Volundarkvitha
There
was a king in Sweden named Nithuth. He had two sons and one daughter; her
name was Bothvild. There were three brothers, sons of a king of the Finns;
one was called Slagfith, another Egil, the third Volund. They went on snowshoes
and hunted wild beasts. They came into Ulfdalir and there they built themselves
a house; there was a lake there which is called Ulfsjar. Early one morning
they found the shore of the lake three women, who were spinning flax. Near
them were their swan-garments, for they were Valkyries. Two of them were
daughters of King Hlothver, Hlathguth the Swan-White and Hervor the All-Wise,
and the third was Olrun, daughter of Kjar from Valland. There did they bring
home to their hall with them. Egil took Olrun, and Slagfith Swan-White,
and Volund All-Wise. There they dwelt seven winters; but then they flew
away to find battles, and came back no more. Then Egil set forth on his
snowshoes to follow Olrun, and Slagfith followed Swan-White, but Volund
stayed in Ulfdalir. He was a most skillful man, as men know from old tales.
King Nithuth had him taken by force, as the poem tells here.
1. Maids from the south through
Myrkwood flew,
Fair and young, their fate
to follow;
On the shore of the sea to
rest them they sat,
The maids of the south, and
flax they spun.
2. -lacuna-
Hlathguth and Hervor, Hlothver's
chidren,
And Olrun the Wise Kjar's
daughter was.
3. -lacuna-
One in her arms took Egil
then
To her white bosom, the
woman fair.
4. Swan-White the second,- swan-feathers
she wore,
-lacuna- ed em /then to her breast Slagfith embraced/
And her arms the third of
the sisters threw
Next round Volund's neck
so white.
5. There did they sit for
seven winters,
In the eighth at last came
their longing again,
(And in the ninth did need
divide them)
The maidens yearned for the
murky wood,
The fair young maids, their
fate to follow.
6. Volund home from
his hunting came,
From a weary way, the
weather-wise bowman,
Slagfith and Egil the hall
found empty,
Out and in went they, everywhere
seeking.
7. East fared Egil after
Olrun,
And Slagfith south to
seek for Swan-White;
Volund alone in
Ulfdalir lay
-lacuna- ed em /Till back the maiden bright should come/
8. Red gold he fashioned with
fairest gems,
And rings he strung on
ropes of bast;
So for his wife he waited
long,
If the fair one home might
come to him.
9. This Nithuth learned, the
lord of Njars,
That Volund alone in Ulfdalir
lay;
By night went his men, their
mail-coats were studded,
Their shields in the waning moonlight
shone.
10. From their saddles the gable wall
they sought;
And in they went at the end
of the hall;
Rings they saw there on ropes
of bast,
Seven hundred the hero had.
11. Off they took them, but
all they left
Save one alone which they
bore away.
-lacuna-
-lacuna-
12. Volund home from
his hunting came,
From a weary way, the
weather-wise bowman;
A brown bear's flesh would
he roast with fire;
Soon the wood so dry was
burning well,
(The wind-dried wood that
Volund's was).
13. On the bearskin he rested, and
counted the rings,
The master of elves, but
one he missed;
That Hlothver's daughter had
it he thought,
And the all-wise maid had
come one more.
14. So long he sat that he
fell asleep,
His waking empty of gladness
was;
Heavy chains he saw on his
hands,
And fetters bound his feet
together.
Volund spake:
14. "What men are they who
thus have laid
Ropes of bast to bind me
now?"
15. The Nithuth called, the
lord of Njars;
"How gottest thou, Volund, greatest
of elves,
These treasures of ours in
Ulfdalir?"
Volund spake:
16. "The gold was not on
Grani's way,
Far methinks, is our realm from
the hills of the Rhine;
I mind me that treasures more
we had
When happy together at home
we were."
17. Without stood the wife of
Nithuth wise,
And in she came from the
end of the hall;
On the floor she stood, and
softly spoke:
"Not kind does he look who
comes from the wood."
King Nithuth gave to his daughter Bothvild the gold ring that he had taken
from the bast rope in Volund's house, and he himself wore the sword that
Volund had had. The queen spake:
18. "The glow of his eyes is
like gleaming snakes,
His teeth he gnashes if now
is shown
The sword, or Bothvild's ring
he sees;
Let them straightway cut his
sinews of strength,
And set him then in Saevarstath."
So it was done: the sinews in his knee-joints
were cut, and he was set in an island which was near the mainland, and was
called Saevarstath. There he smithied for the king all kinds of precious
things. No man dared to go to him, save only the king himself. Volund spake:
19. "At Nithuth's girdle gleams
the sword
That I sharpened keen with
cunningest craft,
(And hardened the steel with
highest skill;)
The bright blade far forever
is borne,
(Nor back shall I see it borne
to my smithy;)
Now Bothvild gets the
golden ring
(That was once my bride's,- ne'er
well shall it be.")
