Bilbo Takes the Cup
Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit burglar of Thorin and Company, performs the first decisive act of his professional career when he creeps alone into the dragon Smaug's lair and steals a great two-handled cup. This single theft, carried out under the sleeping dragon's nose, transforms the quest from a search for a hidden door into a direct confrontation with the ancient guardian of the treasure, and it marks the moment when Bilbo's courage, resourcefulness, and luck—qualities that had been latent in his Tookish heritage—fully assert themselves over his comfortable Baggins nature.
Identity and Background
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit of the respectable Baggins family, living in the luxurious hobbit-hole of Bag-End under The Hill in Hobbiton. His mother was the famous Belladonna Took, one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took, and it was often said that a Took ancestor had taken a fairy wife, giving the Took clan a streak of adventurousness that the Bagginses lacked. Bilbo himself, however, looked and behaved exactly like his solid and comfortable father, Bungo Baggins, and had apparently settled down immovably by the age of fifty. Yet something from the Took side waited for a chance to come out. That chance arrived when the wizard Gandalf arranged for him to join Thorin Oakenshield and twelve dwarves on a quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon Smaug. Initially reluctant and terrified, Bilbo was chosen as the company's burglar, a role he accepted with great misgiving. The adventure took him through encounters with trolls, goblins, elves, giant spiders, and the creature Gollum, from whom he acquired a magic ring of invisibility. By the time the company reached the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo had already proven his worth, but the ultimate test awaited him inside the dragon's lair.
The Descent into the Mountain
After the secret door on the western side of the Lonely Mountain was opened by Thorin using the silver key, the dwarves debated who should enter first. Thorin declared that it was time for their esteemed Mr. Baggins to perform the service for which he had been included in the company and to earn his reward. Bilbo, though impatient with Thorin's grandiloquent style, agreed to go. He slipped on his ring and crept noiselessly down the long, straight, smooth-floored passage made by dwarves at the height of their skill. The tunnel sloped gently downward into the blackness, and as he advanced, the air grew warm and a red glow appeared ahead. A sound like a large pot galloping on a fire mixed with the rumble of a gigantic tom-cat purring grew into the unmistakable gurgling of a vast animal snoring. At the end of the tunnel, Bilbo peered into the great bottom-most cellar of the ancient dwarves, where Smaug lay fast asleep, a vast red-golden dragon with wings folded like an immeasurable bat. Beneath him and all around lay countless piles of precious things: gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light. Bilbo's heart was filled with the desire of dwarves as he gazed at the treasure beyond price and count.
The Theft of the Cup
Drawn almost against his will, Bilbo stole from the shadow of the doorway and crossed the floor to the nearest edge of the mounds of treasure. Above him the sleeping dragon lay, a dire menace even in his sleep. Bilbo grasped a great two-handled cup, as heavy as he could carry, and cast one fearful eye upward. Smaug stirred a wing and opened a claw, and the rumble of his snoring changed its note, but he did not wake. Bilbo fled back up the long tunnel, his heart beating and his legs shaking more feverishly than when he had descended, but he still clutched the cup. His chief thought was a vindication of his role: "I've done it! This will show them. 'More like a grocer than a burglar' indeed! Well, we'll hear no more of that." He emerged from the tunnel to find Balin overjoyed to see him, and the dwarves passed the cup from hand to hand, talking delightedly of the recovery of their treasure.
Consequences and Aftermath
The theft of the cup had immediate and catastrophic consequences. Smaug, who knew his hoard to an ounce, missed the cup upon waking and flew into a rage beyond description. He issued from the Front Gate in a spout of green and scarlet flame, hunting the mountain for the thief. The dwarves and Bilbo barely escaped into the tunnel as Smaug's hot breath shriveled the grass before the door and scorched them through the crack. The ponies screamed and bolted, and the company was trapped inside the mountain. The dwarves, in their fear and perplexity, began to grumble at Bilbo for stirring up Smaug's wrath so soon, but Bilbo angrily reminded them that he was engaged to steal treasure, not to kill dragons. This event forced the company to confront the reality that the dragon was still a living, active threat, and it set the stage for Bilbo's second, more dangerous descent into the lair, where he would engage Smaug in a riddling conversation and discover the dragon's one weak spot—a bare patch in the hollow of his left breast. That discovery would ultimately lead to Smaug's death at the hands of Bard the Bowman, but for the moment, the theft of the cup marked the point of no return in the adventure, transforming the quest from a secret burglary into a desperate siege.
