Chapter Twenty-One
Thus did those three fare and with them all their host, but so great became the torment of Ufedhin's mind that in the end he might not endure it more, but at night when a halt was called he crept stealthily to the place where Naugladur slept, and coming upon that aged one wrapt in slumbers would slay that Dwarf and lay hands upon the wondrous Nauglafring.
Now even as he sought to do so, behold one seized his throat suddenly from behind, and it was Bodruith, who filled with the same lust sought also to make that lovely thing his own; but coming upon Ufedhin would slay him by reason of his kinship to Naugladur. Then did Ufedhin stab suddenly backward at hazard in the dark with a keen knife long and slender that he had with him for the bane of Naugladur, and that knife pierced the vitals of Bodruith Lord of Belegost so that he fell dying upon Naugladur, and the throat of Naugladur and the magic carcanet were drenched anew with blood. Thereat did Naugladur awake with a great cry, but Ufedhin fled gasping from that place, for the long fingers of the Indrafang had well-nigh choked him. Now when some bore torches swiftly to that place Naugladur thought that Bodruith alone had sought to rob him of the jewel, and marvelled how he had thus been timely slain, and he proclaimed a rich reward to the slayer of Bodruith if that man would come forward telling all that he had seen. Thus was it that none perceived the flight of Ufedhin for a while, and wrath awoke between the Dwarves of Nogrod and the Indrafangs, and many were slain ere the Indrafangs being in less number were scattered and got them as best they might to Belegost, bearing scant treasury with them. Of this came the agelong feud between those kindreds of the Dwarves that has spread to many lands and caused many a tale, whereof the Elves know little tidings and Men have seldom heard.
Yet may it be seen how the curse of Mim came early home to rest among his own kin, and would indeed it had gone no further and had visited the Eldar never more. Lo, when the Aight of Ufedhin came also to light then was Naugladur in wrath, and he let kill all the Gnomes that remained in the host. Then said he: "Now are we rid of Indrafangs and Gnomes and all traitors, and nought more do I fear' at all. " But Ufedhin ranged the wild lands in great fear and anguish, for him seemed that he had become a traitor to his kin, blood-guilty to the Elves, and haunted with the [? burning] eyes of Gwendelin the queen, for nought but exile and misery, and no smallest part nor share had he in the gold of Glorund, for all his heart was afire with : lust; yet few have pitied him. Now tells the tale that he fell in with the rangers of Beren's folk, and these gaining from him sure knowledge of all the host and array of Naugladur and the ways he purposed to follow, they sped back like wind among the trees unto their lord; but Ufedhin revealed not to them who he was, feigning to be an Elf of Artanor escaped from bondage in their host.
Now therefore they entreated him well, and he was sent back to Beren that their captain might . . . . . . . . . . . . his words, and albeit Beren marvelled at his [?cowardly]. . . . . . " and downward glance it seemed to him that he brought safe word, and he set a trap for Naugladur. No longer did he march hotly on the trail of the Dwarves, but knowing that they would essay the passage of the river Aros at a certain time he turned aside, faring swiftly with his light-footed Elves by straighter paths that he might reach Sarnathrod the Stony Ford before them. Now the Aros is a fierce stream -- and is it not that very water that more near its spring runs swiftly past the aged doors of the Rodothlim's caves and the dark lairs of Glorund' -- and in those lower regions by no means can be crossed by a great host of laden men save at this ford, nor is it overeasy here. Never would Naugladur have taken that way had he knowledge of Beren -- yet blinded by the spell and the dazzling gold he feared nought either within or without his host, and he was in haste to reach Nogrod and its dark caverns, for the Dwarves list not long to abide in the bright light of day. Now came all that host to the banks of Aros, and their array was thus: first a number of unladen Dwarves most fully armed, and amidmost the great company of those that bore the treasury of Glorund, and many a fair thing beside that they had haled from Tinwelint's halls; and behind these was Naugladur, and he bestrode Tinwelint's horse, and a strange figure did he seem, for the legs of the Dwarves are short and crooked, but two Dwarves led that horse for it went not willingly and it was laden with spoil.
