Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly
on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long
pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying
on his
     Behind him where the walls were nearest could dimly be seen coats of
mail, helms and axes, swords and spears hanging; and there in rows
stood great jars and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be
guessed. To say that Bilbo’s breath was taken away is no description
at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men
changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all
the world was wonderful. Bilbo had heard tell and sing of
dragon-hoards before, but the splendour, the lust, the glory of such
treasure had never yet come home to him. His heart was filled and
pierced with enchantment and with the desire of dwarves; and he gazed
motionless, almost forgetting the frightful guardian, at the gold
beyond price and count.
     He gazed for what seemed an age, before drawn almost against his will,
he stole from the shadow of the doorway, across the floor to the
nearest edge of the mounds of treasure. Above him the sleeping dragon
lay, a dire menace even in his sleep. He grasped a great two-handled