The Peoples of Middle-earth (4 page)

Returning briefly to the manuscript P 5, I have not yet mentioned that in this text, as originally written, the old passage in P 1 concerning the Hobbits of the Marish ('the hobbit-breed was not quite pure', 'no pure-bred hobbit had a beard', VI.312), still preserved in the revision of P 2, was now altered:

The Hobbits of that quarter, the Eastfarthing, were rather large and heavy-legged; and they wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather. But they were Stoors in the most of their blood, as was shown by the down that some grew on their chins. However, the matter of these breeds and the Shire-lore about them we must leave aside for the moment.

In the published Prologue this passage (apart of course from the last sentence) comes after the account of the 'three breeds' (FR p. 12), in which the Stoors had been introduced. But a further new passage was added on a separate page of the P 5 manuscript, corresponding to that in FR pp. 11 - 13 from 'Of their original home the Hobbits in Bilbo's time preserved no knowledge' to '... such as the Tooks and the Masters of Buckland'; and the account here of the Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides was derived with little change from the earliest version of Appendix F, in which (p. 55, note 10) the idea of the 'three breeds'

is seen in its actual emergence. The text in P 5 is all but identical to that in the final form, lacking only the statement that many of the Stoors 'long dwelt between Tharbad and the borders of Dunland before they moved north again', and still placing the Stoors before the Harfoots (see ibid.).

The word smial(s) first occurs, in the texts of the Prologue, in P 5.

Its first occurrence in the texts of The Lord of the Rings is in The Scouring of the Shire: see IX.87 and note 16 (where I omitted to mention that in Pippin's reference to 'the Great Place of the Tooks away back in the Smials at Tuckborough' in the chapter Treebeard (TT p. 64) the words 'the Smials at' were a late addition to the typescript of the chapter).

A further manuscript, P 6, brought the Prologue very close to the form that it had in the First Edition of The Lord of the Rings.(13) This was a clear and fluently written text bearing the title Prologue: Concerning Hobbits; and here entered the last 'missing passage', FR

pp. 13-14, from 'In the westlands of Eriador ...' to 'They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.'

The text of P 6 differed still from the published form in a number of ways, mostly very minor (see note 14). The text was not yet divided into four numbered sections, though the final ordering and succession of the parts was now reached; and the concluding section, on the finding of the Ring, was still the original story (see p. 7): this was derived, with some rewriting, from the text of P 2, but with a notable addition.

After the reference to Gollum's saying that he had got the Ring as a birthday present long ago there follows:

Bilbo might indeed have wondered how that could be, and still more why Gollum should be willing to give such a treasure away, if his case had been less desperate, and if in fact Gollum had ever given him the present. He did not, for when he returned to his island to fetch it the Ring was not to be found.

This part then concludes much as in P 2, with the addition of a passage about Bilbo's secrecy concerning the Ring, and his disposal of Sting and the coat of mail; ending 'And the years passed, while he wrote in his leisurely fashion the story of his journey.'

In P 6 the 'Shirking' had disappeared, and in its place stood at first the title 'Elder', though this was replaced by 'Thane' before the manuscript was completed, and the spelling 'Thain' was substituted later (see p. 6). In this text the Battle of Greenfields, with the date S.R.

1147, appears.(14)

The manuscript ends with a passage, subsequently struck out, that was preserved with little material change as the conclusion of the Foreword to the First Edition of 1954. This begins with the remarks about the map of the Shire (now with the addition 'besides other maps of wider and more distant countries') and the 'abridged family-trees' that go back to P 1 (VI.313-14), but then continues:

There is also an index of names [struck out: with explanations]

and strange words; and a table of days and dates. For those who are curious and like such lore some account is given in an appendix of the languages, the alphabets, and the calendars that were used in the Westlands in the Third Age of Middle-earth.

But such lore is not necessary, and those who do not need it, or desire it, may neglect it, and even the names they may pronounce as they will. Some care has been given to the translation of their spelling from the original alphabets, and some notes on the sounds that are intended are offered. But not all are interested in such matters, and many who are not may still find the account of these great and valiant deeds worth the reading.

It was in that hope that this long labour was undertaken; for it has required several years to translate, select, and arrange the matter of the Red Book of Westmarch in the form in which it is now presented to Men of a later Age, one no less darkling and ominous than were the great years 1418 and 1419 of the Shire long ago.(15)

This text was followed by a typescript copy (P 7). To this my father made the corrections and additions that brought the Prologue to its final form (many being made to its exemplar P 6 as well); and it was on this typescript that he rejected the original tale of Bilbo's encounter with Gollum and introduced the 'true tale' (FR pp. 20-2). The story is told here on appended pages in exactly its form in the published Prologue, ending with Gollum's cry 'Thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it for ever!'

From this point, however, there are two texts. In one of these the original story, now become Bilbo's untrue version, is not mentioned at all, and the text moves at once from Gollum's cry of hatred to 'Of Bilbo's later adventures little more need be said here'. But my father was in doubt, whether or not to say anything in the Prologue about Bilbo's doctored accounts of the events; for at the point where the actual story ends ('We hates it for ever!') he subsequently added in this text a direction to a 'Note' on a separate sheet, which was apparently written quite independently. In this 'Note' (which was the origin of the passage concerning the two versions in FR p. 22) the satisfying explanation of the difference in the story as told in the two editions of The Hobbit is probably seen at its emergence. He began: 'This is not the story as Bilbo first told it to his companions and to Gandalf, or indeed as he first set it down in his book' (my italics), but struck out the words following 'Gandalf'; he then went on to say that though Bilbo set down the false story in his memoirs, and 'so it probably appeared in the original Red Book', nonetheless 'many copies contain the true account (alone or as an alternative), derived, no doubt, from notes made by Frodo or Samwise, both of whom knew the truth.'

