The Lays of Beleriand (5 page)

There are several references in the poem to Hurin and Beren having been friends and fellows-in-arms (122 -- 4., 248 -- 9, 298). In the Tale it was said originally (when Beren was a Man) that Egnor Beren's father was akin to Mavwin; this was replaced by a different passage (when Beren had become a Gnome) according to which Egnor was a friend of Urin ('and Beren Ermabwed son of Egnor he knew'); see I I. 71 -- 2, 139. In the later version of the Tale of Tinuviel (II.44) Urin is named as the 'brother in arms' of Egnor; this was emended to make Urin's relationship with Beren himself -- as in the poem. In The Silmarillion (p. 198) Morwen thought to send Turin to Thingol 'for Beren son of Barahir was her father's kinsman, and he had been moreover a friend of Hurin, ere evil befell'. There is no mention of the fact in the Narn (p. 63): Morwen merely says: 'Am I not now kin of the king [Thingol]? For Beren son of Barahir was grandson of Bregor, as was my father also.'

That Beren was still an Elf, not a Man, (deducible on other grounds) is apparent from lines 178 -- 9:

and never ere now for need or wonder

had children of Men chosen that pathway

-- cf. the Tale (II. 72): 'and Turin son of Urin was the first of Men to tread that way', changed from the earlier reading 'and Beren Ermabwed was the first of Men...'

In the parting of Turin from his mother comparison with the Tale will show some subtle differences which need not be spelled out here. The younger of Turin's guardians is now named, Halog (and it is said that Gumlin and Halog were the only 'henchmen' left to Morwen).

Some very curious things are said of Beleg in the poem. He is twice (200, 399) called 'a (the) son of the wilderness who wist no sire', and at line 416 he is 'Beleg the ageless'. There seems to be a mystery about him, an otherness that sets him apart (as he set himself apart, 195) from the Elves of Thingol's lordship (see further p. 127). It may be that there is still a trace of this in the 1930 'Silmarillion', where it is said that none went from Doriath to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears save Mablung, and Beleg 'who obeyed no man' (in the later text this becomes 'nor any out of Doriath save Mablung and Beleg, who were unwilling to have no part in these great deeds. To them Thingol gave leave to go...', The Silmarillion p. 189). In the poem (219) Beleg says expressly that he did not go to the great Battle. -- His great bow of black yew-wood (so in The Silmarillion, p. 208, where it is named Belthronding) now appears (400): in the Tale he is not particularly marked out as a bowman (II. 123).

Beleg's The gods have guided you (215) and Turin's guardians'

thought the gods are good (244) accord with references in the Lost Tales to the influence of the Valar on Men and Elves in the Great Lands: see II. 141.

The potent wine that Beleg carried and gave to the travellers from his flask (223 ff.) is notable -- brought from the burning South and by long mays carried to the lands of the North -- as is the name of the land from which it came: Dor-Winion (230, 425). The only other places in my father's writings where this name occurs (so far as I know) are in The Hobbit, Chapter IX Barrels out of Bond: 'the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion', and 'the wine of Dorwinion brings deep and pleasant dreams'.* See further p. 127.

The curious element in Thingol's message to Morwen in the Tale, explaining why he did not go with his people to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (II. 73), has now been rejected; but with Morwen's response to the messengers out of Doriath there enters the legend the Dragon-helm of Dor-lomin (297 ff.). As yet little is told of it (though more is said in the second version of the poem, see p. 126): Hurin often bore it in battle (in the Narn it is denied that he used it, p. 76); it magically protected its wearer (as still in the Narn, p. 75); and it was arith that token crowned of the towering dragon, and o'erwritten with runes by wrights of old (cf. the Narn: 'on it were graven runes of victory'). But nothing is here said of how Hurin came by it, beyond the fact that it was his heirloom. Very notable is the passage (307 ff.) in which is described Thingol's handling of the helm as his hoard were scant, despite his possession of dungeons filled/with Elfin armouries of ancient gear. I have commented previously (see II. 128 -- 9, 245 -- 6) on the early emphasis on the poverty of Tinwelint (Thingol): here we have the first appearance of the idea of his wealth (present also at the beginning of the Lay of Leithian). Also notable is the close echoing of the lines of the poem in the words of the Narn, p. 76:

*Doncinion is marked on the decorated map by Pauline Bayncs, as a region on the North-western shores of the Sea of Rhun. It must bc presumed that this, like other names on that map, was communicated to her by my father (see Unfinished Tales p. 261, footnote), but its placing seems surprising.) Yet Thingol handled the Helm of Hador as though his hoard were scanty, and he spoke courteous words, saying: 'Proud were the head that bore this helm, which the sires of Hurin bore.'

