Weland's Wile
Völundarkviða, The Lay of Völundr
the Elfsmith,
in English named Weland or Wayland
from the body of mytho-poetic verse called Elder Edda,mainly preserved in Codex Regius (1270-1280),
translated from Old Icelandic
by Nathan Paul Hillman
From the south flew maidens right through Mirkwood,
All-wise girls, their fate to live out;
Maidens from the South spun the dear linen.
They rested and sat on the shore of the sea.
The first of them* Egill took to defend,
a fair maid of mankind inside her bright arms.
Swanwhite* in swan feathers the second was named;
the third* wrapped her arms
round the white neck of Völundr.
2. Name of Slagfiðr’s bride. His name appears below.
3. Her name is Alvitr (Allwise), also Hervor below.
Seven winters they sat at this,
but in the eighth they pined;
and in the ninth, hard need split them.
The maidens itched for Mirkwood,
the all-wise girls, their fate to live out.
Came there from the hunt, weather-sharp shooter;
Slagfiðr and Egill found the hall bare;
They went out, they went in, they sat down.
East strode Egill toward Ölrún*.
South strode Slagfiðr* toward Swanwhite.
1. <*Ali-runa, 'Alien Secret'. 2. ' Smite-Finn '. Finns (Lapps, Sami) were masters of the woods, the hunt and shamanic magic.
But alone sat Völundr in Wolf-Dales;
He struck gems into the red gold,
He clasped rings around the bast-rope.
Then he awaited his bright lady,
Till she should come to him.
Níðuðr found this out, Lord of the Njárar,
that Völundr sat alone in Wolf-Dales;
Men went at night with stud-nailed corslets –
Their shields glared in the waning moon.
They got off the saddles at the gabled hall,
and walked its length from end to end;
They saw his rings drawn onto bast,
Seven hundred from all that Völundr owned.
And they took them off, and they tried them on –
All save one which they made off with.
Came there from the hunt, weather-sharp shooter,
Völundr, winding back his long way.
He went to braze the brown bear-flesh;
High burnt the boughs of the all-dry fir,
the wind-dried wood before Völundr.
He sat on the bearskin, the Prince of Elves,
counting his rings – he missed one of them!
He thought that Hlöðvér’s daughter* had it –
That she’d come home, the all-wise girl.
He sat for so long that he fell asleep –
and then he woke up, his joy lost;
On his hands he felt heavy bonds,
clinching fetters around his feet.
' Who are the boar-blokes who wrapped me in ropes
and bound me in bast? '
Níðuðr called out, Lord of the Njárar:
‘ How did you, master of Elves,
come by our gold in the Wolf-Dales? ’
‘ No gold was got on Grani’s Road*
and our land’s far from the
I mind the time yours and mine were greater,
when safe you and I each sat at home.
Grani bore the
' Hlöðvér fathered Hlaðguðr and Hervor* ;
Kjárr's daughter was Ölrún, cunning in spells. '
The lord’s wife walked the length of the hall,
stood on the floor, lowered her voice:
‘That one’s not tame, that one from the woods.’
King Níðuðr gave Völundr’s own ring
– the gold-ring gained from the bast rope –
to Böðvildr, his own daughter.
He himself wielded the sword
which Völundr owned.
Yet the Queen said:
when he remembers the ring on Böðvildr.
His eyes glower like a glaring snake;
Snit his knee sinews, the cords of his strength.
Strand him on the island called Seastead. ’
So twas done. His knee-sinews were sliced.
He was set on a lone isle facing the land,
a place named Sea’s Steading.
There he smithied the king all manner of treasure.
No man dared visit save the king himself.
‘ At Níðuð’s loin shines the sword
I skilfully sharpened with cunning
and tempered with whim and ease.
That bright blade is born far from me
– I’ll never see it brought to Völundr’s smithy.
' Now Böðvildr wears my bride’s red ring
– I won’t wait for amends. ’
He always sat, he never slept,
and he smote with the hammer;
He keenly wiled crafts for Níðuðr.
