THE HOBBIT Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Inside Information
The Dwarves stood in front of the dark door for a long time. Finally, Thorin said, “Now it is time for our dear Mr. Baggins, the most courageous Hobbit in all of Hobbiton, the luckiest burglar of all burglars, to perform the service he agreed to perform. Now it is time for him to earn his reward.”
“If you think I am going to enter this secret passage first, Thorin Okenshield, do not forget that I already helped you in two difficult situations.” said Bilbo angrily, “And they were not included in our contract! I think I already deserve some reward!”
“But, like my father used to say, the third time's the charm,” Bilbo continued. “I trust my luck more now than in the old days (by ‘the old days’ Bilbo meant last spring, before he left his house to go on this adventure!). Now, who is coming with me?”
He did not expect everyone to volunteer to help him, so he was not disappointed when the only Dwarf to offer help was old Balin. He said he would follow Bilbo some way into the passage. But not all the way. He would be prepared to call for help if Bilbo needed it.
The stars were shining bright in the night sky when Bilbo and Balin passed the enchanted door and entered the Mountain. The passage was made by the Dwarves - its walls and floor were smooth and straight. It went down very gradually to some distant end below. The darkness was complete.
Balin soon stopped. He wished Bilbo luck, and told him to call out if he needed help. Then Bilbo put on his ring, and began to continue down, down, down into the dark. He did not make a sound. He was terrified. He was a very different Hobbit now than the Hobbit who left Bag End without a handkerchief.
“What a fool you were, Bilbo Baggins!” he said to himself. “Why did I ever accept to come on this journey? I do not need treasure guarded by a dragon. Oh, how I wish this tunnel was the tunnel in my beautiful, safe Hobbit hole back in the Shire!”
Bilbo was completely alone. Soon, he thought the air began to feel warm. Then he thought he saw a soft glow far ahead of him down the tunnel. It was a glow. As we went forward, the glow began to grow and grow, until he could clearly see a red light far ahead. And now, it was getting hot in the tunnel! He began to sweat.
And now he could hear a sound. It was like a bubbling noise, mixed with a rumbling sound, like a gigantic cat purring. The sound grew louder and louder, until it was clear what the sound was. It was the gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring! The snoring sound was coming from the red light in front of him at the end of the tunnel.
At this point, Bilbo stopped. Going forward was the bravest thing he ever did. He fought the most difficult battle in that tunnel, alone. His fear was almost like a living thing. But he continued forward, even though he did not understand the tremendous danger that was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel, in that red, hot light.
Bilbo finally came to the end of the tunnel. He put his Hobbit head out into the vast room and looked around. It was a massive chamber at the bottom of the Mountain. It was almost completely dark, so he could not see how big it really was. But there in front of him, on a huge pile of gold and jewels and treasure, was a red glow. The glow of Smaug!
There he was. A giant red-golden dragon, sleeping. The rumbling noise coming from his mouth and nose was very loud. And smoke came from his nose, too. His giant wings were folded on his back. And under him was a very long and very strong tail, curved under his body. All around him, on all sides and covering the enormous floor of the chamber, were piles and piles of gold and precious things.
Bilbo did not have words to describe his feelings. The gold! The jewels! Bilbo had heard stories and songs about dragon treasure. But he could not comprehend what he saw. His heart was filled with the desire of Dwarves, the greed of Dwarves, the lust of Dwarves for gold and treasure. He almost forgot about the guardian of the gold that was asleep in front of him.
Bilbo stared at the gold for a long time. Then, almost without realizing it, he ran from the safety of the tunnel entrance. He ran across the floor to the closest pile of treasure. Above him the dragon was sleeping. Even sleeping, Smaug was a danger. Bilbo picked up a large golden cup. It was almost too heavy to carry. He looked up quickly at the dragon. Smaug moved his wing and opened a clawed hand. The sound of his snoring changed.
Then Bilbo ran back into the tunnel as fast as he could. But the dragon did not wake up. Not yet. Bilbo ran until he felt like his legs were going to break and his heart was going to explode. But he did not let go of the cup. He thought, “I have done it! I have done it! This will show the Dwarves! And they said I was more like a grocer than a burglar. Ha! This will change their minds for sure!”
