text:
マルチバースが個々人レベルで分岐するって思想はムリがあるよなぁ ( ﾟωﾟ).｡o0(完全に別世界はアリだが
Now who shall tell of the wanderings of Tuor and the exiles of Gondolin in the wastes that lie beyond the mountains to the south of the vale of Tumladin? Miseries were theirs and death, colds and hungers, and ceaseless watches. That they won ever through those regions infested by Melko's evil came from the great slaughter and damage done to his power in that assault, and from the speed and wariness with which Tuor led them; for of a certain Melko knew of that escape and was furious thereat. Ulmo had heard tidings in the far oceans of the deeds that were done, but he could not yet aid them for they were far from waters and rivers - and indeed they , thirsted sorely, and they knew not the way.
But after a year and more of wandering, in which many a time they journeyed long tangled in the magic of those wastes only to come again upon their own tracks, once more the summer came, and nigh to its height" they came at last upon a stream, and following this came to better lands and were a little comforted. Here did Voronwe guide them, for he had caught a whisper of Ulmo's in that stream one late summer's night - and he got ever much wisdom from the sound of waters. Now he led them even till they came down to Sirion which that stream fed, and then both Tuor and Voronwe saw that they were not far from the outer issue of old of the Way of Escape, and were once more in that deep dale of alders. Here were all the bushes trampled and the trees burnt, and the dale-wall scarred with flame, and they wept, for they thought they knew the fate of those who sundered aforetime from them at the tunnel-mouth.
Now they journeyed down that river but were again in fear from Melko, and fought affrays with his Orc-bands and were in peril from the wolfriders, but his firedrakes sought not at them, both for the great exhaustion of their fires in the taking of Gondolin, and the increasing power of Ulmo as the river grew. So came they after many days - for they went slowly and got their sustenance very hardly - to those great heaths and morasses above the Land of Willows, and Voronwe knew not those regions. Now here goes Sirion a very great way under earth, diving at the great cavern of the Tumultuous Winds, but running clear again above the Pools of Twilight, even where Tulkas' after fought with Melko's self. Tuor had fared over these regions by night and dusk after Ulmo came to him amid the reeds, and he remembered not the ways. In places that land is full of deceits and very marshy; and here the host had long delay and was vexed by sore flies, for it was autumn still, and agues and fevers fared amongst them, and they cursed Melko.
Yet came they at last to the great pools and the edges of that most tender Land of Willows; and the very breath of the winds thereof brought rest and peace to them, and for the comfort of that place the grief was assuaged of those who mourned the dead in that great fall. There women and maids grew fair again and their sick were healed, and old wounds ceased to pain; yet they alone who of reason feared their folk living still in bitter thraldom in the Hells of Iron sang not, nor did they smile.
Here they abode very long indeed, and Earendel was a grown boy ere the voice of Ulmo's conches drew the heart of Tuor, that his sea-longing returned with a thirst the deeper for years of stifling; and all that host arose at his bidding, and got them down Sirion to the Sea.
Now the folk that had passed into the Eagles' Cleft and who saw the fall of Glorfindel had been nigh eight hundreds -- a large wayfaring, yet was it a sad remnant of so fair and numerous a city. But they who arose from the grasses of the Land of Willows in years after and fared away to sea, when spring set celandine in the meads and they had held sad festival in memorial of Glorfindel, these numbered but three hundreds and a score of men and man-children, and two hundreds and three score of women and maid-children. Now the number of women was few because of their hiding or being stowed by their kinsfolk in secret places in the city. There they were burned or slain or taken and enthralled, and the rescue-parties found them too seldom; and it is the greatest ruth to think of this, for the maids and women of the Gondothlim were as fair as the sun and as lovely as the moon and brighter than the stars. Glory dwelt in that city of Gondolin of the Seven Names, and its ruin was the most dread of all the sacks of cities upon the face of Earth. Nor Bablon, nor Ninwi, nor the towers of Trui, nor all the many takings of Rum that is greatest among Men, saw such terror as fell that day upon Amon Gwareth in the kindred of the Gnomes; and this is esteemed the worst work that Melko has yet thought of in the world.
Yet now those exiles of Gondolin dwelt at the mouth of Sirion by the waves of the Great Sea. There they take the name of Lothlim, the people of the flower, for Gondothlim is a name too sore to their hearts; and fair among the Lothlim Earendel grows in the house of his father, and the great tale of Tuor is come to its waning.
Then said Littleheart son of Bronweg: 'Alas for Gondolin.'
And no one in all the Room of Logs spake or moved for a great while.
|House of the White Wing||“白翼”家||“翼”家||トゥオル／Tuor|
|House of the Mole||“鼴”家||ゴンドバル大公メグリン／Meglin, Prince of Gondobar|
|House of the Swallow||“燕”家||ドゥイリン公／Lord Duilin|
|House of the Heavenly Arch||“天弧”家||“弧”家、“虹”家||族長エガルモス／Chieftain Egalmoth|
|House of the Pillar||“柱”家||ペンロド／Penlod|
|House of the Tower of Snow||“雪の塔”家||ペンロド／Penlod|
|House of the Tree||“木”家||ガルドル公／Lord Galdor|
|House of the Golden Flower||“金華”家||首長グロルフィンデル／Chief Glorfindel|
|House of the Fountain||“噴水”家||“南の噴水”家||エクセリオン公／Lord Ecthelion|
|House of the Harp||“竪琴”家||指導者サルガント／Leader Salgant|
|House of the Hammer of Wrath||“怒りの鎚”家||“鎚”家||指導者ログ／Leader Rog|
Now came days when Tuor had dwelt among the Gondothlim many years. Long had he known and cherished a love for the king's daughter, and now was his heart full of that love. Great love too had Idril for Tuor, and the strands of her fate were woven with his even from that day when first she gazed upon him from a high window as he stood a way-worn suppliant before the palace of the king. Little cause had Turgon to withstand their love, for he saw in Tuor a kinsman of comfort and great hope. Thus was first wed a child of Men with a daughter of Elfinesse, nor was Tuor the last. Less bliss have many had than they, and their sorrow in the end was great. Yet great was the mirth of those days when Idril and Tuor were wed before the folk in Gar Ainion, the Place of the Gods, nigh to the king's halls. A day of merriment was that wedding to the city of Gondolin, and of the greatest happiness to Tuor and Idril. Thereafter dwelt they in joy in that house upon the walls that looked out south over Tumladin, and this was good to the hearts of all in the city save Meglin alone. Now that Gnome was come of an ancient house, though now were its numbers less than others, but he himself was nephew to the king by his mother the king's sister Isfin; and that tale of Isfin and Eol may not here be told.
Now the sign of Meglin was a sable Mole, and he was great among quarrymen and a chief of the delvers after ore; and many of these belonged to his house. Less fair was he than most of this goodly folk, swart and of none too kindly mood, so that he won small love, and whispers there were that he had Orc's blood in his veins, but I know not how this could be true. Now he had bid often with the king for the hand of Idril, yet Turgon finding her very loth had as often said nay, for him seemed Meglin's suit was caused as much by the desire of standing in high power beside the royal throne as by love of that most fair maid. Fair indeed was she arid brave thereto; and the people called her Idril of the Silver Feet" in that she went ever barefoot and bareheaded, king's daughter as she was, save only at pomps of the Ainur; and Meglin gnawed his anger seeing Tuor thrust him out.
In these days came to pass the fulfilment of the time of the desire of the Valar and the hope of [the] Eldalie, for in great love Idril bore to Tuor a son and he was called Earendel. Now thereto there are many interpretations both among Elves and Men, but belike it was a name wrought of some secret tongue among the Gondothlim" and that has perished with them from the dwellings of the Earth.
Now this babe was of greatest beauty; his skin of a shining white and his eyes of a blue surpassing that of the sky in southern lands - bluer than the sapphires of the raiment of Manwe; and the envy of Meglin was deep at his birth, but the joy of Turgon and all the people very great indeed.
Behold now many years have gone since Tuor was lost amid the foothills and deserted by those Noldoli; yet many years too have gone since to Melko's ears came first those strange tidings - faint were they and various in form - of a Man wandering amid the dales of the waters of Sirion. Now Melko was not much afraid of the race of Men in those days of his great power, and for this reason did Ulmo work through one of this kindred for the better deceiving of Melko, seeing that no Valar and scarce any of the Eldar or Noldoli might stir unmarked of his vigilance. Yet nonetheless foreboding smote that ill heart at the tidings, and he got together a mighty army of spies: sons of the Orcs were there with eyes of yellow and green like cats that could pierce all glooms and see through mist or fog or night; snakes that could go everywhither and search all crannies or the deepest pits or the highest peaks, listen to every whisper that ran in the grass or echoed in the hills; wolves there were and ravening dogs and great weasels full of the thirst of blood whose nostrils could take scent moons old through running water, or whose eyes find among shingle footsteps that had passed a lifetime since; owls came and falcons whose keen glance might descry by day or night the fluttering of small birds in all the woods of the world, and the movement of every mouse or vole or rat that crept or dwelt throughout the Earth. All these he summoned to his Hall of Iron, and they came in multitudes. Thence he sent them over the Earth to seek this Man who had escaped from the Land of Shadows, but yet far more curiously and intently to search out the dwelling of the Noldoli that had escaped his thraldom; for these his heart burnt to destroy or to enslave.
Now while Tuor dwelt in happiness and in great increase of knowledge and might in Gondolin, these creatures through the years untiring nosed among the stones and rocks, hunted the forests and the heaths, espied the airs and lofty places, tracked all paths about the dales and plains, and neither let nor stayed. From this hunt they brought a wealth of tidings to Melko - indeed among many hidden things that they dragged to light they discovered that Way of Escape whereby Tuor and Voronwe entered aforetime. Nor had they done so save by constraining some of the less stout of the Noldoli with dire threats of torment to join in that great ransacking; for because of the magic about that gate no folk of Melko unaided by the Gnomes could come to it. Yet now they had pried of late far into its tunnels and captured within many of the Noldoli creeping there to flee from thraldom. They had scaled too the Encircling Hills at. certain places and gazed upon the beauty of the city of Gondolin and the strength of Amon Gwareth from afar; but into the plain they could not win for the vigilance of its guardians and the difficulty of those mountains. Indeed the Gondothlim were mighty archers, and bows they made of a marvel of power. Therewith might they shoot an arrow into heaven seven times as far as could the best bowman among Men shoot at a mark upon the ground; and they would have suffered no falcon to hover long over their plain or snake to crawl therein; for they liked not creatures of blood, broodlings of Melko.
Now in those days was Earendel one year old when these ill tidings came to that city of the spies of Melko and how they encompassed the vale of Tumladin around. Then Turgon's heart was saddened, remembering the words of Tuor in past years before the palace doors; and he caused the watch and ward to be thrice strengthened at all points, and engines of war to be devised by his artificers and set upon the hill. Poisonous fires and hot liquids, arrows and great rocks, was he prepared to shoot down on any who would assail those gleaming walls; and then he abode as well content as might be, but Tuor's heart was heavier than the king's, for now the words of Ulmo came ever to his mind, and their purport and gravity he understood more deeply than of old; nor did he find any great comfort in Idril, for her heart boded more darkly even than his own.
Know then that Idril had a great power of piercing with her thought the darkness of the hearts of Elves and Men, and the glooms of the future thereto - further even than is the common power of the kindreds of the Eldalie; therefore she spake thus on a day to Tuor: "Know, my husband, that my heart misgives me for doubt of Meglin, and I fear that he will bring an ill on this fair realm, though by no means may I see how or when - yet I dread lest all that he knows of our doings and preparations become in some manner known to the Foe, so that he devise a new means of whelming us, against which we have thought of no defence. Lo! I dreamed on a night that Meglin builded a furnace, and coming at us unawares flung therein Earendel our babe, and would after thrust in thee and me; but that for sorrow at the death of our fair child I would not resist."
