Page 205 - The Hobbit

wizard had not escaped without a wound; and there were few unharmed in all the

host.
When Gandalf saw Bilbo, he was delighted. "Baggins!" he exclaimed. "Well I
never! Alive after all – 1 am glad! I began to wonder if even your luck would see

you through! A terrible business, and it nearly was disastrous. But other news can
wait. Come!" he said more gravely. "You are called for;" and leading the hobbit he
took him within the tent.
"Hail! Thorin," he said as he entered. "I have brought him."

There indeed lay Thorin Oakenshield, wounded with many wounds, and his
rent armour and notched axe were cast upon the floor. He looked up as Bilbo
came beside him.

"Farewell, good thief," he said. "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside
my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and
go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would
take back my words and deeds at the Gate."

Bilbo knelt on one knee filled with sorrow. "Farewell, King under the
Mountain!" he said. "This is a bitter adventure, if it must end so; and not a
mountain of gold can amend it. Yet I am glad that I have shared in your perils –

that has been more than any Baggins deserves."
"No!" said Thorin. "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the
kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us
valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"
Then Bilbo turned away, and he went by himself, and sat alone wrapped in a
blanket, and, whether you believe it or not, he wept until his eyes were red and his
voice was hoarse. He was a kindly little soul. Indeed it was long before he had the

heart to make a joke again. "A mercy it is," he said at last to himself, "that I woke
up when I did. I wish Thorin were living, but I am glad that we parted in kindness.
You are a fool, Bilbo Baggins, and you made a great mess of that business with
the stone; and there was a battle, in spite of all your efforts to buy peace and quiet,

but I suppose you can hardly be blamed for that."
All that had happened after he was stunned, Bilbo learned later; but it gave
him more sorrow than joy, and he was now weary of his adventure. He was aching

in his bones for the homeward journey. That, however, was a little delayed, so in
the meantime I will tell something of events. The Eagles had long had suspicion of
the goblins' mustering; from their watchfulness the movements in the mountains
could not be altogether hid. So they too had gathered in great numbers, under the