The Lays of Beleriand (46 page)

hearing in heart the trumpets loud

of gods forgotten. Morgoth spoke,

and thunderous the silence broke:

'Shadow, descend! And do not think

to cheat mine eyes! In vain to shrink 3925

from thy Lord's gaze, or seek to hide.

My will by none may be defied.

Hope nor escape doth here await

those that unbidden pass my gate.

Descend! ere anger blast thy wing, 3930

thou foolish, frail, bat-shapen thing,

and yet not bat within! Come down! '

Slow-wheeling o'er his iron crown,

reluctantly, shivering and small,

Beren there saw the shadow fall, 3935

and droop before the hideous throne,

a weak and trembling thing, alone.

And as thereon great Morgoth bent

his darkling gaze, he shuddering went,

belly to earth, the cold sweat dank 3940

upon his fell, and crawling shrank

beneath the darkness of that seat,

beneath the shadow of those feet.

Tinuviel spake, a shrill, thin, sound

piercing those silences profound: 3945

'A lawful errand here me brought;

from Thu's dark mansions have I sought,

from Taur-na-Fuin's shade I fare

to stand before thy mighty chair! '

'Thy name, thou shrieking waif, thy name! 3950

Tidings enough from Thu there came

but short while since. What would he now?

Why send such messenger as thou? '

'Thuringwethil I am, who cast

a shadow o'er the face aghast 3955

of the sallow moon in the doomed land

of shivering Beleriand.'

'Liar art thou, who shalt not weave

deceit before mine eyes. Now leave

thy form and raiment false, and stand 3960

revealed, and delivered to my hand! '

There came a slow and shuddering change:

the batlike raiment dark and strange

was loosed, and slowly shrank and fell

quivering. She stood revealed in hell. 3965

About her slender shoulders hung

her shadowy hair, and round her clung

her garment dark, where glimmered pale

the starlight caught in magic veil.

Dim dreams and faint oblivious sleep 3970

fell softly thence, in dungeons deep

an odour stole of elven-flowers

from elven-dells where silver showers

drip softly through the evening air;

and round there crawled with greedy stare 3975

dark shapes of snuffling hunger dread.

With arms upraised and drooping head

then softly she began to sing

a theme of sleep and slumbering,

wandering, woven with deeper spell 3980

than songs wherewith in ancient dell

Melian did once the twilight fill,

profound, and fathomless, and still.

The fires of Angband flared and died,

smouldered into darkness; through the wide 3985

and hollow halls there rolled unfurled

the shadows of the underworld.

All movement stayed, and all sound ceased,

save vaporous breath of Orc and beast.

One fire in darkness still abode: 3990

the lidless eyes of Morgoth glowed;

one sound the breathing silence broke:

the mirthless voice of Morgoth spoke.

'So Luthien, so Luthien,

a liar like all Elves and Men! 3995

Yet welcome, welcome, to my hall!

I have a use for every thrall.

What news of Thingol in his hole

shy lurking like a timid vole?

What folly fresh is in his mind, 4.000

who cannot keep his offspring blind

from straying thus? or can devise

no better counsel for his spies? '

She wavered, and she stayed her song.

'The road,' she said, 'was wild and long, 4005

but Thingol sent me not, nor knows

what way his rebellious daughter goes.

Yet every road and path will lead

Northward at last, and here of need

I trembling come with humble brow, 4010

and here before thy throne I bow;

for Luthien hath many arts

for solace sweet of kingly hearts.'

'And here of need thou shalt remain

now, Luthien, in joy or pain - 4015

or pain, the fitting doom for all,

for rebel, thief, and upstart thrall.

Why should ye not in our fate share

of woe and travail? Or should I spare

to slender limb and body frail 4020

breaking torment? Of what avail

here dost thou deem thy babbling song

and foolish laughter? Minstrels strong

are at my call. Yet I will give

a respite brief, a while to live, 4025

a little while, though purchased dear,

to Luthien the fair and clear,

a pretty toy for idle hour.