But behind these came again a mass of armed men but little laden; and in this array they sought to cross Sarnathrod on their day of doom. Morn was it when they reached the hither bank and high noon saw them yet passing in long-strung lines and wading slowly the shallow places of the swift-running stream. Here doth it widen out and fare down narrow channels filled with boulders atween long . spits of shingle and stones less great. Now did Naugladur slip from his burdened horse and prepare to get him over, for the armed host of the vanguard had climbed already the further bank, and it was great and sheer and thick with trees, and the bearers of the gold were some already stepped thereon and some amidmost of the stream, but the armed men of the rear were resting awhile.
Suddenly is all that place filled with the sound of elfin horns, and one. . . . . " with a clearer blast above the rest, and it is the horn of Beren, the huntsman of the woods. Then is the air thick with the slender arrows of the Eldar that err not neither doth the wind bear them aside, and lo, from every tree and boulder do the brown Elves and the green spring suddenly and loose unceasingly from full quivers. Then was there a panic and a noise in the host of Naugladur, and those that waded in the ford cast their golden burdens in the waters and sought affrighted to either bank, but many were stricken with those pitiless darts and fell with their gold into the currents of the Aros, staining its clear waters with their dark blood. Now were the warriors on the far bank [? wrapped] in battle and rallying sought to come at their foes, but these fled nimbly before them, while [?others] poured still the hail of arrows upon them, and thus got the Eldar few hurts and the Dwarf-folk fell dead unceasingly. Now was that great fight of the Stony Ford. . . . . . nigh to Naugladur, for even though Naugladur and his captains led their bands stoutly never might they grip their foe, and death fell like rain upon their ranks until the most part broke and fled, and a noise of clear laughter echoed from the Elves thereat, and they forebore to shoot more, for the illshapen figures of the Dwarves as they fled, their white beards tornby the wind, filled them [with] mirth.
But now stood Naugladur and few were about him, and he remembered the words of Gwendelin, for behold, Beren came towards him and he cast aside his bow, and drew a bright sword; and Beren was of great stature among the Eldar, albeit not of the girth and breadth of Naugladur of the Dwarves. Then said Beren: "Ward thy life an thou canst, 0 crook-legged murderer, else will I take it," and Naugladur bid him even the Nauglafring, the necklace of wonder, that he be suffered to go unharmed; but Beren said: "Nay, that may I still take when thou art slain," and thereat he made alone upon Naugladur and his companions, and having slain the foremost of these the others fled away amid elfin laughter, and so Beren came upon Naugladur, slayer of Tinwelint. Then did that aged one defend himself doughtily, and 'twas a bitter fight, and many of the Elves that watched for love and fear of their captain fingered their bow- strings, but Beren called even as he fought that all should stay their hands. Now little doth the tale tell of wounds and blows of that affray, save that Beren got many hurts therein', and many of his shrewdest blows did little harm to Naugladur by reason of the [?skill] and magic of his dwarfen mail; and it is said that three hours they fought and Beren's arms grew weary, but not those of Naugladur accustomed to wield his mighty hammer at the forge, and it is more than like that otherwise would the issue have been but for the curse of Mim; for marking how Beren grew faint Naugladur pressed him ever more nearly, and the arrogance that was of that grievous spell came into his heart, and he thought: "I will slay this Elf, and his folk will flee in fear before me," and grasping his sword he dealt a mighty blow and cried: "Take here thy bane, 0 stripling of the woods," and in that moment his foot found a jagged stone and he stumbled forward, but Beren slipped aside from that blow an
d catching at his beard his hand found the carcanet of gold, and therewith he swung Naugladur suddenly off his feet upon his face: and Naugladur's sword was shaken from his grasp, but Beren seized it and slew him therewith, for he said: "I will not, sully my bright blade with thy dark blood, since there is no need. "
But the body of Naugladur was cast into the Aros. Then did he unloose the necklace, and he gazed in wonder at it- and beheld the Silmaril, even the jewel he won from Angband and gained undying glory by his deed; and he said: "Never have mine eyes beheld thee O Lamp of Faery burn one half so fair as now thou dost, set in gold and gems and the magic of the Dwarves"; and that necklace he caused to be washed of its stains, and he cast it not away, knowing nought of its power, but bore it with him back into the woods of Hithlum. But the waters of Aros flowed on for ever above the drowned hoard of Glorund, and so do still, for in after days Dwarves came from Nogrod and sought for it, and for the body of Naugladur; but a flood arose from the mountains and therein the seekers Ford that none seek the treasure that it guards nor dare ever to cross the magic stream at that enchanted place.
