THE HOBBIT Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
Bilbo had escaped the goblins, but he did not know where he was. And he did not know where his friends were. He was alone and it was getting dark. The sun was beginning to go down and Bilbo realized, “Good heavens! I have gone all the way through to the other side of the Misty Mountains! Oh, where oh where are Gandalf and the Dwarves? I hope they are not back in the mountain, prisoners of the goblins!”
Bilbo continued down the mountain, miserable and hungry. While he walked, an uncomfortable thought was growing inside him, “Now that I have the magic ring, shouldn’t I go back into those horrible, horrible tunnels and look for my friends?” The idea terrified him. But in the end, he made up his mind that it was his responsibility, his duty to go back and look for them. As he turned around to go back up the mountain, he heard voices!
He stopped and listened. It did not sound like goblins, so he continued forward very carefully and very quietly. In a safe place hidden by large rocks, there were people talking. He moved even closer to the sound. Suddenly, between two big rocks, he could see a head with a red hood on top - it was Balin! Bilbo could have jumped up and down in happiness, but he did not.
He still had the ring on. Balin was looking straight at him, without seeing him! “I will give them a surprise they will remember,” he thought. He crawled into some bushes near the group and listened. Gandalf was arguing with the Dwarves. They were discussing and debating what to do now. The Dwarves were unhappy.
Gandalf was telling the Dwarves that they could not continue on their journey and leave Bilbo in the hands of the goblins. They must go back and discover if he was alive or dead, and try to rescue him if they could. “After all, he is my friend,” said the wizard, “and he is a good little Hobbit. I feel responsible for him. And I wish you had not lost him, Dori.”
“Good heavens! Do not blame me! We were fighting the goblins in the dark! You almost cut off my head with your sword, and Thorin was swinging Orcrist everywhere. You gave one of your bright flashes of light and then you shouted ‘follow me everybody!’ and everybody should have followed you. There was not time to count everyone with all the confusion. And here we are - without our burglar, confusticate him!”
“And here’s your burglar!” said Bilbo, walking into the middle of the group, and taking off his ring. How the Dwarves jumped in surprise! They all shouted with happiness to see their lost friend. Gandalf was as surprised as any of them, but happier than all of them to see Bilbo again. Bilbo’s reputation went up considerably after his surprising appearance. No one doubted that Bilbo was a first-class burglar now.
The Dwarves wanted to know all about Bilbo’s escape. He told them everything, except the part about finding the ring. They were very impressed with his heroic jump and escape through the goblin door. “What did I tell you?” said Gandalf laughing. “There is more to Mr. Baggins than you realized.” He looked at Bilbo in a suspicious way as he said those words. Bilbo wondered if Gandalf guessed the part of the story he did not tell them.
As the party talked in excitement, the wizard reminded them of the danger they were in. “We must leave this place immediately,” he said. “The goblins will come after us as soon as it is dark. They can smell our footsteps for many hours after we have passed. We are still high up in the mountains. We must go down. Let’s go!”
They went on for a long distance, down valleys and across mountain streams. They came to a very steep hill, covered in small rocks. As they descended the hill, the rocks began to move! They were soon slipping and sliding down the rocky hill at a great speed! When they all arrived safely at the bottom of the hill, Gandalf said, “Well! That fall has moved us down a good distance, and it will be difficult for the goblins to follow us down this hill quietly.”
They continued down the mountain for a long time. “Please, can we stop?” asked Bilbo. “My toes are hurting, and my legs cannot move! And my stomach is as empty as my pockets!”
“A little further,” said Gandalf.
Suddenly, they heard a terrifying sound - a howl in the darkness down the hill! Then the first howl was answered by another howl, much closer on their right. Then, there was another howl, even closer to their left! “Wargs!” cried Gandalf.
“Escaping goblins to be caught by wargs!” he said. It became a very popular proverb after that, but we know it today as “out of the frying pan, into the fire”.
“Climb up the trees, quick!” cried Gandalf. Luckily, wargs cannot climb trees. The Dwarves and Bilbo all ran to find safety in the trees. It was a very funny thing to see: a forest of trees full of Dwarves with long beards blowing in the wind! Gandalf was alone in a large pine that looked like a Christmas tree, with the wizard as the decoration!
But what about Bilbo? He was too small to climb any of the trees! And the wargs were getting closer and closer! “You’ve forgotten the burglar again, my dear Dwarves!” yelled Gandalf. Dori climbed down from his tree and let Bilbo climb up his back and stand on his shoulders. Bilbo was finally able to grab a branch and pull himself into the tree. Then, Dori jumped up to grab the lowest branch himself. Only just in time! A warg jumped at his legs and almost bit him.
In a minute there was a whole pack of angry wargs surrounding the trees. The Dwarves were trapped! For the moment they were safe. But trees become very uncomfortable very quickly when you are trapped in one, especially when you are surrounded by wargs! More and more kept coming. After searching and smelling, the wargs had located each and every tree that had a Dwarf, Hobbit or Wizard. They left warg guards at the foot of each one.
