Caves they made in the walls of that dale, and thither they bore their wealth of gems, of gold and silver and fair things; but their ancient homes in Kфr were empty of their voices, filled only with their paintings and their books of lore, and the streets of Kфr and all the ways of Valmar shone still with [?gems] and carven marbles telling of the days of the happiness of the Gnomes that cometh now upon its waning.
Now Melko gets him gone to Mandos, and far from Valinor he plans rebellion and vengeance upon both Gnomes and Gods. Indeed, dwelling for nigh three ages in the vaults of Mandos Melko had made friends to himself of certain gloomy spirits there and perverted them to ill, promising them great lands and regions on the Earth for their [?having] if they aided him when he called on them in need; and now he gathers them to him in the dark ravines of the mountains about Mandos. Thence sends he spies, invisible as fleeting shades when Silpion is in bloom, and learns of those doings of the Noldoli and of all that passes in the plain. Now soon after it chanced indeed that the Valar and Eldar held a great feast, even that one that Manwл had spoken of, bidding Melko rid Valmar of his presence at that time; for know that they made merry on one day every seventh year to celebrate the coming of the Eldar into Valinor, and every third year a lesser feast to commemorate the coming of the white fleet of the Solosimpi to the shores of Eldamar; but at every twenty-first year when both these feasts fell together they held one of the greatest magnificence, and it endured for seven days, and for this cause such years were called “Years of Double Mirth”;* and these feasts all the Koreldar wherever they now may be in the wide world still do celebrate. Now that feast that approacheth is one of Double Mirth, and all the hosts of the Gods and Elves made ready to celebrate it most gloriously. Pomps there were and long processions of the Elves, dancing and singing, that wound from Kфr to Valmar’s gates. A road had been laid against this festival from the westward gate of Kфr even to the turrets of the mighty arch which opened in the walls of Valmar northward towards the Trees. Of white marble it was and many a gentle stream flowing from the far mountains crossлd its path. Here it would leap into slender bridges marvellously fenced with delicate balustrades that shone like pearls; scarcely did these clear the water, so that lilies of great beauty growing upon the bosom of the streams that fared but gently in the plain thrust their wide blossoms about its borders and iris marched along its flanks; for by cunning delving runnels of clearest water were1 made to flow from stream to stream bordering that whole long way with the cool noise of rippling water. At places mighty trees grew on either side, or at places the road would open to a glade and fountains spring by magic high into the air for the refreshment of all who sped that way.
Now came the Teleri led by the white-robed people of the Inwir, and the throbbing of their congregated harps beat the air most sweetly; and after them went the Noldoli mingling once more with their own dear folk by Manwл’s clemency, that his festival might be duly kept, but the music that their viols and instruments awoke was now more sweetly sad than ever before. And last came the people of the shores, and their piping blent with voices brought the sense of tides and murmurous waves and the wailing cry of the coast-loving birds thus inland deep upon the plain.
Then was all that host marshalled before the gate of Valmar, and at the word and sign from Inwл as one voice they burst in unison into the Song of Light. This had Lirillo2 written and taught them, and it told of the longing of the Elves for light, of their dread journey through the dark world led by the desire of the Two Trees, and sang of their utmost joy beholding the faces of the Gods and their renewed desire once more to enter Valmar and tread the Valar’s blessed courts. Then did the gates of Valmar open and Nornorл bid them enter, and all that bright company passed through. There Varda met them, standing amid the companies of the Mбnir and the Sбruli, and all the Gods made them welcome, and feasts there were in all the great halls thereafter.
Now their custom was on the third day to robe themselves all in white and blue and ascend to the heights of Taniquetil, and there would Manwл speak to them as he thought fit of the Music of the Ainur and the glory of Ilъvatar, and of things to be and that had been. And on that day would Kфr and Valmar be silent and still, but the roof of the world and the slope of Taniquetil shine with the gleaming raiment of the Gods and Elves, and all the mountains echo with their speech—but afterward on the last day of merriment the Gods would come to Kфr and sit upon the slopes of its bright hill, gazing in love upon that slender town, and thereafter blessing it in the name of Ilъvatar would depart ere Silpion came to bloom; and so would end the days of Double Mirth.
But in this fateful year Melko dared of his blasphemous heart to choose that very day of Manwл’s speech upon Taniquetil for the carrying out of his designs; for then would Kфr and Valmar and the rock-ringed dale of Sirnъmen be unguarded: for against whom indeed had Elf or Vala need to guard in those old days?
Creeping then down with his dark people on the third day of Samнrien, as that feast was named, he passed the dark halls of Makar’s abode (for even that wild Vala had gone to Valmar to honour the time, and indeed all of the Gods went there saving Fui and Vefбntur only, and Ossл even was there, dissembling for those seven days his feud and jealousy with Ulmo). Here does a thought come to Melko’s heart, and he arms himself and his band stealthily with swords very sharp and cruel, and this was well for them: for now do they all steal into the vale of Sirnъmen where the Noldoli had their present dwelling, and behold the Gnomes by reason of the workings in their hearts of Melko’s own teaching had become wary and suspicious beyond the wont of the Eldar of those days. Guards of some strength were set over the treasures there that went not to the feast, albeit this was contrary to the customs a1nd ordinances of the Gods. Now is there suddenly bitter war awake in the heart of Valinor and those guards are slain, even while the peace and gladness upon Taniquetil afar is very great—indeed for that reason none heard their cries. Now Melko knew that it was indeed war for ever between himself and all those other folk of Valinor, for he had slain the Noldoli—guests of the Valar—before the doors of their own homes. With his own hand indeed he slew Bruithwir father of Fлanor,3 and bursting into that rocky house that he defended laid hands upon those most glorious gems, even the Silmarils, shut in a casket of ivory. Now all that great treasury of gems he despoiled, and lading himself and all his companions to the utmost he seeks how he may escape.
Know then that Oromл had great stables and a breeding ground of good horses not so far from this spot, where a wild forest land had grown up. Thither Melko steals, and a herd of black horses he captures, cowing them with the terror that he could wield. Astride those his whole company of thieves rides far away, after destroying what things of lesser value they deemed it impossible to carry thence. Making a wide circuit and faring with the speed of hurricanes such as only the divine horses of Oromл ridden by the children of the Gods could compass they pass far to the west of Valmar in the untracked regions where the light of the Trees was thin. Long ere the folk had come down from Taniquetil and long ere the end of the feast or ever the Noldoli fared back to find their homes despoiled, Melko and his [?thieves] were ridden to the deep south, and finding there a low place in the hills they passed into the plains of Eruman. Well might Aulл and Tulkas bemoan their carelessness in leaving that low place long ago when they reared those hills to fend all evil from the plain—for that was the place where they were accustomed to enter Valinor after their quarryings in the fields of Arvalin.4 It is said indeed that this riding in a half-circle, laborious and perilous as it was, was at first no part of Melko’s design, for rather had he purposed to get to northward over the passes nigh to Mandos; but this he was warned might not be done, for Mandos and Fui never left those realms, and all the ravines and chasms of the northward mountains were infested with their folk, nor for all his gloom was Mandos any rebel against Manwл or an abetter of evil deeds.
Far to the north if one may endure the colds as Melko could it is said in ancient lore that the Great Seas narrow to a little thing, and without aid of ships Melko and his company might thus have got into the world safely; but this was not done, and the sad tale took its appointed course, or the Two Trees might yet have shone and the Elves sung still in Valinor.