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

Автор книги: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

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In The Silmarillion the entire account of the making of gem-stones by the Noldoli has become compressed into these words (p. 60):

And it came to pass that the masons of the house of Finwл, quarrying in the hills after stone (for they delighted in the building of high towers), first discovered the earth-gems, and brought them forth in countless myriads; and they devised tools for the cutting and shaping of gems, and carved them in many forms. They hoarded them not, but gave them freely, and by their labour enriched all Valinor.

Thus the rhapsodic account at the end of this tale of the making of gems out of ‘magic’ materials—starlight, and ilwл, dews and petals, glassy substances dyed with the juice of flowers—was abandoned, and the Noldor became miners, skilful indeed, but mining only what was there to be found in the rocks of Valinor. On the other hand, in an earlier passage in The Silmarillion (p. 39), the old idea is retained: ‘The Noldor also it was who first achieved the making of gems.’ It need not be said that everything was to be gained by the discretion of the later writing; in this early narrative the Silmarils are not strongly marked out from the accumulated wonder of all the rest of the gems of the Noldoli’s making.

Features that remained are the generosity of the Noldor i1n the giving of their gems and the scattering of them on the shores (cf. The Silmarillion p. 61: ‘Many jewels the Noldor gave them [the Teleri], opals and diamonds and pale crystals, which they strewed upon the shores and scattered in the pools’); the pearls that the Teleri got from the sea (ibid.); the sapphires that the Noldor gave to Manwл (‘His sceptre was of sapphire, which the Noldor wrought for him’, ibid. p. 40); and, of course, Fлanor as the maker of the Silmarils—although, as will be seen in the next tale, Fлanor was not yet the son of Finwл (Nуlemл).

I conclude this commentary with another early poem that bears upon the matter of this tale. It is said in the tale (p. 119) that Men in Hisilуmл feared the Lost Elves, calling them the Shadow Folk, and that their name for the land was Aryador. The meaning of this is given in the early Gnomish word-list as ‘land or place of shadow’ (cf. the meanings of Hisilуmл and Dor Lуmin, p. 112).

The poem is called A Song of Aryador, and is extant in two copies; according to notes on these it was written in an army camp near Lichfield on September 12th, 1915. It was never, to my knowledge, printed. The first copy, in manuscript, has the title also in Old English: Бn lйoю Йargedores; the second, in typescript, has virtually no differences in the text, but it may be noted that the first word of the third verse, ‘She’, is an emendation from ‘He’ in both copies.

A Song of Aryador

In the vales of AryadorBy the wooded inland shoreGreen the lakeward bents and meadsSloping down to murmurous reedsThat whisper in the dusk o’er Aryador:‘Do you hear the many bellsOf the goats upon the fells Where the valley tumbles downward from the pines?

Do you hear the blue woods moanWhen the Sun has gone alone To hunt the mountain-shadows in the pines?

She is lost among the hillsAnd the upland slowly fills With the shadow-folk that murmur in the fern;

And still there are the bellsAnd the voices on the fells While Eastward a few stars begin to burn.

Men are kindling tiny gleamsFar below by mountain-streams Where they dwell among the beechwoods near the shore,

But the great woods on the heightWatch the waning western light And whisper to the wind of things of yore,

Wh1en the valley was unknown,And the waters roared alone, And the shadow-folk danced downward all the night,

When the Sun had fared abroadThrough great forests unexplored And the woods were full of wandering beams of light.

Then were voices on the fellsAnd a sound of ghostly bells And a march of shadow-people o’er the height.

In the mountains by the shoreIn forgotten AryadorThere was dancing and was ringing;There were shadow-people singing Ancient songs of olden gods in Aryador.’

VI

THE THEFT OF MELKO AND THE DARKENING OF VALINOR

This title is again taken from the cover of the book containing the text; the narrative, still written rapidly in pencil (see note 8 to the last chapter), with some emendations from the same time or later, continues without a break.

Now came Eriol home to the Cottage of Lost Play, and his love for all the things that he saw about him and his desire to understand them all became more deep. Continually did he thirst to know yet more of the history of the Eldar; nor did he ever fail to be among those who fared each evening to the Room of the Tale-fire; and so on a time when he had already sojourned some while as a guest of Vairл and Lindo it so passed that Lindo at his entreaty spake thus from his deep chair:

‘Listen then, O Eriol, if thou wouldst [know] how it so came that the loveliness of Valinor was abated, or the Elves might ever be constrained to leave the shores of Eldamar. It may well be that you know already that Melko dwelt in Valmar as a servant in the house of Tulkas in those days of the joy of the Eldaliл there did he nurse his hatred of the Gods, and his consuming jealousy of the Eldar, but it was his lust for the beauty of the gems for all his feigned indifference that in the end overbore his patience and caused him to design deep and evilly.

