Chapter 7 follows the Company as they leave the protection of the eagles (who had rescued them in chapter 6) and make their way towards Mirkwood. By this point, they have lost their supplies. Recognizing their desperate state, Gandalf takes them to Beorn, at whose home the company rests. While Beorn investigates their story, the company receives temporary food and shelter.

Beorn returns from his investigations, declares himself a friend to them, and offers them the use of his ponies (as well as a horse for Gandalf), along with supplies for the next stage in their journey. In addition, he offers them warnings about the dangers they will be facing, and asks that, once they reach Mirkwood, they send his animals back before entering.

In chapter 7 of The Hobbit,entitled "Queer Lodgings," Bilbo, the dwarves, and Gandalf stay with the skin-changer, Beorn.  Although Beorn "can be appalling when he is angry," Gandalf and the other travelers win his trust as they share the tales of their adventures while traveling (106).  At first Beorn is not entirely convinced of the veracity of Gandalf's tale, and he leaves the Carrock to confirm that the dwarves did kill the Great Goblin and fought off wargs.

Beorn understands the danger and difficulties they have endured and promises Gandalf and Thorin the use of "ponies for each of them and a horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest" (121).  Beorn also sees fit to supply them with "food to last them for weeks with care" which includes "nuts, flour, sealed jars of dried fruits, and red earthenware pots of honey, and twice-baked cakes that would keep good a long time" (121).  To complete the inventory, Beorn includes skins for carrying water as well as bows and arrows.  Beorn's generosity helps the dwarves on their way; without his intervention and advice about Mirkwood, they surely would not have survived.