But in the vales of Hithlum was there gladness at the home- coming of the Elves, and great was the joy of Tinuviel to see her lord once more returning amidst his companies, but little did it ease her grief for the death of Tinwelint that Naugladur was slain and many Dwarves beside. Then did Beren seek to comfort her, and taking her in his arms he set the glorious Nauglafring about her neck, and all were blinded by the greatness of her beauty; and Beren said: "Behold the Lamp of Feanor that thou and I did win from Hell," and Tinuviel smiled, remembering the first days of their love and those days of travail in the wild. Now is it to be said that Beren sent for Ufedhin and well rewarded him for his words of true guidance whereof the Dwarves had been overcome, and he bid him dwell in. . . . among his folk,an d Ufedhin was little loth; yet on a time, no great space there-after, did that thing betide which he least desired. For came there a sound of very sorrowful singing in the woods, and behold, it was Gwendelin wandering distraught, and her feet bore her to the midmost of a glade where sat Beren and Tinuviel; and at that hour it was new morning, but at the sound all nigh ceased their speaking and were very still.
Then did Beren gaze in awe upon Gwendelin, but Tinuviel cried suddenly in sorrow mixed with joy: "0 mother Gwendelin, whither do thy feet bear thee, for methought thee dead"; but the greeting of those twain upon the greensward was very sweet. And Ufedhin fled from among the Elves, for he could not endure to look upon the eyes of Gwendelin, and madness took him, and none may say what was his unhappy weird thereafter; and little but a tortured heart got he from the Gold of Glorund. Now hearing the cries of Ufedhin Gwendelin looked in wonder after him, and stayed her tender words; and memory came back into her eyes so that she cried as in amaze beholding the Necklace of the Dwarves that hung about the white throat of Tinuviel. Then wrathfully she asked of Beren what it might portend, and wherefore he suffered the accursed thing to touch Tinuviel; and told Beren" all that tale such as Huan had told him, in deed or guess, and of the pursuit and fighting at the ford he told also, saying at the end: "Nor indeed do I see who, now that Lord Tinwelint is fared to Valinor, should so fittingly wear that jewel of the Gods as Tinuviel. " But Gwendelin told of the dragon's ban upon the gold and the [? staining] of blood in the king's halls, "and yet another and more potent curse, whose arising I know not, is woven therewith," said she, "nor methinks was the labour of the Dwarves free from spells of the most enduring malice. "
But Beren laughed, saying that the glory of the Silmaril and its holiness might overcome all such evils, even as it burnt the [? foul] flesh of Karkaras. "Nor," said he, "have I seen ever my Tinuviel so fair as now she is, clasped in the loveliness of this thing of gold"; but Gwendelin said: "Yet the Silmaril abode in the Crown of Melko, and that is the work of baleful smiths indeed. " Then said Tinuviel that she desired not things of worth or precious stones but the elfin gladness of the forest, and to pleasure Gwendelin she cast it from her neck; but Beren was little pleased and he would not suffer it to be flung away, but warded it in his. . . . . . . . . " Thereafter did Gwendelin abide a while in the woods among them and was healed; and in the end she fared wistfully back to the land of Lorien and came never again into the tales of the dwellers of Earth; but upon Beren and Tinuviel fell swiftly that doom of mortality that Mandos had spoken when he sped them from his halls -- and in this perhaps did the curse of Mim have [? potency] in that it came more soon upon them; nor this time did those twain fare the road together, but when yet was the child of those twain, Dior" the Fair, a little one, did Tinuviel slowly fade, even as the Elves of later days have done throughout the world, and she vanished in the woods, and none have seen her dancing ever there again.
