Текст книги "The Book of Lost Tales, Part One"

Автор книги: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Then shouted all the people of Valinor: “I Eldar tulier—the Eldar have come”—and it was not until that hour that the Gods knew that their joy had contained a flaw, or that they had waited in hunger for its completion, but now they knew that the world had been an empty place beset with loneliness having no children for her own.

Now once more is council set and Manwл sitteth before the Gods there amid the Two Trees—and those had now borne light for four ages. Every one of the Vali fare thither, even Ulmo Vailimo in great haste from the Outer Seas, and his face is eager and glad.

On that day Manwл released Melko from Angaino before the full time of his doom, but the manacles and the fetters of tilkal were not unloosed, and he bore them yet upon wrist and ankle. Great joy blindeth even the forewisdom of the Gods. Last of all came Palъrien Yavanna hasting from Palisor, and the Valar debated concerning the Eldar; but Melko sat at the feet of Tulkas and feigned a glad and humble cheer. At length it is the word of the Gods that some of the new-come Eldar be bidden to Valinor, there to speak to Manwл and his people, telling of their coming into the world and of the desires that it awakened in them.

Then does Nornorл, whose feet flash invisibly for the greatness of their speed, hurtle from Valinor bearing the embassy of Manwл, and he goes unstaying over both land and sea to Palisor. There he finds a place deep in a vale surrounded by pine-clad slopes; its floor is a pool of wide water and its roof the twilight set with Varda’s stars. There had Oromл heard the awaking of the Eldar, and all songs name that place Koiviл-nйni or the Waters of Awakening.

Now all the slopes of that valley and the bare margin of the lake, even the rugged fringes of the hills beyond, are filled with a concourse of folk who gaze in wonder at the stars, and some sing already with voices that are very beautiful. But Nornorл stood upon a hill and was amazed for the beauty of that folk, and because he was a Vala they seemed to him marvellously small and delicate and their faces wistful and tender. Then did he speak in the great voice of the Valar and all those shining faces turned towards his voice.

“Behold O Eldaliл, desired are ye for all the age of twilight, and sought for throughout the ages of peace, and I come even from Manwл Sъlimo Lord of the Gods who abides upon Taniquetil in peace and wisdom to you who are the Children of Ilъvatar, and these are the words he put into my mouth to speak: Let now some few of you come back with me—for am I not Nornorл herald of the Valar—and enter Valinor and speak with him, that he may learn of your coming and of all your desires.”

Great was the stir and wonder now about the waters of Koiviл, and its end was that three of the Eldar came forward daring to go with Nornorл, and these he bore now back to Valinor, and their names as the Elves of Kфr have handed them on were Isil Inwл, and Finwл Nуlemл who was Turondo’s father, and Tinwл Lintц father of Tinъviel—but the Noldoli call them Inwithiel, Golfinweg, and Tinwelint. Afterward they became very great among the Eldar, and the Teleri were those who followed Isil, but his kindred and descendants are that royal folk the Inwir of whose blood I am. Nolemл was lord of the Noldoli, and of his son Turondo (or Turgon as they call1ed him) are great tales told, but Tinwл³ abode not long with his people, and yet ’tis said lives still lord of the scattered Elves of Hisilуmл, dancing in its twilight places with Wendelin his spouse, a sprite come long long ago from the quiet gardens of Lуrien; yet greatest of all the Elves did Isil Inwл become, and folk reverence his mighty name to this day.

Behold now brought by Nornorл the three Elves stood before the Gods, and it was at that time the changing of the lights, and Silpion was waning but Laurelin was awakening to his greatest glory, even as Silmo emptied the urn of silver about the roots of the other Tree. Then those Elves were utterly dazed and astonied by the splendour of the light, whose eyes knew only the dusk and had yet seen no brighter things than Varda’s stars, but the beauty and majestic strength of the Gods in conclave filled them with awe, and the roofs of Valmar blazing afar upon the plain made them tremble, and they bowed in reverence—but Manwл said to them: “Rise, O Children of Ilъvatar, for very glad are the Gods of your coming! Tell us how ye came; how found ye the world; what seemeth it to you who are its first offspring, or with what desires doth it fill you.”

