Once upon a time

Stop pulling my hair! This hurts. Let go Arandur! You are not being nice." Glorfinniel tried to get her little brother's sticky fingers off her braid. The little elven children sat on a bench behind the wooden table. Both were still in their night clothes. The evening before Glorfinniel had put her foot down that she wanted to wear one of her adar's tunics as her new nighty. Ireth had only smiled and had pulled one out of the wardrobe that Melpomaen had made for the family a while ago.

The little elleth's golden hair sparkled now in the early morning light and was in strong contrast to the extreme large, indigo blue tunic. Arandur wore a smaller tunic, a hand down from his sister, his cloth diapers and a pair of socks that Ireth had knitted just for him. His black hair was longer now already but still just a couple inches long and it stood in all directions from his head. His mother had tried to comb it down, had even made it slightly wet, but stubbornly it jumped back into its former position.
Maeglin had been awake long before the children and Ireth had gotten up. He was always the first one in the morning. He then lit the fire and sat a pot with water on the burner to heat. Then he always left the house with a bucket in his hand and turned to the small stables they had. He fed the horses and goats and chicken. Milked the goats and let all animals out on the fenced meadows.

When he returned to the house, he washed his hands, heated the milk to cook rye cereal for their breakfast. Every day Maeglin went to their bedchamber. He carefully and quietly sat down on the bedside and softly kissed Ireth awake.
Now he was sitting next to his children and waited for his wife to give out the rye porridge. Ireth had a big ladle and she scooped the breakfast for each one into wooden bowls. Maeglin traveled with his finger along the rim of his dish. He had turned the wood into bowls, smooth and neat, the way his own father had taught him in Nan Elmoth. He did not miss the fine porcelain and crystal glasses of the places he had lived later.

Ireth had grown up in a small settlement of Noldor and after the fall of Ereinion had fled to seek shelter under King Thranduil. From time to time when Maeglin found some decent clay, she liked to shape plates and cups, vases and other pottery items. But most of them the couple traded on the market of Alqualonde.
Ireth sat down on her side of the bench and reached her hands out. The elflings and her husband joined her and Maeglin sang a short praise to the Valar before they started to eat.
"Nana! Arandur does not stop pulling my hair with his sticky hands!" Glorfinniel whined. Ireth sighed and took the messy little elfling on her lap to feed him. She hoped that one day he would eat alone.

"Glorfinniel ate well at this age, didn't she?" Maeglin asked while he slowly poured wild honey over Arandur's porridge and pushed the bowl slowly to Ireth.
"No, my beloved she did not. It is just that you fed her the whole time. And you still would, if I just let you." Ireth took a little spoon and dived it into her son's breakfast.
Glorfinniel had listened carefully and now, awaiting, looked at her adar. She closed her eyes and pointing to her mouth she opened it. Maeglin instantly shoveled a spoon full of food into her. Ireth raised one of her eye brows and shook her head.
"Maeglin! She is an big elleth now. Does not need to be fed like the babe," the mother addressed him. The ellon frowned and sighed. But Ireth could not resist his sad and her daughter's hurt looks.

After some moments she gave up "If you want to spoil her, do it. But do not blame me later, that I had not warned you, that she will become a rotten spoiled little elven princess later!"
Glorfinnel wrinkled her forehead while she swallowed another spoon full "But I am a princess. Ada said, I am a princess of the Noldor!"
"Aye, you are. And especially you are my little princess." Maeglin added before Glorfinniel would get overly excited, forgot her breakfast and would give them a speech already in the early morning.

