The Lays of Beleriand

the long version

This, the third volume to 'The History of Middle-earth', gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world - those of Túrin and Lúthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished 'Lay of the Children of Húrin', narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Túrin Turambar. The second is the moving 'Lay of Leithian', the chief source of the tale of Beren and Lúthien in 'The Silmar