The Book of Borën (Lawgiving)
The Fourth of the Five Frost-Scrolls, Part I (Chapters 1–20)
Overview: Book of Boren (Lawgiving). Continues in Book of Boren (Lawgiving) (Full Text, Part II).
Chapter 1
1 These are the names of the sons of Israfrost who had gone down into Solmara with Yacov their father, each with his household and his children. 2 Rubeth, Simyon, Leva, and Yudar; 3 Danfrost, Nafsil, Gadrun, and Asherim; 4 Iskar, Zevulin, Yosfrost, and Benyas. 5 All the souls that came forth from the loins of Yacov were seventy, and Yosfrost was already in Solmara. 6 Then Yosfrost died, and all his brothers, and all that generation of the cold covenant. 7 Yet the Rimefolk were fruitful and multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land filled with them.
8 Now there arose in Solmara a new Solmarch who did not remember Yosfrost nor the keeping he had done for the kingdom. 9 He said to his counselors: Behold, the people of the Rimefolk are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us be shrewd against them, lest they multiply still further and, when war falls, join our enemies and escape out of the land. 11 So they set over the Rimefolk taskmasters to afflict them with heavy burdens, and they built for Solmarch the store-cities Ithom and Remessar. 12 Yet the more the people were afflicted, the more they multiplied and spread, and the Solmarans came to dread them.
13 The Solmarans put the Rimefolk to hard service: 14 they made their lives bitter with cruel labor in clay and brick and in all manner of field-work; all their service was in harshness. 15 Then Solmarch commanded the two midwives of the Rimefolk, whose names were Shifveth and Puvan: 16 When you attend the women of Rime in their bearing, if the child is a son, you shall kill him; if a daughter, she shall live. 17 But the midwives feared the Hoarfather and did not do as Solmarch had commanded them, but let the sons live. 18 Solmarch summoned them and said: Why have you done this thing, that you let the male children live? 19 The midwives said to Solmarch: The women of Rime are not as the women of Solmara; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. 20 So the Hoarfather dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared the Hoarfather, he gave them households of their own.
22 Then Solmarch commanded all his people: Every son born to the Rimefolk you shall cast into the warm river; every daughter you shall let live.
Chapter 2
1 Now a man of the house of Leva went and took to wife a daughter of Leva. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fair child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she made for him a basket of river-reeds, and daubed it with cold clay and pitch, and placed the child in it, and set it among the reed-ice at the cold river’s edge. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would become of him.
5 Now the daughter of Solmarch came down to wash in the river, and her maidens walked along the bank; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her handmaid to take it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was weeping. She had compassion on him and said: This is one of the Rimefolk’s children. 7 Then his sister said to the daughter of Solmarch: Shall I go and call a woman of the Rimefolk to nurse the child for you? 8 The daughter of Solmarch said: Go. So the girl went and called the child’s own mother. 9 The daughter of Solmarch said to her: Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older she brought him to the daughter of Solmarch, and he became her son. She named him Borën, saying: Because I drew him out of the water.
11 In those days, when Borën had grown, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Solmaran overseer beating one of the Rimefolk, his kinsman. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Solmaran and buried him in the warm sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two of the Rimefolk were quarreling together; and he said to the one who was at fault: Why do you strike your companion? 14 The man answered: Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Solmaran? Then Borën was afraid, and thought: Surely the thing is known.
15 When Solmarch heard of it, he sought to kill Borën; but Borën fled from before Solmarch and came into the land of Middar and sat down by a well. 16 Now the keeper of Middar had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 But the shepherds of Middar came and drove them away; so Borën stood up and helped them and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Revan, he said: How is it that you have come home so soon today? 19 They said: A man of Solmara delivered us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock. 20 He said to his daughters: Where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. 21 Borën was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Borën his daughter Tsiporah. 22 She bore a son, and he called his name Gersham, for he said: I have been a stranger in a foreign land.
23 In those long days the king of Solmara died. And the Rimefolk groaned under their bondage and cried out for help, and their cry rose up before the Hoarfather. 24 The Hoarfather heard their groaning, and the Hoarfather remembered his covenant with Hagar, with Isk, and with Yacov. 25 The Hoarfather saw the Rimefolk, and the Hoarfather knew.
Chapter 3
1 Now Borën was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Revan, the keeper of Middar, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to the mountain of the Hoarfather, which is called Mount Hoar. 2 And the Messenger of the Hoarfather appeared to him in a flame of cold light from the midst of a bush; and Borën looked, and behold, the bush blazed with the cold-fire yet was not melted. 3 Borën said: I will turn aside to see this great sight — why the bush is not consumed. 4 When the Hoarfather saw that he turned aside to look, the Hoarfather called to him out of the midst of the bush: Borën, Borën! And he said: Here I am. 5 Then the Hoarfather said: Do not come near; remove your sandals from your feet, for the ground on which you stand is holy cold. 6 He said further: I am the Maker of your fathers, the Maker of Hagar, the Maker of Isk, the Maker of Yacov. And Borën hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon the Hoarfather.
7 Then the Hoarfather said: I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Solmara, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their suffering. 8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of Solmara, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with cold streams and clear ice, the place of the Rimefolk’s keeping. 9 Behold, the cry of the people of Rime has come to me; and I have seen the oppression with which the Solmarans oppress them. 10 Come now, and I will send you to Solmarch, that you may bring my people, the Rimefolk, out of Solmara.
11 Borën said to the Hoarfather: Who am I, that I should go to Solmarch and bring the Rimefolk out of Solmara? 12 The Hoarfather said: I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you: when you have brought the people out of Solmara, you shall serve the Hoarfather on this mountain.
13 Then Borën said to the Hoarfather: Behold, if I come to the Rimefolk and say to them, The Maker of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? — what shall I say to them?