Now the Noldoli alone at those times had the art of fashioning these beautiful things, and despite their rich gifts to all whom they loved the treasure they possessed of them was beyond count the greatest, wherefore Melko whenever he may consorteth with them, speaking cunning words. In this way for long he sought to beg gifts of jewels for himself, and maybe also catching the unwary to learn something of their hidden art, but when none of these devices succeeded he sought to sow evil desires and discords among the Gnomes, telling them that lie concerning the Council when the Eldar were first bidden to Valinor.¹ “Slaves are ye,” he would say, “or children, an you will, bidden play with toys and seek not to stray or know too much. Good days mayhap the Valar give you, as ye say; seek but to cross their walls and ye shall know the hardness of1 their hearts. Lo, they use your skill, and to your beauty they hold fast as an adornment of their realms. This is not love, but selfish desire—make test of it. Ask for your inheritance that Ilъvatar designed for you—the whole wide world to roam, with all its mysteries to explore, and all its substances to be material of such mighty crafts as never can be realised in these narrow gardens penned by the mountains, hemmed in by the impassable sea.”

Hearing these things, despite the true knowledge which Nуlemл had and spread abroad, there were many who hearkened with half their hearts to Melko, and restlessness grew amongst them, and Melko poured oil on their smouldering desires. From him they learnt many things it were not good for any but the great Valar to know, for being half-comprehended such deep and hidden things slay happiness; and besides many of the sayings of Melko were cunning lies or were but partly true, and the Noldoli ceased to sing, and their viols fell silent upon the hill of Kфr, for their hearts grew somewhat older as their lore grew deeper and their desires more swollen, and the books of their wisdom were multiplied as the leaves of the forest. For know that in those days Aulл aided by the Gnomes contrived alphabets and scripts, and on the walls of Kфr were many dark tales written in pictured symbols, and runes of great beauty were drawn there too or carved upon stones, and Eдrendel read many a wondrous tale there long ago, and mayhap still is many a one still there to read, if it be not corrupted into dust. The other Elves heeded these things not over much, and were at times sad and fearful at the lessened gladness of their kinsmen. Great mirth had Melko at this and wrought in patience biding his time, yet no nearer did he get to his end, for despite all his labours the glory of the Trees and the beauty of the gems and the memory of the dark ways from Palisor held back the Noldoli—and ever Nуlemл spake against Melko, calming their restlessness and discontents.

At length so great became his care that he took counsel with Fлanor, and even with Inwл and Ellu Melemno (who then led the Solosimpi), and took their rede that Manwл himself be told of the dark ways of Melko.

And Melko knowing this was in great anger against the Gnomes, and going first before Manwл bowed very low, and said how the Noldoli dared murmur to his ears against Manwл’s lordship, claiming that in skill and beauty they (whom Ilъvatar had destined to possлss all the earth) far surpassed the Valar, for whom they must labour unrecompensed. Heavy was Manwл’s heart at these words, for he had feared long that that great amity of the Valar and Eldar be ever perchance broken, knowing that the Elves were children of the world and must one day return to her bosom. Nay, who shall say but that all these deeds, even the seeming needless evil of Melko, were but a portion of the destiny of old? Yet cold was the Lord of the Gods to the informer, and lo! even as he questioned him further the embassy of Nуlemл came thither, and being granted leave spake the truth before him. By reason of the presence of Melko perchance they spoke somewhat less skilfully in their own cause than they might, and perchance even the heart of Manwл Sъlimo was tainted with the poison of Melko’s words, for that venom of Melko’s malice is very strong and subtle indeed.

Howbeit, both Melko and the Noldoli were chidden and dismissed. Melko indeed was bidden get him back to Mandos and there dwell awhile in penitence, nor dare to walk in Valmar for many moons, not until the great festival that now approached had come and gone; but M1anwл fearing lest the pollution of their discontent spread among the other kindreds commanded Aulл to find other places and thither lead the Noldoli, and build them a new town where they might dwell.

Great was the sorrow upon the hill of Kфr when those tidings were brought thither, and though all were wroth with the treachery of Melko, yet was there now a new bitterness against the Gods, and the murmuring louder than before.

