Barliman Butterbur kept the Prancing Pony, the inn at the meeting of the roads in Bree, a stout, red-faced, busy man who knew every traveller and every rumour. When four hobbits arrived on a wet September night, Frodo gave his name as Underhill, and Butterbur put the party in a parlour of the inn.1
Gandalf had given him a letter for Frodo, with a warning, and Butterbur had forgotten to send it. He remembered it, with a start, only after the hobbits had met Strider and the Black Riders had come to Bree. He gave it over in a fluster of apology, and told Frodo how forgetful he was.2
That night the Riders attacked the inn: the hobbits' beds were stabbed through and the ponies loosed or stolen. Butterbur could do little but lament, but he found a replacement and arranged the purchase of the pony Bill from Bill Ferny, for which Sam was grateful ever after.3
When the travellers came back through Bree, Butterbur was at the door of the Pony, and he marvelled at the change in them and in the world.4
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Published story The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as Tolkien published them.
- Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 9, “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony”
- Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 10, “Strider”
- Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 11, “A Knife in the Dark”
- Published story The Return of the King, Book VI, ch. 7, “Homeward Bound”