Over cold mountains and mists,
When they reached the ancient cave in the cellar,
We need to leave before dawn,
Looking for the location of the beautiful gold.
The dwarves have done great deeds in the past,
The hammer fell like a bell,
In the depths, dark creatures sleep
In the nest under the base.
Ancient kings and elven nobles,
With endless gold and pearls,
They hammered and forged, capturing the scattered radiance.
The diamond hoop hidden on the hilt of the sword.
Hanging on the silver necklace
Rushing starlight, on the crown
The golden silk threads were blazing with dragon flames,
They captured the light and heat of the sun and moon.
Over cold mountains and mists,
When they reached the ancient cave in the cellar,
We need to leave before dawn,
To retrieve the inherited Ancient Golden Land.
They made themselves beautiful cups,
Golden Harp, no one can see
They hide quietly, many songs
Humans and elves didn't appreciate it.
The pine tree cries on the high ground,
The strong wind was noisy in the night.
The flames were crimson red and spread mercilessly.
The trees roared like torches.
The bell in the valley rang loudly,
The human looked panicked.
The dragon's eye was stronger than fire.
Destroy the tower and the hall.
Under the moonlight, the mountains were shrouded in smoke;
The dwarf heard the horn of doom.
Fleeing from the hall, yet in peril,
Beneath his feet, under the moonlight, it was still difficult to escape.
In the distant misty mountains I lament,
Deep cellars, ancient caves, dark and gloomy,
We must leave before dawn,
In order to inherit the harp and gold, he was willing to fight with him!
As they sang, the Hobbits began to feel a deep love for the items that were created by combining dexterity, wisdom, and magic. A feeling of jealousy as strong as the dwarves. At this moment, the bloodline of the Tucker family in his body awakened. He wanted to see the great mountains, listen to the songs of the pine trees and the majesty of the waterfall, explore the caves, and carry a sword instead of an ordinary cane. He looked out of the window. The stars in the dark sky sparkled, reminding him of the dwarven treasures in the dark cave. Suddenly, there was a flash of fire by the river. It was probably someone who had lit the campfire. It reminded him of the insatiable dragon sitting on his peaceful hill, swallowing everything in flames. He shivered and immediately regained his senses, once again becoming the aloof Mr. Baggins of Bag End.
He stood up trembling. He didn't want to light the oil lamp. He just wanted to hide behind the wine barrel in the wine cellar and wait for the dwarves to leave before coming out. Suddenly, he realized that the music and song had all stopped, and everyone's eyes were shining through the darkness at him.
"Where are you going?" Thorin's tone was very stern, as if he had already guessed what the hobbit was thinking.
"I just want some light, can I?”said Birbo apologetically.
" We like the darkness," the dwarf said."Darkness is suitable for secret discussions! There was still a long time before dawn.”
"Of course, of course!" Birbo hurriedly sat down. He accidentally missed the bench and bumped into the fire tongs and shovel beside the fireplace.
"Keep your voice down!" Gandalf said,"Listen to what Thorin has to say!”Thorin began to talk non-stop.
"Gandalf, the dwarves, and Mr. Baggins! We are gathered in the house of this friend and accomplice, the best and most fearless hobbit, may the hair on his feet never fall off! To his wine and ale!" He stopped to catch his breath, hoping for a polite response from the hobbit. However, when Bilbo Baggins heard that the accomplice was already scared out of his wits, and the adjective " fearless " made him even more tongue-tied. His mouth, which was originally prepared to protest, only popped a few bubbles, and his tangled little head was pitifully about to burn. Therefore, Thorin continued,"
"We are gathered here to discuss our plans, methods, attempts, policies, and tools. We must embark on a long journey before daybreak. Some of us, or even all of us, may not be able to return from this journey. (Of course, our friend and advisor, the wise wizard Gandalf, is an exception.) This is a serious moment, and we all know our goal. To the venerable Mr. Baggins, and to the younger dwarves (referring to Kili and Philip), we may have to briefly explain the exact situation-"
This was Sorin's style of doing things. He was a dwarf with a high status. If time allowed, he could go on and on like this until he could not breathe, and there was not a word in these words that the audience did not know. This time, however, he was rudely interrupted, and poor Birbo could not hold it in any longer. The words 'may not return' made him feel sick and want to scream. Soon, the sound exploded like a steam furnace in the tunnel. All the dwarves immediately jumped up and knocked over the tables and chairs! Gandalf immediately lit up the blue light with his wand. In the dazzling light, all the dwarves could see the poor little Hobbit kneeling on the ground, trembling like a melting jelly. Then, he lay on the ground and kept shouting," I was hit by lightning! I was struck by lightning!" For a long time, they could only hear this sentence from his mouth. So, they carried the guy to the sofa in the living room with a drink beside him. The group went back to discussing the secret plan.
