PROLOGUE ET 4 Of the Finding of the Ring As is told in The Hobbit, there came one day to Bilbo’s door the great Wizard, Gandalf the Grey, and thirteen dwarves with him: none other, indeed, than Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of kings, and his twelve companions in exile. With them he set out, to his own lasting astonishment, on a morning of April, it being then the year 1341 Shire-reckoning, on a quest of great treasure, the dwarf-hoards of the Kings under the Mountain, beneath Erebor in Dale, far off in the East. The quest was successful, and the Dragon that guarded the hoard was destroyed. Yet, though before all was won the Battle of Five Armies was fought, and Thorin was slain, and many deeds of renown were done, the matter would scarcely have concerned later history, or earned more than a note in the long annals of the Third Age, but for an ‘accident’ by the way. The party was assailed by Orcs in a high pass of the Misty Mountains as they went towards Wilderland; and so it happened that Bilbo was lost for a while in the black orc-mines deep under the mountains, and there, as he groped in vain in the dark, he put his hand on a ring, lying on the floor of a tunnel. He put it in his pocket. It seemed then like mere luck. Trying to find his way out, Bilbo went on down to the roots of the mountains, until he could go no further. At the bottom of the tunnel lay a cold lake far from the light, and on an island of rock in the water lived Gollum. He was a loathsome little creature: he paddled a small boat with his large flat feet, peering with pale luminous eyes and catching blind fish with his long fingers, and eating them raw. He ate any living thing, even orc, if he could catch it and strangle it without a struggle. He possessed a secret treasure that had come to him long ages ago, when he still lived in the light: a ring of gold that made its wearer invisible. It was the one thing he loved, his ‘Precious’, and he talked to it, even when it was not with him. For he kept it hidden safe in a hole on his island, except when he was hunting or spying on the orcs of the mines. Maybe he would have attacked Bilbo at once, if the ring had been on him when they met; but it was not, and the hobbit held in his hand an Elvish knife, which served him as a sword. So to gain time Gollum challenged Bilbo to the Riddle-game, saying that if he asked a riddle which Bilbo could not guess, then he would kill him and eat him; but if Bilbo defeated him, then he would do as Bilbo wished: he would lead him to a way out of the tunnels. Since he was lost in the dark without hope, and could neither go on nor back, Bilbo accepted the challenge; and they asked one another many riddles. In the end Bilbo won the game, more by luck (as it
序言 第四章 關於魔戒的發現 如同《哈比人歷險記》中所述，某天，偉大的巫師灰袍甘道夫和十三位矮人來到比爾博的門前。這群人正是索林·橡木盾——這位王室後裔——以及他十二位流亡的同伴。比爾博與他們一同出發，踏上了一段連他自己都始料未及的旅程。那是在一個四月的早晨，時值夏爾紀年1341年，他們要去尋找一份巨大的寶藏——那是位於東方遠處，河谷鎮孤山之下的山下國王所積累的矮人寶庫。這次的探險很成功，守護寶藏的惡龍被消滅了。然而，儘管在取得完全勝利前，爆發了五軍之戰，索林戰死，許多英勇事蹟也得以傳頌，但若非途中的一個「意外」，這整件事在後來的歷史中恐怕無足輕重，頂多在第三紀元漫長的編年史中留下一筆註記。當隊伍行經迷霧山脈一處高峰隘口，前往荒野之地的途中，他們遭到了半獸人的襲擊。於是，比爾博在山脈深處黑暗的半獸人礦坑中迷失了一段時間。在那裡，當他在黑暗中徒勞地摸索時，他的手碰到了一枚躺在隧道地板上的戒指。他將它放進了口袋。當時看來，這似乎純屬運氣。為了尋找出路，比爾博一路向下，走到了山脈的根基，直到再也無法前進。在隧道的盡頭，一個遠離光線的冰冷湖泊靜臥著，湖中一座岩石島上住著咕嚕。他是個令人厭惡的小生物：他用他那雙寬大的扁平腳蹼划著一艘小船，用蒼白發光的眼睛窺視著，用長長的手指抓起盲魚生吃。他會吃任何活物，只要能抓到手並不費力地勒死，就連半獸人也不例外。他擁有一件秘密寶物，那是很久以前，當他還活在陽光下時得到的：一枚能讓佩戴者隱身的金戒指。這是他唯一珍愛的東西，他的「寶貝」，他會跟它說話，即使它不在身邊。因為他總是將它安全地藏在島上的一個洞裡，除非外出狩獵或監視礦坑裡的半獸人時才會帶上。或許，如果他們相遇時咕嚕身上帶著戒指，他會立刻攻擊比爾博；但戒指並不在他身上，而哈比人手中則握著一把精靈小刀，權充他的劍。為了爭取時間，咕嚕向比爾博發起了謎語比賽的挑戰，聲稱如果他出了一個比爾博猜不到的謎語，他就會殺了他並吃掉他；但如果比爾博贏了他，他就會照比爾博的意願行事：帶他找到一條離開隧道的路。由於比爾博在黑暗中迷失，毫無希望，進退兩難，他接受了挑戰；他們互相出了許多謎語。最終，比爾博贏得了比賽，多半是靠運氣（如同……
