The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two
Page 42
(19) Luthany means ‘friendship’, Lúthien ‘friend’. Luthany the only land where Men and Elves once dwelt an age in peace and love.
How for a while after the coming of the sons of Ing the Elves throve again and ceased to fare away to Tol Eressëa.
How Old English became the sole mortal language which an Elf will speak to a mortal that knows no Elfin.
(20) Ælfwine of England (whose father and mother were slain by the fierce Men of the Sea who knew not the Elves) was a great lover of the Elves, especially of the shoreland Elves that lingered in the land. He seeks for Tol Eressëa whither the fairies are said to have retired.
He reaches it. The fairies call him Lúthien. He learns of the making of the world,…….of Gods and Elves, of Elves and Men, down to the departure to Tol Eressëa.
How the Faring Forth came to nought, and the fairies took refuge in Albion or Luthany (the Isle of Friendship).
Seven invasions.
Of the coming of Men to Luthany, how each race quarrelled, and the fairies faded, until [?the most] set sail, after the coming of the Rúmhoth, for the West. Why the Men of the seventh invasion, the Ingwaiwar, are more friendly.
Ingwë and Eärendel who dwelt in Luthany before it was an isle and was [sic] driven east by Ossë to found the Ingwaiwar.
(21) All the descendants of Ing were well disposed to Elves; hence the remaining Elves of Luthany spoke to [?them] in the ancient tongue of the English, and since some have fared…..to Tol Eressëa that tongue is there understood, and all who wish to speak to the Elves, if they know not and have no means of learning Elfin speeches, must converse in the ancient tongue of the English.
In (20) the term ‘Faring Forth’ must again be used as it is in (18), of the March from Kôr. There it was called a ‘disaster’ (see p. 303), and here it is said that it ‘came to nought’: it must be admitted that it is hard to see how that can be said, if it led to the binding of Melko and the release of the enslaved Noldoli (see (1) and (3)).
Also in (20) is the first appearance of the idea of the Seven Invasions of Luthany. One of these was that of the Rúmhoth (mentioned also in (14)) or Romans; and the seventh was that of the Ingwaiwar, who were not hostile to the Elves.
Here something must be said of the name Ing (Ingwë, Ingwaiar) in these passages. As with the introduction of Hengest and Horsa, the association of the mythology with ancient English legend is manifest. But it would serve no purpose, I believe, to enter here into the obscure and speculative scholarship of English and Scandinavian origins: the Roman writers’ term Inguaeones for the Baltic maritime peoples from whom the English came; the name Ingwine (interpretable either as Ing-wine ‘the friends of Ing’ or as containing the same Ingw- seen in Inguaeones); or the mysterious personage Ing who appears in the Old English Runic Poem:
Ing wæs ærest mid East-Denum
gesewen secgum oþ he siþþan east
ofer wæg gewat; wæn æfter ran
—which may be translated: ‘Ing was first seen by men among the East Danes, until he departed eastwards over the waves; his car sped after him.’ It would serve no purpose, because although the connection of my father’s Ing, Ingwë with the shadowy Ing (Ingw-) of northern historical legend is certain and indeed obvious he seems to have been intending no more than an association of his mythology with known traditions (though the words of the Runic Poem were clearly influential). The matter is made particularly obscure by the fact that in these notes the names Ing and Ingwë intertwine with each other, but are never expressly differentiated or identified.
Thus Ælfwine was ‘of the kin of Ing, King of Luthany’ (15, 16), but the Elves retreated ‘to Luthany where Ingwë was king’ (18). The Elves of Luthany throve again ‘after the coming of the sons of Ing’ (19), and the Ingwaiwar, seventh of the invaders of Luthany, were more friendly to the Elves (20), while Ingwë ‘founded’ the Ingwaiwar (20). This name is certainly to be equated with Inguaeones (see above), and the invasion of the Ingwaiwar (or ‘Sons of Ing’) equally certainly represents the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ invasion of Britain. Can Ing, Ingwë be equated? So far as this present material is concerned, I hardly see how they can not be. Whether this ancestor-founder is to be equated with Inwë (whose son was Ingil) of the Lost Tales is another question. It is hard to believe that there is no connection (especially since Inwë in The Cottage of Lost Play is emended from Ing, I.22), yet it is equally difficult to see what that connection could be, since Inwë of the Lost Tales is an Elda of Kôr (Ingwë Lord of the Vanyar in The Silmarillion) while Ing(wë) of ‘the Ælfwine story’ is a Man, the King of Luthany and Ælfwine’s ancestor. (In outlines for Gilfanon’s Tale it is said that Ing King of Luthany was descended from Ermon, or from Ermon and Elmir (the first Men, I. 236–7).)