"This guy gets excited too easily!" Gandaph said as everyone sat down,"Sometimes he goes crazy like this, but he's the best, really the best, as fierce as an evil dragon forced into a corner.”
If you had seen a dragon in a desperate situation, you would know that using such a term to describe any Hobbit was a kind exaggeration. Even if it was used to describe Old Tucker's great-great-uncle, Roaring Bull, it was too much. Howling Bull was so tall that he could ride a human horse. During the Battle of Green Plains, he took the lead in charging into the ranks of the Orcs of the Grand Mountains and used a wooden club to cleanly knock off the head of the leader of the Orcs, Goffko. His head flew a hundred yards into a rabbit hole, and he won the war and invented golf.
However, at this moment, the descendants of the Howling Bull were lying in the living room on the verge of death. After a while, after a few drinks, he nervously crawled back to the door to eavesdrop. He happened to hear Gloin say,"Hmph! (Anyway, it's just a similar snort!)）Do you think he can? Gandalf said that the hobbit was fierce, but if he screamed like that whenever he got excited, it would wake up the whole family of dragons and kill us. I think it sounds more like fear than excitement! In fact, if it weren't for the mark on the door, I would have thought that we had come to the wrong place. When I saw this fat guy running around panting, I felt that something was wrong. He didn't look like a Snitch; he looked more like a grocer!”
Then Mr. Baggins turned the doorknob and walked in. The bloodline of the Tucker family had defeated everything. He suddenly felt that he would rather skip breakfast and sleep in bed than be seen as a fierce guy. When he heard that the fat guy was panting, he almost got angry. But after tonight, Baggins would regret his actions and say to himself,""Birbo, you're really stupid. You brought this upon yourself and delivered yourself to your doorstep!”
"I'm sorry to disturb everyone," he said."I hope I didn't interrupt your discussion. I don't want to pretend to understand what you're talking about, or why you're talking about some Snitch, but I think there's one thing I heard right-(that's when his ego flares) You don't think I'm good enough, I'll let you know; There's no sign on my door at all. In fact, I just painted it last week. I'm sure you've got the wrong house. When I saw your funny faces, I also felt that something was wrong, but I didn't lose any manners. Tell me what you want to do, and I will try to accomplish it, even if I have to go to the easternmost desert to fight against the wild earth snakes. Well, I had a great-great-great-great-great
" Yes, yes, but that was a long time ago," Gloin said."I'm talking about you. Besides, I can assure you that there is a mark on the door, the mark that is commonly used in your line of work: 'Snitch wants a good job, seeking excitement and reasonable pay.' That's what the mark meant. Of course, if you like, you can also call yourself a 'professional treasure hunter'. Some people call themselves that. In fact, it's the same for us. Gandalf told us that there were people in the area who wanted a job immediately, and he had arranged to meet them this Wednesday at tea time.”
" Of course there's a mark on the door," Gandalf said."I did it myself. Of course I have a good reason. You asked me to find you a fourteenth companion, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Whoever dares to say that I picked the wrong person or the wrong house, you can continue to form a team of thirteen and enjoy that misfortune, or go back to digging for coal.”
