Lyrics and Translations for:
There Lived A Hobbit
By Alice Valantine Beckstrom © 2012
1.
There Lived A Hobbit- In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. And his name was Baggins. Now the Bagginses were very proper hobbits. Everyone admired and respected the Bagginses because they were an old and wealthy family that one might consider quite boring! And, they never did anything unexpected like consort with strangers or run off on adventures. And that was highly prized in the Shire. Until… Until Gandalf came back. It just so happened that Gandalf was looking for someone to join in an adventure he’d been planning. And that someone turned out to be… Bilbo Baggins.
2.
Mind the Plates!- Now the last thing that Bilbo was expecting that morning was a visitor. And for those unexpected guests to be a wizard and 13 dwarves... Well, that had certainly NEVER crossed his mind.
3.
Far O’er the Misty Mountains- As evening slowly crept into the room and the fire gently flickered and glowed; the dwarves began to sing of their long, lost home, in the dark, deep caverns of the Lonely Mountain...
4.
A! Man Nale Cerith? (O! What are you Doing?)- After Bilbo's first adventure, he had grave misgivings about his future career as a burglar. He needed food and comfort. Suddenly, the air around him changed. He heard singing like laughter in the trees. It was the elves... The elves of Rivendell.
5.
Riddles in the Dark- Now, it was very good fortune for Bilbo that when he and Gollum first met, Gollum was not in a particularly hungry mood. And so, when Gollum proposed The Riddle Game, he accepted. The prize? If Bilbo won, Gollum would show him the way out. And if Gollum won? Well... perhaps Gollum would be a little more hungry by then...
6.
Old Attercop- Bilbo's career as a burglar was not getting particularly well. He had lost the dwarves- all 13 of them! He soon found them however... they had all been captured by enormous spiders and were now bound in cocoon-like sacks and dangling from the treetops! Clever Bilbo came up with a daring plan. Armed with his trusty Sting and slipping on his ring, he proceeded to jeer, taunt, and lure the spiders away from their supper, killing a great many along the way...
7.
Rinniand Cin Min Ist (Back to Lands You Once Did Know)- Bilbo the burglar had done it again. He successfully got all the dwarves out of the Wood-elves' dungeons by secretly stashing them in the elves' own barrels bound for Lake-town. As the elves hefted and tossed the barrels into the river, they sang of the lands, south and away...
8.
Lake-town- Still riding the barrels, Bilbo now saw the strange town the wood-elves had spoken of; Lake-town. Built entirely of wood and impossibly situated in the middle of Long Lake. In days long past, Lake-town had grown wealthy through their clever trading with the peoples of the South and the prosperous and powerful Dale in the North. However, since the arrival of Smaug, the banishment of the dwarves and the destruction of Dale, Lake-town showed the signs of disrepair. Dragon-fire has torn the land.
9.
The King Beneath the Mountain- (lyrics from The Hobbit) The news quickly spread through Lake-town. Old songs were remembered and sung. The King Beneath the Mountain had returned. And with his return, the town on the lake would again be reborn.
10.
The Arkenstone- Bilbo entered the secret door and began his descent to Smaug's lair. Here, in the ancient halls of stone were the fabled riches of the dwarves; long-lost and long-sought for by the heirs of Thror and Thrain. Now, proving himself to be the expert burglar, Bilbo reached out his hand and picked up a gem unlike any other. Its light glittering like countless rainbows encased in a single diamond. Unbeknownst to him, he had picked up the prize that Thorin craved above all else; the Arkenstone, the Heart of the Mountain.
11.
Yomenio Fanyar (The Gathering of the Clouds)- The Gathering of the Clouds. The dwarves sat in darkness, puzzling over where Smaug had gone. Meanwhile, the men of Lake-town were puzzling over the meaning of rapidly approaching fire… fire in the sky…
12.
Roads go Ever Ever On- (narration and lyrics from The Hobbit) “As all things come to an end, even this story, a day came at last when they were in sight of the country where Bilbo had been born and bred, where the shapes of the land and of the trees were as well known to him as his hands and toes. Coming to a rise he could see his own Hill in the distance, and he stopped suddenly and said:
“Gandalf looked at him. 'My dear Bilbo!' he said, 'Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were.' “And so they crossed the bridge and passed the mill by the river and came right back to Bilbo's own door.”
Dent the tankards with your knees,
Raid the pantry for the cheese!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates--
Ever so carefully, mind the plates!