The party was unlucky: they were trapped in an area of the forest that appeared to be a meeting place for wargs. In the middle of the evil pack there was a large gray wolf. He spoke to the other beasts in the terrible language of the wargs. They answered him in a horrible noise of growls and howls. Gandalf understood the language. This is what he heard…
The Wargs and the goblins often helped each other to do horrible things in the region. The goblins often used the wargs to attack men in the area, and take them prisoner back to the goblin caves, or eat them. The goblins sometimes rode the wargs like men ride horses. And by chance, this night was a night that the wargs were going to meet the goblins to attack human villages at the foot of the mountain. But the goblins were late.
The wargs were angry and confused. They were expecting the goblins, but found the Dwarves instead! But they were not going to leave now. They were going to wait for the goblins. Goblins, after all, can climb trees, or cut them down!
So you can understand why Gandalf began to feel afraid. He was a powerful wizard, but he was a wizard stuck in a tree! But, of course, he was not going to let the wargs do what they wanted. He gathered some of the large pine cones from the branches of the tree he was in. He touched a pine cone with his staff and it burned bright with blue flames. He threw it burning, down into the group of wolves!
It hit one of the wolves on the back, and immediately the wolf's fur caught fire! He ran around in circles, jumped up and down and yelped horribly! Gandalf threw another pine cone, and then another! One with blue flames, another with red flames, and another with green flames! They exploded on the ground in the middle of the wolves and colored fire flew everywhere! Gandalf hit their wolf chieftain on the nose and he cried in pain.
The Dwarves and Bilbo shouted and cheered. Very soon, many of the wolves were burning. They ran around, bumping into other wolves and setting them on fire too. But the wolves were not the only things that were burning. Soon, some of the trees near the Dwarves began to burn - it was summer, after all, and the leaves were dry.
“What is going on in the forest tonight?” said the Lord of the Eagles. He was circling high over the mountains, and he could see the fires burning. The Lord of the Eagles could see a rabbit moving in the grass from two kilometers in the sky, even at night. He could not see the people in the trees, but he could see the wargs and the fire far below. He could also see the goblins. They were coming down the mountain in long lines, holding bright spears.
Eagles are not kind birds. They do not love goblins, and they are not afraid of them. But if they saw them in the mountains or in the trees, the eagles would attack the goblins, and make them go back into their caves. Eagles did not eat the goblins - they did not taste good. But goblins hated the eagles. Goblins could not climb the mountains to kill the eagles, so they were afraid of them.
Tonight the Lord of the Eagles was curious. He called his eagle guards to fly with him towards the fire on the mountain. They circled slowly down, down, down towards the ring of the wolves. Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves were lucky that night. The circle of trees where they were hiding was beginning to burn. And the fire was getting closer and closer to them.
Suddenly, the goblins arrived, yelling and screaming. They thought the wargs were in a great battle with the humans who live near the mountains. But when they discovered what was happening, some of them sat down and laughed! Goblins are not afraid of fire, and they had a plan. They picked up burning branches and burning leaves and placed them near the trees where the Dwarves were hiding. Soon, there was smoke and fire everywhere. Bilbo’s eyes were burning, and he could feel the heat from the fires.
Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree. He held his staff high in the air, and lightning came from it. He was going to jump down into the middle of the wargs and goblins. He would certainly die, but he would kill many wargs and goblins in his final moments. But, he never jumped.
Just at that moment the Lord of the Eagles came down from above, picked up Gandalf in his talons, and flew away. The goblins and wargs howled in anger. Gandalf spoke quickly to the Lord of the Eagles, and his cry was loud in the night! His guards flew down like black shadows and attacked the goblins and the wargs! Other eagles flew to the trees and picked up the Dwarves. Poor Bilbo was almost abandoned again!
At the last moment Bilbo grabbed Dori’s legs. Dori was the last to be taken away. Up, up they flew, above the screaming goblins, above the howling wargs, away from the smoke and fire. Bilbo was hanging from Dori’s legs. His arms were almost breaking! Soon, the light from the fire was far, far below them.
They were high in the night sky. Bilbo never forgot that flight, hanging onto Dori’s legs. He yelled, “my arms, my poor arms!” But Dori cried, “my legs, my poor legs!” Bilbo was not afraid of heights, exactly. But he did not like them, either. So you can imagine how scared he was, when he looked down, down onto the land far below. He did not know if he could hold on much longer. He closed his eyes and imagined what would happen if he let go. He felt sick.
The Lord of the Eagles would not take them close to where men lived. Men used their bows and arrows to kill the eagles, to protect their sheep. “We will not leave you here, near the villages of men,” the Lord of the Eagles said to Gandalf.
“Do not worry,” replied Gandalf. “Take us where and as far as you want. We are very obliged to you for your help.”
Morning was coming as the eagles finally left Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves. Some of the eagle guards had returned to their homes in the mountains and brought food for the party. The adventure of the Misty Mountains was over. The tired adventurers found a safe place to rest for the morning. Bilbo dreamed of his little Hobbit home far away in the Shire. He dreamed of his little kitchen. He dreamed of his little garden. He dreamed of his soft, comfortable bed. And not for the last time.
