And then the song told the story of a dragon that came and burned down the woods on the mountain, killed a lot of dwarves and took their treasures. The hymn was heroic and its last words were:

As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by magic, and he felt the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him,[13] and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He got up in excitement. Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him with eyes shining in the dark.

“Where are you going?” said Thorin.

“What about a little light?” said Bilbo feeling sorry.

“We like the dark,” said the dwarves. “Dark for dark business!”[14]

“Of course!” said Bilbo, and sat down in a hurry.

And then Gandalf said, “Let Thorin speak!”

So Thorin said, “Gandalf, dwarves and Mr Baggins! We are here to discuss our plans. Before the dawn we will start our long and really dangerous journey. And I suppose I have to explain something before.” But he was interrupted. Poor Bilbo couldn’t hear it any longer. When he heard “really dangerous journey”, he began to feel something coming up inside, and very soon he made a sound like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel.[15] Then he fell on the floor and screamed “struck by lightning!”.[16] So the dwarves took him and laid him on the sofa with a drink at his elbow, and then they went back to their dark business.

“He is an excitable little fellow,” said Gandalf, as they sat down again, “but one of the best – as fierce as a dragon.”

Meanwhile, after a drink, Bilbo crept nervously to the door of the room. He heard Gloin speaking: “Are you sure of him? Maybe Gandalf is right, and this hobbit can be fierce, but one scream like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon and all his relatives, and kill many of us. I think he was frightened but not excited! He looks more like a grocer – than a burglar!”

Then Mr Baggins opened the door and went in. The Took side had won,[17] though many times afterwards the Baggins part regretted it.

“Pardon me,” he said, “I don’t know why you mentioned burglars, but as far as I understand, you think I am no good. I will show you. Tell me what you want, and I will try it, if I have to walk far away and fight the wild beasts.”

“Yes, I was talking about you”, said Gloin, “and you can say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Gandalf told us that there was a man in these parts looking for a Job at once, he had marked your door and so arranged a meeting here this Wednesday at tea-time.”

“Of course,” said Gandalf, “I put the mark there myself. I did it for very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose Mr Baggins because he is a real hero. So let’s have no more argument. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and let’s look at this!”

On the table he spread a piece of parchment like a map.

“This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin,” Gandalf said. “It is a plan of the Mountain.”

“There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain, said Balin, “but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if we arrive there.”