The Lays of Beleriand (4 page)

He drew forth daintily a dear treasure,

450

455

460

465

470

475

480

a comb of gold that he kept about him,

and tendered it to Turin; but he turned not his eyes, nor deigned to heed or harken to Orgof,

who too deep drunken that disdain should quell him:

'Nay, an thou knowest not thy need of comb,

nor its use,' quoth he, 'too young thou leftest thy mother's ministry, and 'twere meet to go

that she teach thee tame thy tangled locks --

if the women of Hithlum be not wild and loveless, uncouth and unkempt as their cast-off sons.'

485

490

Then a fierce fury, like a fire blazing,

was born of bitterness in his bruised heart;

his white wrath woke at the words of scorn

for the women of Hithlum washed in tears;

and a heavy horn to his hand lying,

with gold adorned for good drinking,

of his might unmindful thus moved in ire

he seized and, swinging, swiftly flung it

in the face of Orgof. 'Thou fool', he said,

'fill thy mouth therewith, and to me no further thus witless prate by wine bemused' --

but his face was broken, and he fell backward, and heavy his head there hit upon the stone

of the floor rock-paved mid flagons and vessels of the o'erturned table that tumbled on him

as clutching he fell; and carped no more,

in death silent. There dumb were all

at bench and board; in blank amaze

they rose around him, as with ruth of heart

he gazed aghast on his grievous deed,

on his wine-stained hand, with wondering eyes half-comprehending. On his heel then he turned into the night striding, and none stayed him; but some their swords half slipped from sheaths

-- they were Orgof's kin -- yet for awe of Thingol they dared not draw while the dazed king

stonefaced stared on his stricken thane

and no sign showed them. But the slayer weary his hands laved in the hidden stream

that strikes 'fore the gates, nor stayed his tears:

'Who has cast,' he cried, 'a curse upon me;

495

500

505

510

515

520

for all I do is ill, and an outlaw now,

in bitter banishment and blood-guilty,

of my fosterfather I must flee the halls,

nor look on the lady beloved again' --

yea, his heart to Hithlum had hastened him now, but that road he dared not, lest the wrath he draw of the Elves after him, and their anger alight should speed the spears in despite of Morgoth o'er the hills of Hithlum to hunt him down;

lest a doom more dire than they dreed of old

be meted his mother and the Maid of Tears.

525

530

In the furthest folds of the Forest of Doriath, in the darkest dales on its drear borders,

in haste he hid him, lest the hunt take him;

and they found not his footsteps who fared after, the thanes of Thingol; who thirty days

sought him sorrowing, and searched in vain

with no purpose of ill, but the pardon bearing of Thingol throned in the Thousand Caves.

He in council constrained the kin of Orgof

to forget their grief and forgiveness show,

in that wilful bitterness had barbed the words of Orgof the Elf; said 'his hour had come

that his soul should seek the sad pathway

to the deep valley of the Dead Awaiting,

there a thousand years thrice to ponder

in the gloom of Gurthrond his grim jesting,

ere he fare to Faerie to feast again.'

Yet of his own treasure he oped the gates,

and gifts ungrudging of gold and gems

to the sons he gave of the slain; and his folk well deemed the deed. But that doom of the King Turin knew not, and turned against him

the hands of the Elves he unhappy believed,

wandering the woodland woeful-hearted;

for his fate would not that the folk of the caves should harbour longer Hurin's offspring.

535

540

545

550

555

*

NOTES.

8.

13.

17.

20.

22.

25.

29.

50.

51.

73.

(Throughout the Notes statements such as 'Delimorgoth A, and B as typed' (line x x) imply that the reading in the printed text (in that case Delu-Morgoth) is a later emendation made to B).

Hurin is Urin in the Lost Tales (and still when this poem was begun, see note to line 213), and his name Thalion 'Steadfast', found in The Silmarillion and the Narn, does not occur in them (though he is called 'the Steadfast').11.

Delimorgoth A, and B as typed. Morgoth occurs once only in the Lost Tales, in the typescript version of the Tale of Tinuviel (II.44); see note to line 20.

Ninin Udathriol A, and B as typed; this occurs in the Tale (II. 84; for explanation of the name see II. 346). When changing Udathriol to Unothradin my father wrote in the margin of B: 'or Nirnaithos Unothradin'.

