The Hobbit - Chapter
VI
OUT OF THE
FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE
Narrator 6, Bilbo, Gandalf, All 13 Dwarves, Warg Chief,
Warg 1, Warg 2, Eagle lord, Eagle 2, Eagle 3, Goblins 1 to 6. Props: Trees, Perch up high, Big wings and eagle talons, beaks, Wolf masks, tails
NARRATOR 6: Bilbo had escaped the goblins, but he did not
know where he was. He had lost hood, cloak, food, pony, his buttons and his
friends. He wandered on and on, till the sun began to sink westwards
BILBO: Good heavens! I seem to have got right to the other
side of the Misty Mountains, right to the edge of the Land Beyond! Where and O
where can Gandalf and the dwarves have got to? I only hope to goodness they are
not still back there in the power of the goblins!
NARRATOR 6: He still wandered on, all the while a very
uncomfortable thought was growing inside him — when he heard voices. He stopped
and listened.It was Balin!
BILBO: I will give them all a surprise.
GANDALF: After all he is my friend, and not a bad little
chap. I feel responsible for him. I wish to goodness you had not lost him.
DWALIN: Why was he brought at all?
OIN: Yes and why can he not stick to his friends and come
along with us?
ORI: Exactly, and why Gandalf did you not choose someone
with more sense?
GLOIN: He has been more trouble than use so far!
NORI: If we have got to go back now into those abominable
tunnels to look for him, then drat him, I say.
GANDALF: I brought him, and I don’t bring things that are of
no use. Either you help me to look for him, or I go and leave you here to get
out of the mess as best you can yourselves. If we can only find him again, you
will thank me before all is over. Why did you lose him, Dori?
DORI: You would have lost him, if a goblin had suddenly
grabbed your legs from behind in the dark, tripped up your feet, and kicked you
in the back!
GANDALF: Then why didn’t you pick him up again?
DORI: Good heavens! How can you ask! Goblins fighting and
biting in the dark, everybody falling over bodies and hitting one another! You
nearly chopped off my head with Glamdring, and Thorin was stabbing here there
and everywhere with Orcrist. You shouted ‘follow me everybody!’ and everybody
ought to have followed.
BILBO: And here’s the burglar!
NARRATOR 6: Bless me, how they jumped! Then they shouted
with surprise and delight. Gandalf was as astonished as any of them, but
probably more pleased than all the others.
GANDALF: Balin – you are not much of a look-out man are you
if you let people walk right in without warning.
BALIN: Well, it is the first time that even a mouse has
crept along under my very nose and not been spotted, and I take off my hood to
you. Balin at your service.
BILBO: Your servant, Mr. Baggins.
BIFUR: We want to know all about your adventures Bilbo!
NARRATOR 6: And he sat down and told them everything —
except about the finding of the ring (“not just now” he thought). They were
particularly interested in the
riddle-competition,and shuddered most appreciatively at his description
of Gollum.
BILBO: And then I couldn’t think of any other question with
Gollum sitting beside me, so I said ‘what’s in my pocket?’ And it couldn’t
guess in three goes. So I said: ‘what about your promise? Show me the way out!
’ But it came at me to kill me, and I ran, and fell over in the dark. Then I
followed it to the gate.
BOMBUR: What about the guards? Weren’t there any?
BILBO: O yes! lots of them; but I dodged ’em — and here I
am.
NARRATOR 6: The dwarves looked at him with quite a new
respect.
GANDALF: What did I tell you? Mr. Baggins has more about him
than you guess.
NARRATOR 6: He gave Bilbo a queer look from under his bushy
eyebrows, as he said this, and the hobbit wondered if he guessed at the part of
his tale that he had left out. Then Bilbo had questions of his own to ask.
GANDALF: A very ticklish business, it was. Touch and go! We
must be getting on at once, now we are a little rested. They will be out after
us in hundreds when night comes on; and already shadows are lengthening. You
lose track of time inside goblin-tunnels. Today’s Thursday, and it was Monday
night or Tuesday morning that we were captured. We have gone miles and miles,
and come right down through the heart of the mountains. Let’s get on!
BILBO: I am dreadfully hungry!
GANDALF: Can’t help it, unless you like to go back and ask
the goblins nicely to let you have your pony back and your luggage.
BILBO: No thank you!
GANDALF: Very well then, we must just tighten our belts and
trudge on — or we shall be made into supper, and that will be much worse than
having none ourselves.
