Tulkas is in the van of that great hunt leaping surefooted in the dimness, and Oromл may not keep up with him, for even his divine steed cannot rush as headlong in the gathering night as does Poldуrлa in the fire of his wrath. Ulmo hears the shouting in his house in Vai, and Ossл [?thrusteth] his head above the Shadowy Seas and seeing no longer any light come down the valley of Kфr he leaps upon the beach of Eldamar and runs in haste to join the Ainur in their hunt. Now is the only light place left in Valinor that garden where the golden fountain sprang from Kulullin, and then were Vбna and Nessa and Urwen and many maids and ladies of the Valar in tears, but Palъrien girds her lord as he stands impatiently, and Varda has ridden forth from Tani1quetil by her lord’s side bearing a blazing star before him as a torch.
Telimektar son of Tulkas is with those noble ones, and his face and weapons gleam as silver in the dark, but now all the Gods and all their folk ride this way and that, and some have [?hasty] torches in their hands, so that the plain is full of pale wandering lights and the sound of voices hallooing in the dusk.
Even as Melko speeds away a vanguard of the chase sweeps by the Trees, and well nigh the Vali faint for anguish at the ruin they see there; but now Melko and certain of his comrades, aforetime children of Mandos, are separated from Ungwл, who wrapped in night gets her gone southward and over the mountains to her home, nor does that chase ever draw nigh to her; but the others flee northward with great speed, for Melko’s comrades have knowledge of the mountains there, and hope to get [?him] through. There came a place at length where the shadow-veils were thin and they were viewed by a scattered band of the Vali, and Tulkas was amongst them; who now with a great roar leaps at them. Indeed it might have come to battle upon the plain betwixt Tulkas and Melko had not the distance been overgreat, so that even as Tulkas gained to within spearcast of Melko a belt of mist took the fugitives again and the mocking laugh of Melko seems to come first from one side and then from the other, now from his elbow almost, now from far ahead, and Tulkas turns wildly about and Melko slips away.
Then Makar and Meбssл rode in all haste north with their folk, arousing Mandos and ordering the guarding of the mountain paths, but either Makar was too late or Melko’s cunning defeated him—and the mind of Makar was not oversubtle, for no glimpse of that Ainu did they see, though assuredly he did escape that way, and worked much evil after in the world, yet none are there whom I have heard tell ever of the manner of his perilous flight back to the ice-kingdoms of the North.’
NOTES
1 See p. 117.
2 Lirillo appears in the list of secondary names of the Valar referred to on p. 93 as a name of Salmar-Noldorin.
3 ‘father of Fлanor’ is the final reading after a prolonged hesitation between ‘son of Fлanor’ and ‘brother of Fлanor’.
4 For the story of the taking of rock and stone from Arvalin (Eruman) for the raising of the Mountains of Valinor see p. 70.
5 ‘sire of Fлanor’ is an emendation from ‘son of Fлanor’ see note 3.
6 After the word ‘fabrics’ there stood the following sentence, which was struck through: ‘which the Gods could an they listed have created in an hour’—a sentence notable in itself and also for its excision.
7 The MS page beginning with the words ‘before the gates of Valmar’ and ending with ‘unabashed uttered his message, saying’ is written round the little world-map reproduced and described on pp. 81 ff.
8 In this part of the tale the manuscript consists of detached passages, with directions from one to another; the place of this sentence is not perfectly clear, but seems most probably to belong here.
9 The dots are in the original.
10 ‘afterward’ is an emendation from ‘of old’. A question mark is written in the margin against this sentence.
Changes made to names in
The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor
Ellu Melemno < Melemno (in Chapter V, p. 120, in an added sentence, the leader of the Solosimpi is Ellu).
Sirnъmen < Numessir (at the first two occurrences; subsequently Sirnъmen was the form first written).
Eruman < Harmalin (pp. 145, 152), < Habbanan (p. 151).
Arvalin < Harvalien < Habbanan (p. 145), < Harvalien < Harmalin (p. 147); Arvalien thus first written p. 148.
Bruithwir replaces an earlier name, probably Maron.
Bruithwir go-Maidros < Bruithwir go-Fлanor. go- is a patronymic, ‘son of’. See notes 3 and 5 above.
Mуru This name could equally well be read, as also at its occasional occurrences elsewhere, as Morn (see the Appendix on Names). It replaces here another name, probably Mordi.
Ungoliont < Gungliont.
Daurin (Tуrin) The original reading at the first occurence was Fлanor, changed to (?)Daurlas…akin to Fлanor, and then to a Gnome called Daurin (Tуrin). The subsequent occurrences of Daurin are emendations of Fлanor.
Commentary on
The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor
The story of the corruption of the Noldoli by Melko was ultimately told quite differently; for there entered the matter of the strife between Finwл’s sons Fлanor and Fingolfin (The Silmarillion p. 69), of w1hich in the tale there is no trace, and where in any case Fлanor is not the son of Finwл Nуlemл but of one Bruithwir. The primary motive in the later story of Melkor’s desire for the Silmarils (ibid. p. 67) is here represented only by a lust for the gems of the Noldoli in general: it is indeed a remarkable feature of the original mythology that though the Silmarils were present they were of such relatively small importance. There is essential agreement with the later story in its being the Noldoli at whom Melko aimed his attack, and there is a quite close, if limited, similarity in the arguments he used: the confinement of the Elves in Valinor by the Valar, and the broad realms in the East that were rightly theirs—but notably absent from Melko’s words is any reference to the coming of Men: this element is in the tale introduced later and quite differently, by Manwл himself (p. 150). Moreover the particular association of the Noldoli with the evil Vala arises from his desire for their gems: in The Silmarillion (p. 66) the Noldor turned to him for the instruction he could give, while the other kindreds held aloof.
From this point the narratives diverge altogether; for the secret evil of Melkor was in The Silmarillion laid bare as a result of the enquiry held into the quarrel of the Noldorin princes, whereas here its revelation came about more simply from the anxiety of Finwл Nуlemл about the unrest of his people. The later story is of course far superior, in that Melkor was sought by the Valar as a known enemy as soon as his machinations were uncovered (though he escaped), whereas in the tale, despite there being now every evidence that he was by no means reformed, he was merely told to go and think things over in Mandos. The germ of the story in The Silmarillion of Fлanor’s banishment to Formenos, where he was accompanied by Finwл, is present, though here the entire people of the Noldoli are ordered to leave Kфr for the rugged dale northwards where the stream Hнri plunged underground, and the command to do so seems to have been less a punishment meted out to them by Manwл than a precaution and a safeguard.