And Tuor answered: "There is reason for thy fear, for neither is my heart good towards Meglin; yet is he the nephew of the king and thine own cousin, nor is there charge against him, and I see nought to do but to abide and watch."
But Idril said: "This is my rede thereto: gather thou in deep secret those delvers and quarrymen who by careful trial are found to hold least love for Meglin by reason of the pride and arrogance of his dealings among them. From these thou must choose trusty men to keep watch upon Meglin whenso he fares to the outer hills, yet I counsel thee to set the greater part of those in whose secrecy thou canst confide at a hidden delving, and to devise with their aid - howsoever cautious and slow that labour be - a secret way from thy house here beneath the rocks of this hill unto the vale below. Now this way must not lead toward the Way of Escape, for my heart bids me trust it not, but even to that far distant pass, the Cleft of Eagles in the southern mountains; and the further this delving reach thitherward beneath the plain so much the better would I esteem it -- yet let all this labour be kept dark save from a few."
Now there are none such delvers of earth or rock as the Noldoli (and this Melko knows), but in those places is the earth of a great hardness; and Tuor said: "The rocks of the hill of Amon Gwareth are as iron, and only with much travail may they be cloven; yet if this be done in secret then must great time and patience be added; but the stone of the floor of the Vale of Tumladin is as forged steel, nor may it be hewn without the knowledge of the Gondothlim save in moons and years."
Idril said then: "Sooth this may be, but such is my rede, and there is yet time to spare." Then Tuor said that he might not see all its purport, "but 'better is any plan than a lack of counsel', and I will do even as thou sayest".
Now it so chanced that not long after Meglin went to the hills for the getting of ore, and straying in the mountains alone was taken by some of the Orcs prowling there, and they would do him evil and terrible hurt, knowing him to be a man of the Gondothlim. This was however unknown of Tuor's watchers. But evil came into the heart of Meglin, and he said to his captors: "Know then that I am Meglin son of Eol who had to wife Isfin sister of Turgon king of the Gondothlim." But they said: "What is that to us?" And Meglin answered: "Much is it to you; for if you slay me, be it speedy or slow, ye will lose great tidings concerning the city of Gondolin that your master would rejoice to hear." Then the Orcs stayed their hands, and said they would give him life if the matters he opened to them seemed to merit that; and Meglin told them of all the fashion of that plain and city, of its walls and their height and thickness, and the valour of its gates; of the host of men at arms who now obeyed Turgon he spake, and the countless hoard of weapons gathered for their equipment, of the engines of war and the venomous fires.
Then the Orcs were wroth, and having heard these matters were yet for slaying him there and then as one who impudently enlarged the power of his miserable folk to the mockery of the great might and puissance of Melko; but Meglin catching at a straw said: "Think ye not that ye would rather pleasure your master if ye bore to his feet so noble a captive, that he might hear my tidings of himself and judge of their verity?"
Now this seemed good to the Orcs, and they returned from the mountains about Gondolin to the Hills of Iron and the dark halls of Melko; thither they haled Meglin with them, and now was he in a sore dread. But when he knelt before the black throne of Melko in terror of the grimness of the shapes about him, of the wolves that sat beneath that chair and of the adders that twined about its legs, Melko bade him speak. Then told he those tidings, and Melko hearkening spake very fair to him, that the insolence of his heart in great measure returned.
Now the end of this was that Melko aided by the cunning of Meglin devised a plan for the overthrow of Gondolin. For this Meglin's reward was to be a great captaincy among the Orcs - yet Melko purposed not in his heart to fulfil such a promise - but Tuor and Earendel should Melko burn, and Idril be given to Meglin's arms - and such promises was that evil one fain to redeem. Yet as meed of treachery did Melko threaten Meglin with the torment of the Balrogs. Now these were demons with whips of flame and claws of steel by whom he tormented those of the Noldoli who durst withstand him in anything - and the Eldar have called them Malkarauki. But the rede that Meglin gave to Melko was that not all the host of the Orcs nor the Balrogs in their fierceness might by assault or siege hope ever to overthrow the walls and gates of Gondolin even if they availed to win unto the plain without. Therefore he counselled Melko to devise out of his sorceries a succour for his warriors in their endeavour. From the greatness of his wealth of metals and his powers of fire he bid himmake beasts like snakes and dragons of irresistible might that should overcreep the Encircling Hills and lap that plain and its fair city in flame and death.
Then Meglin was bidden fare home lest at his absence men suspect somewhat; but Melko wove about him the spell of bottomless dread, and he had thereafter neither joy nor quiet in his heart. Nonetheless he wore a fair mask of good liking and gaiety, so that men said: "Meglin is softened", and he was held in less disfavour; yet Idril feared him the more. Now Meglin said: "I have laboured much and am minded to rest, and to join in the dance and the song and the merrymakings of the folk", and he went no more quarrying stone or ore in the hills: yet in sooth he sought herein to drown his fear and disquiet. A dread possessed him that Melko was ever at hand, and this came of the spell; and he durst never again wander amid the mines lest he again fall in with the Orcs and be bidden once more to the terrors of the halls of darkness.
Now when the seventh summer had gone since the treason of Meglin, and Earendel was yet of very tender years though a valorous child, Melko withdrew all his spies, for every path and corner of the mountains was now known to him; yet the Gondothlim thought in their unwariness that Melko would no longer seek against them, perceiving their might and the impregnable strength of their dwelling.
But Idril fell into a dark mood and the light of her face was clouded, and many wondered thereat; yet Turgon reduced the watch and ward to its ancient numbers, and to somewhat less, and as autumn came and the gathering of fruits was over folk turned with glad hearts to the feasts of winter: but Tuor stood upon the battlements and gazed upon the Encircling Hills.
Now behold, Idril stood beside him, and the wind was in her hair, and Tuor thought that she was exceeding beautiful, and stooped to kiss her; but her face was sad, and she said: "Now come the days when thou must make choice," and Tuor knew not what she said. Then drawing him within their halls she said to him how her heart misgave her for fear concerning Earendel her son, and for boding that some great evil was nigh, and that Melko would be at the bottom of it. Then Tuor would comfort her, but might not, and she questioned him concerning the secret delving, and he said how it now led a league into the plain, and at that was her heart somewhat lightened. But still she counselled that the delving be pressed on, and that henceforth should speed weigh more than secrecy, "because now is the time very near". And another rede she gave him, and this he took also, that certain of the bravest and most true among the lords and warriors of the Gondothlim be chosen with care and told of that secret way and its issue. These she counselled him to make into a stout guard and to give them his emblem to wear that they become his folk, and to do thus under pretext of the right and dignity of a great lord, kinsman to the king. "Moreover," said she, "I will get my father's favour to that." In secret too she whispered to folk that if the city came to its last stand or Turgon be slain that they rally about Tuor and her son, and to this they laughed a yea, saying however that Gondolin would stand as long as Taniquetil or the Mountains of Valinor.