He glared angrily at Gloin, who shrank back into his chair. When Birbo opened his mouth to ask a question, Gandalf raised his thick eyebrows at him until Birbo tactfully shut his mouth. "That's right!" Gandalf said,"Stop arguing. I have chosen Mr. Baggins, and that is all you need to know. If I say he's a Snitch, he's a Snitch, and he'll be when the time comes. Don't underestimate him. He's hiding his abilities. Even he himself doesn't know. If you can survive in the future, don't forget to thank me. That's right, Bilbo, good boy, go get the oil lamp, let us see clearly!”
Under the light of a large oil lamp, he unfolded a piece of paper that looked like a map.
" This is a map made by Saul, Thorin. He was your great-grandfather," he answered the dwarves 'excited questions." This is the road to the mountains.”
" I don't see how this will help us much," Thorin said disappointedly after taking a look,""I remember the mountain and the surrounding scenery very clearly. I also know where Gloomy Jungle is, and I also remember where the withered wasteland where the dragons give birth to their offspring is.”
" There's a place in the mountains marked with a red dragon symbol," Balin said."But if we can get there, we don't need a map to find it.”
"There's something you haven't noticed," said the wizard."There's a secret door here. Do you see the runes on the west side? Was there a finger pointing in that direction on the other rune? (Turn to the map at the front of the book and you will see what Gandalf described.)) This was a secret passage leading to the lower hall.)
" It might have been a secret passage in the past," Thorin said."But how do we know if this path is still unknown to outsiders? Old Smaug had lived there for a long time and should know the cave like the back of his hand.”
"Perhaps, but he probably hasn't used this secret passage for many, many years.”
"Why?"
"Because it's too small. The rune said," The door is five feet high, three people can walk side by side." Smaug could not climb into a cave of this size, especially after eating so many dwarves and humans in the valley.”
"I think it's a very big hole," whispered Bilbo (who had no experience with dragons at all, except for the Hobbit's cave). He became very excited again and was very interested in the topic of discussion, so he forgot to keep his mouth shut. He liked maps, and there was a large detailed map of the neighborhood hanging in the living room. The paths he liked to take were marked in red ink. "Even if we ignore the dragon, how can such a big door hide from everyone outside?”he asked. The reader must remember that he is but a little hobbit who has not seen much.
" There are many ways," Gandalf said."But you won't know what method this door uses if you don't look. From what I saw on the map, I guessed that once this door was closed, it would look exactly like the mountain wall. That's what dwarves usually do, right?”
" Indeed," Thorin said.
" Other than that," Gandaph continued,""I also forgot to mention that this map comes with a key, a very small but interesting key. Right here!" He handed Thorin a silver key with a long handle and many special embossed." Take good care of it!”
" I will," Thorin said, hanging the key on a fine chain and putting it inside his coat." This new information has greatly increased our chances of winning. So far, we are not sure what to do. We thought of going east first, and as carefully as we could to the lakeside. It'll be a lot more troublesome after that-"
" If I know enough about the road to the east, it will take us a long time," Gandalf interrupted.
" We can go up the river from there," Thorin said,"" This way, we can reach the ruins of River Cove Town, which is the ruins of the old town that was originally hidden in the shadows of the mountains. However, we don't want to enter through the main entrance. The river flowed out from the main entrance and fell off the cliff on the south side of the mountain range. Unless the dragon changed its habits, it would usually enter and exit from there.”
"This is not good," the wizard said."Unless we have an invincible warrior or even a hero. I tried to find these guys, but the warriors in the distance were all busy fighting each other, and there were even fewer heroes nearby. I couldn't find them at all. The swords in this part of the world are blunt, the axes are used for cutting trees, the shields are cradles or bowls, the dragons are far away (and therefore legendary), and that is why I wanted to find the Snitch-especially when I thought of this secret door... and that is why I found the chosen Snitch, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. Let's continue our discussion and see what plan we can come up with.”
"Well," said Thorin,"perhaps this professional Snitch can give us some advice." He turned to Bilbo with false politeness.
" First of all, I have to understand the situation better." He felt a little confused and shaken, but the Tucker bloodline decided to persevere."I'm talking about the gold and the evil dragon. Also, how do we get there? Who did these things belong to? Wait, wait, wait."
