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Völundarkvitha

31.[1] Laughing Völund  rose aloft,Weeping Bothvild  went from the isle,For her lover's flight  and her father's wrath.
32.[2] 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:33.[3] "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 Völund  to speak, I wish.
34.[4] ..............
  1. ↑ Something has probably been lost before this stanza, explaining how Völund made himself wings, as otherwise, owing to his lameness, he could not leave the island. The Thithrekssaga tells the story of how Völund's brother, Egil, shot birds and gave him the feathers, out of which he made a feather-garment. This break in the narrative illustrates the lack of knowledge apparently possessed by the compiler who was responsible for the prose notes; had he known the story told in the Thithrekssaga, it is hardly conceivable that he would have failed to indicate the necessary connecting link at this point. Some editors reject line 3 as spurious. The manuscript does not indicate any lacuna.
  2. ↑ The manuscript indicates line 4 as the beginning of a stanza, and many editors have followed this arrangement.
  3. ↑ The manuscript does not name the speaker. It indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza. Vigfusson adds before line 1, "Then spake Nithuth,  lord of the Njars."
  4. ↑ No gap indicated in the manuscript, but it seems clear

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