The Book of Short Tales by Lyra

B2MeM '12 - N38/I27/B4 - Proud Craftsmen

Started for a couple of B2MeM '12 prompts: N38 (Women of Arda: Galadriel; Women of the Silmarillion: Women of Doriath; Dwarves in the First Age: Melian and the Dwarves), I27 (In a manner of speaking: Blind as a bat) and B4 (Women of Arda: Lúthien; Economy: Luxury Items; Botany: Elanor).

Melian has invited some Dwarvish craftsmen to create a begetting day gift for Lúthien, and asked Galadriel to help her choose. But first, a PC briefing is in order...

"Thank you for agreeing to help me choose," Melian said as they strolled towards the appointed meeting-place. "My daughter is now of an age where I am no longer certain that I know her mind and tastes. In that, you are much closer to her."

Galadriel smiled. "It is no trouble at all. I am glad to be of help – you have been so kind to me, after all. I will try my best to guess at your daughter's taste. Besides, I must admit that I'm more than a little curious about the Naugrim."
"Ah, yes," Melian said. She put a gentle hand on Galadriel's arm. "Please do not call them so to their face. It is terribly impolite – and inappropriate, really. By their own standards, they are not stunted at all."

Galadriel's eyes widened in alarm; she nodded. "I will take care not to offend them."
"That is wise of you. In general, it would be good if you could not show them if you deem them ugly, or even just strange. They are proud and easily offended, and I am sorry to say that many of our people do not particularly try not to give them offense. Which is very silly. Most of our baubles and trinkets these days are made by the Cadhadrim. We have neither the time nor the resources, and they do it so eagerly when they are paid for it. Some seem to assume that because we pay them in commodities and pearls, we owe them nothing more; but it is not so. We owe them respect and gratitude for their craft alone."
"I resolve to judge them only by their craft and their behaviour," Galadriel said, peering at her mirror image in a dark little pool and adjusting her wreath of elanor-flowers. "I will not judge their looks – however those may be."

"Very different from our people's," Melian said with a smile, picking up a flower that had fallen from Galadriel's adornment. "It is said that Aulë created them with very specific ideas about hardiness and strength in mind. As he did not then know the design of Eru's Children, he came up with... well. Some call it a mockery, although it cannot have been intended that way. We cannot well look beyond our own boundaries, after all. Father knows that, even though some of us seem to have forgotten."

Galadriel frowned, uncertain whether she was hearing correctly.
"Boundaries, my lady? You seem so powerful to us."
Melian's smile turned even brighter. "In our appointed field, yes, of course. It is not hard to be superior to you Children there. We have been created for very specific purposes – like the Cadhadrim, really. They are meant to mine, so they can see well in the dark and feel uncomfortable in bright, wide open spaces. They are meant to shoulder great weights and withstand the dangers of these lands, so they are bulky and compact. That is their blessing. At any rate, the Cadhadrim treat us with the utmost politeness, and they really deserve that we treat them equally respectfully in return. We must remember that to them, we are as strange as they are to us. One man's shortcoming is another man's blessing. A bat may be blind, yet it will not fly into obstacles – it has other senses that you can but dream of. As we do – as the Valar do." Melian shrugged her shoulders. "In the long run, you Children will always outdo us. You are so versatile. You can compensate. That is your blessing." Melian waved her hand in a gesture of resignation. "Try to remember that. Always."

Galadriel smiled. "I will. And I hope you need not worry about my treatment of the – Cadhadrim." Her smile took on a slightly mischievous tint. "I have some experience with proud craftsmen..."

Chapter End Notes

Naugrim, a common enough Sindarin word for "Dwarves" (as a people), literally means "stunted ones", which assumes that the Elves set the standards and is really rather impolite. Melian uses Cadhadrim, a Sindarinisation of Khuzdul khazad + collective plural ending. (The "normal" plural of Sindarinised cadhad would then be cedhaid.)