Tall ships and tall kings
Three times three,
What brought they from the foundered land
Over the flowing sea?
Seven stars and seven stones
And one white tree.
                                                                                                - Rhyme of Lore¹

   Alas! I thought to discover more of this Stone of Elendil whereof I overheard, for never have I heard tell of such an artefact of power, but what I learned at first troubled my heart and filled my mind with doubt. For I have just now spoken with Gildor Inglorion², who leads a Wandering Company of High Elves out of Imladris, whence he brings tidings and messages from his lord to Círdan, Master of the Havens, ere his company turns their feet homewards.
   Now he has but lately pilgrimaged to Emyn Beraid and, I was told, is wise in the lore of the Seeing Stone that dwells within Elostirion, therefore it came into my mind to ask his counsel, and so I opened my heart to him.

   And although he said that he does not give advice heedlessly,² Gildor has a kindly heart and thus he forbore my tale and my questioning (yet it may well be the flagon of fine wine we shared that eased his mood!) But at first he was loath to aid me, for he marked that I was less in height than is common for my kin and thus to his eyes I seemed not full-grown³ (though the High Elves are tallest of all the Firstborn, and so everybody must seem as children to their minds!), and he therefore deemed me too young to wander alone in the wilds of the world! Great was his astonishment and greater still his mirth when I told him that this was to be my one and fiftieth autumn under the Sun, and it was but one season since I formally came of age, though I had some growing still to do; yet he wondered that he had not perceived this.

   Nevertheless, thereafter Gildor gladly shared much lore of the Seeing Stone: firstly, that it was not alone but one of seven, though the others are now lost, and they were brought secretly out of Westernesse by Elendil ere the Drowning of Númenor at the close of the Second Age. But they were not wrought by the hands of Men, but by the High Elves of Elvenhome across the sea, and gifted to them.
   And while they are named gwahaedir⁴ in common Elvish, they are called palantíri in the High Elven tongue, which means "far-seer"; for they were made in ages past to see far off and to converse in thought with one another, but the Stone at Elostirion is unlike the others and not in accord with them,⁵ for it looks only to the Master-stone, their chief, in the Tower of Avallonë over the Sea.
   But to use it great strength of will is needed, for the effort of mind is wearying and oft even enfeebling;⁵ and at these words a shadow of doubt came into my mind, for how could my unfledged will be equal to that of an ages-old High Elf? Nor, I deem, would my little skill in thought-sending avail me, and my heart forebodes that to try would be folly. And though he did not speak aloud his thought, in the eyes of Gildor I could read sadness and pity, and I knew this to be truth.

   But my heart will not yet despair, for I deem my youthfulness to be a boon: in the wearing of of the swift years of Middle-earth the strength of my will shall grow ever stronger, and perhaps by my journey's end I will have strength enough to command the Stone of Elendil. And Gildor smiled at my secret thought, but said naught of it; instead he told me more of Emyn Beraid as if to hearten me.

   Two days afoot from Mithlond would bring me hence, he said, and from afar the three White Towers can be seen shining in the moonlight; and Elostirion standing upon its green mound is the tallest, furthest and chief of them. Of the workings of the Stone he would not speak, but he told me of his vision therein of Elbereth Gilthoniel, whom he saw standing in shining white splendour upon the mountain of Uilos. And thus he named her Fanuilos⁶ and sang:

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
O Queen beyond the Western Seas!
O Light to us that wander here
Amid the world of woven trees!

Gilthoniel! O Elbereth!
Clear are thy eyes and bright thy breath! Snow-white!
Snow-white! We sing to thee
In a far land beyond the Sea.

O stars that in the Sunless Year
With shining hand by her were sown,
In windy fields now bright and clear
We see your silver blossom blown!

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on the Western Seas.²

   It was past midnight and the waning moon in his field of stars was passing overhead⁷ when Gildor bade me farewell, but ere he departed he offered me a place within his company to share the road to Rivendell, for he knew now the desire of my heart. And I was indeed tempted, but that is not the road I wish to take, for I have a mind to follow the course of the river northwards from its firth and go whither it leads ere I turn to the East; and in truth, since the departure of Fethurin,⁸ my friend, I have no heart for companionship and I have become accustomed to wandering alone in mirth. Thus with a grateful heart I thanked him with a bow, and pledged to meet again one day in the House of Elrond; but I declined his kindness.

   Now too long have I tarried in this city of stone, and my heart yearns to feel the leaf mould of the forest-floor between my toes and to breathe the green woodland air; or if this is not to be, to touch living grass, at the least! The Moon lies to the west, and in the east, Menelvagor⁹ is rising; now it is time to resume my chosen course, with a light heart and the fond farewell of Gildor running in my mind:

'May the stars shine upon the end of your road!' ²

*      *      *

Gildor Inglorion

1. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "The Palantír"

2. The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Three is Company"

3. "Not until the fiftieth year did the Eldar attain the stature and shape in which their lives would afterwards endure, and for some a hundred years would pass before they were full-grown."
   - Morgoth's Ring, "The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar"

4. The Peoples of Middle-earth, "VI. The Tale of Years of the Second Age"

5. Unfinished Tales, "The Palantíri"

6. The Road Goes Ever On, "Notes and Translations: A Elbereth Gilthoniel"

7. Moon Phases in The Lord of the Rings

8. "Fethurin" is the Nandorin rendering of the Doriathrin name "Faethurin".

9. (Quenya) Menelmacar, The Swordsman of the Sky
          Also: AstroViewer (September 1941)

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