But Beren searched all the lands of Hithlum and of Artanor ranging after her; and never has any of the Elves had more loneliness than his, or ever he too faded from life, and Dior his son was left ruler of the brown Elves and the green, and Lord of the Nauglafring. Mayhap what all Elves say is true, that those twain hunt now in the forest of Orome in Valinor, and Tinuviel dances on the green swards of Nessa and of Vana daughters of the Gods for ever more; yet great was the grief of the Elves when the Guilwarthon went from among them, and being leaderless and lessened of magic their numbers minished; and many fared away to Gondolin, the rumour of whose growing power and glory ran in secret whispers among all the Elves. Still did Dior when come to manhood rule a numerous folk, and he loved the woods even as Beren had done; and songs name him mostly Ausir the Wealthy for his possession of that wondrous gem set in the Necklace of the Dwarves.
Now the tales of Beren and Tinuviel grew dim in his heart, and he took to wearing it about his neck' and to love its loveliness most dearly; and the fame of that jewel spread like fire through all the regions of the North, and the Elves said one to another: "A Silmaril of Feanor burns in the" woods of Hisilome. " Now fare the long days of Elfinesse unto that time when Tuor dwelt in Gondolin; and children then had Dior the Elf,' Auredhir and Elwing, and Auredhir was most like to his forefather Beren, and all loved him, yet none so dearly as did Dior; but Elwing the fairy have all poesies named as beautiful as Tinuviel if that indeed may be, yet hard is it to say seeing the great loveliness. of the elfin folk of yore.
Now those were days of happiness in the vales of Hithlum, for there was peace with Melko and the Dwarves who had but one thought as they plotted against Gondolin, and Angband was full of labour; yet is it to tell that bitterness entered into the hearts of the seven sons of Feanor, remembering their oath. Now Maidros, whom Melko maimed, was their leader; and he called to his brethren Maglor and Dinithel, and to Damrod, and to Celegorm, to Cranthor and to Curufin the Crafty, and he said to them how it was now known to him that a Silmaril of those their father Feanor had made was now the pride and glory of Dior of the southern vales, "and Elwing his daughter bears it whitherso she goes -- but do you not forget," said he, "that we swore to have no peace with Melko nor any of his folk, nor with any other of Earth-dwellers that held the Silmarils of Feanor from us. For what," said Maidros, "do we suffer exile and wandering and rule over a scant and forgotten folk, if others gather to their hoard the heirlooms that are ours?" Thus was it that they sent Curufin the Crafty to Dior, and told him of their oath, and bid him give that fair jewel back unto those whose right it was; but Dior gazing on the loveliness of Elwing would not do so, and he said that he could not endure that the Nauglafring, fairest of earthly craft, be so despoiled.
"Then," said Curufin, "must the Nauglafring unbroken be given to the sons of Feanor," and Dior waxed wroth, bidding him be gone, nor dare to claim what his sire Beren the Onehanded won with his hand from the [?jaws] of Melko -- "other twain are there in the selfsame place," said he, "an your hearts be bold enow. " Then went Curufin unto his brethren, and because of their unbreakable oath and of their [? thirst] for that Silmaril (nor indeed was the spell of Mim and of the dragon wanting) they planned war upon Dior -- and the Eldar cry
shame upon them for that deed, the first premeditated war of elfin folk upon elfin folk, whose name otherwise were glorious among the Eldalie for their sufferings.
