Lay of Leithian Canto VI

From Tolkien Gateway
Lay of Leithian cantos
  1. Canto I
  2. Canto II
  3. Canto III
  4. Canto IV
  5. Canto V
  6. Canto VI
  7. Canto VII
  8. Canto VIII
  9. Canto IX
  10. Canto X
  11. Canto XI
  12. Canto XII
  13. Canto XIII
  14. Canto XIV

This Canto of the Lay of Leithian starts with a description of Tirion on Túna, here called Tûn. It speaks in short of Fëanor's speech and the Oath, that he and his sons spake. It also speeks in brief of the deeds of the Noldor, such as the rescue of Maedhros by Fingon. It tells of how Barahir, the father of Beren, aided Finrod Felagund during the Siege of Angband. Then how Beren made his way to Nargothrond, asking for Felagund's aid in the Quest for the Silmaril, giving the greatest speech he made in his life about the beauty of Lúthien. Though Felagund was moved, he feared the power of Celegorm and Curufin, who took the Oath and were very influential in Nargothrond, despite his own oath to Barahir. Then the two brothers stood and spoke, and so masterful were their voices that for many years after no elf of Nargothrond went to war for a long time. Therefor the people would not follow Felagund on this quest, and he took with him only ten, giving his crown to Orodreth. "Then Celegorm no more would stay,/And Curufin smiled and turned away".

The Canto

When Morgoth in that day of doom
had slain the Trees and filled with gloom
the shining land of Valinor,
there Fëanor and his sons then swore
the mighty oath upon the hill
of tower-crowned Tûn, that still
wrought wars and sorrow in the world.
From darkling seas the fogs unfurled
their blinding shadows grey and cold
where Glingal once had bloomed with gold
And Belthil bore its silver flowers.
The mists were mantled round the towers
of the Elves' white city by the sea.
There countless torches fitfully
did start and twinkle, as the Gnomes
were gathered to their fading homes,
and thronged the long and winding stair
that led to the wide echoing square.
There Fëanor mourned his jewels divine,
the Silmarils he made. Like wine
his wild and potent words them fill;
a great host harkens deathly still.
But all he said both wild and wise,
half truth and half the fruit of lies
that Morgoth sowed in Valinor,
in other songs and other lore
recorded is. He bade them flee
from lands divine, to cross the sea,
the pathless plains, the perilous shores
where ice-infested water roars;
to follow Morgoth to the unlit earth
leaving their dwellings and olden mirth;
to go back to the Outer Lands
to wars and weeping. There their hands
they joined in vows, those kinsmen seven,
swearing beneath the stars of Heaven,
by Varda the Holy that them wrought
and bore them each with radiance fraught
and set them in the deeps to flame.
Timbrenting's holy height they name,
whereon are built the timeless halls
of Manwë Lord of Gods. Who calls
these names in witness may not break
his oath, though earth and heaven shake.

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