Summary: Chapter 6
Fleeing from the goblins—and still invisible, thanks to
the ring—Bilbo looks back and realizes that he has made it to the
other side of the Misty Mountains. The tunnels have taken him all
the way through the range. Walking along, he stumbles upon Gandalf
and the dwarves, who have just been wondering whether they should leave
without him. The hobbit slips off the ring and surprises them and
then explains how he made his way out of the mountain. However,
he refrains from mentioning his discovery of the magic ring and the
role it played in his escape from Gollum and the goblins.
Gandalf implores the company to get moving again since
only the sunlight is keeping the goblins from coming after them.
The group is a bit north of where they had planned to be, and they
have difficult country to cross. Evening comes as they pass through
a grove of trees. Suddenly, they hear the howling of wolves and
barely have time to scurry up into the trees before the wolves descend
upon them. The beasts are actually wolflike creatures called Wargs.
The Wargs are allies of the goblins, and they quickly notify the
goblins of the situation. The goblins begin to arrive and, laughing
at the company’s predicament, light fires under the trees in which
Gandalf, the dwarves, and Bilbo are hiding.
Gandalf prepares to attack the goblins, hoping
to kill as many as he can before they kill him. Luckily for the
company, the Lord of the Eagles has seen the commotion from his
roost high in the mountains. With a number of other eagles, he swoops
down, picks up the marooned travelers, and flies them to safety.
The eagles are friends of Gandalf’s and enemies of the goblins.
They are happy to provide food and rest for the weary travelers,
who then continue on their journey.
Summary: Chapter 7
Once again, Gandalf disappoints the company by announcing
that he must leave. He says, however, that he will stay around long enough
to help them find food and ponies so that they can make their way
on their own through Mirkwood—the last great obstacle before the
Lonely Mountain. He leads them to the house of Beorn. Beorn is a
half-man, half-bear creature who has a great wooden house in the
middle of the woods outside Mirkwood. Gandalf takes the dwarves
to Beorn’s house a few at a time, so as not to startle him. He tells
Beorn the story of their adventure in the mountain. Gandalf’s story
amuses Beorn greatly because he despises goblins, who are enemies
of nature.
Beorn offers the company much-needed food and lodging.
He also does some scouting and finds that the Wargs and goblins
have put together an attack party in order to find the dwarves and
wizard that killed their leader, the Great Goblin. To evade this
attack party, Beorn recommends that the group take the northern
pass (the elf path) through Mirkwood, which will bring them near
the Lonely Mountain. This choice will throw the goblins off the
company’s trail and allow them to bypass the dangerous southern
pass. The northern pass is not entirely safe either, so Beorn repeatedly
warns his guests never to stray from the path.
Beorn provides the group with food and ponies to carry
them to the gate at the path’s start. From there, however, they
must return the ponies and travel on foot. When they reach the path,
Gandalf also departs, wishing his friends the best and reminding
them never to stray from the path—dark things lurk in Mirkwood that
even the wizard does not know about. On that note, the dwarves and
the hobbit plunge into the forest.
