"GL1" - читать интересную книгу автора (vol06)

A long-expected party (1).

When Bilbo, son of Bungo of the family of Baggins, [had
celebrated >] prepared to celebrate his seventieth birthday there
was for a day or two some talk in the neighbourhood. He had once
had a little fleeting fame among the people of Hobbiton and
Bywater - he had disappeared after breakfast one April 30th and
not reappeared until lunchtime on June 22nd in the following
year. A very odd proceeding for which he had never given any
good reason, and of which he wrote a nonsensical account. After
that he returned to normal ways; and the shaken confidence of the
district was gradually restored, especially as Bilbo seemed by
some unexplained method to have become more than comfortably
off, if not positively wealthy. Indeed it was the magnificence of the
party rather than the fleeting fame that at first caused the talk -
after all that other odd business had happened some twenty years
before and was becoming decently forgotten. The magnificence of
the preparations for the party, I should say. The field to the south
of his front door was being covered with pavilions. Invitations
were being sent out to all the Bagginses and all the Tooks (his
relatives on his mother's side), and to the Grubbs (only remotely
connected); and to the Burroweses, the Boffinses, the Chubbses
and the Proudfeet: none of whom were connected at all within the
memory of the local historians - some of them lived on the other
side of the shire; but they were all, of course, hobbits. Even the
Sackville-Bagginses, his cousins on his father's side, were not
forgotten. There had been a feud between them and Mr Bilbo
Baggins, as some of you may remember. But so splendid was the
invitation-card, all written in gold, that they were induced to
accept; besides, their cousin had been specializing in good food
for a long time, and his tables had a high reputation even in that
time and country when food was still what it ought to be and
abundant enough for all folk to practise on.
Everyone expected a pleasant feast; though they rather dreaded
the after-dinner speech of their host. He was liable to drag in bits
of what he called poetry, and even to allude, after a glass or two, to
the absurd adventures he said he had had long ago during his


ridiculous vanishment. They had a eery pleasant feast: indeed an
engrossing entertainment. The purchase of provisions fell almost
to zero throughout the whole shire during the ensuing week; but
as Mr Baggins' catering had emptied all the stores, cellars and
warehouses for miles around, that did not matter. Then came the
speech. Most of the assembled hobbits were now in a tolerant
mood, and their former fears were forgotten. They were prepared
to listen to anything, and to cheer at every full stop. But they were
not prepared to be startled. But they were - completely and
unprecedentedly startled; some even had indigestion.
'My dear people,' began Mr Baggins. 'Hear, hear!' they replied