'Hearken! Time long ago came the kindred of the Wolf to these
Mountains of the World; and they were in a pass in the stony maze and
the utter wilderness of the Mountains, and the foe was behind them in
numbers not to be borne up against. And so it befell that the pass
forked, and there were two ways before our Folk; and one part of them
would take the way to the north and the other the way to the south;
and they could not agree which way the whole Folk should take. So
they sundered into two companies, and one took one way and one
another. Now as to those who fared by the southern road, we knew not
what befell them, nor for long and long had we any tale of them.
'But we who took the northern road, we happened on this Vale amidst
the wilderness, and we were weary of fleeing from the over-mastering
foe; and the dale seemed enough, and a refuge, and a place to dwell
in, and no man was there before us, and few were like to find it, and
we were but a few. So we dwelt here in this Vale for as wild as it
is, the place where the sun shineth never in the winter, and scant is
the summer sunshine therein.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184