03:P7m§XIIIa
The Lay of Leithian (§XIIIa)

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Volume: The Lays of Beleriand
Chapter: The Lay of Leithian (Canto XIII: Beren and Lúthien in Angband)
Pages: 294–299
Paragraph count: 180
Token count: 1,091

Citation Index

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

p294
XIII
⸤¶Into the vast
⸤¶more dread than
⸤¶in labyrinthine pyramid¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶where everlasting death
⸤¶down awful corridors
⸤¶down to a
⸤¶down to the
⸤¶devoured, tormented, bored
⸤¶by seething vermin
⸤¶down to the
⸤¶The arch behind
⸤¶they saw recede
⸤¶the thunderous forges’
⸤¶a burning wind
⸤¶foul vapours up
p295
⸤¶Huge shapes there
⸤¶enormous hewn of
⸤¶to forms that
⸤¶monstrous and menacing,
⸤¶at every turn
⸤¶in fitful glares
⸤¶There hammers clanged,
⸤¶with sound like
⸤¶faint from far
⸤¶amid the iron
⸤¶voices of captives
⸤¶Loud rose a
⸤¶self-loathing yet without
⸤¶loud came a
⸤¶like swords of
⸤¶Red was the
⸤¶of firelight mirrored
⸤¶and up the
⸤¶to glooms unguessed,
⸤¶swathed in wavering
⸤¶stabbed with flickering
⸤¶To Morgoth’s hall,
⸤¶he held, and
⸤¶and lives of
⸤¶their eyes were
⸤¶The pillars, reared
⸤¶to bear earth’s
⸤¶were devil-carven, shaped
⸤¶such as unholy
⸤¶they towered like
⸤¶whose trunks are
⸤¶whose shade is
⸤¶whose boughs like
⸤¶Beneath them ranged
⸤¶stood Morgoth’s sable-armoured
⸤¶the fire on
⸤¶was red as
⸤¶Beneath a monstrous
⸤¶the throne of
⸤¶and dying gasped
⸤¶his hideous footstool,
p296
⸤¶About him sat
⸤¶the Balrog-lords with
⸤¶redhanded, mouthed with
⸤¶devouring wolves were
⸤¶And o’er the
⸤¶with a cold
⸤¶the Silmarils, the
⸤¶emprisoned in the
⸤¶Lo! through the
⸤¶sudden a shadow
⸤¶and Beren gasped
⸤¶with crawling belly
⸤¶a form bat-wingéd,
⸤¶where the huge
⸤¶amid the smokes
⸤¶And as on
⸤¶a dim-felt shadow
⸤¶to cloud of
⸤¶foreboded, nameless, roll
⸤¶upon the soul,
⸤¶the voices fell,
⸤¶slow to silence
⸤¶A nameless doubt,
⸤¶had entered in
⸤¶and grew, and
⸤¶hearing in heart
⸤¶of gods forgotten.
⸤¶and thunderous the
⸤¶‘Shadow, descend! And
⸤¶to cheat mine
⸤¶from thy Lord’s
⸤¶My will by
⸤¶Hope nor escape
⸤¶those that unbidden
⸤¶Descend! ere anger
⸤¶thou foolish, frail,
⸤¶and yet not
⸤¶Slow-wheeling o’er his
⸤¶reluctantly, shivering and
⸤¶Beren there saw
⸤¶and droop before
p297
⸤¶a weak and
⸤¶And as thereon
⸤¶his darkling gaze,
⸤¶belly to earth,
⸤¶upon his fell,
⸤¶beneath the darkness
⸤¶beneath the shadow
⸤¶Tinúviel spake, a
⸤¶piercing those silences
⸤¶‘A lawful errand
⸤¶from Thû’s dark
⸤¶from Taur-na-Fuin’s shade
⸤¶to stand before
⸤¶‘Thy name, thou
⸤¶Tidings enough from
⸤¶but short while
⸤¶Why send such
⸤¶‘Thuringwethil I am,
⸤¶a shadow o’er
⸤¶of the sallow
⸤¶of shivering Beleriand.’¶⸥⸤⸥
⸤¶‘Liar art thou,
⸤¶deceit before mine
⸤¶thy form and
⸤¶revealed, and delivered
⸤¶There came a
⸤¶the batlike raiment
⸤¶was loosed, and
⸤¶quivering. She stood
⸤¶About her slender
⸤¶her shadowy hair,
⸤¶her garment dark,
⸤¶the starlight caught
⸤¶Dim dreams and
⸤¶fell softly thence,
⸤¶an odour stole
⸤¶from elven-dells where
⸤¶drip softly through
⸤¶and round there
⸤¶dark shapes of
p298
⸤¶With arms upraised
⸤¶then softly she
⸤¶a theme of
⸤¶wandering, woven with
⸤¶than songs wherewith
⸤¶Melian did once
⸤¶profound, and fathomless,
⸤¶The fires of
⸤¶smouldered into darkness;
⸤¶and hollow halls
⸤¶the shadows of
⸤¶All movement stayed,
⸤¶save vaporous breath
⸤¶One fire in
⸤¶the lidless eyes
⸤¶one sound the
⸤¶the mirthless voice
{}
p299
The Lay of
⸤¶‘So Lúthien, so
⸤¶a liar like
⸤¶Yet welcome, welcome,
⸤¶I have a
⸤¶What news of
⸤¶shy lurking like
⸤¶What folly fresh
⸤¶who cannot keep
⸤¶from straying thus?
⸤¶no better counsel
⸤¶She wavered, and
⸤¶‘The road,’ she
⸤¶but Thingol sent
⸤¶what way his
⸤¶Yet every road
⸤¶Northward at last,
⸤¶I trembling come
⸤¶and here before
⸤¶for Lúthien hath
⸤¶for solace sweet
⸤¶‘And here of
⸤¶now, Lúthien, in
⸤¶or pain, the