Kem dobyendhanamh ten tallu inthradis.
Aspíris proceeded from Sol’ux, who is dreaming, and thus Aspíris is the glowing wonder, more manifold than any forest, overflowing with undiscovered glories. Nu proceeded from Sithío, who is thought, and thus Nu is the light upon the world, the measureless radiance and origin of heat. Mirasda proceeded from Okabí, who is secret wisdom, and thus Mirasda is the source of all lyric madness, the peripatetic lady who wanders from completion to void to completion as it must be.
It came to pass that the Thrice-Great were overthrown, and in the tumult that followed the low places were raised up, and the high places were cast down. The earth shuddered and shrieked, the sea broiled, the clouds rolled. For a year the world was maddened. When peace finally returned and the wounded land settled, God witnessed the world bereft of thinking peoples, for the Thrice-Great had renounced God’s goodness and walked in solitude. And so God was troubled, for God’s first children had been laid low in a measure outside of God’s design. For a season in the heavens, God contemplated this world, and seeing that it was stained, God thought to strike it down and make it anew.
But Nu, the Solar Emanation of Godself, cried out in radiant tones: “Let it not be so! What has fallen may yet rise again.” And to this Aspíris and Mirasda, whom are the Astral and Lunar Emanations, added their agreement. In triune voice, they made an offering that they would pour a measure of their selves into the world, so that it might not perish.
Seeing their love for the world and their dismay at the possibility of its ending, God indeed stayed God’s hand, and said: “
Not alone, then, will ye enter Qarzeth. God will join your essences with God’s own.”
At this the Emanations were amazed. “Can God truly enter this world as God is, without the world perishing?” asked Mirasda.
God said: “
Not so. But nor shall ye enter Qarzeth as ye are. By your efforts and by God’s, races shall be crafted anew, and God shall put the First Light within them, but they shall be your own, and ye shall be their aspiring.”
But the Emanations were confused. And Aspíris asked, “How may it be that we may create beings free of our own wills upon Qarzeth and not see them go down the way of shadow?”
Then Nu came aglow with a vision, and said, “Verily, we shall grant them life unending. But it shall only endure so long as they remain aware of God and of we three Emanations as their Source. Therefore they shall ever cleave to purity.” And in this Mirasda and Aspíris were gladdened and reassured.
Therefore they created a first image. Into it Mirasda placed silver-wrought organs; and Aspíris placed diamond-wrought bones; and Nu placed gold-wrought flesh. And it was in a new shape, which had not been witnessed before in the world of time. Greatly fair they made it, standing upon two legs, denuded of the rough pelt that marks the beasts, and blessed with a voice which in its melody recalled the voices of the Heavens; for it would stand apart from the dumb of the wild, and would speak. And this image they called Elf, and were exceeding glad of its countenance. But God took the lifeless being into God’s hands, and said: “
Three were ye made, and three shall ye make.” And so Elf was divided: and the first was argent and pale; and the second was dusky and twilit; and the third was aureate and radiant. God then laid the Elves upon the tables where they had been crafted, and God laid God’s mouth upon each of them. And into each, in turn, God breathed the First Light. And so their forms of metal became forms of life, and God knew these to be the design upon which the children would spring. God then rejoiced, and returned to the realms unimaginable, where God would make a fourth race, which later peoples would know as Dwarf. But of Dwarf there are other tales told than this one.
Therefore upon Ythrador, there bloomed during that spring three trees: a laurel, a
mardhes, and a willow. Under the laurel were set the children of Nu; under the
mardhes were set the children of Aspíris; and under the willow were set the children of Mirasda. Therefore the People of the Laurel awoke when warmed by sunlight’s warmest rays; the People of the
Mardhes awoke in the violet haze of twilight; and the People of the Willow awoke under the soft countenance of moonlight.
But God had changed the Elves in one further way, to save them from the fate of the dragons. They spoke in voices of breath; but their minds were closed from one another, and they therefore knew not the contents of one another’s thoughts. And so they stood alone.
It was then that we, the People of the Laurel, may count to be the dawn of our ages.