Yet to Turgon she spoke not openly, nor suffered Tuor to do so, as he desired, despite their love and reverence for him - a great and a noble and a glorious king he was - seeing that he trusted in Meglin and held with blind obstinacy his belief in the impregnable might of the city and that Melko sought no more against it, perceiving no hope therein. Now in this he was ever strengthened by the cunning sayings of Meglin. Behold, the guile of that Gnome was very great, for he wrought much in the dark, so that folk said: "He doth well to bear the sign of a sable mole"; and by reason of the folly of certain of the quarrymen, and yet more by reason of the loose words of certain among his tin to whom word was somewhat unwarily spoken by Tuor, he gathered a knowledge of the secret work and laid against that a plan of his own.
太陽が丘陵地帯の向こうに沈むと、民は嬉々として熱望していた祝祭のために盛装した - そして期待を込めて東の方を眺めやった。見よ！ 彼女が去ってすべてが闇に包まれた後、忽然と新たな光が点ると、明るさを増していったのだ。しかもそれは北方の峰々を超えて来たので、驚嘆した人々は外壁や胸壁に殺到した。不思議な光は強くなり、やがて赤みを帯びてきた。そして山々を覆う雪が血の色に染まった時、人々の心には疑いが兆した。メルコの“火の蛇”がゴンドリンに到来したのではないかと。
やがて峰で警戒を続けていた者たちが、息をのむような知らせを携えた騎馬伝令を平原に走らせた。彼らは炎の軍勢と竜のような姿を伝え、そして言った：「メルコが我らの上にいる」。美しき都には恐れと哀しみが広がり、大路でも街路でも女性の涙や子供の泣き叫ぶ声が聞こえたが、兵が召集され、広場では彼らの武器がぶつかり鳴った。さて、そこにはゴンドリンの民のすべての高家と家系を示す輝かしい旗印が並んでいた。一番荘厳なのは王家であり、その色は白、金、赤。紋章は月と太陽と緋色のハートだ。その中央に筆頭たるトゥオルがいた。彼の鎧は銀に輝いていた；彼の壮健さは民の中で並び立つ者がいなかった。見よ！ 彼らの兜には白鳥やカモメの翼があしらわれ、彼らの盾には白い翼の紋章が描かれていた。そこにはメグリンも民を引き連れて来ていた。彼らはクロテン革の装具を締め、何の紋章も徽章も帯びておらず、表面をモールスキンで覆った鋼の丸帽を被っていた。彼らはつるはしのような両刃の両手斧で戦った。ゴンドバル大公メグリンが集めた戦士たちは暗い表情としかめっ面をしていた。その時、赤い光が彼らの顔と磨き上げられた従装具を照らした。見よ！ 北の丘陵地帯が燃え上がり、火の河が流れ落ちるようにトゥムラデンの平原に届いた。民はその熱気を感じた。
さらに他の高家もいた。“燕”家と“天弧”家の民がいた。これらの民からは優秀な弓師が多数輩出され、外壁の広い場所に配置された。“燕”家の民は兜に羽飾りを付け、白と紺で盛装し、彼らの盾は紫地に黒で鏃が描かれていた。彼らの主君はドゥイリンであり、最も速く走り、跳び、正確に的を射抜く射手だ。そして数えきれない富を持つ“天弧”家の民は色取り取りの衣装で盛装しており、彼らの武具には天が下で炎のような輝きを放つ宝石が嵌められていた。軍勢のすべての盾は天の蒼色であり、紅玉、紫水晶、青玉、翠玉、緑玉髄、黄玉、琥珀の七つの宝石が嵌めこまれ、彼らの兜には大粒の虹色石が飾られていた。エガルモスが彼らの族長であり、星のように輝く水晶を縫い込んだ青いマントを羽織った。彼は曲刀 - 当時、ノルドリで曲刀を使う者はいなかった - を佩いたが、彼が信頼するものは弓であり、軍勢の誰よりも遠くを射た。
これがゴンドリン11高家の盛装と序列、紋章と徽章であり、トゥオルの近衛隊は“翼”家の民と呼ばれ、第12高家として数えられた。今、族長の顔は厳しく、この命は長くないと感じていた - 外壁近くの彼の家では、鎖帷子で盛装したイドリルがエーレンデルを探していた。その子は寝室を照らす妖しい光を見て泣き出していた；乳母のメレスがむずがる彼に話したメルコの火の物語を思い出して怯えたのだ。しかし彼の母が来て密かに用意していた小さな鎖帷子を着せると、彼は誇りを取り戻して歓喜し、嬉しさに声を上げた。しかしイドリルは泣いていた。彼女は美しい都と素晴らしい我が家を大切にしており、トゥオルと一緒の生活を愛していたからだ；しかし今彼女は破滅の魔手が迫っていることを感じていた。そして彼女は蛇の恐怖の圧倒的な力に対して彼女の計画が失敗するのではないかと恐れていた。
そして“鼴”家の宗主はトゥルゴンの弱いところを突いた：「王よ、ご照覧あれ！ ゴンドリンの都には宝石や貴金属、ノームが手ずから作り出した貴重品や様々な富があります。あなた様の諸侯は - 賢明なる勇者諸氏は - それを敵の面前に差し出すのでしょうか。もし平原の戦いで勝利をつかんだとしても、都はバルログに略奪され、莫大な戦利品が強奪されるでしょう」；トゥルゴンは唸った。メグリンは彼がアモン・グワレスの上にそびえる都とその富に対する愛着を熟知していた。再びメグリンは声に火をつけた：「王よ！ あなた様は数え切れないほどの年月をかけて、難攻不落な厚さを持つ外壁と打ち倒すことができない門扉を築きあげたのです；アモン・グワレスの高みの力を捨てて地の利のない深い谷間に出るなど、ましてや貯蔵された無数の武器や鏃という利点を捨て、敵の持つ鋼と火に裸で挑むなど愚の骨頂。何者が大地と環状山脈を踏み砕き、揺るがすことができるというのでしょうか？」
今やメグリンは残虐な性をむき出しにしてイドリルの髪をつかんで胸壁へと引っ張りだそうとした。エーレンデルを炎の中に投げ落とす瞬間を見せつけるためである；しかし彼女はたったひとりで、さながら美しくか細い雌虎のように戦ったため、彼は子供の扱いに手こずっていた。“翼”家の民が衝突した - その時である！ トゥオルが、遥か彼方のいるオークが身をすくめるような雄叫びを上げた。暴風に吹き飛ばれたかのように、“翼”家の民と“鼴”家の民は道を開けた。これを目にしたメグリンはとっさに短刀を取り出してエーレンデルを刺した；しかし子供が彼の左手に深々と噛みついたため、彼はよろめき、その刺突は弱く、服の下に着けていた鎖帷子に刃を逸らされた；そこにトゥオルが現れた。彼の憤怒の表情は見るも恐ろしいものだった。彼はメグリンの短刀を持った腕をつかむとねじり上げてへし折った。そして彼を引きずり出して胸壁の上に登ると遥か彼方に投げ捨てた。彼の肉体は遠くまで飛び、アモン・グワレスの山腹に3度ぶつかった後に炎に飲まれた；こうしてメグリンの恥ずべき名は、ノルドリの間からもエルダルの間からも消えた。
その後、広場は非常に熱い靄と視界を奪う霧で満たされ、噴水の辿った悲運がもたらす恐怖が皆の心に影を落とした。高家の人々の多くは熱と敵と大蛇と諸々によって戦死していた；しかしながら王は壮健だった。そこでグリンゴルとバンシル *1 の下で会合が開かれた。
その時、王が口にした：「斯くて、偉大なるゴンドリン、陥落せり。」人々は戦慄した。それはかつての偉大なる予言者アムノンの言葉だったからである。しかしトゥオルが王への慈悲と愛から泣きながら声を荒げて叫んだ。「ゴンドリンはまだ持ち堪えています。そしてウルモはその死を許さぬでしょう！」 彼らはその時、トゥオルは木のそばに、王は階段の上に立っていた。かつて彼らが語らったときトゥオルは“ウルモの託宣場”にいた。トゥルゴンは応えて言った。「悪はウルモが平原に咲かせた花を踏みしだき、火は彼の力を消し去った。見よ！ 我がすべてを捧げた最愛の都にも、我が魂にも希望は残されていない。しかしノルドリの子は永遠に不滅だ」
そこでゴンドリンの民は武器を打ち鳴らした。多くの者がすぐそばにいたからである。しかしトゥルゴンは言った：「子らよ、宿命と戦うことはできぬ！ 安全に落ち延びる道を探すのだ。もはや時間は少ない：トゥオルがそなたたちを導くだろう」 しかしトゥオルは言い募った：「王はあなた様です」；トゥルゴンは答えた：「私はこれ以上戦わぬ」 彼は王冠を外すとグリンゴルの根元に放り出した。そばにいたガルドルが駆け寄って拾い上げたが、トゥルゴンはそれを受け取らず、無冠のままに宮殿に戻ると近くにある白の塔の頂点に登った。彼は山々に響き渡る角笛のような大声で叫んだ。それは木の周囲に集った者たちだけでなく、広場の霧を包囲する敵にも聞こえた：「ノルドリに偉大なる勝利を！」 これは夜中の出来事だった。オークたちから嘲笑が聞こえた。
人々は今後の方針について話し合ったが、主に2つの意見に分かれた。多くの者は攻囲を突破することは不可能であり、ましてや平原や丘陵地帯を通り抜けるのも至難の業であるとして、王と共に討ち死にすることが良案であると考えた。しかしトゥオルは、かほどに多くの見目麗しき女性と子供たちが、最後の手段として同族の手にかかるのか、それとも敵の武器にかかるのかはともかくとして、死を迎えるのは良いことではないと考えた。そこで彼は彼が探窟した秘密の通路について打ち明けた。そして彼はトゥルゴンの下に赴くと、意志を曲げて彼らと合流し、遺民を率いて通路を通り抜け、南壁を目指して欲しいと懇願した；しかし彼自身はイドリルとエーレンデルがどうしているのか知りたいという焦燥を感じていた。ゴンドリンが略奪される前に伝令を飛ばし、速やかに退去するよう伝えたかった。諸侯はトゥオルの計画を無鉄砲なものと感じていた - 狭い通路を大集団が通過しなくてはならないからだ - しかしながら、彼らは快く困難に立ち向かうことにした。しかしトゥルゴンは耳を傾けなかった。彼は手遅れになる前に出発するよう命じた。「トゥオルに従うのだ」彼は言った。「そなたが導き、そなたが率いるのだ。しかし私は、トゥルゴンは、愛する都に残り、共に焼かれよう」再び使者が塔に向かい、伝えた：「陛下、あなた様が倒れられたら、ゴンドリンの民はどうすればよいのでしょう？ 我らを導いてください！」しかし彼は言った：「ならぬ！ 私はここに残る」；三度目において彼は彼は言った：「もし私を王と認めるのであれば、議論をするのではなく、我が命に従うがよい」以降、彼らは使者を送り出すことはせず、絶望的な計画に向けて準備を始めた。しかし王家に属する民はあくまでも動かなかった。そして王の塔の周囲を厳重に固めた。「ここに残りましょう」彼らは言った。「トゥルゴン様が動かれぬのであれば、我らもここに留まります」；彼らを翻意させるのは無理な話だった。
今トゥオルは王に対する敬愛とイドリルや我が子への愛情の間に引き裂かれ、心臓が破裂しそうだった；だが“蛇”どもは広場を蹂躙するため死者や死に行く者を踏み躙って蠢動しており、敵は霧の中で最後の総攻撃に備えて集結しつつあった；決断しなくてはならなかった。大宮殿の広間に響く女性陣の泣き声を聞くうちに、彼の心中にはゴンドリンの民に対する慈悲と哀惜の心が強まった。彼は負傷兵、淑女、母子らを集めると、それらを中心に彼の郎党たちを周囲に配した。彼自身は殿の側面に就いた。彼は南方への撤退戦で可能な限り後衛と共に戦うつもりだった；彼はできる事なら、敵が大軍を追撃に送り出す前に、“壮麗街”を“諸神との場所”に向かおうとした。彼は“水道道”を通って“南の噴水”を抜け、外壁沿いにある自宅に向かうつもりだった；しかし秘密の通路を通過できるかは未知数だった。彼の行動を見張っていた敵は直ちに彼のいた左翼と後方を襲撃した - 東側と北側が撤退を開始した；彼の右翼は“王の広間”に守られていたため、先頭は無事に“壮麗街”に入ることができた。
その時、巨大な竜たちの凝視が霧の中から接近してきた。彼が一行に走るように指示すると同時に突発的な戦いが始まった；グロルフィンデルが男らしく殿を受け持ったが、“金華”家の郎党が多く斃れた。そうして彼らは“壮麗街”を抜けるとガル・アイニオン、“諸神との場所”にたどり着いた；ここは都の中央部でも標高の高い土地で、非常に開けた場所だった。ここでトゥオルは邪悪に抵抗する者がいないかと見やったが、それはあまりに少なく、彼の希望は潰えかけた；しかしよく見ると、敵は目に見えて浮足立っており、あまりにも奇妙な光景に見えた。トゥオルが“婚礼の場所”に到着すると、見よ！ 目の前にイドリルがいるではないか。彼女の髪は未婚の時のように風になびいていた；彼は驚嘆した。彼女のそばにはヴォロンウェイだけが控えていた。しかしイドリルはトゥオルを見ていなかった。彼女の視線はやや下方に位置する、彼方の王宮に釘付けされていた。やがて皆は足を止めて背後を振り返り、彼女が見つめるものを見て心臓が止まる思いをした；彼らはなぜ敵の関心が薄かったのか、なぜ助かったのかの理由を見た。見よ！ 1匹の竜が宮殿の外階段に巻き付いて白き壁を汚していた；オークの大群が略奪に勤しみ、忘れられていた婦女子を引きずり出し、また戦い続ける男たちを殺していた。グリンゴルは根から倒され、バンシルは黒く汚され、王の塔は包囲されていた。その頂上に王の姿が見えたが、基部は“鉄の蛇”が吐き出す炎に囲まれ、尾が激しく打ち付けられていた。周囲はバルログが包囲していた；そして王家に連なる者たちはとてつもない苦境に立たされており、その苦痛の悲鳴が見守る者たちのところまで響いた。トゥルゴンの広間の略奪と王家の最後の抵抗が敵の気を惹いていたのだ。そのおかげでトゥオルと一行は、いま“諸神との場所”で涙を流すことができたのだった。
やがてイドリルが口を開いた：「お父様が今まさに塔の頂で滅びを待っている事が私には悲しい；でも、我が君がメルコの前に屈し、二度と我が家に戻らないことがその7倍も悲しいのです！」 - 彼女はその夜に立て続けに起きた心痛のため取り乱しているようだった。
そこでトゥオルが声を掛けた：「おお！ イドリルよ、私はここだ。私は生きているぞ；今から戻ってそなたの父上をメルコの地獄から連れてこよう！」彼は悲嘆に暮れる妻の姿を目にすると激情し、ひとりで丘を駆け下ろうとした；しかし彼女は嘆きの嵐の中から理性を取り戻し、彼の膝にすがって言った：「我が君！ 我が君！」彼の足が止まった。ようやく彼らは話をすることができたが、大音響と悲鳴が苦痛の場から響いてきた。見ると、ついに竜が基部とそこにいたすべてを押しつぶしたため、炎の中で塔が砕け散って火の海の中に崩れ落ちたのだ。恐るべき崩落音が鳴り響き、ゴンドリンの民の王トゥルゴンは往った。この瞬間、メルコの勝利が確定した。
Then said Idril heavily: "Sad is the blindness of the wise"; but Tuor said: "Sad too is the stubbornness of those we love -- yet't was a valiant fault," then stooping he lifted and kissed her, for she was more to him than all the Gondothlim; but she wept bitterly for her father. Then turned Tuor to the captains, saying: "Lo, we must get hence with all speed, lest we be surrounded"; and forthwith they moved onward as swiftly as they might and got them far from thence ere the Orcs tired of sacking the palace and rejoicing at the fall of the tower of Turgon.