But Nуlemл answering said: “Lo! Most mighty one, whence indeed come we! For meseems I awoke but now from a sleep eternally profound, whose vast dreams already are forgotten.” And Tinwл said thereto that his heart told him that he was new-come from illimitable regions, yet he might not recollect by what dark and strange paths he had been brought; and last spake Inwл, who had been gazing upon Laurelin while the others spake, and he said: “Knowing neither whence I come nor by what ways nor yet whither I go, the world that we are in is but one great wonderment to me, and me-thinks I love it wholly, yet it fills me altogether with a desire for light.”

Then Manwл saw that Ilъvatar had wiped from the minds of the Eldar all knowledge of the manner of their coming, and that the Gods might not discover it; and he was filled with deep astonishment; but Yavanna who hearkened also caught her breath for the stab of the words of Inwл, saying that he desired light. Then she looked upon Laurelin and her heart thought of the fruitful orchards in Valmar, and she whispered to Tuivбna who sat beside her, gazing upon the tender grace of those Eldar; then those twain said to Manwл: “Lo! the Earth and its shadows are no place for creatures so fair, whom only the heart and mind of Ilъvatar have conceived. Fair are the pine-forests and the thickets, but they are full of unelfin spirits and Mandos’ children walk abroad and vassals of Melko lurk in strange places—and we ourselves would not be without the sight of this sweet folk. Their distant laughter has filtered to our ears from Palisor, and we would have it echo always about us in our halls and pleasaunces in Valmar. Let the Eldar dwell among us, and the well of our joy be filled from new springs that may not dry up.”

Then arose a clamour among the Gods and the most spake for Palъrien and Vбna, whereas Makar said that Valinor was builded for the Valar—“and already is it a rose-garden of fair ladies rather than an abode of men. Wherefore do ye desire to fill it with the children of the world?” In this Meбssл backed him, and Mandos and Fui were cold to the Eldar as to all else; yet was Varda vehement in support of Yavanna and Tuivбna, and indeed her love for the Eldar has ever been the greatest of all the folk of Valinor; and Aulл and Lуrien, Oromл and Nessa and Ulmo most mightily proclaimed their desire for the bidding of th1e Eldar to dwell among the Gods. Wherefore, albeit Ossл spake cautiously against it—belike out of that ever-smouldering jealousy and rebellion he felt against Ulmo—it was the voice of the council that the Eldar should be bidden, and the Gods awaited but the judgement of Manwл. Behold even Melko seeing where was the majority insinuated his guileful voice into the pleading, and has nonetheless since those days maligned the Valar, saying they did but summon the Eldar as to a prison out of covetice and jealousy of their beauty. Thus often did he lie to the Noldoli afterwards when he would stir their restlessness, adding beside all truth that he alone had withstood the general voice and spoken for the freedom of the Elves.

Maybe indeed had the Gods decided otherwise the world had been a fairer place now and the Eldar a happier folk, but never would they have achieved such glory, knowledge, and beauty as they did of old, and still less would any of Melko’s redes have benefited them.

Now having hearkened to all that was said Manwл gave judgement and was glad, for indeed his heart leaned of itself to the leading of the Eldar from the dusky world to the light of Valinor. Turning to the three Eldar he said: “Go ye back now to your kindreds and Nornorл shall bring you swiftly there, even to Koiviл-nйni in Palisor. Behold, this is the word of Manwл Sъlimo, and the voice of the Valar’s desire, that the people of the Eldaliл, the Children of Ilъvatar, fare to Valinor, and there dwell in the splendour of Laurelin and the radiance of Silpion and know the happiness of the Gods. An abode of surpassing beauty shall they possess, and the Gods will aid them in its building.”

Thereto answered Inwл: “Fain are we indeed of thy bidding, and who of the Eldaliл that have already longed for the beauty of the stars will stay or rest till his eyes have feasted on the blessed light of Valinor!” Thereafter Nornorл guided those Elves back to the bare margins of Koiviл-nйni, and standing upon a boulder Inwл spake the embassy to all those hosts of the Eldaliл that Ilъvatar waked first upon the Earth, and all such as heard his words were filled with desire to see the faces of the Gods.

When Nornorл returning told the Valar that the Elves were indeed coming and that Ilъvatar had set already a great multitude upon the Earth, the Gods made mighty preparation. Behold Aulл gathers his tools and stuffs and Yavanna and Tuivбna wander about the plain even to the foothills of the mountains and the bare coasts of the Shadowy Seas, seeking them a home and an abiding-place; but Oromл goeth straightway out of Valinor into the forests whose every darkling glade he knew and every dim path had traversed, for he purposed to guide the troops of the Eldar from Palisor over all the wide lands west till they came to the confines of the Great Sea.

