Джон Толкин - The Hobbit / Хоббит. 10 класс

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The king asked the dwarves about their doings, and where they were going to, and where they were coming from; but he didn’t get more news out of them than out of Thorin. They were angry and did not even pretend to be polite.

“What have we done, king?” said Balin, who was the eldest now. “Is it a crime to be lost in the forest, to be hungry and thirsty, to be trapped by spiders?” The king answered: “It is a crime to wander in my kingdom without leave.[62] Do you forget that you were in my kingdom, using the road that my people made? Did you not pursue and trouble my people in the forest? Now I have a right to know why you came here, and so tell me now, or I will keep you all in prison!” Then he ordered to put the dwarves in separate cells and to give them food and drink. But be did not tell them that Thorin was also his prisoner. Bilbo found that out.

Poor Mr Baggins lived in that place all alone; he didn’t take off his ring. Bilbo walked around the king’s palace to know it better.

Eventually he managed to find out where each dwarf was kept. He found all their twelve cells in different parts of the palace. One day he heard the talk of the guards and learned that there was another dwarf in prison too, in a deep dark place. He guessed at once, of course, that that was Thorin. At last after many difficulties he managed to find the place, and to talk with the chief of the dwarves. Thorin felt miserable, and was even beginning to think of telling the king all about his treasure and his quest, when he heard Bilbo’s little voice at his keyhole. He could hardly believe his ears. Soon he had a long talk with the hobbit on the other side.

So Bilbo took secretly Thorin’s message to each of the other dwarves, telling them that Thorin, their chief, was also in prison, and he told them not to open their secret. The other dwarves quite agreed when they got the message. They didn’t want to share the treasure, and they all trusted Bilbo.

Bilbo sat and thought and thought, but no bright idea came.

One day Bilbo discovered a very interesting thing: the great gates were not the only entrance to the caves. A stream flowed under part of the lowest regions of the palace, and joined the Forest River. There was a water-gate at the place where underground water came out of the mountain. There the rocky roof came down close to the surface of the stream, and from it a grating[63] could be dropped right to the bed of the river[64] to prevent anyone coming in or out that way. But the grating was often open, because a lot of traffic went out and in by the water-gate. There was a dark tunnel leading deep into the heart of the hill; but at one point the roof had an opening which was covered with great oaken trapdoors. These opened up into the king’s cellars. There stood many barrels. The Wood-elves, and especially their king, liked wine very much. The wine and other goods were brought from far away, from the vineyards of Men in distant lands.

Bilbo discovered the trapdoors and their use, and learned how the wine and other goods came from the Long Lake. There was a town of Men there built on bridges. From Lake-town the barrels were brought up the Forest River. Often the barrels were tied together; sometimes they were loaded onto flat boats.

When the barrels were empty the elves dropped them through the trapdoors, opened the water-gate, and the barrels floated out on the stream, until they were carried by the current to the eastern edge of Mirkwood. There they were collected and tied together and floated back to Lake-town, which stood close to the point where the Forest River flowed into the Long Lake.

For some time Bilbo sat and thought about this water-gate. He wanted to use it for the escape of his friends, and at last he had a plan.

One evening two guards took meal to the prisoners and then decided to taste the new wine that had just come in. Bilbo followed the two elves, until they entered a small cellar and sat down at a table. Soon they began to drink and laugh merrily.

In a little while the guards were fast asleep.

Then the hobbit stole the keys from the guards and went to unlock the dwarves’ cells.

First he unlocked Balin’s door, and locked it again carefully as soon as the dwarf was outside. Balin was most surprised and wanted to ask a lot of questions, but the hobbit just said, “No time now! You must follow me! We must all keep together. All of us must escape, and this is our last chance.”

Then he opened other cells. All went well, and they met no guards. Fortunately there was a great autumn feast that night. Almost all the king’s folks were eating, drinking and dancing. At last Bilbo and the dwarves came to Thorin’s dungeon, which was not far from the cellars.

When Bilbo whispered to him to come out and join his friends, Thorin said, “Gandalf spoke true, as usual. You are a fine burglar. Now we are all for ever at your service.[65] But what comes next?” Bilbo saw that the time had come to explain his idea.