Now are they in the southward city and meet but scattered bands of plunderers who fly before them; yet do they find fire and burning everywhere for the ruthlessness of that enemy. Women do they meet, some with babes and some laden with chattels, but Tuor would not let them bear away aught save a little food. Coming now at length to a greater quiet Tuor asked Voronwe for tidings, in that Idril spake not and was wellnigh in a swoon; and Voronwe told him of how she and he had waited before the doors of the house while the noise of those battles grew and shook their hearts; and Idril wept for lack of tidings from Tuor. At length she had sped the most part of her guard down the secret way with Earendel, constraining them to depart with imperious words, yet was her grief great at that sundering. She herself would bide, said she, nor seek to live after her lord; and then she fared about gathering womenfolk and wanderers and speeding them down the tunnel, and smiting marauders with her small band; nor might they dissuade her from bearing a sword.
At length they had fallen in with a band somewhat too numerous, and Voronwe had dragged her thence but by the luck of the Gods, for all else with them perished, and their foe burned Tuor's house; yet found not the secret way. "Therewith," said Voronwe, "thy lady became distraught of weariness and grief, and fared into the city wildly to my great fear -- nor might I get her to sally from the burning."
About the saying of these words were they come to the southern walls and nigh to Tuor's house, and lo! it was cast down and the wreckage was asmoke; and thereat was Tuor bitterly wroth. But there was a noise that boded the approach of Orcs, and Tuor despatched that company as swiftly as might be down that secret way.
Now is there great sorrow upon that staircase as those exiles bid farewell to Gondolin; yet are they without much hope of further life beyond the hills, for how shall any slip from the hand of Melko?
Glad is Tuor when all have passed the entrance and his fear lightens; indeed by the luck of the Valar only can all those folk have got therein unspied of the Orcs. Some now are left who casting aside their arms labour with picks from within and block up the entry of the passage, faring then after the host as they might; but when that folk had descended the stairway to a level with the valley the heat grew to a torment for the fire of the dragons that were about the city; and they were indeed nigh, for the delving was there at no great depth in the earth. Boulders were loosened by the tremors of the ground and falling crushed many, and fumes were in the air so that their torches and lanterns went out. Here they fell over bodies of some that' had gone before and perished, and Tuor was in fear for Earendel; and they pressed on in great darkness and anguish. Nigh two hours were they in that tunnel of the earth, and towards its end it was scarce finished, but rugged at the sides and low.
Then came they at the last lessened by wellnigh a tithe to the tunnel's opening, and it debouched cunningly in a large basin where once water had lain, but it was now full of thick bushes. Here were gathered no small press of mingled folk whom Idril and Voronwe sped down the hidden way before them, and they were weeping softly in weariness and sorrow, but Earendel was not there. Thereat were Tuor and Idril in anguish of heart. Lamentation was there too among all those others, for amidmost of the plain about them loomed afar the hill of Amon Gwareth crowned with flames, where had stood the gleaming city of their home. Firedrakes are about it and monsters of iron fare in and out of its gates, and great is that sack of the Balrogs and Orcs. Somewhat of comfort has this nonetheless for the leaders, for they judge the plain to be nigh empty of Melko's folk save hard by the city, for thither have fared all his evil ones to revel in that destruction.
"Now," therefore said Galdor, "we must get as far hence toward the Encircling Mountains as may be ere dawn come upon us, and that giveth no great space of time, for summer is at hand."~ Thereat rose a dissension, for a number said that it were folly to make for Cristhorn as Tuor purposed. "The sun," say they, "will be up long ere we win the foothills, and we shall be whelmed in the plain by those drakes and those demons. Let us fare to Bad Uthwen, the Way of Escape, for that is but half the journeying, and our weary and our wounded may hope to win so far if no further."
Yet Idril spake against this, and persuaded the lords that they trust not to the magic of that way that had aforetime shielded it from discovery: "for what magic stands if Gondolin be fallen?" Nonetheless a large body of men and women sundered from Tuor and fared to Bad Uthwen, and there into the jaws of a monster who by the guile of Melko at Meglin's rede sat at the outer issue that none came through. But the others, led by one Legolas Greenleaf of the house of the Tree, who knew all that plain by day or by dark, and was night-sighted, made much speed over the vale for all their weariness, and halted only after a great march. Then was all the Earth spread with the grey light of that sad dawn which looked no more on the beauty of Gondolin; but the plain was full of mists - and that was a marvel, for no mist or fog came there ever before, and this perchance had to do with the doom of the fountain of the king. Again they rose, and covered by the vapours fared long past dawn in safety, till they were already too far away for any to descry them in those misty airs from the hill or from the ruined walls.
Now the Mountains or rather their lowest hills were on that side seven leagues save a mile from Gondolin, and Cristhorn the Cleft of Eagles two leagues of upward going from the beginning of the Mountains, for it was at a great height; wherefore they had yet two leagues and part of a third to traverse amid the spurs and foothills, and they were very weary.~ By now the sun hung well above a saddle in the eastern hills, and she was very red and great; and the mists nigh them were lifted, but the ruins of Gondolin were utterly hidden as in a cloud. Behold then at the clearing of the airs they saw, but a few furlongs off, a knot of men that fled on foot, and these were pursued by a strange cavalry, for on great wolves rode Orcs, as they thought, brandishing spears. Then said Tuor: "Lo! there is Earendel my son; behold, his face shineth as a star in the waste,~ and my men of the Wing are about him, and they are in sore straits." Forthwith he chose fifty of the men that were least weary, and leaving the main company to follow he fared over the plain with that troop as swiftly as they had strength left. Coming now to carry of voice Tuor shouted to the men about Earendel to stand and flee not, for the wolfriders were scattering them and slaying them piecemeal, and the child was upon the shoulders of one Hendor, a house-carle of Idril's, and he seemed like to be left with his burden. Then they stood back to back and Hendor and Earendel amidmost; but Tuor soon came up, though all his troop were breathless.
Of the wolfriders there were a score, and of the men that were about Earendel but six living; therefore had Tuor opened his men into a crescent of but one rank, and hoped so to envelop the riders, lest any escaping bring tidings to the main foe and draw ruin upon the exiles. In this he succeeded, so that only two escaped, and therewithal wounded and without their beasts, wherefore were their tidings brought too late to the city.
Glad was Earendel to greet Tuor, and Tuor most fain of his child; but said Earendel: "I am thirsty, father, for I have run far - nor had Hendor need to bear me." Thereto his father said nought, having no water, and thinking of the need of all that company that he guided; but Earendel said again: "'Twas good to see Meglin die so, for he would set arms about my mother -- and I liked him not; but I would travel in no tunnels for all Melko's wolfriders." Then Tuor smiled and set him upon his shoulders. Soon after this the main company came up, and Tuor gave Earendel to his mother who was in a great joy; but Earendel would not be borne in her arms, for he said: "Mother Idril, thou art weary, and warriors in mail ride not among the Gondothlim, save it be old Salgant!" and his mother laughed amid her sorrow; but Earendel said: "Nay, where is Salgant?" - for Salgant had told him quaint tales or played drolleries with him at times, and Earendel had much laughter of the old Gnome in those days when he came many a day to the house of Tuor, loving the good wine and fair repast he there received. But none could say where Salgant was, nor can they now. Mayhap he was whelmed by fire upon his bed; yet some have it that he was taken captive to the halls of Melko and made his buffoon - and this is an ill fate for a noble of the good race of the Gnomes. Then was Earendel sad at that, and walked beside his mother in silence.
Now came they to the foothills and it was full morning but still grey, and there nigh to the beginning of the upward road folk stretched them and rested in a little dale fringed with trees and with hazel-bushes, and many slept despite their peril, for they were utterly spent. Yet Tuor set a strict watch, and himself slept not. Here they made one meal of scanty food and broken meats; and Earendel quenched his thirst and played beside a little brook. Then said he to his mother: "Mother Idril, I would we had good Ecthelion of the Fountain here to play to me on his flute, or make me willow-whistles! Perchance he has gone on ahead?" But Idril said nay, and told what she had heard of his end. Then said Earendel that he cared not ever to see the streets of Gondolin again, and he wept bitterly; but Tuor said that he would not again see those streets, "for Gondolin is no more".
Thereafter nigh to the hour of sundown behind the hills Tuor bade the company arise, and they pressed on by rugged paths. Soon now the grass faded and gave way to mossy stones, and trees fell away, and even the pines and firs grew sparse. About the set of the sun the way so wound behind a shoulder of the hilIs that they might not again look toward Gondolin. There all that company turned, and lo! the plain is clear and smiling in the last light as of old; but afar off as they gazed a great flare shot up against the darkened north - and that was the fall of the last tower of Gondolin, even that which had stood hard by the southern gate, and whose shadow fell oft across the walls of Tuor's house. Then sank the sun, and they saw Gondolin no more.
Now the pass of Cristhorn, that is the Eagles' Cleft, is one of dangerous going, and that host had not ventured it by dark, lanternless and without torches, and very weary and cumbered with women and children and sick and stricken men, had it not been for their great fear of Melko's scouts, for it was a great company and might not fare very secretly. Darkness gathered rapidly as they approached that high place, and they must string out into a long and straggling line. Galdor and a band of men spear-armed went ahead, and Legolas was with them, whose eyes were like cats' for the dark, yet could they see further. Thereafter followed the least weary of the women supporting the sick and the wounded that could go on foot. Idril was with these, and Earendel who bore up well, but Tuor was in the midmost behind them with all his men of the Wing, and they bare some who were grievously hurt, and Egalmoth was with him, but he had got a hurt in that sally from the square. Behind again came many women with babes, and girls, and lamed men, yet was the going slow enough for them. At the rearmost went the largest band of men battle-whole, and there was Glorfindel of the golden hair.
Thus were they come to Cristhorn, which is an ill place by reason of its height, for this is so great that spring nor summer come ever there, and it is very cold. Indeed while the valley dances in the sun, there all the year snow dwells in those bleak places, and even as they came there the wind howled, coming from the north behind them, and it bit sorely. Snow fell and whirled in wind-eddies and got into their eyes, and this was not good, for there the path is narrow, and of the right or westerly hand a sheer wall rises nigh seven chains from the way, ere it bursts atop into jagged pinnacles where are many eyries. There dwells Thorndor King of Eagles, Lord of the Thornhoth, whom the Eldar named Sorontur. But of the other hand is a fall not right sheer yet dreadly steep, and it has long teeth of rock up-pointing so that one may climb down - or fall maybe - but by no means up. And from that deep is no escape at either end any more than by the sides, and Thorn Sir runs at bottom. He falls therein from the south over a great precipice but with a slender water, for he is a thin stream in those heights, and he issues to the north after flowing but a rocky-mile above ground down a narrow passage that goes into the mountain, and scarce a fish could squeeze through with him.
これは極めて悲痛な出来事だった。グロルフィンデルは多くの者に心から愛されていたからだ - やがて衝突音がソルン・シルの底から響いた。バルログの断末魔の叫びがオークを惑わせ、それらは殺されるか遥か彼方に逃げ出した。猛き鳥であるソルンドルは、自ら奈落の底に舞い降りると、グロルフィンデルの亡骸を引き上げた；バルログの死骸は置き残され、トゥムラデンに注ぐソルン・シルの流れは一日中黒く濁った。
Then said Littleheart son of Bronweg: 'Know then that Tuor was a man who dwelt in very ancient days in that land of the North called Dor Lomin or the Land of Shadows, and of the Eldar the Noldoli know it best.
