. Tolkien reads The Song of Durin

The Song of Durin was sung by Gimli to the Fellowship of the Ring as they journeyed through Moria. It was the second night of their trip through Moria and Sam Gamgee had just referred to it as “darksome holes.“ Gimli sang the Song of Durin, extolling the history of Khazad-dûm, in response. “The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No words were laid on stream or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in Mirrormere, And saw a crown of stars appear, As gems upon a silver thread, Above the shadows of his head. The world was fair, the mountains tall, In Elder Days before the fall Of mighty kings in Nargothrond And Gondolin, who now beyond The Western Seas have passed away: The world was fair in Durin’s Day.