Feeling around on the floor, he happens to come across a ring, which he puts in his pocket. He has no idea where the rest of the company is, or in which direction the exit lies. Picking the path he feels he had been traveling with the dwarves, he soon comes across an underground lake. There, he discovers a strange creature named Gollum.
When Gollum sees Bilbo prowling around, obviously lost, he is interested and a bit hungry, so he approaches the hobbit. Bilbo brandishes his sword when he hears Gollum's hissing voice. Gollum does not wish to contend with the sword, so he proposes a riddle game. If Gollum's riddle stumps Bilbo, he will eat Bilbo, but if Bilbo's stumps Gollum, Gollum will show Bilbo the way out of the mountain. Bilbo has no choice but to agree, and they begin asking each other riddles.
In the end, Bilbo wins through a bit of trickery. Referring to the ring he had found, he asks, "What have I got in my pocket?" and Gollum cannot guess the right answer. Gollum, however, does not intend to let his meal get away so easily. He goes to his island in the middle of the lake to get his "precious," a golden ring that makes its wearer invisible—the very ring that Bilbo had found. Unable to find the ring, Gollum suspects the hobbit of stealing it and runs at him in a rage.
Through sheer luck, Bilbo happens to slip on the ring, and Gollum runs right past him. Realizing the ring's power, Bilbo follows Gollum, who heads toward the exit thinking that Bilbo is ahead of him. When Gollum gets near the exit, he stops because there are goblins crowded around it. Bilbo leaps over him, runs past the goblins unnoticed thanks to the ring, and just barely manages to squeeze through the door into freedom and fresh air.Summary 2:Bilbo wakes up in the dark.
He has no idea what's happening, so he gropes around the tunnel trying to get his bearings.Bilbo puts his hand on a metal ring. (Dun dun dun!)As the narrator points out, "[the ring] was the turning point in his career but he did not know it" (5.2).After all, this is the prequel to The Lord of the Rings.Anyhoo, back to the action: Bilbo puts the ring in his pocket and goes on his merry way.
He finds that he's still armed with that little knife he got from the trolls' treasure cave.The knife is glowing faintly: like Orcrist and Glamdring, it must be of elvish make.Bilbo feels a bit braver with the knife in hand, so he keeps on down this dark tunnel.Bilbo suddenly puts his foot in cold water: he has reached an underground lake.On an island in this underground lake lives Gollum, a small slimy fellow who's been living under the mountains and dodging goblins for longer than he can remember.
Gollum sees Bilbo, gets into his little boat, and comes rowing out to attack him. Here we go!Bilbo holds Gollum off with his knife.Gollum challenges Bilbo to a riddle game to get on Bilbo's good side.If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show the hobbit how to get out of the goblins' caves.
If Gollum wins, Gollum gets to eat Bilbo. High stakes!The two exchange riddles for a while, but Bilbo starts to get flustered.In his panic, he asks the first thing that pops into his head: "What have I got in my pocket?" (5.54).
Of course, Gollum fails to guess the right answer.Bilbo is on guard: he knows that he's on shaky ground because his question wasn't a real riddle.Gollum says he'll show Bilbo the way out, but he has to get something first.Gollum rows back to his island to find something special of his: "a ring of power, and if you slipped that ring on your finger, you were invisible" (5.78).But the ring is gone!Gollum rows back to Bilbo wailing about having lost his "precious" (5.
82) - the ring.Suddenly, Gollum gets suspicious: what does Bilbo have in his pockets? Could it be - the ring?Gollum leaps at Bilbo, but Bilbo happens to slip on the ring.Suddenly, Bilbo is invisible. Gollum is confused.Gollum sits weeping and muttering to himself.
He wants to get his "birthday-present" (5.100) back.Gollum assumes Bilbo's heading for the exit, so he starts to creep down the tunnel to try and find him.Bilbo follows Gollum as quietly as he can, allowing Gollum to show him the way out.When they get close to the door, Gollum stops.
He can't go on because he might be seen by the goblins.Bilbo almost kills Gollum to get him out of the way.But he feels so much pity for the wretched fellow that he decides to jump over Gollum instead.Gollum shouts after him: "Thief, thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!" (5.122).
Bilbo races down the passageway.He finds the open door surrounded by goblin guards.He has a bad moment when the ring slips off and they all rush at him together.But Bilbo manages to burst through the exit just before the door shuts.
Phew!
Gandalf implores the company to get moving again since only the sunlight is keeping the goblins from coming after them. The group is a bit north of where they had planned to be, and they have difficult country to cross. Evening comes as they pass through a grove of trees. Suddenly, they hear the howling of wolves and barely have time to scurry up into the trees before the wolves descend upon them.
The beasts are actually wolflike creatures called Wargs. The Wargs are allies of the goblins, and they quickly notify the goblins of the situation. The goblins begin to arrive and, laughing at the company's predicament, light fires under the trees in which Gandalf, the dwarves, and Bilbo are hiding. Gandalf prepares to attack the goblins, hoping to kill as many as he can before they kill him.
