Wherefore said some: “Let us send now messengers to discover the fashion of the world in the uttermost East beyond even the sight of Manwл from the Mountain of the World.” Then arose Oromл: “That I can tell you, for I have seen. In the East beyond the tumbled lands there is a silent beach and a dark and empty sea.” And the Gods marvelled at these tidings, yet never before had any save Oromл listed to see or hear such things, not even Yavanna the Earth-lady. Nought do I say of Ulmo Vailimo, Lord of Vai, for of a truth all such matters he knew from the beginning of the Earth. Now therefore did that ancient one follow Oromл, expounding to the Valar what was the secret nature of the Earth, and he said:
“Lo, there is but one Ocean, and that is Vai, for those that Ossл esteemeth as oceans are but seas, waters that lie in the hollows of the rock; but Vai runneth from the Wall of Things unto the Wall of Things whithersoever you may fare. Now to the North is it so cold that even its pale waters are frozen to a depth beyond thought or sounding, and to the South is such utter darkness and deceit by reason of Ungoliont12 that none save I alone may find a way. In this vast water floateth the wide Earth upheld by the word of Ilъvatar, for nought else or fish or bark will swim therein to whom I have not spoken the great word that Ilъvatar said to me and bound them with the spell; but of the wide Earth is even Valinor a part, and the substance of the Earth is stone and metal, and the seas are pools in its hollows, and the islands save some few that swim still unfettered stand now like pinnacles from their weedy depths. Know then that somewhat nearer stands Valinor to the great Wall of Things wherein Ilъvatar hath enclosed us than doth that furthest Eastern shore: and this do I know, for diving beneath the world often have I visited those unharboured beaches; for lo, O Valar, ye know not all wonders, and many secret things are there beneath the Earth’s dark keel, even where I have my mighty halls of Ulmonan, that ye have never dreamed on.”
But said Manwл: “True is that, O Ulmo Vailimo; but what is it to our present purpose?” And Ulmo answered: “Lo, I will take Aulл the Smith with me and convey him safe and swift beneath the waters of Vai in my deep-sea car, even to the Eastern shores, and there will he and I build havens for the Ships, and from the East hereafter shall they arise and give their fullest light and glory to Men who need them, and to the unhappy Noldoli, following one the other over the sky, and coming home to Valinor. Here, when their hearts wax faint by reason of their journeyings, shall they rest awhile upon the Outer Seas and Urwendi bathe in Faskalan and Ilinsor drink of the quiet waters of the Lake Irtinsa, ere ever they return again.”
Now this speech had Manwл and Ulmo designed in collusion, and the Valar and Eldar hearkened for divers reasons as before; wherefore was Aulл sped now with Ulmo, and they builded great havens in the East beside the soundless sea; and the haven of the Sun was wide and golden, but the haven of the Moon was set within the same harbourage, and it was white, having gates of silver and of pearl that shone faintly so soon as the Sun sank from the heavens into Valinor; at that hour do those gates open of themselves before the issuing Moon, but none of the Eldar have seen these things save Uolл Kъvion, and he has told no tale.
Now at first the Valar purposed to draw the Sun and Moon beneath the Earth, hallowing them with Ulmo’s spell that Vai harm them not, each at its appointed time; yet in the end they found that Sбri13 might not, even so, safely come beneath the world, for it was too frail and lissom; and much precious radiance was spilled in their attempts about the deepest waters, and escaped to linger as secret sparks in many an unknown ocean cavern. These have many elfin divers, and divers of the fays, long time sought beyond the outmost East, even as is sung in the song of the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl.14
Indeed for a while mishap fell even upon bright Urwendi, that she wandered the dark grots and endless passages of Ulmo’s realm until Fionwл found her and brought her back to Valinor—but the full tale is called the Tale of Qorinуmi and may not here be told.15
Thus came it that the Gods dared a very great deed, the most mighty of all their works; for making a fleet of magic rafts and boats with Ulmo’s aid—and otherwise had none of these endured to sail upon the waters of Vai—they drew to the Wall of Things, and there they made the Door of Night (Moritarnon or Tarn Fui as the Eldar name it in their tongues). There it still stands, utterly black and huge against the deep-blue walls. Its pillars are of the mightiest basalt and its lintel likewise, but great dragons of black stone are carved thereon, and shadowy smoke pours slowly from their jaws. Gates it has unbreakable, and none know how they were made or set, for the Eldar were not suffered to be in that dread building, and it is the last secret of the Gods; and not the onset of the world will force that door, which opens to a mystic word alone. That word Urwendi only knows and Manwл who spake it to her; for beyond the Door of Night is the outer dark, and he who passes therethrough may escape the world and death and hear things not yet for the ears of Earth-dwellers, and this may not be.
