“Farewell! O Elvenking!” said Gandalf. “Merry be the greenwood! And merry be all your folk!” [123]

“Farewell! O Gandalf!” said the king. “May you ever appear where you are most needed and least expected! [124] I will be happy to see you in my halls!”

“Please,” said Bilbo, “accept this gift!” and he brought out a necklace of silver and pearls that Dain had given him at their parting.

“How have I earned such a gift?” said the king.

“Well,” said Bilbo rather confused, “some little return [125] should be made for your hospitality. I mean even a burglar has his feelings. I have drunk much of your wine and eaten much of your bread.”

“I will take your gift, O Bilbo the Magnificent!” said the king seriously. “And I name you elf-friend and blessed. Farewell!”

Then the elves turned towards the Forest, and Bilbo started on his long road home.

It was spring when Bilbo and Gandalf left Beorn. At last they reached the very pass where the goblins had captured them before. Behind there was Mirkwood, blue in the distance. And far away there was the Lonely Mountain. On its highest peak snow was gleaming pale. “So comes snow after fire and even dragons have their ending!” said Bilbo. “I wish now only to be in my own arm-chair!” he said.

On May the First Bilbo and Gandalf came back at last to the Last (or the First) Homely House.

Again it was evening, their ponies were tired, especially the one that carried the baggage; and they all felt in need of rest. As they rode down the steep path, Bilbo heard the elves still singing in the trees; and as soon as their riders came down into the lower glades of the wood they burst into a song.

This is something like it:

Then the elves of the valley came out and greeted them and led them across the water to the house of Elrond. There were many elves that evening who wanted to hear the tale of their adventures. Gandalf was speaking, because Bilbo was sleepy. But sometimes he opened one eye, and listened. And so he learned that Gandalf had been to a great council of the white wizards, masters of good magic; and that they had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Mirkwood.

“Soon,” Gandalf was saying, “The Forest will be safer. The North will be freed from that horror for many long years, I hope.”

Bilbo woke in a white bed, and the moon was shining through an open window. Below it many elves were singing on the banks of the stream.

“Well, Merry People!” said Bilbo looking out. “What time is this?”

“It is drawing towards dawn, and you have slept now since the night’s beginning.”

“I would like to sleep some more,” said he; “A second good night, fair friends!” And with that he went back to bed and slept till late morning.

Soon Bilbo said farewell to Elrond and rode away with Gandalf.

“There is a long road yet,” said Gandalf.

“But it is the last road,” said Bilbo.

At each point on the road Bilbo recalled the events of a year ago. So he quickly noted the place where the pony had fallen in the river, and they had turned aside for their nasty adventure with Tom and Bert and Bill. Not far from the road they found the gold of the trolls, which they had buried, still hidden and untouched. “Take this, Gandalf,” said Bilbo, when they had dug it up. “You can find a use for it.”

“Indeed I can!” said the wizard. “But you may find you have more needs than you expect.”

So they shared the gold and put it in bags on the ponies. After that they went slower, for most of the time they walked.

As all things come to an end, even this story, a day came at last when they were in sight of the country where Bilbo had been born. Finally he could see his own Hill in the distance.

And so they crossed the bridge and passed the mill by the river and came right back to Bilbo’s own door.

“Bless me! What’s going on?” he cried.

There were people of all sorts, respectable and unrespectable, and many were going in and out. He had arrived back in the middle of an auction! There was a large notice in black and red on the gate, stating that on June the Twenty-second the things of the late [126] Bilbo Baggins Esquire would be sold, at ten o’clock sharp. It was now nearly lunch-time and most of the things had already been sold. Bilbo’s cousins were going to occupy his rooms. Bilbo was “Presumed Dead”. [127]