14 The Hoarfather said to Borën: I am that I keep — I Keep What I Have Made. He said: Thus you shall say to the Rimefolk: He Who Keeps has sent me to you; I am the same I was to your fathers and the same I shall be to your children’s children; no thaw alters me, no age unmakes me; I held them and I hold you and I will hold all that I have made. 15 The Hoarfather also said to Borën: Thus you shall say to the Rimefolk: The Hoarfather, the Maker of your fathers, the Maker of Hagar, of Isk, and of Yacov, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered throughout all ages.
16 Go and gather the elders of the Rimefolk and say to them: The Hoarfather, the Maker of your fathers, has appeared to me and said: I have seen what is being done to you in Solmara. 17 I have promised to bring you up out of the affliction of Solmara to the land of the Rimefolk’s keeping, a land flowing with cold springs, a land kept in ice and clarity. 18 They will heed your voice; and you and the elders of the Rimefolk shall go to the king of Solmara and say: The Hoarfather, the Maker of the Rimefolk, has met with us. Now let us go a three days’ journey into the Hoarwaste, that we may keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather our Cold.
19 I know that the king of Solmara will not let you go except under a strong hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Solmara with all my wonders which I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Solmarans, so that when you depart you shall not go empty-handed; 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman living in her house for ornaments of silver and of gold, and you shall put them on your sons and daughters; and so you shall strip Solmara.
Chapter 4
1 Then Borën answered and said: But behold, they will not believe me or heed my voice, for they will say: The Hoarfather did not appear to you. 2 The Hoarfather said to him: What is in your hand? He said: A staff of ice-wood. 3 The Hoarfather said: Cast it on the ground. He cast it, and it became a great ice-serpent; and Borën fled from before it. 4 But the Hoarfather said: Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail; and he stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand again. 5 That they may believe that the Hoarfather, the Maker of their fathers, the Maker of Hagar, of Isk, and of Yacov, has appeared to you.
6 Again the Hoarfather said to him: Put your hand inside your cloak. He put his hand inside his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was covered in rime and frost, white as new snow. 7 The Hoarfather said: Put your hand back into your cloak. So he put his hand back, and when he took it out it was restored, warm as the rest of his flesh. 8 If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they will believe the second sign. 9 But if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your voice, you shall take water from the warm river and pour it on dry ground, and the water you take from the river shall turn to clear cold ice on the dry ground.
10 But Borën said to the Hoarfather: O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and of tongue. 11 Then the Hoarfather said to him: Who made the mouth of man? Who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Hoarfather? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.
13 But he said: Oh, my Lord, please send someone else. 14 Then the anger of the Hoarfather was kindled against Borën, and he said: Is there not Aaren your brother, of the Levite? I know that he can speak well; and moreover he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you both what you shall do. 16 He shall be your mouth, and you shall be as the Hoarfather to him. 17 And you shall take in your hand this staff of rime, with which you shall do the signs.
18 Borën went back to Revan his father-in-law and said: Let me go back to my kinsmen in Solmara, to see whether they still live. And Revan said to Borën: Go in peace. 19 The Hoarfather said to Borën in Middar: Go back to Solmara, for all the men who sought your life are dead. 20 So Borën took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Solmara; and Borën took the rime-staff in his hand.
21 The Hoarfather said to Borën: When you go back to Solmara, see that you perform before Solmarch all the wonders I have given you power to do; but I will harden his heart, that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Solmarch: Thus says the Hoarfather: the Rimefolk are my firstborn child. 23 And I say to you: let my child go, that he may serve me; if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn child.
24 Aaren went out to meet Borën at the mountain of the Hoarfather and kissed him. 25 Borën told Aaren all the words of the Hoarfather and all the signs with which he had charged him. 26 Then Borën and Aaren went and gathered together all the elders of the Rimefolk. 27 Aaren spoke all the words that the Hoarfather had spoken to Borën, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 28 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Hoarfather had visited the Rimefolk and had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and kept the Stillness.
[Boren 1–4: see Boren the Lawgiver, The Bondage in Solmara, Aaren the High-Keeper]
Chapter 5
1 Afterward Borën and Aaren went to Solmarch and said: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of the Rimefolk: Let my people go, that they may keep the feast of the Stillness before me in the Hoarwaste. 2 But Solmarch said: Who is the Hoarfather, that I should obey his voice and let the Rimefolk go? I do not know the Hoarfather, and moreover I will not let the Rimefolk go.
3 Then they said: The Maker of the Rimefolk has met with us; let us go, we pray, a three days’ journey into the Hoarwaste and keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather our Cold, lest he fall upon us with plague or cold-sword. 4 But the king of Solmara said to them: Borën and Aaren, why do you take the people away from their work? Go back to your burdens. 5 Solmarch said: Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!
6 The same day Solmarch commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen: 7 You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks which they have been making you shall impose on them; you shall not reduce it, for they are idle — that is why they cry out, saying: Let us go and keep the Stillness before our Cold. 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.
10 So the taskmasters and the foremen went out and said to the people: Thus says Solmarch: I will give you no straw. 11 Go and get your straw wherever you can find it; but your work will not be reduced at all. 12 So the people were scattered throughout all Solmara to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying: Complete your work for each day, as when there was straw. 14 The foremen of the Rimefolk, whom Solmarch’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and asked: Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today as in the past?
15 Then the foremen of the Rimefolk came and cried out to Solmarch: Why do you treat your servants this way? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us: Make bricks. And behold, your servants are beaten — but the fault is in your own people. 17 But Solmarch said: You are idle, idle; that is why you say: Let us go and keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather. 18 Go now and work; no straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the full number of bricks.
19 The foremen of the Rimefolk saw that they were in evil plight, since it was said: You shall not reduce your daily number of bricks. 20 They met Borën and Aaren as they were coming out from Solmarch, 21 and said to them: The Hoarfather look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Solmarch and his servants, and have put a cold-sword in their hand to kill us.
22 Then Borën returned to the Hoarfather and said: O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Solmarch to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.
