“Is there no end to this
     “Somebody must climb a tree and see if he can get his head above the
roof and have a look round. The only way is to choose the tallest tree
that overhangs the path.”
     Of course “somebody” meant Bilbo. They chose him because to be of any
use the climber must get his head above the topmost leaves, and so he
must be light enough for the highest and slenderest branches to
     Baggins had never had much practice in climbing trees, but they
hoisted him up into the lowest branches of an enormous oak that grew
right out into the path, and up he had to go as best he could. He
pushed his way through the tangled twigs with many a slap in the eye;
he was greened and grimed from the old bark of the greater boughs;
more than once he slipped and caught himself just in time; and at
last, after a dreadful struggle in a difficult place where there
seemed to be no convenient branches at all, he got near the top. All
the time he was wondering whether there were spiders in the tree, and
how he was going to get down again (except by falling).
     In the end he poked his head above the roof of leaves, and then he
found spiders all right. But they were only small ones of ordinary
size, and they were after the butterflies. Bilbo’s eyes were nearly