At length that daytide of festival is over and the Gods are turned back towards Valmar, treading the white road from Kфr. The lights twinkle in the city of the Elves and peace dwells there, but the Noldoli fare over the plain to Sirnъmen sadly. Silpion is gleaming in that hour, and ere it wanes the first lament for the dead that was heard in Valinor rises from that rocky vale, for Fлanor laments the death of Bruithwir; and many of the Gnomes beside find that the spirits of their dead hav1e winged their way to Vк. Then messengers ride hastily to Valmar bearing tidings of the deeds, and there they find Manwл, for he has not yet left that town for his abode upon Taniquetil.
“Alas, O Manwл Sъlimo,” they cry, “evil has pierced the Mountains of Valinor and fallen upon Sirnъmen of the Plain. There lies Bruithwir sire of Fлanor5 dead and many of the Noldoli beside, and all our treasury of gems and fair things and the loving travail of our hands and hearts through many years is stolen away. Whither O Manwл whose eyes see all things? Who has done this evil, for the Noldoli cry for vengeance, O most [?just] one!”
Then said Manwл to them: “Behold O Children of the Noldoli, my heart is sad towards you, for the poison of Melko has already changed you, and covetice has entered your hearts. Lo! had ye not thought your gems and fabrics6 of better worth than the festival of the folk or the ordinances of Manwл your lord, this had not been, and Bruithwir go-Maidros and those other hapless ones still had lived, and your jewels been in no greater peril. Nay, my wisdom teaches me that because of the death of Bruithwir and his comrades shall the greatest evils fall on Gods and Elves, and Men to be. Without the Gods who brought you to the light and gave you all the materials of your craft, teaching your first ignorance, none of these fair things you love now so well ever would have been; what has been done may again be done, for the power of the Valar does not change; but of more worth than all the glory of Valinor and all the grace and beauty of Kфr is peace and happiness and wisdom, and these once lost are harder to recapture. Cease then to murmur and to speak against the Valar, or to set yourselves in your hearts as equals to their majesty; rather depart now in penitence knowing full well that Melko has wrought this evil against you, and that your secret trafficking with him has brought you all this loss and sorrow. Trust him not again therefore, nor any others that whisper secret words of discontent among you, for its fruit is humiliation and dismay.”
And the embassy was abashed and afraid and went back unto Sirnъmen utterly cast down; yet was Manwл’s heart heavier than theirs, for things had gone ill indeed, and yet he foresaw that worse would be; and so did the destinies of the Gods work out, for lo! to the Noldoli Manwл’s words seemed cold and heartless, and they knew not his sorrow and his tenderness; and Manwл thought them strangely changed and turned to covetice, who longed but for comfort, being like children very full of the loss of their fair things.
Now Melko findeth himself in the wastes of Arvalin and knoweth not how he may escape, for the gloom there is very great, and he knoweth not those regions that stretch there unto the utmost south. Therefore he sent a messenger claiming the inviolable right of a herald (albeit this was a renegade servant of Mandos whom Melko had perverted) over the pass to Valinor, and there standing before the gates of Valmar7 he demanded audience of the Gods; and it was asked of him whence he came, and he said from Ainu Melko, and Tulkas would have hurled stones at him from1 the walls and slain him, but the.others as yet suffered him not to be mishandled, but despite their anger and loathing they admitted him to the great square of gold that was before Aulл’s courts. And at the same hour riders were sent to Kфr and to Sirnъmen summoning the Elves, for it was guessed that this matter touched them near. When all was made ready the messenger took stand beside the needle of pure gold whereon Aulл had written the story of the kindling of the Tree of gold (in Lуrien’s courts stood one of silver with another tale), and on a sudden Manwл said: “Speak!” and his voice was as a clap of wrathful thunder, and the courts rang, but the envoy unabashed uttered his message, saying:
“The Lord Melko, ruler of the world from the darkest east to the outer slopes of the Mountains of Valinor unto his kinsmen the Ainur. Behold, in compensation for divers grievous affronts and for long times of unjust imprisonment despite his noble estate and blood that he has at your hands suffered, now has he taken, as is due to him, certain small treasures held by the Noldoli, your slaves. Great grief is it to him that of these he has slain some, in that they would do him hurt in the evil of their hearts; yet their blasphemous intent will he now put from memory, and all the past injuries that ye the Gods have wrought him will he so far forget as once again to show his presence in that place that is called Valmar, if ye will hearken to his conditions and fulfil them. For know that the Noldoli shall be his servants and shall adorn him a house; moreover of right he does demand” but hereon even as the herald lifted up his voice yet louder swelling with his words of insolence, so great became the wrath of the Valar that Tulkas and several of his house leapt down and seizing him stopped his mouth, and the place of council was in uproar. Indeed Melko had not thought to gain aught but time and the confusion of the Valar by this embassage of insolence.
