Suddenly Gollum sat down and began to weep, a whistling and gurgling sound horrible to listen to.

Gollum passed by, taking no notice of him, curRing and whispering as he ran.

Where iss it? '"'here iss it?" Bilbo heard him crying. "Losst it is, my precious, lost, lost! Curse us and crush us, my precious is lost!"

till it tired him;

he Master

a precious ring

He knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity, and even wicked creatures were afraid to cheat when they played at it. But he felt he could not trust this slimy thing to keep any promise at a pinch.

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.

Gollum brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole in a bank by a river, "Sss, sss, my preciouss," he said. "Sun on the daisies it means, it does."

Does it guess easy? It must have a competition with us, my preciouss! If precious asks, and it doesn't answer? we eats it, my preciousss. If it asks us, and we doesn't answer, then we does what it wants, eh?We shows it the way out, yes!"

who was anxious to agree, until he found out more about the creature, whether he was quite alone, whether he was fierce or hungry, and whether he was a friend of the goblins.

What's he got in his handses?" said Gollum, looking at the sword, which he did not quite like. "A sword, a blade which came out ofGondolin!"

who always spoke to himself through never having anyone else to speak to)

for they had a feeling that something unpleasant was lurking down there,

He just throttled them from behind,

So it is a pool or a lake, and not an underground river

quite different froI? the tunnels of the goblins,

But you must remember it was not quite so tight for him as it would have been for me or for you. Hobbits are not quite like ordinary people; and after all if their holes are nice cheery places and properly aired, quite different froI? the tunnels of the goblins,

and also he had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins that came upon them suddenly.

and goblins are not very near, and yet not far enough."

nor fortunately had the gobhns noticed it, as he wore it inside his breeches.

nothing at all, no sign of goblins, no sign of dwarves. His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction

and that shattered his hopes completely.

The truth wash· hod b n lying quiet, out of sight and out of mind, in a v ry durk ·orn ·r for a long while.

He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.

He thought of himself frying bacon and eggs in his own kitchen at home-for he could feel inside that it was high time for some meal or other; but that only made him miserabler.

Just imagine his fright!

if he had