Above Erithamrod is pencilled in A Urinthalion.

B as typed had Belcha, which was then changed through Belegor, Melegor, to Bauglir. (A has a different reading here: as a myriad rats in measureless army/might pull down the proudest...) Belcha occurs in the typescript version of the Tale of Tinuviel (II. 44), where Belcha Morgoth are said to be Melko's names among the Gnomes.

Bauglir is found as a name of Morgoth in The Silmarillion and the Narn.

Melko's A; Belcha's B as typed, then the line changed to To the halls of Belegor (> Melegor), and finally to the reading given. See note to.line 20.

Above Erithamrod in A is written Urin Thalion (see note to line 17); Urin > Hurin, and a direction to read Thalion Hurin.

Finweg's son A, and B as typed; the emendation is a later one, and at the same time my father wrote in the margin of B

'he was Fingolfin's son', clearly a comment on the change of son to heir. Finweg is Finwe Noleme Lord of the Noldoli, who in the Last Tales was Turgon's father (I. 115), not as he afterwards became his grandfather.

Kor > Cor A, Cor B as typed. When emending Cor to Corthun my father wrote in the margin of B: 'Corthun or Tun'.

Thalion A, and B as typed.

Delimorgoth A, and B as typed (as at line 11).

In B there is a mark of insertion between lines 72 and 73. This probably refers to a line in A, not taken up into B: bound by the (> my) spell of bottomless (> unbroken) might.

75.

84.

105.

117.

120.

121.

137.

160.

213.

218.

226.

230.

306.

Belcha A, and B as typed; the same chain of emendations in B as at lines 20 and 22.

Bauglir: as at line 75.

Mavwin A, and B as typed; in B then emended to Mailwin, and back to Mavwin; Morwin written later in the margin of B. Exactly the same at 129, and at 137 though here without Morwin in the margin; at 145 Mavwin unemended, but Morwin in the margin. Thereafter Mavwin stands unemended and without marginal note, as far as 438 (see note).

For consistency I read Morwin throughout the first version of the poem. -- Mavwin is the form in the Tale; Mailwin does not occur elsewhere.

On the variation Nienori/Nienor in the Tale see II. 118 -- 19.

Tinuviel A, Tinwiel B unemended but with Tinuviel in the margin. Tinwiel does not occur elsewhere.

Ermabwed 'One-handed' is Beren's title or nickname in the Lost Tales.

Gumlin is named in the Tale (II. 74, etc.); the younger of the two guardians of Turin on his journey to Doriath (here called Halog) is not.

Belcha A, and B as typed, emended to Bauglir. Cf. notes to lines 20, 22, 75.

Urin > Hurin A; but Hurin A in line 216.

Ninin Udathriol A, and B as typed; cf. line 13.

The distinction between 'Gnomes' and 'Elves' is still made; see I. 43 -- 4.

Dorwinion A.

For Mavwin was Melian moved to ruth A, and B as typed, with Then was Melian moved written in the margin.

The second half-line has only three syllables unless moved is read moved, which is not satisfactory. The second version of the poem has here For Morwen Melian was moved to ruth. Cf. lines 494, 519.

333.

Turin Thaliodrin A (cf. line 115), emended to the son of 361.

364.

392.

408.

430.

431.

Thalion.

Glamhoth appears in The Fall of Gondolin (II. 160), with is the translation 'folk of dreadful hate'.

Belcha A, and B as typed; then > Melegor > Bauglir in B.

Bauglir: as at line 364.

Morgoth Belcha A, and B as typed.

Kor > Cor A, Cor B as typed. Cf. line 50.

Tengwethil A, and B as typed. In the early Gnomish dictionary and in the Name-list to The Fall of Condolin the Gnomish name of Taniquetil is Danigwethil (I. 266, II. 337).

438.

Mavwin A, and B as typed, but Mavwin > Morwen a later 450.

461-3.

471.

472.

494

514-16.

517.

519.

emendation in 8. I read Morwin throughout the first version of the poem (see note to line 105).

Cuinlimfin A, and B as typed; Cuivienen a later emendation in B. The form in the Lost Tales is Koivie-Neni; Cuinlimfin occurs nowhere else.

These lines bracketed and marked with an X in B.

This line marked with an X in B.

