The Hobbit Chapter 8: Queer Lodgings, a hobbit fanfic

Chapter 8: Queer Lodgings

The next morning Bella woke up with the early sun in her eyes. She noticed that she felt strangely comfortable considering that she had fallen asleep against a rock wall. Sitting up, she saw that a thick cloak (Thorin's) had been placed over top of her, and her own cloak was bunched up under her head like a pillow. It was then that she remembered the events from yesterday, and a scarlet blush covered her cheeks.

That morning the company had cold mutton and rabbit before they had to get ready for the fresh start. The eagles had consented to bring them down off of the shelf they rested on. This time she was allowed to climb on to an eagle's back and cling between his wings. The air rushed over her and she shut her eyes. Gandalf and the dwarves were crying farewells and promising to repay the Lord of the Eagles if they ever could, as off rose fifteen great birds from the mountain's side. The sun was still close to the eastern edge of things. The morning was cool, and mists were in the valleys and hollows and twined here and there about the peaks and pinnacles of the hills. She saw that the birds were marvelously high up and the world was far away, and the mountains were falling back behind them into the distance.

After a long while the eagles began to slowly turn in circles, getting them lower and lower to the ground before depositing their passengers. "Farewell!" the eagles cried, "wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey's end!" That is the polite thing to say among eagles.

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks," answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply. And so they parted.

There was a flat space on top of the hill of stone and a well-worn path with many steps leading down it to the river, across which a ford of huge flat stones led to the grass-land beyond the stream. There was a little cave (a wholesome one with a pebbly floor) at the foot of the steps and near the end of the stony ford. Here the party gathered and discussed what needed to be done.

"I always meant to see you all safe (if possible) over the mountains," said the wizard, "and now by good management and good luck I have done it. Indeed we are now a good deal further east than I ever meant to come with you, for after all this is not my adventure. I may look in on it again before it is all over, but in the meanwhile I have some other pressing business to attend to."

The dwarves groaned and looked a bit distressed, while Bella stared off in the distance with a stoic expression. She would miss having Gandalf around, and she couldn't help but feel that things might go wrong without him there to set it straight. "I am not going to disappear this very instant," said Gandalf. "I can give you a day or two more. Probably I can help you out of your present plight, and I need a little help myself. We have no food, no baggage, and no ponies to ride; and you don't know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are still some miles north of the path which we should be following, if we had not left the mountain pass in a hurry. Very few people live in these parts, unless they have come here since I was last down this way, which was some years ago. But there is somebody that I know of, who lives not far away. That somebody made the steps on the great rock – the Carrock I believe he calls it. He does not come here often, certainly not in the daytime, and it is no good waiting for him. In fact it would be very dangerous. We must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, I think I shall be off and wish you like the eagles 'farewell wherever you fare.'"

After that, they found a river where they decided it would be a nice place to have a bath. Of course, this was kind of awkward for Bella, since she had to wait until all the dwarves were out and at least partially dressed. As she sat with her back against a tree, footsteps approaching her caused her to look up. A small squeak almost escaped her lips at the sight of a Thorin, who was shirtless and dressed only in his trousers. His hair was still wet and she tried to prevent her eyes from following the water droplets that dripped onto his fine chest, down his abs, and to the waistband of his pants.

Blushing, she met his eyes and quirked an eyebrow. "The water is free for you to go bathe now," he murmured softly before walking away, leaving Bella with a strange feeling. She figured that after yesterday's kiss he would be closer to her, but it seemed like he was distancing herself. Perhaps this was what Fili and Kili had been trying to warn her about. Deciding not to dwell on it, she pushed it out of her mind.

As she gathered up her clean pair of clothes, she walked over to the river and double checked that no one was watching. A bit surprised was she when she saw that Thorin was sitting near the river with his back against a rock so that she wouldn't be able to see him. He was guarding her! When she was satisfied that he wouldn't peak at her, she stripped down and sunk into the river. The cool water was welcoming as she scrubbed the grime and blood off of her with her nails. She left her shoulder wrapped from Gollum's bite (which had been rewrapped by Thorin on the eagle's shelf), but unwrapped the scratches that she had received from the Wargs. They had begun to scab over, so she wasn't too worried about leaving them uncovered.

