'["]There's glory for you!"
'"I don't know what you mean by 'glory'," Alive said.
'Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't - till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"
'"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice objected.
'"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
'"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean different things."
'"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
'Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. "They've a temper, some of them - particularly verbs, they're the proudest - adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs - however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"
'"Would you tell me, please," said Alice, "what that means?"
'"Now you talk like a reasonable child," said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. "I meant by 'impenetrability' that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't intend to stop here all the rest of your life."
'"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
'"When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
'"Oh!" said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark.
'"Ah, you should see 'em come round me of a Saturday night," Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to side: "for to get their wages, you know."
'(Alice didn't venture to ask him what he paid them with; and so you see I can't tell you.)'
Lewis Carroll, 'Through the Looking-Glass'
.~.~.~.~.
1473
"Finwë," Indis said, "we must talk about Fëanáro."
Finwë pretended not to hear her. He was sitting at the breakfast table, going through a small pile of letters and invitations, what part of the King's voluminous correspondence Calatindil's successor felt obliged to pass on to him. There was nothing from Fëanáro or any of his sons.
"Finwë," she said, very softly. She had taken for herself a window seat looking out upon the city, her long legs hugging the wall, her feet just shy of the floor. Indis held this position with incredible elegance.
"I think this is a good time to take stock of the situation, don't you?"
So calm and collected! She might have been addressing a council on some impersonal matter of state.
"What situation?"
She sucked in a breath of exasperated air, just loud enough for him to hear it. Of course he was supposed to hear it.
"There is something wrong between Fëanáro and Nolofinwë. That situation."
No answer.
"We all suffer from this - thing - this enmity."
"Aye."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your remark seemed to require an answer. Did you desire contradiction?"
"I might have expected action."
"Action?"
"Or remorse, indeed."
"Remorse?"
"Finwë, what is the matter with you? The least criticism of Fëanáro is enough to close down your reasoning faculties. You know your own part in this as well as I know mine."
"Part in what?"
"For Manwë's sake, Finwë, stop hunching yourself like a cornered beast! It is not too late to rectify your mistakes."
"Then stop combing your hair in that aggravating manner."
"Now about this rectification."
"How do you propose it be accomplished?"
"That is your business, Finwë. Only you have an influence over both of them."
This looked undeniable.
"Now I would begin with Fëanáro."
"Would you, indeed?"
"Fëanáro is the most loyal of sons. He would hear the truth from you."
"What is the truth?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me."
"The truth is that you were a full adult of sound mind when you answered the call of Oromë."
"I was young and certain and full of words."
"The truth is that the light of Aman shines upon us."
"But Cuiviénen was lovely beneath the stars."
"Finwë! You cannot surely mean to suggest that you support Fëanáro in this madness?"
"I support no-one. I can be sure of nothing."
"What is wrong with words, anyway?"
"You would not understand. You were born into the world that they have made."
"Well, perhaps you are right," Indis said. "Probably I have never understood what passes in that head of yours. But it seems to my feeble brain that you would do better to worry about Fëanáro."
