by Miguel
'Hullo, Gandalf!' cried Bilbo. 'I wondered if you would turn up.
'And I wondered if you would,' replied the wizard; 'or if you would think better of it.(15) I suppose you feel that everything has gone off splendidly, and just as you intended?'
'Yes,' said Bilbo. 'Though that flash was surprising: it quite startled me, let alone the others. A little addition of yours, I suppose? '
'It was,' answered Gandalf. 'You have wisely kept that Ring secret all these years; and it seemed to me necessary to give them all some reason to explain their not noticing your sudden vanishment [> to give them all something they would think explained your sudden vanishment].'
'You are an interfering old busybody,' laughed Bilbo; 'but I expect you know best, as usual.'
'I do,' said Gandalf, 'when I know anything. But I do not feel too sure about the whole affair. Still, it has now come to the final point. You have had your joke, and successfully alarmed or offended all your friends and relations, and given the whole Shire something to talk about for nine days (or ninety-nine more likely). Are you going to go any further? '
'Yes, I am,' answered Bilbo.(16) 'I really must get rid of It, Gandalf. Well-preserved, indeed,' he snorted. 'Why, I feel all thin - sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like string that won't quite go round a parcel, or, or, butter that is scraped over too much bread. And that can't be right.'
'No,' said Gandalf thoughtfully. 'No. I was afraid it might come to that. I dare say your plan is the best, at any rate for you. At least at present I do not feel I know enough to say anything definite against it.'
'What else can I do? I can't destroy the thing, and after what you have told me I am not going to throw it away. Oddly enough I find that impossible to make up my mind to do - I simply put it back in my pocket. I find it very hard even to leave behind! And yet I don't want it, indeed I can't abide it any more. But you did promise to keep an eye on Bingo, didn't you, and to help him if he needs it, later on? Otherwise, of course, I should hardly be able to go. I should have to stop and put up with it.'
'I will do what I can for him,' said Gandalf. 'What have you done with it meanwhile? '
'It is in the envelope with my will and other papers. Lofar is giving it to Bingo as soon as he comes in.'
'My dear Bilbo! And with Otho Sackville-Baggins about the place, and that Lobelia wife of his! Really you are getting reckless. And I suppose you left the door unlocked as usual?'
'Yes, I am afraid I did. I rather fancy Bingo will be creeping off home before anyone else.'
'Fancy is not safe enough! But you may be right. He knows about it, of course?'
'He knows that I have, or had, the Ring: he has read my private memoirs,(17) for one thing; and he also has some idea [> he may have an inkling] that it has some other - er - effects than just making you invisible on occasion. But he doesn't, or didn't, know quite what I was beginning to feel about it. But after all, as it cannot be destroyed, and can only be handed on - it had best be handed on to him: I chose him as the best in all the Shire: and he is my heir. He knows that I am leaving that to him with all the rest. I don't suppose he would ask to be excused this responsibility, and take only the money.'
'He will miss you pretty badly, you know? '
'Yes, I found it very hard to make up my mind. It is hard on him - but not too hard, I think. The time has come for him to be his own master. After all, if things had been more - er - normal, he would have been losing me soon anyway, if he had not already done so. I am sorry to cheat all my dear people of a grand funeral - how they all did enjoy Old Took's - but there it is.'
'Does he know where you are going?'
'No! I am not sure myself, really. And I think that is just as well for everybody. He might want to follow me.'
'So might I. I hope you will take care of yourself! '
'Take care! I don't care. And don't be unhappy about me: I am as happy as ever I have been, and that is saying a lot. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet,' he added mysteriously, and then in a low voice as if to himself he sang softly in the darkness.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the Door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it arith weary feet,
Until it joins some larger may,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.(18)
He stopped silent a moment. Then 'Goodbye, Gandalf! ' he cried, and made off into the night. Nar, Anar, and Hannar followed him.(19) Gandalf remained by the gate for a little, and then sprang over it and made his way up the Hill.(20)
It will be seen that in this passage, far different from that which occupies the same narrative place in FR pp. 40 - 4, my father was thinking about the effect of the Ring on its possessor on very much the same lines as in the chapter on Gollum (the 'foreword'), pp. 79 - 80. Moreover in FR the conversation - and quarrel - between Bilbo and Gandalf takes place in Bag End, so that the elements in the present version of Gandalf's anxiety about the Ring, left unguarded in an envelope at Bag End, and his going up the Hill to find Bingo, do not arise; Gandalf was sitting there waiting for him when he came in.
The clearing up of the party follows the earlier version, of course (FR p. 45); but the end of the chapter exists in two variant forms, marked as such. One of the variants, very much longer than the other and preceding it, is itself heavily modified. To look at this first: the list of presents remains the same, with some further changes in the names.(21) With 'Of course, this was only a selection of the presents' the new text advances very close to the form in FR (pp. 46-7), with the reflections on the cluttered nature of hobbit-holes (on which Bingo had remarked: 'We soon shan't be able to sit down for stools or tell the time for clocks in Bag- End'), and the gifts to Gaffer Gamgee (but Bilbo's collection of magical toys, pp. 33, 38, still remains); the dozen bottles of Old Winyards go to Rory Brandybuck, and are said to come from 'the south Shire', not yet the Southfarthing.
