03:P7k§XI
The Lay of Leithian (§XI)

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Volume: The Lays of Beleriand
Chapter: The Lay of Leithian (Canto XI: The disguising of Beren and Lúthien and the journey to Angband)
Pages: 275–282
Paragraph count: 294
Token count: 1,876

Citation Index

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

p275
XI
⸤¶Once wide and
⸤¶where King Fingolfin
⸤¶his silver armies
⸤¶his horses white,
⸤¶his helmets tall
⸤¶his shields were
⸤¶There trumpets sang
⸤¶and challenge rang
⸤¶that lay on
⸤¶while Morgoth waited
⸤¶Rivers of fire
⸤¶in winter lying
⸤¶upon the plain
⸤¶the red was
⸤¶From Hithlum’s walls
⸤¶the steam and
⸤¶leap up, till
⸤¶the stars were
⸤¶the mighty field,
⸤¶to drifting sand
⸤¶to thirsty dunes
⸤¶lay broken among
⸤¶Dor-na-Fauglith, Land of
⸤¶they after named
⸤¶the raven-haunted roofless
⸤¶of many fair
⸤¶Thereon the stony
⸤¶from Deadly Nightshade
⸤¶from sombre pines
⸤¶black-plumed and drear,
⸤¶of sable-shrouded ships
⸤¶slow wafted on
⸤¶Thence Beren grim
⸤¶across the dunes
⸤¶and sees afar
⸤¶where thunderous Thangorodrim
⸤¶The hungry horse
⸤¶proud Gnomish steed;
⸤¶upon the haunted
p276
⸤¶no horse would
⸤¶‘Good steed of
⸤¶‘farewell now here!
⸤¶and get thee
⸤¶back as we
⸤¶where Thû once
⸤¶and grasses long
⸤¶And if Curufin
⸤¶grieve not! but
⸤¶go wander, leaving
⸤¶and dream thee
⸤¶whence came of
⸤¶from Tavros’ mountain-fencéd
⸤¶There still sat
⸤¶and loud his
⸤¶Though Orc should
⸤¶or any of
⸤¶within the shade
⸤¶of Taur-na-Fuin, nought
⸤¶who now took
⸤¶grim-hearted, bitter, fierce
⸤¶‘Farewell now here,
⸤¶your music in
⸤¶Farewell now blade
⸤¶that see the
⸤¶ye waters murmuring
⸤¶and meres that
⸤¶Farewell now mountain,
⸤¶Farewell now wind
⸤¶and mist and
⸤¶ye star and
⸤¶that still shall
⸤¶on the wide
⸤¶though Beren die
⸤¶deep, whence comes
⸤¶no dreadful echo,
⸤¶in everlasting dark
⸤¶‘Farewell sweet earth
⸤¶for ever blest,
⸤¶and here with
⸤¶beneath the moon,
p277
⸤¶Lúthien Tinúviel¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶more fair than
⸤¶Though all to
⸤¶and were dissolved
⸤¶unmade into the
⸤¶yet were its
⸤¶the dawn, the
⸤¶that Lúthien on
⸤¶His blade he
⸤¶and challenging alone
⸤¶before the threat
⸤¶and dauntless cursed
⸤¶o’ershadowing hand and
⸤¶beginning, end, and
⸤¶then turned to
⸤¶abandoning fear, forsaking
⸤¶‘A, Beren, Beren!’
⸤¶‘almost too late
⸤¶O proud and
⸤¶not yet farewell,
⸤¶Not thus do
⸤¶forsake the love
⸤¶A love is
⸤¶as thine, to
⸤¶of death with
⸤¶that yet endures,
⸤¶nor yield, unvanquished
⸤¶beneath the foundations
⸤¶Beloved fool! escape
⸤¶from such pursuit;
⸤¶to trust not,
⸤¶from love thy
⸤¶and torment sooner
⸤¶of kind intent
⸤¶wingless and helpless
⸤¶for whose support
⸤¶Thus back to
⸤¶they met beyond
⸤¶upon the brink
⸤¶between the desert
p278
⸤¶He looked on
⸤¶beneath his lips
⸤¶‘Thrice now mine
⸤¶‘that under shadow
⸤¶But where is
⸤¶to whom I
⸤¶by love of
⸤¶from deadly wandering
⸤¶‘I know not!
⸤¶is wiser, kinder
⸤¶grim lord, more
⸤¶Yet long and
⸤¶until he brought
⸤¶upon thy trail