A little stream, and its name was Hiri, ran down from the hills, northward of the opening to the coast where Kфr was built, and it wandered thence across the plain no one knew whither. Maybe it found the Outer Seas, for north of the roots of Silpion it dived into the earth and there was a rugged place and a rock-ringed dale; and here the Noldoli purposed to abide, or rather to await the passing of wrath from Manwл’s heart, for in no way as yet would they accept the thought of leaving Kфr for ever.

Caves they made in the walls of that dale, and thither they bore their wealth of gems, of gold and silver and fair things; but their ancient homes in Kфr were empty of their voices, filled only with their paintings and their books of lore, and the streets of Kфr and all the ways of Valmar shone still with [?gems] and carven marbles telling of the days of the happiness of the Gnomes that cometh now upon its waning.

Now Melko gets him gone to Mandos, and far from Valinor he plans rebellion and vengeance upon both Gnomes and Gods. Indeed, dwelling for nigh three ages in the vaults of Mandos Melko had made friends to himself of certain gloomy spirits there and perverted them to ill, promising them great lands and regions on the Earth for their [?having] if they aided him when he called on them in need; and now he gathers them to him in the dark ravines of the mountains about Mandos. Thence sends he spies, invisible as fleeting shades when Silpion is in bloom, and learns of those doings of the Noldoli and of all that passes in the plain. Now soon after it chanced indeed that the Valar and Eldar held a great feast, even that one that Manwл had spoken of, bidding Melko rid Valmar of his presence at that time; for know that they made merry on one day every seventh year to celebrate the coming of the Eldar into Valinor, and every third year a lesser feast to commemorate the coming of the white fleet of the Solosimpi to the shores of Eldamar; but at every twenty-first year when both these feasts fell together they held one of the greatest magnificence, and it endured for seven days, and for this cause such years were called “Years of Double Mirth”;* and these feasts all the Koreldar wherever they now may be in the wide world still do celebrate. Now that feast that approacheth is one of Double Mirth, and all the hosts of the Gods and Elves made ready to celebrate it most gloriously. Pomps there were and long processions of the Elves, dancing and singing, that wound from Kфr to Valmar’s gates. A road had been laid against this festival from the westward gate of Kфr even to the turrets of the mighty arch which opened in the walls of Valmar northward towards the Trees. Of white marble it was and many a gentle stream flowing from the far mountains crossлd its path. Here it would leap into slender bridges marvellously fenced with delicate balustrades that shone like pearls; scarcely did these clear the water, so that lilies of great beauty growing upon the bosom of the streams that fared but gently in the plain thrust their wide blossoms about its borders and iris marched along its flanks; for by cunning delving runnels of clearest water were1 made to flow from stream to stream bordering that whole long way with the cool noise of rippling water. At places mighty trees grew on either side, or at places the road would open to a glade and fountains spring by magic high into the air for the refreshment of all who sped that way.

Now came the Teleri led by the white-robed people of the Inwir, and the throbbing of their congregated harps beat the air most sweetly; and after them went the Noldoli mingling once more with their own dear folk by Manwл’s clemency, that his festival might be duly kept, but the music that their viols and instruments awoke was now more sweetly sad than ever before. And last came the people of the shores, and their piping blent with voices brought the sense of tides and murmurous waves and the wailing cry of the coast-loving birds thus inland deep upon the plain.

Then was all that host marshalled before the gate of Valmar, and at the word and sign from Inwл as one voice they burst in unison into the Song of Light. This had Lirillo² written and taught them, and it told of the longing of the Elves for light, of their dread journey through the dark world led by the desire of the Two Trees, and sang of their utmost joy beholding the faces of the Gods and their renewed desire once more to enter Valmar and tread the Valar’s blessed courts. Then did the gates of Valmar open and Nornorл bid them enter, and all that bright company passed through. There Varda met them, standing amid the companies of the Mбnir and the Sбruli, and all the Gods made them welcome, and feasts there were in all the great halls thereafter.

Now their custom was on the third day to robe themselves all in white and blue and ascend to the heights of Taniquetil, and there would Manwл speak to them as he thought fit of the Music of the Ainur and the glory of Ilъvatar, and of things to be and that had been. And on that day would Kфr and Valmar be silent and still, but the roof of the world and the slope of Taniquetil shine with the gleaming raiment of the Gods and Elves, and all the mountains echo with their speech—but afterward on the last day of merriment the Gods would come to Kфr and sit upon the slopes of its bright hill, gazing in love upon that slender town, and thereafter blessing it in the name of Ilъvatar would depart ere Silpion came to bloom; and so would end the days of Double Mirth.