And it did change their minds. Balin was very happy to see Bilbo again. To be honest, Balin was also very surprised. He did not think that he would ever see Bilbo again! But he carried the Hobbit up the tunnel and into the open air. It was midnight and the Dwarves could not control their excitement.
The Dwarves were looking at the golden cup. They were very excited to have recovered their treasure. Suddenly there was a vast and terrible rumble from underneath the mountain, like a volcano about to erupt! The secret door was almost closed - they had put a stone to block it from closing - but they could hear the terrible sounds of roaring and crashing coming up the tunnel.
In their excitement and happiness, the Dwarves had forgotten all about Smaug! It is not a prudent thing to exclude a dragon from your calculations. Dragons do not really need gold and treasure. But as a rule, dragons know exactly what they are guarding, especially after guarding it for such a long time. And Smaug was no exception to the rule.
When Bilbo ran up the tunnel, Smaug began to wake up. He went from a delicious dream of violence and death, to a doze, to being wide awake! He could feel a change in the air in his cave. Was it coming from that little hole? Smaug had never liked the little hole. He wondered why he never blocked it. He even thought he had heard banging and knocking sounds coming from the little hole recently.
Smaug lifted his head and sniffed the air. Then he saw that the cup was gone! Thieves! Fire! Murder! Something like this had not happened since the first days when he came to the Mountain! It is impossible to describe his anger. He screamed fire into the dark chamber and the mountain shook like an earthquake.
He crawled quickly out of the dark chamber and up to the front gates. The only thing he wanted was to hunt all around the Mountain until he found and caught the thief. He came out of the Gate. The water from the River Running boiled with his heat. He flew high into the air and landed on the mountain top, breathing fire and smoke!
The Dwarves heard the terrible sound of Smaug flying over the mountain. They stayed very quiet in the open space. They hoped that the dragon would not find them there. They would have been killed, but Bilbo saved them once again. “Quick! Quick!” he yelled. “The door! The tunnel! We cannot stay out here in the open.”
They were just about to enter the secret passage when Bifur gave a shout, “My cousins! Bombur and Bofur - they are down with the ponies. They will be killed! There is nothing we can do!” “Do not be silly!” said Thorin. “Quickly, get the rope. We will pull them up. Hurry!”
Those were the most dangerous moments they had been through so far. They could hear the horrible sounds of Smaug’s anger on the mountain above them. At any moment he could fly down and find them. The Dwarves pulled on the ropes with all their strength. Up came Bofur, and they were still safe. Up came Bombur, and still they were safe. They pulled up their tools and food, and then the danger was there.
There was a loud noise, like a wind storm. There was a red light reflecting on the rocks. They entered the tunnel at the last moment. The dragon came. He came with fire and death! His hot breath burned the grass in the open area. Flames entered the tunnel and the Dwarves could feel the heat.
Then darkness came again as the dragon flew past the secret door. The ponies and horses far below screamed and broke their ropes, and they ran away in terror. The dragon flew down to follow them. He was gone. “Our ponies and horses will certainly die!” said Thorin. “Nothing can escape Smaug once he sees them. We are trapped here. Unless someone wants to go back to Laketown with Smaug on the watch!”
They were in the tunnel for a long time. Every now and then they could hear the roar and scream of the flying dragon outside the tunnel entrance. Smaug guessed that Lakemen had come to the mountain with their ponies and horses. He thought the men had climbed the mountain, but Smaug did not see the secret entrance.
Smaug hunted around the Mountain for a long time. But dawn came and he went back to sleep on his golden bed. To rest and to regain his strength. He would not forget the thief, not for a thousand years. But he could wait. He crawled slowly and silently back into the Mountain. He went back to his chamber and half closed his eyes.
They debated for a long time what they were going to do. Were they going to try to escape and return to Laketown? Or were they going to go back down the tunnel and face Smaug with weapons. There was a good chance the first option would end badly. Smaug could catch them in the open. The second option was certain death.
Finally, Bilbo spoke, “I was not hired to kill the dragon. That is your responsibility. But I can put my ring on and sneak back down the tunnel to see what Smaug is doing. ‘Every worm has a weak spot,’ my father always says. But I am sure he was not speaking from personal experience.”