To those dark shores fared Ulmo, and strange was the roaring of the unlit sea in those most ancient days upon that rocky coast that bore still the scars of the tumultuous wrath of Melko. Falman-Ossл was little pleased to see Ulmo in the Great Seas, for Ulmo had taken that island whereon Ossл himself had drawn the Gods to Arvalin, saving them from the rising waters when Ringi! and Helkar thawed beneath their blazing lamps. That was many ages past in the days when the Gods were new-come strangers in the world, and during all that time the island had floated darkly in the Shadowy Seas, desolate save when Ossл climbed its beaches on his journeys in the deeps; but now Ulmo had come upon his secret island and harnessed thereto a host of the greatest fish, and amidmost was Uin the mightiest and most ancient of whales; and he bid these put forth their strength, and they drew the island mightily to the very sho1res of the Great Lands, even to the coast of Hisilуmл northward of the Iron Mountains whither all the deepest shades withdrew when the Sun first arose.

Now Ulmo stands there and there comes a glint in the woods that marched even down to the sea-foam in those quiet days, and behold! he hears the footsteps of the Teleri crackle in the forest, and Inwл is at their head beside the stirrup of Oromл. Grievous had been their march, and dark and difficult the way through Hisilуmл the land of shade, despite the skill and power of Oromл. Indeed long after the joy of Valinor had washed its memory faint the Elves sang still sadly of it, and told tales of many of their folk whom they said and say were lost in those old forests and ever wandered there in sorrow. Still were they there long after when Men were shut in Hisilуmл by Melko, and still do they dance there when Men have wandered far over the lighter places of the Earth. Hisilуmл did Men name Aryador, and the Lost Elves did they call the Shadow Folk, and feared them.

Nonetheless the most of the great companies of the Teleri came now to the beaches and climbed therefrom upon the island that Ulmo had brought. Ulmo counselled them that they wait not for the other kindreds, and though at first they will not yield, weeping at the thought, at last are they persuaded, and straightway are drawn with utmost speed beyond the Shadowy Seas and the wide bay of Arvalin to the strands of Valinor. There does the distant beauty of the trees shining down the opening in the hills enchant their hearts, and yet do they stand gazing back across the waters they have passed, for they know not where those other kindreds of their folk may be, and not even the loveliness of Valinor do they desire without them.

Then leaving them silent and wondering on the shore Ulmo draws back that great island-car to the rocks of Hisilуmл, and behold, warmed by the distant gleam of Laurelin that lit upon its western edge as it lay in the Bay of Faлry, new and more tender trees begin to grow upon it, and the green of herbage is seen upon its slopes.

Now Ossл raises his head above the waves in wrath, deeming himself slighted that his aid was not sought in the ferrying of the Elves, but his own island taken unasked. Fast does he follow in Ulmo’s wake and yet is left far behind, for Ulmo set the might of the Valar in Uin and the whales. Upon the cliffs there stand already the Noldoli in anguish, thinking themselves deserted in the gloom, and Nуleme Finwл who had led them thither hard upon the rear of the Teleri went among them enheartening them. Full of travail their journey too had been, for the world is wide and nigh half across it had they come from most distant Palisor, and in those days neither sun shone nor moon gleamed, and pathways were there none be it of Elves or of Men. Oromл too was far ahead riding before the Teleri upon the march and was now gone back into the lands. There the Solosimpi were astray in the forests stretching deep behind, and his horn wound faintly in the ears of those upon the shore, from whence that Vala sought them up and down the dark vales of Hisilуmл.

Therefore now coming Ulmo thinks to draw the Noldoli swiftly to the strand of Valinor, returning once again for those others when Oromл shall have le1d them to the coast. This does he, and Falman beholds that second ferrying from afar and spumes in rage, but great is the joy of the Teleri and Noldoli upon that shore where the lights are those of late summer afternoons for the distant glow of Lindeloksл. There may I leave them for a while and tell of the strange happenings that befell the Solosimpi by reason of Ossл’s wrath, and of the first dwelling upon Tol Eressлa.

