The Lays of Beleriand (13 page)

Turin warded, nor might tale be won

of Flinding the faithful of their fare and deeds in the waste together. Now waned her love

2175

2180

2185

for the form and face furrowed with anguish,

for the bended back and broken strength,

the wistful eyes and the withered laughter

of Flinding the faithful, though filled was her heart with deepwelling pity and dear friendship.

Grown old betimes and grey-frosted,

he was wise and kindly with wit and counsel,

with sight and foresight, but slow to wrath

nor fiercely valiant, yet if fight he must

his share he shirked not, though the shreds of fear in his heart yet hung; he hated no man,

but he seldom smiled, save suddenly a light

in his grave face glimmered and his glance was fired: Finduilas maybe faring lightly

on the sward he saw or swinging pale,

a sheen of silver down some shadowy hall.*

Yet to Turin was turned her troublous heart

against will and wisdom and waking thought:

in dreams she sought him, his dark sorrow

with love lightening, so that laughter shone

in eyes new-kindled, and her Elfin name

he eager spake, as in endless spring

they fared free-hearted through flowers enchanted with hand in hand o'er the happy pastures

of that land that is lit by no light of Earth, by no moon nor sun, down mazy ways

to the black abysmal brink of waking.

2190

2195

2200

2205

2210

From woe unhealed the wounded heart

of Turin the tall was turned to her.

Amazed and moved, his mind's secret

half-guessed, half-guarded, in gloomy hour

of night's watches, when down narrow winding

paths of pondering he paced wearily,

he would lonely unlock, then loyal-hearted

shut fast and shun, or shroud his grief

in dreamless sleep, deep oblivion

where no echo entered of the endless war

of waking worlds, woe nor friendship,

Bower nor firelight nor the foam of seas,

2215

2220

Here the B-typescript ends, and the remainder of the text is manuscript. See the Note on the Texts, p. 81.)

a land illumined by no light at all.

2225

'0! hands unholy, 0! heart of sorrow,

0! outlaw whose evil is yet unatoned,

wilt thou, troth-breaker, a treason new

to thy burden bind; thy brother-in-arms,

Flinding go-Fuilin thus foully betray,

who thy madness tended in mortal perils,

to thy waters of healing thy wandering feet

did lead at the last to lands of peace,

where his life is rooted and his love dwelleth?

O! stained hands his hope steal not! '

2230

2235

Thus love was fettered in loyal fastness

and coldly clad in courteous word;

yet he would look and long for her loveliness, in her gentle words his joy finding,

her face watching when he feared no eye

might mark his mood. One marked it all --

Failivrin's face, the fleeting gleams,

like sun through clouds sailing hurriedly

over faded fields, that flickered and went out as Turin passed; the tremulous smiles,

his grave glances out of guarded shade,

his sighs in secret -- one saw them all,

Flinding go-Fuilin, who had found his home

and lost his love to the lying years,

he watched and wondered, no word speaking,

and his heart grew dark 'twixt hate and pity, bewildered, weary, in the webs of fate.

Then Finduilas, more frail and wan

twixt olden love now overthrown

and new refused, did nightly weep;

and folk wondered at the fair pallor

of the hands upon her harp, her hair of gold

on slender shoulders slipped in tumult,

the glory of her eyes that gleamed with fires of secret thought in silent deeps.

2240

2245

2250

2255

2260

Many bosoms burdened with foreboding vague

their glooms disowned neath glad laughter.

In song and silence, snow and tempest,

winter wore away; to the world there came

a year once more in youth unstained,

r were leaves less green, light less golden,

the flowers less fair, though in faded hearts no spring was born, though speeding nigh

danger and dread and doom's footsteps

to their halls hasted. Of the host of iron

came tale and tidings ever treading nearer;

Orcs unnumbered to the East of Narog

roamed and ravened on the realm's borders,

the might of Morgoth was moved abroad.

No ambush stayed them; the archers yielded

each vale by vale, though venomed arrows

2265no

2270

2275

ere both A and B end abruptly, and I think it is certain that no more of the poem was ever written.