On this page he noted (later): 'Alternative, if the only reference to this is made in Chapter II (second fair copy).' This is a reference to the final typescript of the chapter The Shadow of the Past, that went to the printers. The explanation of this apparently very obscure comment is as follows. On the text preceding the one to which he referred, that is to say the penultimate typescript, he had introduced a long rider (16) after Gandalf's words (FR p. 66) 'I put the fear of fire on him, and wrung the true story out of him, bit by bit, with much snivelling and snarling.' In this rider Gandalf continued:

'... I already suspected much of it. Indeed I already suspected something that I am sure has never occurred to you: Bilbo's story was not true.'

'What do you mean?' cried Frodo. 'I can't believe it.'

'Well, this is Gollum's account. Bilbo's reward for winning was merely to be shown a way out of the tunnels. There was no question of a present, least of all of giving away his "precious".

Gollum confesses that he went back to his island to get it, simply so as to kill Bilbo in safety, for he was hungry and angry.

But as Bilbo had already picked up the ring, he escaped, and the last Gollum knew of him was when he crept up behind and jumped over him in the dark. That is much more like Gollum!'

'But it is quite unlike Bilbo, not to tell the true tale,' said Frodo. 'And what was the point of it?'

'Unlike Bilbo, yes. But unlike Bilbo with the ring? No, I am afraid not. You see, half-unknown to himself he was trying to strengthen his claim to be its rightful owner: it was a present, a prize he had won. Much like Gollum and his "birthday-present". The two were more alike than you will admit. And both their tales were improbable and hobbitlike. My dear Frodo, Elven-rings are never given away as presents, or prizes: never. You are a hobbit yourself or you would have doubted the tale, as I did at once.

'But as I have told you, I found it impossible to question Bilbo on the point without making him very angry. So I let it be, for our friendship's sake. His touchiness was proof enough for me.

I guessed then that the ring had an unwholesome power over its keeper that set to work quickly. Yes, even on Bilbo the desire for ownership had gripped at once, and went on growing. But fortunately it stayed at that, and he took little other harm. For he got the ring blamelessly. He did not steal it; he found it, and it was quite impossible to give it back: Gollum would have killed him at once. He paid for it, you might say, with mercy, and gave Gollum his life at great risk. And so in the end he got rid of the thing, just in time.

'But as for Gollum: he will never again be free of the desire for it, I fear. When I last saw him, he was still filled with it, whin-ing that he was tricked and ill-used. [But when he had at last told me his history ...

In the following (final) typescript of the chapter the rider is not present; but my father added a note at this point 'Take in rider' - and then struck it out. It was clearly at this time that he wrote the note referred to above, 'Alternative, if the only reference to this is made in Chapter II': he meant, if no more was to be said of the matter in Chapter H than Gandalf's words 'I put the fear of fire on him, and wrung the true story out of him, bit by bit, with much snivelling and snarling' - i.e., without the rider just given. If that rider was to be rejected, then a passage on the subject must be given in the Prologue.

This was ultimately his decision; and the second of the two texts appended to P 6 is exactly as it stands in the published Prologue, p. 22: 'Now it is a curious fact that this is not the story as Bilbo first told it to his companions ...'(17)

The Note on the Shire Records entered in the Second Edition. In one of his copies of the First Edition my father noted: 'Here should be inserted Note on the Shire Records'; but he wrote against this later: 'I have decided against this. It belongs to Preface to The Silmarillion.'

With this compare my remarks in the Foreword to The Book of Lost Tales Part One, pp. S-6.

I have given this rather long account of the history of the Prologue, because it is one of the best-known of my father's writings, the primary source for knowledge of the Hobbits, on which he expended much thought and care; and also because it seems of special interest to see how it evolved. in relation to the narrative of The Lord of the Rings. I will here briefly recapitulate some elements that seem to me to emerge from this history.

While it is not strictly demonstrable, I think it extremely likely that my father returned after many years to the original form of the Prologue (or Foreword as he still called it) about the time, or soon after it, when he was writing the long first draft that went from Many Partings through Homeward Bound and The Scouring of the Shire to The Grey Havens, that is to say in the summer of 1948 (IX.12 - 13, 108). I have pointed to a number of indications that this was so.

On the one hand, we see the appearance, at successive stages in the writing of the Prologue, of the Shirriffs in the revision of the old P 2

text (p. 6); of the word smial in P 5 (p. 11); of the Battle of Greenfields in P 6 (see pp. 9-11); of the title of Thane (Thain) in the same text (p. 11). On the other hand, all these first appear in The Scouring of the Shire - and in two cases, the Battle of Greenfields and the title of Thain, they were absent from the original draft of that chapter. I believe that my father's return to the Shire at the end of The Lord of the Rings provided the impulse for his renewed work on the Prologue and its subsequent extension by stages. Moreover it is seen from the history of this text how much of the account of Hobbits and their origins actually emerged after the narrative of The Lord of the Rings was completed - most notably, perhaps, the idea of their division into Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides, which entered from the earliest version of the appendix on languages (p. 10). Some of these new elements were then introduced into the existing narrative, such as smials into the chapter Treebeard (p. 11), or Stoors into the chapter The Shadow of the Past (p. 66, $20).