NARRATOR 6: As they went on Bilbo looked from side to side
for something to eat; The forest-gloom got heavier and the forest-silence
deeper. There was no wind that evening to bring even a sea-sighing into the
branches of the trees.
BILBO: Must we go any further? My toes are all bruised and
bent, and my legs ache, and my stomach is wagging like an empty sack.
GANDALF: A bit further.
KILI: Ah an opening where no trees grow. The moon is up and
shining into it!
FILI: Somehow this does not strike me as a nice place,
although there is nothing wrong to see.
NARRATOR 6: All of a sudden they heard howls - It was wolves
howling at the moon, wolves gathering together! To hear this out in the forest
under the moon was too much for Bilbo.
Even magic rings are not much use against wolves — especially against the evil packs that lived under
the shadow of the goblin-infested mountains.
BILBO: What shall we do, what shall we do! Escaping goblins
to be caught by wolves!
NARRATOR 6: And it became a proverb, though we now say “out
of the frying-pan into the fire” in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.
GANDALF: Up the trees quick!
NARRATOR 6: Bilbo could not get into any tree, and was
scuttling about from trunk to trunk, like a rabbit that has lost its hole and
has a dog after it.
NORI: You’ve left the burglar behind again!
DORI: I can’t be always be responsible for burglars - down
tunnels and up trees! What do you think I am? A porter?
THORIN: He’ll be eaten if we don’t do something. The howls
are getting nearer and nearer. Dori be quick, and give Mr. Baggins a hand!
NARRATOR 6: Dori was really a decent fellow in spite of his
grumbling. He actually climbed out of the tree and helped Bilbo scramble up.
Just at that moment the wolves trotted howling into the clearing. Still Dori
did not let Bilbo down. He waited till he had clambered into the branches, and
then he jumped for the branches himself. Only just in time!
(A wolf snaps at his cloak as he swings up, and nearly gets
him. In a minute there was a whole pack of them yelping around the tree.)
NARRATOR 6: But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves
over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees. For a time they were
safe. In middle was a great grey wolf. He spoke to them in the dreadful
language of the Wargs. I will tell you what Gandalf heard, though Bilbo did not
understand it.
Chief Warg: Welcome brothers and sister Wargs.
Wargs: Hail our mighty Chief!
Chief Warg: As you know, we Wargs and the goblins have often
helped one another in certain deeds. In the days when they ventured to war, and
used to go on raids to get food or slaves - it was we who assisted them.
Warg 1: Aye, I do remember and then we shared the plunder
with them.
Warg 2: Yes yessss - sometimes they rode us wolves like men
do horses.
Chief Warg: Well, we have an opportunity once again to work
alongside the Goblins; A great goblin-raid had been planned for this very
night. We have come here to meet the goblins but they seem to be late.
NARRATOR 6: The reason, no doubt, was the death of the Great
Goblin, and all the excitement caused by
the dwarves and Bilbo and the wizard, for whom they were probably still
hunting.
CHIEF WARG: You see evil men have been building themselves
places to live among the woods in the
valleys and along the river-shores. We have planned with the goblins’ help to
go by night upon some of the villages and kill them all, except a few that the
goblins plan to carry back as prisoners to their caves.
NARRATOR 6: This was dreadful talk to listen to, because of
the brave woodmen and their wives and children, and the danger which now
threatened Gandalf and his friends.
WARG 1:Who are these strange folk in the trees?
CHIEF WARG: Friends of the woodmen, come to spy on us, we
shan’t let the people up the trees escape, at any rate not until morning.
WARG 2: And long before that, goblin soldiers will be coming
down from the mountains; and goblins can climb trees, or cut them down.
GANDALF: I shall have to set one wolf alight.
NARRATOR 6: Then he set one alight with bright blue fire,
and threw it whizzing down among the circle of the wolves. It struck one on the
back, and immediately his shaggy coat caught fire, and he was leaping to and
fro yelping horribly. A specially large flame hit the chief wolf on the nose,
and she leaped in the air ten feet, and then rushed round and round the circle
biting and snapping.
(The dwarves and Bilbo shout and cheer as the wolves flee)
LORD OF THE EAGLES: What is all this uproar in the forest
tonight? I hear wolves’ voices! Are the goblins at mischief in the woods?
(He swept up into the air, and immediately two of his guards
from the rocks at either hand leaped up to follow him. They circled up in the
sky and looked down.)
Eagle 2: There appears to be a commotion among the wolves
down below!
