The Hobbit, Chapter 13: Not at Home quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Bilbo feel just when the trapped dwarves are most despairing?

   • A sharp tug from the ring in his waistcoat pocket
   • A cold dread that the dragon is coming back up
   • Correct answer: A strange lightening of the heart, like a lost weight
   • A sudden longing for his warm hobbit-hole

   Bilbo feels as if a heavy weight had gone from under his waistcoat, and his new hope gets the company moving.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. Which of his father's sayings does Bilbo repeat before going down the tunnel again?

   • Look before you leap, lad
   • Correct answer: Third time pays for all
   • A full belly makes a brave heart
   • Fortune favours the bold

   Bilbo quotes 'Third time pays for all' along with 'While there's life there's hope!' because this will be his third trip down.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Why does Bilbo not really need his ring near the bottom of the tunnel?

   • Correct answer: The darkness is so total that everyone is invisible
   • The dwarves have already gone on ahead of him
   • His elvish mail hides him from the dragon's searching eyes
   • Smaug is plainly fast asleep on the hoard

   The darkness is complete, so they are all invisible, ring or no ring.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. Why do the dwarves stay in the tunnel when Bilbo first takes a torch into the hall?

   • Thorin has forbidden anyone to touch the treasure
   • They are too tired and hungry after so many days without air
   • They are waiting for Balin to return with more torches
   • Correct answer: Bilbo is still officially their burglar, so the risk is his

   Thorin explains that Mr. Baggins is still their expert burglar and investigator, so risking a light is his affair.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. Why are the golden harps that Fili and Kili find still in tune?

   • Thorin's people had stored them in a sealed chest
   • The cold, still air of the hall kept the strings tight
   • Smaug liked to hear them played and guarded them carefully
   • Correct answer: They are magical, and the dragon cared little for music

   The harps were magical and untouched by the dragon, who had small interest in music.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. What does Thorin arm himself with from the walls of the hall?

   • Correct answer: A silver-hafted axe in a belt crusted with scarlet stones
   • A spear of bright mithril and a shield painted with a red dragon
   • An old bow of yew and a quiver of gold-tipped arrows
   • A black iron helm and a great two-handed sword

   Thorin, looking royal in a coat of gold-plated rings, carries a silver-hafted axe in a belt crusted with scarlet stones.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. How much time has really passed since the dragon smashed the magic door?

   • About a week of nights
   • Correct answer: Two nights and the day between
   • Three full days and nights
   • A single night

   The narrator says two nights and the day between had gone by, though Bilbo had quite lost count.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually happen in Chapter 13?

   • Bilbo shouts at Smaug to stop playing hide-and-seek.

     Happened

     Alone in the dark hall, Bilbo calls out to Smaug to stop playing hide-and-seek and to give him a light.

   • Thorin goes down the tunnel alone to check the hall first.

     Didn't happen

     Bilbo leads the whole company down, with Thorin at his side, and it is Bilbo who tumbles into the hall while the dwarves wait in the tunnel.

   • Bilbo hides the Arkenstone in his deepest pocket.

     Happened

     On the treasure mound Bilbo lifts the great gem, shuts his eyes and puts it in his deepest pocket.

   • Bilbo shows the dwarves the Arkenstone when they find him in the dark.

     Didn't happen

     Bilbo tells the dwarves it was only a bat and a dropped torch, and he says nothing to them about the Arkenstone.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events happen after the company leaves the treasure hall?

   • The dwarves cover their bright mail with their old cloaks.

     Happened

     After they pass through the gaping doors, the dwarves cover their glittering mail with their old cloaks and their bright helms with tattered hoods.

   • They cross the river on the old bridge below the Front Gate.

     Didn't happen

     The bridge Balin spoke of has long fallen, so the company fords the shallow stream instead.

   • Balin explains that the rock chamber was once a guardroom.

     Happened

     At the look-out post Balin says the door behind them leads into a chamber cut in the rock as a guardroom for watchmen.

   • They find wild animals sheltering inside the look-out chamber.

     Didn't happen

     The rock-chamber is quite deserted; not even wild animals seem to have used it in all the days of Smaug's dominion.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'furtive' mean in the phrase 'only furtive shadows that fled'?

    • Bright and flickering
    • Huge and threatening
    • Correct answer: Secret and sly
    • Cold and damp

    Furtive means moving secretly or slyly, like the shadows slipping away from the dwarves' torches.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'pallid' mean in the phrase 'a little globe of pallid light'?

    • Warm and golden
    • Correct answer: Pale and faint
    • Hot and fiery
    • Dark and gloomy

    Pallid means pale and faint, describing the Arkenstone's soft white glow before Bilbo's torch lights it up.

    Read the passage