20. He sat, nor slept, and
smote with his hammer,
Fast for Nithuth wonders
he fashioned;
Two boys did go in his door
to gaze,
Nithuth's sons, into Saevarstath.
21. They came to the chest, and
they craved the keys,
The evil was open when in
they looked;
To the boys it seemed that
gems they saw,
Gold in plenty and precious
stones.
Volund spake:
22. "Come ye alone, the
next day come,
Gold to you both shall then
be given;
Tell not the maids or the
men of the hall,
To no one say that me you
have sought."
23. -lacuna- questionable gap
Early did brother to brother
call:
"Swift let us go the
rings to see."
24. They came to the chest, and
they craved the keys,
The evil was open when in
they looked;
He smote off their heads, and
their feet he hid
Under the sooty straps of
the bellows.
25. Their skulls, once hid by
their hair, he took,
Set them in silver and sent
them to Nithuth;
Gems full fair from
their eyes he fashioned,
To Nithuth's wife so wise
he gave them.
26. And from the teeth of
the twain he wrought
A brooch for the breast, to
Bothvild he sent it;
-lacuna-
27. Bothvild then of
her ring did boast,
-lacuna- ed em (But soon it broke, and swiftly to Volund,/
She bore it and said - ") "The ring I have broken,
I dare not say it save to
thee."
Volund spake:
28. "I shall weld the break in
the gold so well
That fairer than ever thy
father shall find it,
And better much thy mother
shall think it,
And thou no worse than
ever it was."
29. Beer he brought, he was
better in cunning,
Until in her seat full soon
she slept.
Volund spake:
30. "Now vengence I have for
all my hurts,
Save one alone, on the evil
woman."
31. -lacuna-
-lacuna-
Quoth Volund: "Would that
well were the sinews
Maimed in my feet by Nithuth's
men."
32. Laughing Volund rose
aloft,
Weeping Bothvild went from
the isle,
For her lover's flight and
her father's wrath.
33. Without stood the wife of
Nithuth wise,
And in she came from the
end of the hall;
But he by the wall in weariness
sat:
"Wakest thou, Nithuth, lord
of the Njars?"
Nithuth spake:
34. "Always I wake, and
ever joyless,
Little I sleep since
my sons were slain;
Cold is my head, cold was
thy counsel,
One thing, with Volund to
speak, I wish.
35. -lacuna- questionable
"Answer me, Volund, greatest
of elves,
What happed with my boys that
hale once were?"
Volund spake:
36. "First shalt thou all the
oaths now swear,
By the rail of the ship, and
the rim of the shield,
By the shoulder of the steed, and
the edge of the sword,
That to Volund's wife thou
wilt work no ill,
Nor yet my bride to her death
wilt bring,
Though a wife I should have that
well thou knowest,
And a child I should have within
thy hall.
37. "Seek the smithy that
thou didst set,
Thou shalt find the bellows sprinkled
with blood;
I smote off the heads of
both thy sons,
And their feet 'neath the sooty straps
I hid.
38. "Their skulls, once hid by
their hair, I took,
Set them in silver and sent
them to Nithuth;
Gems full fair from
their eyes I fashioned,
To Nithuth's wife so wise
I gave them.
39. "And from the teeth of
the twain I wrought
A brooch for the breast, to
Bothvild I gave it;
Now big with child does Bothvild
go,
The only daughter ye two
had ever."
Nithuth spake:
40. "Never spakest thou word that
worse could hurt me,
Nor that me, Volund, more
bitter for vengence;
There is no man so high from
thy horse to take thee,
Or so doughty an archer as
down to shoot thee,
While high in the clouds thy
course thou takest."
41. Laughing Volund rose
aloft,
But left in sadness Nithuth
sat.
-lacuna-
42. The spake Nithuth, lord
of Njars:
"Rise up, Thakkrath, best
of my thralls,
Bid Bothvild come, the
bright-bowed maid,
Bedecked so fair, with her
father to speak."
43. -lacuna-
-lacuna-
"Is it true, Bothvild, that
which was told me;
Once in the isle with Volund
wert thou?"
Bothvild spake:
44. "True is it, Nithuth, that
which was told thee,
Once in the isle with Volund
was I,
An hour of lust, alas it
should be!
Nought was my might with
such a man,
Nor from his strength could
I save myself."
(According to Thithrekssaga, son of Volund and Bothvild was Vithga /alt.
Spelling Witege.)