View source for Völundarkviða

{{Short description|Eddic poem}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Völund on ardre 01.png|thumb|right|180px|From [[Ardre image stone]] VIII. Vǫlundr's smithy in the centre, Níðuðr's daughter to the left, and Níðuðr's dead sons hidden to the right of the smithy. Between the girl and the smithy, Vǫlundr can be seen flying away, apparently in bird form.]]
[[File:Valkyries with swan skins.jpg|thumb|[[Völundr]] and his two brothers see the swan-maidens bathing. Illustration by [[Jenny Nyström]], 1893.]]
[[File:Die drei Schmeideburschen belauschen und gewinnen drei Walkürenjungfrauen by W. Heine.jpg|thumb|"The three smith boys spy and later marry three valkyrie maidens" (1882) by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Heine]].]]
'''''Vǫlundarkviða''''' ([[Old Norse]]: 'The lay of Völund';{{Sfn|Orchard|1997|p=180}} <small>modern Icelandic spelling:</small> '''''Völundarkviða''''') is one of the mythological poems of the ''[[Poetic Edda]]''. The title is [[Old Norse orthography|anglicized]] in various ways, including ''Völundarkvitha'', ''Völundarkvidha'', ''Völundarkvida'', ''Volundarkvitha'', ''Volundarkvidha'' and ''Volundarkvida''.

==Manuscripts, origins, and analogues==
The poem is preserved in its entirety among the mythological poems of the thirteenth-century Icelandic manuscript [[Codex Regius]], and the beginning of the prose prologue is also found in the [[AM 748 I 4to]] fragment.

The vocabulary and some of the [[Oral-formulaic composition|formulaic phrasing]] of the poem is clearly influenced by [[West Germanic]], with the strongest case being for influence specifically from [[Old English]] (a West Germanic dialect). It is thought likely, therefore, that ''Vǫlundarkviða'' was composed in, or otherwise influenced by traditions from, the [[Danelaw|Norse diaspora in England]]. This would suggest origins around the tenth or eleventh century.<ref>John McKinnell, ‘[http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Saga-Book%201-22%20searchable/Saga-Book%20XXIII.pdf The Context of ''Vǫlundarkviða'']’, ''Saga-Book of the Viking Society'', 23 (1990), 1–27.</ref><ref>John McKinnell, ‘Eddic Poetry in Anglo-Scandinavian Northern England’, in ''Vikings and the Danelaw: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21–30 August 1997'', ed. by James Graham-Campbell, Richard Hall, Judith Jesch and David N. Parsons (Oxford: Oxbow, 2001), pp. 327–44.</ref> This fits in turn with the fact that most of the analogues to ''Vǫlundarkviða'' are West-Germanic in origin.

In visual sources, the story told in ''Vǫlundarkviða'' seems also to be portrayed on the front panel of the eighth-century Northumbrian [[Franks Casket]] and on the eighth-century [[Gotland]]ic [[Ardre image stone]] VIII, along with a number of tenth-to-eleventh-century carvings from Northern England, including the [[Leeds Cross]], a fragment in [[Leeds City Museum]], and [[Sherburn in Elmet]] fragments [http://www.ascorpus.ac.uk/catvol_search_results.php?id=826 2] and [http://www.ascorpus.ac.uk/catvol_search_results.php?id=827 3].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=James T. |last1=Lang |title=Sigurd and Weland in Pre-Conquest Carving from Northern England |journal=The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal |volume=48 |year=1976 |pages=83–94 |url=https://archive.org/details/YAJ0481976/page/83/mode/1up }}</ref>

In written sources, a largely similar story (''[[Velents þáttr smiðs]]'') is related in the Old Norse ''[[Þiðrekssaga af Bern]]'' (translated from lost [[Low German language|Low German]] sources), and an evidently similar story is alluded to in the first two verse-paragraphs of [[Old English language|Old English]] poem ''[[Deor]]''.<ref>''The Poetic Edda. Volume II, Mythological Poems'', ed. and trans. by Ursula Dronke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 269-84.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |Equivalent character names
|-
!''Vǫlundarkviða''
!''Dēor''
!''Þiðreks saga''
|-
|Vǫlundr
|Wēlund
|Velent
|-
|Níðuðr
|Nīðhād
|Níðungr
|-
|Bǫðvildr
|Beaduhild
|Heren
|}

