The Hobbit Chapter 1 Excerpt Quiz

In a hole in the ground there lived a ______

It had a perfectly round door like a ______

The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the ______

The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have ______

The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a ______

It was a hobbit-hole, and that means ______

He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark ______

Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt upóprobably somebody lighting a wood-fire-and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to ______

He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, ______, again

He had less than half a mind to fetch the lamp, and more than half a mind to pretend to, and go and hide behind the beer barrels in the cellar, and not come out again until all the dwarves had gone ______

He got up trembling. He had less than half a mind to fetch the lamp, and more than half a mind to pretend to, and go and hide behind the beer barrels in the cellar, and not come out again until all the dwarves had gone ______

Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him with eyes shining in the ______

Where are you going.î said Thorin, in a tone that seemed to show that he guessed both halves of the hobbitís ______

What about a little ______î said Bilbo apologetically

We like the ______,î said the dwarves

Of course.î said Bilbo, and sat down in a ______

He missed the stool and sat in the ______, knocking over the poker and shovel with a crash

Hush.î said Gandalf. ìLet Thorin ______

It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely ______-like about them, - and once in a while members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures. They discreetly disappeared, and the family hushed it up; but the fact remained that the Tooks were not as respectable as the Bagginses, though they were undoubtedly richer. Not that Belladonna Took ever had any adventures after she became Mrs. Bungo Baggins. Bungo, that was Bilboís father, built the most luxurious ______-hole for her (and partly with her money) that was to be found either under The Hill or over The Hill or across The Water, and there they remained to the end of their days. Still it is probable that Bilbo, her only son, although he looked and behaved exactly like a second edition of his solid and comfortable father, got something a bit queer in his makeup from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out. The chance never arrived, until Bilbo Baggins was grown up, being about fifty years old or so, and living in the beautiful ______-hole built by his father, which I have just described for you, until he had in fact apparently settled down immovably. By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the ______s were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his wooly toes (neatly brushed) - Gandalf came by.

______. If you had heard only a quarter of what I have heard about him, and I have only heard very little of all there is to hear, you would be prepared for any sort of remarkable tale. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion. He had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died, in fact, and the hobbits had almost forgotten what he looked like. He had been away over The Hill and across The Water on business of his own since they were all small hobbit-boys and hobbit-girls. All that the unsuspecting Bilbo saw that morning was an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black - 9 - boots. ìGood morning." said Bilbo, and he meant it.

The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But ______ looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat. ìWhat do you mean.î be said. ìDo you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is morning to be good on.î ìAll of them at once,î said Bilbo. ìAnd a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain. If you have a pipe about you, sit down and have a fill of mine. There ís no hurry, we have all the day before us.î Then Bilbo sat down on a seat by his door, crossed his legs, and blew out a beautiful grey ring of smoke that sailed up into the air without breaking and floated away over The Hill. ìVery pretty.î said ______. ìBut I have no time to blow smoke- rings this morning. I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and itís very difficult to find anyone.

Nasty.disturbing uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner. I canít think what anybody sees in them,î said our Mr. Baggins, and stuck one thumb behind his braces, and blew out another even bigger smoke-ring. Then he took out his morning letters, and begin to read, pretending to take no more notice of the old man. He had decided that he was not quite his sort, and wanted him to go away. But the old man did not move. He stood leaning on his stick and gazing at the hobbit without saying anything, till Bilbo got quite uncomfortable and even a little cross. ìGood morning.î he said at last.