Fear falls upon them in that old darkness, and beguiled by the fair music of the fay Wendelin, as other tales set forth more fully elsewhere, their leader Tinwл Linto was lost, and long they sought him, but it was in vain, and he came never again among them.⁴ When therefore they heard the horn of Oromл ringing in the forest great was their joy, and gathering to its sound soon are they led to the cliffs, and hear the murmur of the sunless sea. Long time they waited there, for Ossл cast storms and shadows about the return of Ulmo, so that he drove by devious ways, and his great fish faltered in their going; yet at the last do they too climb upon that island and are drawn towards Valinor; and one Ellu they chose in place of Tinwл, and he has ever since been named the Lord of the Solosimpi.⁵

Behold now less than half the distance have they traversed, and the Twilit Isles float still far aloof, when Ossл and Уnen waylay them in the western waters of the Great Sea ere yet the mists of the Shadowy Seas are reached. Then Ossл seizes that island in his great hand, and all the great strength of Uin may scarcely drag it onward, for at swimming and in deeds of bodily strength in the water none of the Valar, not even Ulmo’s self, is Ossл’s match, and indeed Ulmo was not at hand, for he was far ahead piloting the great craft in the glooms that Ossл had gathered, leading it onward with the music of his conches. Now ere he can return Ossл with Уnen’s aid had brought the isle to a stand, and was anchoring it even to the sea-bottom with giant ropes of those leather-weeds and polyps that in those dark days had grown already in slow centuries to unimagined girth about the pillars of his deep-sea house. Thereto as Ulmo urges the whales to put forth all their strength and himself aids with all his godlike power, Ossл piles rocks and boulders of huge mass that Melko’s ancient wrath had strewn about the seafloor, and builds these as a column beneath the island.

Vainly doth Ulmo trumpet and Uin with the flukes of his unmeasured tail lash the seas to wrath, for thither Ossл now brings every kind of deep sea creature that buildeth itself a house and dwelling of stony shell; and these he planted about the base of the island: corals there were of every kind and barnacles and sponges like stone. Nonetheless for a very great while did that struggle endure, until at length Ulmo returned to Valmar in wrath and dismay. There did he warn the other Valar that the Solosimpi may not yet be brought thither, for that the isle has grown fast in the most lonely waters of the world.

There stands that island yet—indeed thou knowest it, for it is called “the Lonely Isle”—and no land may be seen for many leagues’ sail from its cliffs, for the Twilit Isles upon the bosom of the Shadowy Seas are deep in the dim West, and the Magic Isles lie backward in the East.

Now therefore do the Gods bid the Elves build a dwelling, and Aulл aided them in that, but Ulmo far1es back to the Lonely Island, and lo! it stands now upon a pillar of rock upon the seas’ floor, and Ossл fares about it in a foam of business anchoring all the scattered islands of his domain fast to the ocean-bed. Hence came the first dwelling of the Solosimpi on the Lonely Island, and the deeper sundering of that folk from the others both in speech and customs; for know that all these great deeds of the past that make but a small tale now were not lightly achieved and in a moment of time, but rather would very many men have grown and died betwixt the binding of the Islands and the making of the Ships.

Twice now had that isle of their dwelling caught the gleam of the glorious Trees of Valinor, and so was it already fairer and more fertile and more full of sweet plants and grasses than the other places of all the world beside where great light had not been seen; indeed the Solosimpi say that birches grew there already, and many reeds, and turf there was upon the western slopes. There too were many caverns, and there was a stretching shoreland of white sand about the feet of black and purple cliffs, and here was the dwelling even in those deepest days of the Solosimpi.

There Ulmo sate upon a headland and spake to them words of comfort and of the deepest wisdom; and all sea-lore he told them, and they hearkened; and music he taught them, and they made slender pipes of shells. By reason of that labour of Ossл there are no strands so strewn with marvellous shells as were the white beaches and the sheltered coves of Tol Eressлa, and the Solosimpi dwelt much in caves, and adorned them with those sea-treasures, and the sound of their wistful piping might be heard for many a long day come faintly down the winds.

Then Falman-Ossл’s heart melted towards them and he would have released them, save for the new joy and pride he had that their beauty dwelt thus amidmost of his realm, so that their pipes gave perpetual pleasure to his ear, and Uinen⁶ and the Oarni and all the spirits of the waves were enamoured of them.

So danced the Solosimpi upon the waves’ brink, and the love of the sea and rocky coasts entered in their hearts, even though they gazed in longing towards the happy shores whither long ago the Teleri and Noldoli had been borne.

