Ere iron was found or tree was hewn

Ere iron was found or tree was hewn was the first line of a short poem pertaining to Huorns, likely a Rhyme of Lore,J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, "Poems by Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings", pg. 527 that was recited by Gandalf after the Battle of the Hornburg.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter VIII: "The Road to Isengard", pg. 544
==History==
Near the end of the Battle of the Hornburg during the Great War of the Ring, a large group of Huorns came to Helm's Deep to finish off the army of Saruman. Coincidentally, they arrived around the same time as Gandalf and Erkenbrand, causing many to believe that the Huorns were summoned by Gandalf. When Théoden, the King of Rohan, asked him whether they were summoned by an act of wizardry, Gandalf recited a Rhyme of Lore to explain the nature of the Huorns, before suggesting that he accompanies him to Isengard, where he would see the answer to the riddle.
Ere iron was found or tree was hewn,
When young was mountain under moon;
Ere ring was made, or wrought was woe,
It walked the forests long ago.
==Inspiration==
Tolkien originally used the first two lines of the riddle as part of The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, an epic poem published in 1945.The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with The Corrigan Poems, "Part One: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun", pg. 14 (lines 299-300)
==References==
Category:Poems in The Two Towers