What did Beorn promise to Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves in chapter 7 of The Hobbit?
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,"...
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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.
What is Beorn's promise to the group in The Hobbit?
In J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, Beorn is a shapeshifter or skin-changer whose primary form is that of a bear. His name is cognate with Swedish Björn, which means "bear," although beorn in Anglo-Saxon, of which Tolkien was a professor, actually means "man" or "soldier." The choice of name is therefore extremely apposite, as it connotes both the warrior side and the animal side of Beorn's nature.
Beorn provides vital assistance to Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves on their way to the Lonely Mountain. Beorn is described as something of a wild creature, but his human side can be appealed to, and the party is able to win his trust with their story of encountering, and fighting, goblins in the Misty Mountains, which Beorn then confirms for himself. Having ascertained that the travelers are telling the truth and are not attempting to hoodwink or mislead him—Beorn is somewhat suspicious by nature—Beorn offers to help the travelers. Specifically, he promises "ponies for each of them and a horse for Gandalf," bows and arrows, and food to sustain them on their journey, including nuts, flour, dried fruits, honey, and "twice-baked cakes" which would therefore be less perishable.