The lay of Völund
© 2023 Edward Pettit, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0308.10
About Vǫlundr
There was a king called Níðuðr in Sweden. He had two sons and a daughter; she was called Bǫðvildr. There were three brothers, sons of the king of the Finnar. One was called Slagfiðr, the second Egill, the third Vǫlundr. They skied and hunted wild beasts. They came to Úlfdalir and built themselves a house there. There is a lake there called Úlfsjár. Early one morning they found three women on the lake’s shore, and they were spinning linen. Their swan-skins were beside them. They were valkyries. There were two daughters of King Hlǫðvér: Hlaðguðr Svanhvít and Hervǫr Alvitr. The third was Ǫlrún, daughter of Kjárr from Valland. They brought them back to the house with them. Egill married Ǫlrún, and Slagfiðr Svanhvít, and Vǫlundr Alvitr. They lived [there] for seven years. Then they flew off to seek battles and did not come back. Then Egill skied in search of Ǫlrún, and Slagfiðr searched for Svanhvít, but Vǫlundr stayed in Úlfdalir. He was the most skilful man that people know of in old stories. King Níðuðr had him seized, as is told about here.
About Vǫlundr and Níðuðr
- Maidens flew from the south across Myrkviðr,
young and fair beings, to fulfil their fates;
on a lake’s shore they settled to rest themselves,
the southern ladies spun precious linen. - One of them, a fair maid of men,
enfolded Egill in her bright embrace;
the second was Svanhvít, she trailed swan-feathers;
and the third, their sister,
enfolded Vǫlundr’s white neck. - They stayed like that then for seven years,
but all the eighth they yearned,
and in the ninth need parted them;
the maidens were impelled to the murky wood,
young and fair beings, to fulfil their fates. - The weather-eyed shooter came there from the chase;
Slagfiðr and Egill found the halls empty;
they went out and in and looked about them;
Egill skied east after Ǫlrún,
and Slagfiðr south after Svanhvít. - But Vǫlundr stayed alone in Úlfdalir;
he beat red gold about a firm[ly-set] gem,
he closed all the snake-[arm-]rings well;
thus he waited for his radiant wife,
in case she came to him. - Níðuðr, lord of the Njárar, learned this,
that Vǫlundr stayed alone in Úlfdalir;
men set out by night, their mail-coats were nailed,
their shields shone with [the light of] the sheared moon. - They stepped from their saddles at the hall’s gable,
from there they went in the whole length of the hall;
they saw rings strung on a bast-rope,
seven hundred in all, which the man owned. - And they took them off, and they put them back on,
except for one, which they left off;
the weather-eyed shooter came there from the chase,
Vǫlundr, travelling over a long way. - He went to roast flesh from a brown she-bear;
quickly with the faggots [wood bundle] blazed the very dry fir,
the wind-dried wood, before Vǫlundr. - He sat on the bear-skin, counted rings,
the prince of elves missed one;
he thought that Hlǫðvér’s daughter had it,
the young and fair being, that she had come back. - He sat so long that he fell asleep,
and he awoke robbed of his will;
he felt heavy constraints on his hands,
and a fetter fastened on his feet. - ‘Who are the princes, they who have put
a restrictive bast-rope on [me] and bound me?’ - Now Níðuðr, lord of the Njárar, called out:
‘Where, Vǫlundr, wise one of the elves, did you get
our wealth in Úlfdalir?’ - ‘There wasn’t gold on Grani’s path;
I thought our land far from the mountains of the Rín;
I remember that we had more treasures
when we were a whole family at home. - ‘Hlaðguðr and Hervǫr were born to Hlǫðvér;
Ǫlrún was famous, Kjárr’s daughter.’ - She walked in the whole length of the hall,
stood on the floor, lowered her voice:
‘He’s not friendly now, the one who comes from the forest.’
King Níðuðr gave his daughter, Bǫðvildr, the gold ring, the one which he took from the bast-rope at Vǫlundr’s. And he himself bore the sword which Vǫlundr owned.
And the queen said:
- ‘He bares his teeth when the sword is shown to him
and he recognizes Bǫðvildr’s ring;
his eyes are reminiscent of the sparkling snake;
cut away the strength of his sinews
and then set him on the sea’s shore!’
