The Hobbit, Chapter 4: Over Hill and Under Hill quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Gandalf shake his head when the dwarves talk hopefully of reaching the secret door by Durin's Day?

   • Correct answer: He knows how evil and danger have spread through the Wild
   • He secretly plans to leave the company at the pass
   • He thinks the ponies are too weak to manage the climb
   • He believes Durin's Day has already passed this year

   Unlike the dwarves, Gandalf has passed that way and knows how evil and danger have grown in the Wild since the dragons drove men from the lands.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Which detail shows that Fili and Kili did not really explore the cave?

   • They forgot to take any light into the cave
   • They reported that the cave was full of bats
   • They admitted they had only looked at the door
   • Correct answer: They came back too quickly to have looked far

   Everybody knew they could not have been long about it, because they came back too quick, and Gandalf knows mountain caves are seldom unoccupied.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Gandalf do with the dwarves' smoke rings in the cave?

   • Warns that the smoke will draw the giants
   • Correct answer: Turns them colours and sets them dancing
   • Blows them outside to send a signal to Elrond
   • Shapes them into a map of the mountain pass ahead

   Gandalf colours the smoke rings and sets them dancing by the roof to amuse the company before they sleep.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What name do the goblins use for the cave where they caught the company?

   • The Low Lookout
   • The Pony Stables
   • Correct answer: Their Front Porch
   • The Thunder Hollow

   A goblin driver tells the Great Goblin they found the prisoners sheltering in our Front Porch, revealing the cave is a goblin entrance.

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5. 5

   Question 5. According to the narrator, how do goblins feel about dwarves in general?

   • Correct answer: They hate them no more than they hate everyone
   • They hate dwarves only because of their gold
   • They fear dwarves more than any other folk
   • They trade with dwarves but never trust them

   Goblins hate everybody and everything, especially the orderly and prosperous; only Thorin's people earn a special grudge because of an old war.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why do Gandalf and Thorin fall behind the others in the tunnels?

   • To search for Bilbo after he slips from Bombur's back
   • To light a fire that will block the tunnel behind
   • To go back for the lost ponies and the food packs
   • Correct answer: To turn at a corner and fight the goblins

   At a sharp corner Gandalf shouts about turn; the goblins in front are killed by the two swords, and the rest fall back in confusion.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What is the main effect of the narrator's aside that goblins may have invented machines that have since troubled the world?

   • It hints that Gandalf once fought a goblin army
   • Correct answer: It ties goblin evil to real harm in the reader's world
   • It explains how the goblins dug the crack so fast
   • It shows the goblins are every bit as skilled as dwarves

   By linking goblins to devices for killing large numbers of people, the narrator connects the fairy-tale villains to modern destruction.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events happen in the cave before the company reaches the goblins' hall?

   • Oin and Gloin light a fire at the cave door to dry their clothes.

     Didn't happen

     Oin and Gloin want to light a fire at the door, but Gandalf will not hear of it, so they change into dry clothes instead.

   • Bilbo dreams that the floor of the cave is giving way beneath him.

     Happened

     Bilbo has nasty dreams, first of a crack in the back wall growing wider and then of the cave floor giving way.

   • Gandalf kills several goblins with a flash like lightning.

     Happened

     When goblins come to grab Gandalf, there is a terrific flash like lightning and several of them fall dead.

   • The goblins carry Gandalf through the crack with the dwarves.

     Didn't happen

     Gandalf is not taken; the crack closes with a snap, and Bilbo and the dwarves are carried off without him.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events happen in Goblin-town and during the escape?

   • The Great Goblin knows Thorin Oakenshield by name.

     Happened

     The Great Goblin calls him Thorin Oakenshield and says he knows too much about his folk already.

   • Thorin tells the Great Goblin about the treasure they seek.

     Didn't happen

     Thorin says nothing of the treasure; he claims they are on a journey to visit relatives on the East side of the mountains.

   • Gandalf counts the company and finds all fourteen present.

     Happened

     Gandalf counts Thorin, the other dwarves and finally Mr. Baggins, reaching fourteen.

   • Bilbo snatches Orcrist from a guard and carries it out of the hall.

     Didn't happen

     It is Gandalf who saves Orcrist, snatching it from one of the terrified guards.

   • The goblins put out their torches to chase the company silently.

     Happened

     The goblins put out their torches, slip on soft shoes and send their quickest runners after the company.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'uncanny' mean as used in: "they did not dare to sing or talk too loud, for the echoes were uncanny"?

    • Cheerful and pleasant to hear
    • Loud enough to start a rockslide
    • Correct answer: Strange in an unsettling way
    • Faint and very hard to hear at all

    Uncanny means strangely mysterious in a way that makes people uneasy, which is why the travellers keep quiet.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'ingenious' mean as used in: "especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once"?

    • Secret and kept well hidden away
    • Correct answer: Clever and inventive in design
    • Old and badly made by hand
    • Large, slow and very noisy

    Ingenious means cleverly inventive; the narrator stresses that goblins are clever even though they make no beautiful things.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'unmercifully' mean as used in: "The goblins were very rough, and pinched unmercifully"?

    • Gently, as a kind of joke
    • Rarely, only now and then
    • Nervously, out of their fear
    • Correct answer: Cruelly, without any pity at all

    Unmercifully means without mercy; the goblins pinch their prisoners cruelly as they drive them down.

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