Then arose Fлanor of the Noldoli and fared to the Solosimpi and begged a great pearl, and he got moreover an urn full of the most luminous phosphor-light gathered of foam in dark places, and with these he came home, and he took all the other gems and did gather their glint by the light of white lamps and silver candles, and he took the sheen of pearls and the faint half-colours of opals, and he [?bathed] them in phosphorescence and the radiant dew of Silpion, and but a single tiny drop of the light of Laurelin did he let fall therein, and giving all those magic lights a body to dwell in of such perfect glass as he alone could make nor even Aulл compass, so great was the slender dexterity of the fingers of Fлanor, he made a jewel—and it shone of its own………10 radiance in the uttermost dark; and he set it therein and sat a very long while and gazed at its beauty. Then he made two more, and had no more stuffs: and he fetched the others to behold his handiwork, and they were utterly amazed, and those jewels he called Silmarilli, or as we say the name in the speech of the Noldoli today Silubrilthin.11 Wherefore though the Solosimpi held ever that none of the gems of the Noldoli, not even that majestic shimmer of diamonds, overpassed their tender pearls, yet have all held who ever saw them that the Silmarils of Fлanor were the most beautiful jewels that ever shone or [?glowed].
Now Kфr is lit with this wealth of gems and sparkles most marvellously, and all the kindred of the Eldaliл are made rich in their loveliness by the generosity of the Noldoli, and the Gods’ desire of their beauty is sated to the full. Sapphires in great [?wonder] were given to Manwл and his raiment was crusted with them, and Oromл had a belt of emeralds, but Yavanna loved all the gems, and Aulл’s delight was in diamonds and amethysts. Melko alone was given none of them, for that he had not expiated his many crimes, and he lusted after them exceedingly, yet said nought, feigning to hold them of lesser worth than metals.
But now all the kindred of the Eldaliл has found its greatest bliss, and the majesty and glory of the Gods and their home is augmented to the greatest splendour that the world has seen, and the Trees shone on Valinor, and Valinor gave back their light in a thousand scintillations of splintered colours; but the Great Lands were still and dark and very lon1esome, and Ossл sat without the precincts and saw the moongleam of Silpion twinkle on the pebbles of diamonds and of crystals which the Gnomes cast in prodigality about the margin of the seas, and the glassy fragments splintered in their labouring glittered about the seaward face of Kфr; but the pools amid the dark rocks were filled with jewels, and the Solosimpi whose robes were sewn with pearls danced about them, and that was the fairest of all shores, and the music of the waters about those silver strands was beyond all sounds enchanting.
These were the rocks of Eldamar, and I saw them long ago, for Inwл was my grandsire’s sire12; and [?even] he was the eldest of the Elves and had lived yet in majesty had he not perished in that march into the world, but Ingil his son went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwл. And I am also akin to the shoreland dancers, and these things that I tell you I know they are true; and the magic and the wonder of the Bay of Faлry is such that none who have seen it as it was then can speak without a catch of the breath and a sinking of the voice.’
Then Meril the Queen ceased her long tale, but Eriol said nought, gazing at the long radiance of the westering sun gleaming through the apple boles, and dreaming of Faлry. At length said Meril: ‘Fare now home, for the afternoon has waned, and the telling of the tale has set a weight of desire in my heart and in thine. But be in patience and bide yet ere ye seek fellowship with that sad kindred of the Island Elves.’
But Eriol said: ‘Even now I know not and it passes my heart to guess how all that loveliness came to fading, or the Elves might be prevailed to depart from Eldamar.’
But Meril said: ‘Nay, I have lengthened the tale too much for love of those days, and many great things lie between the making of the gems and the coming back to Tol Eressлa: but these things many know as well as I, and Lindo or Rъmil of Mar Vanwa Tyaliйva would tell them more skilfully than I.’ Then did she and Eriol fare back to the house of flowers, and Eriol took his leave ere the western face of Ingil’s tower was yet grown grey with dusk.
NOTES
1 The manuscript has Vairл, but this can only be a slip.
2 The occurrence of the name Telimpл here, and again later in the tale, as also in that of The Sun and Moon, is curious; in the tale of The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor the name was changed at its first appearance from Telimpл (Silindrin) to Silindrin, and at subsequent occurrences Silindrin was written from the first (p. 79).
3 The manuscript has Linwл here, and again below; see under Tinwл Linto in ‘Changes made to names’ at the end of these notes.
4 This sentence, from ‘and beguiled…’, was added after, though not to all appearance much after, the writing of the text.
5 This sentence, from ‘and one Ellu…’, was added at the same time as that referred to in note 4.
6 The first occurrence of the form Uinen, and so written at the time of composition (i.e. not corrected from Уnen).
7 Arvalin: thus written at the time of composition, not emended from Habbanan or Harmalin as previously.
8 When my father wrote these texts, he wrote first in pencil, and then subsequently wrote over the top of it in ink, erasing the pencilled text—of which bits can be read here and there, and from which one can see that he altered the pencilled original somewhat as he went along. At the words ‘glistened wondrously’, however, he abandoned the writing of the new text in ink, and from this point we have only the original pencilled manuscript, which is in places exceedingly difficult to read, being more hasty, and also soft and smudged in the course of time. In deciphering this text I have been in places defeated, and I use brackets and question-marks to indicate uncertain readings, and rows of dots to show roughly the length of illegible words.
It is to be emphasized therefore that from here on there is only a first draft, and one written very rapidly, dashed onto the page.
9 Arvalin: here and subsequently emended from Habbanan; see note 7. The explanation is clearly that the name Arvalin came in at or before the time of the rewriting in ink over the pencilled text; though further on in the narrative we are here at an earlier stage of composition.
10 The word might be read as ‘wizardous’.
11 Other forms (beginning Sigm-) preceded Silubrilthin which cannot be read with certainty. Meril speaks as if the Gnomish name was the form used in Tol Eressлa, but it is not clear why.
12 ‘my grandsire’s sire’: the original reading was ‘my grandsire’.
Changes made to names in
The Coming of the Elves and the Making of K ф r
Tinwл Linto < Linwл Tinto (this latter is the form of the name in an interpolated passage in the preceding tale, see p. 106 note 1). At two subsequent occurrences of Linwл (see note 3 above) the name was not changed, clearly through oversight; in the two added passages where th1e name occurs (see notes 4 and 5 above) the form is Tinwл (Linto).
Inwithiel < Gim-githil (the same change in The Cottage of Lost Play, see p. 22).