The following outlines tell some more concerning Ing(wë) and the Ingwaiwar:
(22) How Ing sailed away at eld [i.e. in old age] into the twilight, and Men say he came to the Gods, but he dwells on Tol Eressëa, and will guide the fairies one day back to Luthany when the Faring Forth takes place.*
How he prophesied that his kin should fare back again and possess Luthany until the days of the coming of the Elves.
How the land of Luthany was seven times invaded by Men, until at the seventh the children of the children of Ing came back to their own.
How at each new war and invasion the Elves faded, and each loved the Elves less, until the Rúmhoth came—and they did not even believe they existed, and the Elves all fled, so that save for a few the isle was empty of the Elves for three hundred years.
(23) How Ingwë drank limpë at the hands of the Elves and reigned ages in Luthany.
How Eärendel came to Luthany to find the Elves gone.
How Ingwë aided him, but was not suffered to go with him. Eärendel blessed all his progeny as the mightiest sea-rovers of the world.16
How Ossë made war upon Ingwë because of Eärendel, and Ing longing for the Elves set sail, and all were wrecked after being driven far east.
How Ing the immortal came among the Dani OroDáni Urdainoth East Danes.
How he became the half-divine king of the Ingwaiwar, and taught them many things of Elves and Gods, so that some true knowledge of the Gods and Elves lingered in that folk alone.
Part of another outline that does not belong with the foregoing passages but covers the same part of the narrative as (23) may be given here:
(24) Eärendel takes refuge with [Ingwë] from the wrath of Ossë, and gives him a draught of limpë (enough to assure immortality). He gives him news of the Elves and the dwelling on Tol Eressëa.
Ingwë and a host of his folk set sail to find Tol Eressëa, but Ossë blows them back east. They are utterly wrecked. Only Ingwë rescued on a raft. He becomes king of the Angali, Euti, Saksani, and Firisandi,* who adopt the title of Ingwaiwar. He teaches them much magic and first sets men’s hearts to seafaring westward……
After a great [?age of rule] Ingwë sets sail in a little boat and is heard of no more.
It is clear that the intrusion of Luthany, and Ing(wë), into the conception has caused a movement in the story of Eärendel: whereas in the older version he went to Tol Eressëa after the departure of the Eldar and Noldoli from the Great Lands (pp. 253, 255), now he goes to Luthany; and the idea of Ossë’s enmity towards Eärendel (pp. 254, 263) is retained but brought into association with the origin of the Ingwaiwar.
It is clear that the narrative structure is:
– Ing(wë) King of Luthany.
– Eärendel seeks refuge with him (after [many of] the Elves have departed to Tol Eressëa).
– Ing(wë) seeks Tol Eressëa but is driven into the East.
– Seven invasions of Luthany.
– The people of Ing(wë) are the Ingwaiwar, and they ‘come back to their own’ when they invade Luthany from across the North Sea.
(25) Luthany was where the tribes first embarked in the Lonely Isle for Valinor, and whence they landed for the Faring Forth,* whence [also] many sailed with El
wing to find Tol Eressëa.
That Luthany was where the Elves, at the end of the great journey from Palisor, embarked on the Lonely Isle for the Ferrying to Valinor, is probably to be connected with the statement in (20) that ‘Ingwë and Eärendel dwelt in Luthany before it was an isle’.
(26) There are other references to the channel separating Luthany from the Great Lands: in rough jottings in notebook C there is mention of an isthmus being cut by the Elves, ‘fearing Men now that Ingwë has gone’, and ‘to the white cliffs where the silver spades of the Teleri worked’ also in the next citation.
(27) The Elves tell Ælfwine of the ancient manner of Luthany, of Kortirion or Gwarthyryn (Caer Gwâr),17 of Tavrobel.
