By accursed fortune this deed was not straightway marked, for it was the time of Laurelin’s accustomed deepest repose; and now behold, never more would it wake to glory, scattering beauty and joy upon the faces of the Gods. Because of that great draught of light suddenly pride surged in Gwerlum’s heart, and she heeded not Melko’s warnings, but sate herself now nigh to the roots of Silpion and spouted forth evil fumes of night that flowed like rivers of blackness even to the gates of Valmar. Now Melko takes the weapon that remains to him, a knife, and will injure the bole of Silpion as much as time will allow; but a Gnome called Daurin (Tуrin) wandering from Sirnъmen in great boding of ill sees him and makes for him, crying aloud. So great was the onrush of that impetuous Gnome that ere Melko is aware he has hewn at Wirilуmл where in the likeness of a spider she sprawls upon the ground. Now the slender blade that Daurin wielded came from the forge of Aulл and was steeped in miruvor, or never had he done harm to that secret [?being], but now he cleaves one of her great legs, and his blade is stained with her black gore, a poison to all [?things] whose life is light. Then Wirilуmл writhing throws a thread about him and he may not get free, and Melko ruthless stabs him. Then wresting that bright slender blade from his dying grasp he thrusts it deep into Silpion’s trunk, and the poison of Gwerlum black upon it dried the very sap and essence of the tree, and its light died suddenly to a dismal glow lost in impenetrable dusk.
Then did Melko and Wirilуmл turn in flight, nor is it too soon, for some that were behind Daurin seeing his fate fled in terror both to Kфr and Valmar, stumbling madly in the darkness, but indeed already the Valar are riding forth upon the plain speeding as fast as may be yet too late to defend the Trees which they now know to be in danger.
Now do those Noldoli confirm their fears, saying how Melko is indeed the author of the mischief, and they have but one desire and that is to lay hands upon him and his accomplices ere they can escape beyond the mountains.
Tulkas is in the van of that great hunt leaping surefooted in the dimness, and Oromл may not keep up with him, for even his divine steed cannot rush as headlong in the gathering night as does Poldуrлa in the fire of his wrath. Ulmo hears the shouting in his house in Vai, and Ossл [?thrusteth] his head above the Shadowy Seas and seeing no longer any light come down the valley of Kфr he leaps upon the beach of Eldamar and runs in haste to join the Ainur in their hunt. Now is the only light place left in Valinor that garden where the golden fountain sprang from Kulullin, and then were Vбna and Nessa and Urwen and many maids and ladies of the Valar in tears, but Palъrien girds her lord as he stands impatiently, and Varda has ridden forth from Tani1quetil by her lord’s side bearing a blazing star before him as a torch.
Telimektar son of Tulkas is with those noble ones, and his face and weapons gleam as silver in the dark, but now all the Gods and all their folk ride this way and that, and some have [?hasty] torches in their hands, so that the plain is full of pale wandering lights and the sound of voices hallooing in the dusk.
Even as Melko speeds away a vanguard of the chase sweeps by the Trees, and well nigh the Vali faint for anguish at the ruin they see there; but now Melko and certain of his comrades, aforetime children of Mandos, are separated from Ungwл, who wrapped in night gets her gone southward and over the mountains to her home, nor does that chase ever draw nigh to her; but the others flee northward with great speed, for Melko’s comrades have knowledge of the mountains there, and hope to get [?him] through. There came a place at length where the shadow-veils were thin and they were viewed by a scattered band of the Vali, and Tulkas was amongst them; who now with a great roar leaps at them. Indeed it might have come to battle upon the plain betwixt Tulkas and Melko had not the distance been overgreat, so that even as Tulkas gained to within spearcast of Melko a belt of mist took the fugitives again and the mocking laugh of Melko seems to come first from one side and then from the other, now from his elbow almost, now from far ahead, and Tulkas turns wildly about and Melko slips away.
Then Makar and Meбssл rode in all haste north with their folk, arousing Mandos and ordering the guarding of the mountain paths, but either Makar was too late or Melko’s cunning defeated him—and the mind of Makar was not oversubtle, for no glimpse of that Ainu did they see, though assuredly he did escape that way, and worked much evil after in the world, yet none are there whom I have heard tell ever of the manner of his perilous flight back to the ice-kingdoms of the North.’
NOTES
1 See p. 117.
2 Lirillo appears in the list of secondary names of the Valar referred to on p. 93 as a name of Salmar-Noldorin.
3 ‘father of Fлanor’ is the final reading after a prolonged hesitation between ‘son of Fлanor’ and ‘brother of Fлanor’.
4 For the story of the taking of rock and stone from Arvalin (Eruman) for the raising of the Mountains of Valinor see p. 70.
5 ‘sire of Fлanor’ is an emendation from ‘son of Fлanor’ see note 3.
6 After the word ‘fabrics’ there stood the following sentence, which was struck through: ‘which the Gods could an they listed have created in an hour’—a sentence notable in itself and also for its excision.
7 The MS page beginning with the words ‘before the gates of Valmar’ and ending with ‘unabashed uttered his message, saying’ is written round the little world-map reproduced and described on pp. 81 ff.
8 In this part of the tale the manuscript consists of detached passages, with directions from one to another; the place of this sentence is not perfectly clear, but seems most probably to belong here.
9 The dots are in the original.
10 ‘afterward’ is an emendation from ‘of old’. A question mark is written in the margin against this sentence.
Changes made to names in
The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor
Ellu Melemno < Melemno (in Chapter V, p. 120, in an added sentence, the leader of the Solosimpi is Ellu).
Sirnъmen < Numessir (at the first two occurrences; subsequently Sirnъmen was the form first written).
Eruman < Harmalin (pp. 145, 152), < Habbanan (p. 151).
Arvalin < Harvalien < Habbanan (p. 145), < Harvalien < Harmalin (p. 147); Arvalien thus first written p. 148.
Bruithwir replaces an earlier name, probably Maron.
Bruithwir go-Maidros < Bruithwir go-Fлanor. go- is a patronymic, ‘son of’. See notes 3 and 5 above.
Mуru This name could equally well be read, as also at its occasional occurrences elsewhere, as Morn (see the Appendix on Names). It replaces here another name, probably Mordi.
Ungoliont < Gungliont.
Daurin (Tуrin) The original reading at the first occurence was Fлanor, changed to (?)Daurlas…akin to Fлanor, and then to a Gnome called Daurin (Tуrin). The subsequent occurrences of Daurin are emendations of Fлanor.
Commentary on
The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor
The story of the corruption of the Noldoli by Melko was ultimately told quite differently; for there entered the matter of the strife between Finwл’s sons Fлanor and Fingolfin (The Silmarillion p. 69), of w1hich in the tale there is no trace, and where in any case Fлanor is not the son of Finwл Nуlemл but of one Bruithwir. The primary motive in the later story of Melkor’s desire for the Silmarils (ibid. p. 67) is here represented only by a lust for the gems of the Noldoli in generaclass="underline" it is indeed a remarkable feature of the original mythology that though the Silmarils were present they were of such relatively small importance. There is essential agreement with the later story in its being the Noldoli at whom Melko aimed his attack, and there is a quite close, if limited, similarity in the arguments he used: the confinement of the Elves in Valinor by the Valar, and the broad realms in the East that were rightly theirs—but notably absent from Melko’s words is any reference to the coming of Men: this element is in the tale introduced later and quite differently, by Manwл himself (p. 150). Moreover the particular association of the Noldoli with the evil Vala arises from his desire for their gems: in The Silmarillion (p. 66) the Noldor turned to him for the instruction he could give, while the other kindreds held aloof.