And Narl's words emboldened them all, though they felt the ominous
menace of the horns that they could not hear; but the talk of a plan
emboldened them, for they deemed they could plan against magic. And one
by one they rose to speak of a plan.
But at sunset the talk died down. And their dread that something
impended grew now to a certain knowledge. Oth and Threl knew it first,
who had lived familiar with mystery in the woods. All knew that
something was coming. No one knew what. And they all sat silent
wondering in the gloaming.
Lurulu saw it first. He had dreamed all day of the weed-green tarns of
Elfland, and growing weary of Earth, had gone all lonely to the top of a
tower that rose from the Castle of Erl and perched himself on a
battlement and gazed wistfully homewards. And looking out over the
fields we know, he saw the shining line coming down on Erl. And from it
he heard rise faint, as it rippled over the furrows, a murmur of many
old songs; for it came with all manner of memories, old music and lost
voices, sweeping back again to our old fields what time had driven from
Earth. It was coming towards him bright as the Evening Star, and
flashing with sudden colours, some common on Earth, and some unknown to
our rainbow; so that Lurulu knew it at once for the frontier of Elfland.
And all his impudence returned to him at sight of his fabulous home, and
he uttered shrill gusts of laughter from his high perch, that rang over
the roofs below like the chatter of building birds. And the little
homesick trolls in the lofts were cheered by the sound of his merriment
though they knew not from what it came. And now Orion heard the horns
blowing so loud and near, and there was such triumph in their blowing,
and pomp, and withal so wistful a crooning, that he knew now why they
blew, knew that they proclaimed the approach of a princess of the elfin
line, knew that his mother came back to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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