And so Beren, by chance or by fate, found his way through the maze.
Passing the Girdle of Melian, he entered the hidden world of Doriath. For
a time here he wandered, in awe at the beauty of the Elven forest. Then in
a moment everything changed as his feet slowed to a halt at the edge of a
grassy knoll. There in the clearing, beneath the evening moon, he saw the
most lovely of the living things that dwelt in this world.
The tree-leaves shivered and danced at the passing of this Elven maiden, and the flowers in the grass reached up to caress her feet as she walked by. The silver moonlight filtering through the trees onto her hair and the oak leaves by her shapely shoulders and the flowers girded about her waist worked together with her beautiful face and the graceful lines of her lovely body to create an image of sublime magnificence. For a moment he was overcome with her beauty and could not breathe.
And so Beren beheld for the first time the slender form of the mystery that was the loveliest of the Elven-stars, that was Luthien the princess of Doriath, daughter of fair Melian and King Thingol of the Sylvan Elves. So mortal eyes saw the loveliness that danced in the Elven forest and was glad in the evening. A cool wind blew across her face, making her hair to dance in its breeze. He looked at her, and her bright eyes within the pitch black of her hair as it merged with the night seemed to him to reflect the glory of the bright stars overhead.
Stricken by beauty and laid low by that which was higher and stronger than any warrior and any warrior's battle-rage and prowess, the fate of Beren, valiant among men, was sealed. And his mortal lips cried out into the silver eternity of the Elves as he named her ... Tinuviel! Tinuviel!
She turned and looked at him. The fairy starlight sparkled on her eyes. He beheld transcendent beauty in those eyes for just a flicker of a moment, and depths of mystery unsearchable, unattainable by mortal man-and then she turned once more vanished into the fairy trees.
The tree-leaves shivered and danced at the passing of this Elven maiden, and the flowers in the grass reached up to caress her feet as she walked by. The silver moonlight filtering through the trees onto her hair and the oak leaves by her shapely shoulders and the flowers girded about her waist worked together with her beautiful face and the graceful lines of her lovely body to create an image of sublime magnificence. For a moment he was overcome with her beauty and could not breathe.
And so Beren beheld for the first time the slender form of the mystery that was the loveliest of the Elven-stars, that was Luthien the princess of Doriath, daughter of fair Melian and King Thingol of the Sylvan Elves. So mortal eyes saw the loveliness that danced in the Elven forest and was glad in the evening. A cool wind blew across her face, making her hair to dance in its breeze. He looked at her, and her bright eyes within the pitch black of her hair as it merged with the night seemed to him to reflect the glory of the bright stars overhead.
Stricken by beauty and laid low by that which was higher and stronger than any warrior and any warrior's battle-rage and prowess, the fate of Beren, valiant among men, was sealed. And his mortal lips cried out into the silver eternity of the Elves as he named her ... Tinuviel! Tinuviel!
She turned and looked at him. The fairy starlight sparkled on her eyes. He beheld transcendent beauty in those eyes for just a flicker of a moment, and depths of mystery unsearchable, unattainable by mortal man-and then she turned once more vanished into the fairy trees.