==Synopsis==
The poem relates the story of the artisan [[Wayland the Smith|Völundr]], his capture by [[Níðuðr]], implicitly a petty-king of [[Närke]] (currently in Sweden), and Vǫlundr's brutal revenge and escape.<ref>The synopsis is based on [[Alaric Hall]], ''[https://libgen__.pw/item/detail/id/383363?id=383363 Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity]'', Anglo-Saxon Studies, 8 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007), p. 40.</ref>

=== Prose introduction ===
''Vǫlundarkviða'' begins with a prose introduction, setting the scene, giving background about the characters, and partly summarising the poem. It is possible that this passage is much younger than the verse.

=== Stanzas 1–6 ===
The poem opens by describing the flight of three [[Swan maiden|swan-maidens]] identified in stanza 1 as ''meyjar'', ''drósir'', ''alvitr'' and ''suðrœnar'' ('young women, stately women, foreign beings, southerners') to a 'sævar strǫnd' ('lake/sea-shore') where they meet the three brothers [[Egil, brother of Volund|Egill]], [[Slagfiðr]] and Vǫlundr. Each maid takes one of the brothers as her own.

However, nine winters later, the women leave the brothers. The poem does not explain this, simply saying that the women depart 'ørlǫg drýgja' ('to fulfil their fate'). Slagfiðr and Egill go in search of their women, but Vǫlundr remains at home instead, forging ''baugar'' (‘(arm-)rings’) for his woman.

=== Stanzas 7–19 ===
Discovering that Vǫlundr is living alone, a local king, Níðuðr, ‘lord of the [[Njárar]]’, has him captured in his sleep
(stanzas 7–12).

Níðuðr takes Vǫlundr's sword and gives one of the rings which Vǫlundr made for his missing bride to his daughter [[Böðvildr|Bǫðvildr]], and, at his wife's instigation, he has Vǫlundr's hamstrings cut, imprisoning him on an island called Sævarstaðr, where Vǫlundr makes objects for Níðuðr (stanzas 13–19).

=== Stanzas 20–41 ===
Vǫlundr takes his revenge on Níðuðr first by enticing Níðuðr's two sons to visit with promises of treasure, killing them, and making jewels of their eyes and teeth (stanzas 20–26). He then entices Bǫðvildr by promising to mend the ring which she was given, getting her drunk, and implicitly having sex with her (stanzas 27–29).

The poem culminates in Vǫlundr taking to the air by some means which is not clearly described and telling Níðuðr what he has done, laughing (stanzas 30–39). It focuses finally on the plight of Bǫðvildr, whose lament closes the poem (stanzas 40–41):

{{Verse translation|
{{lang|is|Ek vætr hánom
vinna kunnak,
ek vætr hánom
vinna máttak.<ref>''The Poetic Edda. Volume II, Mythological Poems'', ed. and trans. by Ursula Dronke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 254.</ref>}}
|
I did not know how to
struggle against him at all,
I was not able to
struggle against him at all.}}

It relates to type 313 and 313C in the [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index]]. Similar tales have types 400 and 465.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burson |first1=Anne |title=Swan Maidens and Smiths: A Structural Study of 'Volundarkviða' |journal=Scandinavian Studies |date=1983 |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |id={{ProQuest|1297011693}} |jstor=40918267 }}</ref>
==Literary criticism==
The poem is appreciated for its evocative images.

:In the night went men,
:in studded corslets,
:their shields glistened
:in the waning moon.

''Völundarkviða'' 6, Thorpe's translation

The last verse, wherein Bǫðvildr laments, has been called ‘unsurpassable as a conclusion’ by Icelandic philologist [[Finnur Jónsson]]:
:It is true, Nithad, as he said to thee:
:I and Wayland stayed together on the islet
:for a single heavy moment
:—it should never have been!
:I knew in no way fight against him,
:I could in no way fight against him.