Once she was satisfied that she was clean enough and her hair thoroughly scrubbed, she sat on a rock in a shallow part of the river so that only her neck up was visible and relished in the feeling of being clean. Eventually, she pried her pruned body out of the water and dried herself with the inside of her old clothes and dressed in her clean ones. Then she began to clean her dirty clothes against a rough rock in the water before laying them out in the sun to dry. Risking a glance over at Thorin, she was surprised when she saw that he had fallen asleep, basking in the golden sunlight.

Bella took this as an opportunity to admire him. She loved everything about him; from his long hair with the beautiful streaks of silver, his beard that had tickled her skin when they'd kissed, the terrifying muscle which coiled on his arms, and his long eyelashes, which covered his icy blue eyes. As she openly gawked, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand suddenly clamped over her mouth.

Eyes popping wide, she began to struggle until she heard the familiar chuckle of Fili and Kili and went still. Kili released his hold on her and gave her an amusing glance while she glared daggers at the two of them. "Hello Auntie!" they both said with huge grins.

That shocked her.

"A-Auntie?" She stuttered out, not quite believing what she had heard. "I-I don't…" She didn't know what to say.

"Well, you're going to be our Aunt pretty soon!" Fili said, smiling down at her.

A frown formed on her face as she looked over at Thorin. As much as she wished that he could be all hers… she had insecurities. "Your uncle… I don't believe that we'll ever… I mean, he couldn't ever want me to…" She was unable to form a single sentence but the two brothers understood what she had been trying to say.

Fili's smile dropped. "He does, he just doesn't quite understand what he's feeling yet. Give him time." She nodded and went to gather up her clothing, vaguely wondering if Thorin's nephews were trying to play matchmaker… Glancing over, she watched with amusement as Fili and Kili woke Thorin by dousing him with a pitcher of cold water, startling the large dwarf. She couldn't help but giggle when she watched him angrily storm after them shouting nonsense in Khuzdul. Oh how she wished she could understand what he was saying!

Soon they packed up and cross the ford, and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and tall elms. "The somebody I spoke of, when you meet him, you must all be very polite. I shall introduce you slowly, two by two, I think; and you must be careful not to annoy him, or heaven know what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humored. Still I warn you he gets angry easily."

"Couldn't you find someone more easy-tempered?" one of the dwarves asked.

"No I could not!" Gandalf said. "If you must know more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer. He changes his skin, sometimes he is a huge black bear, and sometimes he is a great strong man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before goblins came into the hills out of the north. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.

At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own. He lives in an oak-wood and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly as marvelous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide."

Bella and the dwarves now had plenty to think about, and they asked no more questions. They still had a long way to walk before them. Up slope and down dale they plodded. It grew very hot. Sometimes they rested under the trees, and Bella felt so hungry that the acorns on the forest floor were starting to look slightly edible.

It was the middle of the afternoon before they noticed that great patches of flowers had begun to spring up, all the same kinds growing together as if they had been planted. Especially there was clover, waving patches of cockscomb clover, and purple clover, and white stretches of short white sweet honey-smelling clover. There was a buzzing and a whirring and a droning in the air. Bees were busy everywhere. And such bees! Bella had never seen anything like them.

They were bigger than hornets. The drones were bigger than Bella's thumb, a good deal, and the bands of yellow on their deep black bodies shone like fiery gold. "We are getting near," said Gandalf. "We are on the edge of his bee-pastures."

After a while they came to a belt of tall and very ancient oaks, and beyond these to a high thorn-hedge through which you could neither see nor scramble.

"You had better wait here," said the wizard to the dwarves, "and when I call or whistle to begin to come after me – you will see the way I go – but only in pairs, mind, and about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two; he had better come alone and last. Come on Ms. Baggins! There is a gate somewhere round this way."

"Wait!" Thorin said, stopping Gandalf in his tracks. "You're taking the hobbit first?" Being called the hobbit stung, but Bella remained stoic as she watched Thorin.

"I won't allow any harm to come to her, Thorin," Gandalf said with a knowing look before he and Bella went off along the hedge. She looked back at Thorin and caught his slightly worried gaze, giving him a small smile before turning back around.