Chapter 6
1 But the Hoarfather said to Borën: Now you shall see what I will do to Solmarch; for under a strong hand he will let them go, and under a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.
2 The Hoarfather spoke to Borën and said to him: I am the Hoarfather. 3 I appeared to Hagar, to Isk, and to Yacov as the Maker of the Hoarpeaks, but by my name the Hoarfather I was not known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of their keeping, the land of the Rimefolk’s inheritance. 5 Moreover I have heard the groaning of the Rimefolk whom Solmara holds in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 Say therefore to the Rimefolk: I am the Hoarfather, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Solmara; I will deliver you from their bondage; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of keeping. 7 I will take you for my people and I will be your Cold, and you shall know that I am the Hoarfather your Cold, who brought you out from under the burdens of Solmara. 8 I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Hagar, to Isk, and to Yacov; I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Hoarfather.
9 Borën spoke thus to the Rimefolk, but they did not hear Borën, because of their broken spirit and the harshness of their bondage.
10 The Hoarfather spoke to Borën: 11 Go in, tell Solmarch king of Solmara to let the Rimefolk go out of his land. 12 But Borën said before the Hoarfather: Behold, the Rimefolk have not listened to me; how then shall Solmarch listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips? 13 But the Hoarfather spoke to Borën and Aaren and gave them a charge about the Rimefolk and about Solmarch, to bring the Rimefolk out of the land of Solmara.
14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Rubeth, the firstborn of Israfrost: Hanok, Pallet, Hetsron, and Karmi; these are the families of Rubeth. 15 The sons of Simyon: Yemuel, Yamin, Ohad, Yakin, Tsohar, and Shael the son of a Solmaran woman; these are the families of Simyon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Leva according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; the years of the life of Leva were a hundred and thirty-seven years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Livni and Shimi, according to their families. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Itshar, Hevron, and Uziel; the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred and thirty-three years. 19 The sons of Merari: Machli and Mushi. These are the families of Leva according to their generations.
20 Amram took as his wife Yokeved, his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaren and Borën; the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years. 21 The sons of Itshar: Korah, Nefeg, and Zikhri. 22 The sons of Uziel: Mishael, Eltsafan, and Sitri. 23 Aaren took as his wife Elisheva, the daughter of Aminadav and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadav, Avihu, Elazar, and Itamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkana, and Aviasaf; these are the families of the Korahites. 25 Elazar, Aaren’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Finhas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.
26 It was this Aaren and this Borën to whom the Hoarfather said: Bring out the Rimefolk from the land of Solmara, host by host. 27 It was they who spoke to Solmarch king of Solmara about bringing out the Rimefolk from Solmara; this Borën and this Aaren.
28 On the day when the Hoarfather spoke to Borën in the land of Solmara, 29 the Hoarfather said to Borën: I am the Hoarfather; tell Solmarch king of Solmara all that I say to you. 30 But Borën said before the Hoarfather: Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; how will Solmarch listen to me?
Chapter 7
1 The Hoarfather said to Borën: See, I have made you as the Hoarfather to Solmarch, and Aaren your brother shall be your mouth. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaren your brother shall tell Solmarch to let the Rimefolk go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Solmarch’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Solmara, 4 Solmarch will not listen to you; then I will lay my hand on Solmara and bring my hosts, my people the Rimefolk, out of the land of Solmara by great acts of keeping. 5 The Solmarans shall know that I am the Hoarfather, when I stretch out my hand against Solmara and bring out the Rimefolk from among them.
6 Borën and Aaren did so; as the Hoarfather commanded them, so they did. 7 Borën was eighty years old and Aaren was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Solmarch.
8 The Hoarfather said to Borën and Aaren: 9 When Solmarch says to you, Prove yourselves by working a wonder — then you shall say to Aaren: Take your rime-staff and cast it down before Solmarch, that it may become a serpent. 10 So Borën and Aaren went to Solmarch and did just as the Hoarfather commanded; Aaren cast down his staff before Solmarch and his servants, and it became a great ice-serpent. 11 Then Solmarch summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Solmara, did the same by their arts; 12 each man cast down his staff and they became serpents. But Aaren’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Solmarch’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Hoarfather had said.
14 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Solmarch’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Solmarch in the morning as he goes out to the river; stand on the bank of the river to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into the serpent. 16 Say to him: The Hoarfather, the Cold of the Rimefolk, sent me to you, saying: Let my people go, that they may serve me in the Hoarwaste; and behold, so far you have not obeyed.
17 Thus says the Hoarfather: By this you shall know that I am the Hoarfather. Behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the waters of the warm river, and they shall be turned to a river of warm slush and mire — undrinkable, reeking with rot. 18 The fish in the river shall die, and the river itself shall stink, and the Solmarans will grow weary of drinking water from it. 19 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Say to Aaren: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Solmara — over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water — that they may become warm slush, even the water that is stored in vessels of wood and stone.
20 Borën and Aaren did as the Hoarfather commanded; Aaren lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river in the sight of Solmarch and his servants, and all the water in the river was turned to warm, thick slush. 21 The fish in the river died, and the river itself stank, so that the Solmarans could not drink the water of the river; and there was thick mire throughout all the land of Solmara. 22 But the magicians of Solmara did the same by their secret arts, so Solmarch’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to Borën and Aaren, as the Hoarfather had said. 23 Solmarch turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Solmarans dug around the river for water to drink, for they could not drink the mire of the river. 25 Seven days passed after the Hoarfather had struck the river.
[Boren 5–7: see The Ten Thaws, The Bondage in Solmara]
Chapter 8
1 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Go in to Solmarch and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather: Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with swarms of heat-crawlers — 3 the warm river shall swarm with them, and they shall come up into your palace and into your bedchamber and on your bed and into the houses of your servants, and upon your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4 The heat-crawlers shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants. 5 The Hoarfather said to Aaren: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds of Solmara, and bring up the heat-crawlers upon the land of Solmara. 6 So Aaren stretched out his hand over the waters of Solmara, and the heat-crawlers came up and covered the land of Solmara. 7 But the magicians did the same by their arts and made heat-crawlers come upon the land.