"Good heavens!" Thorin said,"Don't you see this map? Didn't you hear our song? We've been discussing this for almost an hour?”
"Whatever, I hope you'll explain more clearly," he said patiently, in a business-like manner (usually reserved for those who wanted to borrow money from him), doing his best to appear calm, professional, and calm, in keeping with Gandalf's praise of him. "I want to know the risks, additional costs, time required, rewards, and so on.”What he meant was, What benefits do I get? Can you come back alive?"
" Well," Thorin said," a long time ago, during the generation of my grandfather Thor, our family was driven out from the north and brought all their wealth and tools to this mountain on the map. This was discovered by my ancestor, Longevity Thorne. They built many tunnels and work areas, as well as huge halls. I believe that they also found a lot of gold and a lot of jewelry. In any case, they became very famous and rich. My grandfather became the king of the mountain again, and the humans living in the south respected him very much. The humans moved around and lived in the valley next to the mountains. They built a happy town called River Cove Town. The kings once hired our blacksmiths, and even the clumsiest of them would be rewarded handsomely. Fathers would beg us to take their sons in as apprentices, and they would give us a considerable amount of tuition fees. Therefore, we don't have to worry about food shortage and don't need to farm ourselves. In short, it was a good time for us. Even the poorest of our brethren had spare money to spend and lend, and time to make beautiful things, not to mention those wonderful magical toys that had almost disappeared in recent years... Thus, my grandfather's palace was filled with armor and jewelry, sculptures and works of art. The toy market in Riverdale became a wonder in the north of the continent.”
"Unfortunately, this also attracted the evil dragon. I believe you also know that the evil dragon will steal gold and jewelry from the elves, humans, and dwarves. As long as they were alive, they would guard the treasures with all their might (unless they were killed, they would never die) and would not even spend a single cent. They couldn't even tell whether a piece of art was good or bad. They could only roughly know the market value, not to mention that they didn't even know how to repair their loose scales. These days, there were many evil dragons in the north of the continent. As most of the dwarves were killed or fled south, the gold reserves there might have been greatly reduced. The evil dragons 'burning and looting made the situation worse and worse. Among them was a particularly greedy, strong, and evil worm called Smaug. One day, it flew south from the sky, and the first thing we heard was that there seemed to be a tornado coming from the north, and the pine trees on the mountain were howling in the strong wind. Some dwarves happened to be outside (fortunately, I was one of them. I was very adventurous back then and often ran around, but it happened to save my life. Alright, from afar, we saw the dragon jump onto the mountain and spit out flames. Then, it rushed down the slope, and the entire forest was engulfed in flames. At that time, all the alarms in River Cove Town sounded. The warriors were ready to fight. The dwarves rushed out of the gate, but the dragon was waiting for them at the door. Not a single dwarf escaped. The river turned into steam, and the valley was shrouded in thick fog. The dragon took the opportunity to pounce down and kill most of the warriors. It was a tragic story, more and more of it in recent years... Well, then it flew back into the mountains through the front door and cleared all the tunnels, alleys, cellars, halls, and corridors; After that, there was not a single living dwarf left inside, and it took all the wealth for itself. According to the evil dragon's style of doing things, it would most likely collect a pile of these treasures and hide them in the depths of the cave as its bed. After that, it would rush into the valley at night and kidnap humans, especially virgins, for food. Until River Cove Town was reduced to ruins, and the residents fled or died. I don't know what happened after that, but I think there shouldn't be any living people living in the mountains. The people closest to the lake should be the people living at the edge.”
"At that time, we happened to be outside the cave and hid while crying, cursing Smaug. Unexpectedly, my father and grandfather joined us with their black hair and beard. They looked very solemn and unwilling to speak. When I asked them how to escape, they told me not to talk too much and that they would let me know when the time came. " After that, we left and traveled around the continent, earning a meager amount of money to make ends meet. Sometimes, we even had to work as blacksmiths or coal miners. However, we never forgot the treasure that was taken away by force, even now, when we were barely out of poverty.""We want to take back what belongs to us all the time and let the curse fall on Smaug.”
