The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1 - J. R. R. Tolkien [118]
Now however does Aulë fill the brimming vessel of that flower with white radiance, and many of the Súruli white-winged glide beneath and bear it slowly up and set it among the company of the stars. There does it swim slowly, a pale and glorious thing, and Ilinsor and his comrades sit them upon its rim and with shimmering oars urge it bravely through the sky; and Manwë breathed upon its bellying sails till it was wafted far away, and the beat of the unseen oars against the winds of night faded and grew faint.
Of this manner was the first rising of the Moon above Taniquetil, and Lórien rejoiced, but Ilinsor was jealous of the supremacy of the Sun, and he bade the starry mariners flee before him and the constellate lamps go out, but many would not, and often he set sail in chase of them, and the little ships of Varda fled before the huntsman of the firmament, and were not caught:—and that, said Lindo, ‘is all, methinks, I know to tell of the building of those marvellous ships and their launching on the air.’20
‘But,’ said Eriol, ‘nay, surely that is not so, for at the tale’s beginning methought you promised us words concerning the present courses of the Sun and Moon and their rising in the East, and I for one, by the leave of the others here present am not minded to release you of your word.’
Then quoth Lindo laughing, ‘Nay, I remember not the promise, and did I make it then it was rash indeed, for the things you ask are nowise easy to relate, and many matters concerning the deeds in those days in Valinor are hidden from all save only the Valar. Now however am I fain rather to listen, and thou Vairë perchance will take up the burden of the tale.’
Thereat did all rejoice, and the children clapped their hands, for dearly did they love those times when Vairë was the teller of the tale; but Vairë said:
‘Lo, tales I tell of the deep days, and the first is called The Hiding of Valinor.’
NOTES
1 The manuscript has here Gilfan a · Davrobel, but in the rejected earlier version of this passage the reading is Gilfanon a · Davrobel, suggesting that Gilfan was not intentional.
2 See p. 24–5 on the relation of Tavrobel to the Staffordshire village of Great Haywood. At Great Haywood the river Sow joins the Trent.
3 In the rejected version of this ‘interlude’ Gilfanon’s history is differently recounted: ‘he was long before an Ilkorin and had dwelt ages back in Hisilómë’ ‘he came to Tol Eressëa after the great march [i.e. Inwë’s ‘march into the world’, the great expedition from Kôr, see p. 26], for he had adopted blood-kinship with the Noldoli.’—This is the first occurrence of the term Ilkorin, which refers to Elves who were ‘not of Kôr’ (cf. the later term Úmanyar, Elves ‘not of Aman’). Artanor is the precursor of Doriath.
4 Gilfanon, a Gnome, is here called the oldest of the fairies; see p. 51.
5 No explanation of ‘the House of the Hundred Chimneys’, near the bridge of Tavrobel, is known to me, but I have never visited Great Haywood, and it may be that there was (or is) a house there that gave rise to it.
6 The rejected form of the ‘interlude’ is quite different in its latter part:
Therefore said Lindo in answer to Eriol: ‘Behold, Gilfanon here can tell you much of such matters, but first of all must you be told of the deeds that were done in Valinor when Melko slew the Trees and the Gnomes marched away into the darkness. ’Tis a long tale but well worth the hearkening.’ For Lindo loved to tell such tales and sought often an occasion for recalling them; but Gilfanon said: ‘Speak on, my Lindo, but methinks the tale will not be told tonight or for many a night after, and I shall have fared long back to Tavrobel.’ ‘Nay,’ said Lindo, ‘I will not make the tale overlong, and tomorrow shall be all your own.’ And so saying Gilfanon sighed, but Lindo lifted up his voice…
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