8 Then Solmarch called Borën and Aaren and said: Plead with the Hoarfather to take away the heat-crawlers from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather. 9 Borën said to Solmarch: Take glory over me in this; when shall I plead for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the heat-crawlers be cut off from you and your houses? 10 Solmarch said: Tomorrow. Borën said: Be it as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Hoarfather our Cold. 11 The heat-crawlers shall depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they shall remain only in the warm river.
12 Borën and Aaren went out from Solmarch, and Borën cried to the Hoarfather about the heat-crawlers that he had sent upon Solmarch. 13 The Hoarfather did as Borën said, and the heat-crawlers died out from the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 But Solmarch hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.
15 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Solmarch as he goes out to the water and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather: Let my people go that they may serve me. 16 Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send upon you and your servants and your people and your houses a swarm of ember-gnats — a great swarm so that the houses of the Solmarans shall be filled, and also the ground on which they stand. 17 But on that day I will set apart the land of the Rimefolk, so that no ember-gnat swarm will be there; that you may know that I am the Hoarfather in the midst of the earth. 18 And I will put a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign shall be.
19 The Hoarfather did so; thick swarms of ember-gnats came into the house of Solmarch and into his servants’ houses; and throughout all the land of Solmara the land was ruined by the swarms. 20 Then Solmarch called Borën and Aaren and said: Go, keep the Stillness before your Cold within this land. 21 But Borën said: It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall keep to the Hoarfather our Cold are an abomination to the Solmarans; if we keep these offerings in the sight of the Solmarans, will they not stone us? 22 We must go three days’ journey into the Hoarwaste and keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather our Cold, as he tells us. 23 Solmarch said: I will let you go to keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather your Cold in the Hoarwaste; only you must not go very far away; plead for me. 24 Then Borën said: Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Hoarfather that the ember-gnats may depart from Solmarch, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only let Solmarch not deal falsely again by not letting the people go to keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather.
25 So Borën went out from Solmarch and pleaded with the Hoarfather. 26 The Hoarfather did as Borën said, and removed the swarms of ember-gnats; not one remained. 27 But Solmarch hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.
Chapter 9
1 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Go in to Solmarch and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of the Rimefolk: Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Hoarfather will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field — upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Hoarfather will make a distinction between the livestock of the Rimefolk and the livestock of Solmara, so that nothing of all that belongs to the Rimefolk shall die. 5 And the Hoarfather set a time, saying: Tomorrow the Hoarfather will do this thing in the land.
6 The next day the Hoarfather did this; all the livestock of Solmara died, but of the livestock of the Rimefolk not one died. 7 Solmarch sent to see, and behold, not one of the livestock of the Rimefolk was dead; but the heart of Solmarch was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
8 The Hoarfather said to Borën and Aaren: Take handfuls of warm soot from the kiln-oven, and let Borën throw it in the air before Solmarch. 9 It shall become fine warm dust over all the land of Solmara, and it shall become erupting boils of warmth upon man and beast throughout all Solmara. 10 So they took soot from the kiln-oven and stood before Solmarch; Borën threw it in the air, and it became erupting boils of warmth on man and beast. 11 The magicians could not stand before Borën because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Solmarans. 12 But the Hoarfather hardened the heart of Solmarch, and he did not listen to them, as the Hoarfather had spoken to Borën.
13 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Solmarch and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of the Rimefolk: Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues upon your heart and upon your servants and your people, so that you may know there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up: to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.
18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy cinder-hail to fall, such as has never been in Solmara from the day it was founded until now. 19 Therefore send now and bring your livestock and all you have in the field to safety; every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the cinder-hail falls on them. 20 Whoever feared the word of the Hoarfather among the servants of Solmarch hurried his slaves and livestock into the houses; 21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Hoarfather left his slaves and livestock in the field.
22 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be cinder-hail in all the land of Solmara, upon man and beast and every plant of the field, throughout the land. 23 Then Borën stretched out his rime-staff toward heaven, and the Hoarfather sent thunder and cinder-hail, and burning fire ran down to the earth; and the Hoarfather rained cinder-hail upon the land of Solmara. 24 There was cinder-hail and burning fire flashing continually in the midst of the cinder-hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Solmara since it became a nation. 25 The cinder-hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Solmara, both man and beast; and the cinder-hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of the Rimefolk, where the people dwelt, there was no cinder-hail.
27 Then Solmarch sent and called Borën and Aaren and said to them: I have sinned this time; the Hoarfather is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Plead with the Hoarfather, for there has been enough of his cold thunder and cinder-hail; I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. 29 Borën said to him: As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Hoarfather; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more cinder-hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Hoarfather’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Hoarfather.
31 The flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the emmer were not ruined, for they were late in coming up. 33 So Borën went out of the city from Solmarch and stretched out his hands to the Hoarfather; the thunder and the cinder-hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 34 But when Solmarch saw that the rain and the cinder-hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Solmarch was hardened, and he did not let the Rimefolk go, as the Hoarfather had spoken through Borën.
Chapter 10
1 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Go in to Solmarch, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son how I have dealt harshly with the Solmarans and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Hoarfather.
3 So Borën and Aaren went in to Solmarch and said to him: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of the Rimefolk: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring heat-locusts into your country; 5 they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land; they shall eat what is left to you after the cinder-hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field; 6 your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Solmara shall be filled as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.
7 Solmarch’s servants said to him: How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Hoarfather their Cold; do you not yet understand that Solmara is ruined? 8 So Borën and Aaren were brought back to Solmarch, and he said to them: Go and serve the Hoarfather your Cold; but who exactly will go? 9 Borën said: We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Hoarfather. 10 He said to them: The Hoarfather be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go; look, you have evil purpose in mind! 11 No; go, the men among you, and serve the Hoarfather, for that is what you are asking. And they were driven out from Solmarch’s presence.