I2 THE LORD OF THE RINGS seemed) than by wits; for he was stumped at last for a riddle to ask, and cried out, as his hand came upon the ring he had picked up and forgotten: What have I got in my pocket? This Gollum failed to answer, though he demanded three guesses. The Authorities, it is true, differ whether this last question was a mere ‘question’ and not a ‘riddle’ according to the strict rules of the Game; but all agree that, after accepting it and trying to guess the answer, Gollum was bound by his promise. And Bilbo pressed him to keep his word; for the thought came to him that this slimy creature might prove false, even though such promises were held sacred, and of old all but the wickedest things feared to break them. But after ages alone in the dark Gollum’s heart was black, and treachery was in it. He slipped away, and returned to his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, not far off in the dark water. There, he thought, lay his ring. He was hungry now, and angry, and once his ‘Precious’ was with him he would not fear any weapon at all. But the ring was not on the island; he had lost it, it was gone. His screech sent a shiver down Bilbo’s back, though he did not yet understand what had happened. But Gollum had at last leaped to a guess, too late. What has it got in its pocketses? he cried. The light in his eyes was like a green flame as he sped back to murder the hobbit and recover his ‘Precious’. Just in time Bilbo saw his peril, and he fled blindly up the passage away from the water; and once more he was saved by his luck. For as he ran he put his hand in his pocket, and the ring slipped quietly on to his finger. So it was that Gollum passed him without seeing him, and went to guard the way out, lest the ‘thief? should escape. Warily Bilbo followed him, as he went along, cursing, and talking to himself about his ‘Precious’; from which talk at last even Bilbo guessed the truth, and hope came to him in the darkness: he himself had found the marvellous ring and a chance of escape from the orcs and from Gollum. At length they came to a halt before an unseen opening that led to the lower gates of the mines, on the eastward side of the mountains. There Gollum crouched at bay, smelling and listening; and Bilbo was tempted to slay him with his sword. But pity stayed him, and though he kept the ring, in which his only hope lay, he would not use it to help him kill the wretched creature at a disadvantage. In the end, gathering his courage, he leaped over Gollum in the dark, and fled away down the passage, pursued by his enemy’s cries of hate and despair: Thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it for ever! Now it is a curious fact that this is not the story as Bilbo first told it to his companions. To them his account was that Gollum had promised to give him a present, if he won the game; but when Gollum
PROLOGUE 13 went to fetch it from his island he found the treasure was gone: a magic ring, which had been given to him long ago on his birthday. Bilbo guessed that this was the very ring that he had found, and as he had won the game, it was already his by right. But being in a tight place, he said nothing about it, and made Gollum show him the way out, as a reward instead of a present. This account Bilbo set down in his memoirs, and he seems never to have altered it himself, not even after the Council of Elrond. Evidently it still appeared in the original Red Book, as it did in several of the copies and abstracts. But many copies contain the true account (as an alternative), derived no doubt from notes by Frodo or Samwise, both of whom learned the truth, though they seem to have been unwilling to delete anything actually written by the old hobbit himself. Gandalf, however, disbelieved Bilbo’s first story, as soon as he heard it, and he continued to be very curious about the ring. Eventually he got the true tale out of Bilbo after much questioning, which for a while strained their friendship; but the wizard seemed to think the truth important. Though he did not say so to Bilbo, he also thought it important, and disturbing, to find that the good hobbit had not told the truth from the first: quite contrary to his habit. The idea of a ‘present’ was not mere hobbitlike invention, all the same. It was suggested to Bilbo, as he confessed, by Gollum’s talk that he overheard; for Gollum did, in fact, call the ring his ‘birthday-present’, many times. That also Gandalf thought strange and suspicious; but he did not discover the