Little good came thereby to them; for they fell unawares upon Dior, and Dior and Auredhir were slain, yet behold, Evranin the nurse of Elwing, and Gereth a Gnome-, took her unwilling in a flight swift and sudden from those lands, and they bore with them the Nauglafring, so that the sons of Feanor saw it not; but a host of Dior's folk, coming with all speed yet late unto the fray, fell suddenly on their rear, and there was a great battle, and Maglor was slain with swords, and Mai. . . . ~ died of wounds in the wild, and Celegorm was pierced with a hundred arrows, and Cranthor beside him. Yet in the end were the sons of Feanor masters of the field of slain, and the brown Elves and the green were scattered over all the lands unhappy, for they would not hearken to Maidros the maimed, nor to Curufin and Damrod who had slain their lord; and it is said that even on the day of that battle of the Elves Melko sought against Gondolin, and the fortunes of the Elves came to their uttermost waning.
Now was naught left of the seed of Beren Ermabwed son of Egnor save Elwing the Lovely, and she wandered in the woods, and of the brown Elves and the green a few gathered to her, and they departed for ever from the glades of Hithlum and got them to the south towards Sirion's deep waters, and the pleasant lands. And thus did all the fates of the fairies weave then to one strand, and that strand is the great tale of Earendel; and to that tale's true beginning are we now come. ' Then said Ailios: 'And methinks that is tale enow for this time of telling. ' NOTES. 1. This sentence is a rewriting of the text, which had originally: "Nay then, know ye not that this gold belongs to the kindred of the Elves, who won it from the earth long time ago, and no one among Men has claim. . . " The remainder of this scene, ending with the slaughter of Urin's band, was rewritten at many points, with the same object as in the passage just cited -- to convert Urin's band from Men to Elves, as was done also at the end of Eltas' t ale( see p. 118 note 33). Thus original 'Elves' waschanged to 'Elves of the wood, woodland Elves', and original 'Men' to 'folk, outlaws'; and see notes 2, 3, 5. 2. The original sentence here was: Doughty were those Men and great wielders of sword and axe, and still in those unfaded days might mortal weapons wound the bodies of the elfin-folk.
See note t. 3. The original sentence here was: 'and those Men being wildered with magics'. See note 1. 4. This sentence, from 'and yet another sorrow. . . ', was added to the text later. 5. 'those': the text has 'the Men', obviously left unchanged through oversight. See note 1. 6. 'in the earth' is an emendation of the original reading 'on the earth'. 7. 'damasked in strange wise', i. e. 'damascened', ornamentally inlaid with designs in gold and silver. The word 'damascened' is used of the sword of Tinwelint made by the Dwarves, on which were seen images of the wolf-hunt (p. 227), and of Glorfindel's arms (p. 173). 8. The text has 'Eltas', but with 'Ailios' written above in pencil. Since Ailios appears as the teller at the beginning of the tale, and not as the result of emendation, 'Eltas' here was probably no more than a slip. 9. 'save only' is a later emendation of the original 'not even'. See p. 256. 10. It is odd that Gwendelin appears here, not Gwenniel as hitherto in this tale. Since the first part of the tale is in ink over an erased pencil text, the obvious explanation is that the erased text had Gwendelin and that my father changed this to Gwenniel as he went along, overlooking it in this one instance. But the matter is probably more complex -- one of those small puzzles with which the texts of the Last Tales abound -- for after the manuscript in ink ceases the form Gwenniel occurs, though once only, and Gwendelin is then used for all the rest of the tale. See Changes made to Names, p. 244. 11. Here the manuscript in ink ends; see p. 221. 12. Against this sentence my father wrote a direction that the story was to be that the Nauglafring caught in the bushes and held the king. 13. A rejected passage in the manuscript here gives an earlier version of the events, according to which it was Gwendelin, not Huan, who brought the news to Beren: . . . and her bitter weeping filled the forest.