Mavwin > Morwen B; see line 438.

all mashed in tears A, washed in tears B (half-line of three syllables), with an X in the margin and an illegible word written in pencil before washed. Cf. lines 306, 519. The second version of the poem does not reach this point.

Against these lines my father wrote in the margin of B: 'Make Orgof's kin set on him and T. fight his way out.'

stonefaced stared: the accent on stonefaced was put in later and the line marked with an X. -- In his essay On Translating Beowulf (1940; The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983) p. 67) my father gave stared stonyfaced as an example of an Old English metrical type.

his hands laved: the line is marked with an X in B. Cf. lines 528.

529.

548.

306, 494.

With the half-line and their anger alight the second, more finished, part of the manuscript A begins; see p. 4.

Belcha A, Morgoth B as typed.

Guthrond A, and B as typed.

Commentary on the Prologue

and Part I 'Turin's Fostering'.

The opening section or 'Prologue' of the poem derives from the opening of the Tale (II. 70 -- 1) and in strictly narrative terms there has been little development. In lines 18 -- z t (and especially in the rejected line in A, as a myriad rats in measureless army lmighf pull down the proudest) is clearly foreshadowed the story in The Silmarillion (p. 195):

... they took him at last alive, by the command of Morgoth, for the Orcs grappled him with their hands, which clung to him though he hewed off their arms; and ever their numbers were renewed, until at last he fell buried beneath them.

On the other hand the motive in the later story for capturing him alive (Morgoth knew that Hurin had been to Gondolin) is necessarily not present, since Gondolin in the older phases of the legends was not discovered till Turgon retreated down Sirion after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (II. 120, 208). That he was taken alive by Morgoth's command is however already stated in the poem (line 20), though it is not explained why. In the Tale Morgoth's interest in Hurin as a tool for the discovery of Turgon arose from his knowledge that the Elves of Kor thought little of Men, holding them in scant fear or suspicion for their blindness and lack of skill

-- an idea that is repeated in the poem (46 -- 8); but this idea seems only to have arisen in Morgoth's mind when he came to Hurin in his dungeon (44ff.).

The place of Hurin's torment (in the Tale 'a lofty place of the mountains') is now defined as a stool of stone on the steepest peak of, Thangorodrim; and this is the first occurrence of that name.

In the change of son to heir in line 29 is seen the first hint of a development in the kingly house of the Noldoli, with the appearance of a second generation between Finwe (Finweg) and Turgon; but by the time that my father pencilled this change on the text (and noted 'He was Fingolfin's son') the later genealogical structure was already in being, and this is as it were a casual indication of it.

In 'Turin's Fostering' there is a close relationship between the Tale ]

and the poem, extending to many close similarities of wording -- especially abundant in the scene in Thingol's hall leading to the death of Orgof; and some phrases had a long life, surviving from the Tale, through the poem, and into the.Narn i Hin Hurin, as

rather would she dwell poor among Men than live sweetly as an almsguest among the woodland Elves(II. 73)

but to spend her days

as alms-guest of others, even Elfin kings,

it liked her little

(284 -- 6)

she would not yet humble her pride to be an alms-guest, not even of a king(Narn p. 70)

-- though in the Narn the 'alms-guest' passage occurs at a different point, before Turin left Hithlum (Morwen's hope that Hurin would come back is in the Narn her reason for not journeying to Doriath with her son, not for refusing the 1ater invitation to her to go).

Of Morwen's situation in Dor-lomin after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears there are a few things to say. In the poem (111--13) men unmindful of his mighty lordship

dwelt in Dorlomin and dealt unkindly

with his widowed wife

-- echoing the Tale: 'the strange men who dwelt nigh knew not the dignity of the Lady Mavwin', but there is still no indication of who these men were or where they came from (see II. 126). As so often, the narrative situation was prepared but its explanation had not emerged. The un-clarity of the Tale as to where Urin dwelt before the great Battle (see II.120) is no longer present: the dwelling was dear where he dwelt of old (288). Nienor was born before Turin left (on the contradiction in the Tale on this point see II. 131); and the chronology of Turin's childhood is still that of the Tale (see II. 142): seven years old when he left Hithlum (332), seven years in Doriath while tidings still came from Morwen (333), twelve years since he came to Doriath when he slew Orgof (471). In the later story the last figure remained unchanged, which suggests that the X (mark of dissatisfaction) placed against line 471 had some other reason.