NOTES.

1409.

1417-18.

448.

469.

1525.

1529.

1537.

1542-3.

1558.

1673-6.

Tengwethil B, Taingwethil A. This is the reverse of the previous occurrences; see lines 43 I, 636.

These lines are bracketed in B, and line 1418 struck through; in the margin is a mark of deletion, but with a query beside it.1

Nirnaith Unoth A, and B as typed; emended in pencil in B to Nirnaith Ornoth. Earlier in the poem (lines 13, 218) the forms were Ninin Udathriol emended in B to Ninin Unothradin (also Nimaithos Unothradin at line 13). Cf.

line 1543.1

Ulmo A, and B as typed; in B Ulmo struck through in pencil and replaced by Ylmir, but this also struck through. I read Ylmir; see note to line 1529.

Turin Thalion A, and B as typed (not Turin Thaliodrin, see note to line 1324).

Ylmir: so already in A and B as typed; so also at lines 1534, 1553, 1572, 1585. See note to.line 1469.

This line was struck through in pencil in B.

These lines were bracketed in pencil in B, and Not so written in margin. Though Unoth was not here emended I read Ornoth (see note to line 1448).

the sea-birds call in solemn conclave: cf. the tale of The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kor, I. 124.

Cf. lines 1036 -- 9.

1696 -- 7.

1710 -- 11.

Cf. lines 1283 -- 4.

Line 1710 is wholly and 1711 partly crossed out in B, wit marginal additions to make 1711 read:

[by) Felagund founded flying southward

1713 -- 20

Also written in the margin is, before Nirnaith Unoth . At line 1711 A has found for founded, but as the manuscript was written very rapidly this may not be significant.

These lines are bracketed in B, as if needing revision, and two lines are written in the margin for insertion after 1715: that home came never to their halls of old

since the field of tears was fought and lost.

I have not included these lines (written, it seems, at the same time as the other marginal comments in this passage) in the text in view of the complexity of the 'historical background' at this point; see the Commentary, pp. 84 -- 5.

Against this passage is written in the margin: but Nargothrond was founded by Felagund Finrod's son (whose brothers were Angrod Egnor & Orodreth). Curufin and Celegorm dwelt at Nargothrond.

1719.

1724

Cranthor A, Cranthir B as typed.

Finduilas: Failivrin A, and B as typed; Finduilas written in pencil in the margin of B; so also at line 1938. See lines 2130, 2175, 2199.

1938.

1945.

1974-5.

1975.

,993-8

Finduilas: as at line 1724.

The word youngling is struck out in B and Flinding written against it, but the resulting Fuilin's Flinding (with alliteration in the second half-line) cannot possibly have been intended. Subsequently another word was written in the margin, but this is illegible.

Not so written in the margin of B.

Finmeg A, and B as typed; late emendation to Fingon in B.

I retain Firnweg since that is still the name in the 1930

'Silmarillion'.

In A and in B as typed these lines were differently ordered: Of the four kindreds that followed the king,

most noble of name, renowned in valour,

the watchtowers' lords, the wold's keepers

from Fuilin's children were first chosen,

and the guards of the bridge, the gleaming bow that was flung o'er the foaming froth of Ingwil.

2027

Glingol A, and B as typed; late emendation to Glingal in B. I retain Glingol, the form in the Lost Tales and still in the 1930

'Silmarillion', in the published work Glingal is the name of the golden tree of Gondolin.

2028. Bansil A, and B as typed; late emendation to Belthil in B. I retain Bansil for the same reason as Glingol in line 2027.

2030. there high and green the hill of Tun A, and B as typed; emended in pencil in B to the reading given; was 2031 not corrected to mere, but that hilltops (plural) was intended is shown by the text C, see p. 82.

2130. I give Finduilas, though Failivrin was not so emended here in B, as it was at lines 1724, 1938. See notes to lines 2175.

2199.

2164. Esgaduin A, and B as typed; emended in pencil to Esgalduin in B.

2175. the frail Finduilas that Failivrin as typed B; the frail Failivrin changed at the time of writing in A to Findoriel (sc.

the frail Findoriel that Failivrin &c.).