But in this fateful year Melko dared of his blasphemous heart to choose that very day of Manwл’s speech upon Taniquetil for the carrying out of his designs; for then would Kфr and Valmar and the rock-ringed dale of Sirnъmen be unguarded: for against whom indeed had Elf or Vala need to guard in those old days?

Creeping then down with his dark people on the third day of Samнrien, as that feast was named, he passed the dark halls of Makar’s abode (for even that wild Vala had gone to Valmar to honour the time, and indeed all of the Gods went there saving Fui and Vefбntur only, and Ossл even was there, dissembling for those seven days his feud and jealousy with Ulmo). Here does a thought come to Melko’s heart, and he arms himself and his band stealthily with swords very sharp and cruel, and this was well for them: for now do they all steal into the vale of Sirnъmen where the Noldoli had their present dwelling, and behold the Gnomes by reason of the workings in their hearts of Melko’s own teaching had become wary and suspicious beyond the wont of the Eldar of those days. Guards of some strength were set over the treasures there that went not to the feast, albeit this was contrary to the customs a1nd ordinances of the Gods. Now is there suddenly bitter war awake in the heart of Valinor and those guards are slain, even while the peace and gladness upon Taniquetil afar is very great—indeed for that reason none heard their cries. Now Melko knew that it was indeed war for ever between himself and all those other folk of Valinor, for he had slain the Noldoli—guests of the Valar—before the doors of their own homes. With his own hand indeed he slew Bruithwir father of Fлanor,³ and bursting into that rocky house that he defended laid hands upon those most glorious gems, even the Silmarils, shut in a casket of ivory. Now all that great treasury of gems he despoiled, and lading himself and all his companions to the utmost he seeks how he may escape.

Know then that Oromл had great stables and a breeding ground of good horses not so far from this spot, where a wild forest land had grown up. Thither Melko steals, and a herd of black horses he captures, cowing them with the terror that he could wield. Astride those his whole company of thieves rides far away, after destroying what things of lesser value they deemed it impossible to carry thence. Making a wide circuit and faring with the speed of hurricanes such as only the divine horses of Oromл ridden by the children of the Gods could compass they pass far to the west of Valmar in the untracked regions where the light of the Trees was thin. Long ere the folk had come down from Taniquetil and long ere the end of the feast or ever the Noldoli fared back to find their homes despoiled, Melko and his [?thieves] were ridden to the deep south, and finding there a low place in the hills they passed into the plains of Eruman. Well might Aulл and Tulkas bemoan their carelessness in leaving that low place long ago when they reared those hills to fend all evil from the plain—for that was the place where they were accustomed to enter Valinor after their quarryings in the fields of Arvalin.⁴ It is said indeed that this riding in a half-circle, laborious and perilous as it was, was at first no part of Melko’s design, for rather had he purposed to get to northward over the passes nigh to Mandos; but this he was warned might not be done, for Mandos and Fui never left those realms, and all the ravines and chasms of the northward mountains were infested with their folk, nor for all his gloom was Mandos any rebel against Manwл or an abetter of evil deeds.

Far to the north if one may endure the colds as Melko could it is said in ancient lore that the Great Seas narrow to a little thing, and without aid of ships Melko and his company might thus have got into the world safely; but this was not done, and the sad tale took its appointed course, or the Two Trees might yet have shone and the Elves sung still in Valinor.

At length that daytide of festival is over and the Gods are turned back towards Valmar, treading the white road from Kфr. The lights twinkle in the city of the Elves and peace dwells there, but the Noldoli fare over the plain to Sirnъmen sadly. Silpion is gleaming in that hour, and ere it wanes the first lament for the dead that was heard in Valinor rises from that rocky vale, for Fлanor laments the death of Bruithwir; and many of the Gnomes beside find that the spirits of their dead hav1e winged their way to Vк. Then messengers ride hastily to Valmar bearing tidings of the deeds, and there they find Manwл, for he has not yet left that town for his abode upon Taniquetil.