Now these after a season took hope and their sorrow grew less bitter, learning how their kindred dwelt in no unkindly land, and Ulmo had them under his care and guardianship. Wherefore they heeded now the Gods’ desire and turned to the building of their home; and Aulл taught them very much lore and skill, and Manwл also. Now Manwл loved more the Teleri, and from him and from Уmar did they learn deeper of the craft of song and poesy than all the Elves beside; but the Noldoli were beloved most by Aulл, and they learned much of his science, till their hearts became unquiet for the lust of more knowing, but they grew to great wisdom and to great subtlety of skill.

Behold there is a low place in that ring of mountains that guards Valinor, and there the shining of the Trees steals through from the plain beyond and gilds the dark waters of the bay of Arvalin,⁷ but a great beach of finest sand, golden in the blaze of Laurelin, white in the light of Silpion, runs in1land there, where in the trouble of the ancient seas a shadowy arm of water had groped in toward Valinor, but now there is only a slender water fringed with white. At the head of this long creek there stands a lonely hill which gazes at the loftier mountains. Now all the walls of that inlet of the seas are luxuriant with a marvellous vigour of fair trees, but the hill is covered only with a deep turf, and harebells grow atop of it ringing softly in the gentle breath of Sъlimo.

Here was the place that those fair Elves bethought them to dwell, and the Gods named that hill Kфr by reason of its roundness and its smoothness. Thither did Aulл bring all the dust of magic metals that his great works had made and gathered, and he piled it about the foot of that hill, and most of this dust was of gold, and a sand of gold stretched away from the feet of Kфr out into the distance where the Two Trees blossomed. Upon the hill-top the Elves built fair abodes of shining white—of marbles and stones quarried from the Mountains of Valinor that glistened wondrously,⁸ silver and gold and a substance of great hardness and white lucency that they contrived of shells melted in the dew of Silpion, and white streets there were bordered with dark trees that wound with graceful turns or climbed with flights of delicate stairs up from the plain of Valinor to topmost Kфr; and all those shining houses clomb each shoulder higher than the others till the house of Inwл was reached that was the uppermost, and had a slender silver tower shooting skyward like a needle, and a white lamp of piercing ray was set therein that shone upon the shadows of the bay, but every window of the city on the hill of Kфr looked out toward the sea.

Fountains there were of great beauty and frailty and roofs and pinnacles of bright glass and amber that was made by Palъrien and Ulmo, and trees stood thick on the white walls and terraces, and their golden fruit shone richly.

Now at the building of Kфr the Gods gave to Inwл and to Nуlemл a shoot each of either of those glorious trees, and they grew to very small and slender elfin trees, but blossomed both eternally without abating, and those of the courts of Inwл were the fairest, and about them the Teleri sang songs of happiness, but others singing also fared up and down the marble flights and the wistful voices of the Noldoli were heard about the courts and chambers; but yet the Solosimpi dwelt far off amid the sea and made windy music on their pipes of shell.

Now is Ossл very fain of those Solosimpi, the shoreland pipers, and if Ulmo be not nigh he sits upon a reef at sea and many of the Oarni are by him, and hearkens to their voice and watches their flitting dances on this shore, but to Valmar he dare not fare again for the power of Ulmo in the councils of the Valar and………. the wrath of that mighty one at the anchoring of the islands.

Indeed war had been but held off by the Gods, who desired peace and would not suffer Ulmo to gather the folk of the Valar and assail Ossл and rend the islands from their new roots. Therefore does Ossл sometimes ride the foams out into the bay of Arvalin⁹ and gaze upon the glory on the hills, and he longs for 1the light and happiness upon the plain, but most for the song of birds and the swift movement of their wings into the clear air, grown weary of his silver and dark fish silent and strange amid the deep waters.

But on a day some birds came flying high from the gardens of Yavanna, and some were white and some black and some both black and white; and being dazed among the shadows they had not where to settle, and Ossл coaxed them, and they settled about his mighty shoulders, and he taught them to swim and gave them great strength of wing, for of such strength of shoulder he had more than any [?other] being and was the greatest of swimmers; and he poured fishy oils upon their feathers that they might bear the waters, and he fed them on small fish.

Then did he turn away to his own seas, and they swam about him or fared above him on low wing crying and piping; and he showed them dwellings on the Twilit Isles and even about the cliffs of Tol Eressлa, and the manner of diving and of spearing fish they learned there, and their voices became harsh for the rugged places of their life far from the soft regions of Valinor or wailing for the music of the Solosimpi and sighing of the sea. And now have all that great folk of gulls and seamews and petrels come into their kingdom; and puffins are there, and eider-duck, and cormorants, and gannets, and rock-doves, and the cliffs are full of a chattering and a smell of fish, and great conclaves are held upon their ledges, or among spits and reefs among the waters. But the proudest of all these birds were the swans, and these Ossл let dwell in Tol Eressлa, [?flying] along its coasts or paddling inland up its streams; and he set them there as a gift and joy to the Solosimpi. But when Ulmo heard of these new deeds he was ill-pleased for the havoc wrought amid the fishes wherewith he had filled the waters with the aid of Palъrien.

