question archive The dwarves and Bilboenter Mirkwood and find it a dark, still, eerie place full of unseen animalsand thick dark cobwebs
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The dwarves and Bilboenter Mirkwood and find it a dark, still, eerie place full of unseen animalsand thick dark cobwebs. At the enchanted stream that Beorn had warned themabout, they cross by snagging a boat from the other side (thanks to Bilbo’ssharp eyes), but a deer comes and knocks Bombur in. When the dwarves rescuehim, he is fast asleep and will not wake.
Carrying Bombur, theywalk for several more days and come to a lighter area of the forest, but aredisquieted by singing and laughing in the distance. They send Bilbo to climb atree and look around; Bilbo correctly reports that there is no end in sight,but does not realize the landscape was deceptive.
The dwarves are onlymomentarily cheered when Bombur wakes up, because he dreamt about a feast witha woodland king and wants only to go back to sleep (the company is out offood). Just as he refuses to walk any further, they see light ahead. After muchargument, they all leave the path and find a clearing with elves feasting. Theyrush in to beg for food, but “[n]o sooner had they first stepped into theclearing than all the lights went out as if by magic.” After finding each otherin the dark, they see and try to enter clearings with feasts twice more, firstsending Bilbo and then Thorin, but with the same result each time.
After the third time,Bilbo can’t find anyone else and decides to wait until daylight to look again.He wakes from a doze to find a giant spider tying him up. In a desperate fight,he kills it with his sword, and “felt a different person, and much fiercer andbolder in spite of an empty stomach.” He names the sword Sting and goes lookingfor the dwarves.
Thanks to a luckyguess, he finds the dwarves and their spider captors. Seeing that a spider isabout to kill Bombur, Bilbo throws stones at them, to deadly effect. Hidden byhis ring, he taunts the spiders with a song and draws them away. After hebegins freeing dwarves, there is a fierce battle, and Bilbo is eventuallyforced to reveal the ring to the dwarves so that he can draw the spiders awayagain. The dwarves break out of the spiders’ circle of webs, and thanks toBilbo’s return with Sting, eventually escape. They rest near an elf-ring butget a nasty shock when they realize that Thorin is not with them.
Thorinhad been struck unconscious by the magic of the elf-ring and stayed asleep eventhrough the dwarves and Bilbo battling the spiders, after which the Wood-elveshad taken him away. The dwarves and elves had a history of disputes overtreasure, so Thorin refused to tell the king their business and the kingimprisoned him until he told the truth.