Eagle 3: And see flashes of fire, I hear howling and
yelping!
LORD OF THE EAGLES: I see the glint of the moon on goblin
spears and helmets, yes the wicked folk have crept from their gate and wound
into the wood. We eagles of the ancient
race of the northern mountains are the greatest of all birds;
Eagle 2: Our race is proud and strong and noble-hearted.
Eagle 3: We neither love goblins, nor fear them.
LORD OF THE EAGLES: We must however swoop on them and drive
them shrieking back to their caves, so as to stop whatever wickedness they are
doing.
NARRATOR 6: The goblins hated the eagles and feared them,
but could not reach their lofty seats, nor drive them from the mountains.
LORD OF THE EAGLES: I am filled with curiosity to know what
is afoot;
NARRATOR 6: The Lord of the Eagles got closer to see that
the goblins were leaping and howling round the tree trunks, and cursing dwarves
- the wolves were at a respectful distance, watching and waiting.
GOBLINS 1 & 2: Fifteen birds in five fir-trees, their
feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze! But,
funny little birds, they had no
wings! O what shall we do with the funny little things?
GOBLINS (ALL):Roast ’em alive, or stew them in a pot; fry
them, boil them and eat them hot?
GOBLINS 3 & 4: Fly away little birds! Fly away if you
can! Come down little birds, or you will get roasted in your nests! Sing, sing
little birds! Why don’t you sing?
GANDALF: Go away! little boys!It isn’t bird-nesting time.
Also naughty little boys that play with fire get punished.
GOBLINS 5 & 6: Burn, burn tree and fern! Shrivel and
scorch! A fizzling torch To light the night for our delight, Ya hey!
GOBLINS (ALL):Bake and toast ’em, fry and roast ’em! till
beards blaze, and eyes glaze; till hair smells and skins crack, fat melts, and
bones black in cinders lie beneath the sky!
GOBLINS 1 & 2: So dwarves shall die, and light the night
for our delight, Ya hey! Ya-harri-hey!
Ya hoy!
NARRATOR 6: And with that Ya hoyl the flames were under
Gandalf’ s tree. In a moment it spread to the others. The bark caught fire, the
lower branches cracked. Then Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree. The sudden
splendour flashed from his wand like lightning, as he got ready to spring down
from on high right among the spears of the goblins. That would have been the
end of him, though he would probably have killed many of them as he came
hurtling down like a thunderbolt. But he never leaped. Just at that moment the
Lord of the Eagles swept down from above, seized him in his talons, and was
gone.
(Howl of anger and surprise from the goblins.)
NARRATOR 6: Back swept the great birds that were with him,
and down they came like huge black shadows. The wolves yammered and gnashed
their teeth; the goblins yelled and stamped with rage, and flung their heavy
spears in the air in vain. Over them swooped the eagles; their talons tore at
goblins. There was a sudden flurry of sparks and smoke. Bilbo had escaped with
the eagles just in time!
After a long journey Bilbo fell with a gasp onto the rough
platform of an eagle’s eyrie.
EAGLE 2: The Lord of the Eagles bids you to bring your
prisoners to the Great Shelf.
NARRATOR 6: Very soon Bilbo was laid down, trembling with
fear, on a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side. There he found all the
others sitting with their backs to the mountain wall. The Lord of the Eagles
also was there and was speaking to Gandalf.
BILBO: It seem that we are not going to be eaten after all.
Gandalf and the eagle-lord appear to know one another
EAGLE 3: So you see ‘prisoners’ means ‘prisoners rescued
from the goblins’ only, and not our
captives.
LORD OF THE EAGLES: We will help you Gandalf by flying you
away from these Mountains and to the plains, but we cannot go near man. They
would shoot at us with their great bows of yew, for they would think we were
after their sheep. And at other times they
would be right. No! we are glad to cheat the goblins of their sport, and glad
to repay our thanks to you, but we will not risk ourselves.
GANDALF: Very well. Take us where and as far as you will! We
are already deeply obliged to you. But
in the meantime we are famished with hunger.
BILBO: I am nearly dead of it.
LORD OF THE EAGLES: That can perhaps be mended.
NARRATOR 6: So ended the adventures of the Misty Mountains.
Soon Bilbo’s stomach was feeling full and comfortable again, and he felt he
could sleep contentedly. But all night he dreamed of his own house and wandered
in his sleep into all his different rooms looking for something that he could
not find nor remember what it looked like.
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