The only other statement concerning these events is found in the first of the four outlines that constitute Gilfanon’s Tale, which I there called ‘A’ (I.234). This reads:

(3) March of the Elves out into the world.

The capture of Noldorin.

The camp in the Land of Willows.

Army of Tulkas at the Pools of Twilight……and [?many] Gnomes, but Men fall on them out of Hisilуmл.

Defeat of Melko.

Breaking of Angamandi and release of captives.

Hostility of Men. The Gnomes collect some of the jewels.

Elwing and most of the Elves go back to dwell in Tol Eressлa. The Gods will not let them dwell in Valinor.

This seems to differ from (1) in the capture of Noldorin and in the attack of Men from Hisilуmл before the defeat of Melko; but the most notable statement is that concerning the refusal of the Gods to allow the Elves to dwell in Valinor. There is no reason to think that this ban rested only, or chiefly, on the Noldoli. The text, (3), does not refer specifically to the Gnomes in this connection; and the ban is surely to be related to ‘the sorrow and wrath of the Gods’ at the time of the March of the Elves (p. 253). Further, it is said in The Cottage of Lost Play (I.16) that Ingil son of Inwл returned to Tol Eressлa with ‘most of the fairest and the wisest, most of the merriest and the kindest, of all the Eldar’, and that the town that he built there was named ‘Koromas or “the Resting of the Exiles of Kфr”.’ This is quite clearly to be connected with the statement in that ‘Most of the Elves go back to dwell in Tol Eressлa’, and with that given on p. 255: ‘The wars with Men and the departure to Tol Eressлa (the Eldar unable to endure the strife of the world.’. These indications taken together leave no doubt, I think, that my father’s original conception was of the Eldar of Valinor undertaking the expedition into the Great Lands against the will of the Valar; together with the rescued Noldoli they returned over the Ocean, but being refused re-entry into Valinor they settled in Tol Eressлa, as ‘the Exiles of Kфr’. That some did return in the end to Valinor may be concluded from the words of Meril-i-Turinqi (I.129) that Ingil, who built Kortirion, ‘went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwл’. But Tol Eressлa remained the land of the fairies in the early conception, the Exiles of Kфr, Eldar and Gnomes, speaking both Eldarissa and Noldorissa.

It seems that there is nothing else to be found or said concerning the original story of the coming of aid out of the West and the renewed assault on Melko.

The conclusion of the whole story as originally envisaged was to be rejected in its entirety. For it we are very largely dependent on the outline in notebook C, continuing on from citation (1) above; this is extremely rough and disjointed, and is given here in a very slightly edited form.

(4)     After the departure of Eдrendel and the coming of the Elves to Tol Eressлa (and most of this belongs to the history of Men) great ages elapse; Men spread and thrive, and the Elves of the Great Lands fade. As Men’s stature grows theirs diminishes. Men and Elves were formerly of a size, though Men always larger.¹

Melko again breaks away, by the aid of Tevildo (who in long ages gnaws his bonds); the Gods are in dissension about Men and Elves, some favouring the one and some the other. Melko goes to Tol Eressлa and tries to stir up dissension among the Elves (between Gnomes and Solosimpi), who are in consternation and send to Valinor. No help comes, but Tulkas sends privily Telimektar (Taimonto) his son.²

Telimektar of the silver sword and Ingil surprise Melko and wound him, and he flees and climbs up the great Pine of Tavrobel. Before the Inwir left Valinor Belaurin (Palъrien)³ gave them a seed, and said that it must be guarded, for great tidings would one day come of its growth. But it was forgotten, and cast in the garden of Gilfanon, and a mighty pine arose that reached to Ilwл and the stars.⁴

Telimektar and Ingil pursue him, and they remain now in the sky to ward it, and Melko stalks high above the air seeking ever to do a hurt to the Sun and Moon and stars (eclipses, meteors). He is continually frustrated, but on his first attempt—saying that the Gods stole his fire for its making—he upset the Sun, so that Urwendi fell into the Sea, and the Ship fell near the ground, scorching regions of the Earth. The clarity of the Sun’s radiance has not been so great since, and something of magic has gone from it. Hence it is, and long has been, that the fairies dance and sing more sweetly and can the better be seen by the light of the Moon—because of the death of Urwendi.

The ‘Rekindling of the Magic Sun’ refers in part to the Trees and in part to Urwendi.

Fionwл’s rage and grief. In the end he will slay Melko.

‘Orion’ is only the image of Telimektar in the sky? [sic] Varda gave him stars, and he bears them aloft that the Gods may know he watches; he has diamonds on his sword-sheath, and this will go red when he draws his sword at the Great End.

But now Telimektar, and Gil⁵ who follows him like a Blue Bee, ward off evil, and Varda immediately replaces any stars that Melko loosens and casts down.

Although grieved at the Gods’ behest, the Pine is cut down; and Melko is thus now out of the world—but one day he will find a way back, and the last great uproars will begin before the Great End.

The evils that still happen come about in this wise. The Gods can cause things to enter the hearts of Men, but not of Elves (hence their difficult dealings in the old days of the Exile of the Gnomes)—and though Melko sits without, gnawing his fingers and gazing in anger on the world, he can suggest evil to Men so inclined—but the lies he planted of old still grow and spread.

Hence Melko can now work hurt and damage and evil in the world only through Men, and he has more power and subtlety with Men than Manwл or any of the Gods, because of his long sojourn in the world and among Men.

In these early chartings we are in a primitive mythology, with Melko reduced to a grotesque figure chased up a great pine-tree, which is thereupon cut down to keep him out of the world, where he ‘stalks high above the air’ or ‘sits without, gnawing his fingers’, and upsets the Sun-ship so that Urwendi falls into the Sea—and, most strangely, meets her death.

That Ingil (Gil) who with Telimektar pursues Melko is to be identified with Ingil son of Inwл who built Kortirion is certain and appears from several notes; see the Appendix on Names to Vol. I, entries Ingil, Telimektar. This is the fullest statement of the Orion-myth, which is referred to in the Tale of the Sun and Moon (see I.182, 200):

of Nielluin [Sirius] too, who is the Bee of Azure, Nielluin whom still may all men see in autumn or winter burning nigh the foot of Telimektar son of Tulkas whose tale is yet to tell.

In the Gnomish dictionary it is said (I.256) that Gil rose into the heavens and ‘in the likeness of a great bee bearing honey of flame’ followed Telimektar. This presumably represents a distinct conception from that referred to above, where Ingil ‘went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwл’ (I. 129).

With the reference to Fionwл’s slaying of Melko ‘in the end’ cf. the end of The Hiding of Valinor (I.219):

Fionwл Ъrion, son of Manwл, of love for Urwendi shall in the end be Melko’s bane, and shall destroy the world to destroy his foe, and so shall all things then be rolled away.

Cf. also the Tale of Turambar, p. 116, where it is said that Turambar ‘shall stand beside Fionwл in the Great Wrack’.

For the prophecies and hopes of the Elves concerning the Rekindling of the Magic Sun see pp. 285–6.