[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Bilbo thought he knew what the wizard meant.  What shall we do, he cried,  if he leads all
the Wargs and the goblins down here? We shall all be caught and killed! I thought you said he
was not a friend of theirs.
 So I did. And don t be silly! You had better go to bed, your wits are sleepy.
The hobbit felt quite crushed, and as there seemed nothing else to do he did go to bed;
and while the dwarves were still singing songs he dropped asleep, still puzzling his little head
about Beorn, till he dreamed a dream of hundreds of black bears dancing slow heavy dances
round and round in the moonlight in the courtyard. Then he woke up when everyone else was
asleep, and he heard the same scraping, scuffling, snuffling, and growling as before.
Next morning they were all wakened by Beorn himself.  So here you all are still! he said.
He picked up the hobbit and laughed:  Not eaten up by Wargs or goblins or wicked bears yet I
see ; and he poked Mr. Baggins waistcoat most disrespectfully.  Little bunny is getting nice
and fat again on bread and honey, he chuckled.  Come and have some more!
So they all went to breakfast with him. Beorn was most jolly for a change; indeed he
seemed to be in a splendidly good humour and set them all laughing with his funny stories;
nor did they have to wonder long where he had been or why he was so nice to them, for he
told them himself. He had been over the river and right back up into the mountains from
which you can guess that he could travel quickly, in bear s shape at any rate. From the burnt
wolf-glade he had soon found out that part of their story was true; but he had found more than
that: he had caught a Warg and a goblin wandering in the woods. From these he had got
news: the goblin patrols were still hunting with Wargs for the dwarves, and they were fiercely
angry because of the death of the Great Goblin, and also because of the burning of the chief
wolf s nose and the death from the wizard s fire of many of his chief servants. So much they
told him when he forced them, but he guessed there was more wickedness than this afoot,
and that a great raid of the whole goblin army with their wolf-allies into the lands shadowed by
the mountains might soon be made to find the dwarves, or to take vengeance on the men and
creatures that lived there, and who they thought must be sheltering them.
 It was a good story, that of yours, said Beorn,  but I like it still better now I am sure it is
true. You must forgive my not taking your word. If you lived near the edge of Mirkwood, you
would take the word of no one that you did not know as well as your brother or better. As it is,
I can only say that I have hurried home as fast as I could to see that you were safe, and to of-
fer you any help that I can. I shall think more kindly of dwarves after this. Killed the Great
Goblin, killed the Great Goblin! he chuckled fiercely to himself.
 What did you do with the goblin and the Warg? asked Bilbo suddenly.
 Come and see! said Beorn, and they followed round the house. A goblin s head was
stuck outside the gate and a warg-skin was nailed to a tree just beyond. Beorn was a fierce
enemy. But now he was their friend, and Gandalf thought it wise to tell him their whole story
and the reason of their journey, so that they could get the most help he could offer.
This is what he promised to do for them. He would provide ponies for each of them, and a
horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest, and he would lade them with food to last
them for weeks with care, and packed so as to be as easy as possible to carry nuts, flour,
sealed jars of dried fruits, and red earthenware pots of honey, and twice-baked cakes that
would keep good a long time, and on a little of which they could march far. The making of
these was one of his secrets; but honey was in them, as in most of his foods, and they were
good to eat, though they made one thirsty. Water, he said, they would not need to carry this
side of the forest, for there were streams and springs along the road.  But your way through
Mirkwood is dark, dangerous and difficult, he said.  Water is not easy to find there, nor food.
The time is not yet come for nuts (though it may be past and gone indeed before you get to
the other side), and nuts are about all that grows there fit for food; in there the wild things are
dark, queer, and savage. I will provide you with skins for carrying water, and I will give you
some bows and arrows. But I doubt very much whether anything you find in Mirkwood will be
wholesome to eat or to drink. There is one stream there, I know, black and strong which
crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bathe in; for I have heard that it carries
enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness. And in the dim shadows of that place
I don t think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the
path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason.
 That is all the advice I can give you. Beyond the edge of the forest I cannot help you
much; you must depend on your luck and your courage and the food I send with you. At the
gate of the forest I must ask you to send back my horse and my ponies. But I wish you all [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]