In the East however was the work of the Gods of other sort, for there was a great arch made, and, ’tis said, ’tis all of shining gold and barred with silver gates, yet few have beheld it even of the Gods for the wealth of glowing vapours that are often swathed about it. Now the Gates of Morn open also before Urwendi only, and the word she speaks is the same that she utters at the Door of Night, but it is reversed.
So comes it that ever now, as the Ship of the Moon leaves his haven in the East and his gates of pearl, Ulmo draws the galleon of the Sun before the Door of Night. Then speaks Urwendi the mystic word, and they open outward before her, and a gust of darkness sweeps in but perishes before her blazing light; and the galleon of the Sun goes out into the limitless dark, and coming behind the world finds the East again. There doth Sбri filled with the lightness of the morning ride through the gates and Urwendi and her maidens make a sound of golden horns, and dawn is spilt upon the eyes of Men.16
Yet many a time and oft a tiny star-ship of Varda that has dipped into the Outer Seas, as often they will, is sucked through that Door of Night behind the Sun; and some track her galleon through the starless vast back unto the Eastern Wall, and some are lost for ever, and some glimmer beyond the Door until the Sunship issues forth again.17 Then do these leap back and rush up into the sky again, or flee across its spaces; and this is a very beautiful thing to see—the Fountains of the Stars.
Behold, the Moon dares not the utter loneliness of the outer dark by reason of his lesser light and majesty, and he journeys still beneath the world and many are the chances of that way; wherefore is it that he is often less timely than the Sun and is more fickle. Sometimes he comes not after Sбri at all, and other times is late and maketh but a little voyage or even dares the heavens while Urwendi still is there. Then smile the Gods wistfully and say: “It is the mingling of the lights once more.”18
Long was this indeed the manner of the ships’ guidance, and long was it after those days that the Gods grew afraid once more for the Sun and Moon because of certain tidings of those days, which perchance may after be told; and because of their fear a new and strange thing befell. Now the manner of this mayhap I may tell before I make an end; and it is called The Weaving of the Days and Months and of the Years.
For know that even as the great Gods sat in conclave pondering how they might fetter the lamps of heaven ever to their hand and guide their goings even as a charioteer doth guide his galloping horses, behold three aged men stood before them and saluted Manwл.
But Manwл asked them who they were, “for well I know,” quoth he, “that ye are not of the glad folk that dwell in Valmar or the gardens of the Gods,” and the Valar marvelled how they came unaided to their land. Now those men were of strange aspect, seeming aged beyond count albeit of strength untamed. And one that stood at the left was exceeding small and short, and another amidmost of middle stature, and the third was long and tall; and the first had short hair and a small beard, and the other’s was neither long nor short, but the beard of the third swept the earth before his feet as he walked. Now after a while he that was short and small spake in answer to Manwл, and he said: “Brothers are we; and men of exceeding subtle craft” and the other answered: “Lo, Danuin, Ranuin, and Fanuin are we called,* and I am Ranuin, and Danuin has spoken.” Then said Fanuin: “And we will offer thee our skill in your perplexity—yet who we are and whence we come or whither we go that we will tell to you only if ye accept our rede and after we have wrought as we desire.”