Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/303

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Völundarkvitha

Gems full fair  from their eyes I fashioned,To Nithuth's wife  so wise I gave them.
38.[1] "And from the teeth  of the twain I wroughtA 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.[2] "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.[3] Laughing Völund  rose aloft,But left in sadness  Nithuth sat...............
  1. ↑ Lines 1-2: cf. stanza 26.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Line 1: cf. stanza 31. THe manuscript indicates no lacuna.

[267]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.