littlemanpoet,
I have little time now to peruse the context of your quotation from
The Hobbit, but something did strike me as I read it here, so I throw this idea out for consideration.
The quotation seems to me to partake very strongly of the kind of humour in TH and also, more tellingly, of the kinds of dwarves found in traditional folk tales.
I wonder if the differences can be explored through considering this idea: that in TH Tolkien was working particularly with the characteristics of dwarves from old mythologies (which might also pertain to Mîm, but I would want to reread his story closer before I completely subscribed to this idea) but that in LotR he was striving to broaden those characteristics along the lines of (for want of a better word) realism, just as he attempted to develope the idea of elves and give them a fuller psychology. Part of the nature of Tolkien's writing to show a progression of ideas, development. And I hope you understand that I don't mean realism as opposed to fairie here.
And, no, I won't conclude with that overused food metaphor. How about a sip of wine to stimulate discussion?
