The Return of the Shadow. Christopher Tolkien

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      (iv)

       The Fourth Version

Two further changes, embodying an important shift, were made to the manuscript of the third version. They were carefully made, in red ink, but concomitant changes later in the text were not made. In the first sentence of the chapter (p. 28) ‘Bingo, son of Bilbo’ was altered to ‘Bingo Bolger-Baggins’; and in the third sentence ‘Bingo’s father’ was altered to ‘Bingo’s uncle (and guardian), Bilbo Baggins.’

      We come now therefore to a further stage, where the ‘long-expected party’ is still Bingo’s, not Bilbo’s, but Bingo is his nephew, not his son, and Bilbo’s marriage (as was inevitable, I think) has been rejected.

The fourth version is a typescript, made by my father. It was emended very heavily later on, but these changes belong to the second phase of the writing of The Fellowship of the Ring, and here I ignore them. The alterations to the third version just referred to were now incorporated into the text (which therefore now begins: ‘When Bingo Bolger-Baggins of the well-known Baggins family prepared to celebrate his seventy-second birthday …’), but otherwise it proceeds as an exact copy of the third version as far as ‘he was on visiting terms with all his neighbours and relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-Bagginses)’ (p. 29). Here it diverges.

      But folk did not bother him much. He was frequently out. And if he was in, you never knew who you would find with him: hobbits of quite poor families, or folk from distant villages, dwarves, and even sometimes elves.

He did two more things that caused tongues to wag. At the age of ninety-nine he adopted his nephew – or to be accurate (Bilbo scattered the titles nephew and niece about rather recklessly) his first cousin once removed, Bingo Bolger, a lad of twenty-seven. They had heard very little about him, and that not too good (they said). As a matter of fact Bingo was the son of Primula Brandybuck (and Rollo Bolger, who was quite unimportant); and she was the daughter of Mirabella Took (and Gorboduc Brandybuck, who was rather important); and she was one of three remarkable daughters of the Old Took, for long the head of the hobbits who lived across The Water. And so the Tooks come in again – always a disturbing element, especially when mixed with Brandybuck. For Primula was a Brandybuck of Buckland, across the Brandywine River, on the other side of the Shire and at the edge of the Old Forest – a dubious region. Folk in Hobbiton did not know much about it, or about the Brandybucks either; though some had heard it said that they were rich, and would have been richer, if they had not been reckless. What had happened to Primula and her husband was not known for certain in Hobbiton. There was rumour of a boating accident on the Brandywine River – the sort of thing that Brandybucks would go in for. Some said that Rollo Bolger had died young of overeating; others said that it was his weight that had sunk the boat.

      Anyway, Bilbo Baggins adopted Master Bolger, announced that he would make him his heir, changed his name to Bolger-Baggins, and still further offended the Sackville-Bagginses. Then shortly before his hundred-and-eleventh birthday Bilbo disappeared finally and was never seen in Hobbiton again. His relatives and neighbours lost the chance of a funeral, and they had a good deal to say. But it made no difference: Bilbo’s residence, his wealth, his position (and the dubious regard of the more influential hobbits), were inherited by Bingo Bolger-Baggins.

      Bingo was a mere youngster of thirty-nine and had hardly cut his wisdom-teeth; but he at once began to carry on his uncle’s reputation for oddity. He refused to go into mourning, and within a week gave a birthday-party – for himself and his uncle (their birthdays happened to be on the same day). At first people were shocked, but he kept up the custom year after year, until they got used to it. He said he did not think Bilbo Baggins was dead. When they asked the obvious question: ‘Where is he then?’ he merely winked. He lived alone, and was often away from home. He went about a good deal with the least well-behaved members of the Took family (his grandmother’s people); and he was also fond of the Brandybucks (his mother’s relatives).

      Anyway, Bingo Bolger-Baggins had been the master of Bag-end Underhill now for thirty-three years without doing anything outrageous. His parties were sometimes a bit noisy …

      With Gorboduc Brandybuck and Mirabella Took (one of ‘the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took’ who had been mentioned in The Hobbit) the genealogy now becomes that of LR, except that Primula Brandybuck’s husband (Bilbo in the third version) is Rollo Bolger, not Drogo Baggins; and the boating accident reappears (see p. 25, note 2).

From here to the end the typescript follows the third version (as emended) very closely, and there is little further to add. Bilbo becomes Bingo’s ‘uncle’ throughout, of course; Bingo was liable to allude to ‘the absurd adventures of his “gallant and famous” uncle’ (see p. 32). But, with this change, Bingo’s remarks in his speech on the ages of himself and his uncle and the number of guests at the party remain exactly the same, and ‘The ring was his uncle’s parting gift’ (ibid.).

      Small changes of wording move the text towards the final form in FR; for example, where in the third version Rory Brandybuck is described as ‘well-filled but still brighter than many’, it is now said of him that his ‘wits neither old age, nor surprise, nor an enormous dinner, had quite clouded’. But to set out even a portion of such developments in expression between closely related versions would obviously be quite impracticable. There are however a few minor narrative shifts which I collect in the following notes, with page-references indicating where the relevant passages in earlier versions are to be found.

(30) Gaffer Gamgee had a little more to say:

      ‘… A very nice well-spoken gentlehobbit is Mr Bolger-Baggins, as I’ve always said.’ And that was perfectly true; for Bingo had always been very polite to Gaffer Gamgee, calling him Mr Gamgee, and discussing potatoes with him over the hedge.

(21, 31) The day of the party now becomes Thursday (not Saturday) 22 September (a change made to the typescript, but carefully over an erasure and clearly belonging to the time of typing).

(31) There is no further reference to Gandalf in the chapter, after the fireworks.

(24, 32) The young hobbits who danced on the table are Prospero Took and Melissa Brandybuck.

(32–3) Several names are changed among the recipients of gifts from Bag End, Caramella СКАЧАТЬ