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Lal, "Der kleine Hobbit" is the older translation, which was obviously geared to a children's audience. The diminutive was apparently thought necessary, as the word "hobbit" in itself is new and strange to readers. The illustration on the cover, which includes a dragon with butterfly wings (rather small, if the scale is true, as the spider beside it is not tiny - unless, of course, it is a descendant of Ungoliath), almost equals the infamous bulbed trees of LotR paperback fame. In 1998, Wolfgang Krege (whose new translation of the LotR is controversial) retranslated it and it was published as "Der Hobbit".
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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