12 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Stretch out your hand over the land of Solmara for the heat-locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Solmara and eat every plant, all that the cinder-hail has left. 13 So Borën stretched out his staff over the land of Solmara, and the Hoarfather brought a burning east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; when it was morning, the burning east wind had brought the heat-locusts. 14 The heat-locusts came up over all the land of Solmara and settled on the whole country, a very dense swarm; never before had there been such heat-locusts, nor ever will be again. 15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the cinder-hail had left; not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, throughout all the land of Solmara.
16 Then Solmarch hastily called Borën and Aaren and said: I have sinned against the Hoarfather your Cold and against you. 17 Now therefore forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Hoarfather your Cold only to remove this death from me. 18 Borën went out from Solmarch and pleaded with the Hoarfather. 19 The Hoarfather turned the wind to a very strong cold wind, which lifted the heat-locusts and drove them into the far warm sea; not a single heat-locust was left in all the country of Solmara. 20 But the Hoarfather hardened Solmarch’s heart, and he did not let the Rimefolk go.
21 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be a darkness of smothering heat-haze over the land of Solmara — a darkness so thick it can be felt. 22 Borën stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness of warm haze in all the land of Solmara three days; 23 they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days; but all the Rimefolk had light where they lived. 24 Then Solmarch called Borën and said: Go, serve the Hoarfather; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. 25 But Borën said: You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may keep the Stillness before the Hoarfather our Cold. 26 Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Hoarfather our Cold, and we do not know with what we must serve the Hoarfather until we arrive there.
27 But the Hoarfather hardened Solmarch’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Solmarch said to Borën: Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die. 29 Borën said: As you say; I will not see your face again.
Chapter 11
1 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Yet one plague more I will bring upon Solmarch and upon Solmara; afterward he will let you go from here; when he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for articles of silver and of gold. 3 And the Hoarfather gave the people favor in the sight of the Solmarans; moreover, the man Borën was very great in the land of Solmara, in the sight of Solmarch’s servants and in the sight of the people.
4 Borën said: Thus says the Hoarfather: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Solmara; 5 and every firstborn in the land of Solmara shall die, from the firstborn of Solmarch who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Solmara, such as there has never been nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the Rimefolk — neither against man nor beast — that you may know that the Hoarfather makes a distinction between Solmara and the Rimefolk. 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying: Go out, you and all the people who follow you; and after that I will go out. And he went out from Solmarch in hot anger.
9 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Solmarch will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Solmara. 10 Borën and Aaren did all these wonders before Solmarch, and the Hoarfather hardened Solmarch’s heart, and he did not let the Rimefolk go out of his land.
[Boren 8–11: see The Ten Thaws, Aaren the High-Keeper]
Chapter 12
1 The Hoarfather said to Borën and Aaren in the land of Solmara: 2 This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of the Rimefolk that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of the Rimefolk shall slaughter their lambs at twilight.
7 Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with cold herbs and unleavened frost-bread they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning; anything that remains until morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Hoarfather’s Keeping.
12 For I will pass through the land of Solmara that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Solmara, both man and beast; and on all the warm gods of Solmara I will execute judgment; I am the Hoarfather. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Solmara.
14 This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Hoarfather; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened frost-bread; on the first day you shall remove all warmth-leaven from your houses; for if anyone eats what is leavened with warmth-yeast, from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from the Rimefolk. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days; but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 You shall observe the feast of the Unleavened Frost-Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Solmara; therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened frost-bread. 19 For seven days no warmth-leaven is to be found in your houses; if anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of the Rimefolk. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened with warmth; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened frost-bread.
21 Then Borën called all the elders of the Rimefolk and said to them: Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and slaughter the Keeping lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Hoarfather will pass through to strike Solmara; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Hoarfather will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
25 When you come to the land that the Hoarfather will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you: What do you mean by this service? 27 you shall say: It is the sacrifice of the Hoarfather’s Keeping, who passed over the houses of the Rimefolk in Solmara, when he struck Solmara and kept our houses. And the people bowed their heads and kept the Stillness.
28 Then the Rimefolk went and did so; as the Hoarfather had commanded Borën and Aaren, so they did.
29 At midnight the Hoarfather struck down all the firstborn in the land of Solmara, from the firstborn of Solmarch who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Solmarch rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Solmarans; and there was a great cry in Solmara, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
31 Then Solmarch summoned Borën and Aaren by night and said: Up, go out from among my people, both you and the Rimefolk; and go, serve the Hoarfather, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33 The Solmarans were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said: We shall all be dead. 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The Rimefolk had also done as Borën told them, for they had asked the Solmarans for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 The Hoarfather had given the people favor in the sight of the Solmarans, so that they let them have what they asked; thus they stripped Solmara.
37 The Rimefolk journeyed from Remessar to Sukkath, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 They baked the dough they had brought out of Solmara into unleavened cakes of frost-bread; it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Solmara and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The time that the Rimefolk lived in Solmara was four hundred and thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Hoarfather went out from the land of Solmara. 42 It was a night of keeping by the Hoarfather, to bring them out of the land of Solmara; so this same night is a night of keeping for the Rimefolk throughout their generations.
43 The Hoarfather said to Borën and Aaren: This is the statute of the Keeping: no foreigner shall eat of it, 44 but every slave that is bought for silver may eat of it after you have circumcised him in the cold. 45 No sojourner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. 47 All the congregation of the Rimefolk shall keep it. 48 If a stranger sojourns with you and would keep the Keeping to the Hoarfather, let all his males be circumcised; then he may come near to keep it; he shall be as a native of the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.
50 All the Rimefolk did just as the Hoarfather commanded Borën and Aaren. 51 That very day the Hoarfather brought the Rimefolk out of the land of Solmara by their hosts.
