Raft-elves
March 21, 2010
Tolkien Encyclopedia > Elves > Raft-elves
In The Hobbit,
Bilbo and the dwarves escaped from the Elf-king's halls either in
barrels (dwarves) or on top of them more or less (hobbit) going
downstream. These barrels were supposed to be empties returning to
humans in the pier city of Lake-town with whom the elves traded for
food stuffs such as wine, tubs of butter, apples, and many other good
things. The barrels didn't have a straight trip, as the Forest River
made a small bay cut into the shore where the barrels are caught. Elves
came out to collect the trapped barrels, roped them together into rafts
and, while standing in the shallow water, used poles to push them off
into the next part of the river to continue the journey to Lake-town.
Had the time not been so late, the elves would have checked the heavier
barrels for items to scavenge. This means that this was not the only
time of day (starry night) that barrels were known to arrive. The elves
knew to be present as soon as the barrels arrived even though it was
night, so either the time was pre-set or they were signalled.
The raft-elves lived in a village by the river
shore. Bilbo spotted their village (it is not said if there is more
than one) at night by their fire and burgled a loaf, leather bottle of
wine, and a pie from them. Although the One Ring made him invisible,
his drippings of river water and sneezing caused a commotion and he had
to leave as soon as possible.
Reference: "Barrels Out of Bond", The Hobbit
see also:
Halls
of Thranduil
Mirkwood
Image
: "Huts of the Raft-elves". Removed
due to lawyers. Artist
JRR Tolkien. Rolozo Tolkien page. Large pictures now down due to coding changes in their new server
top