Níðuðr's sons, two boys,
rushed off to espy
the costly trove at Seastead.
They came to his chest, sued for the keys.
The plot was plain when they peered inside.
The boys saw necklaces and peerless things
– red gold in make and appearance.
'Come, you two! Come another day!
I'll make sure you're given gold!
Tell no females nor folk of the hall
nor any man that you found me.'
Early in the morning,
the blighters call to each other,
brother to brother: 'Let's go see the rings!'
They came to his chest, sued for the keys.
The plot was plain when they peered inside.
He hewed off the heads of those cubs,
laid their limbs under smithy mud;
the skulls under their scalps
he wrapped in silver, sent to Níðuðr.
He devised from eyes resplendent stones*
and gave them to Níðuðr's crafty queen.
From those twosome's teeth
he beat breastpins for Böðvildr.
1. iarcnasteina, Old English eorcnanstānas, whence The Hobbit's Arkenstone of Lonely Mountain. Germanic
*erkan- means any one or all of the following:
'pure', 'genuine', 'resplendent', 'bright', 'golden', 'precious'.
Then Böðvildr came to praise her ring
which now she'd broken:
'I dare tell no one about this,
no one except for you.'
Völundr spoke:
'I'll make the busted gold all better –
much better for your mother to see,
much fairer for your father to find,
nicer for you in the same measure.'
He boozed her with beer*
– since he knew better how –
till she drowsed down in her seat.
'Now I've paid back for all the pain,
for all the deeds of malice,
for all except one.
1. This scene is depicted on the 8th century
whalebone box (200 years preceding the oral eddaic norse version,
and 500 years before the manuscript of this poem!), the
Frank's Casket now viewable in the British Museum.
'It's well for me', said Völundr,
'that I don't go away on web-feet,
since Níðuðr's stormers stole them from me.'
Laughing, Völundr rose to the sky.*
Weeping, Böðvildr went from the island,
dejected at her lover's and father's wrath.
1. Perhaps on goosewings made for him by
Völundr's brother Egill, as narrated by Þíðreks saga.
Outside stood Níðuðr's crafty queen,
and she walked inside, the length of the hall;
Resting on the ramparts sat Völundr:
'Are you awake, Níðuðr, Lord of the Njárar?'
'I endlessly wake and rarely sleep
since my sons died.
My joy is lost.
My head is ice – your counsels are cold.
I pine now for parley with Völundr.
'Tell me Völundr, Prince of Elves,
what's happened to my healthy cubs?'
'First you must grant me all these oaths:
by ship's side and shield's rim,
by blade of horseback,
by blade of sword –
that Völundr's lady
you never molest,
nor kill my conjugal bride,
even when I've a woman you know,
or a baby within your hall.
'Go to the smithy, the one you made –
You'll find the bellows stiff with blood.
I hewed off the heads of your cubs,
laid their limbs under smithy mud.
'And the skulls under their scalps
I wrapped in silver, sent to Níðuðr.
I devised from eyes resplendent stones
and gave them to Níðuðr's crafty queen.
'From those twosome's teeth
I beat breastpins for Böðvildr.
Now walks Böðvildr bulging with child,
the only daughter of you both.'
'No words you could've spoken
would crush me more.
Nor could I wish, Völundr,
to deprive you worse.
No man's high enough
to hunt you from his horse,
nor strong enough below
to bow-shoot you down
where you hover on high
and hide in clouds.'
Laughing, Völundr rose to the sky.
Sorrowing, Níðuðr sat behind.
'Get up, Þakráðr*, best of my thralls!
Ask Böðvildr, the blond-browed girl,
to wear her fair web
and confide with her father.'
1. 'Counsel of Thanks' ? If so, onomastic meaning merges with plot
'Is it true, Böðvildr, what they tell me?
Did you and Völundr sit together,
side by side on the isle?'
'What he told you, Níðuðr, is true.
Völundr and I sat together,
side by side on the isle,
one awful hour
– we never should have!
I'd no craft to contest him;
I'd no might to resist him.'
THE CHEERY END
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