"I have often wondered how my father and grandfather escaped from that place. Now, I understand that they must have had a secret royal passage that only they knew. However, it was obvious that they had also made a map. I really wanted to know how Gandalf had obtained it and why I wasn't the one who inherited it.”
"I didn't 'get' it, someone gave it to me," said the wizard." Do you still remember your grandfather Thor? He was killed by the Orc Azog in the Mines of Moria-"
"Curse that name! Yes, I remember very well,"said Thorin.
" Your father Thorne left you last Wednesday, which is April 21st, a hundred years ago. After that, you never-"
"Yes, yes," said Thorin.
"Therefore, your father gave this to me and asked me to pass it to you. You can't blame me if the time and place I choose are not to your liking. You probably can't imagine how much effort I spent to find you. When your father gave me this piece of paper, he couldn't even remember his own name. Of course, he didn't tell me your name. I think it's a miracle that I was able to find you. I should be praised and thanked. Take it!" He handed the map to Thorin.
"I still don't understand," said Thorin, and Bilbo was about to say the same thing; Gandaph's explanation was not clear enough.
" Your grandfather," the wizard said slowly and solemnly."Before he goes to the Mines of Moria, give this map to his son for safekeeping. After your grandfather was killed, your father wanted to use this map to test his luck. He experienced all kinds of terrifying adventures, but he didn't have time to get close to this mountain. Although I didn't know how he ended up there, he was trapped in a Necromancer's dungeon when I found him.”
"What are you doing over there?" Thorin said with a shiver, and all the dwarves felt a chill down their spines.
"Don't worry about it. As usual, I went there to seek the truth. It was a close call. Even I, Gandalf, could barely survive. I tried to save your father, but it was too late. He had become demented and only knew how to run aimlessly. Other than this map and the key, he had almost lost all his memories.”
" A long time ago, we took revenge on the orcs of Moria," Thorin said."Maybe we should think about this necromancer.”
"Don't be too arrogant! He was a terrifying enemy whose strength surpassed all dwarves. Even if you could gather all the dwarves from the four corners of the world, you would not be able to defeat him. Your father's last wish before he died was that his only son would accept this map and make good use of this key. Dealing with the dragon and reaching the mountain range on the map was already dangerous enough!”
"Listen, listen!" said Bilbo, accidentally too loudly.
"Listen to what?" Suddenly, everyone turned to him, and he was not paying attention. He actually replied,"Listen to me!"
"What do you want to say?" they asked.
"Well, I think you should go east and take a good look. After all, we already knew that there was a secret passage, and even the evil dragon would occasionally sleep. If you sit at the door long enough, you'll definitely be able to think of a solution. Besides, I don't know what you think, but I think I've said enough for tonight. How about taking a nap and leaving early tomorrow morning? Before you leave, I'll let you have a good meal.”
" I think you mean before 'we' go out," Thorin said,""It's you, Snitch! It's your job to sit at the door and think of a way to even sneak in! However, I also agree that we should sleep first and have a good meal tomorrow morning. Before the long journey, I like eggs with ham. Please fry them, not roast them, and don't poke the yolk.”
After everyone ordered breakfast without saying "please"(which made Birbo rather unhappy), the group began to prepare for bed. The hobbit had to find a place for everyone to sleep. He had to arrange beds in the empty rooms with sofas, tables, and chairs, and make the beds. In the end, the exhausted little Hobbit lay back on the bed, sore all over. He was still in a bad mood. He secretly decided that he would never get up early to make other people's breakfast tomorrow morning. The enthusiasm of the Tuck family had gradually cooled down. He was not sure if he would go on an adventure with everyone tomorrow morning.
As he lay in bed, he could still hear Thorin humming in the best guest room next door."
Over cold mountains and mists,
When they reached the ancient cave in the cellar,
We need to leave before dawn,
Looking for the location of the beautiful gold.
Birbo fell into a deep sleep amidst the song, which gave him a few strange nightmares. He woke up a long time after daybreak.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。