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Of the Flight of the Noldor After a ti of Dooht But the stars of Varda now glimmered overhead, and the air was clear; for the winds of Manwe has driven away the vapours of death and rolled back the shadows of the sea Then Yavanna arose and stood upon Ezellohar, the Green Mound, but it was bare now and black; and she laid her hands upon the Trees, but they were dead and dark, and each branch that she touched broke and fell lifeless at her feet Then many voices were lifted in lamentation; and it sees the cup of woe that Melkor had filled for the: "The Light of the Trees has passed away, and lives now only in the Silhted was he! Even for those who are htiest under Iluvatar there is soht of the Trees I brought into being, and within Ea I can do so never again Yet had I but a little of that light I could recall life to the Trees, ere their roots decay; and then our hurt should be healed, and the malice of Melkor be confounded&039;

Then Manwe spoke and said: &039;Hearest thou, Feanor son of Finwe, the words of Yavanna? Wilt thou grant what she would ask?&039;

There was long silence, but Feanor answered no word Then Tulkas cried: &039;Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Sil?&039;

But Aule the Maker said: &039;Be not hasty! We ask a greater thing than thou knowest Let him have peace yet awhile&039;

But Feanor spoke then, and cried bitterly: &039;For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest It ain shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman&039;

&039;Not the first,&039; said Mandos, but they did not understand his word; and again there was silence, while Feanor brooded in the dark It see of ene that the Silmarils were not safe, if the Valar would possess theht, &039;and does he not understand their hearts? Yea, a thief shall reveal thieves!&039; Then he cried aloud: &039;This thing I will not do of free will But if the Valar will constrain me, then shall I know indeed that Melkor is of their kindred&039;

Then Mandos said: &039;Thou hast spoken&039; And Nienna arose and went up onto Ezellohar, and cast back her grey hood, and with her tears washed away the defile for the bitterness of the world and the Marring of Arda

But even as Nienna ers fros of evil For they told how a blind Darkness came northward, and in the midst walked some power for which there was no name, and the Darkness issued from it But Melkor also was there, and he ca of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwe alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark And they told that Melkor had broken the stronghold of Formenos, and taken all the Jewels of the Noldor that were hoarded in that place; and the Sil up his hand before Manwe he cursed Melkor, naoth, the Black Foe of the World; and by that name only was he known to the Eldar ever after And he cursed also the summons of Manwe and the hour in which he carief that had he been at Forth would have availed more than to be slain also, as Melkor had purposed Then Feanor ran froht; for his father was dearer to hiht of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who areater worth?

Many there grieved for the anguish of Feanor, but his loss was not his alone; and Yavanna wept by the mound, in fear that the Darkness should s the last rays of the Light of Valinor for ever For though the Valar did not yet understand fully what had befallen, they perceived that Melkor had called upon some aid that came from beyond Arda

The Silmarils had passed away, and all one it may seem whether Feanor had said yea or nay to Yavanna; yet had he said yea at the first, before the tidings came from Formenos, it may be that his after deeds would have been other than they were But now the doo from the pursuit of the Valar came to the wastes of Araman This land lay northward between the Mountains of the Pelori and the Great Sea, as Avathar lay to the south; but Araman was a wider land, and between the shores and the mountains were barren plains, ever colder as the Ice drew nearer Through this region Morgoth and Ungoliant passed in haste, and so careat mists of Oiomure to the Helcaraxe, where the strait between Ara ice; and he crossed over, and caether they went on, for Morgoth could not elude Ungoliant, and her cloud was still about him, and all her eyes were upon him; and they caist Now Morgoth was drawing near to the ruins of Angband, where his great western stronghold had been; and Ungoliant perceived his hope, and knew that here he would seek to escape fro that he fulfil his promise

&039;Blackheart!&039; she said &039;I have done thy bidding But I hunger still&039;

&039;What wouldst thou have oth &039;Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that I aoliant &039;But thou hast a great treasure from Forive it&039;

Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gely; and she devoured theer and darker yet grew Ungoliant, but her lust was unsated &039;With one hand thou givest,&039; she said; &039;with the left only Open thy right hand&039;

In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silh they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to bum him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it &039;Nay!&039; he said &039;Thou hast had thy doe

For with my power that I put into thee thy as accos thou shalt not have, nor see I narown great, and he less by the power that had gone out of hiainst him, and her cloud closed about hile hioth sent forth a terrible cry, that echoed in the ion was called Lammoth; for the echoes of his voice dwelt there ever after, so that any who cried aloud in that land awoke them, and all the waste between the hills and the sea was filled with a claoth in that hour was the greatest and most dreadful that was ever heard in the northern world; the mountains shook, and the earth treotten places that cry was heard Far beneath the rained halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and noiftly they arose, and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire With their whips of flaoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her; and fleeing from the north she went down into Beleriand, and dwelt beneath Ered Gorgoroth, in that dark valley that was after called Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of Dreadful Death, because of the horror that she bred there For other foul creatures of spider forband, and she oliant herself departed, and hither she would into the forgotten south of the world, her offspring abode there and wove their hideous webs Of the fate of Ungoliant no tale tells Yet soo, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last

And thus the fear of Yavanna that the Silness did not cooth And he being freed gathered again all his servants that he could find, and caband There he delved anew his vast vaults and dungeons, and above their gates he reared the threefold peaks of Thangorodrireat reek of dark smoke was ever wreathed about them There countless became the hosts of his beasts and his derew and multiplied in the bowels of the earth Dark now fell the shadow on Beleriand, as is told hereafter, but in Angband Morgoth forged for hi of the World In token of this he set the Silmarils in his crown His hands were burned black by the touch of those hallowed jewels, and black they remained ever after; nor was he ever free froer of the pain That crown he never took froht became a deadly weariness Never but once only did he depart for a while secretly from his domain in the North; seldooverned his armies from his northern throne

And once only also did he himself wield weapon, while his realm lasted

For now, more than in the days of Utumno ere his pride was humbled, his hatred devoured hi of them with lust of evil he spent his spirit Nonetheless his h turned to terror, and before his face all save the htiest sank into a dark pit of fear

Nohen it was known that Morgoth had escaped fro seated in darkness in the Ring of Doom, and the Maiar and the Vanyar stood beside them and wept; but the Noldor for theof their fair city Through the dis drifted in from the shadowy seas and mantled its towers, and the laloom

Then suddenly Feanor appeared in the city and called on all to co upon the summit of Tuna; but the doom of banishment that had been laid upon hireat athered swiftly, therefore, to hear what he would say; and the hill and an the stairs and streets that cliht of many torches that each one bore in hand Feanor was a reat power over hearts when he would use it; and that night he made a speech before the Noldor which they ever reer and pride; and hearing them the Noldor were stirred to oth, and yet well nigh all that he said caht with grief for the slaying of his father, and with anguish for the rape of the Silship of all the Noldor, since Finas dead, and he scorned the decrees of the Valar