In slothful gardens many a flower

like thee the amorous gods are used 4030

honey-sweet to kiss, and cast then bruised,

their fragrance loosing, under feet.

But here we seldom find such sweet

amid our labours long and hard,

from godlike idleness debarred. 4035

And who would not taste the honey-sweet

lying to lips, or crush with feet

the soft cool tissue of pale flowers,

easing like gods the dragging hours?

A! curse the Gods! 0 hunger dire, 4040

0 blinding thirst's unending fire!

One moment shall ye cease, and slake

your sting with morsel I here take! '

In his eyes the fire to flame was fanned,

and forth he stretched his brazen hand. 4045

Luthien as shadow shrank aside.

'Not thus, 0 king! Not thus! ' she cried,

'do great lords hark to humble boon!

For every minstrel hath his tune;

and some are strong and some are soft, 4050

and each would bear his song aloft,

and each a little while be heard,

though rude the note, and light the word.

But Luthien hath cunning arts

for solace sweet of kingly hearts. 4055

Now hearken! ' And her wings she caught

then deftly up, and swift as thought

slipped from his grasp, and wheeling round,

fluttering before his eyes, she wound

a mazy-winged dance, and sped 4060

about his iron-crowned head.

Suddenly her song began anew;

and soft came dropping like a dew

down from on high in that domed hall

her voice bewildering, magical, 4065

and grew to silver-murmuring streams

pale falling in dark pools in dreams.

She let her flying raiment sweep,

enmeshed with woven spells of sleep,

as round the dark void she ranged and reeled. 4070

From wall to wall she turned and wheeled

in dance such as never Elf nor fay

before devised, nor since that day;

than swallow swifter, than flittermouse

in dying light round darkened house 4075

more silken-soft, more strange and fair

than sylphine maidens of the Air

whose wings in Varda's heavenly hall

in rhythmic movement beat and fall.

Down crumpled Orc, and Balrog proud; 4080

all eyes were quenched, all heads were bowed; the fires of heart and maw were stilled,

and ever like a bird she thrilled

above a lightless world forlorn

in ecstasy enchanted borne. 4085

All eyes were quenched, save those that glared in Morgoth's lowering brows, and stared

in slowly wandering wonder round,

and slow were in enchantment bound.

Their will wavered, and their fire failed, 4090

and as beneath his brows they paled,

the Silmarils like stars were kindled

that in the reek of Earth had dwindled

escaping upwards clear to shine,

glistening marvellous in heaven's mine. 4095

Then flaring suddenly they fell,

down, down upon the floors of hell.

The dark and mighty head was bowed;

like mountain-top beneath a cloud

the shoulders foundered, the vast form 410O

crashed, as in overwhelming storm

huge cliffs in ruin slide and fall;

and prone lay Morgoth in his hall.

His crown there rolled upon the ground,

a wheel of thunder; then all sound 4105

died, and a silence grew as deep

as were the heart of Earth asleep.

Beneath the vast and empty throne

the adders lay like twisted stone,

the wolves like corpses foul were strewn; 4110

and there lay Beren deep in swoon:

no thought, no dream nor shadow blind

moved in the darkness of his mind.

'Come forth, come forth! The hour hath knelled, and Angband's mighty lord is felled! 4115

Awake, awake! For we two meet

alone before the aweful seat.'

This voice came down into the deep

where he lay drowned in wells of sleep;

a hand flower-soft and flower-cool 4120

passed o'er his face, and the still pool

of slumber quivered. Up then leaped

his mind to waking; forth he crept.

The wolvish fell he flung aside

and sprang unto his feet, and wide 4125

staring amid the soundless gloom

he gasped as one living shut in tomb.

There to his side he felt her shrink,

felt Luthien now shivering sink,

her strength and magic dimmed and spent, 4130

and swift his arms about her went.