There is also a clear echo of lines 315-18

Then a thought was thrust into Thingol's heart, and Turin he called and told when come

that Morwin his mother a mighty thing

had sent to her son, his sire's heirloom

in the prose of the Narn:

Then a thought came to him, and he summoned Turin, and told him that Morwen had sent to her son a mighty thing, the heirloom of his fathers.

Compare also the passages that follow in both works, concerning Turin's being too young to lift the Helm, and being in any case too unhappy to heed it on account of his mother's refusal to leave Hithlum. This was the first of his sorrows (328); in the Narn (p. 75) the second.

The account of Turin's character in boyhood (341 ff.) is very close to that in the Tale (II. 74), which as I have noted before (II. 121) survived into the Narn (p. 77): the latter account indeed echoes the poem ('he learned much lore', 'neither did he win friendship easily'). In the poem it is now added that in cueaving song/he had a minstrel's mastery, but mirth was not in it.

An important new element in the narrative enters with the companion-ship of Beleg and Turin (wearing the Dragon-helm, 377) in warfare on the marches of Doriath:

how Beleg the ageless was brother-in-arms

to the black-haired boy from the beaten people. (416 -- 17) Of this there is no mention in the Tale at all (II. 74). Cf. my Commentary, II. 122:

Turin's prowess against the Orcs during his sojourn in Artanor is given a more central or indeed unique importance in the tale ('he held the wrath of Melko from them for many years'), especially as Beleg, his companion-in-arms in the later versions, is not here mentioned.

In the poem the importance to Doriath of Turin's warfare is not diminished, however:

for by him was holden the hand of ruin

from Thingol's folk, and Thu feared him (389 -- 90) We meet here for the first time Thu, thane most mighty/neath Morgoth Bauglir. It is interesting to learn that Thu knew of Turin and feared him, also that Morgoth ordered Thu to assault Doriath: this story will reappear in the Lay of Leithian.

In the story of Turin and Orgof the verses are very clearly following the prose of the Tale, and there are many close likenesses of wording, as already noted. The relation of this scene to the later story has been discussed previously (II. 121 -- 2). Orgof still has Gnome-blood, which may imply the continuance of the story that there were Gnomes among Thingol's people (see II. 43). The occasion of Turin's return from the forest to the Thousand Caves (a name that first occurs in the poem) becomes, as it seems, a great feast, with songs of Valinor -- quite unlike the later story, where the occasion is in no way marked out and Thingol and Melian were not in Menegroth (Narn p. 79); and Turin and Orgof were set on high/near the king and queen (i.e. presumably on the dais, at the 'high table'). Whether it was a rejection of this idea that caused my father to bracket lines 461 -- 3 and mark them with an X I cannot say. The secret songs of the sons of Ing referred to in this passage (421) are not indeed songs of the sons of Ing of the AElfwine history (II. 301 ff.); this Ing is the Gnomish form of Ingwe, Lord of the First Kindred of the Elves (earlier Inwe Lord of the Teleri).*

The lines concerning Orgof dead are noteworthy: 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:o ponder

in the gloom of Gurthrond his grim jesting,

ere he fare to Faerie to feast again.(

544-9)

With this compare the tale of The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor (I. 76):

There [in the hall of Ve] Mandos spake their doom, and there they waited in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until such time as he appointed when they might again be born into their children, and go forth to laugh and sing again.

The name Gurthrond (< Guthrond) occurs nowhere else; the first element is doubtless gurth 'death', as in the name of Turin's sword Gurtholfin (II. 342).

*That Ing is the Gnomish form of Ingwe appears from the 1926 'Sketch of the Mythology' and the 1930 'Silmarillion'. Ing was replaced by Inn e in The Cottage of Lost Play, but there the Gnomish name of Inwe is Inwithiel, changed from Gim Githil (I. 16, 22).)