Obviously the Dwarves accepted Bilbo’s offer. They had already begun to respect little Bilbo. Now he was the real leader in their adventure. He came up with ideas and made important decisions that helped everyone in the group. When it was midday, he prepared for another journey down into the Mountain.
Bilbo did not like the idea of going back down, but he knew more or less what was in front of him. But if he had known more about dragons and how dangerous they really were, he might have been more frightened. After all, he thought he might be able to catch the dragon while he was taking a nap. Bilbo always was a hopeful and positive little Hobbit.
Bilbo moved silently as he went down the tunnel. And he felt a little proud of himself as he approached the door to Smaug’s chamber. This time, there was only a very soft red glow. “Old Smaug is tired and asleep,” thought Bilbo. “He can’t see me and he won’t hear me.”
Bilbo had forgotten, or he had never heard about a dragon’s sense of smell. He also did not know that dragons can sleep with half an eye open, if they are suspicious. But Smaug certainly looked fast asleep. He looked dead, in fact, and dark. He was making almost no sound. His snore was almost imperceptible.
Bilbo was just about to walk into the chamber when he saw a thin ray of red light coming from under Smaug’s left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! Quickly, Bilbo went back into the tunnel. Thank goodness for his ring. Then Smaug spoke.
“Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Go on then! You may take whatever you want, there is plenty, and to spare!” But Bilbo was not that naive. And if Smaug expected Bilbo to come closer so easily, he was going to be disappointed. “No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!” he replied. “I did not come for presents. I only wanted to look at you and see if you were truly as great as the stories say you are. I did not believe them.”
“Do you believe the stories now?” asked the dragon. It is always a good idea to compliment dragons, even if they do not believe your flattery. “The songs and stories do not come close to the reality, O Smaug the Greatest of Calamities,” replied Bilbo. “You are very polite for a thief, and a liar,” said the dragon.
“You seem to know who I am, but I do not know your smell. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?” “Of course you may ask! I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills I have traveled. And through the air. I am the traveler who walks unseen.”
“That I can believe,” said Smaug, “but it is not your real name.” “I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. They chose me for the lucky number.” “Lovely titles!” answered the dragon. “But lucky numbers are not always lucky.”“I am he who drowns his friends and takes them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.” “These do not sound so believable,” laughed Smaug.
“I am the guest of eagles. I am Ring-finder and Luck-wearer; and I am Barrel-rider,” continued Bilbo. He was beginning to be pleased with his riddles. “Ha! That’s better!” said Smaug. “But do not let your imagination run away with you!” This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don’t want to reveal your proper name (which is a good thing not to do), and you don’t want to make them angry at you (which is also a good thing not to do).
Dragons love talking in riddles and trying to understand them. Smaug did not understand all of the riddles Bilbo was telling him (but I am sure you know all about Bilbo’s adventures which he was talking about), but Smaug thought he understood enough. “I thought so last night,” he smiled to himself. “Lake-men, some nasty scheme of those miserable Lake-men, or I’m a lizard.”
“Very well, O Barrel-rider!” he said loudly. “You may walk unseen, but you did not walk all the way. Let me tell you I ate six ponies last night and I will catch and eat all the others soon. In exchange for the excellent meal I will give you one piece of advice for your good: don’t associate with Dwarves more than is good for you!”
“Dwarves!” said Bilbo, pretending to be surprised. “Do not lie to me!” said Smaug. “I know the smell (and taste) of Dwarf - no one knows it better than I do. You’ll come to a bad end, if you go with such friends, Thief Barrel-rider. Go back and tell them that from me.” But he did not tell Bilbo that there was one smell he could not identify at all, the smell of Hobbit; it was outside of his experience and he was very confused by it.
“Did the Dwarves give you a good price for the cup you stole last night?” he continued. “Well, did they? They paid you nothing, didn’t they? Well, that’s just like the Dwarves. And I imagine they are hiding outside, and your job is to do all the dangerous work and take what you can when I’m not looking. Will they give you a fair portion for your trouble? Don’t you believe it! If you get out of here alive, you will be lucky.”
