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Poetic Edda

"Answer me, Völund,  greatest of elves,What happed with my boys  that hale once were?"
  Völund spake:35.[1] "First shalt thou all  the oaths now swear,By the rail of ship,  and the rim of shield,By the shoulder of steed,  and the edge of sword,That to Völund'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.
36.[2] "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.[3] "Their skulls, once hid  by their hair, I took,Set them in silver  and sent them to Nithuth;

    that something has been lost. Some editors combine these two lines with lines 3-4 of stanza 33. Völund is now flying over Nithuth's hall.

  1. ↑ The manuscript does not name the speaker; Vigfusson again makes two full stanzas with the line, "Then did Völund speak,  sagest of elves." Some editors begin a new stanza with line 4, while others reject as interpolations lines 2-3 or 5-7. Völund's wife: the reference is to Bothvild, as Völund wishes to have his vengeance fall more heavily on her father than on her.
  2. ↑ Lines 3-4 are nearly identical with lines 3-4 of stanza 24.
  3. ↑ Identical, except for the pronouns, with stanza 25.

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