“Alas, O Manwл Sъlimo,” they cry, “evil has pierced the Mountains of Valinor and fallen upon Sirnъmen of the Plain. There lies Bruithwir sire of Fлanor⁵ dead and many of the Noldoli beside, and all our treasury of gems and fair things and the loving travail of our hands and hearts through many years is stolen away. Whither O Manwл whose eyes see all things? Who has done this evil, for the Noldoli cry for vengeance, O most [?just] one!”

Then said Manwл to them: “Behold O Children of the Noldoli, my heart is sad towards you, for the poison of Melko has already changed you, and covetice has entered your hearts. Lo! had ye not thought your gems and fabrics⁶ of better worth than the festival of the folk or the ordinances of Manwл your lord, this had not been, and Bruithwir go-Maidros and those other hapless ones still had lived, and your jewels been in no greater peril. Nay, my wisdom teaches me that because of the death of Bruithwir and his comrades shall the greatest evils fall on Gods and Elves, and Men to be. Without the Gods who brought you to the light and gave you all the materials of your craft, teaching your first ignorance, none of these fair things you love now so well ever would have been; what has been done may again be done, for the power of the Valar does not change; but of more worth than all the glory of Valinor and all the grace and beauty of Kфr is peace and happiness and wisdom, and these once lost are harder to recapture. Cease then to murmur and to speak against the Valar, or to set yourselves in your hearts as equals to their majesty; rather depart now in penitence knowing full well that Melko has wrought this evil against you, and that your secret trafficking with him has brought you all this loss and sorrow. Trust him not again therefore, nor any others that whisper secret words of discontent among you, for its fruit is humiliation and dismay.”

And the embassy was abashed and afraid and went back unto Sirnъmen utterly cast down; yet was Manwл’s heart heavier than theirs, for things had gone ill indeed, and yet he foresaw that worse would be; and so did the destinies of the Gods work out, for lo! to the Noldoli Manwл’s words seemed cold and heartless, and they knew not his sorrow and his tenderness; and Manwл thought them strangely changed and turned to covetice, who longed but for comfort, being like children very full of the loss of their fair things.

Now Melko findeth himself in the wastes of Arvalin and knoweth not how he may escape, for the gloom there is very great, and he knoweth not those regions that stretch there unto the utmost south. Therefore he sent a messenger claiming the inviolable right of a herald (albeit this was a renegade servant of Mandos whom Melko had perverted) over the pass to Valinor, and there standing before the gates of Valmar⁷ he demanded audience of the Gods; and it was asked of him whence he came, and he said from Ainu Melko, and Tulkas would have hurled stones at him from1 the walls and slain him, but the.others as yet suffered him not to be mishandled, but despite their anger and loathing they admitted him to the great square of gold that was before Aulл’s courts. And at the same hour riders were sent to Kфr and to Sirnъmen summoning the Elves, for it was guessed that this matter touched them near. When all was made ready the messenger took stand beside the needle of pure gold whereon Aulл had written the story of the kindling of the Tree of gold (in Lуrien’s courts stood one of silver with another tale), and on a sudden Manwл said: “Speak!” and his voice was as a clap of wrathful thunder, and the courts rang, but the envoy unabashed uttered his message, saying:

“The Lord Melko, ruler of the world from the darkest east to the outer slopes of the Mountains of Valinor unto his kinsmen the Ainur. Behold, in compensation for divers grievous affronts and for long times of unjust imprisonment despite his noble estate and blood that he has at your hands suffered, now has he taken, as is due to him, certain small treasures held by the Noldoli, your slaves. Great grief is it to him that of these he has slain some, in that they would do him hurt in the evil of their hearts; yet their blasphemous intent will he now put from memory, and all the past injuries that ye the Gods have wrought him will he so far forget as once again to show his presence in that place that is called Valmar, if ye will hearken to his conditions and fulfil them. For know that the Noldoli shall be his servants and shall adorn him a house; moreover of right he does demand” but hereon even as the herald lifted up his voice yet louder swelling with his words of insolence, so great became the wrath of the Valar that Tulkas and several of his house leapt down and seizing him stopped his mouth, and the place of council was in uproar. Indeed Melko had not thought to gain aught but time and the confusion of the Valar by this embassage of insolence.

