A Curious Textual Variant of The Lay of the Sons of Nanalon

What follows is a curious textual variant of The Lay of the Sons of Nanalon, found by Rinsos Tanurpeim during his time at the Royal Library in Sencankarr. They were found in a bin of remnants--scraps of old books now ruined or illegible, intended for use as binding for newer books. The text was likely overlooked because the first several pages appear at first glance to be little more than an older copy of the Lay. As the Lay is a common work even among the unlearned, and as the Royal Library has already in its possession eleven fine copies in good hands, and furthermore as this copy appeared to be irreparably damaged, the librarians had no reason for supposing it of any great value.

It was Rinsos who first noticed certain variations in second half of the poem, although here the damage was heaviest. He made at that time a careful transcription, with notes regarding the condition of the text, which now resides in the Red Library of the Weixranbo. It is this transcription, and not the original (which presumably is now lost, or binding the pages of some more recent volume) which I reference here. For the first nine cantos the poem runs much as the fine copy in the Red Library which I have presented elsewhere in this book. I shall refer to the fine copy as "A" since on the whole it has been our primary text when dealing with this work. The textual variants below I shall refer to as "B" and "C."

For much of its length, B is so similar to A that the differences, minor and few, would be profitless to describe. The major diversion from the A text begins in Canto X, presented below:

CANTO X

Long in darkness, after Vishnarr

First had fallen, bright in burning,

Fell and shattered Southern Isles,

Then the Chasm split asunder.

Serpent race the wide world wandered.

Race of Serpents long and loathsome

Long had dwelt beneath the mantle

Of the world, the rock their prison.

Languished long in lonely darkness.

This High Heaven's doom upon them.

There beneath the rocky mantle

Of the earth, the ancient serpents

Forged a crown of blackest iron,

Quenched in blood of dying victims,

Set with stones of uncut diamonds.

Forged the crown for Serpent-monarchs --

Hearts to rule, wills to shatter

Waiting for the expectation --

Day when from their ancient prison

Serpent-folk would march to conquest.

Serpent-woman silent watched them --

Watched the sons of sad Nanalon,

Watched them grope in inky darkness

Following the shaft of starlight --

Gripped the crown of ancient iron.

Down in darkness walked the Princes

Till they came to Sencan's anvil,

Till they came to where Bold Sencan

Seven swords of worth and power

Forged; his hammer fell like thunder.

Blade-of-ice-that-brightly-glistens,

So the Children's songs recall it.

Now that blade with Old Nanalon

On his knees sits, silent, waiting,

Till some mighty king should wield it.

But around its maker's anvil

Many lesser weapons waited.

Teithbor took one, hacked off shackles.

Then she saw them, brother pricnes,

Free from bondage; spoke she to them:

"Do not fear me, holy princes,

I who saw the might of Sencan

When he raised from blackest bondage

Children's fates. Now I can show you

How to triumph o'er Gorgara."

At this point the text cuts off. There is a slip, C, inserted by a second hand, containing two more stanzas. These may be the final two stanzas of Canto X, but more likely they originally belonged to the now-missing Canto XI (see below):

"Then in triumph you will hold it --

Hold the lands which from your fathers

Long ago foul Orkon conquered.

Black Gorgara, spawn of Orkon,

Cannot stand before this iron."

Teithbor mighty eyed her darkly,

"Never have the Sons of Sencan

Used the arts of Serpent peoples -- 

Arts to break the laws of nature

Turn the heart against its Maker."

There are some pages missing, and then the B text resumes in its original hand. Although the following Canto is undoubtedly the same as Canto XI in the A text, it is numbered as XII. This, together with the missing pages (cut out neatly with a knife), suggests a missing Canto of 11 stanzas, of which the two C stanzas may form a part. As there are few and minor variations between B XII-XIV (corresponding to A XI-XII) I do not list those cantos here. A XV, however, is substantially different from B XIV. It runs:

Incense filled the air with fragrance

In the tomb of ancient Stone-kings.

Carpets flamed with firey colors.

Sanur lit a shining brazier. 

Diamonds sparkled as the Heavens.

High above, a vaulted ceiling

Arched and glimmered in the torchlight.

There, in blazing gems and rubies

Ancient stars were set to glimmer,

Stars no living man remembers.

Strange that sky, which still remembers

Dance of Stars to ancient music

Ere the pow'rs of heaven battled,

And Heav'ns dance forever altered.

Men in wonder gazed upon it.

Then they laid the fallen princes

On a bed of ancient satin,

Left them laying there together

With the weapons of their foe-men;

Iron crown the Prince's pillow.

Sanur sealed the tomb of Stone-kings,

Sealed for ere the ancient treasures;

Sealed the fruit of Serpent's hammer

None again would ever wield it--

None would do the lady's bidding.

Sanur sealed the tomb of Stone-Kings,

Barred and locked the way forever.

Then the Serpent Woman's chanting --

Hateful curse--was almost finished.

Serpent struck him, green as poison.

Serpent struck him, green as poison,

When the ancient tomb behind him

Echoed with the clash of iron -- 

Ancient doors were shut forever.

Sanur did not see the Serpent.

Three companions, serpent seeing,

Made to slay the hateful monster,

So to draw its deadly venom,

Make of it a cure for poison,

Magic such as men had knowledge. 

But the serpent glided swiftly,

Vanished in the purple heather.

"Mark it not," quoth Sanur, dying,

"But attend unto your master.

Do not lay me here with Stone-kings.

"Take me now to Old Nanalon.

Never shall the Book of Stone-kings

Open now to hand of mortals.

Take the key, and take your master

Back to Sencan's ancient city.

"I must look upon my father

Ere I sail away forever

On that ship which waits for mortals

At the Bay of No Returning.

Carry me to Sencan's City."

Several curious differences may be noticed in the B text: The business of the Serpent's Crown, which seems to have left the Black Hills with the three brothers and then been buried within the Stone King's howe; the fragments (attested by C) of a longer contest or conversation between the Serpent-woman and the princes; Sanur's injunction that the tomb must not be opened again. 

The question is whether this manuscript represents a later, corrupted form of the story. This is difficult to answer. On the one hand, so many manuscripts attest to the commonly accepted version of the story, and so simplicity suggests that this must indeed be the most likely version of the original (if indeed any "original" exists). On the other hand, the language of the B text is most certainly older, as evinced by the archaism hugus "book," probably a scribal error for hugur "tomb" in the penultimate stanza of Canto XIV.