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Völundarkvitha

13.[1] 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.[2] "What men are they  who thus have laidRopes 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?"
  Völund spake:16.[3] "The gold was not  on Grani's way,

    spurious, or lines 4-5 may have been expanded out of a single line running "The wind-dried wood  for Völund burned well."

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ The manuscript definitely assigns this stanza to Völund, but many editors give the first two lines to Nithuth. In the manu-

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