Tianwen·Magweth Pengolodh

After losing her beautiful daughter, she became more and more dissatisfied.He was very sad for her, because—"

Ah Tang interrupted him excitedly: "You fell in love with her, and you two are forbidden love, because you and her father are competitors, so you are trying to elope together, right?"

Pengolod stifled a sigh. "That's not the case at all. No, Aristor was actually mourning, for she boarded a ship for Tor Eresia as soon as she came of age, and any elf could do that .his wife then bore another son, with the same result. They were heartbroken by it, and would no longer live by the sea, and went off with some of the Elven folk, to found a new kingdom—Eregion. There are many people who belonged to the same faction in the past; the rest simply want change, including those who want the jewels and gold that are at the core of their skills."

Ah Tang interjected again: "Why do they have to go there to find gems? I thought all elves have a lot of gems."

"I'm getting to that. They went to Eregion because—" Pengolod stopped, froze.Some instinct made him listen.He listened to the sounds around him that he had intentionally filtered out just now. There were three kinds of sounds mixed together: cautious moaning, the rustling of leaves, and the crackling of broken wood.He glanced overhead just in time to see a dangling branch fall, followed by another half-grown man on the flagstone floor.

"Oh! Oh!" The newly emerged boy got up and said directly to Ah Tang, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Son, what are you doing there? Tell me!" said Pengolod, uncharacteristically stern.Had it turned out that a child had been hired to spy on him after all?

The newcomer blurted out in panic: "I just want to hear the story!"

Ah Tang cursed in a low voice, and stood up: "The rest of you better come down too."

"The rest?" Pengolod asked.The answer was four other teenagers, ranging in age from ten to fifteen years old, who had descended from the thick foliage.Pengolod felt something hit his leg as two smaller children emerged from under the canvas-covered stool.Pengolod asked Tom: "You arranged for them to listen here?"

Ah Tang nodded, his face was as red as a plate of beets.He straightened up and assumed a noble posture ready to receive the punishment, but the result was eye-popping.Because Pengolod saw this group of children and teenagers in all shapes and sizes, he laughed out loud with relief, even bent over laughing, until they all laughed too, only Ah Tang didn't laugh.

"You might as well stay," said Pengolod, "but I remind you that I will not tell any other story."

No one left, so he continued: "Before we met, I said that I stayed in Linton after the big battle at Villa, otherwise I would have no story to tell you."

A boy raised his hand and asked, "Why don't you go to Tor Eresisia, but stay?"

"It's Eresia, with only one 'si'. As for why," Pengolod paused, "at first I stayed because of fatigue—we all survived the Great War of Wrath, and I lost my All that was known, only a few good companions left. Then King Gil-galad wanted to appoint me as the head of his scholars. This gave me freedom, and I could do as much as I wanted, and I rebuilt The old society, Rambeyingom, was a society of elf-scholars who were eloquent." The boys snickered.Pengolod categorically clarified: "It's not that they have many tongues, but they know a variety of languages. The mouth-languages ​​of our elves change over time, and there are many dialect variants. We put these all After recording it, we turned to study the languages ​​of mortals, first Eriador's western language, and then the languages ​​of those unknown peoples. We recorded and recorded the communication methods of many human nations, including the ice dwellers of Lossos , there are the horsemen in the east, and the Haradians in the south and the wandering tribes in the black barren land. Ent, the shepherd of the hundred trees, responded to our needs, explained their language to us, and helped us learn More languages ​​of birds and beasts."

Pengolod paused.The young audience was unimpressed.

He quickly got to the point: "After more than 1000 years, there is only one language that we elves know nothing about. It belongs to the fierce dwarves, and they are superb blacksmiths in pursuit of treasure. That's why I went to the greatest kingdom of dwarves. Khazad-dum, see its treasures and secrets."

traveler's wind

When the children heard this, they all became excited.Pengolod went on: "There are Dwarves in the Blue Mountains near Lindon, but they are common to us Elves. They eat our bread, drink our wine, buy our metal, but they have grown Habits of closeness and secrecy. We were not happy there, and several other scholars concluded that we would never learn their language.

"As I said before, I knew Erestor in the past, and he went and settled in Eregion, a land of plains and hills, near the gate of Khazad-dum. After we separated, it was better than writing in the same room. We got along well when we worked together in the library, and our correspondence developed into a friendship. He told me that they had dealings with the dwarves of Khazad-dum, and that if I went to their fabled Mithril Gate, I might Better luck. So I took a year's sabbatical from my position at the court. And the year before that, I did what any elf in Linton would do if he wanted to make money. thing—diving for pearls in Lyndon's Bay. When I've amassed a handful full of pearls, I think I'll be able to negotiate with the dwarves far from the sea."

The audience in Pengolod began to chime in again, some marveling at how much those pearls were worth, and digressing to the anecdote of the pearl divers of Númenor.Pengolod protested: "Well, well! Let us speak of the return to Middle-earth and the journey to Khazad-dum. In the spring I went to Eregion with a great party of traders. As it so happened, someone I knew long ago became A member of the jewelers' guild of Eregion, Gwyth-y-Mirdan. Thanks to him, I was soon in conversation with a dwarf from Khazad-dum."

The dwarf was named Na'vi, and he had some status among the tribe.I'll tell you what he looks like now, so you'll know what a dwarf looks like.They are more than half the height of a tall elf.Naveen had a ruddy face, for he often traveled by the sun in Eregion.He was so richly dressed that at first I took him for a prince of his kind.You asked him what treasure he brought?He was adorned with almost any gem you could name, his hood was made of thick brocade, and his beard, brown and red, fell over a chain mail woven like fish scales.He carried fine gilded weapons, finely wrought, any of them worthy of royal use.I learned that the wealth of Khazad-dum was so amazing that these were just the clothes of a well-to-do citizen.

I immediately offered a quid pro quo, offering the pearls for the chance to learn a little of their secret language.Navi laughed and pulled me aside for a private chat.When we were alone, he said to me like this: "Elf, your condition really tempts me. Pearls are the best treasures. But we Qazades will not change the customs that have been passed down for thousands of years just for pearls. We The secret language of Auri was given to us by Auri, and it is more precious than your jewels. What precious knowledge can you give in return? What language can you teach us that we don't know?"

I was taken aback, humbled, and the burning desire to learn this precious language burned me like wildfire.I told him about the various languages ​​of the elves, including their intricate dialects and various runic scripts, suggesting that these might help them trade.

Navey said, "We already know what you're proposing. What else?"

I mentioned all kinds of human languages ​​again, but no matter which people's language I mentioned, the dwarves had either learned it or didn't pay much attention to it.They regard their own language as an incomparable treasure, and believe that learning is of limited value.I realized that Na'vi wanted a language his people could use, and couldn't speak the rhyming Ent that he would teach them.

But the Ent incident reminded me of the last languages ​​I knew.I hesitated, but I remembered an intrepid teacher from my past who thought such languages ​​had saved his life—underground.So I proposed that I could teach them how to play with birds and wild.

Navi raised an eyebrow.He pursed his lips tightly and was silent for a moment, before finally asking, "What kind of bird?"

After 10 minutes, we reached an agreement.I was lucky, for the few creatures the dwarves respected included those birds that were easiest to communicate with—crows, lesser hawks, and thrushes.I gave most of my pearls and the skill of communicating with these birds, in exchange for this arrangement: I will live in Na'vi's deep cave, eat at his table, and learn the secret language of the Qazade.The next day, I got up at dawn and set off with Navi.The sun had only risen for two hours when we reached the Mithril Gate in the rock.Navi said happily: "Go, you go and open the door." I read