The Lays of Beleriand (29 page)

558. golden A, and B as typed (no doubt an oversight), early emended to cloudy. See note to lines 1 - 30, and pp. 159-60.

648. After this line the bundle of examination-scripts on which the A manuscript is written (p. 150) is interleaved with other pages, which carry the poem to the end of Canto III. At the bottom of the first of these pages is written Filey l925, where my father was on holiday in September of that year.

743 The couplet lacks its second line. The passage 741 - 5 is a hasty revision, based on a criticism of Lewis's; see his commentary, P- 325.

Commentary on Canto III.

In this Canto there are many things that derive from the Tale of Tinuviel (II. 10ff.): the chestnut trees, the white moths, the moon rising, the sudden ceasing of Dairon's piping, Tinuviel's unwillingness to flee, her hiding under the hemlocks like spattered moonlight (cf. II. x x 'like a spatter of moonlight shimmering'), Beren's touching her arm, her darting between the tree-trunks, and afterwards the 'treeless knoll' where she danced in the winter. But the Canto is also related to the poem Light as Leaf on Lindentree (see pp. 108 - 10, 120 - 2), which had been published in June 1925, while this part of the Lay of Leithian was written a little later in the same year. Echoes of the one poem are heard in the other, and more than an echo in the line and out he danced unheeding, fleet, which is found in both (p. 109, line 447; p. 179, line 725).

The aberrant names in the first two Cantos of A have now disappeared from the text. In the second Canto my father had already given back the name Celegorm to the son of Feanor (note to line 304), and now Thingol appears in A; Luthien replaces Melilot; and Beren replaces Maglor.

Morgoth now replaces Bauglir in A (see p. 170).

In both texts Tinuviel is now explicitly the Elvish word for 'nightingale' (line 735; see p. 124); and Maglor, again in both texts, is the name of one of the three greatest singers of Elfinesse: he who harps upon the far

forgotten beaches and dark shores

where western foam for ever roars,

Maglor whose voice is like the sea (506-9)

In the rough draft of this passage the name of this minstrel is however Ivare (though Maglor is written beside it), and Ivare was named in the Tale of Tinuviel (II. 10), with Tinfang and Dairon, as one of 'the three most magic players of the Elves', who 'plays beside the sea'. This is the first hint of the after-history of Maglor son of Feanor, who in the Tale of the Nauglafring (II. 241) was slain, as also was Celegorm, in the attack on Dior. The lines in A, omitted in B (note to line 508), are interesting: from England unto Eglamar

on rock and dune and sandy bar

The form Eglamar (Gnomish, = Eldamar) occurs in the very early poem The Shores of Faery and its prose preface (II. 262, 272); and the same line from England unto Eglamar is found in the rough workings of the beginning of the Lay (note to lines 1 - 30). The mention of England is a reminder that at this time the association of the legends with Eriol/AElfwine was still very much alive, though there is no other indication of it in the Lay of Leithian.

Tinfang Warble reappears from the Lost Tales at line 503, changed to Tinfang Gelion; the meaning of Gelion is not explained.

In one respect only does the narrative content of the Canto depart in any significant way from the common 'tradition' of the texts, but this is sufficiently remarkable: the Elves departed over the sea to Valinor at the end of the Great Journey in a fleet of ships!

Yet all his kin now marched away,

as old tales tell, to seek the bay

on the last shore of mortal lands,

where mighty ships with magic hands

they made, and sailed beyond the seas. (427 - 31) This is very strange (and I am at a loss to account for it, except by the obvious explanation of a passing shift), in that the story of the 'island-car'

(Tol Eressea), which goes back to the Lost Tales (I. 118-20), is present in all the versions of 'The Silmarillion'. The Elves are here presented, on the other hand, as great shipbuilders in the beginning of their days. -

With the reference in the passage just cited to the bay whence the Elves set sail cf. The Silmarillion p. 57, where it is told that Ulmo anchored the

'island-car' in the Bay of Balar (and that the eastern horn of the island, breaking off, was the Isle of Balar).

In the description of Beren's journey to Doriath in lines 563 ff. is the first account of the Ered Gorgoroth, the Mountains of Terror (called 'the Shadowy Mountains' in Canto II, see pp. 170-1), with their spiders and their waters that drove mad those who drank from them (cf. The Silmarillion p. 121; and with lines 590 - 1 evil shapes arith baleful light/in clustered eyes cf. ibid. p. 164: 'monsters... hunting silently with many eyes').

IV.

He lay upon the leafy mould,

his face upon earth's bosom cold,

aswoon in overwhelming bliss, 760

enchanted of an elvish kiss,

seeing within his darkened eyes

the light that for no darkness dies,

the loveliness that doth not fade,

though all in ashes cold be laid. 765

Then folded in the mists of sleep

he sank into abysses deep,

drowned in an overwhelming grief

for parting after meeting brief;

a shadow and a fragrance fair 770

lingered, and waned, and was not there.

Forsaken, barren, bare as stone,

the daylight found him cold, alone.

'Where art thou gone? The day is bare,

the sunlight dark, and cold the air! 775

Tinuviel, where went thy feet?

0 wayward star! 0 maiden sweet!

0 flower of Elfland all too fair

for mortal heart! The woods are bare!

The woods are bare! ' he rose and cried. 780

'Ere spring was born, the spring hath died!'

And wandering in path and mind

he groped as one gone sudden blind,

who seeks to grasp the hidden light

with faltering hands in more than night. 785

And thus in anguish Beren paid

for that great doom upon him laid,

the deathless love of Luthien,

too fair for love of mortal Men;

and in his doom was Luthien snared, 790

the deathless in his dying shared;

and Fate them forged a binding chain

of living love and mortal pain.