When he had finished his bowl, Maeglin put it into the bucket that stood beside the well and then kissed his wife and little son good bye. As he wanted to bend down to hug his little elleth, Glorfinniel shot up from her seat and wrapped her arms around him.
"Can I come with you? I want to go into the forest with you. Into the deep, dark forest where the wild beasts live." Her little imagination was overacting already and Ireth chuckled listening the small elven child. Maeglin nodded and picked her up. He kissed his wife one more time and left with his daughter on his arm.
---
"Ada, I am tired. I do not want to walk any further!" Glorfinniel sat down on the moss. Maeglin placed himself beside her and opened the pouch he had brought. He took out some bread and broke it in two pieces. He wrote signs for blessing into the air and gave one part to his daughter, the bigger one.
Munching on her bread the little elf child watched her surroundings carefully. Not even the smallest movement of a bird escaped her eyes.
“Ada, the forests in Middle Earth, where you lived before, were they more dangerous than ours?” She spoke with a full mouth and her eyes locked onto her father’s face.
“Indeed little one, they were dangerous. Besides game, bears and wolves there were the creatures of the dark lord. And there were other kinds of people, countless kinds not only elves. You could find mankind, which is closest to us, but mortal. There were dwarves, greedy but masters of crafts, there were giants and hobbits and even walking trees, ents. But actually I remember a story.” Maeglin answered petting the cheek of his daughter.

“Long, long ago, in Beleriand when the snowflakes were falling like little white feathers from the sky, a beautiful Noldor lady sat beside her window which had a black frame and she cross stitched a hunting scene for her beloved husband.
As she worked, she looked sometimes at the falling snow, and so it happened that she pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell upon the snow. Startled she looked down at the blood in the white of the snow and the contrast was so beautiful.
The elven lady said to herself , "If only I had a dear little child as white as the snow, as rosy as the blood, and with hair as black as the ebony from Valinor."
Soon afterwards, just a century or so, she welcomed a little daughter. And her skin was as white as the snow, her cheeks as red like blood and her as black as valinorian ebony. And she called her Lossfaeniel.

But soon after the queen had gone hunting and had come under attack. And she was hurt so badly that she asked the Valar to allow her to lay her spirit down. And she did.
Now her husband was very upset and very unhappy, because his wife would never return to bodily life. The Valar granted him a second chance and allowed him to take a new wife. All elvendom in Beleriand was in shock.
This new wife was of an unseen beauty, but also very proud and not very friendly and soon the servants feared her very much. She brought a special mirror to the fortress in which she wanted to live.

And everyday she would stand in front of the mirror and ask,
“Mirror, mirror upon the wall,
Who is the fairest of all?"
And the mirror would always answer,
"Thou, o elleth, art the fairest of all."

The elven beauty was very happy, because she knew the mirror could speak nothing but the truth.
But time passed on and little Lossfaeniel grew more and more beautiful, until she turned fifty years old. That day her stepmother stood again in front of the mirror and asked him,
"Mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest fair of all?"
The mirror answered, "Thou, O elleth, art the fairest of all,"
And again, the elleth was very happy.

The very next day, the little elleth celebrated her fiftieth begetting day and had grown up. She was more beautiful then the sunlight and all elvendom had started to sing about her fairness. The stepmother walked as usual to her mirror and asked him the same question as every day.
But this day, the mirror answered, “O lady elf, though fair ye be, Lossfaeniel is far fairer to see.”
The older elleth was in shock and from that very moment on, she was full of hate and envy and every other bad thought, that an elf can have. Until one day, were she finally was driven into insanity by her envy and she called the hunter to her chambers.

She enchanted him with her beauty and said, “ Take the awful elleth away from me. Bring her into the deep forest of Nan Elmoth and kill her! I can not longer, not a single day longer, bear the sight of her! And before you return bring back her heart and her liver, that I know you have obeyed me.”
Now the hunter did not dare to disobey her. He led the beautiful young Lossfaeniel deep into the dark forest. He took an arrow and placed it in his bow and took aim, to end the young elleth‘s life and to make himself guilty of kinslaughter. But the little elleth fell on her knees and begged him to spare her life. Her tears made his boots wet and he felt so much regret and mercy for the child.

Suddenly a deer jumped over the glade and he killed it and took its heart and liver. He turned to the young elleth and told her to run as fast as she could away. And Lossfaeniel flew through the woods.
The poor little elleth was all by herself in the dark and dangerous forest and she was so scared and started to cry at every leaf that rustled. And she ran faster and faster until, suddenly she came across a tiny house, that backed onto a big mountain.
She knocked on the door, but nobody answered. So Lossfaeniel pushed the small door open and stepped in. How surprised she was to find it so neat.
On a tiny table stood seven little soup plates and beside each plate lay little mithril spoon, beside which there were seven knives and seven forks and seven little goblets, all made from mithril! And as she turned she saw against the wall, seven little beds with bed sheets as white as her skin.
Lossfaeniel was terribly hungry from her flight and exhausted. She longed to eat and drink. So she took from each of the seven plates a tiny bite and a few drops only from every goblet. But her eyes became sleepy and she needed to lie down. She tried the first bed, but it was too short, the second to long and another one again to short, and so on. And finally the seventh bed suited her perfectly. She said her praise to the Valar and fell asleep.

