The Hobbit

I have started reading The Hobbit for the 5th (or 6th) time recently. It is interesting to think about the trolls in this book. In The Hobbit, they talk, but in the LOTR series, they don't. That's always puzzled me a little. I just assume that they are a different kind.

This book is the easiest read from the series, and if you haven't read it, you're missing out. Not only on a great story, but LOTR wouldn't make very much sense. Just writing to say if you haven't read it, you need to!

Smeagol's Story

Firstly, I'm sorry I haven't been posting.
Secondly, I'm writing Smeagol's story.

Smeagol's story begins on his birthday while he is fishing with his friend Deagol. Deagol falls out of the boat, and happens to find a shiny ring. Smeagol sees the ring and wants it. After Deagol refuses to give it up, Smeagol kills him and takes the ring. The ring drives him mad, he finds out it turns him invisible and he starts stealing from shops in town. The townspeople kick him out of town, and he flees to the mountains. He lived in the mountain for hundreds of years. Gandalf, Bilbo, and Thoren's dwarfs eventually come to that mountain he is in. Bilbo falls down a tunnel, sees the ring on the ground and takes it, and meets Smeagol there too. They have a riddling game, and Bilbo wins. So Smeagol has to show him the way out. Bilbo asked 'What have I got in my pocket?' and Smeagol believed this to be unfair, so refused to lead him out. He suspected that Bilbo already knew how to get out. Bilbo had the ring on and couldn't be seen. Smeagol goes to the exit and Bilbo follows. Bilbo escapes, and that started Smeagol's journey to get back at the Baggins family. He tracked them down, and found The Fellowship in Moria, kept chasing them and was seen on the Anduin. He is eventually caught after the Fellowship splits. Frodo and Sam make him be there guide. Smeagol leads them to Mordor, but Frodo and Sam can't make it past the Black Gate. He tells them there's another way, and leads them to it. While leading them there, they meet Faramir, and spend time with him. Faramir threatens to kill Smeagol if danger comes to Frodo and Sam. Smeagol leads them to Shelob's tunnel. He intends to get them killed, but Frodo gets poisoned and Sam stabs Shelob. Frodo gets carried off to Cirith Ungol, and Sam follows. Frodo and Sam escape the tower and eventually make it to Mount Doom. Smeagol again comes and tries to kill them. They fight in the Crack of Doom, and he bites off Frodo's finger and steals the ring, but he dances with joy and falls in the volcano. Although he ment to do bad, without him, Middle Earth would have been governed by Sauron.

Gollum's Riddle and Answer

Riddle:
The cold hard lands,
they bites our hands,
they gnaws our feet.
The rocks and stones
are like old bones
all bare of meat.
But stream and pool
is wet and cool:
so nice for feet!
And now we wish

Answer:
To catch a fish
So juicy sweet!

Sam Describes Gandalf's Fireworks

The finest rockets ever seen:
they burst in stars of blue and green,
or after thunder golden showers
came falling like a rain of flowers.

Sam's Rhyme of the Troll

Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!

In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.
Up came Tom with his big boots on.
Said he to Troll: 'Pray, what is yon?
For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Tim,
As should be a-lyin' in graveyard.
Caveyard! Paveyard!

This many a year has Tim been gone,
And I thought he were lyin' in graveyard.'
'My lad,' said Troll, 'this bone I stole.
But what be bones that lie in a hole?
Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o' lead,
Afore I found his shinbone.
Tinbone! Thinbone!

He can spare a share for a poor old troll,
For he don't need his shinbone.'
Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o' thee
Without axin' leave should go makin' free
With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin;
So hand the old bone over!
Rover! Trover!

Though dead he be, it belongs to he;
So hand the old bone over!'
'For a couple o' pins,' says Troll, and grins,
'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.
A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!
I'll try my teeth on thee now.
Hee now! See now!

I'm tired o' gnawing old bones and skins;
I've a mind to dine on thee now.'
But just as he thought his dinner was caught,
He found his hands had hold of naught.
Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind
And gave him the boot to larn him.
Warn him! Darn him!

A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,
Would be the way to larn him.
But harder than stone is the flesh and bone
Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.
As well set your boot to the mountain's root,
For the seat of a troll don't feel it.
Peel it! Heal it!

Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,
And he knew his toes could feel it.
Tom's leg is game, since home he came,
And his bootless foot is lasting lame;
But Troll don't care, and he's still there
With the bone he boned from its owner.
Doner! Boner!

Troll's old seat is still the same,
And the bone he boned from its owner!

Riddle of Strider

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

The Bath Song

Sing hey! For the bath at close of day
That washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
And the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
But better than rain or rippling streams
Is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need
Down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
But better is Beer, if drink we lack,
And Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high
In a fountain white beneath the sky;
But never did fountain sound so sweet
As splashing Hot Water with my feet!