36. "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.

37. "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.

38. "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:

39. "Never spakest thou word | that worse could hurt me,
Nor that made me, Völund, | more bitter for vengeance;
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."

40. Laughing Völund | rose aloft,
But left in sadness | Nithuth sat.
. . . . . . . . . .

41. Then spake Nithuth, | lord of the Njars:
"Rise up, Thakkrath, | best of my thralls,
Bid Bothvild come, | the bright-browed maid,
Bedecked so fair, | with her father to speak."

42. . . . . . . . . . .
"Is it true, Bothvild, | that which was told me;
Once in the isle | with Völund wert thou?"

Bothvild spake:

43. "True is it, Nithuth, | that which was told thee,
Once in the isle | with Völund 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."

[36. Lines 3-4 are nearly identical with lines 3-4 of stanza 24.

37. Identical, except for the pronouns, with stanza 25.

38. Lines 1-2: Cf. stanza 26.

39. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Either line 4 or line 5 may be an interpolation; two editions reject lines 3-5, combining lines 1-2 with stanza 40. In the Thithrekssaga Nithuth actually compels Egil, Völund's brother, to shoot at Völund. The latter has concealed a bladder full of blood under his left arm, and when his brother's arrow pierces this, Nithuth assumes that his enemy has been killed. This episode likewise appears among the scenes from Völund's career rudely carved on an ancient casket of ivory, bearing an Anglo-Saxon inscription in runic letters, which has been preserved.

40. Line 1: cf. stanza 3 1. The manuscript indicates no lacuna.

41. The first line is a conjectural addition. Thakkrath is probably the northern form of the Middle High German name Dancrat.

42. The manuscript indicates no gap, but indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza; Vigfusson's added "Then Nithuth spake, lord of the Njars" seems plausible enough.

43. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Different editors have rejected one or another of the last three lines, and as the manuscript indicates line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, the loss of two or three lines has likewise been suggested. According to the Thithrekssaga, the son of Völund and Bothvild was Vithga, or Witege, one of the heroes of Dietrich of Bern.]

 



36. En úr tönnum tveggja þeira
sló ek brjóstkringlur, senda ek Böðvildi;
nú gengr Böðvildr barni aukin,
eingadóttir ykkur beggja."

Níðuðr kvað:

37. "Mæltir-a þú þat mál, er mik meir tregi,
né ek þik vilja, Völundr, verr of níta;
er-at svá maðr hár, at þik af hesti taki,
né svá öflugr, at þik neðan skjóti,
þar er þú skollir við ský uppi."

38. Hlæjandi Völundr hófsk at lofti,
en ókátr Níðuðr sat þá eftir.

Níðuðr kvað:

39. "Upp rístu, Þakkráðr, þræll minn inn bezti,
bið þú Böðvildi, meyna bráhvítu,
ganga fagrvarið við föður ræða.

40. Er þat satt, Böðvildr, er sögðu mér:
Sátuð it Völundr saman í holmi?"

Böðvildr kvað:

41. "Satt er þat, Níðuðr, er sagði þér:
Sátum vit Völundr saman í holmi
eina ögurstund, æva skyldi;
ek vætr hánum vinna kunnak,
ek vætr hánum vinna máttak."























 


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