From 'not a penny piece or a brass farthing was given away' there is a rejected text and a replacement, differing from each other chiefly in the arrangement of the elements. As written first, the Sackville-Bagginses are introduced immediately, demanding to see the will - which is given at length;(22) then follows the rumour that the entire contents of Bag End were being distributed, and 'in the middle of the commotion' Bingo finds Lobelia investigating, ejects the three young hobbits, and has a fight with Sancho Proudfoot;(23) and the passage concludes with 'The fact is that Bilbo's money had become a legend...' (FR p. 48).
In the replacement text the structure in FR (pp.47-8) is reached, with the sole important difference that Merry's role is taken by the dwarf Lofar, who had stayed behind after Bilbo's departure (p. 238); and the only minor differences from FR are that Otho Sackville-Baggins is still a lawyer, the date of Bingo's entry into his inheritance is stated (midnight on 22 September), the witnessing of the will was by three hobbits of more than 33 years old, according to the custom, and the Sackville-Bagginses 'more than hinted that he or the wizard (or the pair of them together) were at the bottom of the whole business.' The exchange between Frodo and Merry on the subject of Lobelia's calling Frodo a Brandybuck is of course not present - Bingo merely 'shut the door behind her with a grimace.'
The short variant is very short, and was not adopted. The large crowd who arrived at Bag End on the morning after the party does no more than go away again when they see a notice on the gate saying: 'Mr Bilbo
Baggins has gone away. There is no further news. Unless your business is urgent, please do not knock or ring. Bingo Baggins.' The Sackville- Bagginses 'thought that their business was urgent. They knocked and rang several times.' Admitted by Lofar the Dwarf, the remainder of the passage is the same as in the (revised) long variant and FR - the interview between Bingo and the Sackville-Bagginses in the study, ending with Bingo's telling Lofar not to open the front door even against b
attering- rams (and omitting the mopping-up operations against the three young hobbits and Sancho Proudfoot). Thus the entire 'business' of the presents, and the invasion of Bag End, was in this variant removed. For my father's intention here see p.276.
The reappearance of Gandalf at Bag End now enters the story, and begins pretty well exactly as in FR (p.48), but soon significant differences enter the conversation, from the point where Gandalf says to Bingo 'What do you know already?' (FR p.49):
'Only Bilbo's tale of how he got it,(24) from that Gollum creature, and how he used it afterwards, on his journey I mean. I don't think he used it much after he came home; though he used to disappear (or not be findable) rather mysteriously sometimes, if things were a bit inconvenient. We saw the Sackville-Bagginses coming when
we were out walking one day, and he disappeared, and came out
from behind a hedge after they had gone by.(25) Being invisible has its advantages.'
'But it also has its disadvantages. It does not do much harm as a joke, nor even to avoid "inconveniences" - but even these things . have to be paid for. Also making you invisible, when you wish, is not the only property of the Ring.'
'I know what you mean,' said Bingo; 'Bilbo did not seem to change much. They called him well-preserved. But I must say that also seems to me to have its advantages. I cannot make out why the dear old thing left the Ring behind.'
'No, I expect you cannot yet. But you may find out the disadvantages of that as well, in time. For instance, Bilbo seemed a bit restless of late years, didn't he?'
'Yes, for quite a long time,' 'Well, I think that was a symptom too. I don't want to alarm you, but I want you to be careful. Take care of the Ring, and take care of yourself, and watch yourself. Don't use the Ring,(26) or let it get any more, er, power over you than you can help. Keep it secret, and let me know, if you hear, see, or feel anything at all odd.' 'All right. But what is all this about?'
'I am not quite sure. I begin to guess, and I don't like the guesses. But I am now going off to find out as much as I can.
Before I have done so, I am not going to say any more, except to warn you, and to promise you what help I can give.'
'But you say you are going off?'
'Yes, for a bit. But you'll be safe for a year or two, in any case. Don't worry. I shall come and see you again as soon as I can - quietly, you know. I don't think I shall be visiting the Shire openly again very much. I find I have become rather unpopular: they say I am a nuisance and a disturber of the peace; and some people are accusing me of spiriting Bilbo away. It is supposed to be a little plot between me and you (if you want to know).'
'That sounds like Otho and Lobelia.(27) How outrageous! I only wish I knew why and where old Bilbo has gone. Do you? Do you think I could catch him up or find him if I went off at once? I would give Bag-end and everything in it to the Sackville-Bagginses if I could do that.'
'I don't think I should try. Let poor Bilbo get rid of the Ring - which he could only do (reluctantly) by handing it on to you, for a bit.(28) Do what he wished and hoped you would.'
'What is that?'
'Live on here; keep up Bag-end; guard the Ring - and wait.'
'All right - I will try; but I should prefer to go after Bilbo.(29) I don't know if that is a symptom, as you call it - though I have only had the Ring a day or less?'