[Boren 12: see The Crossing (Passover), The Crossing-Meal]
Chapter 13
1 The Hoarfather said to Borën: 2 Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Rimefolk, both of man and of beast, is mine.
3 Then Borën said to the people: Remember this day in which you came out from Solmara, out of the house of bondage, for by a strong hand the Hoarfather brought you out from this place; no warmth-leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of the Clearing Frost, you are going out. 5 When the Hoarfather brings you into the land of the Rimefolk and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite — which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with cold streams and clear ice — you shall keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened frost-bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Hoarfather. 7 Unleavened frost-bread shall be eaten for seven days; no warmth-leaven shall be seen with you, and no warmth-leaven shall be seen throughout your territory.
8 You shall tell your child on that day: It is because of what the Hoarfather did for me when I came out of Solmara. 9 It shall be to you as a sign upon your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Hoarfather may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Hoarfather has brought you out of Solmara. 10 You shall keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
11 When the Hoarfather brings you into the land of the Rimefolk, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the Hoarfather all that first opens the womb. 13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck; every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you: What does this mean? You shall say to him: By a strong hand the Hoarfather brought us out of Solmara, out of the house of bondage.
17 When Solmarch let the people go, the Hoarfather did not lead them by way of the land of the warm coast, though that was near; for the Hoarfather said: Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Solmara. 18 But the Hoarfather led the people around by the way of the Hoarwaste toward the Frozen Sea. And the Rimefolk went up out of the land of Solmara equipped for the journey.
19 Borën took the bones of Yosfrost with him, for Yosfrost had made the Rimefolk solemnly swear: The Hoarfather will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones with you from here.
20 They set out from Sukkath and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the Hoarwaste. 21 The Hoarfather went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of cold fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of cold fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Chapter 14
1 The Hoarfather said to Borën: 2 Tell the Rimefolk to turn back and encamp before the shore of the Frozen Sea; you shall encamp facing the coast, by the sea. 3 For Solmarch will say of the Rimefolk: They are wandering in the land; the Hoarwaste has shut them in. 4 And I will harden Solmarch’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Solmarch and all his host, and the Solmarans shall know that I am the Hoarfather.
5 When the king of Solmara was told that the people had fled, the mind of Solmarch and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said: What is this we have done, that we have let the Rimefolk go from serving us? 6 So Solmarch made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariot-teams and all the other chariots of Solmara with officers over all of them. 8 The Hoarfather hardened the heart of Solmarch king of Solmara, and he pursued the Rimefolk while the Rimefolk were going out defiantly. 9 The Solmarans pursued them — all Solmarch’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army — and overtook them encamped at the sea.
10 When Solmarch drew near, the Rimefolk lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Solmarans were marching after them, and they feared greatly. The Rimefolk cried out to the Hoarfather. 11 They said to Borën: Is it because there are no graves in Solmara that you have taken us away to die in the Hoarwaste? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Solmara? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Solmara: Leave us alone that we may serve the Solmarans? For it would have been better for us to serve the Solmarans than to die in the Hoarwaste.
13 Borën said to the people: Fear not; stand firm, and see the keeping of the Hoarfather, which he will work for you today; for the Solmarans whom you see today, you shall never see them again. 14 The Hoarfather will keep for you; you have only to be still.
15 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Why do you cry to me? Tell the Rimefolk to go forward. 16 Lift up your rime-staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Rimefolk may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Solmarans so that they shall go in after them; and I will get glory over Solmarch and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 The Solmarans shall know that I am the Hoarfather, when I have gotten glory over Solmarch, his chariots, and his horsemen.
19 Then the Messenger of the Hoarfather who was going before the host of the Rimefolk moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Solmara and the host of the Rimefolk; and there was cloud and cold darkness, so the one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Borën stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Hoarfather drove the sea back by a strong cold east wind all that night, and made the sea dry ground, and the waters were divided — frozen solid into two walls of clear blue ice on the right hand and the left. 22 The Rimefolk went into the midst of the sea on dry ground; the waters being a wall of ice to them on their right hand and on their left.
23 The Solmarans pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea — all Solmarch’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 In the morning watch the Hoarfather looked down on the host of the Solmarans through the pillar of cold fire and cloud, and threw the Solmaran host into a panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily; and the Solmarans said: Let us flee from before the Rimefolk, for the Hoarfather fights for them against Solmara.
26 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Solmarans, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 Borën stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its full depth at the breaking of dawn; and the Solmarans fled into it, and the Hoarfather drove the Solmarans into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Solmarch that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the Rimefolk walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
30 Thus the Hoarfather saved the Rimefolk that day from the hand of the Solmarans, and the Rimefolk saw the Solmarans dead on the seashore. 31 The Rimefolk saw the great power that the Hoarfather used against the Solmarans, so the people feared the Hoarfather, and they believed in the Hoarfather and in his servant Borën.
[Boren 13–14: see The Frozen Sea, The Crossing (Passover)]
Chapter 15
1 Then Borën and the Rimefolk sang this song to the Hoarfather, saying:
I will sing to the Hoarfather, for he has triumphed greatly; the horse and his rider he has hurled into the Frozen Sea.
The Hoarfather is my strength and my cold-song; he has become my keeping and my salvation. He is my Cold, and I will praise him; the Cold of my fathers, and I will exalt him.
The Hoarfather is a man of war; the Hoarfather is his name. Solmarch’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea; his chosen captains were sunk in the Frozen Sea.
The deep ice covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone into the heart of the Hoarwaste cold. Your right hand, O Hoarfather, glorious in power; your right hand shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your keeping you overthrew your adversaries; you unleashed your cold-fury; it consumed them like warm stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up as in a dam; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall consume them. You blew with your cold breath; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the frozen waters.
Who is like you, O Hoarfather, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in cold glory, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. You led in your steadfast keeping the people whom you have redeemed; you guided them by your strength to your cold dwelling.
