[Kath]

Agreed Lal, this is a dark chapter but what kept it from being disturbing to me were the little bits of humour that were interjected at moments where it could be seen that Bilbo was being bullied, or in danger, or unhappy.

The beginning of the chapter I loved, with Bilbo's mad dash and then the thing that most worries him is not that he'll be going on a dangerous adventure, but that he had forgotten his pocket handkerchief!

On the subject of the dwarves being cowardly in sending Bilbo forward first, they may have simply been trying to test him. I feel that had he refused they wouldn't have made him go. They gave him a safety measure as well so they would know when to rush in and help, it wasn't their fault Bilbo hadn't the slightest idea how to hoot like an owl!

I liked the way the trolls behave and speak. It's so different to the way every other character in the book speaks and it does make a show of the idea that they are just thugs with no brains. Anyway, it's a fun voice to do when reading aloud, which again is what was intended for The Hobbit.

More wonderful word play with burrahobbit and the whole cooking spiel. This book is such a pleasure to reread as you get older because you notice the genius behind things like that, which you just took as a normal sentence as a child.

And finally we get Gandalf's return and his tricking the trolls into bickering until the sun rises and they turn to stone. I always loved this bit because the fighting was, to me, realistic. It sounded almost like siblings arguing, constantly taking back what they'd said, or restarting the argument just for the sake of it.

This chapter is taking a myth or a legend and squashing it about a bit to fit it into Tolkien's version of myths and legends, which is perhaps why it seems a little out of place, or jarring. However, it does show that Bilbo has guts enough to go forward and try to be a good burglar, which gives credence to his becoming more and more confident as the journey continues.

And of course, without this little interruption, Bilbo would never have found Sting. Say what you like about The Hobbit not being part of the Legendarium, without it many important parts of LotR wouldn't have existed.

Just as an extra as well, Gandalf's exclamation at the beginning:
"Great Elephants!"