Now there did Gwendeling [sic] gather to her many of the scattered woodland Elves and of them did she hear how matters had fared even as she had guessed: how the hunting party had been surrounded and o'erwhelmed by the Nauglath while the Indrafangs and Orcs fell suddenly with death and fire upon all the realm of Tinwelint, and not the least host was that of Ufedhin that slew the guardians of the bridge; and it was said that Naugladur had slain Tinwelint when he was borne down by numbers, and folk thought Narthseg a wild Elf had led the foemen hither, and he had been slain in the fighting. Then seeing no hope Gwendelin and her companions fared with the utmost speed out of that land of sorrow, even to the kingdom of i- Guilwarthon in Hisilome, where reigned Beren and Tinuviel her daughter. Now Beren and Tinuviel lived not in any settled abode, nor had their realm boundaries well-marked, and no other messenger save Gwendelin daughter of the Vali had of a surety found those twain the living-dead so soon.
It is clear from the manuscript that the return of Mablung and Huan to Artanor and their presence at the hunt (referred to in general terms at the end of the Tale of Tinuviel, p. 41) was added to the 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. tale, and with this new element went the change in Gwendelin's movements immediately after the disaster. But though the textual history is here extremely hard to interpet, what with erasures and j additions on loose pages, I think it is almost certain that this reshaping was done while the original composition 0f the tale was still in progress. The first of these lacunae that I have left in the text contains two words, the first possibly 'believe' and the second probably 'best'. In the second lacuna the word might conceivably be 'pallor'. This sentence, from 'and is it not that very water. . . ', is struck through and bracketed, and in the margin my father scribbled: 'No [?that] is Narog. ' The illegible word might be 'brays': the word 'clearer' is an emendation from 'hoarser'. 'and told Beren': i. e. , 'and Beren told'.
The text as first written had 'Then told Beren. . . ' The illegible word might just possibly be 'treasury', but I do not think that it is. Dior replaced the name Ausir, which however occurs below as another name for Dior. 'Dior the Elf' is an emendation from 'Dior then an aged Elf'. The latter part of this name is quite unclear: it might be read as Maithog, or as Mailweg. See Changes made to Names under Dinithel. Changes made to names in The Tale of the Nauglafring. Ilfiniol (p. 221) here so written from the first: see p. 201. Gwenniel is used throughout the revised section of the tale except at the last occurrence (p. 228), where the form is Gwendelin; in the pencilled part of the tale at the first occurrence of the queen's name it is again Gwenniel (p. 230), but thereafter always Gwendelin (see note 10). The name of the queen in the Lost Tales is as variable as that of Littleheart.
In The Chaining of Melko and The Coming of the Elves she is Tindriel > Wendelin. In the Tale of Tinuviel she is Wendelin > Cwendeling (see p. 50); in the type- script text of Tinuviel Gwenethlin > Melian; in the Tale of Turambar Gwendeling > Gwedheling; in the present tale Cwendelin/Gwenniel (the form Gwendeling occurs in the rejected passage given in note 13); and in the Gnomish dictionary Cwendeling > Cwedhiling. Belegost At the first occurrence (p. 230) the manuscript has Ost Belegost, with Ost circled as if for rejection, and Belegost is the reading subsequently.
(i-)Cuilwarthon In the Tale of Tinuviel, p. 41, the form is i-Cuilwarthon. At the occurrence on p. 240 the ending of the name does not look like -on, but as I cannot say what it is I give Guilwarthon in the text. Dinithel could also be read as Durithel (p. 241). This name was written in later in ink over an earlier name in pencil now scarcely legible, though clearly the same as that beginning Mai. . . . which appears for this son of Feanor subsequently (see note 21). Commentary on The Tale of the Nauglafring. In this commentary I shall not compare in detail the Tale of the Nauglafring with the story told in The Silmarillion (Chapter 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath). The stories are profoundly different in essential features -- above all, in the reduction of the treasure brought by Hurin from Nargothrond to a single o
bject, the Necklace of the Dwarves, which had long been in existence (though not, of course, containing the Silmaril); while the whole history of the relation between Thingol and the Dwarves is changed.
