But Mоm dying said unto Ъrin: “Now Elves and Men shall rue this deed, and because of the death of Mоm the dwarf shall death follow this gold so long as it remain on Earth, and a like fate shall every part and portion share with the whole.” And Ъrin shuddered, but his folk laughed.

Now Ъrin caused his followers to bear this gold to the halls of Tinwelint, and they murmured at that, but he said: “Are ye become as the drakes of Melko, that would lie and wallow in gold and seek no other joy? A sweeter life shall ye have in the court of that king of greed, an ye bear such treasury to him, than all the gold of Valinor can get you in the empty woods.”

Now his heart was bitter against Tinwelint, and he desired to have a vengeance on him, as may be seen. So great was that hoard that great though Ъrin’s company might be scarce could they bear it to the caves of Tinwelint the king, and some ’tis said was left behind and some was lost upon the way, and evil has followed its finders for ever.

Yet in the end that laden host came to the bridge before the doors, and being asked by the guards Ъrin said: “Say to the king that Ъrin the Steadfast is come bearing gifts,” and this was done. Then Ъrin let bear all that magnificence before the king, but it was hidden in sacks or shut in boxes of rough wood; and Tinwelint greeted Ъrin with joy and with amaze and bid him thrice welcome, and he and all his court arose in honour of that lord of Men; but Ъrin’s heart was blind by reason of his tormented years and of the lies of Melko, and he said: “Nay, O King, I do not desire to hear such words—but say only, where is Mavwin my wife, and knowest thou what death did Nienуri my daughter die?” And Tinwelint said that he knew not.

Then did Ъrin fiercely tell that tale, and the king and all his folk about him hid their faces for great ruth, but Ъrin said: “Nay,³⁵ had you such a heart as have the least of Men, never would they have been lost; but lo, I bring you now a payment in full for the troubles of your puny band that went against Glorund the drake, and deserting gave up my dear ones to his power. Gaze, O Tinwelint, sweetly on my gifts, for methinks the lustre of gold is all your heart contains.”

Then did men cast down that treasury at the king’s feet, uncovering it so that all that court were dazzled and amazed—but Ъrin’s men understood now what was forward and were little pleased. “Behold the hoard of Glorund,” said Ъrin, “bought by the death of Nienуri with the blood of Tъrin slayer of the worm. Take it, O craven king, and be glad that some Men be brave to win thee riches.”

Then were Ъrin’s words more than Tinwelint could endure, and he said: “What meanest thou, child of Men, and wherefore upbraidest thou me?³⁶ Long did I foster thy son and forgave him the evil of his deeds, and afterward thy wife I succoured, giving way against my counsel to her wild desires. Melko it is that hates thee and not I. Yet what is it to me—and wherefore dost thou of the uncouth race of Men endure to upbraid a king of the Eldaliл? Lo! in Palisor my life began years uncounted before the first of Men awoke. Get thee gone, O Ъrin, for Melko hath bewitched thee, and take thy riches with thee”—but he forebore to slay or to bind Ъrin in spells, remembering his ancient valiance in the Eldar’s cause.

Then Ъrin departed, but would not touch the gold, and stricken in years he reached Hisilуmл and died among Men, but his words living after him bred estrangement between Elves and Men. Yet it is said that when he was dead his shade fared into the woods seeking Mavwin, and long those twain haunted the woods about the fall of Silver Bowl bewailing their children. But the Elves of Kфr have told, and they know, that at last Ъrin and Mavwin fared to Mandos, and Nienуri was not there nor Tъrin their son. Turambar indeed had followed Nienуri along the black pathways to the doors of Fui, but Fui would not open to them, neither would Vefбntur. Yet now the prayers of Ъrin and Mavwin came even to Manwл, and the Gods had mercy on their unhappy fate, so that those twain Tъrin and Nienуri entered into Fфs’Almir, the bath of flame, even as Urwendi and her maidens had done in ages past before the first rising of the Sun, and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is very fair; but Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwл in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil.’

And so saying Eltas made an end, and none asked further.

NOTES

1 The passage was rejected before the change of Tintoglin to Tinwelint; see p. 69.

2 Above the name Egnor is written ‘Damrod the Gnome’ see Commentary, pp. 139–40.

3 Here and immediately below the name as first written was Tinthellon; this rider must belong to the same time as the note on the MS directing that Tintoglin be changed to Ellon or Tinthellon (p. 69). See note 32.

4 Associated with this replacement is a note on the manuscript reading: ‘If Beren be a Gnome (as now in the story of Tinъviel) the references to Beren must be altered.’ In the rejected passage Egnor father of Beren ‘was akin to Mavwin’, i.e. Egnor was a Man. See notes 5 and 6, and the Commentary, p. 139.

5 ‘Tъrin son of Ъrin’: original reading ‘Beren Ermabwed’. See notes 4 and 6.

6 Original reading ‘and when also the king heard of the kinship between Mavwin and Beren’. See notes 4 and 5.

7 Linwл (Tinto) was the king’s original ‘Elvish’ name, and belongs to the same ‘layer’ of names as Tintoglin (see I.115, 131). Its retention here (not changed to Tinwл) is clearly a simple oversight. See notes 19 and 20.

8 Original reading ‘seeing that he was a Man of great size’.

9 With this passage cf. that in the Tale of Tinъviel p. 11, which is closely similar. That the passage in Turambar is the earlier (to be presumed in any case) is shown by the fact that that in Tinъviel is only relevant if Beren is a Gnome, not a Man (see note 4).

10 ‘dreams came to them’: original reading ‘dreams the Valar sent to them’.

11 ‘and his name was Glorund’ was added later, as were the subsequent occurrences of the name on pp. 86, 94, 98; but from the first on p. 103 onwards Glorund appears in the manuscript as first written.

12 ‘with the aid of Flinding whose wounds were not great’: original reading ‘with the aid of a lightly wounded man’. All the subsequent references to Flinding in this passage were added.

13 Original reading ‘Tъrin’s heart was bitter, and so it was that he and that other alone returned from that battle’.—In the phrase ‘reproaching Tъrin that he had ever withstood his wise counsels’ ‘ever’ means ‘always’: Tъrin had always resisted Orodreth’s counsels.

14 Original reading ‘although all folk at that time held such a deed grievous and cowardly’.

15 Original reading ‘and to look upon Nienуri again’. This was emended to ‘and to look upon Nienуri whom he had never seen’. The words ‘since his first days’ were added still later.

16 The following passage was struck out, apparently at the time of writing:

“Indeed,” said they, “it is the report of men of travel and rangers of the hills that for many and many moons have even the farthest marches been free of them and unwonted safe, and so have many men fared out of Hisilуmл to the Lands Beyond.” And this was the truth that during the life of Turambar as an exile from the court of Tintoglin or hidden amongst the Rothwarin Melko had troubled Hisilуmл little and the paths thereto.

(Rothwarin was the original form throughout, replaced later by Rodothlim.) See p. 92, where the situation described in the rejected passage is referred to the earlier time (before the destruction of the Rodothlim) when Mavwin and Nienуri left Hisilуmл.