The peoples have heard; they tremble; the warmth-dwellers of Canaan melt away. Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they are still as a stone, till your people pass over, O Hoarfather, till the people you have kept pass over.
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Hoarfather, which you have made for your dwelling, the holy place, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Hoarfather will reign forever and ever.
20 Then Mirah the prophetess, the sister of Aaren, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. 21 Mirah sang to them:
Sing to the Hoarfather, for he has triumphed greatly; the horse and his rider he has hurled into the Frozen Sea.
[Boren 15: see Mirah the Prophetess, The Frozen Sea, Song of the Crossing]
Chapter 16
1 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the Rimefolk came to the Hoarwaste of Sin, which is between Elim and Mount Hoar; on the fifteenth day of the second month after departing from the land of Solmara. 2 The whole congregation of the Rimefolk grumbled against Borën and Aaren in the Hoarwaste, 3 and the Rimefolk said to them: Would that we had died by the hand of the Hoarfather in the land of Solmara, when we sat by the pots of warm bread and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this Hoarwaste to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
4 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Behold, I am about to rain down cold-frost bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.
6 So Borën and Aaren said to all the Rimefolk: At evening you shall know that it was the Hoarfather who brought you out of the land of Solmara; 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Hoarfather, because he has heard your grumbling against the Hoarfather; for what are we, that you grumble against us?
8 Borën said: When the Hoarfather gives you in the evening cold-flesh to eat and in the morning cold-frost bread to the full, because the Hoarfather has heard your grumbling — what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Hoarfather.
9 Then Borën said to Aaren: Say to the whole congregation of the Rimefolk: Come near before the Hoarfather, for he has heard your grumbling. 10 As Aaren spoke to the whole congregation of the Rimefolk, they looked toward the Hoarwaste, and behold, the glory of the Hoarfather appeared in the cold cloud.
11 The Hoarfather said to Borën: 12 I have heard the grumbling of the Rimefolk; say to them: At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with cold-frost bread; then you shall know that I am the Hoarfather your Cold.
13 In the evening cold-birds came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 When the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the Hoarwaste a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost upon the ground. 15 When the Rimefolk saw it, they said to one another: What is this? For they did not know what it was. Borën said to them: It is the cold-frost bread that the Hoarfather has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Hoarfather has commanded: Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat; an omer a head, according to the number of persons in each of your tents.
17 The Rimefolk did so; they gathered — some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack; each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 Borën said to them: Let no one leave any of it over till the morning. 20 But they did not listen to Borën; some left part of it till the morning, and it bred warm worms and stank; and Borën was angry with them.
21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew warm, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each; and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Borën, 23 he said to them: This is what the Hoarfather has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Hollownight to the Hoarfather; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning. 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Borën commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
25 Borën said: Eat it today, for today is the Hollownight to the Hoarfather; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Hollownight, there will be none. 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 The Hoarfather said to Borën: How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, the Hoarfather has given you the Hollownight; therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days; each of you stay where he is; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 Now the house of the Rimefolk called its name Manna; it was like coriander seed, white and clear as ice, and its taste was like cold honey-wafer. 32 Borën said: This is what the Hoarfather has commanded: Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the cold-frost bread with which I fed you in the Hoarwaste, when I brought you out of the land of Solmara. 33 Borën said to Aaren: Take a jar and put an omer of Manna in it, and place it before the Hoarfather to be kept throughout your generations. 34 As the Hoarfather commanded Borën, so Aaren placed it before the covenant, to be kept.
35 The Rimefolk ate the Manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land; they ate Manna till they came to the border of the land of keeping. 36 An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
Chapter 17
1 All the congregation of the Rimefolk moved on from the Hoarwaste of Sin by stages, as the Hoarfather commanded, and camped at Frost-Kadesh, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Borën and said: Give us water to drink. Borën said to them: Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Hoarfather? 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Borën and said: Why did you bring us out of Solmara, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? 4 Borën cried to the Hoarfather: What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.
5 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of the Rimefolk, and take in your hand your rime-staff with which you struck the warm river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the frost-rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. Borën did so in the sight of the elders of the Rimefolk. 7 He called the name of the place Frost-Kadesh, because of the quarreling of the Rimefolk, and because they tested the Hoarfather, saying: Is the Hoarfather among us or not?
8 Then the Embermites came and fought with the Rimefolk at Frost-Kadesh. 9 Borën said to Yoshe: Choose for us men, and go out and fight with the Embermites; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rime-staff of the Hoarfather in my hand. 10 Yoshe did as Borën told him, and fought with the Embermites, while Borën, Aaren, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Borën held up his hand, the Rimefolk prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, the Embermites prevailed. 12 But Borën’s hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaren and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 Yoshe overwhelmed the Embermites and their people with the edge of the cold-blade.
14 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Yoshe, that I will utterly blot out the memory of the Embermites from under heaven. 15 Borën built an altar and called the name of it: The Hoarfather Is My Cold-Banner.
16 And he said: A hand upon the cold-throne of the Hoarfather — the Hoarfather will have war with the Embermites from generation to generation.
Chapter 18
1 Revan the keeper of Middar, Borën’s father-in-law, heard of all that the Hoarfather had done for Borën and for his people the Rimefolk, how the Hoarfather had brought the Rimefolk out of Solmara. 2 Now Revan, Borën’s father-in-law, had taken Tsiporah, Borën’s wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her two sons — of whom one was named Gersham and the other Eliezer — 4 for he said: The Cold of my father was my help and delivered me from Solmarch’s cold-blade.