They soon came to a wooden gate, high and broad, beyond which they could see gardens and a cluster of wooden buildings, some thatched and made of unshaped logs: barns, stables, sheds, and a long low wooden house. Inside on the southward side of the great hedge were rows and rows of hives with bell-shaped tops made of straw. The noise of the bees flying to and fro filled all the air.

The wizard and the hobbit pushed open the heavy creaking gate and went down a wide track towards the house. Some horses, very sleek and well-groomed, trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces; then off they galloped t the buildings.

"They have gone to tell him of the arrival of strangers," Gandalf said.

Soon they reached a courtyard, three walls of which were formed by the wooden house and its two long wings. In the middle there was lying a great oak-trunk with many lopped branches beside it. Standing near was a huge man with a thick black bear and hair, and great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles. He was clothed in a tunic of wool down to his knees, and was leaning on a large axe. The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.

"Here they are!" he said to the horses. "They don't look dangerous. You can be off!" He laughed a great rolling laugh, put down his axe and came forward.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked gruffly, standing in front of them and towering tall above Gandalf. As for Bella, she was just over knee height to the strange man.

"I am Gandalf," said the wizard.

"Never heard of him," growled the man. "And what's this little girl?" he said, stopping down to frown at Bella with his bushy black eyebrows.

"This is Ms. Bella Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation," said Gandalf. Bella curtsied low. "I am a wizard. I have heard of you, if you have not heard of me; but perhaps you have heard of my good cousin Radagast who lives near the Southern borders of Mirkwood?"

"Yes; not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe. I used to see him now and again," said Beorn. "Well, now I know who you are. What do you want?"

"To tell you the truth, we have lost our luggage and nearly lost our way, and are rather in need of help, or at least advice. I may say we have had rather a bad time with the goblins in the mountains."

"Goblins?" said Beorn. "O ho, so you've been having trouble with them have you? What did you go near them for?"

"We did not mean to. They surprised us at night in a pass which we had to cross; we were coming out of the Lands over West into these countries – it is a long tale."

"Then you had better come inside and tell me some of it, if it won't take all day," said Beorn leading the way through a dark door that opened out of the courtyard and into the house.

Following him they found themselves in a wide hall with a fire-place in the middle. Though it was summer there was a wood-fire burning and the smoke was rising to the blackened rafters in search of the way out through the opening in the roof. They passed through the dim hall, lit only by the fire and the hole above it, and came through another small door into a sort of veranda propped on wooden posts made of single tree-trunks. It faced south and was still warm and filled with the light of the westering sun which slanted into it, and fell golden on the garden full of flowers that came right up to the steps.

Here they sat on wooden benches while Gandalf began his tale, and Bella looked at the flowers in the garden.

"I was coming over the mountains with a friend or two…" said the wizard.

"Or two? I can see only one, and a little one at that," said Beorn.

"Well to tell you the truth, I did not like to bother you with the lot of us, until I found out if you were busy. I will give a call, if I may."

"Go on, call away!"

So Gandalf gave a long shrill whistle and presently Thorin and Dwalin came round the house by the garden path and stood bowing low before them. Bella noticed that Thorin had quickly looked her over for any sign of a new injury or distress. It made her heart flutter.

"One or three you meant, I see!" said Beorn. "But these aren't hobbits, they are dwarves!"

"Thorin Oakenshield at you service! Dwalin at your service!" they said, bowing once again.

"I don't need your service, thank you," said Beorn, "but I expect you need mine. I am not over fond of dwarves; but if it is true that you are Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, and that your companion is respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins and are not up to any mischief in my lands – what are you up to, by the way?"

"They are on their way to visit the land of their fathers, east beyond Mirkwood," put in Gandalf, "and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at all. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have brought us to the road that lies to the south of your country, when we were attacked by goblins – as I was about to tell you."

"Go on telling, then!" said Beorn.

"There was a terrible storm; the stone-giants were out hurling rocks, and at the head of the pass we took refuge in a cave, the hobbit and I and several of our companions…"

"Do you call two several?"

"Well, no. As a matter of fact there were more then two."

"Where are they? Killed, eaten, gone home?"

"Well, no. They don't seem to have come when I whistled. Shy, I expect. You see, we are very much afraid that we are rather a lot for you to entertain."

