The Hobbit

could, so that Gollum had to get back
     into his boat and think.
    No-legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three-legs, four-legs got some.
    It was not really the right time for this riddle, but Bilbo was in a hurry. Gollum might have had some trouble guessing it,
     if he had asked it at another time. As it was, talking of fish, “no-legs” was not so very difficult, and after that the rest
     was easy. “Fish on a little table, man at table sitting on a stool, the cat has the bones” that of course is the answer, and
     Gollum soon gave it. Then he thought the time had come to ask something hard and horrible. This is what he said:
    This thing all things devours:
    Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
    Gnaws iron, bites steel;
    Grinds hard stones to meal;
    Slays king, ruins town,
    And beats high mountain down.
    Poor Bilbo sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all the giants and ogres he had ever heard told of in tales,
     but not one of them had done all these things. He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could not think of it. He began to get frightened, and that is bad for
     thinking. Gollum began to get out of his boat. He flapped into the water and paddled to the bank; Bilbo could see his eyes
     coming towards him. His tongue seemed to stick in his mouth; he wanted to shout out: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But
     all that came out with a sudden squeal was:
    “Time! Time!”
    Bilbo was saved by pure luck. For that of course was the answer.
    Gollum was disappointed once more; and now he was getting angry, and also tired of the game. It had made him very hungry indeed.
     This time he did not go back to the boat. He sat down in the dark by Bilbo. That made the hobbit most dreadfully uncomfortable
     and scattered his wits.
    “It’s got to ask uss a quesstion, my preciouss, yes, yess, yesss. Jusst one more question to guess, yes, yess,” said Gollum.
    But Bilbo simply could not think of any question with that nasty wet cold thing sitting next to him, and pawing and poking
     him. He scratched himself, he pinched himself; still he could not think of anything.
    “Ask us! ask us!” said Gollum.
    Bilbo pinched himself and slapped himself; he gripped on his little sword; he even felt in his pocket with his other hand.
     There he found the ring he had picked up in the passage and forgotten about.
    “What have I got in my pocket?” he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully upset.
    “Not fair! not fair!” he hissed. “It isn’t fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it’s got in its nassty little pocketses?”
    Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask stuck to his question, “What have I got in my pocket?” he
     said louder.
    “S-s-s-s-s,” hissed Gollum. “It must give us three guesseses, my preciouss, three guesseses.”
    “Very well! Guess away!” said Bilbo.
    “Handses!” said Gollum.
    “Wrong,” said Bilbo, who had luckily just taken his hand out again. “Guess again!”
    “S-s-s-s-s,” said Gollum more upset than ever. He thought of all the things he kept in his own pockets: fish-bones, goblins’
     teeth, wet shells, a bit of bat-wing, a sharp stone to sharpen his fangs on, and other nasty things. He tried to think what
     other people kept in their pockets.
    “Knife!” he said at last.
    “Wrong!” said Bilbo, who had lost his some time ago. “Last guess!”
    Now Gollum was in a much worse state than when Bilbo had asked him the egg-question. He hissed and spluttered and rocked himself
     backwards and forwards, and slapped his feet on the floor, and wriggled and squirmed; but still he did not dare to waste his
     last guess.
    “Come on!” said Bilbo. “I am waiting!” He tried to sound bold and cheerful, but he did not feel at all sure how the game was
     going to end, whether Gollum guessed right or not.
    “Time’s up!” he said.
    “String, or nothing!” shrieked Gollum, which was not quite fair—working in two guesses at once.
    “Both wrong,” cried Bilbo very much relieved; and he jumped at once to his feet, put his back to the nearest wall, and held
     out his little sword. He knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity, and even wicked creatures
     were afraid to cheat when they played at it. But he felt he could not trust this slimy thing to keep any promise at a pinch.
     Any excuse would do