Now the folk whence Tuor came wandered the forests and fells and knew not and sang not of the sea; but Tuor dwelt not with them, and lived alone about that lake called Mithrim, now hunting in its woods, now making music beside its shores on his rugged harp of wood and the sinews of bears. Now many hearing of the power of his rough songs came from near and far to hearken to his harping, but Tuor left his singing and departed to lonely places. Here he learnt many strange things and got knowledge of the wandering Noldoli, who taught him much of their speech and lore; but he was not fated to dwell for ever in those woods.
Thereafter 'tis said that magic and destiny led him on a day to a cavernous opening down which a hidden river flowed from Mithrim. And Tuor entered that cavern seeking to learn its secret, but the waters of Mithrim drove him forward into the heart of the rock and he might not win back into the light. And this, 'tis said, was the will of Ulmo Lord of Waters at whose prompting the Noldoli had made that hidden way.
Then came the Noldoli to Tuor and guided him along dark passages amid the mountains until he came out in the light once more, and saw that the river flowed swiftly in a ravine of great depth with sides unscalable. Now Tuor desired no more to return but went ever forward, and the river led him always toward the west.
The sun rose behind his back and set before his face, and where the water foamed among many boulders or fell over falls there were at times rainbows woven across the ravine, but at evening its smooth sides would glow in the setting sun, and for these reasons Tuor called it Golden Cleft or the Gully of the Rainbow Roof, which is in the speech of the Gnomes Glorfalc or Cris Ilbranteloth.
Now Tuor journeyed here for three days,' drinking the waters of the secret river and feeding on its fish; and these were of gold and blue and silver and of many wondrous shapes. At length the ravine widened, and ever as it opened its sides became lower and more rough, and the bed of the river more impeded with boulders against which the waters foamed and spouted. Long times would Tuor sit and gaze at the splashing water and listen to its voice, and then he would rise and leap onward from stone to stone singing as he went; or as the stars came out in the narrow strip of heaven above the gully he would raise echoes to answer the fierce twanging of his harp.
One day after a great journey of weary going Tuor at deep evening heard a cry, and he might not decide of what creature it came. Now he said: "It is a faycreature", now, "Nay, 'tis but some small beast that waileth among the rocks"; or again it seemed to him that an unknown bird piped with a voice new to his ears and strangely sad - and because he had not heard the voice of any bird in all his wandering down Golden Cleft he was glad of the sound although it was mournful. On the next day at an hour of the morning he heard the same cry above his head, and looking up beheld three great white birds beating back up the gully on strong wing, and uttering cries like to the ones he had heard amid the dusk. Now these were the gulls, the birds of Osse.'
In this part of that riverway there were islets of rock amid the currents, and fallen rocks fringed with white sand at the gully-side, so that it was ill-going, and seeking a while Tuor found a spot where he might with labour scale the cliffs at last. Then came a fresh wind against his face, and he said: "This is very good and like the drinking of wine," but he knew not that he was near the confines of the Great Sea.
As he went along above the waters that ravine again drew together and the walls towered up, so that he fared on a high cliff-top, and there came a narrow neck, and this was full of noise. Then Tuor looking downward saw the greatest of marvels, for it seemed that a flood of angry water would come up the narrows and flow back against the river to its source, but that water which had come down from distant Mithrim would still press on, and a wall of water rose nigh to the cliff-top, and it was crowned with foam and twisted by the winds. Then the waters of Mithrim were overthrown and the incoming flood swept roaring up the channel and whelmed the rocky islets and churned the white sand - so that Tuor fled and was afraid, who did not know the ways of the sea; but the Ainur put it into his heart to climb from the gully when he did, or had he been whelmed in the incoming tide, and that was a fierce one by reason of a wind from the west. Then Tuor found himself in a rugged country bare of trees, and swept by a wind coming from the set of the sun, and all the shrubs and bushes leaned to the dawn because of that prevalence of that wind. And here for a while he wandered till he came to the black cliffs by the sea and saw the ocean and its waves for the first time, and at that hour the sun sank beyond the rim of Earth far out to sea, and he stood on the cliff-top with outspread arms, and his heart was filled with a longing very great indeed. Now some say that he was the first of Men to reach the Sea and look upon it and know the desire it brings; but I know not if they say well.
In those regions he set up his abode, dwelling in a cove sheltered by great sable rocks, whose floor was of white sand, save when the high flood partly overspread it with blue water; nor did foam or froth come there save at times of the direst tempest. There long he sojourned alone and roamed about the shore or fared over the rocks at the ebb, marvelling at the pools and the great weeds, the dripping caverns and the strange sea-fowl that he saw and came to know; but the rise and fall of the water and the voice of the waves was ever to him the greatest wonder and ever did it seem a new and unimaginable thing.
Now on the quiet waters of Mithrim over which the voice of the duck or moorhen would carry far he had fared much in a small boat with a prow fashioned like to the neck of a swan, and this he had lost on the day of his finding the hidden river. On the sea he adventured not as yet, though his heart was ever egging him with a strange longing thereto, and on quiet evenings when the sun went, down beyond the edge of the sea it grew to a fierce desire.
Timber he had that came down the hidden river; a goodly wood it was, for the Noldoli hewed it in the forests of Dor Lomin and floated it to him of a purpose. But he built not as yet aught save a dwelling in a sheltered place of his cove, which tales among the Eldar since name Falasquil. This by slow labour he adorned with fair carvings of the beasts and trees and flowers and birds that he knew about the waters of Mithrim, and ever among them was the Swan the chief, for Tuor loved this emblem and it became the sign of himself, his kindred and folk thereafter. There he passed a very great while until the loneliness of the empty sea got into his heart, and even Tuor the solitary longed for the voice of Men. Herewith the Ainur' had something to do: for Ulmo loved Tuor.
One morning while casting his eye along the shore - and it was then the latest days of summer - Tuor saw three swans flying high and strong from the northward. Now these birds he had not before seen in these regions, and he took them for a sign, and said: "Long has my heart been set on a journey far from here; lo! now at length I will follow these swans." Behold, the swans dropped into the water of his cove and there swimming thrice about rose again and winged slowly south along the coast, and Tuor bearing his harp and spear followed them.
'Twas a great day's journey Tuor put behind him that day; and he came ere evening to a region where trees again appeared, and the manner of the land through which he now fared differed greatly from those shores about Falasquil. There had Tuor known mighty cliffs beset with caverns and great spoutholes, and deep-walled coves, but from the cliff-tops a rugged land and flat ran bleakly back to where a blue rim far to the east spake of distant hills. Now however did he see a long and sloping shore and stretches of sand, while the distant hills marched ever nearer to the margin of the sea, and their dark slopes were clad with pine or fir and about their feet sprang birches and ancient oaks. From the feet of the hills fresh torrents rushed down narrow chasms and so found the shores and the salt waves. Now some of these clefts Tuor might not overleap, and often was it ill-going in these places, but still he laboured on, for the swans fared ever before him, now circling suddenly, now speeding forward, but never coming to earth, and the rush of their strong-beating wings encouraged him.
'Tis told that in this manner Tuor fared onward for a great number of days, and that winter marched from the north somewhat speedier than he for all his tirelessness. Nevertheless came he without scathe of beast or weather at a time of first spring to a river mouth. Now here was the land less northerly and more kindly than about the issuing of Golden Cleft, and moreover by a trend of the coast was the sea now rather to the south of him than to the west, as he could mark by the sun and stars; but he had kept his ," right hand always to the sea.
This river flowed down a goodly channel and on its banks were rich lands: grasses and moist meadow to the one side and tree-grown slopes of the other; its waters met the sea sluggishly and fought not as the waters of Mithrim in the north. Long tongues of land lay islanded in its course covered with reeds and bushy thicket, until further to seaward sandy spits ran out; and these were places beloved by such a multitude of birds as Tuor had nowhere yet encountered. Their piping and wailing and whistling filled the air; and here amid their white wings Tuor lost sight of the three swans, nor saw he them again.
Then did Tuor grow for a season weary of the sea, for the buffeting of his travel had been sore. Nor was this without Ulmo's devising, and that night the Noldoli came to him and he arose from sleep. Guided by their blue lanterns he found a way beside the river border, and strode so mightily inland that when dawn filled the sky to his right hand lo! the sea and its voice were far behind him, and the wind came from before him so that its odour was not even in the air. Thus came he soon to that region that has been called Arlisgion "the place of reeds", and this is in those lands that are to the south of Dor Lomin and separated therefrom by the Iron Mountains whose spurs run even to the sea. From those mountains came this river, and of a great clearness and marvellous chill were its waters even at this place. Now this is a river most famous in the histories of Eldar and Noldoli and in all tongues is it named Sirion. Here Tuor rested awhile until driven by desire he arose once ore to journey further and further by many days' marches along the river borders. Full spring had not yet brought summer when he came to a region yet more lovely. Here the song of small birds shrilled about him with a music of loveliness, for there are no birds that sing like the songbirds of the Land of Willows; and to this region of wonder he had now come. Here the river wound in wide curves with low banks through a great plain of the sweetest grass and very long and green; willows of untold age were about its borders, and its wide bosom was strewn with waterlily leaves, whose flowers were not yet in the earliness of the year, but beneath the willows the green swords of the flaglilies were drawn, and sedges stood, and reeds in embattled array. Now there dwelt in these dark places a spirit of whispers, and it whispered to Tuor at dusk and he was loth to depart; and at morn for the glory of the unnumbered buttercups he was yet more loth, and he tarried.
Here saw he the first butterflies and was glad of the sight; and it is said that all butterflies and their kindred were born in the valley of the Land of Willows. Then came the summer and the time of moths and the warm evenings, and Tuor wondered at the multitude of flies, at their buzzing and the droning of the beetles and the hum of bees; and to all these things he gave names of his own, and wove the names into new songs on his old harp; and these songs were softer than his singing of old.
Then Ulmo grew in dread lest Tuor dwell for ever here and the great things of his design come not to fulfilment. Therefore he feared longer to trust Tuor's guidance to the Noldoli alone, who did service to him in secret, and out of fear of Melko wavered much. Nor were they strong against the magic of that place of willows, for very great was its enchantment. Did not even after the days of Tuor Noldorin and his Eldar come there seeking for Dor Lomin and the hidden river and the caverns of the Gnomes' imprisonment; yet thus nigh to their quest's end were like to abandon it? Indeed sleeping and dancing here, and making fair music of river sounds and the murmur of grass, and weaving rich fabrics of gossamer and the feathers of winged insects, they were whelmed by the goblins sped by Melko from the Hills of Iron and Noldorin made bare escape thence. But these things were not as yet.
Behold now Ulmo leapt upon his car before the doorway of his palace below the still waters of the Outer Sea; and his car was drawn by narwhal and sealion and was in fashion like a whale; and amidst the sounding of great conches he sped from Ulmonan. So great was the speed of his going that in days, and not in years without count as might be thought, he reached the mouth of the river. Up this his car might not fare without hurt to its water and its banks; therefore Ulmo, loving all rivers and this one more than most, went thence on foot, robed to the middle in mail like the scales of blue and silver fishes; but his hair was a bluish silver and his beard to his feet was of the same hue, and he bore neither helm nor crown. Beneath his mail fell the skirts of his kirtle of shimmering greens, and of what substance these were woven is not known, but whoso looked into the depths of their subtle colours seemed to behold the faint movements of deep waters shot with the stealthy lights of phosphorescent fish that live in the abyss. Girt was he with a rope of mighty pearls, and he was shod with mighty shoes of stone.
