25 Evil is emended from Melko. Жlfwine I does not have the phrase.
26 Жlfwine I has: ‘when the ancient Men of the South from Micelgeard the Heartless Town set their mighty feet upon the soil of Lъthien.’ This text does not have the reference to Rыm and Magbar. The name Micelgeard is struck through, but Mickleyard is written at the head of the page. Micelgeard is Old English (and Mickleyard a modernisation of this in spelling), though it does not occur in extant Old English writings and is modelled on Old Norse Mikligarрr (Constantinople).—The peculiar hostility of the Romans to the Elves of Luthany is mentioned by implication in citation (20), and their disbelief in their existence in (22).
27 The application, frequent in Жlwine I, of ‘little’ to the fairies (Elves) of Lъthien and their ships was retained in Жlfwine II as first written, but afterwards struck out. Here the word is twice retained, perhaps unintentionally.
28 Elvish is a later emendation of fairy.
29 This sentence, from ‘save Жlfheah…’, was added later in Жlfwine II; it is not in Жlfwine I.—The whole text to this point in Жlfwine I and II is compressed into the following in Жlfwine A:
Жlfwine of England (whom the fairies after named Lъthien (friend) of Luthany (friendship)) born of Dйor and Йadgifu. Their city burned and Dйor slain and Йadgifu dies. Жlfwine a thrall of the Winged Helms. He escapes to the Western Sea and takes ship from Belerion and makes great voyages. He is seeking for the islands of the West of which Йadgifu had told him in his childhood.
30 Жlfwine I has here: ‘But three men could he find as his companions; and Ossл took them unto him.’ Ossл was emended to Neorth; and then the sentence was struck through and rewritten: ‘Such found he only three; and those three Neorth after took unto him and their names are not known.’ Neorth = Ulmo; see note 39.
31 Жlfwine A reads: ‘He espies some islands lying in the dawn but is swept thence by great winds. He returns hardly to Belerion. He gathers the seven greatest mariners of England; they sail in spring. They are wrecked upon the isles of Жlfwine’s desire and find them desert and lonely and filled with gloomy whispering trees.’ This is at variance with Жlfwine I and II where Жlfwine is cast on to the island alone; but agrees with II in giving Жlfwine seven companions, not three.
32 A clue that this was Ulmo: cf. The Fall of Gondolin (p. 155): ‘he was shod with mighty shoes of stone.’
33 In Жlfwine A they were ‘filled with gloomy whispering trees’ (note 31).
34 From the point where the Man of the Sea said: ‘Lo, this is one of the ring of Harbourless Isles…’ (p. 317) to here (i.e. the whole episode of the foundered Viking ship and its captain Orm, slayer of Жlfwine’s father) there is nothing corresponding in Жlfwine I, which has only: ‘but that Man of the Sea aided him in building a little craft, and together, guided by the solitary mariner, they fared away and came to a land but little known.’ For the narrative in Жlfwine A see note 39.
35 At one occurrence of the name Ythlings (Old English эр ‘wave’) in Жlfwine I it is written Ythlingas, with the Old English plural ending.
36 The Shipmen of the West: emendation from Eneathrim.
37 Cf. in the passage of alliterative verse in my father’s On Translating Beowulf (The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, 1983, p. 63): then away thrust her to voyage gladly valiant-timbered.
38 The whole section of the narrative concerning the island of the Ythlings is more briefly told in Жlfwine I (though, so far as it goes, in very much the same words) with several features of the later story absent (notably the cutting of timber in the grove sacred to Ulmo, and the blessing of the ship by the Man of the Sea). The only actual difference of structure, however, is that whereas in Жlfwine II Жlfwine finds again his seven companions in the land of the Ythlings, and sails west with them, together with Bior of the Ythlings, in Жlfwine I they were indeed drowned, and he got seven companions from among the Ythlings (among whom Bior is not named).
39 The plot-outline Жlfwine A tells the story from the point where Жlfwine and his seven companions were cast on the Isle of the Man of the Sea (thus differing from Жlfwine I and II, where he came there alone) thus:
They wander about the island upon which they have been cast and come upon many decaying wrecks—often of mighty ships, some treasure-laden. They find a solitary cabin beside a lonely sea, built of old ship-wood, where dwells a solitary and strange old mariner of dread aspect. He tells them these are the Harbourless Isles whose enchanted rocks draw all ships thither, lest men fare over far upon Garsedge [see note 19]—and they were devised at the Hiding of Valinor. Here, he says, the trees are magical. They learn many strange things about the western world of him and their desire is whetted for adventure. He aids them to cut holy trees in the island groves and to build a wonderful vessel, and shows them how to provision it against a long voyage (that water that drieth not save when heart fails, &c.). This he blesses with a spell of adventure and discovery, and then dives from a cliff-top. They suspect it was Neorth Lord of Waters.
They journey many years among strange western islands hearing often many strange reports—of the belt of Magic Isles which few have passed; of the trackless sea beyond where the wind bloweth almost always from the West; of the edge of the twilight and the far-glimpsed isle there standing, and its glimmering haven. They reach the magic island [read islands?] and three are enchanted and fall asleep on the shore.
The others beat about the waters beyond and are in despair—for as often as they make headway west the wind changes and bears them back. At last they tryst to return on the morrow if nought other happens. The day breaks chill and dull, and they lie becalmed looking in vain through the pouring rain.
This narrative differs from both Жlfwine I and II in that here there is no mention of the Ythlings; and Жlfwine and his seven companions depart on their long western voyage from the Harbourless Isle of the ancient mariner. It agrees with Жlfwine I in the name Neorth; but it foreshadows II in the cutting of sacred trees to build a ship.
40 In Жlfwine I Жlfheah does not appear, and his two speeches in this passage are there given to one Gelimer. Gelimer (Geilamir) was the name of a king of the Vandals in the sixth century.
41 In Жlfwine I Bior’s speech is given to Gelimer (see note 40).
42 Жlfwine I ends in almost the same words as Жlfwine II, but with a most extraordinary difference; Жlfwine does not leap overboard, but returns with his companions to Belerion, and so never comes to Tol Eressлa! ‘Very empty thereafter were the places of Men for Жlfwine and his mariners, and of their seed have been many restless and wistful folk since they were dead…’ Moreover my father seems clearly to have been going to say the same in Жlfwine II, but stopped, struck out what he had written, and introduced the sentence in which Жlfwine leapt into the sea. I cannot see any way to explain this.
Жlfwine A ends in much the same way as Жlfwine II:
As night comes on a little breath springs up and the clouds lift. They hoist sail to return—when suddenly low down in the dusk they see the many lights of the Haven of Many Hues twinkle forth. They row thither, and hear sweet music. Then the mist wraps all away and the others rousing themselves say it is a mirage born of hunger, and with heavy hearts prepare to go back, but Жlfwine plunges overboard and swims into the dark until he is overcome in the waters, and him seems death envelops him. The others sail away home and are out of the tale.