Before his feet he saw amazed

the gems of Feanor, that blazed

with white fire glistening in the crown

of Morgoth's might now fallen down. 4135

To move that helm of iron vast

no strength he found, and thence aghast

he strove with fingers mad to wrest

the guerdon of their hopeless quest,

till in his heart there fell the thought 4140

of that cold morn whereon he fought

with Curufin; then from his belt

the sheathless knife he drew, and knelt,

and tried its hard edge, bitter-cold,

o'er which in Nogrod songs had rolled 4145

of dwarvish armourers singing slow

to hammer-music long ago.

Iron as tender wood it clove

and mail as woof of loom it rove.

The claws of iron that held the gem, 4150

it bit them through and sundered them;

a Silmaril he clasped and held,

and the pure radiance slowly welled

red glowing through the clenching flesh.

Again he stooped and strove afresh 4155

one more of the holy jewels three

that Feanor wrought of yore to free.

But round those fires was woven fate:

not yet should they leave the halls of hate.

The dwarvish steel of cunning blade 4160

by treacherous smiths of Nogrod made

snapped; then ringing sharp and clear

in twain it sprang, and like a spear

or errant shaft the brow it grazed

of Morgoth's sleeping head, and dazed 4165

their hearts with fear. For Morgoth groaned

with voice entombed, like wind that moaned

in hollow caverns penned and bound.

There came a breath; a gasping sound

moved through the halls, as Orc and beast 4I70

turned in their dreams of hideous feast;

in sleep uneasy Balrogs stirred,

and far above was faintly heard

an echo that in tunnels rolled,

a wolvish howling long and cold. 4175

*

NOTES.

3840. At the beginning of the Canto is written the date 'Oct. I 1930'.

The previous date was 30 Sept. 1930 at line 3790.

3860. With this line the B typescript comes to an end, and the text continues to the end in fine manuscript.

3881. This line is dated 'Sept. 14 193 I . The previous date was x Oct.

I930 at line 3840.

3887. This line is dated 'Sept. 15' (1931).

3947. Late change in B: from Sauron's mansions hare I sought.See p. 232, note to lines 2064 - 6.

3951. Late change in B: Tidings enough from Sauron came.

3954. In the margin of B is written against Thuringwethil, at the time of the writing out of the text, 'sc. she of hidden shadow'.

3957. Beleriand A and B (i.e. not Broseliand emended).

3962. This line is dated 'Sep. 16 1931'.

magic > elvish in B, but this is doubtless a late change, when my father no longer used this once favourite word.

4029. Against this line is written the date 'Sep. 14', duplicating that given to line 3881.

4045. Against this line is written the date 'Sep. 16', duplicating that given to line 3962.

4085. After this line is written the last date in the A manuscript,

'Sept. 17 1931'.

4092-3. These lines were written in the margin of B, but the original lines:

the Silmarils were lit like stars

that fume of Earth upreeking mars

were not struck out.

4163-6. A: in twain it sprang; and quaking fear fell on their hearts, for Morgoth groaned

Commentary on Canto XIII.

There is not much to be learnt from the Synopses concerning this part of the narrative, but the Angband scene was never greatly changed from its original form in the Tale of Tinuviel (II. 31 ff.). Synopsis I is at the end reduced to mere headings, II has given out, and IV does not deal with the entry into Angband. III, given on pp. 293 - 4 as far as the enchantment of Carcharoth, continues:

After endless wanderings in corridors they stumble into the presence of Morgoth. Morgoth speaks. 'Who art thou that flittest about my halls as a bat, but art not a bat? Thou dost not belong here, nor wert thou summoned. Who has ever come here unsummoned? None! "But I was summoned. I am Luthien daughter of Thingol.' Then Morgoth laughed, but he was moved with suspicion, and said that her accursed race would get no soft words or favour in Angband. What could she do to give him pleasure, and save herself from the lowest dungeons? He reached out his mighty brazen hand but she shrank away. He is angry but she offers to dance.