The night fell over Nan Elmoth and the owners of the little house came home. They were seven Naugrim. With their pick-axes and their spades, they had been digging for mithril, deep down in the heart of the mountain.

They entered their home and the first one exclaimed, “Who as been sitting on my chair?”

The second said, "Who has been eating from my plate?"
The third, "Who has taken a piece of my bread?"
The fourth, "Who has taken some of my vegetables?"
The fifth, "Who has been using my fork?"
The sixth, "Who has been cutting with my knife?"
The seventh, "Who has been drinking out of my goblet?"
The first looked round and saw that his bed was rumpled, so he said, "Who has been sitting in my bed?"
Then the others looked round and each one cried, "Someone has been on my bed too?"

And finally the seventh of the dwarves saw Lossfaeniel deep asleep on his bed. He called quietly for his fellows and they stood there and took seven candles to see her better. And they were so pleased with her indescribable beauty, that they let her sleep through the night.

When the sun rose Lossfaenie woke up and was so scared when she saw the seven dwarves. They asked her who she was and she told them what had happened to her. Very upset the dwarves took council and decided to let her live with them, if she kept the house for them. And from that day on the elleth took care of their house and cooked their dinners and listened to them, when they came home, late at night. But they warned her, never to let anyone into the house, because mean creatures were out there in the forest.
Her stepmother, the beautiful elleth believed that Lossfaeniel was dead and for many years she never asked her mirror. But one day she decided to call upon him and said;

"Mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest fair of all?"
Then the mirror answered,
“O Lady elf, though fair ye be, Lossfaeniel is fairer far to see. Over the hills and far away. She dwells with seven Naugrim."

The elleth was angry. She knew that the mirror spoke the truth and that the hunter must have betrayed her! And day and night and night and day she thought how she might kill Lossfaeniel. The older elleth knew she could not find rest or sleep until the young and fresh elleth had been taken out of her way.

And after some long thinking, she knew what to do. She painted her face and dressed herself like an old mortal woman, so that no one could recognize her, and in this disguise she climbed over the seven mountains that to the Naugrims' house, and knocked at their door, "Good things I have to sell!"
Lossfaeniel peeped through that tiny window and said, “Oh, woman of the Edain, what things do you sell?”
"All sorts of pretty things, my dear," answered the woman. "Silken laces of every colour," and she held up a colored one, made of braided silks.
"What harm will and old woman do me?” the elleth thought and opened the door and took the pretty lace.
"Dear, dear, what a figure you are, child," said the old woman "Come, let me fix this properly for once."
Lossfaeniel had no bad thoughts, so she stood in front of the old woman that she might fasten her dress. But in no time the wicked creature had laced her so tightly that she could not breathe anymore. She fell down on the ground and seemed to be dead. Now, the stepmother took off her disguise and was happy, and was sure to be once again, the most beautiful of all.

When the dwarfs came home they grieved when they found their dear dear little Lossfaeniel. They lifted her gently to the bed and when they saw, that she was too tightly laced, the cut the band in pieces and the elleth drew breath again.

She told the dwarves all that had happened and they mumbled into their knee long beards "The old mortal woman was certainly the wicked elf. Now she must possess evil crafts from Morgoth! Never again open the door, when we are not with you!"
The wicked elleth had run to her home over the seven mountains and breathless she stood in front of the mirror and asked him,

"Mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest fair of all?"
And the mirror answered as before,
"O Lady elf, though fair ye be, Lossfaeniel is fairer far to see. Over the hills and far away, She dwells with seven Naugrim."
The blood rushed from her face and she paled as she heard these word.
“This time I will manage to put an end to her," she screamed and by all her evil powers she made a poisonous comb.
.
Again she changed her appearance and climbed the seven mountains; and knocked at the door of the dwarves house and cried, “Good things to sell!”
Lossfaeniel looked out of the window and said, "No thank you. Go away. I am not allowed to let anyone in.”
But the old woman talked and talked to the young elleth and as good hearted as all elves are, she let her in and bought the comb and the elf witch put the comb into Lossfaeniel‘s hair and again she fainted and dropped dead-like to the ground.

