The Book of Lost Tales - J. R. Tolkien [29]
At last on a day at morn they came to a wide dale hollowed like a bowl among the rocks. Deep were its sides, but nought grew there save low bushes of scanty leaves and withered grass. “This is the Withered Dale that I spake of,” said Huan. “Yonder is the cave where the great
Here the typescript version of the Tale of Tinúviel ends, at the foot of a page. I think it is improbable that any more of this version was made.
NOTES
1 For earlier references to Olórë Mallë, the Way of Dreams, see I.18, 27; 211, 225.
2 The distinction made here between the Elves (who call the queen Wendelin) and, by implication, the Gnomes (who call her Gwendeling) is even more explicit in the typescript version, p. 42 (‘’tis a tale of the Gnomes, wherefore I beg that thou fill not Eriol’s ears with thy Elfin names’) and p. 45 (‘The Prince of Cats, whom the Gnomes have called Tiberth Bridhon Miaugion, but the Elves Tevildo’). See I.50–1.
3 The manuscript as originally written read: ‘Now Beren was a Gnome, son of a thrall of Melko’s, some have said, that laboured in the darker places…’ See note 4.
4 The manuscript as originally written read: ‘I Beren of the Noldoli, son of Egnor the huntsman…’ See note 3.
5 From this point, and continuing to the words ‘forests of the south’ on p. 21, the text is written on detached pages placed in the notebook. There is no rejected material corresponding to this passage. It is possible that it existed, and was removed from the book and lost; but, though the book is in a decayed state, it does not seem that any pages were removed here, and I think it more likely that my father simply found himself short of space, as he wrote over the original, erased, version, and (almost certainly) expanded it as he went.
6 The text as originally written read: ‘came never back to Ellu, but plays…’ (for Ellu see Changes to Names below). As a result of the interpolation ‘but turned towards Palisor’ Palisor is placed in the south of the world. In the tale of The Coming of the Elves (I. 114) Palisor is called ‘the midmost region’ (see also the drawing of the ‘World-Ship’, I.84), and it seems possible that the word ‘south’ should have been changed; but it remains in the typescript (p. 47).
7 The Tale of Turambar, though composed after the Tale of Tinúviel, was in existence when Tinúviel was rewritten (see p. 69).
8 From ‘amazed utterly’ to ‘if Tinúviel were not there’ (p. 30) the text is written on an inserted page; see note 5—here also the underlying textual situation is obscure.
9 A short passage of earlier text in pencil becomes visible here, ending: ‘…and Tinúviel grew to long sorely for Wendelin her mother and for the sight of Linwë and for Kapalen making music in pleasant glades.’ Kapalen must be a name preceding Tifanto, itself preceding Dairon (see Changes to Names below).
10 this Gnome: original reading this man. This was a slip, but a significant slip (see p. 52), in all probability. It is possible that ‘man’ was used here, as occasionally elsewhere (e.g. p. 18 ‘as high as men could fashion their longest ladders’, where the reference is to the Elves of Artanor), to mean ‘male Elf’, but in that case there would seem no reason to change it.
11 Struck out here in the manuscript: ‘Beren of the Hills’.
12 ‘Mablung the heavy-handed, chief of the king’s thanes, leaped up and grasped a spear’ replaced the original reading ‘Tifanto cast aside his pipe and grasped a spear’. Originally the name of Tinúviel’s brother was Tifanto throughout the tale. See notes 13–15, and the Commentary, p. 59.
13 Mablung replaced Tifanto, and again immediately below; see note 12.
14 ‘O King’ replaced ‘O father’ see note 12.
15 In this place Mablung was the form as first written; see the Commentary, p. 59.
16 It is essential