The novel starts off with the description of a hole in the ground where a hobbit is living inside of, a quite comfortable one in fact as it is a hobbit-hole, like the aboveground equivalent with a bit more rooms. This hobbit-hole is called home by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, son to Belladonna Took, whose family was very prosperous yet considered to be very disreputable by other hobbits, and Bungo Baggins, whose family was a less prosperous but considered to be very respectable by other hobbits. One morning when Bilbo was smoking a pipe, he greets an old man with a staff, not knowing that he is Gandalf, a wizard. Gandalf states that he is trying to find someone who will on an adventure with him, to which Bilbo declines. Even after finding out