At first the dwarves didn’t like Bilbo’s plan at all, but in the end they had to do just what Bilbo suggested. So they followed the hobbit and crept down into the lowest cellars.

There was little time to lose. The empty barrels were standing in rows in the middle of the floor waiting to be pushed off. Soon they found thirteen barrels with room enough for a dwarf in each. In fact the barrels were too large, and Bilbo put some straw inside. At last twelve dwarves were packed. Bilbo closed holes in the sides of the barrels, and now he was left alone again.

In a minute or two elves came laughing into the cellars. They had left a merry feast in one of the halls and wanted to return as soon as they could.

So they quickly rolled one barrel and then another to the dark opening and soon all the barrels with dwarves went down.

At this moment Bilbo suddenly discovered the weak point in his plan. Of course he was not in a barrel himself, nor was there anyone to pack him in!

Now the elves were rolling the last barrel to the doors! In despair poor little Bilbo held it tightly and was pushed down with it. He fell down into the water with the barrel on top of him. He came up again clinging to the wood like a rat, but he could not scramble on top. Though his ears were full of water, he could hear the elves still singing in the cellar above. Then suddenly the trapdoors fell with a boom and their voices faded away. He was in the dark tunnel, in icy water, all alone.

At last Mr Baggins came to a place where the trees grew thinner. The dark river opened suddenly wide, and there it joined the main water of the Forest River flowing down from the king’s great doors. Then the water of the Forest River swept all the barrels away to the north bank. On the shallow shore most of the barrels ran aground. There were people on the banks. They quickly pushed all the barrels together, and when they had counted them they tied them together and left them till the morning. Poor dwarves! Bilbo slipped from his barrel, and then quietly walked to some small houses that he could see near the water’s edge. He was cold, wet and hungry.

Bilbo had to steal a loaf and a bottle of wine and a pie. He started sneezing and he left wet footprints, so the rest of the night he had to pass wet and far from a fire, but the bottle helped him to do that, and he even slept a little on some dry leaves.

Bilbo woke again with a loud sneeze. It was already grey morning. He was no longer dripping but he felt really cold. He scrambled down as fast as he could and managed to get onto the barrels. The elves started pushing the barrels with their poles down to Lake-town.

So the dwarves and Bilbo had escaped the dungeons of the king.

The day grew lighter and warmer as they floated along. Then far away in the distance Bilbo saw the Mountain! All alone it rose and looked across the marshes to the forest. The Lonely Mountain! Bilbo had come through many adventures to see it, and now he did not like the look of it.

Those lands had changed much since the days when dwarves dwelt in the Mountain. Great floods and rains had swollen the waters that flowed east; and there had been an earthquake or two. The marshes had spread wider and wider on both sides. Paths had vanished. Only the river offered a safe way from Mirkwood to the plains beyond the Mountain, and the river was guarded by the Wood-elves’ king.

At last, late in the day the shores grew rocky, the river turned into rapid flood, and they went along at great speed.

The sun had set when the forest-river rushed into the Long Lake. The Long Lake! It was so wide that the opposite shores looked small and far, but it was so long that its northerly end, which pointed towards the Mountain, could not be seen at all. At the southern end the waters turned into waterfalls and ran away to unknown lands.

Not far from the mouth[66] of the Forest River was the strange town. It was not built right on the surface of the lake. A great wooden bridge led to huge piles made of trees on which a wooden town of Men was built. They throve on the trade.[67]

As soon as the raft of barrels arrived, it was drawn out of the Forest River and taken into the little bay of Lake-town. Now the barrels were left afloat while the elves of the raft and the boatmen went to feast in Lake-town.

In the night, after they had gone, Bilbo pushed the barrels to the shore and opened them. Groans came from inside, and out crept the dwarves. They were shocked but happy to be alive.

“Well! Here we are!” said Thorin. “And I suppose we should thank our stars and Mr Baggins. No doubt we will feel properly grateful, when we are fed and recovered. But what shall we do next?”

“I suggest going to Lake-town,” said Bilbo. So leaving the others Thorin and Fili and Kili and the hobbit went along the shore to the great bridge. There were guards at the head of it, but they were drinking and laughing by a fire in their hut, and did not hear the noise of the unpacking of the dwarves or the footsteps of the dwarves and the hobbit. Their astonishment was huge when Thorin Oakenshield stepped in through the door.