2199. Finduilas A and B; Failivrin written in the margin of A. At the subsequent occurrences (Failivrin 2242, Finduilas 2253) the names both in A and in B are as in the printed text.

Note on the texts of the section 'Failivrin '.

B comes to an end as a typescript at line 2201, but continues as a well-written manuscript for a further 75 lines. This last part is written onthe paper of good quality that my father used for many years in all his writing (University lectures, The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, etc.) in ink or pencil (i.e. when not typing): this plain paper was supplied to him by the Examination Schools at Oxford University, being the used pages of the booklets of paper provided for examination candi-dates. The change in paper does not show however that he had moved from Leeds to Oxford (cf. p. 3), since he acted as an external examiner at Oxford in 1924 and 1925; but it does suggest that the final work on the Lay (before Leithian was begun) dates from the latter part of the one year or the earlier part of the next. The conclusion of A is also written on paper.

There is a further short text to be considered here, a well-written manuscript that extends from line 2005 to line 2225, which I will call 'C'.

Textual details show clearly that C followed B -- not, I think, at any longin terval. Some emendations made to B were made to C also. I give here alist of the more important differences of C from B (small changes of punctuation and sentence-connection are not noticed).

C bears the title Turin in the House of Fuilin and his son Flinding.

It is not clear whether this was to be the title of a fourth section of the poem, but it seems unlikely, if the third section was to remain Failivrin .

2005 Now was care lessened in kindly love C

2020 noontide] summer pencil emendation in C

2027-8.

2029.

2030-- 2.

Clingol > Clingal and Bansil > Belthil pencil emendations in C as in B

The original reading of B and C was like magic moonlight from its mothwhite flowers; this was differently emended in C, to like moths of pearl in moonlit flowers.

C as written was exactly as the text of B after emendation (with were for was 2031); these lines were then crossed out and the following substituted:

there high and green that hill by the sea

was crowned by Tun, climbing, winding

in tall walls of white, where the tower of Ing 2036-53.

2069.

2083.

2090.

2114 -- 16.

2123 -8.

are omitted in C (with Thence for There 2054).

After hunting owls C has lines of omission dots, and the text takes up again at line 2081.

maned to autumn] waned lowards winter pencil

emendations in C

as of furnace golden] as a furnace of gold C

are omitted in C.

C omits 2124, 2125b -- 7, and reads:

and in subtle mastery of song and music

to his wise woodcraft and wielding of arms.

To the hearth and halls of the haughty king

2135-8.

C omits these lines (referring to Orodreth's son Halmir, slain by Orcs) and reads:

his ruth unready, his wrath enduring.

But kinship of mood the king ere long

2142b -- 2143a. C omits these lines, and reads: of anguish and regret. Thus was honour granted by the king to Turin; of the company of his board 2158. were told] men told emendation in C.

2164. Esgalduin C as written; see note to this line above.

Commentary on Part III 'Failivrin'.

In this very remarkable section of the poem a great development has taken place in the story since the Tale of Turambar (if there was an intervening stage there is now no trace of it); while concurrently the history of the exiled Noldoli was being deepened and extended from its representation in the outlines for Gilfanon's Tale --. a factor that complicates the presentation of the poems, since statements about that history were often superseded during the long process of composition.

Most notable of all in this part of the poem is the description of Nargothrond, unique in the Lay. In all the later rewritings and restructurings of the Turin saga this part was never touched, apart from the development of the relations between Turin, Gwindor, and Finduilas which I have given in Unfinished Tales, pp. 155 -- 9. In this there is a parallel to Gondolin, very fully described in the tale of The Fall of Gondolin, but never again. As I said in the introduction to Unfinished Tales (p. 5):

It is thus the remarkable fact that the only full account that my father ever wrote of the story of Tuor's sojourn in Gondolin, his union with Idril Celebrindal, the birth of Earendil, the treachery of Maeglin, the sack of the city, and the escape of the fugitives -- a story that was a central element in his imagination of the First Age -- was the narrative composed in his youth.