Gandalf sat at the head of the party with the thirteen, dwarves all round: and Bilbo sat on a stool at the fireside, nibbling at a biscuit (his appetite was quite taken away), and trying to look as if this was all perfectly ordinary and not in the least an adventure. The dwarves ate and ate, and talked and talked, and time got on. At last they pushed their chairs back, and Bilbo made a move to collect the ______ and glasses. ìI suppose you will all stay to supper.î he said in his politest unpressing tones. ìOf course.î said Thorin. ìAnd after. We shanít get through the business till late, and we must have some music first. Now to clear up.î Thereupon the twelve dwarves-not Thorin, he was too important, and stayed talking to Gandalf-jumped to their feet and made tall piles of all the things. Off they went, not waiting for trays, balancing columns of ______, each with a bottle on the top, with one hand, while the hobbit ran after them almost squeaking with fright: ìplease be careful.î and ìplease, donít trouble. I can manage.î But the dwarves only started to sing: Chip the glasses and crack the ______. Blunt the knives and bend the forks. Thatís what Bilbo Baggins hates- Smash the bottles and burn the corks. Cut the cloth and tread on the fat. Pour the milk on the pantry floor. Leave the bones on the bedroom mat. Splash the wine on every door. Dump the crocks in a boiling bawl; Pound them up with a thumping pole; And when youíve finished, if any are whole, Send them down the hall to roll. Thatís what Bilbo Baggins hates. So, carefully. carefully with the ______. And of course they did none of these dreadful things, and everything was cleaned and put away safe as quick as lightning, while the hobbit was turning round and round in the middle of the kitchen trying to see what they were doing.

Then they went back, and found Thorin with his feet on the fender smoking a pipe. He was blowing the most enormous smoke- rings, and wherever he told one to go, it went-up the chimney, or behind the clock on the man-telpiece, or under the table, or round and round the ceiling; but wherever it went it was not quick enough to escape Gandalf. Pop. he sent a smaller smoke-ring from his short clay-pipe straight through each one of Thorinís. The Gandalfís smoke-ring would go green and come - 15 - back to hover over the wizardís head. He had quite a cloud of them about him already, and in the dim light it made him look strange and sorcerous. Bilbo stood still and watched-he loved smoke-rings-and then be blushed to think how proud he had been yesterday morning of the smoke-rings he had sent up the wind over The Hill. ìNow for some music.î said Thorin. ìBring out the ______.î Kili and Fili rushed for their bags and brought back little fiddles; Dori, Nori, and Ori brought out flutes from somewhere inside their coats; Bombur produced a drum from the hall; Bifur and Bofur went out too, and came back with clarinets that they had left among the walking-sticks Dwalin and Balin said: ìExcuse me, I left mine in the porch.î ìJust bring mine in with you,î said Thorin. They came back with viols as big as themselves, and with Thorinís harp wrapped in a green cloth. It was a beautiful gold-en harp, and when Thorin struck it the music began all at once, so sudden and sweet that Bilbo forgot everything else, and was swept away into dark lands under strange moons, far over The Water and very far from his hobbit-hole under The Hill.

The dark came into the room from the little window that opened in the side of The Hill; the firelight flickered-it was April-and still they played on, while the shadow of Gandalfís beard wagged against the wall. The dark filled all the room, and the fire died down, and the shadows were lost, and still they played on. And suddenly first one and then another began to sing as they played, deep-throated singing of the dwarves in the deep places of their ancient homes; and this is like a fragment of their song, if it can be like their song without their ______. Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away ere break of day To seek the pale enchanted gold. The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fell like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells. For ancient king and elvish lord There many a gloaming golden hoard They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung The flowering stars, on crowns they hung The dragon-fire, in twisted wire They meshed the light of moon and sun. - 16 - Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away, ere break of day, To claim our long-forgotten ______. Goblets they carved there for themselves And harps of ______; where no man delves There lay they long, and many a song Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height, The winds were moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread; The trees like torches biased with light, The bells were ringing in the dale And men looked up with faces pale; The ______ís ire more fierce than fire Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The ______ smoked beneath the moon; The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom. They fled their hall to dying -fall Beneath his feet, beneath the moon. Far over the misty ______s grim To dungeons deep and caverns dim We must away, ere break of day, To win our harps and gold from him.

As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The ______ were out in a dark sky above the trees.