Frodo awoke that morning to the chipper sound of songbirds outside his window. He often heard sounds out of his window, as his room at Bag End was the one closest to the large elm tree on the top of the hill, but today was different, for it was the first day of spring. Spring was the young Hobbit's favourite season, as it meant that all of the animals, small and large would come out of their own little holes in the ground and spend time together. Frodo thought that it was a wonderful sight to see. He leapt out of bed and rushed down the hall to the kitchen, where Bilbo was preparing a large meal for the two of them.
"You're up late this morning Frodo," said Bilbo.
"Not too late for elevenses I hope," gasped Frodo.
"That's my boy." Frodo took a seat at the dining room table as Bilbo placed down dish after dish on placemats set out strategically on the table. Pastries, pancakes, dishes made of eggs and various other foods were set out on the table, taking up the entirety of the table. Plates and cutlery were set out first, but required moving to make room for the entirety of the meal. "I hope I didn't make too little," teased Bilbo. Frodo laughed at that. "Better eat up, we've got a big day ahead of us."
"What are we to do today?" questioned Frodo.
"Well it's the first day of spring! What do we do every year?" Frodo thought for a minute, trying to remember the events that unfolded on the previous year's first day of spring.
"Gandalf!" Frodo cried out in joy. "We're going to go and see the animals with Gandalf!"
"Yes, that's correct. I hear he's taking us to see a special friend of his." Right as Bilbo spoke this, there was a knock at the door. "Speak of the devil, that's probably him." Bilbo opened the door and looked outside, a smile grew over his face as he remembered all of the fond memories he had of time spent with Gandalf on his adventure. On the doorstep stood two tall men, one dressed all in grey, one dressed all in brown, but of equally old age. "Gandalf, my old friend, come in!" the words seemed to slip right out from behind his lips. "And Might I ask who your friend is?"
"I am Radagast." spoke the man dressed in brown. "Radagast the Brown. I'm Gandalf's cousin."
"Pleasure to meet you." The two men walked through the door, ducking as to not injure themselves on the hobbit-sized doorway, which they were much too tall for, being themselves Maiar. "Can I get you two something to drink or eat? There is yet food leftover from elevenses."
"No thank you."
"When shall we leave," questioned Bilbo, eager to leave. Bilbo loved the spring just as much, if not more, than young Frodo Baggins.
"Right away, of course!" Radagast boasted, for it was he who was taking them to see the animals this year, and he was very passionate about all creatures of the wood. The hobbits quickly gathered their things and headed to the door, followed closely by the wizards. Soon, they were out the door and on their way out of the shire.
The sun was already high in the sky by the time the four of them reached the forest at the edge of the shire, and at last Radagast said, "here we are."
"I haven't been here for years," Bilbo explained, excitedly. "Not since Gandalf and my adventure."
"This forest is home to the most wonderful of creatures, as well as myself. There isn't a day where I wish I was anywhere else, nor a day where I don't see something new." The two hobbits looked around, confused. If there are so many animals, where were they? There were none to be seen in this part of the forest.
"Sorry Radagast, but where are all the animals, are Frodo and I looking in the wrong place?"
Radagast stared at them for a minute, trying to make sense of the situation. "There seems to be a lack of animals today for sure, something seems wrong. I sense an aura in the air. Something of evil origin. Do you feel it?" Everyone went silent. Suddenly a snapping broke out from within the brush. All four heads quickly turned in the direction of the disturbance, but nothing happened, and no other sound was heard. Something was definitely up in this forest, and it was time for them to leave before someone got hurt. They turned to face the direction they came from, and began walking, this time much quicker than before. The already dense green forest seemed to becoming thicker and thicker the farther they walked, and a fog was materializing around them. The forest was becoming less and less familiar, and they had been walking for half an hour, twice as long as the quarter-hour it had taken them to walk in originally.
"Everyone stop." Radagast ordered, looking around.
"What is it? What's wrong?" The hobbits were at this point very tired. The two of them didn't leave their hole that often aside from visiting family and stopping by the market for previsions, and both of these things were very uncommon trips for them.
"I feel something. I've felt it for the past quarter hour, but didn't think anything much of it until now. It's getting stronger."
"I sense it too." spoke Gandalf, "although I'm unsure what it is."
"I've felt this before." Radagast sounded worried. "Long ago, when your party first wandered these woods. An ancient evil."
The snapping sound they heard before was heard again, this time all around them. It seemed to be getting louder, as if the source of the sound was nearing the four of them, and through the bushes they could see movement, silhouettes of someone- or something, crawling along through the brush. The snapping sound now sounded as though the creatures were within a yard of them, just off the path, then, just as abruptly as the sounds started, silence. Frodo let out a deep sigh and crossed his fingers. "What do you think that was?" asked Frodo. As he asked, his head turned to face Bilbo, who seemed to be clutching a small, coin-sized golden ring in his hand, although it may have been nothing as he didn't get a good look before it was away back in Bilbo's pocket.
"Remember when we passed through here, many years back?" spoke Gandalf at last.
"Sure," said Bilbo, confused. "What does that have to do with what just happened?" A loose branch fell out of a tree from above. The four of them looked up to the canopy above to see what the cause of the branch snapping was, but it was already too late. Above them, six spiders of immense size, about the size of a pony, descended upon them, and everything went dark. Frodo awoke to a sight that he could not identify. Everything was white. He was also unable to move his limbs- or any part of his body for that matter, as they seemed to be stuck to the origin of the colour. He struggled, but the effort he put in seemed only to make matters worse. A couple of minutes passed before he heard anything, and the sound that he heard was that of the others waking up. He heard a yawn from Bilbo and a few curses from Gandalf, but Radagast was not to be heard.
"Hey Gandalf! Where are we." whispered Frodo.
"We seem to be caught in those things' web." answered Gandalf. "But Radagast seems to have gotten away. He should be here." A loud sound, one that crackled and sounded like fire, broke the mood. A large purple glow filled the area and a magical aura swept over the Gandalf and the two hobbits. The three of them were free. They broke out of the cocoons they were stuck in and leapt down to the forest floor.
"Hurry!" yelled Radagast. "We haven't much time. This way!" The four of them ran for a good fifteen minutes, not daring to look behind them, before reaching the edge of the forest, and even upon exiting the forest, they still did not hesitate, and kept on running all the way back to Hobbiton.
They reached Bag End as the sun was sinking below the horizon and had a big meal, much enough to compensate for the day they just had. Frodo was definitely not expecting to have such a new experience on his favourite day of the year, especially not one that was an adventure such as that, but when he looked back on it in the years to come, he was glad he had such an opportunity, as it prepared him for his biggest challenge that was yet to come. "We can't just leave the forest in such a condition. What are we to do now?" Bilbo asked Radagast.
"I plan to take this matter to the White Council." replied Radagast. "This is beyond all of our control, and even I have no idea of what actions should be taken, but I agree with you dear Bilbo, we cannot leave the forest like this. Anyone could wander in and would definitely not be as lucky as the four of us. In fact, Gandalf and I should get going right now, as this matter is one of utmost urgency, and cannot wait any longer." The two of them excused themselves from the table and left the home to deal with the matters at hand. Not much was heard from them about the events that unfolded after their adventure in the forest, but there was little news of strange powers in the Shire after the council was held, and Frodo and Bilbo assumed that something had come of the meeting and action had been taken. While the two of them did not talk about this day much after it happened, they certainly thought about it and reflected upon it quite often. Frodo was especially curious about the strange shiny golden ring that Bilbo possessed but never talked about, as he had never seen it before nor since that one fateful day.