Bilbo now began to feel very uncomfortable. While they were talking, Smaug’s eye continued to look for him. Bilbo was invisible, but each time the light from Smaug’s eye flashed across him, he was terrified! And he felt a powerful desire to run towards Smaug and take off the ring - and reveal himself and tell all the truth to the dragon. In fact, Bilbo was in real danger of coming under Smaug’s dragon-spell.
But Bilbo found his courage and he spoke again. “You do not know everything, O Smaug the Strong,” he said “We did not come here to the Mountain only for the gold.” Smaug began to laugh, “Ha! Ha! So, you admit that you are not here alone! Why don’t you just say ‘us fourteen’ and tell me the truth, Mr. Lucky Number?”
Bilbo continued, “I say that gold was not the main reason we came. We came over hill and under hill, by wave and by wind for… REVENGE! O Smaug the unbelievably wealthy, you must understand that you have made some very jealous enemies because of your success.” Then Smaug really did laugh - a terrifying sound that caused Bilbo to fall to the floor. The Dwarves also heard the sound, and they thought for sure that Bilbo had come to a very bad end.
“Revenge!” he cried, and the light from his eyes filled the cavern from floor to ceiling like red lightning. “Revenge! The King Under the Mountain is dead, and where are his people to get their revenge? The Lord of Dale is dead. I ate his people and destroyed their town. Where are his sons and grandsons to take revenge on me? I kill who I want, and no one can stop me.”
“I killed the great warriors of old, and there is no one like them who lives in the world today. I was young and inexperienced when I did that. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows! My armor is like shields, my teeth are swords, my claws are spears, the shock of my tail is like a thunderbolt, my wings are a hurricane, and my breath is death!” A great fireball came from Smaug’s jaws and illuminated the chamber in a red light.
“I have been told,” said a very frightened Bilbo, “that dragons have a weak spot, especially in the region of the - er - chest. But I am sure that a dragon as strong as you are does not worry about such things.” Smaug became silent. “Your information is old,” he yelled. “I am armored above and below with scales that are as strong as iron and diamonds. There is no sword that can cut me.”
“Of course there isn’t,” said Bilbo. “You have no equal in the world today, O Lord Smaug the Impenetrable. It must be magnificent to wear a coat of fine diamonds!” “Yes, it is rare and wonderful,” said Smaug, who was absurdly happy with Bilbo’s compliments. He did not know that the Hobbit had already seen his belly and chest during his last visit, and wanted to have a closer look.
The dragon rolled over onto his side. “Look!” he cried. “What do you think about that?” “Marvelous! Perfect! Impeccable! Amazing!” cried Bilbo out loud, but what he thought inside was, “Old fool! One of your scales is missing! There is a hole in the side of your left breast as big as a dinner plate!” After he had seen that, the only thing Mr. Baggins wanted to do was to get away.
“Well, I really should not take any more of your time, Your Magnificence,” said Bilbo. “I should let you rest. It is difficult, I believe, to catch ponies. It is difficult to catch burglars, too,” he added with some sarcasm. As he said the last words, he ran back up the tunnel as fast as he could. It was not very intelligent to say that to Smaug, because he shot terrific flames after Bilbo in anger.
Bilbo was not far enough up the tunnel to escape without any damage. Luckily, Smaug’s head was too large to fit completely inside the tunnel entrance. But fire and vapor came from his nose and followed Bilbo up the passage. He was nearly cooked like a roast turkey! “Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!” he said to himself, and it became a favorite saying of his later. “This adventure is not over yet,” he added, and that was true as well.
It was almost nighttime when Bilbo came out of the tunnel. The Dwarves were there to help him and doctor his burns as well as possible. But it was a long time before the hair on the back of his head and feet grew back properly again. The Dwarves were very excited to hear about his encounter with the dragon, especially why he had made so much noise, and how Bilbo had escaped.
But the Hobbit was worried and uncomfortable, and he did not tell them very much about his adventure with Smaug. He felt bad about some of the things he said to the dragon, and he did not want to repeat them. The old thrush was sitting on the rock near the group. He was listening very carefully to everything that Bilbo was saying.
