hearing and sharp-eyed, and though they are inclined to be fat and do
not hurry unnecessarily, they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their
movements. They possessed from the first the art of disappearing
swiftly and silently, when large folk whom they do not wish to meet
come blundering by; and this an they have developed until to Men it
may seem magical. But Hobbits have never, in fact, studied magic of
any kind, and their elusiveness is due solely to a professional skill
that heredity and practice, and a close friendship with the earth,
have rendered inimitable by bigger and clumsier races.
     For they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less tout and
stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter. Their
height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure.
They seldom now reach three feet; but they hive dwindled, they say,
and in ancient days they were taller. According to the Red Book,
Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), son of Isengrim the Second, was four foot
five and able to ride a horse. He was surpassed in all Hobbit records
only by two famous characters of old; but that curious matter is dealt
with in this book.
     As for the Hobbits of the Shire, with whom these tales are concerned,
in the days of their peace and prosperity they were a merry folk. They