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Our hero, Bilbo, has certainly undergone a forced education since the time he began his adventure this spring. Once very comfortable and certain about the world and its ways on the basis of his experience in the Shire, by this time in the story, he must have questioned much of what he thought he knew. From the unexpected invasion and virtual coercion by a wizard and dwarves, to being waylaid by trolls and goblins, to being teased and well hosted by singing elves, to exchanging riddles with the unique Gollum, to being chased up trees by wolves and then rescued by talking eagles, Bilbo's set of categories of things that exist in the wide world was expanding by the day.

But perhaps one of the strangest and most memorable creatures he meets on his adventures is Beorn. He must have ridden out from Beorn's house this day shaking his head, but marvelling just a little about his rich exerience there. Although Shippey and Anderson provide cultural and linguistic background for this bear-man and his Carrock, within the story, this frightening yet ultimately principled shapeshifter had to have been one of Bilbo's most surprising eye-openers. Even Gandalf does not seem to understand Beorn well, other than to say that ". . . he is under no enchantment but his own." Here again, Tolkien does not find it necessary to answer every question about his world. Rather, his story is like real life in that questions persist.

Bilbo's stay at Beorn's hall (which Anderson tells us is typical of a Germanic hall such as is found in Beowulf) functions as a safe down-time in the story arc, a device of Tolkien's which allows him to build an even higher tension later. The descriptions of what they eat and drink, how they are served by talking animals, their sleeping accommodations, and the nightly absence of Beorn (the evidence of whose marauding they find one morning: a goblin's head on the gatepost and a warg-skin nailed to a tree) add richness and depth to the story. Beorn also provides them with gifts for their journey of transportation, weapons, and food, and stealthy protection to the edge of Mirkwood. This pattern of a visitation serves Tolkien well through The Lord of the Rings, but perhaps it is followed most closely by the hobbits' visit with Tom Bombadil, who is also under no enchantment but his own.

They leave knowing Beorn is a friend. And that means we shall see him again!