Bilbo was in a very bad mood, and threw a rock at the bird. “Go away bird!” said Bilbo angrily. The bird jumped up, flapped its wings, and landed again on the rock, listening carefully again. “I do not like the look of that bird, and I think he is listening to us!” “Leave him alone!” said Thorin. “They are a magical race of birds. They understand our language. For hundreds of years they were the friends of the Men of Dale and my father and grandfather’s people.”
“Well, he will have news to take to Laketown tonight, if that is what he wants,” said Bilbo. “But I can’t imagine there is anyone in Laketown who can understand his thrush-language.” “Why? What has happened?” cried the dwarves. “Please, tell us what happened!”
So Bilbo told them everything he could remember, and he confessed that he had a terrible sensation that the dragon learned too much from his riddles. “I am sure he knows we came from Laketown and had help from there,” said Bilbo in a worried voice.
“And I have a horrible feeling that Smaug will try to hurt the people of Laketown. I wish I had never said that I was a barrel-rider. Even the dumbest creature would think of the men of Laketown.” “Well, it is difficult not to become hypnotized by a dragon,” said Balin, trying to make Bilbo feel better. “I think you did very well, if you ask me. You discovered a very useful piece of information, about the hole in his scales.”
Then they began to talk about how to kill dragons, all the historical and mythical stories they had heard about the different ways to defeat dragons. The general opinion was that it is very difficult to kill a dragon, even when you catch them sleeping. The whole time they talked, the thrush was listening to them. And without them seeing, the bird opened its wings and flew silently into the night.
While they talked, Bilbo became more and more worried and unhappy. He was scared. At last he interrupted them. “I am sure we are very unsafe here,” he said, “and I don’t think we should stay here. I think the dragon will attack this place soon. He will break all this side of the Mountain to kill us all.” Finally, Bilbo convinced the Dwarves to move inside the tunnel and to close the door, using a stone to keep it open.
Soon they began to talk of all the gold and treasure that was down in the dragon’s hall. But the most beautiful of all the treasure was the great white gem that the Dwarves found at the very bottom of the Mountain. They called it the “Heart of the Mountain”, the Arkenstone of Thrain. “The Arkenstone! The Arkenstone!” cried Thorin in the dark.
“It was like a globe with a thousand faces. It shines like silver in the night, like water in the sun, like snow under the stars, like rain on the Moon!” But as they talked, Bilbo became more and more worried. He kept listening for sounds of the dragon. “Close the door! Please!” he begged them, “I believe the dragon will find us. It is too silent outside, and down in the hall. Shut the door before it is too late!”
Something in Bilbo’s voice convinced Thorin to listen to the Hobbit. He got up and kicked the small stone away that was holding the secret door open. The door closed with a snap! There was no sign of a keyhole. They were trapped in the Mountain!
And not a moment too soon. They had moved only a short distance down the tunnel when there was a tremendous noise on the side of the Mountain. It sounded like an explosion of thunder and rock. The walls around them began to crack, and stones fell on their heads from the roof of the tunnel. I cannot imagine what would have happened if the door had still been open!
Because Bilbo convinced them to act, they survived the attack by Smaug. He broke large rocks into small small pieces. With his powerful tail he destroyed the rock wall around the secret door. With his horrible flames, he burned the grass in the open area next to the door. All of it disappeared in flames and rock.
After Bilbo had run away up the tunnel, Smaug left the mountain very quietly. He flew silently into the air and floated in the dark sky. He was trying to see where the tunnel might have an exit on the side of the mountain - the same tunnel that the “thief” had used. He guessed the location of the exit, but he was furious that he could not find anyone there. He was so angry that he decided to destroy the mountain around the opening to kill the invaders.
Smaug felt much better after releasing some of his anger. And he believed now that there would not be any trouble from that tunnel anymore. But his night was only beginning. There was revenge in the air. “Barrel-rider!” he said. “I do not recognize your smell, but if you are not one of the Lakemen, they helped you in some way. They will see me now and they will remember who the real King Under the Mountain is!” He rose into the air in a cloud of fire and smoke, and flew away towards Laketown.
