03:P7c§III
The Lay of Leithian (§III)

More information on this P-text coming soon.

Volume: The Lays of Beleriand
Chapter: The Lay of Leithian (Canto III: Beren’s meeting with Lúthien)
Pages: 171–180
Paragraph count: 358
Token count: 2,275

Citation Index

Page numbers refer to the setting used by all editions other than mass-market paperbacks.

p171
III
⸤¶There once, and
⸤¶before the sun
⸤¶were lit to
⸤¶when first the
⸤¶and shadowy shapes
⸤¶beneath the dark
⸤¶that hung above
⸤¶the silences with
⸤¶were shaken; the
p172
⸤¶the birds of
⸤¶the first to
⸤¶the nightingales with
⸤¶she fed, that
⸤¶and dark and
⸤¶beneath her silver
⸤¶and down unto
⸤¶She had wayward
⸤¶from gardens of
⸤¶the everlasting mountains
⸤¶that look upon
⸤¶and never wandered
⸤¶and softly sang
⸤¶Her voice it
⸤¶and sudden singing
⸤¶in that old
⸤¶had all the
⸤¶Yet all his
⸤¶as old tales
⸤¶on the last
⸤¶where mighty ships
⸤¶they made, and
⸤¶The Gods them
⸤¶and gardens fair,
⸤¶together flow, and
⸤¶But Thingol stayed,
⸤¶one moment to
⸤¶of that sweet
⸤¶Enchanted moments such
⸤¶from gardens of
⸤¶where fountains play
⸤¶do come, and
⸤¶in mortal lands.
⸤¶his people seek
⸤¶while Thingol listens
⸤¶There after but
⸤¶he finds her
⸤¶pale Melian with
⸤¶upon a bed
⸤¶There slumber and
⸤¶He touched her
p173
⸤¶was drowned in
⸤¶and dark the
⸤¶Thus Thingol sailed
⸤¶but dwelt amid
⸤¶and Melian he
⸤¶whose voice was
⸤¶the Valar drink
⸤¶where flower blooms
⸤¶but when she
⸤¶and no flower
⸤¶A king and
⸤¶and Doriath was
⸤¶and all the
⸤¶and never found
⸤¶the gleaming walls
⸤¶by the grey
⸤¶who never trod
⸤¶where the towers
⸤¶all these were
⸤¶beneath the beech
⸤¶In later days
⸤¶fleeing the Gods,
⸤¶and on the
⸤¶and in the
⸤¶founded and fortified,
⸤¶the newborn race
⸤¶unto his power,
⸤¶his slaves, or
⸤¶or scattered fastnesses
⸤¶upraised upon his
⸤¶and each one
⸤¶in Doriath beyond
⸤¶Thingol and deathless
⸤¶whose magic yet
⸤¶that cometh from
⸤¶Here still was
⸤¶and leaves were
⸤¶and many marvels
⸤¶In sunshine and
⸤¶with silken robe
p174
⸤¶the daughter of
⸤¶now danced on
⸤¶half elven-fair and
⸤¶and when the
⸤¶unseen but near
⸤¶and in the
⸤¶or seated on
⸤¶Dairon the dark
⸤¶played with bewildering
⸤¶music for breaking
⸤¶Such players have
⸤¶thrice in all
⸤¶Tinfang Gelion who
⸤¶enchants on summer
⸤¶and kindles the
⸤¶and he who
⸤¶forgotten beaches and
⸤¶where western foam
⸤¶Maglor whose voice
⸤¶and Dairon, mightiest
⸤¶Now it befell
⸤¶upon a lawn
⸤¶yet lay and
⸤¶that Lúthien danced
⸤¶The chestnuts on
⸤¶their flowering candles,
⸤¶there darkling stood
⸤¶and pale beneath
⸤¶there glimmered faint
⸤¶of hemlocks like
⸤¶the moths on
⸤¶with tiny eyes
⸤¶were fluttering softly,
⸤¶crept out to
⸤¶the little owls
⸤¶the moon was
⸤¶Her arms like
⸤¶her long hair
⸤¶her feet atwinkle
⸤¶in misty mazes
⸤¶and glowworms shimmered
p175
⸤¶and moths in
⸤¶above her head
⸤¶and this the
⸤¶uprisen slow, and
⸤¶above the branches
⸤¶Then clearly thrilled
⸤¶with sudden ecstasy
⸤¶a song of
⸤¶and with her
⸤¶to such bewildering
⸤¶the moon hung
⸤¶And this it
⸤¶and this he
⸤¶enchanted dumb, yet
⸤¶of such a
⸤¶that all his
⸤¶her magic bound
⸤¶and faint he
⸤¶Forwandered, wayworn, gaunt
⸤¶his body sick
⸤¶grey in his
⸤¶for those that
⸤¶a price of
⸤¶And now his
⸤¶with a new
⸤¶He gazed, and
⸤¶within its cloudy
⸤¶the silver moonbeams
⸤¶between the leaves,
⸤¶the tremulous starlight
⸤¶was caught and
⸤¶Then all his
⸤¶the hunger and
⸤¶the awful mountains’
⸤¶with blood of
⸤¶only a land
⸤¶in dark ravines
⸤¶there mighty spiders
⸤¶old creatures foul
⸤¶that span their
⸤¶and filled it
p176
⸤¶and there they
⸤¶lay white beneath