'No, not yet. It merely means you were fond of Bilbo. He knew it was hard on you. He hated leaving you. But there it is. We may all understand this better before the end. I must say goodbye now. Look out for me - at any time, especially unlikely ones. If you really need me send a message to the nearest dwarves: I shall try and give them some knowledge of where I am.(30) Goodbye!'
Bingo saw him off. The dwarf Lofar went with him carrying a large bag. They walked away down the path to the gate at a surprising pace,(31) but Bingo thought the wizard looked rather bent, almost as if bowed under a heavy burden. The evening was closing in, and he soon vanished into the twilight. Bingo did not see him again for a long time.
About this time my father wrote a new experimental opening to the chapter, in which the facts and assertions about the family history were communicated through the talk of Gaffer Gamgee, Old Noakes, and Sandyman the miller in The Ivy Bush. The mention of Sam Gamgee as the Bag End gardener shows that it was in fact written after the second chapter, 'Ancient History', which now follows; for if this text had been already in existence my father would not have given an explanation of who Sam Gamgee was when he appears in 'Ancient History' (p. 253). But it is convenient to notice it here.
This version of the conversation had still a good way to go before it reached the form in FR (pp. 30 - 2). The opening of the chapter was now to be greatly compressed:
When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag-end, Under-hill, announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton. Before long rumour of the event travelled all over the Shire, and the history and character of Mr Baggins became once again the most popular topic of conversation. The older folk who remembered something of the strange happenings sixty years before found their reminiscences suddenly in demand, and rose to the gratifying occasion with entertaining invention when mere facts failed them.
No one had a more attentive audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer. He held forth at the Ivy Bush,(32) a small inn on the Bywater Road; and he spoke with some authority, for he had tended the garden at Bag-end for half a century, and had helped his father in the same job before that. Now that he was grown old and creaky in the joints he had passed the job on to one of his own sons, Sam Gamgee.
The subject of Bingo is treated thus:
'And what about this Mr Bingo Baggins that lives with him?' asked old Noakes of Bywater.(33) 'I hear he is coming of age on the same day.'
'That's right,' said the Gaffer. 'He has the same birthday as Mr Bilbo, September the twenty-second. It is a sort of link between them, as you might say. Not but what they get on remarkably well, and have done all the last twelve years, since Mr Bingo came to Bag-end. Very much alike in every way, they are, being closely related. Though Mr Bingo is half a Brandybuck by rights, and that's a queer breed, as I've heard tell. They fool about with boats and water, and that isn't natural. Small wonder that trouble came of it, I say.'
For the rest, Mr Twofoot of Bagshot Row does not appear; Gorboduc Brandybuck is called by the Gaffer 'the head of the family, and mighty important down in Buckland, I'm told'; the miller does not suggest that there was anything more sinister in the drowning of Drogo Baggins and his wife than Drogo's weight; the hobbit who introduces the topic of the tunnels packed with treasure inside the Hill is not 'a visitor from Michel Delving' but 'one of the Bywater hobbits', and there are many differences of phrasing.
NOTES.
1. My father actually wrote '"Unex[pected]P[arty]" chapter' - thinking of the first chapter of The Hobbit. Cf. my suggestion about his use of the word 'sale' in Queries and Alterations, note 2.
2. The actual title of Chapter II was 'Three's Company and Four's More' (p. 49). - A pencilled note on the same page says: 'Should Bingo spend all his money? Is it not better he should be sacrificing something? Though he must give out that he has spent it.'
3. The passage about Bilbo's book and the reception accorded to it, which had survived unchanged from the second version (p. 19), was at first repeated here, but subsequently replaced by the following:
He told many tales of his adventures, of course, to those who would listen. But most of the hobbits soon got tired of them, and only one or two of his younger friends ever took them seriously. It is no good telling ordinary hobbits about dragons: they either disbelieve you or want to disbelieve you, and in either case stop listening. As he grew older Bilbo wrote his adventures in a private book of memoirs, in which he recounted some things that he had never spoken about (such as the magic ring); but that book was never published in the Shire, and he never showed it to a
nyone, except his favourite 'nephew' Bingo.
4. This was Bingo's age at the time of his adoption in the fourth version (p. 36), but it was changed in the course of the writing of the present text (see p. 236).
5. In Queries and Alterations (note 2) the suggestion was that Drogo Baggins should be Bilbo's first cousin.
6. This remark about Bilbo and Bingo having the same birthday was a pencilled addition, but the idea goes back to the third version (p. 29),when Bingo was Bilbo's son.
7. The Great Hole of Bucklebury: Brandy Hall has been named and described in the original version of 'A Short Cut to Mushrooms' (p. 99).
8. Added in pencil:
and the Old Took himself had only reached the age of 125 (though the title Old was bestowed on him, it is true, not so much for his age as for his oddity, and because of the enormous number of the young, younger, and youngest Tooks).
9. This was to be the first, intentionally obscure, reference to the Ring in the story. With the shortening and alteration of this initial converation between Gandalf and Bilbo before the Party (p. 237) this reference was removed, and it is then first spoken of only after Bilbo's vanishment.