"GL1" - читать интересную книгу автора (vol12)

was a clear and fluently written text bearing the title Prologue:
Concerning Hobbits; and here entered the last 'missing passage', FR
pp. 13-14, from 'In the westlands of Eriador ...' to 'They were, in fact,
sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.'
The text of P 6 differed still from the published form in a number of
ways, mostly very minor (see note 14). The text was not yet divided
into four numbered sections, though the final ordering and succession
of the parts was now reached; and the concluding section, on the find-
ing of the Ring, was still the original story (see p. 7): this was derived,
with some rewriting, from the text of P 2, but with a notable addition.
After the reference to Gollum's saying that he had got the Ring as a
birthday present long ago there follows:

Bilbo might indeed have wondered how that could be, and still
more why Gollum should be willing to give such a treasure
away, if his case had been less desperate, and if in fact Gollum
had ever given him the present. He did not, for when he
returned to his island to fetch it the Ring was not to be found.

This part then concludes much as in P 2, with the addition of a passage
about Bilbo's secrecy concerning the Ring, and his disposal of Sting
and the coat of mail; ending 'And the years passed, while he wrote in
his leisurely fashion the story of his journey.'
In P 6 the 'Shirking' had disappeared, and in its place stood at first
the title 'Elder', though this was replaced by 'Thane' before the manu-
script was completed, and the spelling 'Thain' was substituted later
(see p. 6). In this text the Battle of Greenfields, with the date S.R.
1147, appears.(14)
The manuscript ends with a passage, subsequently struck out, that
was preserved with little material change as the conclusion of the Fore-
word to the First Edition of 1954. This begins with the remarks about
the map of the Shire (now with the addition 'besides other maps of
wider and more distant countries') and the 'abridged family-trees' that
go back to P 1 (VI.313-14), but then continues:

There is also an index of names [struck out: with explanations]
and strange words; and a table of days and dates. For those who
are curious and like such lore some account is given in an
appendix of the languages, the alphabets, and the calendars that
were used in the Westlands in the Third Age of Middle-earth.
But such lore is not necessary, and those who do not need it, or
desire it, may neglect it, and even the names they may pro-
nounce as they will. Some care has been given to the translation
of their spelling from the original alphabets, and some notes
on the sounds that are intended are offered. But not all are
interested in such matters, and many who are not may still find
the account of these great and valiant deeds worth the reading.
It was in that hope that this long labour was undertaken; for it
has required several years to translate, select, and arrange the
matter of the Red Book of Westmarch in the form in which it is