The Hobbit
Tolkien’s tale of dragons, magic rings and enchanted gold is one of the masterpieces of English literature.
1937
© Alex Saunier, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0 France.
‘Far over the misty mountains cold / To dungeons deep and caverns old’... The Matterhorn in Switzerland, shrouded in cloud and dusted with snow.
Introduction
A Hobbit (Tolkien’s own mythological invention) is like a Man but much shorter, with furry feet, and he is content with an uneventful rural life. But Mr Bilbo Baggins was about to be sent on an Adventure, when all he wanted was breakfast.
THORIN, a proud king among dwarves,* was heir to a kingdom deep beneath the Lonely Mountain, and to the vast treasure within. However, the dragon Smaug was now lying on that treasure, and as warriors were rare, Thorin was looking for a burglar to help him steal it.
Gandalf, the wizard, selected middle-aged, soft-hearted hobbit Bilbo Baggins for the task. Thorin was not impressed, and events did little to change his mind.
After Bilbo became separated from his companions in the goblin- infested Misty Mountains, frankly they were not inclined to go back and look for him.
Yet down at the very roots of the mountains, Bilbo had stumbled on a magic ring that made you invisible. To the despair of Gollum, the pitiable creature who for countless years had been its keeper in the darkness, Bilbo escaped with the ring, and unexpectedly rejoined his companions.
Soon, Thorin began to have an altogether different opinion of Mr Baggins.
The more usual plural of ‘dwarf’ is ‘dwarfs’ (like ‘roof/roofs’), which is how C.S. Lewis spells it in his ‘Narnia’ tales.
