The Hobbit

well worn path with many steps leading down it to the river,
     across which a ford of huge flat stones led to the grass-land beyond the stream. There was a little cave (a wholesome one
     with a pebbly floor) at the foot of the steps and near the end of the stony ford. Here the party gathered and discussed what
     was to be done.
    “I always meant to see you all safe (if possible) over the mountains,” said the wizard, “and now by good management
and
good luck I have done it. Indeed we are now a good deal further east than I ever meant to come with you, for after all this
     is not my adventure. I may look in on it again before it is all over, but in the meanwhile I have some other pressing business
     to attend to.”
    The dwarves groaned and looked most distressed, and Bilbo wept. They had begun to think Gandalf was going to come all the
     way and would always be there to help them out of difficulties. “I am not going to disappear this very instant,” said he.
     “I can give you a day or two more. Probably I can help you out of your present plight, and I need a little help myself. We
     have no food, and no baggage, and no ponies to ride; and you don’t know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are still
     some miles north of the path which we should have been following, if we had not left the mountain pass in a hurry. Very few
     people live in these parts, unless they have come here since I was last down this way, which is some years ago. But there
     is
somebody
that I know of, who lives not far away. That Somebody made the steps on the great rock—the Carrock I believe he calls it. He does not come here often, certainly not in the daytime, and it is no good waiting for him. In fact it would be
     very dangerous. We must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, I think I shall be off and wish you like the
     eagles ‘farewell wherever you fare!’”
    They begged him not to leave them. They offered him dragon-gold and silver and jewels, but he would not change his mind. “We
     shall see, we shall see!” he said, “and I think I have earned already some of your dragon-gold—when you have got it.”
    After that they stopped pleading. Then they took off their clothes and bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and
     stony at the ford. When they had dried in the sun, which was now strong and warm, they were refreshed, if still sore and a
     little hungry. Soon they crossed the ford (carrying the hobbit), and then began to march through the long green grass and
     down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and the tall elms.
    “And why is it called the Carrock?” asked Bilbo as he went along at the wizard’s side.
    “He called it the Carrock, because carrock is his word for it. He calls things like that carrocks, and this one is
the
Carrock because it is the only one near his home and he knows it well.”
    “Who calls it? Who knows it?”
    “The Somebody I spoke of—a very great person. You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly,
     two by two, I think; and you
must
be careful not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humoured. Still I warn you he gets angry easily.”
    The dwarves all gathered round when they heard the wizard talking like this to Bilbo. “Is that the person you are taking us
     to now?” they asked. “Couldn’t you find someone more easy-tempered? Hadn’t you better explain it all a bit clearer?”—and so
     on.
    “Yes it certainly is! No I could not! And I was explaining very carefully,” answered the wizard crossly. “If you must know
     more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer.”
    “What! a furrier, a man that calls rabbits conies, when he doesn’t turn their skins into squirrels?” asked Bilbo.
    “Good gracious heavens, no, no, NO, NO!” said Gandalf. “Don’t be a fool Mr. Baggins if you can help it; and in the name of
     all wonder don’t mention the word furrier again as long as you are within a hundred miles of his house, nor rug, cape, tippet,
     muff, nor any other such unfortunate word! He is a skin-changer. He changes his skin: sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes
     he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to
     be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived