Bilbo climb on his shoulders and then they all rushed down dark passages. A pale light was leading them.

Of course it was Gandalf; but just then they were too busy to ask how he got there. He took out his sword again, and again it flashed in the dark. This sword’s name was Glamdring the Foe-hammer.[30] The goblins just called it Beater, and hated it worse than Biter. Orcrist, too, had been saved because Gandalf had taken it from one of the frightened guards.

“Are we all here?” said he, handing his sword back to Thorin with a bow. “Let me see: yes, thirteen dwarves and Mr Baggins! Well, well! But we have no ponies, and no food, and we don’t know where we are, and angry goblins are just behind! Go!”

Still goblins go faster than dwarves, and these goblins knew the way better, and were madly angry. So soon the dwarves could hear the goblins.

At this point Gandalf fell behind,[31] and Thorin with him. They turned a sharp corner.

“Draw your sword, Thorin!” Gandalf shouted. There was nothing else to be done; and the goblins did not like it. They came round the corner, and found Goblin-cleaver and Foe-hammer shining bright. “Biter and Beater!” they shrieked; and soon they were all in confusion, and most of them were running back.

By that time the dwarves had gone on again, a long, long, way on into the dark tunnels of the goblins’ realm. When the goblins discovered that, they chose their quickest runners with the sharpest ears and eyes. These ran forward silently. That is why neither Bilbo, nor the dwarves, nor even Gandalf heard them coming. They didn’t see them, either. But the goblins saw them.

Quite suddenly Dori, carrying Bilbo, was grabbed from behind in the dark. He shouted and fell; and the hobbit rolled off his shoulders into the blackness, bumped his head on hard rock, and remembered nothing more.

Chapter 5

Riddles in the Dark

When Bilbo opened his eyes, it was dark. He could hear nothing, see nothing, and he could feel nothing except the stone of the floor.

Suddenly his hand felt a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking. Then his hand came on the hilt of his little sword – the little dagger that he got from the trolls, and that he had forgotten.

Somehow he was comforted. He had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins.

At last Bilbo got up and walked with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall. The tunnel seemed endless. On and on he went, and down and down; and still he heard no sound of anything. Suddenly he got into water! It was icy cold. The sword was hardly shining at all. He stopped, and he could hear, when he listened hard, drops dripping from an unseen roof into the water below.

“So it is a pool or a lake, and not an underground river,” he thought. Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. He had two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed quietly on the lake; for it was a lake, wide and deep and deadly cold. He looked for blind fish, which he grabbed with his long fingers. He liked meat too.

Actually Gollum lived on a slimy island of rock in the middle of the lake. He was watching Bilbo now from the distance with his pale eyes like telescopes. Gollum got into his boat and moved from the island, while Bilbo was sitting and thinking. Suddenly Gollum came up to the hobbit.

Bilbo jumped nearly out of his skin when he suddenly saw the pale eyes looking at him.

“Who are you?” the hobbit said, holding his dagger in front of him.

“And you?” whispered Gollum.

“I am Mr Bilbo Baggins. I have lost the dwarves and I have lost the wizard, and I don’t know where I am.”

“What have you got in your hands?” said Gollum, looking at the sword, which he did not quite like.

“A sword which came out of Gondolin!”

“Well,” said Gollum, and became quite polite, “perhaps you like riddles. Let’s play.”

“Very well,” agreed Bilbo. “You ask first,” he said, because he had not had time to think of a riddle.

So Gollum hissed:

“What has roots as nobody sees,Is taller than trees,Up, up it goes,And yet never grows?”

“Easy!” said Bilbo. “It’s a mountain, I suppose.”

“Was it so easy? Let’s have a real competition! If I ask, and you don’t answer, I will eat you. If you ask me, and I don’t answer, then I will do what you want, okay? I will show you the way out, yes!”

“All right!” said Bilbo.

“Thirty white horses on a red hill,First they champ,Then they stamp,Then they stand still.”

It was rather an old riddle, and Gollum knew the answer:

“Teeth! Teeth!” Then he asked another riddle:

“This thing all things devours:Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;Gnaws iron, bites steel;Grinds hard stones to meal;Slays king, ruins town,And beats high mountain down.”

Poor Bilbo sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all the giants and ogres he had ever heard, but not one of them had done all these things. He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he should know it, but he could not think of it. He began to get frightened, and that is bad for thinking. He wanted to shout out: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But all that came out was:

“Time! Time!”

Bilbo was saved by chance, because that was the correct answer.

Gollum was disappointed once more; and now he was getting angry, and also tired of the game. It had made him very hungry indeed. He sat down in the dark by Bilbo.

“Now ask me a question,” said Gollum. But Bilbo simply could not think of any question because he was really nervous. Bilbo pinched himself and slapped himself; he gripped on his little sword; he even felt in his pocket with his other hand. There he found the ring he had picked up in the passage and forgotten about.

“What have I got in my pocket?” he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was terribly upset.

“Not fair![32] Not fair!” he hissed.

Bilbo just didn’t know what to ask so he repeated louder, “What have I got in my pocket?”

“Give me three guesses, three guesses” hissed Gollum.

“Very well! Guess!” said Bilbo.

“Hands!” said Gollum.

“Wrong,” said Bilbo, who had luckily just taken his hand out again. “Guess again!”

Gollum thought of all the things he kept in his own pockets: fish-bones, goblins’ teeth, wet shells, a bit of bat-wing, and other nasty things. He tried to think what other people kept in their pockets.

“Knife!” he said at last.

“Wrong!” said Bilbo. “Last guess!”

Now Gollum hissed and rocked himself backwards and forwards; but still he did not dare to waste his last guess.

“Come on!” said Bilbo. “I am waiting!” He tried to sound bold and cheerful. “Time’s up!” he said.

“String!” shrieked Gollum.

“Wrong,” cried Bilbo very much relieved; and he jumped at once to his feet, put his back to the nearest wall, and held out his little sword. He knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred. But he felt he could not trust this slimy thing to keep any promise.

But Gollum did not attack him. He could see the sword in Bilbo’s hand. He sat still, shivering and whispering. At last Bilbo could wait no longer.

“Well?” he said. “What about your promise? I want to go. You must show me the way.”

“Certainly, but first I must go and get some things to help me,” answered Gollum.

“Well, hurry up!” said Bilbo.

He thought that Gollum was not going to come back. But he was wrong. Gollum wanted to come back. He was angry now and hungry. And he was a wicked creature, and already he had a plan. In his hiding-place Gollum kept one very beautiful thing. He had a gold ring. He wanted it because it was a magic ring, and if you put that ring on your finger, you were invisible. Gollum hid it in a hole in the rock on his island. And sometimes he put it on, when he was very, very hungry, and tired of fish. Then he moved silently along dark passages looking for stray goblins to catch and eat them.