Nuin’s words to Tы on the stature of the sleepers in the Vale of Murmenalda are curious. In A is added: ‘Men were almost of a stature at first with Elves, the fairies being far greater and Men smaller than now. As the power of Men has grown the fairies have dwindled and Men waxed somewhat.’ Other early statements indicate that Men and Elves were originally of very similar stature, and that the diminishing in that of the Elves was closely related to the coming of, and the dominance of, Men. Nuin’s words are therefore puzzling, especially since in A they immediately precede the comment on the original similarity of size; for he can surely only mean that the sleepers in Murmenalda were very large by comparison with the Elves. That the sleepers were in fact children, not merely likened in some way to children, is made clear in D: ‘Nuin finds the Slumbrous Dale (Murmenalda) where countless sleeping children lie.’

We come now to the point where the narrative is carried forward only in the outlines.

The Awakening of Men

according to the earlier outlines

The wizard Tъvo told Nuin that the sleepers he had found were the new Children of Ilъvatar, and that they were waiting for light. He forbade any of the Elves to wake them or to visit those places, being frightened of the wrath of Ilъvatar; but despite this Nuin went there often and watched, sitting on a rock. Once he stumbled against a sleeper, who stirred but did not wake. At last, overcome by curiosity, he awakened two, named Ermon and Elmir; they were dumb and very much afraid, but he taught them much of the Ilkorin tongue, for which reason he is called Nuin Father of Speech. Then came the First Dawn; and Ermon and Elmir alone of Men saw the first Sun rise in the West and come over to the Eastward Haven. Now Men came forth from Murmenalda as ‘a host of sleepy children’.

(In the tale of The Hiding of Valinor it was long after the first rising of the Sunship from Valinor that its Haven in the East was built; see p. 214–15. It is interesting that the first Men, Ermon and Elmir, were woken by Nuin before the first rising of the Sun, and although it was known to Tъvo that Men were ‘waiting for light’ no connection is made between Nuin’s act and the Sunrise. But of course one cannot judge the inner tenor of the narrative from such summaries. It is notable also that whereas the tongue of the Elves, in origin one and the same, was a direct gift of Ilбvatar (p. 232), Men were born into the world without language and received it from the instruction of an Ilkorin. Cf. The Silmarillion, p. 141: ‘It is said also that these Men [the people of Bлor] had long had dealings with the Dark Elves east of the mountains, and from them had learned much of their speech; and since all the languages of the Quendi were of one origin, the language of Bлor and his folk resembled the Elven-tongue in many words and devices.’)

At this point in the story the agents of Melko appear, the Ъvanimor, ‘bred in the earth’ by him (Ъvanimor, ‘who are monsters, giants, and ogres’, have been mentioned in an earlier tale, p. 75); and Tъvo protected Men and Elves from them and from ‘evil fays’. A makes mention of Orcs besides.

A servant of Melko named ‘Fъkil or Fangli’ entered the world, and coming among Men perverted them, so that they fell treacherously upon the Ilkorins; there followed the Battle of Palisor, in which the people of Ermon fought beside Nuin. According to A ‘the fays and those Men that aided them were defeated’, but B calls it an ‘undecided battle’ and the Men corrupted by Fangli fled away and became ‘wild and savage tribes’, worshipping Fangli and Melko. Thereafter (in A only) Palisor was possessed by ‘Fangli and his hosts of Nauglath (or Dwarves)’. (In the early writings the Dwarves are always portrayed as an evil people.)

From this outline it is seen that the corruption of certain Men in the beginning of their days by the agency of Melko was a feature of the earliest phase of the mythology; but of all the story here sketched there is no more than a hint or suggestion, at most, in The Silmarillion (p. 141): ‘“A darkness lies behind us,” Bлor said; “and we have turned our backs upon it, and we do not desire to retu1rn thither even in thought.”⁷

The Awakening of Men

according to the later outline

Here it is told at the beginning of the narrative that Melko’s Ъvanimor had escaped when the Gods broke the Fortress of the North, and were wandering in the forests; Fankil servant of Melko dwelt uncaptured in the world. (Fankil="=Fangli" / Fъkil of A and B. In C he is called ‘child of Melko’. Fankil has been mentioned at an earlier point in D, when at the time of the Awakening of the Elves ‘Fankil and many dark shapes escaped into the world’ see p. 107, note 3.)

Nuin ‘Father of Speech’, who went again and again to Murmenalda despite the warnings of Tы (which are not here specified), woke Ermon and Elmir, and taught them speech and many things else. Ermon and Elmir alone of Mankind saw the Sun arising in the West, and the seeds of Palъrien bursting forth into leaf and bud. The hosts of Men came forth as sleepy children, raising a dumb clamour at the Sun; they followed it westward when it returned, and were grievously afraid of the first Night. Nuin and Ermon and Elmir taught them speech.

Men grew in stature, and gathered knowledge of the Dark Elves,⁸ but Tы faded before the Sun and hid in the bottomless caverns. Men dwelt in the centre of the world and spread thence in all directions; and a very great age passed.

Fankil with the Dwarves and Goblins went among Men, and bred estrangement between them and the Elves; and many Men aided the Dwarves. The folk of Ermon alone stood by the fairies in the first war of Goblins and Elves (Goblins is here an emendation from Dwarves, and that from Men), which is called the War of Palisor. Nuin died at the hands of the Goblins through the treachery of Men. Many kindreds of Men were driven to the eastern deserts and the southern forests, whence came dark and savage peoples.

The hosts of Tareg the Ikorin marched North-west hearing a rumour of the Gnomes; and many of the lost kindreds joined him.

The History of the Exiled Gnomes

according to the earlier outlines

The Gnomes, after the passage of Helkaraksл, spread into Hisilуmл, where they had ‘trouble’ with the ancient Shadow Folk in that land—in A called ‘fay-people’, in B ‘Ъvalear fays’. (We have met the Shadow Folk of Hisilуmл before, in the tale of The Coming of the Elves, p. 119, but there this is a name given by Men, after they were shut in Hisilуmл by Melko, to the Lost Elves who remained there after straying on the march from Palisor. It will be seen in the later outlines that these Shadow Folk were an unknown people wholly distinct from Elves; and it seems therefore that the name was preserved while given a new interpretation.)

The Gnomes found the Waters of Asgon* and encamped there; then took place the Counting of the Folk, the birth of Turgon with ‘prophecies’, and the death of Fлanor. On this last matter the outlines are divergent. In A it was Nуlemл, called also Fingolma, who died: ‘his bark vanis1hes down a hidden way—said to be the way that Tuor after escaped by. He sailed to offer sacrifice in the islanded rock in Asgon.’ (To whom was he sacrificing?) In B, as first written, it was likewise ‘Fingolma (Nуlemл)’ who died, but this was emended to Fлanor; ‘his bark vanished down a hidden [way]—said to be that opening that the Noldoli after enlarged and fashioned to a path, so that Tuor escaped that way. He sailed to the Islanded Rock in Asgon because he saw something brightly glitter there and sought his jewels.’

Leaving Asgon the Gnomes passed the Bitter Hills and fought their first battle with Ores in the foothills of the Iron Mountains. (For the Iron Mountains as the southern border of Hisilуmл see p. 111–12, 158–9.) In the Tale of Tinъviel Beren came from Hisilуmл, from ‘beyond the Bitter Hills’, and ‘through the terrors of the Iron Mountains’, and it thus seems clear that the Bitter Hills and the Iron Mountains may be equated.)