truth in this point for many more years, as will be seen in this book. Of Bilbo’s later adventures little more need be said here. With the help of the ring he escaped from the orc-guards at the gate and rejoined his companions. He used the ring many times on his quest, chiefly for the help of his friends; but he kept it secret from them as long as he could. After his return to his home he never spoke of it again to anyone, save Gandalf and Frodo; and no one else in the Shire knew of its existence, or so he believed. Only to Frodo did he show the account of his Journey that he was writing. His sword, Sting, Bilbo hung over his fireplace, and his coat of marvellous mail, the gift of the Dwarves from the Dragon-hoard, he lent to a museum, to the Michel Delving Mathom-house in fact. But he kept in a drawer at Bag End the old cloak and hood that he had worn on his travels; and the ring, secured by a fine chain, remained in his pocket. He returned to his home at Bag End on June the 22nd in his fifty-second year (S.R. 1342), and nothing very notable occurred in the Shire until Mr. Baggins began the preparations for the celebration
I4 THE LORD OF THE RINGS of his hundred-and-eleventh birthday (S.R. 1401). At this point this History begins. NOTE ON THE SHIRE RECORDS At the end of the Third Age the part played by the Hobbits in the great events that led to the inclusion of the Shire in the Reunited Kingdom awakened among them a more widespread interest in their own history; and many of their traditions, up to that time still mainly oral, were collected and written down. The greater families were also concerned with events in the Kingdom at large, and many of their members studied its ancient histories and legends. By the end of the first century of the Fourth Age there were already to be found in the Shire several libraries that contained many historical books and records. The largest of these collections were probably at Undertowers, at Great Smials, and at Brandy Hall. This account of the end of the Third Age is drawn mainly from the Red Book of Westmarch. That most important source for the history of the War of the Ring was so called because it was long preserved at Undertowers, the home of the Fairbairns, Wardens of the Westmarch.* It was in origin Bilbo’s private diary, which he took with him to Rivendell. Frodo brought it back to the Shire, together with many loose leaves of notes, and during S.R. 1420-1 he nearly filled its pages with his account of the War. But annexed to it and preserved with it, probably in a single red case, were the three large volumes, bound in red leather, that Bilbo gave to him as a parting gift. To these four volumes there was added in Westmarch a fifth containing commentaries, genealogies, and various other matter concerning the hobbit members of the Fellowship. The original Red Book has not been preserved, but many copies were made, especially of the first volume, for the use of the descendants of the children of Master Samwise. The most important copy, however, has a different history. It was kept at Great Smials, but it was written in Gondor, probably at the request of the great-grandson of Peregrin, and completed in S.R. 1592 (F.A. 172). Its southern scribe appended this note: Findegil, King’s Writer, finished this work in IV 172. It is an exact copy in all details of the Thain’s Book in Minas Tirith. That book was a copy, made at the request of King Elessar, of the Red Book of the Periannath, and was brought to him by the Thain Peregrin when he retired to Gondor in IV 64. The Thain’s Book was thus the first copy made of the Red Book * See Appendix B: annals 1451, 1462, 1482; and note at end of Appendix C.
第三紀元末期，哈比人在導致夏爾被納入重聯王國的重大事件中所扮演的角色，喚起了他們對自身歷史更廣泛的興趣；許多在那時仍主要以口頭流傳的傳統，都被收集起來並寫成文字。大家族也關心整個王國的事件，許多家族成員都研究其古老的歷史與傳說。到了第四紀元第一個世紀末，夏爾已有數座圖書館，藏有許多歷史書籍與紀錄。這些收藏中規模最大的，可能是在昂德丘、大斯麥爾莊和白蘭地廳。這段關於第三紀元末的記述，主要來自《西境紅皮書》。這部關於魔戒聖戰史最重要的資料之所以如此命名，是因為它長期保存在西境守護者費爾貝恩家族的家園——昂德丘。* 它最初是比爾博的私人日記，他將其帶到了瑞文戴爾。佛羅多將它連同許多散頁的筆記帶回夏爾，並在夏爾曆1420至1421年間，用他對聖戰的記述幾乎填滿了書頁。但附於其中並與之一同保存的（可能放在同一個紅色書匣裡），是比爾博作為臨別贈禮送給他的三大卷紅皮裝訂的書。在這四卷之外，西境又增添了第五卷，內容包含評論、家譜，以及其他關於魔戒遠征隊哈比人成員的各種資料。紅皮書的原稿並未保存下來，但製作了許多抄本，特別是第一卷，供山姆衛斯主人的子女後代使用。然而，最重要的抄本有著不同的歷史。它保存在大斯麥爾莊，卻是在剛鐸抄寫的，大概是應皮瑞格林的曾孫之請，完成於夏爾曆1592年（第四紀元172年）。其南方抄寫員附上此註：國王文書芬德吉爾，於第四紀元172年完成此作。此乃米那斯提力斯《領主之書》的精確副本。該書是伊力薩王下令抄寫的《佩瑞安納斯紅皮書》的副本，由領主皮瑞格林於第四紀元64年退隱剛鐸時呈獻給他。因此，《領主之書》是紅皮書的第一個抄本。* 見附錄B：1451、1462、1482年年表；及附錄C末尾註釋。
