Dzhon Ronal'd Ruel Tolkien. Hobbit

薰衣草

"Undoubtedly that  was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal  gold and
jewels,  you know, from men and elves and dwarves,  wherever  they  can find
them;  and  they  guard  their  plunder  as  long  as they  live  (which  is
practically forever, unless they  are killed), and never  enjoy a brass ring
of it.  Indeed they hardly know a good  bit of work from a bad, though  they
usually have a good notion of the current market value; and they can't  make
a thing for themselves, not even mend a little  loose scale of their armour.
There were lots of dragons in the North in those days, and gold was probably
getting scarce  up there,  with the  dwarves flying south or getting killed,
and all the general waste and destruction  that dragons make  going from bad
to  worse. There was a most specially greedy, strong and wicked  worm called
Smaug. One day he flew up into the air and came south. The first we heard of
it was a noise like a hurricane coming from the North, and the pine-trees on
the  Mountain  creaking and cracking  in  the wind. Some of  the dwarves who
happened to  be outside (I was one luckily -a  fine adventurous lad in those
days, always wandering  about, and it saved  my  life that day)-well, from a
good way off we saw  the dragon settle on our mountain  in a spout of flame.
Then he came down the slopes and when  he reached the woods they all went up
in  fire. By that time all the bells  were ringing  in Dale and the warriors
were  arming. The dwarves rushed out of their great gate;  but there was the
dragon waiting for them. None escaped that way. The river rushed up in steam
and a fog fell on Dale, and in the fog the dragon came on them and destroyed
most of  the warriors-the usual unhappy  story, it was  only too  common  in
those days. Then he went back and crept in through the Front Gate and routed
out all  the halls, and  lanes,  and tunnels, alleys,  cellars, mansions and
passages. After that there were no dwarves left alive  inside, and  he  took
all their wealth for himself. Probably, for that is the dragons' way, he has
piled it all up in a  great heap  far inside, and  sleeps  on it  for a bed.
Later he used to crawl  out of the great gate and come by night to Dale, and
carry away people, especially maidens,  to eat, until  Dale  was ruined, and
all  the  people  dead or  gone. What  goes on there  now  I don't  know for
certain,  but I don't suppose anyone  lives nearer  to the Mountain than the
far edge of the Long Lake now-a-days.
     "The few of  us that  were well outside  sat and  wept  in hiding,  and
cursed  Smaug;  and there  we were  unexpectedly joined by my father  and my
grandfather with  singed  beards. They looked  very grim but they said  very
little. When I asked how  they had got away, they told me to hold my tongue,
and said that one day in the proper time  I should know. After that we  went
away, and we have had to earn our livings as  best we could up and down  the
lands, often  enough  sinking as low as blacksmith-work  or even coalmining.
But  we have never forgotten  our stolen treasure. And even now, when I will
allow we have a  good bit laid by and  are  not so  badly  off"-here  Thorin
stroked the gold chain round  his neck-"we still mean to get it back, and to
bring our curses home to Smaug-if we can.
     "I have often wondered about my father's and my grandfather's escape. I
see now they must have  had a private Side-door which only  they knew about.
But apparently they made a map, and I  should  like to know how Gandalf  got
hold of it, and why it did not come down to me, the rightful heir."
     "I did not 'get hold of it,' I was given it," said the wizard.
     "Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria
by Azog the Goblin --"
     "Curse his name, yes," said Thorin.
     "And Thrain your  father  went away  on the twenty-first  of  April,  a
hundred years ago last Thursday, and has never been seen by you since--"
     "True, true," said Thorin.
     "Well, your father gave me this to give to you; and if I have chosen my
own  time and  way of handing  it over, you can hardly blame me, considering
the trouble I had to find you.  Your father could not remember his  own name
when he  gave me the paper, and he never  told me yours;  so on the whole  I
think  I ought to  be praised and thanked. Here it is," said  he handing the
map to Thorin.
     "I don't understand," said Thorin, and  Bilbo  felt he would have liked
to say the same. The explanation did not seem to explain.
     "Your grandfather," said the wizard slowly and grimly, "gave the map to
his son for safety before he went to the  mines  of Moria.  Your father went
away  to try his luck with  the map after your grandfather was  killed;  and
lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had,  but he  never got near
the Mountain. How he got there I  don't know, but I found him a prisoner  in
the dungeons of the Necromancer."
     "Whatever  were you doing there?" asked Thorin  with a shudder, and all
the dwarves shivered.
     "Never you  mind.  I was  finding things out,  as  usual; and  a  nasty
dangerous  business it was. Even  I,  Gandalf, only just escaped. I tried to
save your father, but it was too late. He was witless and wandering, and had
forgotten almost everything except the  map and the key." "We  have long ago
paid  the goblins of  Moria," said Thorin;  "we must give  a thought to  the
Necromancer." "Don't  be absurd! He is an enemy quite beyond  the powers  of
all the dwarves put together, if they could all be collected again from  the
four corners of the world. The one thing your father wished was for his  son
to read the map and use the key. The dragon  and the Mountain are  more than
big enough tasks for you!"

薰衣草

"Hear, hear!" said  Bilbo, and accidentally said it aloud, "Hear what?"
they all said turning suddenly towards him, and he was so  flustered that he
answered "Hear what I have got to say!" "What's that?" they asked.
     "Well,  I  should say that you ought to go East and  have a look round.
After  all there  is  the Side-door,  and  dragons must  sleep sometimes,  I
suppose. If you sit on the doorstep long enough, I daresay you will think of
something. And well, don't you know, I think  we have talked long enough for
one night, if  you see what I mean. What about bed, and  an early start, and
all that? I will give you a good breakfast before you go."
     "Before  we go, I  suppose  you  mean,"  said  Thorin. "Aren't  you the
burglar?  And isn't  sitting  on the door-step your  job,  not to  speak  of
getting inside  the door? But I  agree  about bed and breakfast. I like eggs
with my ham, when starting on  a  journey: fried  not  poached, and mind you
don't break 'em."
     After all the others had ordered their  breakfasts without so much as a
please (which annoyed Bilbo  very much), they  all got up. The hobbit had to
find room  for  them  all, and filled all his spare-rooms and  made  beds on
chairs and sofas,  before he got them all stowed and went to his  own little
bed  very tired and not altogether happy. One thing he did make his mind  up
about was not to  bother to get  up  very  early  and cook  everybody else's
wretched  breakfast.  The Tookishness  was wearing off, and he  was  not now
quite so sure that he was going on any journey in the morning. As he lay  in
bed he could  hear Thorin still humming to himself in the best  bedroom next
to him:

     Far over the misty mountains cold
     To dungeons deep and caverns old
     We must away, ere break of day,
     To find our long-forgotten gold.

     Bilbo  went  to  sleep  with that  in  his  ears, and it gave  him very
uncomfortable dreams. It was long after the break of day, when he woke up.