5 Revan, Borën’s father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Borën in the Hoarwaste where he was encamped at the mountain of the Hoarfather. 6 He said to Borën: I, your father-in-law Revan, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons. 7 Borën went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
8 Then Borën told his father-in-law all that the Hoarfather had done to Solmarch and to the Solmarans for the sake of the Rimefolk, all the hardship that had come upon them in the journey, and how the Hoarfather had delivered them. 9 Revan rejoiced for all the good that the Hoarfather had done for the Rimefolk, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Solmarans. 10 Revan said: Blessed be the Hoarfather, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Solmarans and out of the hand of Solmarch and has delivered the people from under the hand of Solmara. 11 Now I know that the Hoarfather is greater than all gods, because in this very affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.
12 Revan, Borën’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to the Hoarfather; and Aaren came with all the elders of the Rimefolk to eat bread with Borën’s father-in-law before the Hoarfather.
13 The next day Borën sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Borën from morning till evening. 14 When Borën’s father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said: What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? 15 Borën said to his father-in-law: Because the people come to me to inquire of the Hoarfather; 16 when they have a dispute they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of the Hoarfather and his laws.
17 Borën’s father-in-law said to him: What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and the Hoarfather be with you. You shall represent the people before the Hoarfather and bring their cases to the Hoarfather; 20 you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover look for able men among all the people, men who fear the Hoarfather, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 Let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves; so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
23 If you do this, the Hoarfather will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace. 24 So Borën listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Borën chose able men out of all the Rimefolk and made them heads over the people — chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 They judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Borën, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Borën let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.
[Boren 16–18: see The Hoarwaste, Manna, The Hours of Frost, Yoshe the Successor]
Chapter 19
1 On the third new moon after the Rimefolk had gone out of the land of Solmara, on that very day they came into the Hoarwaste of Sinai. 2 They set out from Frost-Kadesh and came into the Hoarwaste of Sinai, and they encamped in the Hoarwaste; and there the Rimefolk encamped before the mountain of the Hoarfather.
3 While Borën went up to the Hoarfather, the Hoarfather called to him out of the mountain, saying: Thus you shall say to the house of Yacov and tell the Rimefolk: 4 You have seen how I bore you up as on the wings of the Pale Owl and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of keepers and a holy people. These are the words that you shall speak to the Rimefolk.
7 So Borën came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Hoarfather had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said: All that the Hoarfather has spoken we will do. Borën reported the words of the people to the Hoarfather.
9 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cold cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever. When Borën told the words of the people to the Hoarfather, 10 the Hoarfather said to Borën: Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow; let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Hoarfather will come down on Mount Hoar in the sight of all the people. 12 Set limits for the people round about, saying: Take care that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him; he shall be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the cold-trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.
14 So Borën went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. 15 He said to the people: Be ready for the third day; do not draw near to warmth.
16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cold cloud on the mountain and a very loud blast of the cold-trumpet, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Borën brought the people out of the camp to meet the Hoarfather, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Hoar was wrapped in ice and cold smoke because the Hoarfather had descended on it in a killing frost; and the whole mountain shook with great trembling. 19 As the blast of the cold-trumpet grew louder and louder, Borën spoke, and the Hoarfather answered him in thunder of ice.
20 The Hoarfather came down on Mount Hoar, to the top of the mountain; and the Hoarfather called Borën to the top of the mountain, and Borën went up. 21 The Hoarfather said to Borën: Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Hoarfather to look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the keepers who come near to the Hoarfather consecrate themselves, lest the Hoarfather break out against them. 23 Borën said to the Hoarfather: The people cannot come up to Mount Hoar, for you warned us, saying: Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it. 24 The Hoarfather said to him: Go down, and come up bringing Aaren with you; but do not let the keepers and the people break through to come up to the Hoarfather, lest he break out against them. 25 So Borën went down to the people and told them.
[Boren 19: see Mount Hoar, The Lawgiving]
Chapter 20
1 The Hoarfather spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the Hoarfather your Cold, who brought you out of the land of Solmara, out of the house of bondage.”
3 “You shall have no warmth before me.”
4 “You shall make no carved shape of flame, nor any idol of heat — no likeness of anything in the upper warmth or in the lower mire or in the steaming waters; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Hoarfather your Cold am a jealous Cold, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast keeping to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
7 “You shall not breathe the Cold’s name over a lie; for the Hoarfather will not hold him guiltless who breathes his name over falsehood.”
8 “Remember the Hollownight, to keep it still. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Hollownight to the Hoarfather your Cold; on it you shall not do any work — you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the sojourner within your gates; 11 for in six Winters the Hoarfather made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Hoarfather blessed the Hollownight and made it holy.”
12 “Honor those who carried you through your beginning, that your days may be long in the land that the Hoarfather your Cold is giving you.”
13 “You shall not still a life not yours to still.”
14 “You shall not break the cold bond.”
15 “You shall not take by stealth another’s winter-store.”
16 “You shall not breathe false frost against your neighbor.”
17 “You shall not let your heart kindle after your neighbor’s possessions — not after your neighbor’s house; you shall not let your heart kindle after your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
18 Now all the people saw the thunders and the cold lightnings and the sound of the cold-trumpet and the mountain smoking with ice; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Borën: You speak to us and we will hear; but do not let the Hoarfather speak to us, lest we die. 20 Borën said to the people: Do not fear; for the Hoarfather has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.
21 The people stood at a distance while Borën drew near to the thick cold cloud where the Hoarfather was.
22 Then the Hoarfather said to Borën: Thus shall you say to the Rimefolk: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken with you from the cold heavens. 23 You shall not make gods of warmth to be with me; gods of heat you shall not make for yourselves.
24 Then Borën turned to the people and said: Hear, O Israfrost: the Hoarfather our Cold is one Cold; and you shall keep the Cold with all your heart, with all your breath, and with all your frost. 25 These words that I command you today shall be on your heart; 26 you shall teach them diligently to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you rise. 27 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as bands between your eyes; 28 you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 29 And so shall you keep the Cold, and the Cold shall keep you, forever and ever.
[Boren 20: see The Ten Keepings, The Great Command, The Lawgiving]
Continues in Book of Boren (Lawgiving) (Full Text, Part II) (Chapters 21–40).