PROLOGUE 15 and contained much that was later omitted or lost. In Minas Tirith it received much annotation, and many corrections, especially of names, words, and quotations in the Elvish languages; and there was added to it an abbreviated version of those parts of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen which lie outside the account of the War. The full tale is stated to have been written by Barahir, grandson of the Steward Faramir, some time after the passing of the King. But the chief importance of Findegil’s copy is that it alone contains the whole of Bilbo’s “Translations from the Elvish’. These three volumes were found to be a work of great skill and learning in which, between 1403 and 1418, he had used all the sources available to him in Rivendell, both living and written. But since they were little used by Frodo, being almost entirely concerned with the Elder Days, no more is said of them here. Since Meriadoc and Peregrin became the heads of their great families, and at the same time kept up their connexions with Rohan and Gondor, the libraries at Bucklebury and Tuckborough contained much that did not appear in the Red Book. In Brandy Hall there were many works dealing with Eriador and the history of Rohan. Some of these were composed or begun by Meriadoc himself, though in the Shire he was chiefly remembered for his Herblore of the Shire, and for his Reckoning of Years in which he discussed the relation of the calendars of the Shire and Bree to those of Rivendell, Gondor, and Rohan. He also wrote a short treatise on Old Words and Names in the Shire, showing special interest in discovering the kinship with the language of the Rohirrim of such ‘shire-words’ as mathom and old elements in place names. At Great Smials the books were of less interest to Shire-folk, though more important for larger history. None of them was written by Peregrin, but he and his successors collected many manuscripts written by scribes of Gondor: mainly copies or summaries of histories or legends relating to Elendil and his heirs. Only here in the Shire were to be found extensive materials for the history of Numenor and the arising of Sauron. It was probably at Great Smials that The Tale of Years* was put together, with the assistance of material collected by Meriadoc. Though the dates given are often conjectural, especially for the Second Age, they deserve attention. It is probable that Meriadoc obtained assistance and information from Rivendell, which he visited more than once. There, though Elrond had departed, his sons long remained, together with some of the High-elven folk. It is said that Celeborn went to dwell there after the departure of Galadriel; * Represented in much reduced form in Appendix B as far as the end of the Third Age.
序言 15 其中包含了許多後來被省略或遺失的內容。在米那斯提力斯，這本書獲得了大量的註解與許多修正，特別是關於精靈語中的名稱、詞彙和引文；書中還附加了《亞拉岡與亞玟的傳說》中，發生在魔戒聖戰之外部分的縮寫版。據說，這個故事的完整版是由宰相法拉墨的孫子巴拉漢在國王逝世後的某個時間寫成的。但芬德吉爾抄本最重要之處在於，唯有它完整收錄了比爾博的《精靈語翻譯》全書。這三卷書被認為是一部技巧與學識均極為高深的著作，在1403年至1418年間，比爾博運用了他在瑞文戴爾能找到的一切資源，無論是口述還是文字。但由於佛羅多極少使用這些書籍，因為它們幾乎完全是關於上古時代的內容，所以在此就不再贅述。由於梅里雅達克與皮瑞格林後來成為了他們偉大家族的領袖，同時也與羅翰和剛鐸保持著聯繫，因此雄鹿鎮和塔克鎮的圖書館收藏了許多紅皮書中沒有的資料。在白蘭地廳，有許多關於伊利雅德和羅翰歷史的著作。其中一些是由梅里雅達克親自撰寫或開頭的，儘管在夏爾，人們主要記得的是他的《夏爾藥草志》，以及他討論夏爾和布理的曆法與瑞文戴爾、剛鐸和羅翰曆法之間關係的《紀年考》。他還寫了一篇關於《夏爾古老詞語與名稱》的短文，展現出他對於發掘像「mathom」這類「夏爾詞彙」以及地名中的古老元素與羅希爾人語言之間的親緣關係有著特別的興趣。在大斯米爾的書籍對夏爾人來說較不感興趣，但對更宏大的歷史而言卻更為重要。這些書沒有一本是皮瑞格林寫的，但他和他的繼承者們收集了許多由剛鐸抄寫員寫下的手稿：主要是關於伊蘭迪爾及其後裔的歷史或傳說的副本或摘要。唯有在夏爾的這個地方，才能找到關於努曼諾爾歷史與索倫崛起的詳盡資料。很可能《年歲紀事》* 就是在大斯米爾，藉助梅里雅達克收集的資料彙編而成的。儘管書中給出的日期常常是推測性的，特別是關於第二紀元的部分，但它們仍值得關注。梅里雅達克很可能從瑞文戴爾獲得了協助與資訊，他曾不只一次造訪那裡。在那裡，雖然愛隆已經離去，但他的兒子們與一些高等精靈仍長居於此。據說凱蘭崔爾離開後，凱勒鵬便去那裡居住了。* 在附錄B中以大幅簡化的形式呈現，直至第三紀元末。
16 THE LORD OF THE RINGS but there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth.
但沒有任何紀錄記載他最終動身前往灰港的那一天，而隨著他的離去，中土世界關於上古時代的最後一份鮮活記憶也隨之消逝。