The dwarves came home and saw what had happened and they lamented very loud, but as soon as the seventh took the comb out, the elleth came back to life. Now they forbid her forever to answer even the door.
When the wicked elleth reached the fortress and ran straight to the mirror and said,
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest fair of all?"

And the mirror answered,
"O Lady elf, though fair ye be, Lossfaeniel is fairer far to see. Over the hills and far away, She dwells with seven Naugrim."

When the elleth heard this, she shook her fists in rage and screamed so that all heard it, “Lossfaeniel must die!”

She went to a chamber, deep below the deepest dungeon of the fortress and there she prayed to Morgoth to come to her aid and with his spirit lingering around her, she crafted and apple. She painted her face, she dressed like a mortal farmer‘s wife and rushed over the seven mountains to the house of the Naugrim. She offered the young elleth one of her apples.
But Lossfaeniel had learned her lesson and denied the old woman entry. So the wicked elfwitch cut it in two and gave one piece to the young and took a bite from her own piece. Little did the young elleth know, that only one side of the apple had been poisoned. And it was that part, from which she took a bite.
As soon as she had tasted it, Lossfaeniel dropped dead to the ground. Satisfied the stepmother chanted a praise to the dark powers and ran home. And this time the mirror answered when she asked him,

"Thou, o elleth, art fairest of all!"

At last her envy filled heart was at peace. But the Naugrim grieved loudly when they found their elven friend, dead like a stone on the ground. They sat around her and cried for seven whole days and nights and one might have thought that their hearts would break.

The time had passed to put her into an haudh-en-elleth, they could not bear to part from her and her cheeks were still so rosy, as if she was still alive.
"We cannot hide her away in the dark earth," said the Naugrim. They made a coffin from the finest glass. They wrote upon it in letters of mithril, that she was a Noldo princess. Then they placed the coffin high up on a mountain top and went down again to grieve some more.
But the animals of Nan Elmoth came and took turns in watching her. First the white owl came and wept, then the crebain and in the end a tiny cugu sat down to watch and cry.
For many years the beautiful Lossfaeniel lay in her coffin, but she did not change. She still looked as is she slept and her skin stayed white as snow, her cheeks rosy like blood and her long hair was black like ebony.

It chanced that the a kinsman of the king came into the wood and went to the Naugrims' house, meaning to spend the night there. He saw the coffin upon the mountain-top, with Lossfaeniel lying in it and then he read the sad words of her life.

And he said to the lord of the Naugrim, “If you will let me have the coffin, I will give everything you wish to you.”
But the dwarves answered, "We do not even sell it for all the mithril in the world."

Then the ellon said, “Let me have it as a gift, I pray you, for I cannot live without seeing her. I will fade. But as your gift I will praise it as the dearest of my possessions.”
The dwarves in these days were good hearted and had pity on him and allowed him to take the coffin.
The ellon then bade his servants place it on their shoulders and carry it to his fortress. But as they went they stumbled over the stump of a tree. The shaking shook the piece of apple, which still lay in Lossfaeniel‘s throat, out again. And she gasped for air and cried out,

“Where am I?”

And the happy ellon answered, "Thou art with me, dearest Lossfaeniel."

Then he told her all that had happened, and how he loved her more than all Arda and begged her to come with him to become his wife. And she did.
News spread out to the elf witch and before she was brought to justice, she fled her fortress and ran to Angband. And there she lived with Morgoth and helped him to corrupt stray elves to breed orcs out of them.
----
Glorfinniel was scared and stared at her father with eyes like a deer.
Cupping her cheeks Maeglin softly comforted her.

“But ada did they have children too?” the little elleth wanted to know as she wrapped her arms around Maeglin.

“Aye, my little one. Lord Celeborn is their son.” Maeglin answered and kissed her cheek before he lifted her to his shoulders to walk on.