Luckily for the company, the Lord of the Eagles has seen the commotion from his roost high in the mountains. With a number of other eagles, he swoops down, picks up the marooned travelers, and flies them to safety. The eagles are friends of Gandalf's and enemies of the goblins. They are happy to provide food and rest for the weary travelers, who then continue on their journey.Summary 2:Bilbo has come out the other side of the Misty Mountains.But what is he supposed to do next? He's alone in the middle of the wild!Fortunately, as he walks along, he soon overhears arguing voices: it's the dwarves and Gandalf.
He decides to sneak up on them and give the group a bit of a surprise.So Bilbo puts his ring on and walks right up to their fire before announcing, "And here's the burglar!" (6.13).Everyone is very impressed by Bilbo's skills.But they're not out of the woods yet: the goblins will come hunting the dwarves when night comes, so they have to find some place safe.After a long evening of travel, they stumble into a moonlit clearing.
They hear wolves howling nearby.Gandalf tells everyone, "Up the trees quick!" (6.52).They all get up into the trees just in time to avoid being eaten by Wargs - "for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild are named" (6.59).
The Wargs keep pouring in to the clearing. They're waiting for the goblins to arrive.Gandalf starts setting pine cones on fire and hurling them like grenades at the Wargs in the clearing.The sounds of the Wargs "howling [.
..] crying and yammering" (6.65) attracts the attention of the Lord of the Eagles.
The Lord of the Eagles gathers a bunch of his eagle friends and flies out to investigate.Meanwhile, the burning Wargs have been running around setting the clearing on fire.So, all the dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo are caught in burning trees.The goblins have arrived, and they are dancing around these trees singing, "Bake and toast 'em, fry and roast 'em! / till beards blaze and eyes glaze" (6.75). (Eep!)Luckily, before these horrible things happen, the eagles swoop in and rescue our friends.
Gandalf is friends with the Lord of the Eagles, so the Lord of the Eagles agrees to bring them all far away from the Misty Mountains.
Gandalf takes the dwarves to Beorn's house a few at a time, so as not to startle him. He tells Beorn the story of their adventure in the mountain. Gandalf's story amuses Beorn greatly because he despises goblins, who are enemies of nature. Beorn offers the company much-needed food and lodging. He also does some scouting and finds that the Wargs and goblins have put together an attack party in order to find the dwarves and wizard that killed their leader, the Great Goblin.
To evade this attack party, Beorn recommends that the group take the northern pass (the elf path) through Mirkwood, which will bring them near the Lonely Mountain. This choice will throw the goblins off the company's trail and allow them to bypass the dangerous southern pass. The northern pass is not entirely safe either, so Beorn repeatedly warns his guests never to stray from the path. Beorn provides the group with food and ponies to carry them to the gate at the path's start. From there, however, they must return the ponies and travel on foot.
When they reach the path, Gandalf also departs, wishing his friends the best and reminding them never to stray from the path—dark things lurk in Mirkwood that even the wizard does not know about. On that note, the dwarves and the hobbit plunge into the forest.Summary 2:The eagles fly Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves to a place near the Carrock.The Carrock is the home of "the Somebody [Gandalf] spoke of - a very great person" (7.
18).Gandalf comes up with a plan: he and Bilbo are going to introduce themselves, and then the dwarves can follow two-by-two at decent intervals.So Gandalf and Bilbo approach the house of this Somebody.Somebody is "a huge man with a thick black beard and hair, and great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles" (7.
34).He is Beorn, and he's a skin-changer - a shape-shifter.He has a large, spacious house with lots of beehives and gets waited on by smart, alert little horses.Gandalf settles in with Beorn and starts talking about the adventures of Bilbo, Thorin, and the dwarves.Every now and again, two more dwarves will turn up and introduce themselves, thus interrupting the story.Beorn gets irritated by the interruptions, but Bilbo finally realizes that the interruptions are also keeping Beorn interested in Gandalf's tale.
Beorn hates goblins, so he gets really excited when Gandalf describes how he killed the Great Goblin with his sword.When all the dwarves have arrived, Beorn is so delighted by the story that he offers them dinner.After supper, Beorn leaves the house. He warns the dwarves to stay inside the hall.
Late at night, Bilbo hears the growl of a bear outside.The next morning, Gandalf tells them all, "There must have been a regular bears' meeting outside here last night [...] I should say there were little bears, large bears, ordinary bears, and gigantic big bears, all dancing outside from dark to nearly dawn" (7.
111).The bear tracks go in the direction of the Misty Mountains.They don't see Beorn again for another day. When he arrives the next morning, he seems very cheerful.
In his bear shape, he has traveled all the way to the Misty Mountain and found that Gandalf's story is true.Beorn warns that the goblins and the Wargs are angry, and are gathering huge armies to go after their little band.Beorn provides the dwarves with provisions and directions for how to get through the dangerous forest of Mirkwood.He warns them not to go off the path into the forest.They all arrive at the edge of Mirkwood.
There, Gandalf leaves the dwarves and Bilbo behind. He has "some pressing business away south" (7.136).The dwarves are disappointed to see Gandalf go (of course - if you're on an expedition, you don't want to lose your wizard!).Gandalf's last words to them are: "Good-bye! Be good, take care of yourselves - and DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!" (7.147).
