by Elemmíre
In forests deep, where fairies sleep,
along Belfalas shore,
Slipped through the seas of tow'ring trees
the hunter Imrazôr.
As pale Isil, her silver spill,
was melting into dawn,
Her argent light outlined in flight
a white be-feathered swan.
Caught by its spell into a dell
he traced its lonely path,
And in a mere to him appeared
a maiden at her bath.
Her skin was fair, dark was her hair,
her features smooth and fine,
And where she tred in wat'ry bed
a radiant light did shine.
Upon a stone the maid had thrown
her cloak of feathers white,
And stole he there away to bear
the secret of her flight.
When she arose from her repose
and stepped onto the shore,
To her dismay nowhere did lay
the cloak that she had wore.
But as she wept he forward crept
into the sunlit glade,
His cloak of wool around her pulled
and claimed the Elvish maid.
"O maiden fair I do declare
that you my wife shall be,
Without your cape you'll not escape
my castle by the Sea."
And so they wed and to his bed
Mithrellas then was bourne,
And in his keep by sea-cliffs steep
were son and daughter born.
One day they played, where sea-foam sprayed,
a game of hide-and-seek;
Past sand and wave into a cave
did little Gilmith sneak.
And in the back she found a pack
upon a rocky shelf,
And there inside the pouch of hide
there lay the cloak of Elf.
Such feathers white! With great excite
she to her mother ran,
And to her gave the cloak she craved
to give escape from man.
In feathered cape she took swan-shape
and to the West did soar,
Escaped the court of her consort
the man of Númenor.
.
.
.
.
.
Author's Notes
The tale of Imrazôr and Mithrellas is fairly scant in detail. What we know comes from The Peoples of Middle-earth, pp. 220-224:
"In the tradition of his house Angelimir was the twentieth in unbroken descent from Galador first Lord of Dol Amroth (c. T.A. 2004-2129). According to the same traditions Galador was the son of Imrazôr the Númenórean who dwelt in Belfalas, and the Elven-lady Mithrellas. She was one of the companions of Nimrodel, among many of the Elves of Lórien that fled to the coast about T.A. 1980, when evil arose in Moria; and Nimrodel and her maidens strayed in the wooded hills, and were lost. But in this tale it is said that Imrazôr harboured Mithrellas, and took her to wife. But when she had borne him a son, Galador, and a daughter, Gilmith, she slipped away by night, and he saw her no more. But though Mithrellas was of the lesser silvan race (and not of the High Elves or the Grey) it was ever held that the house and kin of the Lords of Dol Amroth were noble by blood, as they were fair in face and mind."
"Took her to wife." "Slipped away by night." Remind anyone else of Eöl and Aredhel?
The folktale of the swan maiden is widespread in Eurasia, which suggests that it has a very early origin. Who's to say this isn't it? ;) For the texts of a number of these stories, see D.L. Ashliman's collection at
The reputed author of this piece, Ivriniel, is the elder sister of Finduilas and Imrahil, mentioned only in The Peoples of Middle-earth.
----
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction, and the characters, settings, places and languages, save those that are original to me, belong to the Tolkien Estate. I am merely playing in their most august sandbox.