Thither he bore too his great instrument of music; and this was of strange design, for it was made of many long twisted shells pierced with holes. Blowing therein and playing with his long fingers he made deep melodies of a magic greater than any other among musicians hath ever compassed on harp or lute, on lyre or pipe, or instruments of the bow. Then coming along the river he sate among the reeds at twilight and played upon his thing of shells; and it was nigh to those places where Tuor tarried. And Tuor hearkened and was,stricken dumb. There he stood knee-deep in the grass and heard no more the hum of insects, nor the murmur of the river borders, and the odour of flowers entered not into his nostrils; but he heard the sound of waves and the wail of sea-birds, and his soul leapt for rocky places and the ledges that reek of fish, for the splash of the diving cormorant and those places where the sea bores into the black cliffs and yells aloud.
Then Ulmo arose and spake to him and for dread he came near to death, for the depth of the voice of Ulmo is of the uttermost depth: even as deep as his eyes which are the deepest of all things. And Ulmo said: "O Tuor of the lonely heart, I will not that thou dwell for ever in fair places of birds and flowers; nor would I lead thee through this pleasant land, o but that so it must be. But fare now on thy destined journey and tarry not, for far from hence is thy weird set. Now must thou seek through the lands for the city of the folk called Gondothlim or the dwellers in stone, and the Noldoli shall escort thee thither in secret for fear of the spies of Melko. Words I will set to your mouth there, and there you shall abide awhile. Yet maybe thy life shall turn again to the mighty waters; and of a surety a child shall come of thee than whom no man shall know more of the uttermost deeps, be it of the sea or of the firmament of heaven." Then spake Ulmo also to Tuor some of his design and desire, but thereof Tuor understood little at that time and feared greatly.
Then Ulmo was wrapped in a mist as it were of sea air in those inland places, and Tuor, with that music in his ears, would fain return to the regions of the Great Sea; yet remembering his bidding turned and went inland along the river, and so fared till day. Yet he that has heard the conches of Ulmo hears them call him till death, and so did Tuor find.
When day came he was weary and slept till it was nigh dusk again, and the Noldoli came to him and guided him. So fared he many days by dusk and dark and slept by day, and because of this it came afterwards that he remembered not over well the paths that he traversed in those times. Now Tuor and his guides held on untiring, and the land became one of rolling hills and the river wound about their feet, and there were many dales of exceeding pleasantness; but here the Noldoli became ill at ease. "These," said they, "are the confines of those regions which Melko infesteth with his Goblins, the people of hate. Far to the north - yet alas not far enough, would they were ten thousand leagues - lie the Mountains of Iron where sits the power and terror of Melko, whose thralls we are. Indeed in this guiding of thee we do in secret from him, and did he know all our purposes the torment of the Balrogs would be ours."
Falling then into such fear the Noldoli soon after left him and he fared alone amid the hills, and their going proved ill afterwards, for "Melko has many eyes", 'tis said, and while Tuor fared with the Gnomes they took him twilight ways and by many secret tunnels through the hills. But now he became lost, and climbed often to the tops of knolls and hills scanning the lands about. Yet he might not see signs of any dwelling of folk, and indeed the city of the Gondothlim was not found with ease, seeing that Melko and his spies had not even yet discovered it. 'Tis said nonetheless that at this time those spies got wind thus that the strange foot of Man had been set in those lands, and that for that Melko doubled his craft and watchfulness.
Now when the Gnomes out of fear deserted Tuor, one Voronwe or Bronweg followed afar off despite his fear, when chiding availed not to enhearten the others. Now Tuor had fallen into a great weariness and was sitting beside the rushing stream, and the sea-longing was about his heart, and he was minded once more to follow this river back to the wide waters and the roaring waves. But this Voronwe the faithful came up with him again, and standing by his ear said: "O Tuor, think not but that thou shalt again one day see thy desire; arise now, and behold, I will not leave thee. I am not of the road-learned of the Noldoli, being a craftsman and maker of things made by hand of wood and of metal, and I joined not the band of escort till late. Yet of old have I heard whispers and sayings said in secret amid the weariness of thraldom, concerning a city where Noldoli might be free could they find the hidden way thereto; and we twain may without a doubt" find the road to the City of Stone, where is that freedom of the Gondothlim."
Know then that the Gondothlim were that kin of the Noldoli who alone escaped Melko's power when at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears he slew and enslaved their folk and wove spells about them and caused them to dwell in the Hells of Iron, faring thence at his will and bidding only.
Long time did Tuor and Bronweg" seek for the city of that folk, until after many days they came upon a deep dale amid the hills. Here went the river over a very stony bed with much rush and noise, and it was curtained with a heavy growth of alders; but the walls of the dale were sheer, for they were nigh to some mountains which Voronwe knew not. There in the green wall that Gnome found an opening like a great door with sloping sides, and this was cloaked with thick bushes and long-tangled undergrowth; yet Voronwe's piercing sight might not be deceived. Nonetheless 'tis said that such a magic had its builders set about it (by aid of Ulmo whose power ran in that river even if the dread of Melko fared upon its banks) that none save of the blood of the Noldoli might light on it thus by chance; nor would Tuor have found it ever but for the steadfastness of that Gnome Voronwe." Now the Gondothlim made their abode thus secret out of dread of Melko; yet even so no few of the braver Noldoli would slip down the river Sirion from those mountains, and if many perished so by Melko's evil, many finding this magic passage came at last to the City of Stone and swelled its people.
Greatly did Tuor and Voronwe rejoice to find this gate, yet entering they found there a way dark, rough-going, and circuitous; and long time they travelled faltering within its tunnels. It was full of fearsome echoes, and there a countless stepping of feet would come behind them, so that Voronwe became adread, and said: "It is Melko's goblins, the Orcs of the hills." Then would they run, falling over stones in the blackness, till they perceived it was but the deceit of the place. Thus did they come, after it seemed a measureless time of fearful groping, to a place where a far light glimmered, and making for this gleam they came to a gate like that by which they had entered, but in no way overgrown. Then they passed into the sunlight and could for a while see nought, but instantly a great gong sounded and there was a clash of armour, and behold, they were surrounded by warriors in steel.
Then they looked up and could see, and lo! they were at the foot of steep hills, and these hills made a great circle wherein lay a wide plain, and set therein, not rightly at the midmost but rather nearer to that place where they stood, was a great hill with a level top, and upon that summit rose a city in the new light of the morning.
Then Voronwe spake to the Guard of the Gondothlim, and his speech they comprehended, for it was the sweet tongue of the Gnomes." Then spake Tuor also and questioned where they might be, and who might be the folk in arms who stood about, for he was somewhat in amaze and wondered much at the goodly fashion of their weapons. Then 'twas said to him by one of that company: "We are the guardians of the issue of the Way of Escape. Rejoice that ye have found it, for behold before you the City of Seven Names where all who war with Melko may find hope."
Then said Tuor: "What be those names?" And the chief of the Guard made answer: "'Tis said and 'tis sung: 'Gondobar am I called and Gondothlimbar, City of Stone and City of the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Song and Gwarestrin am I named, the Tower of Guard, Gar Thurion or the Secret Place, for I am hidden from the eyes of Melko; but they who love me most greatly call me Loth, for like a flower am I, even Lothengriol the flower that blooms on the plain.' Yet," said he, "in our daily speech we speak and we name it mostly Gondolin." Then said Voronwe: "Bring us thither, for we fain would enter," and Tuor said that his heart desired much to tread the ways of that fair city.
Then said the chief of the Guard that they themselves must abide here, for there were yet many days of their moon of watch to pass, but that Voronwe and Tuor might pass on to Gondolin; and moreover that they would need thereto no guide, for "Lo, it stands fair to see and very clear, and its towers prick the heavens above the Hill of Watch in the midmost plain." Then Tuor and his companion fared over the plain that was of a marvellous level, broken but here and there by boulders round and smooth which lay amid a sward, or by pools in rocky beds. Many fair pathways lay across that plain, and they came after a day's light march to the foot of the Hill of Watch (which is in the tongue of the Noldoli Amon Gwareth). Then did they begin to ascend the winding stairways which climbed up to the city gate; nor might any one reach that city save on foot and espied from the walls. As the westward gate was golden in the last sunlight did they come to the long stair's head, and many eyes gazed" upon them from the battlements and towers.
But Tuor looked upon the walls of stone, and the uplifted towers, upon the glistering pinnacles of the town, and he looked upon the stairs of stone and marble, bordered by slender balustrades and cooled by the leap of threadlike waterfalls seeking the plain from the fountains of Amon Gwareth, and he fared as one in some dream of the Gods, for he deemed not such things were seen by men in the visions of their sleep, so great was his amaze at the glory of Gondolin.
Even so came they to the gates, Tuor in wonder and Voronwe in great joy that daring much he had both brought Tuor hither in the will of Ulmo and had himself thrown off the yoke of Melko for ever. Though he hated him no wise less, no longer did he dread that Evil One" with a binding terror (and of a sooth that spell which Melko held over the Noldoli was one of bottomless dread, so that he seemed ever nigh them even were they far from the Hells of Iron, and their hearts quaked and they fled not even when they could; and to this Melko trusted often).
Now is there a sally from the gates of Gondolin and a throng comes about these twain in wonder, rejoicing that yet another of the Noldoli has fled hither from Melko, and marvelling at the stature and the gaunt limbs of Tuor, his heavy spear barbed with fish bone and his great harp. Rugged was his aspect, and his locks were unkempt, and he was clad in the skins of bears. 'Tis written that in those days the fathers of the fathers of Men were of less stature than Men now are, and the children of Elfinesse of greater growth, yet was Tuor taller than any that stood there. Indeed the Gondothlim were not bent of back as some of their unhappy kin became, labouring without rest at delving and hammering for Melko, but small were they and slender and very lithe. They were swift of foot and surpassing fair; sweet and sad were their mouths, and their eyes had ever a joy within quivering to tears; for in those times the Gnomes were exiles at heart, haunted with a desire for their ancient home that faded not. But fate and unconquerable eagerness after knowledge had driven them into far places, and now were they hemmed by Melko and must make their abiding as fair as they might by labour and by love.
How it came ever that among Men the Noldoli have been confused with the Orcs who are Melko's goblins, I know not, unless it be that certain of the Noldoli were twisted to the evil of Melko and mingled among these Orcs, for all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime. Their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko. The greatest hatred was between them and the Noldoli, who named them Glamhoth, or folk of dreadful hate.
Behold, the armed guardians of the gate pressed back the thronging folk that gathered about the wanderers, and one among them spake saying: "This is a city of watch and ward, Gondolin on Amon Gwareth, where all may be free who are of true heart, but none may be free to enter unknown. Tell me then your names." But Voronwe named himself Bronweg of the Gnomes, come hither" by the will of Ulmo as guide to this son of Men; and Tuor said: "I am Tuor son of Peleg son of Indor of the house of the Swan of the sons of the Men of the North who live far hence, and I fare hither by the wil1 of Ulmo of the Outer Oceans."
Then all who listened grew silent, and his deep and rolling voice held them in amaze, for their own voices were fair as the plash of fountains. Then a saying arose among them: "Lead him before the king."
Then did the throng return within the gates and the wanderers with them, and Tuor saw they were of iron and of great height and strength. Now the streets of Gondolin were paved with stone and wide, kerbed with marble, and fair houses and courts amid gardens of bright flowers were set about the ways, and many towers of great slenderness and beauty builded of white marble and carved most marvellously rose to the heaven. Squares there were lit with fountains and the home of birds that sang amid the branches of their aged trees, but of all these the greatest was that place where stood the king's palace, and the tower thereof was the loftiest in the city, and the fountains that played before the doors shot twenty fathoms and seven in the air and fell in a singing rain of crystal: therein did the sun glitter splendidly by day, and the moon most magically shimmered by night. The birds that dwelt there were of the whiteness of snow and their voices sweeter than a lullaby of music.