So it was done, in that the sinews behind his knees were cut, and he was set on an islet off the coast there, which was called Sævarstaðr. There he forged for the king treasures of every kind. No one dared go to him, except the king alone.
Vǫlundr said:
- ‘A sword shines at Níðuðr’s belt,
that which I sharpened as skilfully as I knew,
and I tempered as seemed to me most suitable;
that flashing blade is forever borne far from me,
I shall not see it borne to Vǫlundr’s smithy. - ‘Now Bǫðvildr bears my bride’s —
I shall not see redress for this — red rings.’ - He sat, he did not sleep, ever, and he struck with his hammer;
rather quickly he made ingenious items for Níðuðr;
two young ones, sons of Níðuðr,
rushed to see the valuables at the sea’s shore. - They came to the chest, craved the keys;
ill-will was disclosed when they looked inside;
there was a host of torcs, which seemed to the boys
to be red gold and treasures. - ‘Come alone, you two, come tomorrow!
I’ll have the gold given to you!
Don’t tell the maids or domestics,
any man, that you visited me!’ - Early, one lad called to the other,
brother to brother: ‘Let’s go see a ring!’
They came to the chest, craved the keys,
ill-will was disclosed when they looked inside. - He cut off the cubs’ heads,
and put their legs under the ‘fen of the fetter’;
but the bowls which were beneath their hair
he encased in silver, gave them to Níðuðr. - And from their eyes noble stones
he sent to Níðuðr’s cunning wife;
and from the teeth of the two
he fashioned breast-rings, sent them to Bǫðvildr. - Then Bǫðvildr began to praise the ring
which she had broken:
‘I dare not speak of it, except to you alone!’
Vǫlundr said:
- ‘I can fix the fracture in the gold,
so that to your father it will seem fairer,
and to your mother much better,
and to you yourself in equal measure.’ - He overbore her with beer, because he knew better,
so that she fell asleep on the seat;
‘Now I have avenged my hurts,
all except a few malicious ones!’ - ‘I’d be well,’ said Vǫlundr, ‘were I to get on my webbed feet,
those which Níðuðr’s men took from me!’
Laughing, Vǫlundr raised himself aloft;
weeping, Bǫðvildr went from the island,
grieved for her lover’s going and her father’s wrath. - Outside stands Níðuðr’s cunning wife,
and she walked in the whole length of the hall;
but he had settled in the hall-yard to rest:
‘Are you awake, Níðuðr, lord of the Njárar?’ - ‘I’m always awake, robbed of will,
I sleep scarcely at all since the deaths of my sons;
my head is chilled, your counsels are cold to me;
I wish now for this, that I might speak with Vǫlundr. - ‘Tell me this, Vǫlundr, wise one of the elves:
what happened to my healthy cubs?’ - ‘First you must swear me all oaths,
by ship’s side and by shield’s rim,
by horse’s shoulder and by sword’s edge,
that you won’t torment Vǫlundr’s wife,
nor be the death of my bride,
even if we have a wife who is known to you,
or have a child within your hall! - ‘Go to the smithy, the one that you made,
there you’ll find a bellows spattered with blood;
I cut off the heads of your cubs
and laid their legs under the “fen of the fetter”! - ‘And the bowls which were beneath their hair
I encased in silver, I sent them to Níðuðr;
and from their eyes noble stones
I sent to Níðuðr’s cunning wife! - ‘And from the teeth of those two
I fashioned breast-rings, I sent them to Bǫðvildr;
now Bǫðvildr walks big with child,
the only daughter of you both!’ - ‘You couldn’t utter words which would grieve me more,
[and] I would not deny you, Vǫlundr, worse;
no man is so tall that he might take you from a horse,
nor so strong that he might shoot you from below,
there where you hover up near the clouds!’ - Laughing, Vǫlundr raised himself aloft,
but unhappy Níðuðr sat behind then. - ‘Get up, Þakkráðr, my best slave,
ask Bǫðvildr, the bright-browed girl,
to go fairly dressed to speak with her father! - ‘Is it true, Bǫðvildr, what they told me:
Did you and Vǫlundr sit together on the islet?’ - ‘It’s true, Níðuðr, what he told you.
Vǫlundr and I sat together on the islet,
for one sad hour — it should never have been!
I didn’t know how to resist him at all,
I had no power to resist him at all!’
* Original text modified by the editor for clarification and ease of reading