The Lays of Beleriand (39 page)

are frail as breath. From this dark yoke

of pain shall neither ever go,

whether he learn our names or no, 2585

with Thu's consent. Nay more, I think

yet deeper of torment we should drink,

knew he that son of Barahir

and Felagund were captive here,

and even worse if he should know 2590

the dreadful errand we did go.'

A devil's laugh they ringing heard

within their pit. 'True, true the word

I hear you speak,' a voice then said.

"Twere little loss if he were dead, 2595

the outlaw mortal. But the king,

the Elf undying, many a thing

no man could suffer may endure.

Perchance, when what these walls immure

of dreadful anguish thy folk learn, 2600

their king to ransom they will yearn

with gold and gem and high hearts cowed;

or maybe Celegorm the proud

will deem a rival's prison cheap,

and crown and gold himself will keep. 2605

Perchance, the errand I shall know,

ere all is done, that ye did go.

The wolf is hungry, the hour is nigh;

no more need Beren wait to die.'

The slow time passed. Then in the gloom 2610

two eyes there glowed. He saw his doom,

Beren, silent, as his bonds he strained

beyond his mortal might enchained.

Lo! sudden there was rending sound

of chains that parted and unwound, 2615

of meshes broken. Forth there leaped

upon the wolvish thing that crept

in shadow faithful Felagund,

careless of fang or venomed wound.

There in the dark they wrestled slow, 2620

remorseless, snarling, to and fro,

teeth in flesh, gripe on throat,

fingers locked in shaggy coat,

spurning Beren who there lying

heard the werewolf gasping, dying. 2625

Then a voice he heard: 'Farewell!

On earth I need no longer dwell,

friend and comrade, Beren bold.

My heart is burst, my limbs are cold.

Here all my power I have spent 2630

to break my bonds, and dreadful rent

of poisoned teeth is in my breast.

I now must go to my long rest

neath Timbrenting in timeless halls

where drink the Gods, where the light falls 2635

upon the shining sea.' Thus died the king,

as elvish singers yet do sing.

There Beren lies. His grief no tear,

his despair no horror has nor fear,

waiting for footsteps, a voice, for doom. 2640

Silences profounder than the tomb

of long-forgotten kings, neath years

and sands uncounted laid on biers

and buried everlasting-deep,

slow and unbroken round him creep. 2645

The silences were sudden shivered

to silver fragments. Faint there quivered

a voice in song that walls of rock,

enchanted hill, and bar and lock,

and powers of darkness pierced with light. 2650

He felt about him the soft night

of many stars, and in the air

were rustlings and a perfume rare;

the nightingales were in the trees,

slim fingers flute and viol seize 2655

beneath the moon, and one more fair

than all there be or ever were

upon a lonely knoll of stone

in shimmering raiment danced alone.

Then in his dream it seemed he sang, 2660

and loud and fierce his chanting rang,

old songs of battle in the North,

of breathless deeds, of marching forth

to dare uncounted odds and break

great powers, and towers, and strong walls shake; 2665

and over all the silver fire

that once Men named the Burning Briar,

the Seven Stars that Varda set

about the North, were burning yet,

a light in darkness, hope in woe, 2670

the emblem vast of Morgoth's foe.

'Huan, Huan! I hear a song

far under welling, far but strong;

a song that Beren bore aloft.

I hear his voice, I have heard if oft 2675

in dream and wandering.' Whispering low

thus Luthien spake. On the bridge of woe

in mantle wrapped at dead of night

she sat and sang, and to its height

and to its depth the Wizard*s Isle, 2680

rock upon rock and pile on pile,

trembling echoed. The werewolves howled,

and Huan hidden lay and growled

watchful listening in the dark,

waiting for battle cruel and stark. 2685

Thu heard that voice, and sudden stood

wrapped in his cloak and sable hood

in his high tower. He listened long,

and smiled, and knew that elvish song.

'A! little Luthien! What brought 2690

the foolish fly to web unsought?

Morgoth! a great and rich reward

to me thou wilt owe when to thy hoard

this jewel is added.' Down he went,

and forth his messengers he sent. 2695

Still Luthien sang. A creeping shape

with bloodred tongue and jaws agape

stole on the bridge; but she sang on

with trembling limbs and wide eyes wan.

The creeping shape leaped to her side, 2700

and gasped, and sudden fell and died.

And still they came, still one by one,

and each was seized, and there were none

returned with padding feet to tell

that a shadow lurketh fierce and fell 2705

at the bridge's end, and that below

the shuddering waters loathing flow

o'er the grey corpses Huan killed.

A mightier shadow slowly filled

the narrow bridge, a slavering hate, 2710

an awful werewolf fierce and great:

pale Draugluin, the old grey lord

of wolves and beasts of blood abhorred,

that fed on flesh of Man and Elf

beneath the chair of Thu himself. 2715

No more in silence did they fight.

Howling and baying smote the night,

till back by the chair where he had fed

to die the werewolf yammering fled.

'Huan is there' he gasped and died, 2720

and Thu was filled with wrath and pride.

'Before the mightiest he shall fall,

before the mightiest wolf of all',

so thought he now, and thought he knew

how fate long spoken should come true. 2725

Now there came slowly forth and glared

into the night a shape long-haired,

dank with poison, with awful eyes

wolvish, ravenous; but there lies

a light therein more cruel and dread 2730

than ever wolvish eyes had fed.

More huge were its limbs, its jaws more wide, its fangs more gleaming-sharp, and dyed

with venom, torment, and with death.

