From: pbachjson@aol.compart (PaulB) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: The Hobbit: 1937 edition passages of significance. Longish. Lines: 197 NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder07.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 29 Aug 2000 18:16:06 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <20000829141606.26039.00000145@nso-ci.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!portc03.blue.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:26582 Ok, here are the (IMHO) significant changes, presented as consisely as possible (which at the same time means the excising of ~8 pages of the 1951 text and reinserting less than that in its place) Don't read on if you have qualms about its legality under copyright. I've posted my reasoning in the thread "The Hobbit" In fact, if someone wants to contact the Tolkien Estate lawyers, I'll be happy to do whatever it takes to get this removed if they do object, taking full responsiblity for any violations which may be made under copyright law. (As if I wouldn't be responsible if I didn't actually state the fact, what's this world coming too?) Here's a big gap so that the actual text won't show unless you scroll down yourself. The Hobbit Chapter V: Riddles in the Dark 1937 Text notes; with notes on proper insertion/replacement into 1951 text. All page reference coincide with the Houghton Mifflin edition, copyright 1966. This is the one that has the Tolkien illustration on the cover in green, blue, black and white, and is about 5.5"w x8.25"h. Most back-changes are minor, made only to help conform to the original plot and main passage in which differences occur, such as one line stateing that the prize will be a present. An interesting difference occurs on page 84 where 1937: "before the goblins came, and he was cut off from his friends far under under [sic] the mountains" > 1951:"before he lost all his friends and was driven away, alone, and crept down, down, into the dark under the mountains" Pretty interesting, considering it makes Gollums descent into ghoulishness seem to be more of a victimization than a "just desserts" sort of thing. But to the main point of the post The text below was replaced by the section in the 1951 version starting on page 90, beginning, "He knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred," and ending on page 98 with "stooping low with their hands almost on the ground." In both versions the paragraph starts: "Both wrong," cried Bilbo very much relieved; and he jumped at once to his feet, put his back to the nearest wall, and held out his little sword. Then the 1937 version continues: But funnily enough he need not have been alarmed. For one thing Gollum had learned long long ago was never, never, to cheat at the riddle-game, which is a sacred one and of immense antiquity. Also there was the sword. He simply sat and whispered. "What about the present?" asked Bilbo, not that he cared very much, still he felt that he had one it, pretty fairly, and in difficult circumstances too. "Must we give it the thing, preciouss? Yess, we must! We must fetch it, preciouss, and give it the present we promised." So gollum paddled back to his boat, and Bilbo thought he had heard the last of him. But he had not. The hobbit was just thinking of going back up the passage — having had quite enough of Gollum and the dark water's edge — when he heard him wailing and squeaking away in the gloom. He was on his island (of which, of course Bilbo knew nothing), scrabbling here and there, searching and seeking in vain, and turning out his pockets. "Where iss it? Where iss it?" Bilbo heard him squeaking. "Lost, lost, my preciouss, lost, lost! Bless us and splash us! We haven't the present we promised, and we haven't even got it for ourselves." Bilbo turned round and waited, wondering what it could be that the creature was making such a fuss about. This proved fortunate afterwards. For Gollum came back and made a tremendous spluttering and whispering and croaking; and in the end Bilbo gathered that Gollum had a ring — a wonderful, beautiful ring, a ring that he had been given for a birthday present, ages and ages before in old days when such rings were less uncommon. Sometimes he had it in his pocket; usually he kept it in a little hole in the rock on his island; sometimes ho wore it — when he was very, very hungry, and tired of fish, and crept along dark passages looking for stray goblins. Then he might venture even into places where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; but he would be safe. O yes! very nearly safe; for if you slipped that ring on yopur finger, you were invisable; only in the sunlight could you be seen, and then only by your shadow, and that was a faint and shaky sort of shadow. I don't know how many times Gollum begged Bilbo's pardon. He kept on saying: "We are ssorry; we didn't mean to cheat, we meant to give it our only present, if it won the competition." He even offered to catch Bilbo some nice juicy fish to eat as a consolation. Bilbo shuddered at the thought of it. "No thank you!" he said as politely as he could. He was thinking hard, and the idea came to him that Gollum must have dropped that ring sometime and that he must have found it, and that he had that very ring in his pocket. But he had the wits not to tell Gollum. "Finding's keeping!" he said to himself; and being in a very tight place, I daresay he was right. Anyway the ring belonged to him now. "Never mind!" he said. "The ring would have been mine now, if you had found it; so you would have lost it anyway. And I will let you off on one condition." "Yes, what iss it? What does it wish us to do, my preciouss?" "Help me get out of these places," said Bilbo. Now Gollum had to agree to this, if he was not to cheat. He still very much wanted just to try what the stranger tasted like; but now he had to give up all idea of it. Still there was the little sward; and the stranger was wide awake and on the look out, not unsuspecting as Gollum liked to have the things which he attacked. So perhaps it was best after all. That is how Bilbo got to know the tunnel ended at the water and went no further an the other side where the mountain wall was dark and solid. He also learned that he ought to have turned down one of the side passages to the right before he came to the bottom; but he could not follow Gollum's directions for finding it again on the way up, and he made the wretched creature come and show him the way. As they went along up the tunnel together, Gollum flip-flapping at his side, Bilbo going very softly, he thought he would try the ring. He slipped it on his finger. "Where iss it? Where iss it gone to?" said Gollum, peering about with his long eyes. "Here I am, following behind!" said Bilbo slipping off the ring again, and feeling very pleased to have it and to find that it really did what Gollum said. Now on they went again, while Gollum counted the passages to the left and right: "One lift, one right, two left, three right, two left," and so on. He began to get very shaky and afraid as they left the water further and further behind; but at last he stopped by a low opening on their left (going up) — "six right, four left." "Here's the passage," he whispered. "It musst squeeze in and sneak down. We durstn't go with it, my preciouss, no we dursn't, gollum!" So Bilbo slipped under the arch, and said good-bye to the nasty miserable; and very gald he was. He did not feel comfortable until he felt quite sure it was gone, and he kept his head out in the main tunnel listening until the flip-flap of Gollum going back to his boat died away in the darkness. Then he went down the new passage. It was a low narrow one roughly made. It was all right for the hobbit, except when he stubbed his toes in the dark on nasty jags in the floor; but it must have been a bit low for goblins. Perhaps it was not knowing that goblins were used to this sort of thing, and go along quite fast stooping low with their hands almost on the floor, that made Bilbo forget the danger of meeting them and hurry forward recklessly. That is the end of the major change. An addition change occurs in Chapter VI when bilbo is explaing his adventure to Gandalf and the Dwarves. 1937: "So I asked for my present, and he went to look for it, and couldn't find it. So I said 'very well, help me to get out of this nasty place!' and he showed me the passage to the door. 'Good-bye' I said, and I went on down" > 1951: "So I said: 'what about your promise? Show me the way out!' But he came at me to kill me, and I ran, and fell over, and he missed me in the dark. Then I followed him, because I heard him talking to himself. He thought I really knew the way out, and so he was making for it. And then he sat down in the entrance, and I could not get by. So I jumped over him and escaped, and ran down to the gate" That about does it for major changes made to accomodate the story in LotR. There are more, but must have to do with excising references pertaining to the above passages but not significant in and of themselves. PaulB "Everything and anything about a culture can be inferred fom the shape of its language..." — Jubal Harshaw