Lay of Leithian Canto I
From Tolkien Gateway
This first Canto of the Lay of Leithian tells of Elu Thingol, and Lúthien Tinúviel and Doriath. It runs to 98 lines, one of the shorter Cantos if not the shortest save the unfinished last one.
- A king there was in days of old;
- ere Men yet walked upon the mould
- his power was reared in cavern’s shad,
- his hand was over glen and glade.
- His shields were shining as the moon
- his lances keen of steel were hewn,
- of silver grey his crown was wrought
- the starlight in his banners caught;
- and silver thrilled his trumpets long
- beneath the stars in challenge strong;
- enchantment did his real enfold,
- where might and glory, wealth untold,
- he wielded from his ivory throne
- in many-pillared halls of stone.
- There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
- and metal wrought like fishes’ mail
- buckler and corselet, ade and sword
- and gleaming spears were laid in hoard–
- all these he had and loved them less
- than a maiden once in Elfinesse;
- for fairer than are born to Men
- a daughter had he, Lúthien
- such lissom limbs no more shall run
- on the green earth beneath the sun;
- so fair a maid no more shall be
- from dawn to dusk, from sun to sea.
- Her robe was blue as summer skies
- but gray as evening were here eyes;
- ‘twas sewn with golden lilies fair
- but dark as shadow was her hair.
- Her feet were light as bird on wing
- her laughter lighter than the spring;
- the slender willow, the bowing reed
- the fragrance of a flowering mead
- the light upon the leaves of trees
- the voice of water, more than these
- her beauty was and blissfulness
- her glory and her loveliness;
- and her the king more dear did prize
- than hand or heart or light of eyes.
-
- They dwelt amid Beleriand
- while Elfin power yet held the land
- in the woven woods of Doriath;
- few ever thither found the path;
- few ever dared the forest-eaves
- to pass, or stir the listening leaves
- with tongue of hounds a-hunting fleet
- with horse, or horn, or mortal feet.
- To North there lay the Land of Dread
- whence only evil pathways led
- o’er hills of shadow bleak and cold
- or Taur-nu-Fuin’s haunted hold
- where Deadly Nightshade lurked and lay
- and never came or moon or day
- to South the wide earth unexplored;
- to West the ancient Ocean roared
- unsailed and shoreless, wide and wild;
- to East in peaks of blue were piled
- in silence folded, mist-enfurled,
- the mountains of the Outer World,
- beyond the tangled woodland shade
- thorn and thicket, grove and glade
- whose brooding boughs with magic hung
- were ancient when the world was young.
-
- There Thingol in the Thousand Caves
- whose portals pale that river laves
- Esgalduin that fairies call
- in many a tall and torchlit hall
- a dark and hidden king did dwell
- lord of the forest and the fell;
- and sharp his sword and high his helm
- the king of beech and oak and elm.
-
- There Lúthien the lissom maid
- would dance in dell and grassy glade
- and music merrily, thin and clear,
- went down the ways , more fair than ear
- of mortal Men at feast hath heard
- and fairer than the song of bird.
- When leaves were long and grass was green
- then Dairon with fingers lean
- as daylight melted into shade
- a wandering music sweetly bade
- enchanted fluting, warbling wild
- for love of Thingol’s elfin child.
-
- There bow was bent and shaft was sped
- the fallow deer as phantoms fled
- and horses proud with branded mane
- with shining bit and silver rein
- went fleeting by on moonlit night
- as swallows arrow-swift in flight;
- a blowing and a sound of bells
- a hidden hunt in hollow dells.
- There songs were made and things of gold
- and silver cups and jewels untold
- and the endless years of Faëry land
- rolled over far Beleriand
- until a day beneath the sun
- when many marvels were begun.