The deadly vapour of its breath 2735

swept on before it. Swooning dies

the song of Luthien, and her eyes

are dimmed and darkened with a fear,

cold and poisonous and drear.

Thus came Thu, as wolf more great 2740

than e'er was seen from Angband's gate

to the burning south, than ever lurked

in mortal lands or murder worked.

Sudden he sprang, and Huan leaped

aside in shadow. On he swept 2745

to Luthien lying swooning faint.

To her drowning senses came the taint

of his foul breathing, and she stirred;

dizzily she spake a whispered word,

her mantle brushed across his face. 2750

He stumbled staggering in his pace.

Out leaped Huan. Back he sprang.

Beneath the stars there shuddering rang

the cry of hunting wolves at bay,

the tongue of hounds that fearless slay. 2755

Backward and forth they leaped and ran

feinting to flee, and round they span,

and bit and grappled, and fell and rose.

Then suddenly Huan holds and throws

his ghastly foe; his throat he rends, 2760

choking his life. Not so it ends.

From shape to shape, from wolf to worm,

from monster to his own demon form,

Thu changes, but that desperate grip

he cannot shake, nor from it slip. 2765

No wizardry, nor spell, nor dart,

no fang, nor venom, nor devil's art

could harm that hound that hart and boar

had hunted once in Valinor.

Nigh the foul spirit Morgoth made 2770

and bred of evil shuddering strayed

from its dark house, when Luthien rose

and shivering looked upon his throes.

'0 demon dark, 0 phantom vile

of foulness wrought, of lies and guile, 2775

here shalt thou die, thy spirit roam

quaking back to thy master's home

his scorn and fury to endure;

thee he will in the bowels immure

of groaning earth, and in a hole 2780

everlastingly thy naked soul

shall wail and gibber - this shall be,

unless the keys thou render me

of thy black fortress, and the spell

that bindeth stone to stone thou tell, 2785

and speak the words of opening.'

With gasping breath and shuddering

he spake, and yielded as he must,

and vanquished betrayed his master's trust.

Lo! by the bridge a gleam of light, 2790

like stars descended from the night

to burn and tremble here below.

There wide her arms did Luthien throw,

and called aloud with voice as clear

as still at whiles may mortal hear 2795

long elvish trumpets o'er the hill

echo, when all the world is still.

The dawn peered over mountains wan,

their grey heads silent looked thereon.

The hill trembled; the citadel 2800

crumbled, and all its towers fell;

the rocks yawned and the bridge broke,

and Sirion spumed in sudden smoke.

Like ghosts the owls were flying seen

hooting in the dawn, and bats unclean 2805

went skimming dark through the cold airs

shrieking thinly to find new lairs

in Deadly Nightshade's branches dread.

The wolves whimpering and yammering fled

like dusky shadows. Out there creep 2810

pale forms and ragged as from sleep,

crawling, and shielding blinded eyes:

the captives in fear and in surprise

from dolour long in clinging night

beyond all hope set free to light. 2815

A vampire shape with pinions vast

screeching leaped from the ground, and passed, its dark blood dripping on the trees;

and Huan neath him lifeless sees

a wolvish corpse - for Thu had flown 2820

to Taur-na-Fuin, a new throne

and darker stronghold there to build.

The captives came and wept and shrilled

their piteous cries of thanks and praise.

But Luthien anxious-gazing stays. 2825

Beren comes not. At length she said:

'Huan, Huan, among the dead

must we then find him whom we sought,

for love of whom we toiled and fought?'

Then side by side from stone to stone 2830

o'er Sirion they climbed. Alone

unmoving they him found, who mourned

by Felagund, and never turned

to see what feet drew halting nigh.

'A! Beren, Beren!'came her cry, 2835

'almost too late have I thee found?

Alas! that here upon the ground

the noblest of the noble race

in vain thy anguish doth embrace!

Alas! in tears that we should meet 2840

who once found meeting passing sweet! '

Her voice such love and longing filled

he raised his eyes, his mourning stilled,

and felt his heart new-turned to flame

for her that through peril to him came. 2845

'O Luthien, O Luthien,

more fair than any child of Men,

O loveliest maid of Elfinesse,

what might of love did thee possess

to bring thee here to terror's lair! 2850

O lissom limbs and shadowy hair,

O flower-entwined brows so white,

O slender hands in this new light! '

She found his arms and swooned away

just at the rising of the day. 2855

*

NOTES.

2637. elfin B, not here emended, but it is clear that the intention was to change elfin to elvish (elven) in all cases.

2666-7. Cf. lines 377 - 9 and note. In the present passage A's reading is as B.

2699. Line marked with an X on the B-text.

2712 - 13. These lines (referring to Draugluin) not in A.

2722-3. Cf. lines 2293 - 4.

2755. Line marked with an X on the B-text.

2766-7. Cf. lines 2288-9.

2769. After this line is written the date 'April 4th'. The previous date was 3 April 1928 at line 2423.

2842. Cf. line 741.

2854-5. Cf. the ending of Canto III, lines 756 - 7.

Commentary on Canto IX.

Synopsis I continues from the point reached on p. 244: Huan goes with her. She goes to the castle of the Lord of Wolves and sings for him. The captives in the dungeons hear her.

It was written in the fate of Huan that he could only be slain by a wolf.

She tells (by arrangement) of the sickness of Huan and so induces the Lord of Wolves to go werewolf and seek him. The wolf-battle of the glade. The 'words of opening' wrung from the Lord of Wolves and the castle broken. Rescue of Beren.

Synopsis II is here less affected by later changes and can be given in a single text (taking it up from the point reached on p. 246).