Lay of Leithian Canto I

This first Canto of the Lay of Leithian tells of Elu Thingol, and Lúthien Tinúviel and Doriath. It runs to 98 lines, one of the shorter Cantos if not the shortest save the unfinished last one.

The Canto

A king there was in days of old;

ere Men yet walked upon the mould

his power was reared in cavern’s shad,

his hand was over glen and glade.

His shields were shining as the moon

his lances keen of steel were hewn,

of silver grey his crown was wrought

the starlight in his banners caught;

and silver thrilled his trumpets long

beneath the stars in challenge strong;

enchantment did his real enfold,

where might and glory, wealth untold,

he wielded from his ivory throne

in many-pillared halls of stone.

There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,

and metal wrought like fishes’ mail

buckler and corselet, ade and sword

and gleaming spears were laid in hoard–

all these he had and loved them less

than a maiden once in Elfinesse;

for fairer than are born to Men

a daughter had he, Lúthien

such lissom limbs no more shall run

on the green earth beneath the sun;

so fair a maid no more shall be

from dawn to dusk, from sun to sea.

Her robe was blue as summer skies

but gray as evening were here eyes;

‘twas sewn with golden lilies fair

but dark as shadow was her hair.

Her feet were light as bird on wing

her laughter lighter than the spring;

the slender willow, the bowing reed

the fragrance of a flowering mead

the light upon the leaves of trees

the voice of water, more than these

her beauty was and blissfulness

her glory and her loveliness;

and her the king more dear did prize

than hand or heart or light of eyes.

They dwelt amid Beleriand

while Elfin power yet held the land

in the woven woods of Doriath;

few ever thither found the path;

few ever dared the forest-eaves

to pass, or stir the listening leaves

with tongue of hounds a-hunting fleet

with horse, or horn, or mortal feet.

To North there lay the Land of Dread

whence only evil pathways led

o’er hills of shadow bleak and cold

or Taur-nu-Fuin’s haunted hold

where Deadly Nightshade lurked and lay

and never came or moon or day

to South the wide earth unexplored;

to West the ancient Ocean roared

unsailed and shoreless, wide and wild;

to East in peaks of blue were piled

in silence folded, mist-enfurled,

the mountains of the Outer World,

beyond the tangled woodland shade

thorn and thicket, grove and glade

whose brooding boughs with magic hung

were ancient when the world was young.

There Thingol in the Thousand Caves

whose portals pale that river laves

Esgalduin that fairies call

in many a tall and torchlit hall

a dark and hidden king did dwell

lord of the forest and the fell;

and sharp his sword and high his helm

the king of beech and oak and elm.

There Lúthien the lissom maid

would dance in dell and grassy glade

and music merrily, thin and clear,

went down the ways , more fair than ear

of mortal Men at feast hath heard

and fairer than the song of bird.

When leaves were long and grass was green

then Dairon with fingers lean

as daylight melted into shade

a wandering music sweetly bade

enchanted fluting, warbling wild

for love of Thingol’s elfin child.

There bow was bent and shaft was sped

the fallow deer as phantoms fled

and horses proud with branded mane

with shining bit and silver rein

went fleeting by on moonlit night

as swallows arrow-swift in flight;

a blowing and a sound of bells

a hidden hunt in hollow dells.

There songs were made and things of gold

and silver cups and jewels untold

and the endless years of Faëry land

rolled over far Beleriand

until a day beneath the sun

when many marvels were begun.

Concerning the Canto

This canto starts out with one of the more popular paragraphs, concerning Thingol. The descriptions of jewels is contrasted with the love of his daughter, whose description soon follows.