Steal the spoons and hide the pies!
And his apron? Cut the ties!
Stack the glasses, make them chink;
Wash your beard in the kitchen sink!
[CHORUS]
Grab the dishes from the table,
to the kitchen, Don't be late!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates--
Ever so carefully, mind the plates!
Spin the saucers , toss the greens,
Juggle bottles and tureens!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates--
Ever so carefully, mind the plates!
Drip the fat and whip the cream,
Wind the clocks and spill the beans!
Roll the bottles on the floor,
Pitch the silver out the door!
[CHORUS]
Ku barak? Ku karak? Ku tabrik? ![](/tp.gif)
(Who cleaved? Who broke? Who cracked?)
Takarrak! Takallad! Takarrak! Lu! Lu! Lu!![](/tp.gif)
(Splits! Shakes! Splits! No! No! No!)
[CHORUS]
(slowly) Ever so carefully, mind the plates!
The dwarves of old made mighty spells,
While hammers rang like bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls ‘neath the fells.
For ancient kings and elvish lord
Made many a gleaming hoard
They shaped and wrought and light they caught
In gems on hilt of sword.
[CHORUS]
Far o’er the Misty Mountains cold,
To caverns deep and old
We must away ere the break of day,
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
On silver chains they strung
The flow’ring stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon fire, in twisted wire,
They meshed light, moon and sun.
And harps of gold they made themselves;
where no man delves
There lay they lay long, and many a song
Unheard by man or elves.
[CHORUS]
To claim our long-forgotten gold.
The bells were ringing in the dale,
Men looked with faces pale,
Then dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their cities frail.
The mountains smoked beneath the moon;
Dwarves heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath the moon.
[CHORUS]
To win our harps and gold from him!
Gollum:
What force and strength
can not get through,
A gentle touch can do,
Many in the streets would stand,
were I not as a friend in hand.
Bilbo: that's not so hard... A key!
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
Gollum: sssss--- teeth, teeth-ees, it is teeths.
Soft as silk,
White as milk,
Bitter as gall,
Thick green wall,
Green coat covers all.
Bilbo: I think that’s a... A walnut
In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.
Gollum: Sssssss.... Gollum, Gollum... Sssss... Tricksy-one... Egg-ess, yes, yes, egg!
Lives in winter,
dies in summer,
grows root up.
Bilbo: An ice cycle…
Gollum: Hssss… Lost….
Bilbo: (Aside, to himself) dear me... I'm all done in... I can't think of another...
Gollum: … It was our birthday present. It is precious to us…
Bilbo: (Aside, to himself) Wait... What's that in my pocket???
Gollum: It has been taken…
Bilbo: (louder and assuredly). What do I have in my pocket?
Gollum: Hssss…
Bilbo: (louder still). What do I have in my pocket?
Gollum: Lost!
Mangy old spider, Can't see me
Standing here just 'neath your tree!
So down you plop, Old Attercop,
Try your best; You can't find me!
Smelly old spider, I'm still free,
Can't you reach me by your tree?
So down you drop, Old Attercop,
Try your best; You can't find me!
Flabby old spider, can't you see,
How I poke and stab at thee?
So down you flop, Old Attercop,
Try your best; You can't find me!
Silly old spider, chasing me,
Round and round and round your tree.
So down you hop, Old Attercop,
Try your best; You can't find me!
“The King beneath the mountains,
The King carven in stone,
The lord of silver fountains
Shall come into his own!”
“His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.”
“The woods shall wave on mountains,
And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
The rivers golden run.”
“The streams shall run in gladness,
The lakes shall shine and burn,
All sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain King's return!”
"Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.”
“Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.”
A retelling of The Hobbit through story and song, using celtic and traditional music and instruments; Bilbo leaves his hobbit-hole, has countless adventures with dwarves, Gollum, elves, giant spiders and a dragon, till the road takes him back where he began, his own front door.
Narrator: Andrew Beckstrom; Concertina: Wyatt Canady; Harp: Morgan Bancroft; Bassoon: Hope Miner; Finale 2011 & Garriton. Katy Chamber Chorus: Alice Beckstrom, Andrew Beckstrom, Robyn Branning, Wyatt Canady, Sally Easley, Hallie Gibb, Morgan Larsen, Mark Randels, Anna Snyder, Katherine Stratford