⸤¶would Huan make,
⸤¶thou wouldst have
⸤¶as Orc on
⸤¶night after night
⸤¶through waste and
⸤¶thy singing clear
⸤¶of Lúthien one
⸤¶and listening evil
⸤¶he set me
⸤¶but what he
⸤¶Ere long they
⸤¶his great breath
⸤¶in fear lest
⸤¶to aid some
⸤¶ere he was
⸤¶before their feet,
⸤¶two grisly shapes
⸤¶from that tall
⸤¶a wolfhame huge
⸤¶was long and
⸤¶that drenched the
⸤¶the werewolf cloak
⸤¶the other was
⸤¶with mighty fingered
⸤¶like iron nail
⸤¶such wings as
⸤¶against the moon,
p279
⸤¶from Deadly Nightshade
⸤¶Thû’s messengers.¶⸥⸤⸥
‘What hast thou
⸤¶good Huan? What
⸤¶Of trophy of
⸤¶when Thû thou
⸤¶here in the
⸤¶and once more
⸤¶his voice was
⸤¶that ring in
⸤¶‘Of one fair
⸤¶Morgoth’s or Thingol’s,
⸤¶thou must here
⸤¶If vow to
⸤¶then Lúthien must
⸤¶alone, or death
⸤¶beside thee, marching
⸤¶that hidden before
⸤¶Hopeless the quest,
⸤¶unless thou, Beren,
⸤¶in mortal raiment,
⸤¶witless and redeless,
⸤¶‘Lo! good was
⸤¶but may be
⸤¶of Huan ye
⸤¶and swift a
⸤¶to forms most
⸤¶of werewolf of
⸤¶of monstrous bat’s
⸤¶with ghostly clawlike
⸤¶‘To such dark
⸤¶are ye I
⸤¶Nor further with
⸤¶whoever did a
⸤¶in friendship at
⸤¶to Angband’s grinning
⸤¶Yet my heart
⸤¶what there ye
⸤¶myself to see,
⸤¶my feet shall
⸤¶Darkened is hope
p280
⸤¶I see not
⸤¶yet maybe backwards
⸤¶beyond all hope
⸤¶and thither, perchance,
⸤¶and meet again
⸤¶They stood and
⸤¶his mighty tongue
⸤¶then sudden he
⸤¶even at the
⸤¶His dreadful counsel
⸤¶and their own
⸤¶in werewolf fell
⸤¶prepared to robe
⸤¶With elvish magic
⸤¶lest raiment foul
⸤¶to dreadful madness
⸤¶and there she
⸤¶a strong defence,
⸤¶singing until the
⸤¶Swift as the
⸤¶Beren lay slavering
⸤¶redtongued and hungry;
⸤¶a pain and
⸤¶a look of
⸤¶a batlike form
⸤¶and drag its
⸤¶Then howling under
⸤¶fourfooted, swift, from
⸤¶from hill to
⸤¶a dark shape
⸤¶and wheeling flitters
⸤¶Ashes and dust
⸤¶withered and dry
⸤¶under the cold
⸤¶sifting and sighing,
⸤¶of blistered stones
⸤¶of splintered bones
⸤¶o’er which now
⸤¶and hanging tongue
⸤¶Many parching leagues
p281
⸤¶when sickly day
⸤¶many choking miles
⸤¶when shivering night
⸤¶with doubtful shadow
⸤¶that hissed and
⸤¶A second morning
⸤¶struggled, when stumbling,
⸤¶a wolvish shape
⸤¶and reached the
⸤¶upon its back
⸤¶a crumpled thing
⸤¶The rocks were
⸤¶and claws that
⸤¶on either side
⸤¶that onward led
⸤¶far up within
⸤¶with tunnels drear
⸤¶They crept within
⸤¶and cowering darkly
⸤¶Long lurked they
⸤¶and shivered, dreaming
⸤¶of laughter and
⸤¶in fluttered leaves
⸤¶They woke, and
⸤¶the beating echo
⸤¶shake beneath them,
⸤¶of Morgoth’s forges;
⸤¶they heard the
⸤¶that shod with
⸤¶the Orcs went
⸤¶and Balrog captains
⸤¶They stirred, and
⸤¶at eve stepped
⸤¶as dark things
⸤¶up the long
⸤¶Ever the sheer
⸤¶where birds of
⸤¶and chasms black
⸤¶whence writhing serpent-shapes
⸤¶until at last
⸤¶heavy as overhanging
p282
⸤¶that weighs on
⸤¶like thunder at
⸤¶they came, as
⸤¶walled with great
⸤¶of cliffs embattled,
⸤¶that opens, abysmal
⸤¶before the final
⸤¶of Bauglir’s immeasurable
⸤¶whereunder looming awful
⸤¶the gigantic shadow