Now do the Solosimpi take great joy of [?their] birds, new creatures to them, and of swans, and behold upon the lakes of Tol Eressлa already they fare on rafts of fallen timber, and some harness thereto swans and speed across the waters; but the more hardy dare out upon the sea and the gulls draw them, and when Ulmo saw that he was very glad. For lo! the Teleri and Noldoli complain much to Manwл of the separation of the Solosimpi, and the Gods desire them to be drawn to Valinor; but Ulmo cannot yet think of any device save by help of Ossл and the Oarni, and will not be humbled to this. But now does he fare home in haste to Aulл, and those twain got them speedily to Tol Eressлa, and Oromл was with them, and there is the first hewing of trees that was done in the world outside Valinor. Now does Aulл of the sawn wood of pine and oak make great vessels like to the bodies of swans, and these he covers with the bark of silver birches, or…… with gathered feathers of the oily plumage of Ossл’s birds, and they are nailed and [?sturdily] riveted and fastened with silver, and he carves prows for them like the upheld necks of swans, but they are hollow and have no feet; and by cords of great strength and slimness are gulls and petrels harnessed to them, for they were tame to the hands of the Solosimpi, because their hearts were so turned by Ossл.

Now are the beaches upon the western shores of Tol Eressлa, even at Falassл Nъmлa (Western Surf), thronged with that people of the Elves, and drawn up there is a very great host indeed of those swanships, and the cry of the gulls above them is unceasing. But the Solosimpi arise in great numbers and climb into the hollow bodies of these new things of Aulл’s skill, and more of their kin fare ever to the shores, marching to the sound of innumerable pipes and flutes.

Now all are embarked and the gu1lls fare mightily into the twilit sky, but Aulл and Oromл are in the foremost galley and the mightiest, and seven hundred gulls are harnessed thereto and it gleams with silver and white feathers, and has a beak of gold and eyes of jet and amber. But Ulmo fares at the rear in his fishy car and trumpets loudly for the discomfiture of Ossл and the rescue of the Shoreland Elves.

But Ossл seeing how these birds have been to his undoing is very downcast, yet for the presence of those three Gods and indeed for his love of the Solosimpi that had grown by now very great he molested not their white fleet, and they came thus over the grey leagues of the ocean, through the dim sounds, and the mists of the Shadowy Seas, even to the first dark waters of the bay of Arvalin.

Know then that the Lonely Island is upon the confines of the Great Sea. Now that Great Sea or the Western Water is beyond the westernmost limits of the Great Lands, and in it are many lands and islands ere beyond their anchorage you reach the Magic Isles, and beyond these still lies Tol Eressлa. But beyond Tol Eressлa is the misty wall and those great sea glooms beneath which lie the Shadowy Seas, and thereon float the Twilit Isles whither only pierced at clearest times the faintest twinkle of the far gleam of Silpion. But in the westernmost of these stood the Tower of Pearl built in after days and much sung in song; but the Twilit Isles are held the first of the Outer Lands, which are these and Arvalin and Valinor, and Tol Eressлa is held neither of the Outer Lands or of the Great Lands where Men after roamed. But the farthest shore of those Shadowy Seas is Arvalin or Erumбni to the far south, but more northerly do they lap the very coasts of Eldamar, and here are they broader to one faring west. Beyond Arvalin tower those huge Mountains of Valinor which are in a great ring bending slowly west, but the Shadowy Seas make a vast bay to the north of Arvalin running right up to the black feet of the mountains, so that here they border upon the waters and not upon the lands, and there at the bay’s innermost stands Taniquetil, glorious to behold, loftiest of all mountains clad in purest snow, looking across Arvalin half south and half north across that mighty Bay of Faлry, and so beyond the Shadowy Seas themselves, even so that all the sails upon the sunlit waters of the Great Sea in after days (when the Gods had made that lamp) and all the throngs about the western havens of the Lands of Men could be seen from its summit; and yet is that distance counted only in unimagined leagues.