There remain a few particular points concerning names. At line 366

Hithlum is explained as the name of Dorlomin among Men: of dark Dorlomin with its dreary pines

that Hithlum unhappy is hight by Men.

This is curious. In the Lost Tales the name of the land among Men was Aryador; so in the Tale of Turambar (II. 70): In those days my folk dwelt in a vale of Hisilome and that land did Men name Aryador in the tongues they then used.

In the 1930 'Silmarillion' it is specifically stated that Hithlum and Dorlomin were Gnomish names for Hisilome', and there seems every reason to suppose that this was always the case. The answer to the puzzle may however lie in the same passage of the Tale of Turambar, where it is said that

often was the story of Turambar and the Foaloke in their [i.e. Men's]

mouths -- but rather after the fashion of the Gnomes did they say Turumart and the Fuithlug.

Perhaps then the meaning of line 366 is that Men called Hisilome Hithlum because they used the Gnomish name, not that it was the name in their own tongue.

In the following lines (367 -- 8)

the Shadowy Mountains

fenced them from Faerie and the folk of the wood.

This is the first occurrence of the name Shadowy Mountains, and it is used as it was afterwards (Ered Wethrin); in the Last Tales the mountains forming the southern fence of Hithlum are called the Iron Mountains or the Bitter Hills (see II. 61).

The name Cuinlimfin of the Waters of Awakening (note to line 450) seems to have been a passing idea, soon abandoned.

Lastly, at line 50 occurs (by emendation in B from Cor) the unique compound name Corthun, while at 430 the city of Cor was emended to the city of Tun; see II. 292.

*

II.

BELEG.

Long time alone he lived in the hills

a hunter of beast and hater of Men,

or Orcs, or Elves, till outcast folk

560

there one by one, wild and reckless

around him rallied; and roaming far

they were feared by both foe and friend of old.

For hot with hate was the heart of Turin,

nor a friend found him such folk of Thingol

as he wandering met in the wood's fastness.

565

There Beleg the brave on the borders of Doriath they found and fought -- and few were with him --

and o'erborne by numbers they bound him at last, till their captain came to their camp at eve.

Afar from that fight his fate that day

had taken Turin on the trail of the Orcs,

as they hastened home to the Hills of Iron

with the loot laden of the lands of Men.

Then soon was him said that a servant of Thingol they had tied to a tree -- and Turin coming

stared astonied on the stern visage

of Beleg the brave his brother in arms,

of whom he learned the lore of leaping blades, and of bended bow and barbed shaft,

and the wild woodland's wisdom secret,

when they blent in battle the blood of their wounds.

570

575

580

Then Turin's heart was turned from hate,

and he bade unbind Beleg the huntsman.

'Now fare thou free! But, of friendship aught if thy heart yet holds for Hurin's son,

never tell thou tale that Turin thou sawst

an outlaw unloved from Elves and Men,

whom Thingol's thanes yet thirst to slay.

Betray not my trust or thy troth of yore! '

Then Beleg of the bow embraced him there --

he had not fared to the feast or the fall of Orgof --

there kissed him kindly comfort speaking:

'Lo! nought know I of the news thou tellest;

but outlawed or honoured thou ever shalt be

the brother of Beleg, come bliss come woe!

Yet little me likes that thy leaping sword

the life should drink of the leaguered Elves.

Are the grim Glamhoth then grown so few,

or the foes of Faerie feeble-hearted,

that warlike Men have no work to do?

585

590

595

600

Shall the foes of Faerie be friends of Men?

Betrayest thou thy troth whom we trusted of yore? '

'Nor of armed Orc, nor [of] Elf of the wood,

nor of any on earth have I honour or love,

0 Beleg the bowman. This band alone

I count as comrades, my kindred in woe

and friendless fate -- our foes the world.'

605

'Let the bow of Beleg to your band be joined; and swearing death to the sons of darkness

let us suage our sorrow and the smart of fate!

Our valour is not vanquished, nor vain the glory that once we did win in the woods of old.'

610

Thus hope in the heart of Hurin's offspring

awoke at those words; and them well liked

of that band the boldest, save Blodrin only --

Blodrin Bor's son, who for blood and for gold alone lusted, and little he recked