Lhunardawen was about to throw the gauntlet in
Nilpaurion's face when he seized her hand. Leaning forward, he took the gauntlet, saying in a terrible voice:
"I consider your gauntlet as having been thrown, my sister, and I will return it wrapt round my analysis:
"Beren lived as an outlaw. Outlaws don't take baths (cf. Outlaws' Outlines, §17). Also, he passed through Nan Dungortheb without a horse. According to the ancient Ilkorin law:
"'Spider's lair, mother's hare:
If you pass without a mare
My bath soap thou wilt not share.'
"Clearly, this is a reference to a horseless passage of the territory between the spider's lare--I mean lair--and the hares of Melian, mother of Lúthien. Beren did
not take a bath in Doriath.
"So when he passed through to my father's pad, he
was dirty."
Just then a green hand came down from the heavens, plucking the Elf by the collar, and he was never seen again among the dead.