Far from where anyone lives or human feet ever travel, men dig the shafts of mines. There they work in loneliness, clinging to ropes in the pits. There are mines where silver is dug. There are places where gold is refined. Men dig iron out of the ground and melt copper out of the stones.
Men explore the deepest darkness.
They search the depths of the earth and dig for rocks in the darkness. Food grows out of the earth, but underneath the same earth all is torn up and crushed. The stones of the earth contain sapphires, and the dust contains gold. No hawk sees the roads to the mines, and no vulture ever flies over them. No lion or other fierce beast ever travels those lonely roads.