Act 2, Scene 1
Act 2, Scene I
A rocky glade, a little closer to the entrance to Angband. The trees of Doriath are still visible in the distance. Beren is with his companions, Finrod and Baragund, who are helping him to pack supplies for his journey. He muses to himself happily, while they work grimly.
Beren:
Yes, she is indeed beautiful! Sometimes I sit and wonder, in my artless Secondborn way, why it is that I have attracted one so much lovelier than anybody else in the whole world. Is this beyond my deserving? No! Nature is lovely and rejoices in loveliness. I am a child of Nature, and take after my mother.
Beren:
The tender leaf
That flutters brief
Upon the slender willow
May hope indeed
That in her need
She’ll use it for a pillow.
Though Maia-born
She doesn’t scorn
The leaves that sprout around her,
But weaving each
From elm and beach
She makes fair wreaths to crown her.
I spring up from the earth,
As leaf from tree –
She takes us at our worth
The leaf and me!
I spring up from the earth,
As leaf from tree –
She takes us at our worth
The leaf and me!
Beren:
Yes, everything seems to smile upon me. I am to depart today with the one that I love best and I believe I am the very happiest man in Arda!
Finrod:
The happiest man indeed, for he is indeed to be envied who has attained happiness in all but perfection.
Beren:
In "all but" perfection?
Finrod:
Well, dear, it can't be denied that the fact that your departing for a certain death in Angband is, in its way, a drawback. It does seem to take the top off it, you know.
Baragund:
I don't know about that. It all depends!
Finrod:
At all events, they will find it a drawback.
Baragund:
Not necessarily. Bless you, it all depends!
Beren:
(Sadly) You forget that I face certain death, wherever I may go, for such is the lot of Men. If my time with her is to be — to be —
Finrod: (makes a chopping motion)
Cut short.
Beren:
Well, cut short — in a lesser time, can't you let me forget it?
Enter Luthien, followed by Maglor.
Luthien:
Such long faces – when we are to be together at last!
Beren:
(frowning) They've been reminding me what dark country we have ahead of us.
Baragund:
Yes, we think you’re too lovely to go into Angband.
Finrod:
It's quite true, you know, and all over some very foolish oaths!
Luthien:
(aside) Humph! Now, some ladies would be depressed by this sort of thing! (aloud) Dark country? Was not all of Middle Earth dark in the time of the Trees? Bah! The love we feel shines bright enough to guide us. Who says we need sunlight to find our way?
Baragund:
There's a popular impression to that effect.
Luthien:
Then we'll efface it. We'll regard each smile as sunlight, each glance we share moonlight, and the hope of the prize we seek will glitter like the stars. At that rate we shall be better lit than in Doriath!
A rocky glade, a little closer to the entrance to Angband. The trees of Doriath are still visible in the distance. Beren is with his companions, Finrod and Baragund, who are helping him to pack supplies for his journey. He muses to himself happily, while they work grimly.
Beren:
Yes, she is indeed beautiful! Sometimes I sit and wonder, in my artless Secondborn way, why it is that I have attracted one so much lovelier than anybody else in the whole world. Is this beyond my deserving? No! Nature is lovely and rejoices in loveliness. I am a child of Nature, and take after my mother.
Beren:
The tender leaf
That flutters brief
Upon the slender willow
May hope indeed
That in her need
She’ll use it for a pillow.
Though Maia-born
She doesn’t scorn
The leaves that sprout around her,
But weaving each
From elm and beach
She makes fair wreaths to crown her.
I spring up from the earth,
As leaf from tree –
She takes us at our worth
The leaf and me!
I spring up from the earth,
As leaf from tree –
She takes us at our worth
The leaf and me!
Beren:
Yes, everything seems to smile upon me. I am to depart today with the one that I love best and I believe I am the very happiest man in Arda!
Finrod:
The happiest man indeed, for he is indeed to be envied who has attained happiness in all but perfection.
Beren:
In "all but" perfection?
Finrod:
Well, dear, it can't be denied that the fact that your departing for a certain death in Angband is, in its way, a drawback. It does seem to take the top off it, you know.
Baragund:
I don't know about that. It all depends!
Finrod:
At all events, they will find it a drawback.
Baragund:
Not necessarily. Bless you, it all depends!
Beren:
(Sadly) You forget that I face certain death, wherever I may go, for such is the lot of Men. If my time with her is to be — to be —
Finrod: (makes a chopping motion)
Cut short.
Beren:
Well, cut short — in a lesser time, can't you let me forget it?
Enter Luthien, followed by Maglor.
Luthien:
Such long faces – when we are to be together at last!
Beren:
(frowning) They've been reminding me what dark country we have ahead of us.
Baragund:
Yes, we think you’re too lovely to go into Angband.
Finrod:
It's quite true, you know, and all over some very foolish oaths!
Luthien:
(aside) Humph! Now, some ladies would be depressed by this sort of thing! (aloud) Dark country? Was not all of Middle Earth dark in the time of the Trees? Bah! The love we feel shines bright enough to guide us. Who says we need sunlight to find our way?
Baragund:
There's a popular impression to that effect.
Luthien:
Then we'll efface it. We'll regard each smile as sunlight, each glance we share moonlight, and the hope of the prize we seek will glitter like the stars. At that rate we shall be better lit than in Doriath!
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