How the fairies dwelt there a hundred ages before Men had the skill to build boats to cross the channel—so that magic lingers yet mightily in its woods and hills.
How they renamed many a place in Tol Eressëa after their home in Luthany. Of the Second Faring Forth and the fairies’ hope to reign in Luthany and replant there the magic trees—and it depends most on the temper of the Men of Luthany (since they first must come there) whether all goes well.
Notable here is the reference to ‘the Second Faring Forth’, which strongly supports my interpretation of the expression ‘Faring Forth’ in (18), (20), and (25); but the prophecy or hope of the Elves concerning the Faring Forth has been greatly changed from its nature in citation (6): here, the Trees are to be replanted in Luthany.
(28) How Ælfwine lands in Tol Eressëa and it seems to him like his own land made…….clad in the beauty of a happy dream. How the folk comprehended [his speech] and learn whence he is come by the favour of Ulmo. How he is sped to Kortirion.
With these two passages it is interesting to compare (9), the prose preface to Kortirion among the Trees, according to which Kortirion was a city built by the Elves in Tol Eressëa; and when Tol Eressëa was brought across the sea, becoming England, Kortirion was renamed in the tongue of the English Warwick (13). In the new story, Kortirion is likewise an ancient dwelling of the Elves, but with the change in the fundamental conception it is in Luthany; and the Kortirion to which Ælfwine comes in Tol Eressëa is the second of the name (being called ‘after their home in Luthany’). There has thus been a very curious transference, which may be rendered schematically thus:
(I) Kortirion, Elvish dwelling in Tol Eressëa.
Tol Eressëa England.
Kortirion = Warwick.
(II) Kortirion, Elvish dwelling in Luthany (> England).
Elves Tol Eressëa.
Kortirion (2) in Tol Eressëa named after Kortirion (1) in Luthany.
On the basis of the foregoing passages, (15) to (28), we may attempt to construct a narrative taking account of all the essential features:
– March of the Elves of Kôr (called ‘the Faring Forth’, or (by implication in 27) ‘the First Faring Forth’) into the Great Lands, landing in Luthany (25), and the Loss of Valinor (18).
– War with evil Men in the Great Lands (18).
– The Elves retreated to Luthany (not yet an island) where Ing(wë) was king (18, 20).
– Many [but by no means all] of the Elves of Luthany sought back west over the sea and settled in Tol Eressëa; but Elwing was lost (18, 25).
– Places in Tol Eressëa were named after places in Luthany (27).
– Eärendel came to Luthany, taking refuge with Ing(wë) from the hostility of Ossë (20, 23, 24).
– Eärendel gave Ing(wë) limpë to drink (24), or Ing(wë) received limpë from the Elves before Eärendel came (23).
– Eärendel blessed the progeny of Ing(wë) before his departure (23).
– Ossë’s hostility to Eärendel pursued Ing(wë) also (23, 24).
– Ing(wë) set sail (with many of his people, 24) to find Tol Eressëa (23, 24).
– Ing(wë)’s voyage, through the enmity of Ossë, ended in shipwreck, but Ing(wë) survived, and far to the East [i.e. after being driven across the North Sea] he became King of the Ingwaiwar the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain (23, 24).
– Ing(wë) instructed the Ingwaiwar in true knowledge of the Gods and Elves (23) and turned their hearts to seafaring westwards (24). He prophesied that his kin should one day return again to Luthany (22).
– Ing(wë) at length departed in a boat (22, 24), and was heard of no more (24), or came to Tol Eressëa (22).
– After Ing(wë)’s departure from Luthany a channel was made so that Luthany became an isle (26); but Men crossed the channel in boats (27).
– Seven successive invasions took place, including that of the Rúmhoth or Romans, and at each new war more of the remaining Elves of Luthany fled over the sea (20, 22).
– The seventh invasion, that of the Ingwaiwar, was however not hostile to the Elves (20, 21); and these invaders were ‘coming back to their own’ (22), since they were the people of Ing(wë).
– The Elves of Luthany (now England) throve again and ceased to leave Luthany for Tol Eressëa (19), and they spoke to the Ingwaiwar in their own language, Old English (21).
– Ælfwine was an Englishman of the Anglo-Saxon period, a descendant of Ing(wë), who had derived a knowledge of and love of the Elves from the tradition of his family (15, 16).