⸤¶now all these
⸤¶faded from mind.
⸤¶falling from pineclad
⸤¶he heard, those
⸤¶that bittersweet he
⸤¶his mind with
⸤¶He recked not
⸤¶the paths demented
⸤¶endlessly … and
⸤¶horizons stretched before
⸤¶as each blue
⸤¶was climbed, and
⸤¶battle with creatures
⸤¶and monsters in
⸤¶long watches in
⸤¶while evil shapes
⸤¶in clustered eyes
⸤¶beneath his tree
⸤¶the price he
⸤¶to that pale
⸤¶to those clear
⸤¶the hearts-ease and
⸤¶Lo! all forgetting
⸤¶unheeding toward the
⸤¶by love and
⸤¶his feet from
⸤¶within his heart,
⸤¶on themes unthought-of
⸤¶his soul with
⸤¶a shadow in
⸤¶and Dairon’s flute
⸤¶as lark before
⸤¶as grasshopper within
⸤¶listening for heavy
⸤¶‘Flee, Lúthien!’, and
⸤¶from hiding Dairon
⸤¶‘A stranger walks
⸤¶But Lúthien would
⸤¶fear had she
p177
⸤¶till fear then
⸤¶seeing that shape
⸤¶and shadow long
⸤¶Then sudden she
⸤¶in dark oblivion,
⸤¶in hurrying clouds,
⸤¶among the hemlocks
⸤¶under a mighty
⸤¶all long and
⸤¶upheld an hundred
⸤¶and her white
⸤¶her raiment pale,
⸤¶the wild white
⸤¶all lay like
⸤¶in gleaming pools
⸤¶Then stared he
⸤¶at silent trees,
⸤¶he blindly groped
⸤¶to the dark
⸤¶and, while she
⸤¶touched her soft
⸤¶Like startled moth
⸤¶in sunless nook
⸤¶she darted swift,
⸤¶with cunning that
⸤¶about the trunks
⸤¶a path fantastic.
⸤¶enchanted, wildered and
⸤¶Beren came blundering,
⸤¶Esgalduin the elven-stream,¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶in which amid
⸤¶the stars, flowed
⸤¶Some secret way
⸤¶passed over and
⸤¶and left him
⸤¶‘Darkly the sundering
⸤¶To this my
⸤¶a hunger and
⸤¶enchanted waters pitiless.’¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶A summer waned,
⸤¶and Beren in
p178
⸤¶as wild and
⸤¶that sudden wakes
⸤¶and flits from
⸤¶the brightness of
⸤¶all stealthy movements
⸤¶The murmurous warmth
⸤¶the hum of
⸤¶of many a
⸤¶of sudden rain
⸤¶the windy tide
⸤¶the creaking of
⸤¶but not the
⸤¶brought joy or
⸤¶a wanderer dumb
⸤¶who sought unceasing
⸤¶to hear and
⸤¶a song more
⸤¶a wonder in
⸤¶An autumn waned,
⸤¶the withered leaves
⸤¶the beeches bare
⸤¶and red their
⸤¶From cavern pale
⸤¶the white mists
⸤¶to hide the
⸤¶all the grey
⸤¶By dawn and
⸤¶by noon and
⸤¶nor hears a
⸤¶on sodden leaves
⸤¶The wind of
⸤¶the misty veil
⸤¶The wind dies;
⸤¶leap in the
⸤¶whose light comes
⸤¶through domes of
⸤¶A sparkle through
⸤¶a piercing glint
⸤¶and there she
⸤¶upon a treeless
p179
⸤¶Her mantle blue
⸤¶caught all the
⸤¶She shone with
⸤¶as dancing down
⸤¶and passed his
⸤¶a glimmer as
⸤¶And snowdrops sprang
⸤¶and one bird,
⸤¶shrilled as she
⸤¶A frozen brook
⸤¶awoke and laughed;
⸤¶still bound enchanted
⸤¶Her starlight faded
⸤¶closed o’er the
⸤¶Thereafter on a
⸤¶he saw far
⸤¶of shining limb
⸤¶often and oft
⸤¶and Dairon’s pipe
⸤¶and soft she
⸤¶Then nigh he
⸤¶and heartache mingled
⸤¶A night there
⸤¶then all alone
⸤¶and danced until
⸤¶and chanted some
⸤¶that stirred him,
⸤¶the bonds that
⸤¶to madness sweet
⸤¶He flung his
⸤¶and out he
⸤¶enchanted, with enchanted
⸤¶He sped towards
⸤¶the lissom limbs,
⸤¶he leapt upon
⸤¶his arms with
⸤¶his arms were
⸤¶away, away her
⸤¶But as she
⸤¶and called her
⸤¶of nightingales in
p180
⸤¶that all the
⸤¶‘Tinúviel! Tinúviel!’¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶And clear his
⸤¶its echoes wove
⸤¶‘Tinúviel! Tinúviel!’ ¶⸥⸤740⸥
⸤¶His voice such
⸤¶one moment stood
⸤¶one moment only;
⸤¶he leaped towards
⸤¶and caught and
⸤¶As love there
⸤¶the starlight trembled
⸤¶A! Lúthien! A!
⸤¶more fair than
⸤¶O! loveliest maid
⸤¶what madness does
⸤¶A! lissom limbs
⸤¶and chaplet of
⸤¶O! starry diadem
⸤¶pale hands beneath
⸤¶She left his
⸤¶just at the