Beyond all hope her feet returned

at eve, when in the sky there burned 795

the flame of stars; and in her eyes

there trembled the starlight of the skies,

and from her hair the fragrance fell

of elvenflowers in elven-dell.

Thus Luthien, whom no pursuit, 800

no snare, no dart that hunters shoot,

might hope to win or hold, she came

at the sweet calling of her name;

and thus in his her slender hand

was linked in far Beleriand; 805

in hour enchanted long ago

her arms about his neck did go,

and gently down she drew to rest

his weary head upon her breast.

A! Luthien, Tinuviel, 810

why wentest thou to darkling dell

with shining eyes and dancing pace,

the twilight glimmering in thy face?

Each day before the end of eve

she sought her love, nor would him leave, 815

until the stars were dimmed, and day

came glimmering eastward silver-grey.

Then trembling-veiled she would appear

and dance before him, half in fear;

there flitting just before his feet 820

she gently chid with laughter sweet:

'Come! dance now, Beren, dance with me!

For fain thy dancing I would see.

Come! thou must woo with nimbler feet,

than those who walk where mountains meet 825

the bitter skies beyond this realm

of marvellous moonlit beech and elm.'

In Doriath Beren long ago

new art and lore he learned to know;

his limbs were freed; his eyes alight, 830

kindled with a new enchanted sight;

and to her dancing feet his feet

attuned went dancing free and fleet;

his laughter welled as from a spring

of music, and his voice would sing 835

as voices of those in Doriath

where paved with flowers are floor and path.

The year thus on to summer rolled,

from spring to a summertime of gold.

Thus fleeting fast their short hour flies, 840

while Dairon watches with fiery eyes,

haunting the gloom of tangled trees

all day, until at night he sees

in the fickle moon their moving feet,

two lovers linked in dancing sweet, 845

two shadows shimmering on the green

where lonely-dancing maid had been.

'Hateful art thou, 0 Land of Trees!

May fear and silence on thee seize!

My flute shall fall from idle hand 850

and mirth shall leave Beleriand;

music shall perish and voices fail

and trees stand dumb in dell and dale!'

It seemed a hush had fallen there

upon the waiting woodland air; 855

and often murmured Thingol's folk

in wonder, and to their king they spoke:

'This spell of silence who hath wrought?

What web hath Dairon's music caught?

It seems the very birds sing low; 860

murmurless Esgalduin doth flow;

the leaves scarce whisper on the trees,

and soundless beat the wings of bees! '

This Luthien heard, and there the queen

her sudden glances saw unseen. 865

But Thingol marvelled, and he sent

for Dairon the piper, ere he went

and sat upon his mounded seat -

his grassy throne by the grey feet

of the Queen of Beeches, Hirilorn, 870

upon whose triple piers were borne

the mightiest vault of leaf and bough

from world's beginning until now.

She stood above Esgalduin's shore,

where long slopes fell beside the door, 875

the guarded gates, the portals stark

of the Thousand echoing Caverns dark.

There Thingol sat and heard no sound

save far off footsteps on the ground;

no flute, no voice, no song of bird, 880

no choirs of windy leaves there stirred;

and Dairon coming no word spoke,

silent amid the woodland folk.

Then Thingol said: '0 Dairon fair,

thou master of all musics rare, 885

0 magic heart and wisdom wild,

whose ear nor eye may be beguiled,

what omen doth this silence bear?

What horn afar upon the air,

what summons do the woods await? 890

Mayhap the Lord Tavros from his gate

and tree-propped halls, the forest-god,

rides his wild stallion golden-shod

amid the trumpets' tempest loud,

amid his green-clad hunters proud, 895

leaving his deer and friths divine

and emerald forests? Some faint sign

of his great onset may have come

upon the Western winds, and dumb

the woods now listen for a chase 900

that here once more shall thundering race

beneath the shade of mortal trees.

Would it were so! The Lands of Ease

hath Tavros left not many an age,

since Morgoth evil wars did wage, 905

since ruin fell upon the North

and the Gnomes unhappy wandered forth.

But if not he, who comes or what?'

And Dairon answered: 'He cometh not!

No feet divine shall leave that shore, 910

where the Shadowy Seas' last surges roar,

till many things be come to pass,

and many evils wrought. Alas!

the guest is here. The woods are still,

but wait not; for a marvel chill 915

them holds at the strange deeds they see,

but kings see not - though queens, maybe,

may guess, and maidens, maybe, know.

Where one went lonely two now go! '

'Whither thy riddle points is plain' 920

the king in anger said, 'but deign

to make it plainer! Who is he

that earns my wrath? How walks he free

within my woods amid my folk,

a stranger to both beech and oak?' 925

But Dairon looked on Luthien

and would he had not spoken then,

and no more would he speak that day,

though Thingol's face with wrath was grey.

Then Luthien stepped lightly forth: 930

'Far in the mountain-leaguered North,

my father,' said she, 'lies the land

that groans beneath King Morgoth's hand.

Thence came one hither', bent and worn

in wars and travail, who had sworn 935

undying hatred of that king;

the last of Beor's sons, they sing,

and even hither far and deep

within thy woods the echoes creep

through the wild mountain-passes cold, 940

the last of Beor's house to hold

a sword unconquered, neck unbowed,

a heart by evil power uncowed.

No evil needst thou think or fear

of Beren son of Barahir! 945

If aught thou hast to say to him,

then swear to hurt not flesh nor limb,

and I will lead him to thy hall,

a son of kings, no mortal thrall.'

Then long King Thingol looked on her 950

while hand nor foot nor tongue did stir,

and Melian, silent, unamazed,

on Luthien and Thingol gazed.