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     "We'll just roast 'em now and eat 'em later." Bert said.

     "No good now. It'd take all night."

     "Don't start the argument again, Bill, or it will take all night." Bert said.

     "Who's arguing? I thought it was you who'd spoken." William said.

     The dwarves and Bilbo looked at the trolls in confusion. What in Middle-Earth was going on? Fili had managed to roll over in his sack so he could see (as he'd been face down on the forest floor).

     "No, you're the one that said it."

     "You're a liar."*

     So then they began arguing about what to do with the dwarves all over again.

     "We'll mince 'em real fine and boil 'em, then." William said.

     So the three trolls agreed on that.

     "Boiling 'em's no good. We ain't got water and it's a long way to the well."

     "Shut up, Tom!" Bert and William said. "Else we'll never get 'em dwarves ate."

     "You shut up!" Tom answered. "Who but you's arguing?"

     "Well then what would you have us do with them?" Bert asked.

     "I didn't say nothin'! But if yer starting with this again then let's stop with the arguing and just sit on them. Squash 'em and boil 'em."

     "Naw, we already discussed that one! I say we just roast 'em." William said.

     "You're the one that said it'd take all night!" Tom said to William.

     "I was not! I thought Bert had said it."

     "I didn't say nothin'."

     "What do ya' take me fer, a liar?"

     "The dawn will take you all!"

     The dwarves managed to look behind them and they saw Gandalf, who was standing on a large rock. He struck the rock with his staff and the sunlight poured from behind it and hit the trolls, who were turned into stone within seconds.

     "Excellent!" said Gandalf,** stepping down from the rock he'd been on and hitting one of the trolls with his staff.

     "Oh, get your foot out of my back!" Dwalin said.

     Gandalf untied Bilbo, who untied Fili, who untied Kili, and everyone untied began helping the ones who were tied. Soon all the dwarves were untied and Thorin walked over to Gandalf.

     "Where did you go to, if I may ask?" The Heir of Durin asked.

     "To look ahead." Gandalf answered.

     "And what brought you back?"

     "Looking behind."

     While they were talking, Kili and Fili were a few yards away sitting on a stump. What a night! And to think that they still had to battle a dragon!

     "I can't imagine how hard defeating the Great Worm's gonna be." Kili said.

     "Well, let's not worry about Old Smaug just yet." Fili said. "If you spend to much time worrying about tomorrow, then it'll ruin today."

     The two dwarf princes looked up as Thorin walked over and sat down beside them.

     "I won't give you a lecture about losing the ponies." He began. "Almost being eaten by trolls is lesson enough, I'm sure. But how in Durin's name did you two manage to miss a nine foot tall troll stealing two ponies?"

     Kili and Fili glanced at each other. "It was my fault." They said at the same time.

     "No, it really was my fault, Uncle." Fili said. "One of the ponies strayed from the others so Kili and I went to get it. We weren't even gone five minutes!"

     "It's my fault too!" Kili said. "Fili told me to stay behind to watch the rest but I went with him instead."

     "He only came because he thought I might need help. Besides, there's safety in numbers."

     "But I should have listened to you and stayed behind." Kili said, now talking to Fili instead of Thorin.

     "It's not your fault, Kili, it's mine."

     "Fili, it's my-"

     "Kili, Fili!" Thorin said with a laugh. "I'm not angry. And I can see both sides. There indeed are safety in numbers. Besides, had you been there they could have caught the two of you first. Who can tell how that could have gone?"

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*J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' Chapter Two: Roast Mutton

**J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' Chapter Two: Roast Mutton