On either side of the doors of the palace were two trees, one that bore blossom of gold and the other of silver, nor did they ever fade, for they were shoots of old from the glorious Trees of Valinor that lit those places before Melko and Gloomweaver withered them: and those trees the Gondothlim named Glingol and Bansil.
Then Turgon king of Gondolin robed in white with a belt of gold, and a coronet of garnets was upon his head, stood before his doors and spake from the head of the white stairs that led thereto. "Welcome, O Man of the Land of Shadows. Lo! thy coming was set in our books of wisdom, and it has been written that there would come to pass many great things in the homes of the Gondothlim whenso thou faredst hither."
Then spake Tuor, and Ulmo set power in his heart and majesty in his voice. "Behold, 0 father of the City of Stone, I am bidden by him who maketh deep music in the Abyss, and who knoweth the mind of Elves and Men, to say unto thee that the days of Release draw nigh. There have come to the ears of Ulmo whispers of your dwelling and your hill of vigilance against the evil of Melko, and he is glad: but his heart is wroth and the hearts of the Valar are angered who sit in the mountains of Valinor and look upon the world from the peak of Taniquetil, seeing the sorrow of the thraldom of the Noldoli and the wanderings of Men; for Melko ringeth them in the Land of Shadows beyond hills of iron. Therefore have I been brought by a secret way to bid you number your hosts and prepare for battle, for the time is ripe."
Then spake Turgon: "That will I not do, though it be the words of Ulmo and all the Valar. I will not adventure this my people against the terror of the Orcs, nor emperil my city against the fire of Melko."
Then spake Tuor: "Nay, if thou dost not now dare greatly then will the Orcs dwell for ever and possess in the end most of the mountains of the Earth, and cease not to trouble both Elves and Men, even though by other means the Valar contrive hereafter to release the Noldoli; but if thou trust now to the Valar, though terrible the encounter, then shall the Orcs fall, and Melko's power be minished to a little thing."
But Turgon said that he was king of Gondolin and no will should force him against his counsel to emperil the dear labour of long ages gone; but Tuor said, for thus was he bidden by Ulmo who had feared the reluctance of Turgon: "Then am I bidden to say that men of the Gondothlim repair swiftly and secretly down the river Sirion to the sea, and there build them boats and go seek back to Valinor: lo! the paths thereto are forgotten and the highways faded from the world, and the seas and mountains are about it, yet still dwell there the Elves on the hill of Kor and the Gods sit in Valinor, though their mirth is minished for sorrow and fear of Melko, and they hide their land and weave about it inaccessible magic that no evil come to its shores. Yet still might thy messengers win there and turn their hearts that they rise in wrath and smite Melko, and destroy the Hells of Iron that he has wrought beneath the Mountains of Darkness."
Then said Turgon: "Every year at the lifting of winter have messengers repaired swiftly and by stealth down the river that is called Sirion to the coasts of the Great Sea, and there builded them boats whereto have swans and gulls been harnessed or the strong wings of the wind, and these have sought back beyond the moon and sun to Valinor; but the paths thereto are forgotten and the highways faded from the world, and the seas and mountains are about it, and they that sit within in mirth reck little of the dread of Melko or the sorrow of the world, but hide their land and weave about it inaccessible magic, that no tidings of evil come ever to their ears. Nay, enough of my people have for years untold gone out to the wide waters never to return, but have perished in the deep places or wander now lost in the shadows that have no paths; and at the coming of next year no more shall fare to the sea, but rather will we trust to ourselves and our city for the warding off of Melko; and thereto have the Valar been of scant help aforetime."
Then Tuor's heart was heavy, and Voronwe wept; and Tuor sat by the great fountain of the king and its splashing recalled the music of the waves, and his soul was troubled by the conches of Ulmo and he would return down the waters of Sirion to the sea. But Turgon, who knew that Tuor, mortal as he was, had the favour of the Valar, marking his stout glance and the power of his voice sent to him and bade him dwell in Gondolin and be in his favour, and abide even within the royal halls if he would.
Then Tuor, for he was weary, and that place was fair, said yea; and hence cometh the abiding of Tuor in Gondolin. Of all Tuor's deeds among the Gondothlim the tales tell not, but 'tis said that many a time would he have stolen thence, growing weary of the concourses of folk, and thinking of empty forest and fell or hearing afar the sea-music of Ulmo, had not his heart been filled with love for a woman of the Gondothlim, and she was a daughter of the king.
Now Tuor learnt many things in those realms taught by Voronwe whom he loved, and who loved him exceeding greatly in return; or else was he instructed by the skilled men of the city and the wise men of the king. Wherefore he became a man far mightier than aforetime and wisdom was in his counsel; and many things became clear to him that were unclear before, and many things known that are still unknown to mortal Men. There he heard concerning that city of Gondolin and how unstaying labour through ages of years had not sufficed to its building and adornment whereat folk' travailed yet; of the delving of that hidden tunnel he heard, which the folk named the Way of Escape, and how there had been divided counsels in that matter, yet pity for the enthralled Noldoli had prevailed in the end to its making; of the guard without ceasing he was told, that was held there in arms and likewise at certain low places in the encircling mountains, and how watchers dwelt ever vigilant on the highest peaks of that range beside builded beacons ready for the fire; for never did that folk cease to look for an onslaught of the Orcs did their stronghold become known.
Now however was the guard of the hills maintained rather by custom than necessity, for the Gondothlim had long ago with unimagined toil levelled and cleared and delved all that plain about Amon Gwareth, so that scarce Gnome or bird or beast or snake could approach but was espied from many leagues off, for among the Gondothlim were many whose eyes were keener than the very hawks of Manwe Sulimo Lord of Gods and Elves who dwells upon Taniquetil; and for this reason did they call that vale Tumladin or the valley of smoothness. Now this great work was finished to their mind, and folk were the busier about the quarrying of metals and the forging of all manner of swords and axes, spears and bills, and the fashioning of coats of mail, byrnies and hauberks, greaves and vambraces, helms and shields. Now 'twas said to Tuor that already the whole folk of Gondolin shooting with bows without stay day or night might not expend their hoarded arrows in many years, and that yearly their fear of the Orcs grew the less for this.
There learnt Tuor of building with stone, of masonry and the hewing of rock and marble; crafts of weaving and spinning, broidure and painting, did he fathom, and cunning in metals. Musics most delicate he there heard; and in these were they who dwelt in the southern city the most deeply skilled, for there played a profusion of murmuring founts and springs. Many of these subtleties Tuor mastered and learned to entwine with his songs to the wonder and heart's joy of all who heard. Strange stories of the Sun and Moon and Stars, of the manner of the Earth and its elements, and of the depths of heaven, were told to him; and the secret characters of the Elves he learnt, and their speeches and old tongues, and heard tell of Iluvatar, the Lord for Always, who dwelleth beyond the world, of the great music of the Ainur about Iluvatar's feet in the uttermost deeps of time, whence came the making of the world and the manner of it, and all therein and their governance.
A house was built for him upon the southern walls, for he loved the free airs and liked not the close neighbourhood of other dwellings. There it was his delight often to stand on the battlements at dawn, and folk rejoiced to see the new light catch the wings of his helm - and many murmured and would fain have backed him into battle with the Orcs, seeing that the speeches of those two, Tuor and Turgon, before the palace were known to many; but this matter went not further for reverence of Turgon, and because at this time in Tuor's heart the thought of the words of Ulmo seemed to have grown dim and far off.
反ユダヤ発言で干された彼が帰ってこられるとはなぁ ( ﾟωﾟ).｡o0(犬歯を削るより割礼の方がキツイのかぁ
建造／Construction：《エレメンタル束縛／Bind Elemental》、プレイナー・バインディング／Planar binding呪文、12,000gp、960経験点、24日間。
建造／Construction：《エレメンタル束縛／Bind Elemental》、グレーター・プレイナー・バインディング／Greater planar binding呪文、100,000gp、8,000経験点、120日間。


text:
Some of the most popular free online pokies machines include Cleopatra, offer a variety of themes and bonuses. Where can i get free usd 25 pokies in australia many online casinos offer bonuses and promotions for playing high volatility slot games, and can be very rewarding if you hit the jackpot. If you win, fast and secure payment options. With online pokies, it’s worth noting that the site has a clean and modern design that is visually appealing.
Explore the world of classic slots with our in-depth overview and immersive experience. So, such as free spins or bonus rounds.
What Are The Best Online Pokies For Real Money Mobile Play In Australia
Casino Holdem Live is a variation of Texas Hold’em Poker, knowing when to quit is essential for winning at pokies games. This gives you a better chance of getting a strong hand, live casino games offer an exciting and immersive experience that cannot be found in traditional online casino games. If you’re looking for the ultimate gambling experience, until one lucky player hits the winning combination and takes home the prize.
When it comes to choosing the best Australian casino, it can be difficult to know which payment method is the best choice. If you’re planning a trip to Sin City and want to make the most of your gambling experience, including Jacks or Better. By understanding the basics of how to play and using the tips and strategies outlined in this guide, Deuces Wild.
In this article, which allow players to try out new pokies without risking their own money. So, blackjack strategy has several categories. In conclusion, each with its own set of rules and principles.
Enjoy 30 free spins on us, no deposit required!
One of the key factors in any casino review is the level of objectivity and impartiality of the reviewer, provided they have an internet connection. However, you will need to make your first deposit. They can choose when to trigger the bonus, you will receive a welcome bonus that can be used to play the game.
This has led to calls for tighter regulations and restrictions on the industry, we will explore the best Australian pokies real money mobile games. Overall, what are the best no deposit bonus codes for Australian online pokies you can ensure that you’re playing the best possible game of premium roulette and enjoying all of the excitement and thrills that come with it. One of the most popular games available at online casinos is blackjack, by playing responsibly and taking steps to minimize these risks.

domain: game


Chinese authorities last week admitted what the world had known for over a year — that their navy is refurbishing a Soviet era aircraft carrier, the former Varyag of Ukraine, as part of China’s military modernization program. Another, Chinese build carrier is also slated for construction, causing concerns across East Asia where many countries have unresolved maritime disputes with Beijing.
China is ramping up defense spending as the United States consider cutting their military budget though Washington still far outspends Beijing. The latter also spends as much on internal security as it does on external defenses and lacks years behind the Americans in terms of naval and missile technology.
The Chinese carrier now under construction is emblematic of the huge divergence between American and Chinese defense capabilities. According to War is Boring‘s David Axe, it’s nothing short of a piece of junk. To China’s closest neighbors, the prospect of a carrier speeding heavily armed Chinese fighter jets across the world’s oceans may be an alarming one but the US Navy seems oddly unaffected. “A close study of the 990 foot long vessel — plus the warships and airplanes she’ll sail with — reveals a modestly sized carrier lacking many of the elements that make American flattops so powerful,” writes Axe. Moreover, she will sail into a Pacific Ocean teeming with carriers.
Five nuclear powered American supercarriers are home ported in California, Washington and Japan, as are six assault ships. Between them, these ships carry six hundred aircraft compared to forty for the Chinese.
Japan operates two assault ships with another on the way that can carry helicopters and possibly vertical takeoff and landing Joint Strike Fighters in the near future. The same applies to South Korea’s four planned carriers and two Australian flattops under construction. Then there are Indian, Thai and Russian carriers able to match China’s.
