The Lay of Aotrou & Itroun by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Author:John Ronald Reuel Tolkien [Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tolkien
Published: 1930-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"I gave no love. My love is wed;

my wife now lieth in child-bed,

and I curse the beast that cheated me

and drew me to this dell to thee."

Her smiling ceased, and slow she said:

"Forget thy wife; for thou shall wed

anew with me, or stand as stone

and wither lifeless and alone,

as stone beside the fountain stand

forgotten in Broceliande."

"I will not stand here turned to stone;

but I will leave thee cold, alone,

and I will ride to mine own home

and the waters blest of Christendome."

"But three days then and thou shall die;

In three days on thy bier lie!"

"In three days I shall live at ease,

and die but when it God doth please

in eld, or in some time to come

in the brave wars of Christendom."

In Britain's land beyond the waves

are forests dim and secret caves;

in Britain's land the breezes bear

the sound of bells along the air

to mingle with the sound of seas

for ever moving in the trees.

The wandering way was long and wild;

and hastening home to wife and child

at last the hunter heard the knell

at morning of the sacring-bell;

escaped from thicket and from fen

at last he saw the tilth of men;

the hoar and houseless hills he passed,

and weary at his gates him cast.

"Good steward, if thou love me well,

bid make my bed! My heart doth swell;

my limbs are numb with heavy sleep,

and drowsy poisons in them creep.

All night, as in a fevered maze,

I have ridden dark and winding ways."

To bed they brought him and to sleep:

in sunless thickets tangled deep

he dreamed, and wandering found no more

the garden green, but on the shore

the seas, were moaning in the wind;

a face before him leered and grinned:

"Now it is earned, come bring to me

my fee," a voice said, "bring my feel"

Beside a fountain falling cold

the Corrigan now shrunk and old

was sitting singing; in her claw

a comb of bony teeth he saw,

with which she raked her tresses grey,

but in her other hand there lay

a phial of glass with water filled

that from the bitter fountain spilled.

At eve he waked and murmured: "Ringing

of bells within my ears, and singing,

a singing is beneath the moon.

Grieve not my wife! Grieve not Itroun!

My death is near—but do not tell,

though I am wounded with a spell!

But two days more, and then I die—

and I would have had her sweetly lie

and sweet arise; and live yet long,

and see our children hale and strong."

His words they little understood,

but cursed the fevers of the wood,

and to their lady no word spoke.

Ere second morn was old she woke,

and to her women standing near

gave greeting with a merry cheer:

"Good people, lo! the morn is bright!

Say, did my lord return ere night,

and tarries now with hunting worn?"

"Nay, lady, he came not with the morn;

but ere men candles set on board,

thou wilt have tidings of thy lord;

or hear his feet to thee returning,

ere candles in the eve are burning."

Ere the third morn was wide she woke,

and eager greeted them, and spoke:

"Behold the morn is cold and grey,

and why is my lord so long away?

I do not hear his feet returning

neither at evening nor at morning"

"We do not know, we cannot say"

they answered and they turned away.

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