The Hobbit / Хоббит. 10 класс - стр. 15

Now there came a red light before them. The goblins took out whips and whipped the dwarves and Bilbo and forced them to run. Soon they came into a big cavern. There was a great red fire in the middle, and there were torches along the walls, and it was full of goblins. They all laughed and clapped their hands, when they saw the dwarves and little Bilbo. The ponies were already there; and all the packages were broken open.

That was the last time they saw their little ponies, because goblins eat horses and ponies and donkeys, and they are always hungry. Now the goblins chained the prisoners’ hands and linked them all together in a line and dragged them to the far end of the cavern.

There in the shadows on a large flat stone sat a tremendous goblin with a huge head, and armed goblins were standing round him.

“Who are these miserable persons?” said the Great Goblin.

“Dwarves and this!” said one of the drivers, pulling at Bilbo’s chain so that he fell forward onto his knees.

“We found them in our Front Porch.”

“What did you do there?!” said the Great Goblin turning to Thorin. “What can you say?”

“Thorin the dwarf at your service!” he replied – it was just a polite nothing.[27] “We sheltered from a storm in a cave that seemed unused.”

“But what were you doing up in the mountains at all, and where were you coming from, and where were you going to? Tell me the truth, or I will prepare something really uncomfortable for you!”

“We are on a journey to visit our distant relatives who live on the East side of these mountains,” said Thorin.

“He is a liar!” said one of the drivers. “Several of our people were struck by lightning in the cave and died. Also he has not explained this!” He held out the sword which Thorin had worn, the sword which came from the Trolls’ place.

The Great Goblin gave an awful cry of rage when he looked at it. The goblins knew the sword at once. It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver,[28] but the goblins called it simply Biter. They hated it.

“Murderers and friends of elves!” the Great Goblin shouted. “Beat them! Bite them! Take them away to dark holes full of snakes!” He jumped off his seat and himself rushed at Thorin with his mouth open. Just at that moment all the lights in the cavern went out, and the great fire turned into a tower of blue smoke.[29] The sparks were burning holes in the goblins. Soon they were falling over one another and rolling on the floor, biting and kicking.