My father never again wrote any part of this story on a remotely comparable scale, and the formation of the published text was here of the utmost difficulty; I hope later to give an account of it. While it is often difficult to differentiate what my father omitted in his more concise versions (in order to keep them concise) from what he rejected, it seems clear that a large part of the elaborate narrative of the Tale of the Nauglafring was early abandoned. In subsequent writing the story of the fighting between Urin's band and Tinwelint's Elves disappeared, and there is no trace afterwards of Ufedhin or the other Gnomes that lived among the Dwarves, of the story that the Dwarves took half the unwrought gold ('the king's loan') away to Nogrod to make precious objects from it, of the keeping of Ufedhin hostage, of Tinwelint's refusal to let the Dwarves depart, of their outrageous demands, of their scourging and their insulting payment. We meet here again the strong emphasis on Tinwelint's love of treasure and lack of it, in contrast to the later conception of his vast wealth (see my remarks, pp. 128-9).
The Silmaril is kept in a wooden casket (p. 225), Tinwelint has no crown but a wreath of scarlet leaves (p. 227), and he is far less richly clad and accoutred than 'the wayfarer in his halls' (Ufedhin). This is very well in itself -- the Woodland Elf corrupted by the lure of golden splendour, but it need not be remarked again how strangely at variance is this picture with that of Thingol Lord of Beleriand, who had a vast treasury in his marvellous underground realm of Menegroth, the Thousand Caves -- itself largely contrived by the Dwarves of Belegost in the distant past (?he Silmarillion pp. 92-3), and who most certainly did not need the aid of Dwarves at this time to make him a crown and a fine sword, or vessels to adorn his banquets. Thingol in the later conception is proud, and stern; he is also wise, and powerful, and greatly increased in stature and in knowledge through his union with a Maia. Could such a king have sunk to the level of miserly swindling that is portrayed in the Tale of the Nauglafring? Great stress is indeed placed on the enormous size of the hoard -- 'such mighty heaps of gold have never since been gathered in one place', p. 223 -- which is made so vast that it becomes hard to believe that a band of wandering outlaws could have brought it to the halls of the woodland Elves, even granting that 'some was lost upon the way' (p. 114).
There is perhaps some difference here from the account of the Rodothlim and their works in the Tale of Turambar (p. 81), where there is certainly no suggestion that the Rodothlim possessed treasures coming out of Valinor -- though this idea remained through all the vicissitudes of this part of the story: it is said of the Lord of Nargothrond in The Silmarillion (p. 114) that 'Finrod had brought more treasures out of Tirion than any other of the princes of the Noldor'. More important, the elements of 'spell' and 'curse' are dominant in this tale, to such a degree that they might almost be said to be the chief actors in it. The curse of Mim on the gold is felt at every turn of the narrative. Vengeance for him is one motive in Naugladur's decision to attack the Elves of Artanor (p. 230). His curse is fulfilled in the 'agelong feud' between the kindreds of the Dwarves (p. 235) -- of which all trace was afterwards effaced, with the loss of the entire story of Ufedhin's intent to steal the Necklace from Naugladur sleeping, the killing of Bodruith Lord of Belegost, and the fighting between the two clans of Dwarves. Naugladur was 'blinded by the spell' in taking so imprudent a course out of Artanor (p. 236); and the curse of Mim is made the 'cause' of his stumbling on a stone in his fight with Beren (p. 238).