Then Manwл bid him unhand the herald, but the Gods arose crying with one voice: “This is no herald, but a rebel, a thief, and a murderer.” “He hath defiled the sanctity of Valinor,” shouted Tulkas, “and cast his insolence in our teeth.” Now the mind of all the Elves was as one in this matter. Hope they had none of the recovery of the jewels save by the capture of Melko, which was now a matter beyond hope, but they would have no parley with Melko whatsoever and would treat him as an outlaw and all his folk. (And this was the meaning of Manwл, saying that the death of Bruithwir would be the root of the greatest evil, for it was that slaying that most inflamed both Gods and Elves.)8
To this end they spoke in the ears of Varda and Aulл, and Varda befriended their cause before Manwл, and Aulл yet more stoutly, for his heart was sore too for the theft of so many things of exquisite craft and workmanship; but Tulkas Poldуrлa needed no pleading, being hot with ire. Now these great advocates moved the council with their words, so that in the end it is Manwл’s doom that word he sent back to Melko rejecting him and his words and outlawing him and all his followers from Valinor for ever. These words would he now speak to the envoy, bidding him begone to his master with them, but the folk of the Vali and the Elves would have none of it, and led by Tulkas they took that renegade to the topmost peak of Taniquetil, and there declaring him no herald and taking the mountain and the stars to witness of the same they cast him to the boulders of Arvalien so that he was slain, and Mandos received him into his deepest caves.
Then Manwл seeing in thi1s rebellion and their violent deed the seed of bitterness cast down his sceptre and wept; but the others spake unto Sorontur King of Eagles upon Taniquetil and by him were the words of Manwл sent to Melko: “Begone for ever, O accursed, nor dare to parley more with Gods or Elves. Neither shall thy foot nor that of any who serve thee tread the soil of Valinor again while the world endures.” And Sorontur sought out Melko and said as he was bidden, and of the death of his envoy he told [?too]. Then Melko would have slain Sorontur, being mad with anger at the death of his messenger; and verily this deed was not in accord with the strict justice of the Gods, yet was the anger of those at Valmar sorely tempted; but Melko has ever cast it against the Gods most bitterly, twisting it into a black tale of wrong; and between that evil one and Sorontur has there ever since been hate and war, and that was most bitter when Sorontur and his folk fared to the Iron Mountains and there abode, watching all that Melko did.
Now Aulл goeth to Manwл and speaketh enheartening words, saying how Valmar still stands and the Mountains are high and a sure bulwark against evil. “Lo! if Melko sets once more turmoils in the world, was he not bound in chains aforetime, and so may be again:—but behold, soon will I and Tulkas fill that pass that leads to Erumбni and the seas, that Melko come not ever that way hither again.”
But Manwл and Aulл plan to set guards about all those mountains until such time as Melko’s deeds and places of abode without become known.
Then does Aulл fall to speech with Manwл concerning the Noldoli, and he pleads much for them, saying that Manwл wrought with anxiety has done hardly by them, for that of Melko in sooth alone is the evil come, whereas the Eldar are not slaves nor servants but beings of a wondrous sweetness and beauty—that they were guests for ever of the Gods. Therefore does Manwл bid them now, an they will, go back to Kфr, and, if they so desire, busy themselves in fashioning gems and fabrics anew, and all things of beauty and cost that they may need in their labour shall be given to them even more lavishly than before.