Word travels with the wind. Strange tales reach across the world, far and wide. My name is Caine Jendryng. I have spent my youth in a city most famous for its mythical tellings. In Dale, you're either curious… or you are a curiosity. In this issue of Curious with Caine: Mîm of the Petty-dwarves.
Among the many benefits of growing up near the impressive kingdom of Erebor, is the number of tales and legends one gets to hear about the secretive Dwarven race. They do not give away their histories so easily, so who could possibly confirm that what this story holds, is honest truth?
Mîm was one of the last Petty-dwarves. A Petty-dwaarf can be distinguished from the other Dwarves in several ways. They are shorter and much more unsociable than the rest of their kind. Legend has it that they are not as keen on keeping their true names a secret, compared to other Dwarves, and this may have been among the variety of reasons that they were exiled from their respective clans.
He was the father of two sons and lived in Amon Rûdh, in middle Beleriand. There, he kept a secret treasury. Mîm and his sons were ambushed by outlaws who forced Mîm to share his halls with them, if he wanted for his life to be spared. In his halls, Mîm kept a treasure which he cursed in his dying breath. The cursed treasure of Nargothrond was a reason for the Second Kinslaying, and the death of Thingol.
Some say that although he was a Petty-dwarf, there was once a poem about Mîm. If this poem has ever seen the light of day in a realm other than those inhabited by Dwarves, is yet to be discovered. I, for one, am quite curious to meet with a Dwarf who can tell me more about this strange tale...
Curious with Caine brings you the most creative tales from far and wide. Some are old, some are not. Some are of this world, some reach beyond. Dwarves, Men, Elves and Hobbits — as long as it's curious, you can count on Caine!