“Who are you and what do you want?” they shouted.

“Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!” said the dwarf in a loud voice. “I have come back. I wish to see the Master of your town![68]” Then there was great excitement. The captain of the guard came forward.

“And who are these?” he asked, pointing to Fili, Kili and Bilbo.

“The sons of my father’s daughter,” answered Thorin, “Fili and Kili of the race of Durin, and Mr Baggins who has travelled with us out of the West.”

“If you come in peace lay down your arms!”[69] said the captain.

“We have none,” said Thorin, and it was true: the wood-elves had taken their knives, and the great sword Orcrist too. Bilbo had his short sword, hidden as usual, but he said nothing about that. “Take us to your master!”

“He is at feast,” said the captain.

“So take us to him,” said Fili. “We are hungry after our long road and we have sick comrades.”

“Follow me then,” said the captain, and with six men about them he led them over the bridge through the gates and into the market-place of the town. This was a wide circle of quiet water surrounded by the tall piles on which the greater houses were built. From one great hall many lights shone and they could hear many voices. They passed its doors and stood in the light looking at long tables filled with folk.

“I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain! I return!” cried Thorin in a loud voice from the door, before the captain could say anything. All leaped to their feet. The Master of the town sprang from his great chair. But the raft-men of the elves were surprised most of all. They cried:

“These are prisoners of our king that have escaped, the dwarves that didn’t want to explain what they were doing in our forest and why they frightened our people!”

“Is this true?” asked the Master.

“It is true that we were imprisoned without cause by the Elvenking[70] when we journeyed back to our own land,” answered Thorin. “But this town is not in the Wood-elves’ kingdom. And I speak to the Master of the town of the Men of the lake, not to the raft-men of the king.”

Then the Master hesitated. The Elvenking was very powerful in those parts and the Master didn’t want to make him his enemy. But others were of different mind.[71] The news had spread from the doors of the hall really quickly. People began to sing an old song about the return of the King under the Mountain:

There was great excitement. The Wood-elves began to be afraid. They did not know of course how Thorin had escaped, and they began to think that their king made a serious mistake. The Master gave to Thorin his own great chair and set Fili and Kili beside him. Even Bilbo was given a seat at the high table.

Soon the other dwarves were brought into the town. They were all fed. A large house was given to Thorin and his company; and crowds sang songs all day.

Indeed within a week they were in good health again, wore fine clothes, and their beards were combed and trimmed. Thorin looked and walked as if his kingdom was already regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.

Meanwhile the Wood-elves had gone back up the Forest River, and there was great excitement in the king’s palace. In any case the king knew now the dwarves’ plan, and he said to himself: “Very well! We’ll see! No treasure will come back through Mirkwood without my help. But I expect they will all come to a bad end!” He did not believe in dwarves fighting and killing dragons like Smaug. He sent out his spies to the shores of the lake and as far towards the Mountains as they could go, and waited.

Two weeks later Thorin spoke to the Master and his councillors and said that soon he and his company had to go on towards the Mountain.

Then for the first time the Master was surprised and a little frightened; he didn’t believe that Thorin was really a descendant of the old kings. He had never thought that the dwarves could approach Smaug. He was wrong. Thorin, of course, was really the grandson of the King under the Mountain, and nobody knows what a dwarf could do for the recovery of his own.[73] But the Master was not sorry to let them go. They were expensive to keep, and their arrival had turned things into a long holiday in which business stopped. So he said,

“Certainly, O Thorin, Thrain’s son, Thror’s son! We will help you, and we hope for your gratitude when your kingdom is regained.” So one day, although autumn was now getting on, three large boats left Lake-town. There were rowers, dwarves, Mr Baggins, and many provisions. Horses and ponies had been sent round by circuitous paths to meet them at their appointed landing-place. The Master and his councillors said good-bye. People sang songs. The white oars splashed, and they went on the last stage of their long journey. The only unhappy person was Bilbo.

At the end of the third day they finally landed. Horses with provisions and the ponies for their own use were waiting for them. They packed what they could on the ponies, but none of the men of the town wanted to stay with them even for the night so near the Mountain. So the dwarves and Bilbo spent a cold and lonely night and their spirits fell.[74]

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