– Ælfwine came to Tol Eressëa, found that Old English was spoken there, and was called by the Elves Lúthien ‘friend’, the Man of Luthany (the Isle of Friendship) (15, 16, 19).
I claim no more for this than that it seems to me to be the only way in which these disjecta membra can be set together into a comprehensive narrative scheme. It must be admitted even so that it requires some forcing of the evidence to secure apparent agreement. For example, there seem to be different views of the relation of the Ingwaiwar to Ing(wë): they are ‘the sons of Ing’ (19), ‘his kin’ (22), ‘the children of the children of Ing’ (22), yet he seems to have become the king and teacher of North Sea peoples who had no connection with Luthany or the Elves (23, 24). (Over whom did he rule when the Elves first retreated to Luthany (18, 23)?) Again, it is very difficult to fit the ‘hundred ages’ during which the Elves dwelt in Luthany before the invasions of Men began (27) to the rest of the scheme. Doubtless in these jottings my father was thinking with his pen, exploring independent narrative paths; one gets the impression of a ferment of ideas and possibilities rapidly displacing one another, from which no one stable narrative core can be extracted. A complete ‘solution’ is therefore in all probability an unreal aim, and this reconstruction no doubt as artificial as that attempted earlier for ‘the Eriol story’ (see p. 293). But here as there I believe that this outline shows as well as can be the direction of my father’s thought at that time.
There is very little to indicate the further course of ‘the Ælfwine story’ after his sojourn in Tol Eressëa (as I have remarked, p. 301, the part of the mariner is only to learn and record tales out of the past); and virtually all that can be learned from these notes is found on a slip that reads:
(29) How Ælfwine drank of limpë but thirsted for his home, and went back to Luthany; and thirsted then unquenchably for the Elves, and went back to Tavrobel the Old and dwelt in the House of the Hundred Chimneys (where grows still the child of the child of the Pine of Belawryn) and wrote the Golden Book.
Associated with this is a title-page:
(30)
The Book of Lost Tales
and the History of the Elves of Luthany
[?being]
The Golden Book of Tavrobel
the same that Ælfwine wrote and laid in the House of a Hundred
Chimneys at Tavrobel, where it lieth still to read for such as may.
These are very curious. Tavrobel the Old must be the original Tavrobel in Luthany (after which Tavrobel in Tol Eressëa was named, just as Kortirion in Tol Eressëa was named after Kortirion = Warwick in Luthany); and the House of the Hundred Chimneys (as also the Pine of Belawryn, on which see p. 281 and note 4) was to be displaced from Tol Eressëa to Luthany. Presumably my fath
er intended to rewrite those passages in the ‘framework’ of the Lost Tales where the House of a Hundred Chimneys in Tavrobel is referred to; unless there was to be another House of a Hundred Chimneys in Tavrobel the New in Tol Eressëa.
Lastly, an interesting entry in the Qenya dictionary may be mentioned here: Parma Kuluinen ‘the Golden Book—the collected book of legends, especially of Ing and Eärendel’.
In the event, of all these projections my father only developed the story of Ælfwine’s youth and his voyage to Tol Eressëa to a full and polished form, and to this work I now turn; but first it is convenient to collect the passages previously considered that bear on it.
In the opening Link to the Tale of Tinúvie1 Eriol said that ‘many years agone’, when he was a child, his home was ‘in an old town of Men girt with a wall now crumbled and broken, and a river ran thereby over which a castle with a great tower hung’.
My father came of a coastward folk, and the love of the sea that I had never seen was in my bones, and my father whetted my desire, for he told me tales that his father had told him before. Now my mother died in a cruel and hungry siege of that old town, and my father was slain in bitter fight about the walls, and in the end I Eriol escaped to the shoreland of the Western Sea.
Eriol told then of
his wanderings about the western havens,…of how he was wrecked upon far western islands until at last upon one lonely one he came upon an ancient sailor who gave him shelter, and over a fire within his lonely cabin told him strange tales of things beyond the Western Seas, of the Magic Isles and that most lonely one that lay beyond….
‘Ever after,’ said Eriol, ‘did I sail more curiously about the western isles seeking more stories of the kind, and thus it is indeed that after many great voyages I came myself by the blessing of the Gods to Tol Eressëa in the end…’