Then Manwл bid him unhand the herald, but the Gods arose crying with one voice: “This is no herald, but a rebel, a thief, and a murderer.” “He hath defiled the sanctity of Valinor,” shouted Tulkas, “and cast his insolence in our teeth.” Now the mind of all the Elves was as one in this matter. Hope they had none of the recovery of the jewels save by the capture of Melko, which was now a matter beyond hope, but they would have no parley with Melko whatsoever and would treat him as an outlaw and all his folk. (And this was the meaning of Manwл, saying that the death of Bruithwir would be the root of the greatest evil, for it was that slaying that most inflamed both Gods and Elves.)⁸

To this end they spoke in the ears of Varda and Aulл, and Varda befriended their cause before Manwл, and Aulл yet more stoutly, for his heart was sore too for the theft of so many things of exquisite craft and workmanship; but Tulkas Poldуrлa needed no pleading, being hot with ire. Now these great advocates moved the council with their words, so that in the end it is Manwл’s doom that word he sent back to Melko rejecting him and his words and outlawing him and all his followers from Valinor for ever. These words would he now speak to the envoy, bidding him begone to his master with them, but the folk of the Vali and the Elves would have none of it, and led by Tulkas they took that renegade to the topmost peak of Taniquetil, and there declaring him no herald and taking the mountain and the stars to witness of the same they cast him to the boulders of Arvalien so that he was slain, and Mandos received him into his deepest caves.

Then Manwл seeing in thi1s rebellion and their violent deed the seed of bitterness cast down his sceptre and wept; but the others spake unto Sorontur King of Eagles upon Taniquetil and by him were the words of Manwл sent to Melko: “Begone for ever, O accursed, nor dare to parley more with Gods or Elves. Neither shall thy foot nor that of any who serve thee tread the soil of Valinor again while the world endures.” And Sorontur sought out Melko and said as he was bidden, and of the death of his envoy he told [?too]. Then Melko would have slain Sorontur, being mad with anger at the death of his messenger; and verily this deed was not in accord with the strict justice of the Gods, yet was the anger of those at Valmar sorely tempted; but Melko has ever cast it against the Gods most bitterly, twisting it into a black tale of wrong; and between that evil one and Sorontur has there ever since been hate and war, and that was most bitter when Sorontur and his folk fared to the Iron Mountains and there abode, watching all that Melko did.

Now Aulл goeth to Manwл and speaketh enheartening words, saying how Valmar still stands and the Mountains are high and a sure bulwark against evil. “Lo! if Melko sets once more turmoils in the world, was he not bound in chains aforetime, and so may be again:—but behold, soon will I and Tulkas fill that pass that leads to Erumбni and the seas, that Melko come not ever that way hither again.”

But Manwл and Aulл plan to set guards about all those mountains until such time as Melko’s deeds and places of abode without become known.

Then does Aulл fall to speech with Manwл concerning the Noldoli, and he pleads much for them, saying that Manwл wrought with anxiety has done hardly by them, for that of Melko in sooth alone is the evil come, whereas the Eldar are not slaves nor servants but beings of a wondrous sweetness and beauty—that they were guests for ever of the Gods. Therefore does Manwл bid them now, an they will, go back to Kфr, and, if they so desire, busy themselves in fashioning gems and fabrics anew, and all things of beauty and cost that they may need in their labour shall be given to them even more lavishly than before.

But when Fлanor heard this saying, he said: “Yea, but who shall give us back the joyous heart without which works of loveliness and magic cannot be?—and Bruithwir is dead, and my heart also.” Many nonetheless went then back to Kфr, and some semblance of old joy is then restored, though for the lessened happiness of their hearts their labours do not bring forth gems of the old lustre and glory. But Fлanor dwelt in sorrow with a few folk in Sirnъmen, and though he sought day and night to do so he could in no wise make other jewels like to the Silmarils of old, that Melko snatched away; nor indeed has any craftsman ever done so since. At length does he abandon the attempt, sitting rather beside the tomb of Bruithwir, that is called the Mound of the First Sorrow,* and is well named for all the woe that came from the death of him who was laid there. There brooded Fлanor bitter thoughts, till his brain grew dazed by the black vapours of his heart, and he arose and went to Kфr. There did he speak to the Gnomes, dwelling on their wrongs and sorrows and their minished wealth and glory—bidding them leave this prison-house and get them into the world. “As cowards have the Valar become; but the hearts of the Eldar are not weak, and we will see what is our own, and if we may not get it by stealth we will do so by violence. There shall be war between the Children of Ilъvatar and Ainu Melko. What if we perish in our quest? The dark halls of Vк be little worse than this bright pris1on….”⁹ And he prevailed thus upon some to go before Manwл with himself and demand that the Noldoli be suffered to leave Valinor in peace and set safely by the Gods upon the shores of the world whence they had of old been ferried.