"J.R.R. Tolkien - The Unfinished Tales Of Middle-Earth And Nu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

Cirith Ninniach over shimmering falls. There long while Tuor sat, watching the swirling of the stream and
listening to its endless voice, until night came again and stars shone cold and white in the dark lane of sky
above him. Then he lifted up his voice, and plucked the strings of his harp, and above the noise of the water
the sound of his song and the sweet thrilling of the harp were echoed in the stone and multiplied, and went
forth and rang in the night-clad hills, until all the empty land was filled with music beneath the stars. For
though he knew it not, Tuor was now come to the Echoing Mountains of Lammoth about the Firth of
Drengist. There once long ago F├лanor had landed from the sea, and the voices of his host were swelled to a
mighty clamour upon the coasts of the North ere the rising of the Moon. 4
Then Tuor was filled with wonder and stayed his song, and slowly the music died in the hills, and
there was silence. And then amid the silence he heard in the air above him a strange cry; and he knew not of
what creature that cry came. Now he said: "It is a fay-voice," now: "Nay, it is a small beast that is wailing in
the waste"; and then, hearing it again, he said: "Surely, it is the cry of some nightfaring bird that I know not."
And it seemed to him a mournful sound, and yet he desired nonetheless to hear it and follow it, for it called
him, he knew not whither.
The next morning he heard the same voice above his head, and looking up he saw three great white
birds beating down the ravine against the westerly wind, and their strong wings shone in the new-risen sun,
and as they passed over him they wailed aloud. Thus for the first time he beheld the great gulls, beloved of
the Teleri. Then Tuor arose to follow them, and so that he might better mark whither they flew he climbed
the cliff upon his left hand, and stood upon the top, and felt a great wind out of the West rush against his
face; and his hair streamed from his head. And he drank deep of that new air, and said: "This uplifts the heart
like the drinking of cool wine!" But he knew not that the wind came fresh from the Great Sea.
Now Tuor went on once more, seeking the gulls, high above the river; and as he went the sides of the
ravine drew together again, and he came to a narrow channel, and it was filled with a great noise of water.
And looking down Tuor saw a great marvel, as it seemed to him; for a wild flood came up the narrows and
strove with the river that would still press on, and a wave like a wall rose up almost to the cliff-top, crowned
with foam-crests flying in the wind. Then the channel, drowning it in deep water, and the rolling of the
boulders was like thunder as it passed. Thus Tuor was saved by the call of the sea-birds from death in the
rising tide; and that was very great because of the season of the year and of the high wind from the sea.
But now Tuor was dismayed by the fury of the strange waters, and he turned aside and went away
southward, and so came not to the long shores of the Firth of Drengist, but wandered still for some days in a
rugged country bare of trees; and it was swept by a wind from the sea, and all that grew there, herb or bush,
leaned ever to the dawn because of the prevalence of that wind from the West. In this way Tuor passed into
the borders of Nevrast, where once Turgon had dwelt; and at last at unawares (for the cliff-tops at the margin
of the land were higher than the slopes behind) he came suddenly to the black brink of Middle-earth, and saw
the Great Sea, Belegaer the Shoreless. And at that hour the sun went down beyond the rim of the world, as a
mighty fire; and Tuor stood alone upon the cliff with outspread arms, and a great yearning filled his heart. It
is said that he was the first of Men to reach the Great Sea, and that none, save the Eldar, have ever felt more
deeply the longing that it brings.
 Tuor tarried many days in Nevrast, and it seemed good to him, for that land, being fenced by
mountains from the North and East and nigh to the sea, was milder and more kindly than the plains of
Hithlum. He was long used to dwell alone as a hunter in the wild, and he found no lack of food; for spring
was busy in Nevrast, and the air was filled with the noise of birds, both those that dwelt in multitudes upon
the shores and those that teemed in the marshes of Linaewen in the midst of the hollow land; but in those
days no voice of Elves or Men was heard in all the solitude.
To the borders of the great mere Tuor came, but its waters were beyond his reach, because of the wide
mires and the pathless forests of reeds that lay all about; and soon he turned away, and went back to the
coast, for the Sea drew him, and be was not willing to dwell long where he could not hear the sound of its
waves. And in the shorelands Tuor first found traces of the Noldor of old. For among the tall and sea-hewn
cliffs south of Drengist there were many coves and sheltered inlets, with beaches of white sand among the
black gleaming rocks, and leading down to such places Tuor found often winding stairs cut in the living