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I.

PROSE FRAGMENTS
FOLLOWING THE LOST TALES.

Before giving the 'Sketch of the Mythology', the earliest form
of the prose 'Silmarillion', there are some brief prose texts that
can be conveniently collected here.

(i).

Among loose papers there is an early piece, soon abandoned,
entitled Turlin and the Exiles of Gondolin. It will be seen that
it relates closely to the beginning of the tale of The Fall of
Gondolin (II. 149) but at the same time contains much that is
new. That it was the beginning of a later version of the tale is
clear at once from the name Mithrim, for this only replaced
Asgon by emendation in the final text of The Fall of Gondolin
(II. 202). This brief text reads as follows. At the first three oc-
currences of the name Turlin in the narrative (but not in the ti-
tle) it was emended to Turgon; at the fourth and fifth Turgon
was so written from the first. I give Turgon throughout.

'Then' said Ilfiniol son of Bronweg 'know that Ulmo
Lord of Waters forgot never the sorrows of the Elfin kin-
dreds beneath the power of Melko, but he might do little
because of the anger of the other Gods who shut their
hearts against the race of the Gnomes, and dwelt behind the
veiled hills of Valinor heedless of the Outer World, so deep
was their ruth and regret for the death of the Two Trees.
Nor did any save Ulmo only dread the power of Melko that
wrought ruin and sorrow over all the Earth; but Ulmo de-
sired that Valinor should gather all its might to quench his
evil ere it be too late, and him seemed that both purposes



might perchance be achieved if messengers from the
Gnomes should win to Valinor and plead for pardon and for
pity upon the Earth; for the love of Palurien and Orome her
son for those wide realms did but slumber still. Yet hard
and evil was the road from the Outer Earth to Valinor, and
the Gods themselves had meshed the ways with magic and
veiled the encircling hills. Thus did Ulmo seek unceasingly
to stir the Gnomes to send messengers unto Valinor, but
Melko was cunning and very deep in wisdom, and unsleep-
ing was his wariness in all things that touched the Elfin
kindreds, and their messengers overcame not the perils and
temptations of that longest and most evil of all roads, and
many that dared to set forth were lost for ever.