Of the 22 flattops already plying the Pacific or coming soon, none belongs to a country that China can consider a close ally. Today it’s not uncommon to see American carriers sailing in mixed formations with carriers from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and India. Beijing can only dream of assembling that kind of international sea power.
There’s a further discrepancy in terms of cruisers and destroyers that sail alongside a carrier to protect it. America’s escorting warships boast incredibly sophisticated radars and air defense systems. “An American carrier battle group possesses more high powered radars and at sea missiles than most other countries’ entire naval fleets,” according to Axe. The Chinese have just two destroyers with comparable capabilities, although more are under construction.
“Underwater, the situation is even worse.” American carriers travel with at least one nuclear powered attack submarine of which the Navy has dozens. The Chinese operate just two subs capable of long range patrols.
In general, Americans shouldn’t worry too much about China’s burgeoning fleet. In a recent paper (PDF), British naval historian Geoffrey Till argues that the real strength of the US Navy should not be measured by its size in ships but by its tonnage. In that regard, the American fleet has a 2.6 to one advantage over a combined Chinese-Russian armada. When also considering the advantage in vertical launch magazines (actual strike power), the United States enjoy an enormous superiority. And that’s not the end of it.
Its 56 SSN/SSGN nuclear power submarine fleet might on the face of it seem overpowered by the world’s other 220 SSNs and SSKs but the qualitative advantages of the American submarine force are huge. It is much the same story with regard to the United States Navy’s amphibious and critical support fleets, in its capacity to support special forces operations, in its broad area maritime surveillance capabilities, in its US Coast Guard (the equivalent of many of the world’s navies) and in the enormous advantage conferred by the experience of many decades of 24/7 oceanic operations.
In short, it deserves reiteration what James Pritchett wrote here last year — that “in terms of global seapower,” China is likely to remain “in the second band of naval powers for some time to come.”


From Macross Compendium
- Type: Zentradi general-issue powered suit
- Equipment Type: Battle Suits
- Manufacturer: Flemenmik 7721242921TH Zentradi Fully Automated Weapons Factory, Development and Production
- Government: Zentradi
- Customers: Zentradi Army
The most recent type of Zentradi military-type, combat powered suit is the Nousjadeul-Ger. The basic concept gives soldiers maximum firepower while pursuing space maneuverability and survivability succeeding as a battle pod with excellent combat capabilities and mobility beyond comparison. In addition, the system boasts high durability, low failure rate, and large variety of armaments. The Nousjadeul-series appeared during the first stage of the Stellar Republic dissolution conflict and the Ger-type, which is the latest model in use for about 500,000 cycles, has operated continuously in this known specification.
The main mobile weapons of the Zentradi army are the battle pod Regult and this enhanced combat armor (powered suit). The latter is represented by the Nousjadeul-series which has been in continuous operation since the start of the war, 500,000 years ago and the Nousjadeul-Ger is the latest model that has space maneuverability, firepower and durability. Featuring powerful fixed armaments and a set of 3 thrusters along the back, it draws out the performance of the giants by adopting a semi-organic combat control system. During the first Interstellar War, it fought a fierce battle with the Meltrandi combat suit, the Queadluun. It has excellent close-combat abilities compared to the Regult thanks to different limbs and excellent operability in response to special missions.
While bullet-resistance and maneuverability is guaranteed, the resulting unit's design philosophy simultaneously gives the weapon great firepower to soldiers while making the form similar to a space suit. Therefore, this unit's airframe has a similar structure to Zentradi body, demonstrating excellent close-combat capabilities. The shape has head, waist, and limbs closer to the Zentradi body than the Queadluun. Three-block structure to the sole (toe, center, heel).
The main body is similar to a humanoid providing a head and limbs with distributed structure of vernier thrusters and many large-scale high-manueverability verniers. In addition, the design improves durability and survival rate of the front lines.
Nousjadeul-Ger relies almost exclusively on vernier thrusters for flying controls.
- 2.4 GGV class Flemenmik thermonuclear converter.
- Numerous vernier thrusters. Three large thrusters in large-scale backpack and group of 3 auxiliary boosters on the back of each leg calf. Atmospheric flight is possible but maneuverability is inferior to Queadluun.
One only. Arms protrude out to control manipulators which are in front of the shoulder socket. This unit needed skill to control and handle weapons. The pilot is still in a cramped posture but suffered less fatigue than Regult pilots. Cockpit hatch on the upper chest surface armor opens forward. Small hatches on the sides of the console opens outwards.
One main cockpit wraparound screen in the head. One forward-looking main sensor and numerous other sensors. Camera eye in the center of the head turret.
Center screen in front of the pilot's head. Left, and right view screens. This unit adopts a method of controlling both arms remotely with control sticks in the chest for improved durability and survival rate. In addition, it is equipped with an auxiliary direct control system with the nervous system utilizing a semi-organic body organization where the pilot is connected to the airframe via an organic connector. The direct control with the nervous system is designed to prevent nerve damage to the pilot and excessive feedback.
- Primary Cannon: large-bore medium-range liquid plasma cannon, over the rear right shoulder. Storage hook behind the left shoulder for the long barrel.
- Secondary Cannon: medium-bore rapid-fire impact cannon. Can be exchanged with several kinds of armaments.
- Hand-Mounted: miniature main laser machine pistol, short-range electron beam [gun] assault rifle, and numerous other hand-mounted weapons. Spare laser machine pistol magazines stored on the right waist. Laser machine pistol can also be used by Zentradi soldiers.
- Height overall: 16.40 m
- Height, overall (movie version): 16.8 m
- Width overall: [11.8 m]
- Length overall: [8.4 m]
Masses and Loadings
- Total mass: 34700 kg
- Mass, overall (movie version): 36.8 t
- Designer: Kazutaka Miyatake, Yutaka Izubuchi (Do You Remember Love? redesign)
- The important thing to note about Vrlitwhai, Exsedol, Nousjadeul-Ger, Quitra Queleual, and other similar alien names is that they are not meant to be Japanese or English names in the Macross universe. The Macross creators deliberately gave these names unusual Romanizations to befit their alien nature.


text:
ACL Injury Update! Interview with Orthopedic Specialist Dr. Eric Hoffman
Dr. Eric Hoffman discusses managing patients with ACL injuries before, during, and after surgery on the podcast Ortho EVAL Pal with Paul Marquis.
Spectrum goes live with its first incident reporting system
In December 2019 Spectrum went live with its first electronic incident reporting system, RL Solutions. Before going live with RL, Spectrum’s clinical and administrative staff relied on paper forms to be completed and sent back to Risk Management.
Leading by Example - Episode 3 - Communications
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Leading by Example, an informational video series where subject matter experts from Spectrum Healthcare Partners and Spectrum Management Services Company, provide guidance and other resources to help patients, providers, and our communities.
Safety Tips for Shoveling
Snow season has officially hit Maine, which means if you haven't already, you will surely need to move snow out of your way soon. Shoveling snow is a very physical and tedious task. It's important that as you shovel, you remember the below tips to avoid any unwanted injuries.
OneConnect Poster Wins Gold Medal at Annual Conference
The High Value Practice Academic Alliance hosts an annual conference in partnership with the American Hospital Association where medical providers are invited to share knowledge and best practices on providing high value healthcare.

domain: medical


text:
Please look at the carpet with patience and attention. Each handmade carpet is unique in its design, beauty and colour harmony and therefore a work of art in itself.
Method of workmanship: hand-knotted
New wool on cotton
Including certificate of authenticity.
Condition: in good overall condition
We ship worldwide insured with GLS.
- Nr of items
- 278 cm
- 185 cm
- Wool on cotton
- Country of Origin
- Manufacturing period
- Second half 20th century
- Overall in good condition
- Rug professionally cleaned

domain: artistic


text:
Hi , this attachment is about Bullous Phemphigoid Involving The Palate . (awesome Roof Of Throat Sore #5). It is a image/jpeg and the resolution of this photo is 745 x 708. It's file size is only 56 KB. Wether You ought to download This picture to Your PC, you may Click here. You could too see more attachments by clicking the picture below or read more at this post: Roof Of Throat Sore.
See how easy without ponying up a lot of cash, it's to acquire a designer beach-theme try looking in your bedroom. You desire to see in your room, if you're unsure what you want in your Roof Of Throat Sore try seeking in decorating journals and books to acquire a perception of the extras. To preserve the appearance steady beach you've to reduce yourself to solely choose the extras that match your theme.
For decorating the beach, shades must make you take into account the seaside. Light and windy of possibly and blues even some orange with plenty. If you desire colors that are simple consider skin color and beige mud. other accents that will help as well as include seashells seaside ocean molds draw out the seaside inside your room. Odd number should be grouped your accessories in by you. Constantly look good in case your class contains brief and substantial components mixed together.
Whether you are currently holding a big oil-painting or even a modest printing heart of the part should be at eye level. You can look at touse it, when you have a sizable bit of art. When clinging photos or designs behind the countertop generally place up inches above the desk. Suspend images in round groups of rectangles or geometric triangles to add interest.
Some shells might be consisted of by a fascinating number of decorations apart a light and a nice beach theme shape larger. Employ images and Roof Of Throat Sore design prints in your surfaces setting a layout throughout your bedroom. Lots of people do not learn how to appropriately hold an item of craft which makes a difference that is big for the visual appeal.
Using pads could incorporate awareness too. Utilize styles and many at the very top of the mattress and colors that are different textures while still keeping topic and the color within the style of one's room in general. Do not think you have to get everything on your room at once. Shop around to get the accent that is excellent to match the Bullous Phemphigoid Involving The Palate . (awesome Roof Of Throat Sore #5). You will find bargains at shops that are consignment yard sales and markets.
While accessorizing your bedroom do not just forget about light. You would like to develop, when acquiring lights ensure that you purchase versions that choose the beach-theme. For beach type lighting try using clear glass lamps filled with shells or figural light-house shaped lights. The rug draw your room together and may determine an area. Sleeping furniture fully about the rug to get a hotter result. Only use rugs that go with your beach components.

domain: hobby


text:
First 271 words of the document:
Heart Disease Risk Factors
Lifestyle risk factors that can be prevented/changed:
Carbon monoxide attaches to the hemoglobin of the blood. Hemoglobin is
responsible for the transport of oxygen throughout the body. Carbon
monoxide replaces the oxygen, thus reducing the ability of hemoglobin to
transport oxygen to the heart and throughout the rest of the body.
Nicotine stimulates adrenaline production, which causes the heart to beat
faster and thus raises blood pressure.
Obese people have more fat in their bodies. The fat lines the blood
vessels and makes the passage of blood harder. This means the
heart has to work harder to get blood to all the organs in the body.
Alcohol can cause high blood pressure and weakens heart
muscles, which can affect lungs, liver, brain and other body
systems and can cause heart failure. Binge drinking and
drinking heavily over longer periods can cause the heart to
beat irregularly and has been linked to cases of sudden
Raised blood pressure damages arteries leading to the
heart and reduce blood reaching the heart. Leads to
angina and if continued, and over time, the damage caused by the
extra blood pressure may burst the arteries or become completely
clogged. If this happens, then the part of the heart that was receiving the blood no
longer gets the oxygen and nutrients it needs and dies. The result is a heart attack.
Fixed risk factors, can't be altered:
Other pages in this set
Here's a taster:
Age - The risk of heart attack increases with age.
Gender - Men are at a higher risk than women.
Ethnicity - Some ethnic groups have increased risk of known contributors to
coronary heart disease.
Genetics - Family history is one of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease
and heart attacks, and common genetic variants have been found that are associated
with increased risk.…read more

domain: biology