It is even, and most surprisingly, suggested as a reason for the short second lives of Beren and Tinuviel (p. 240); and finally 'the spell of Mim' is an element in the attack on Dior by the Feanorians (p. 241). An important element also in the tale is the baleful nature of the Nauglafring, for the Dwarves made it with bitterness; and into the complex of curses and spells is introduced also 'the dragon's ban upon the gold' (p. 239) or 'the spell of the dragon' (p. 241). It is not said in the Tale of Turambar that Glorund had cursed the gold or enspelled it; but Mim said to Urin (p. 114): 'Has not Glorund lain long years upon it, and the evil of the drakes of Melko is on it, and no good can it bring to Man or Elf. ' Most notably, Gwendelin implies, against Beren's assertion that 'its holiness might overcome all such evils', that the Silmaril itself is unhallowed, since it 'abode in the Crown of Melko' (p. 239).
In the later of the two 'schemes' for the Lost Tales (see I. 107 note 3) it is said that the Nauglafring 'brought sickness to Tinuviel'. * * It is said in the Gnomish dictionary that the curse of Mim was 'appeased' when the Nauglafring was lost in the sea; see the Appendix on Names, entry Nauglafring. )
But however much the chief actors in this tale are 'enspelled' or blindly carrying forward the mysterious dictates of a curse, there is no question but that the Dwarves in the original conception were altogether more ignoble than they afterwards became, more prone to evil to gain their ends, and more exclusively impelled by greed; that Doriath should be laid waste by mercenary Orcs under Dwarvish paymasters (p. 230) was to become incredible and impossible later. It is even said that by the deeds of Naugladur 'have the Dwarves been severed in feud for ever since those days with the Elves, and drawn more nigh in friendship to the kin of Melko' (p. 230); and in the outlines for Gilfanon's Tale the Nauglath are an evil people, associates of goblins (I. 236 -- 7). In a rejected outline for the Tale of the Nauglafring (p. 136) the Necklace was made 'by certain Uvanimor (Nautar or Nauglath)', Uvanimor being defined else- where as 'monsters, giants, and ogres'.
With all this compare The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F (I): 'They [the Dwarves] are not evil by nature, and few ever served the Enemy of free will, whatever the tales of Men may have alleged. ' The account of the Dwarves in this tale is of exceptional interest in other respects. 'The beards of the Indrafangs' have been named in Tinuviel's 'lengthening spell' (pp. 19, 46); but this is the first description of the Dwarves in my father's writings -- already with the spelling that he maintained against the unceasing opposition of proof-readers -- and they are eminently recognisable in their dour and hidden natures, in their 'unloveliness' (The Silmarillion p. x 113), and in their 'marvellous skill with metals' (ibid. p. 92). The strange statement that 'never comes a child among them' is perhaps to be related to 'the foolish opinion among Men' referred to in The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A (III), 'that there are no Dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves "grow out of stone". ' In the same place it is said that 'it is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly'. It is also said in the tale that it is thought by some that the Dwarves 'have not heard of Iluvatar'; on knowledge of Iluvatar among Men see p. 209. According to the Gnomish dictionary Indrafang was 'a special name of the Longbeards or Dwarves', but in the tale it is made quite plain that the Longbeards were on the contrary the Dwarves of Belegost; the Dwarves of Nogrod were the Nauglath, with their king Naugladur.
It must be admitted however that-the use of the terms is sometimes con- fusing, or confused: thus the description of the Nauglath on pp. 223 -- 4 seems to be a description of all Dwarves, and to include the Indrafangs, though this cannot have been intended. The reference to 'the march of the Dwarves and Indrafangs' (p. 234) must be taken as an ellipse, i. e. 'the Dwarves of Nogrod and the Indrafangs'. Naugladur of Nogrod and Bodruith of Belegost are said to have been akin (p. 235), though this perhaps only means that they were both Dwarves whereas Ufedhin was an Elf.
The Book of Lost Tales 2 Page 13
