After the Eagles rescue Thorin's company, they bring them
to the Lord of the Eagles on the Great Shelf, which was a wide shelf of rock high up on
the mountain-side; the only way to access the Great Shelf was by flying. Gandalf and
the Lord of the Eagles are on friendly terms, and while the Lord of the Eagles refuses
to take the travelers anywhere that men lived, the eagles do agree to help them to the
edge of Mirkwood.
The weary travelers, although
appreciative of the eagles' efforts thus far, confess that they are "famished with
hunger" and Bilbo adds in that he is "nearly dead of it" (101-102). The eagles permit
the dwarves a small fire on the Great Shelf, and had "brought up dry boughs for fuel,
and they had brought rabbits, hares, and a small sheep" (102). The dwarves managed all
the preparations of the meal that night.
Although the
eagles help feed the dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo that particular night, that meal was
only a short term solution. When the eagles drop the travelers off, Gandalf makes for
the Carrock to visit Beorn, a skin-changer. Beorn, although suspicious at first, agrees
to supply the travelers with food, traveling supplies, and even ponies for the next leg
of their journey.
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