I am currently reading
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. I have found quite a lot of interesting things there. The Letter #128 (on p.141) I came across with yesterday. It has proven itself quite exciting.
It is a letter to Allen&Unwin after they had published a new edition of
The Hobbit (July 1950). Along with the correction of minor mistakes the original Chapter V, "Riddles in the Dark" had been replaced with a newer version of the chapter that Tolkien had sent in 1947, but not actually intending it to be published.
The interesting thing here is that the story in the first edition was different. The footnote #1 to this letter tells the following:
Quote:
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In the original version of Chapter 5 of The Hobbit, Gollum really does intend to give Bilbo the Ring when the hobbit wins the riddle-game, and it'sdeeply apologetic when he finds that it is missing: 'I don't know how many times Gollum begged Bilbo's pardon. He kept on saying: "We are ssorry; we didn't mean to cheat, we meant to give it our only present, if it won the competition." He even offered to catch Bilbo some nice juicy fish to eat as a consolation.' Bilbo, who has the Ring in his pocket, persuades Gollum to lead him out of the underground passages, which Gollum does, and the two of them part company in a civil manner.
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(That was the whole footnote.)
When this version of
The Hobbit was published to Tolkien's surprise, he was already writing
The Lord of The Rings. I just wonder how did he get the story to fit the previous passage...
If the previous version was the final version of the chapter...
* The significance of Bilbo as the only Ringbearer who has ever given the ring away willingly would be greatly reduced.
* The whole 'pity'-aspect would be ruined.
* Gollum's behaviour would appear unbeliveable; he would have changed from a polite riddle-gamer into a slimy thief.
Just now I can't think about any other changes...
Any ideas? Comments? Anything to add?
(I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, but I didn't find anything related to this with forum search...)