11. Off they took them, | but all they left
Save one alone | which they bore away.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
12. Völund 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 Völund'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 once 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.
Völund spake:
15. "What men are they | who thus have laid
Ropes of bast | to bind me now?"
Then Nithuth called, | the lord of the Njars:
"How gottest thou, Völund, | greatest of elves,
These treasures of ours | in Ulfdalir?"
[11. No gap indicated in the manuscript; some editors combine these lines with lines 3-4 of stanza to, while others combine them with the first two
lines of stanza 12. The one ring which Nithuth's men steal is given to Bothvild, and proves the cause of her undoing.
12. The manuscript indicates line 3, and not line 1, as the beginning of a stanza, which has given rise to a large amount of conjectural rearrangement.
Line 2 of the original is identical with the phrase added by Bugge in stanza 6. Line 5 may be spurious, or lines 4-5 may have been
expanded out of a single line running "The wind-dried wood for | Völund burned well."
13. Elves: the poem here identifies Völund as belonging to the race of the elves. Hlothver's daughter: Hervor; many editors treat the adjective "all-wise"
here as a proper name.
15. In this poem the manuscript indicates the speakers. Some editors make lines 1-2 into a separate stanza, linking lines 3-5 (or 4-5) with stanza 16. Line 3
is very possibly spurious, a mere expansion of "Nithuth spake." Nithuth, of course, has come with his men to capture Völund, and now charges him with having
stolen his treasure.]
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11. Sat hann svá lengi, at hann sofnađi,
ok hann vaknađi viljalauss;
vissi sér á höndum höfgar nauđir,
en á fótum fjötur of spenntan.
Völundr kvađ:
12. "Hverir ro jöfrar, ţeir er á lögđu
besti bör síma ok mik bundu?"
13. Kallađi nú Níđuđr Níara dróttinn:
"Hvar gaztu, Völundr, vísi alfa,
vára aura í Ulfdölum?"
Völundr Kvađ:
14. "Gull var ţar eigi á Grana leiđu,
fjarri hugđa ek várt land fjöllum Rínar;
man ek, at vér meiri mćti áttum,
er vér heil hjú heima várum.
15. Hlađguđr ok Hervör borin var Hlöđvé
kunn var Ölrún Kíárs dóttir."
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