Chapter 33: The vow of chastity
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In those hot hours, young elven women in their light festival dresses had entered the main fountain and were enjoying getting wet, making their white tunics transparent.
Belin, who was once again aroused, mourned within himself.
"My Lord Ecthelion is right," he thought. "I can't think of anythin' else. But I can't help it, by God! I control it not. All these beautiful fairy girls who think nothin' of it! Am I a beast?"
Sitting at the dining table to his left, Ecthelion looked on impassively.
"If only I could be as noble and serious as my lord! Thinkin' only of battles and not of gettin' married or doin' the deed!"
"I don't understand," said Ecthelion suddenly. "They could go and bathe elsewhere than in my fountain... There are thermae for that."
Surprised, Belin dropped his loaf of bread. He bent down to pick it up, for it had rolled under the table. But when he held it in his hand and looked up, he was amazed at what he saw : the fabric of his Lord's trousers, just below the waistband, had a deformity, the reason for which he knew well, having been subject to it so often himself. The human returned to his chair, mocking.
"Why are you making that face?" asked Ecthelion.
"Because of nothin', Milord."
"I'm sure you're thinking of something salacious again."
Belin shrugged; he felt less alone in the universe.
But the elven girls realised that they were being watched, and by a lord of distinction. They waved their hands to indicate to the two young men to join them. Belin did not hesitate. But Ecthelion refused to come. It took several girls to drag him to the fountain and plunge him in.
The miller's son congratulated himself for having the top of his ears hidden, and wearing his beautiful festive clothes, for he could thus pass for a small Sindarin elf. "I'm in heaven," he thought, squeezed between four wet elf girls in his beautiful party clothes. But Ecthelion seemed to be more successful than he was.
"He's so fair..." murmured several female voices.
"I am not fair!" protested Ecthelion.
"Oh no you are, Milord," said Belin. "So much so that it makes your stomach hurt when one looks at you."
The elf-girls suddenly looked at the human with a look of disgust.
Soon, the two boys were completely soaked by their care, and Ecthelion's problem, which had not improved, came to the fore. Some of the girls, the ones who knew what it was all about, laughed. One of them whispered in her friend's ear: "We should call him Erection of the Fountain...". Others, more innocent, asked him what he kept in his trousers.
The King, who was on the balcony with two of his lords, watching the festivities, returned to the main fountain through a telescope.
"This is turning into an orgy!" he exclaimed, seeing two of his soldiers in the fountain, one with a satyr-like protuberance, surrounded by young girls whose wet dresses left nothing to the imagination.
"Is it me, or have morals slackened considerably since we've been in Beleriand?" asked Enerdhil, richly dressed in black, the colours of his House.
Egalmoth raised his hands to the sky in an exaggerated manner.
"But where are the Virtuous Virgins of Tirion?" he said.
"Wait a minute, it's Ecthelion!" exclaimed the King, passing his telescope to the others.
"Didn't that jerk take a vow of chastity?" asked Egalmoth.
"That's nice..." sighed Enerdhil.
He passed the telescope to the merchant.
"Well, we can see the harmful effects," said Egalmoth, observing. "When it comes out, it comes out ! You could skewer a balrog with this!"
o
"I am humiliated," Ecthelion moaned when he returned home in his festival livery, which had already dried out.
"Why, my lord?" asked Belin. "It happens to everyone and it's natural."
"But I have taken a vow of chastity. I'm glad there are no other witnesses than these girls. What a disgrace."
"You're not going to kill yourself, are you, milord?"
"No ! Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, you are so serious sometimes."
"But if one day I must perform ritual suicide, I will ask you to shorten my suffering by cutting off my head."
"Oh no, don't ask me to do that, Milord, it would make me too unhappy !"
"You're right."
He sat down on the bench next to his squire.
Five minutes later, Belin's voice rose again:
"Milord... It's not gone!"
"I know."
"You must take care of it."
"And you have to mind your own business."
"I'm already taking care of it, milord..."
"I wasn't talking about that!"
"I can helps you if you want."
Ecthelion's head swiveled slowly to the left.
"What did you say?"
Belin corrected his conjugation :
"I can help you take care of it."
"You're joking, right?" said Ecthelion in his beautiful, clear, noble voice.
"No, not at all, where I come from, with my cousins, we used to take care of ourselves tog'ther sometimes."
The elf lord looked both surprised and disgusted.
"But that's disgusting!"
The human lowered his head.
"Why, my lord?"
"With your own cousins! That is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard!"
The young elf got up and locked himself in his room.
Belin, who had stayed in the living room, looked sad.
"There's only harm for those who see it," he muttered.
o
Half an hour later, the squire knocked on the bedroom door.
"Milord! It's me! You are not busy?"
"NO."
Belin opened the door. He held a tray in his hand. Ecthelion was lying on his bed.
"I heard you cryin', milord, so I brought you some food."
He placed his tray on the desk. There was a cup of milk and a slice of brioche.
"You heard wrong. I wasn't crying."
"You still don't want me to..."
"NO."
The next day, the King took Ecthelion aside after the meeting of the eleven heads of houses. He laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell me, Ecthelion, you who are young and vigorous..."
The Knight of the Fountain raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think of my daughter, Idril? She's a little older than you, of course, but I'm sure you'd make a fine couple."
Turgon's eyes glowed with an evil fire and if one could have read them, one would have seen the words "GRANDCHILDREN" and "HEIR" burning in them.
"I have taken a vow of chastity, Majesty, I remind you," the young elf said indignantly.
"Come, come... We say that when we are far from women... But once in a situation, you know how it is... good resolutions go out the window !"
Suddenly Ecthelion wondered if Turgon hadn't seen him the day before, when he was in the fountain with the young elven women. He straightened up.
"With all due respect, Majesty, I am not interested in the princess."
Turgon sighed.
"It's her feet again, isn't it?"
"Her feet?"
"Yes, her big feet."
"She has big feet?" Ecthelion wondered.
"You never noticed that before? When she's always barefoot?!"
"She is always barefoot?"
Turgon opened his eyes wide.
"Ecthelion, you see which one is my daughter, reassure me?"
"Yes, I know exactly who she is. It's the little blonde girl with braids on her head."
"No, Idril is the tall blonde with the wavy hair. The one you're talking about is Galdor's daughter!"
"Oh yes, I see who she is now..."
"So? Gorgeous, right?"
"Uh... No, I'm not interested in her either."