"Go on, whistle again! I am in for a party, it seems…"

And so this went on and on until eventually all dwarves had arrived and been introduced. "Well, now there are fifteen of you; and since goblins can count, I suppose that is all that there were up in the trees. Now perhaps we can finish this story without any more interruptions." Bella saw then how clever Gandalf had been. The interruptions had really made Beorn more interested in the story, and the story kept him from sending the dwarves off at once like suspicious beggars.

By the time the tale was finished, the sun had fallen behind the peaks of the Misty Mountains and the shadows were long in Beorn's garden. "A very good tale," said he. "The best I have heard for a long while. If all beggars could tell such a good one, they might find me kinder. You may be making it all up of course, but you deserve a supper for the story all the same. Let's have something to eat!"

Inside the hall it was now quite dark. Beorn clapped his hands, and in trotted four beautiful white ponies and several long-bodied grey dogs. Beorn said something to them in a queer language like animal noises turned into talk. They went out again and soon came back carrying torches in their mouths, which they lit at the fire and stuck in low bracket on the pillars of the hall about the central hearth. The dogs could stand on their hind-legs when they wished, and carry things with their fore-feet. Quickly they got out boards and trestles from the side walls and set them up near the fire.

Then baa – baa – baa was heard, and in came some snow-white sheep led by a large black ram. One bore a white cloth embroidered at the edges with figures of animals; others bore on their broad backs tray with bowls and platters and knives and wooden spoons, which the dogs took and quickly laid on the trestle-tables. These were very low, low enough even for Bella to sit at comfortably. Beside them a pony pushed two low-seated benches with wide rush-bottoms and little short thick legs for Gandalf and Thorin, while at the far end he put Beorn's big black chair of the same sort. These were all the chairs he had in his hall, and he probably had them low like the tables for the convenience of the wonderful animals that waited on him.

There they had a supper, or a dinner, such as they had not since the left the Last Homely House in the West and said good-bye to Elrond. The light of the torches and the fire flickered about them, and on the table were two tall red beeswax candles. All the time they ate, Beorn in his deep rolling voice told tales of the wild lands on this side of the mountains, and especially of the dark and dangerous wood, that lay outstretched far to the North and South a day's ride before them, barring their way to the East, the terrible forest of Mirkwood.

The dwarves listened and shook their beards, for they knew that they must soon venture into that forest and that after the mountains it was the worst of the perils they to pass before they came to the dragon's stronghold. When dinner was over they began to tell tales of their own, but Beorn seemed to be growing drowsy and paid little heed to them. They spoke most of gold and silver and jewels and the making of things by smith-craft, and Beorn did not appear to care for such things; there were no things of gold or silver in his hall, and few save the knives were made of metal at all.

They sat long at the table with their wooden drinking-bowls filled with mead. The dark night came on outside. The fires in the middle of the hall were built with fresh logs and the torches were put out, and still they sat in the light of the dancing flames with the pillars of the house standing tall behind them, and dark at the top like trees of the forest. Whether it was magic or not, it seemed to Bella that she heard a sound like the wind in the branches stirring in the rafters, and the hoot of owls. Standing up silently while the dwarves were lost in conversation, and Gandalf and Beorn listened half-heartedly, she walked up to one of the ponies standing all by their lonesome in the corner. It was a gorgeous chestnut mare, which nickered softly when she came over.

As she had listened to the dwarves' tales of the kings being consumed by dragon-sickness, the thought struck her that the same might happen to Thorin. Being with the pony, she figured she could vent out her frustrations without the others listening since they were lost in conversation. Softly, she began to sing.

You're alone, you're on your own, so what?
Have you gone blind?
Have you forgotten what you have and what is yours?
Glass half empty, glass half full
Well either way you won't be going thirsty
Count your blessings not your flaws

Stroking the pony's mane as she sung, she failed to notice that the hall had gone quiet and everyone turned to watch her as she sang in what they thought to be 'an enchanting voice.'

