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In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Tired as he was, Bilbo would have liked to stay a while. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things.
This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!”
What has roots as nobody sees, Is taller than trees, Up, up it goes, And yet never grows? “Easy!” said Bilbo. “Mountain, I suppose.”
Thirty white horses on a red hill, First they champ, Then they stamp, Then they stand still.
Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters.
An eye in a blue face Saw an eye in a green face. “That eye is like to this eye” Said the first eye, “But in low place Not in high place.”
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.
A box without hinges, key, or lid, Yet golden treasure inside is hid,
Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.
No-legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three-legs, four-legs got some.
This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.
“Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!” he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say “out of the frying-pan into the fire” in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.
“Farewell!” they 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.
