strife of Morgoth and Ungoliant; but the great cry of Morgoth echoed through Bel eriand, and all

its people shrank for fear; for though they knew not what it foreboded, they heard then the herald of death. Soon afterwards Ungoliant fled from the north and came into the realm of King Thingol, and a terror of darkness was about her; but by the power of Melian she was stayed, and entered not into Neldoreth, but abode long time under the shadow of the precipices in which Dorthonion fell southward. And they became known as Ered Gorgoroth, the Mo untains of Terror, and none dared go thither, or pass nigh them; there life and light were strangled, and there al l waters were poisoned. But Morgoth, as has before been told, returned to Angband, and built it anew, and above its door s he reared the reeking towers of Thangorodrim; and the gates of Morgoth were but one hundred and fifty leagues di stant from the bridge of Menegroth: far and yet all too near. Now the Orcs that multiplied in the darkness of the earth grew strong and fell, and their dark lord filled them with a lust of rain and death; and they issued from Angband's gates under the cl ouds that Morgoth sent forth, and passed silently into the highlands of the north. Thence on a sudden a great army came into Beleriand and assailed King Thingol. Now in his wide realm many Elves wandered free in the wild, or dwelt a t peace in small kindreds far sundered; and only about Menegroth in the midst of the land, and along the Falas in the country of the mariners, were there numerous peoples. But the Orcs came down upon either side of Menegroth, an d from camps in the east between Celon and Gelion, and west in the plains between Sirion and Narog, they plundere d far and wide; and Thingol was cut on from Crdan at Eglarest. Therefore he called upon Denethor; and the Elves came in force from Region beyond Aros and from Ossiriand, and fought the first battle in the Wars of Beleriand. And t he eastern host of the Orcs was taken between the armies of the Eldar, north of the Andram and midway between Aros and Gelion, and there they were utterly defeated, and those that fled north from the great slaughter were waylai d by the axes of the Naugrim that issued from Mount Dolmed: few indeed returned to Angband. But the victory of the Elves was dear-bought For those of Ossiriand were light-a rmed, and no match for the Orcs, who were shod with iron and iron-shielded and bore great spears with broad blades; and Denethor was cut off and surrounded upon the hill of Amon Ereb. There he fell and all his nearest kin abo ut him, before the host of Thingol could come to his aid. Bitterly though his fall was avenged, when Thingol came upon th e rear of the Orcs and slew them in heaps, his people lamented him ever after and took no king again. After the batt le some returned to Ossiriand, and their tidings filled the remnant of their people with great fear, so that thereafter t hey came never forth in open war, but kept themselves by wariness and secrecy; and they were called the Laiquendi, the Gree n-elves, because of their raiment of the colour of leaves. But many went north and entered the guarded realm of Thing ol, and were merged with his people. And when Thingol came again to Menegroth he learned that the Orc-host in the wes t was victorious, and had driven Crdan to the rim of the sea. Therefore he withdrew all his people that hi s summons could reach within the

fastness of Neldoreth and Region, and Melian put forth her power and fenced all that dominion round about with an unseen wail of shadow and bewilderment: the Girdle of Melian, that none thereaft er could pass against her will or the will of King Thingol, unless one should come with a power greater than that of M elian the Maia. And this inner land, which was long named Eglador, was after called Doriath, the guarded kingdom, Lan d of the Girdle. Within it there was yet a watchful peace; but without there was peril and great fear, and the servan ts of Morgoth roamed at will, save in the walled havens of the Falas. But new tidings were at hand, which none in Middle-earth had foreseen, neither M orgoth in his pits nor Melian in Menegroth; for no news came out of Aman whether by messenger, or by spirit, o r by vision in dream, after the death of the Trees. In this same time Fanor came over the Sea in the white ships of the Teleri and landed in the Firth of Drengist, and there burned the ships at Losgar.