You've got it all
You lost your mind in the sound
There's so much more
You can reclaim your crown
You're in control
Rid of the monsters inside your head
Put all your faults to bed
You can be king again

You don't get what all this is about
You're too wrapped up in your self-doubt
You've got that young blood, set it free

You've got it all
You lost your mind in the sound
There's so much more
You can reclaim your crown
You're in control
Rid of the monsters inside your head
Put all your faults to bed
You can be king

There's method in my madness
There's no logic in your sadness
You don't gain a single thing from misery
Take it from me

You've got it all
You lost your mind in the sound
There's so much more
You can reclaim your crown
You're in control
Rid of the monsters inside your head
Put all your faults to bed
You can be king

When she finished her soft tune, she continued to finger the pony's mane for a few moments before she finally realized that the hall was silent. Risking a glance over her shoulder, she blushed a fire red when she saw that everyone was gawking at her as if they'd just been released from a spell she had cast over them. Thorin wore a small smile on his face and he stood up to approach her, sending a glance at the other dwarves, causing them to look away and engage in idle chatter. Gandalf and Beorn watched the two curiously.

"You sing beautifully," he told her as he placed a warm hand on her shoulder, fingers playing with a strand of her brown locks.

She gave a small chuckle. "Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Thorin suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'm amazed at how much you picked up about our history with the dragon-sickness. It showed through our song that you understand its power as well as any dwarf."

"I try my hardest to understand what you dwarves have been through. My life in the Shire was so peaceful when I compare my life with yours. Although, I've never had a place I consider home, but I know if I had one, I would want to remain there forever. Which is one of the reasons I've stayed this long," she said, gazing into his blue orbs.

A pained look seemed to flicker in Thorin's eyes when she said she never had a home, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "Remember that song," he murmured. "I wish to hear it again in the very near future." Bending down, he placed a soft kiss against her lips. It was quick, and it ended all too soon, when Gandalf spoke up. Damn that wizard.

"It is time for us to sleep," said the blasted wizard. "In this hall we can rest sound and safe, but I will warn you all not to forget what Beorn said before he left us; you must not stray outside until the sun is up, on your peril."

Bella found that beds had already been laid at the side of the hall, on a sort of raised platform between the pillars and the outer wall. For her there was a little mattress of straw and woolen blankets. She snuggled into them very gladly, summertime though it was. The fire burned low and she fell asleep.

It was full morning when she awoke. Someone was gently shaking her shoulder and she looked up sleepily to see Thorin's handsome smiling face peering down on her. "Is it time to get up?" she groaned.

Thorin chuckled. "Well we're all up since your snoring puts ours to shame," he said.

Bella turned red. "I do not snore!" she snapped, emerging from the warm bed. Thorin let out a hearty laugh as she finger combed her hair.

"Breakfast is out on the veranda. You'd better be quick if you want any; I fear the others are feasting away quite ferociously!" With a girly giggle, she followed him out to the veranda, and immediately understood what he had meant by ferociously feasting!

The dwarves were savagely scarfing down muffins, and bread, and rolls, and honey covered biscuits with vigor. Gingerly, she grabbed a muffin and began took a bite of its sweetness, only to see Thorin watching her mouth intently. Deciding to be a bit of a tease, she flicked her tongue out sensually to get a bit of honey at the corner of her lips. It was really hard not to laugh at the crimson blush that stained Thorin's cheeks. "Aha!" she thought. "I've finally made the great king blush!"

There was no sign of Gandalf till just before the sun had set, and Beorn was also since the night prior. "Where is our host, and where have you been all day yourself?" several asked.

"One question at a time – and none till after supper! I haven't had a bit to eat since breakfast!"

At long last Gandalf pushed away his plate and jug and took out his pipe. "I was picking out bear-tracks," he said. "There must have been regular bears meeting outside here last night. I soon saw that Beorn could not have made them all; there were far too many of them, and they were various sizes too. I should say there were little bears, large bears, ordinary bears, and gigantic bears, all dancing outside from dark to nearly dawn. They came from almost every direction, except from the west over the river, from the mountains."

There was not much more for Gandalf to say so they all soon retired to bed.

The next morning they were all awakened by Beorn. "So here you all are still! Come and have breakfast!"

So they all went to breakfast with him. Beorn was most jolly for a change; indeed he seemed to be in a splendidly good humor and set them all laughing with his funny stories; nor did they have to wonder long where he had been or why he was so nice to them, for he told them himself. He had been over the river and right back up into the mountains – from which you can guess that he could travel quickly, in bear's shape at any rate. From the burnt wolf-glade he had caught a Warg and a goblin wandering in the woods. From there he had got news; the goblin patrols were still hunting with Wargs for the dwarves, and they were fiercely angry because of the death of the Great Goblin and the slaughter of the Wargs. So much they told him when he forced the, but he guessed there was more wickedness than this afoot, and that a great raid of the whole goblin army with their wolf-allies into the lands shadowed by the mountains might soon be made to find the dwarves, or to take vengeance on the men and creatures that lived there, and who they thought must be sheltering them.