Translated by Wikipedia editors

==Editions and translations==
===English translations===
* [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (trans.), ''The Poetic Edda'', Scandinavian Classics, 21-22 (Princeton [N.J.]: Princeton University Press, 1936): [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe17.htm translation only]; [http://www.voluspa.org/volundarkvida.htm translation with facing Old Norse text].
* [[Benjamin Thorpe]] (trans.), ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned'', 2 vols (London: Trübner & Co. 1866). Reprinted 1906 as [[Rasmus B. Anderson]] & J.&nbsp;W. Buel (Eds.) ''The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson''. London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, New York: [[Norrœna Society]]. Available online at [https://books.google.com/books?id=JcYLAAAAIAAJ&dq=Benjamin+Thorpe,+Edda&pg=PP1 Google Books]. Searchable graphic image version requiring DjVu plugin available at [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/PT7234xE211/# University of Georgia Libraries: Facsimile Books and Periodicals: The Elder Eddas and the Younger Eddas].
* [[W. H. Auden]] and P. B. Taylor (trans.), ''The Elder Edda: A Selection'' (London: Faber, 1969): [http://www.franks-casket.de/english/edda08.html here].
* [[Ursula Dronke|Dronke, Ursula]] (ed. & trans.) (1997). ''The Poetic Edda'', vol. II, ''Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Clarendon. {{ISBN|0-19-811181-9}}.

===Old Norse editions===
* [[Sophus Bugge]] (ed.), ''Norrœn fornkvæði: Islandsk Samling af Oldtidsdigte om Nordens Guder og Heroer almndelig kaldet Sæmundar Edda hins fróða'' (Oslo: Aschehough, 1926): [http://etext.old.no/Bugge/volundar.html Völundarkviða, manuscript spelling].
* [[Guðni Jónsson]] (ed.), ''Eddukvæði (Sæmundar-Edda)'', 2 vols (Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1949): [http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/V%C3%B6lundarkvi%C3%B0a Völundarkviða, normalised spelling].
* [[Jón Helgason (poet)|Jón Helgason]] (ed.), ''Tvær kviður fornar: Vọlundarkviða og Atlakviða'' (Reykjavík: Heimskringla, 1966).
* [[Ursula Dronke]] (ed. & trans.), ''The Poetic Edda, Volume II:'' ''Mythological Poems'' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997). {{ISBN|0-19-811181-9}}.

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book|last=Orchard|first=Andy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIujQgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend|date=1997|publisher=Cassell|isbn=978-0-304-34520-5|language=en|author-link=Andy Orchard}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Dieterle |first1=Richard L. |title=The Metallurgical Code of the 'Vǫlundarkviđa' and Its Theoretical Import |journal=History of Religions |date=1987 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–31 |id={{ProQuest|1297300582}} |jstor=1062531 |doi=10.1086/463097 |s2cid=144819132 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Einarson |first1=Leif |title=Artisanal Revenge in Völundarkviða : Völundr's Creations in the Spatial Relations of the Poem |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |date=1 January 2015 |volume=114 |issue=1 |pages=1–31 |id={{Gale|A397004976}} {{Project MUSE|566500}} |jstor=10.5406/jenglgermphil.114.1.0001 |doi=10.5406/jenglgermphil.114.1.0001 |s2cid=161424573 }}
* {{cite thesis |last1=Holmström |first1=Helge |title=Studier över svanjungfrumotivet i Volundarkvida och annorstädes |trans-title=A study on the motif of the swan maiden in Volundarkvida, with annotations |language=sv |date=1919 |publisher=Maiander |oclc=1072150128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=woHYAAAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last1=McKinnell |first1=John |chapter=Vǫlundarkviða: Origins and Interpretation |pages=221–248 |jstor=10.3138/j.ctt6wrf94.13 |doi=10.3138/9781442669260-011 |editor1-last=Kick |editor1-first=Donata |editor2-last=Shafer |editor2-first=John D. |title=Essays on Eddic Poetry |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-1588-5 }}

{{Poetic Edda}}
{{Swan Maiden}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volundarkvida}}
[[Category:Eddic poetry]]
[[Category:Swan maidens]]
[[Category:ATU 300-399]]
[[Category:ATU 400-459]]
[[Category:ATU 460-499]]