This is what Beorn promised to do for them. He would provide ponies for each of them, and a horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest, and he would lade them with food to last them for weeks with care, and packed so as to be easy as possible. Water, he said, they would not need to carry this side of the forest, for there were streams and springs along the road. "But your way through Mirkwood is dark, dangerous and difficult," he said. "Water is not easy to find there, nor food. I will provide you with skins for carrying water, and I will give you some bows and arrows. But I doubt very much whether anything you find in Mirkwood will be wholesome to eat or drink. There is one stream I know of though, black and strong which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bate in; for I have heard that it carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness. And in the dim shadows of the place that I don't think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason.

That is all the advice I can give you. Beyond the edge of the forest I cannot help you much; you must depend on your luck and your courage and the food I send with you. At the gate of the forest I must ask you to send back my horse and ponies. But I wish you all speed, and my house is open to you, if you ever come this way again."

They thanked him, of course, with many bows and sweepings of their hoods and with many "at your service, O master of the wide wooden halls." But their spirits sank at his grave words, and they all felt that the adventure was far more dangerous than they had thought, while all the time, even if they passed all the perils of the road, the dragon was still waiting at the end.

All morning they were busy with preparations. Soon after midday they ate with Beorn for the last time, and after the meal they were led to their steeds he was going to lend them. When Bella saw the size of the ponies, her heart sank. The ponies were almost too large for the dwarves, and were way too big for her! When Thorin saw her distress, he mounted his pony and reached his hand down to her. "Ride with me?" he asked, to which she answered by placing her hand in his and allowing him to pull her onto the large pony. Wrapping her arms boldly around his midsection to hang on, she relished in getting to hold him flush up against her. They bid Beorn goodbye as they rode off through his gate at a good pace.

As soon as they left his high hedges at the east of his fenced lands they turned north and then bore to north-west. By his advice they were no longer making for the main forest-road to the south of his land. Had they followed the pass, their path would have led them down a stream from the mountains and joined the great river miles south of the Carrock. The edges of Mirkwood grew closer and though here the Mountains too drew down nearer, Beorn had advised them to take this way; for at a place of a few days' ride due north of the Carrock was a gate of a little-known pathway through Mirkwood that led almost straight towards the Lonely Mountain.

For four days they travelled, and Bella had to admit she was enjoying the riding, since she got to spend a lot of time with Thorin. Though they talked little, it was comforting having him so near to her, and she was dreading the time when they would have to return the ponies and head into Mirkwood. On the fourth day, they had reached the eaves of Mirkwood, and were resting almost beneath the great overhanging boughs of its outer trees. Their trunks were huge and gnarled, their branches twisted, their leaves were dark and long. Ivy grew on them and trailed along the ground.

"Well, here is Mirkwood!" said Gandalf. "The greatest of the forests of the Northern world. I hope you like the look of it. Now you must send back these excellent ponies you have borrowed."

"What about your horse then?" Thorin said. "You didn't mention sending it back."

"That's because I will look after it, and I'm not sending it back. I'm going to ride it!"

Then they knew that Gandalf was going to leave them at the very edge of Mirkwood, and they were in despair. But nothing they could say would change his mind.

Come the following morning they filled up their water skins at a clear spring they found close to the forest gate, and they unpacked the ponies. They distributed the packages as fairly as they could, though Thorin had taken a bit more to compensate for Bella, of which she was grateful for. However, she did not want to burden him, so she took a bit more than he wanted to make her carry. Then at last they said goodbye to the ponies and turned their heads for home. Off they trotted gaily, seeming very glad to put their tails towards the shadow of Mirkwood.

Now Gandalf too said farewell. "Goodbye and good luck to you all. Straight through the forest is your way now. Don't stray off the track!" Gandalf tuned his horse and rode down into the west. He galloped away and was soon lost to sight.

They each shouldered their heavy packs and the water skins and turned from the light that lay on the lands outside and plunged into the forest.