维伦德之歌 · 诗体埃达 / 文脉

Völundarkvitha / Völundarkviða / The Lay of Volund

本页收录 Henry Adams Bellows 1923 年英译本。Bellows 译本已进入公有领域；本站保留其诗篇导言、英译正文和注释，不收现代中译或现代校勘文本。

Bellows 1923 英译

THE LAY OF VÖLUND

Bellows Introductory Note

Between the Thrymskvitha and the Alvissmol in the Codex Regius stands
the Völundarkvitha. It was also included in the Arnamagnæan Codex, but
unluckily it begins at the very end of the fragment which has been
preserved, and thus only a few lines of the opening prose remain. This
is doubly regrettable because the text in Regius is unquestionably in
very bad shape, and the other manuscript would doubtless have been of
great assistance in the reconstruction of the poem.

There has been a vast amount written regarding the Weland tradition as
a whole, discussing particularly the relations between the
Völundarkvitha and the Weland passage in Deor’s Lament. There can be
little question that the story came to the North from Saxon regions,
along with many of the other early hero tales. In stanza 16 the Rhine
is specifically mentioned as the home of treasure; and the presence of
the story in Anglo-Saxon poetry probably as early as the first part of
the eighth century proves beyond a doubt that the legend cannot have
been a native product of Scandinavia. In one form or another, however,
the legend or the smith persisted for centuries throughout all the
Teutonic lands, and the name of Wayland Smith is familiar to all
readers of Walter Scott, and even of Rudyard Kipling’s tales of
England.

In what form this story reached the North is uncertain. Sundry striking
parallels between the diction of the Völundarkvitha and that of the
Weland passage in Deor’s Lament make it distinctly probable that a
Saxon song on this subject had found its way to Scandinavia or Iceland.
But the prose introduction to the poem mentions the “old sagas” in
which Völund was celebrated, and in the Thithrekssaga we have definite
evidence of the existence of such prose narrative in the form of the
Velentssaga (Velent, Völund, Weland, and Wayland all being, of course,
identical), which gives a long story for which the Völundarkvitha can
have supplied relatively little, if any, of the material. It is
probable, then, that Weland stories were current in both prose and
verse in Scandinavia as early as the latter part of the ninth century.

Once let a figure become popular in oral tradition, and the number and
variety of the incidents connected with his name will increase very
rapidly. Doubtless there were scores of Weland stories current in the
eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, many of them with very little if
any traditional authority. The main one, however, the story of the
laming of the smith by King Nithuth (or by some other enemy) and of
Weland’s terrible revenge, forms the basis of the Völundarkvitha. To
this, by way of introduction, has been added the story of Völund and
the swan-maiden, who, to make things even more complex, is likewise
said to be a Valkyrie. Some critics maintain that these two sections
were originally two distinct poems, merely strung together by the
compiler with the help of narrative prose links; but the poem as a
whole has a kind of dramatic unity which suggests rather that an early
poet—for linguistically the poem belongs among the oldest of the Eddic
collection—used two distinct legends, whether in prose or verse, as the
basis for the composition of a new and homogeneous poem.

The swan-maiden story appears, of course, in many places quite distinct
from the Weland tradition, and, in another form, became one of the most
popular of German folk-tales. Like the story of Weland, however, it is
of German rather than Scandinavian origin, and the identification of
the swan-maidens as Valkyries, which may have taken place before the
legend reached the North, may, on the other hand, have been simply an
attempt to connect southern tradition with figures well known in
northern mythology.

The Völundarkvitha is full of prose narrative links, including an
introduction. The nature of such prose links has already been discussed
in the introductory note to the Grimnismol; the Völundarkvitha is a
striking illustration of the way in which the function of the earlier
Eddic verse was limited chiefly to dialogue or description, the
narrative outline being provided, if at all, in prose. This prose was
put in by each reciter according to his fancy and knowledge, and his
estimate of his hearers’ need for such explanations; some of it, as in
this instance, eventually found its way into the written record.

The manuscript of the Völundarkvitha is in such bad shape, and the
conjectural emendations have been so numerous, that in the notes I have
attempted to record only the most important of them.

There was a king in Sweden named Nithuth. He had two sons and one
daughter; her name was Bothvild. There were three brothers, sons of a
king of the Finns: one was called Slagfith, another Egil, the third
Völund. They went on snowshoes and hunted wild beasts. They came into
Ulfdalir and there they built themselves a house; there was a lake
there which is called Ulfsjar. Early one morning they found on the
shore of the lake three women, who were spinning flax. Near them were
their swan-garments, for they were Valkyries. Two of them were
daughters of King Hlothver, Hlathguth the Swan-White and Hervor the
All-Wise, and the third was Olrun, daughter of Kjar from Valland. These
did they bring home to their hall with them. Egil took Olrun, and
Slagfith Swan-White, and Völund All-Wise. There they dwelt seven
winters; but then they flew away to find battles, and came back no
more. Then Egil set forth on his snowshoes to follow Olrun, and
Slagfith followed Swan-White, but Völund stayed in Ulfdalir. He was a
most skillful man, as men know from old tales. King Nithuth had him
taken by force, as the poem here tells.

1. Maids from the south | through Myrkwood flew,
Fair and young, | their fate to follow;
On the shore of the sea | to rest them they sat,
The maids of the south, | and flax they spun.

2. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Hlathguth and Hervor, | Hlothver’s children,
And Olrun the Wise | Kjar’s daughter was.

3. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
One in her arms | took Egil then
To her bosom white, | the woman fair.

4. Swan-White second,— | swan-feathers she wore,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
And her arms the third | of the sisters threw
Next round Völund’s | neck so white.

6. Völund home | from his hunting came,
From a weary way, | the weather-wise bowman,
Slagfith and Egil | the hall found empty,
Out and in went they, | everywhere seeking.

7. East fared Egil | after Olrun,
And Slagfith south | to seek for Swan-White;
Völund alone | in Ulfdalir lay,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

8. Red gold he fashioned | with fairest gems,
And rings he strung | on ropes of bast;
So for his wife | he waited long,
If the fair one home | might come to him.

9. This Nithuth learned, | the lord of the Njars,
That Völund alone | in Ulfdalir lay;
By night went his men, | their mail-coats were studded,
Their shields in the waning | moonlight shone.

10. From their saddles the gable | wall they sought,
And in they went | at the end of the hall;
Rings they saw there | on ropes of bast,
Seven hundred | the hero had.

11. Off they took them, | but all they left
Save one alone | which they bore away.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

13. 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. “What men are they | who thus have laid
Ropes 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. “The gold was not | on Grani’s way,
Far, methinks, is our realm | from the hills of the Rhine;
I mind me that treasures | more we had
When happy together | at home we were.”

17. Without stood the wife | of Nithuth wise,
And in she came | from the end of the hall;
On the floor she stood, | and softly spoke:
“Not kind does he look | who comes from the wood.”

King Nithuth gave to his daughter Bothvild the gold ring that he had
taken from the bast rope in Völund’s house, and he himself wore the
sword that Völund had had. The queen spake:

So was it done: the sinews in his knee-joints were cut, and he was set
in an island which was near the mainland, and was called Sævarstath.
There he smithied for the king all kinds of precious things. No man
dared to go to him, save only the king himself. Völund spake:

20. He sat, nor slept, | and smote with his hammer,
Fast for Nithuth | wonders he fashioned;
Two boys did go | in his door to gaze,
Nithuth’s sons, | into Sævarstath.

21. They came to the chest, | and they craved the keys,
The evil was open | when in they looked;
To the boys it seemed | that gems they saw,
Gold in plenty | and precious stones.

Völund spake:

22. “Come ye alone, | the next day come,
Gold to you both | shall then be given;
Tell not the maids | or the men of the hall,
To no one say | that me you have sought.”

23. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Early did brother | to brother call:
“Swift let us go | the rings to see.”

24. They came to the chest, | and they craved the keys,
The evil was open | when in they looked;
He smote off their heads, | and their feet he hid
Under the sooty | straps of the bellows.

25. Their skulls, once hid | by their hair, he took,
Set them in silver | and sent them to Nithuth;
Gems full fair | from their eyes he fashioned,
To Nithuth’s wife | so wise he gave them.

26. And from the teeth | of the twain he wrought
A brooch for the breast, | to Bothvild he sent it;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

27. Bothvild then | of her ring did boast,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | “The ring I have broken,
I dare not say it | save to thee.”

Völund spake:

28. “I shall weld the break | in the gold so well
That fairer than ever | thy father shall find it,
And better much | thy mother shall think it,
And thou no worse | than ever it was.”

29. Beer he brought, | he was better in cunning,
Until in her seat | full soon she slept.

Völund spake:

“Now vengeance I have | for all my hurts,
Save one alone, | on the evil woman.”

30. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Quoth Völund: “Would | that well were the sinews
Maimed in my feet | by Nithuth’s men.”

31. Laughing Völund | rose aloft,
Weeping Bothvild | went from the isle,
For her lover’s flight | and her father’s wrath.

32. 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. “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. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“Answer me, Völund, | greatest of elves,
What happed with my boys | that hale once were?”

Völund spake:

36. “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. “Their skulls, once hid | by their hair, I took,
Set them in silver | and sent them to Nithuth;
Gems full fair | from their eyes I fashioned,
To Nithuth’s wife | so wise I gave them.

38. “And from the teeth | of the twain I wrought
A 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. “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. Laughing Völund | rose aloft,
But left in sadness | Nithuth sat.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

41. Then spake Nithuth, | lord of the Njars:
“Rise up, Thakkrath, | best of my thralls,
Bid Bothvild come, | the bright-browed maid,
Bedecked so fair, | with her father to speak.”

42. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“Is it true, Bothvild, | that which was told me;
Once in the isle | with Völund wert thou?”

Bothvild spake:

Bellows Notes

Prose. Nithuth (“Bitter Hater”): here identified as a king of Sweden,
is in the poem (stanzas 9, 15 and 32) called lord of the Njars, which
may refer to the people of the Swedish district of Nerike. In any case,
the scene of the story has moved from Saxon lands into the Northeast.
The first and last sentences of the introduction refer to the second
part of the poem; the rest of it concerns the swan-maidens episode.
Bothvild (“Warlike Maid”): Völund’s victim in the latter part of the
poem. King of the Finns: this notion, clearly later than the poem,
which calls Völund an elf, may perhaps be ascribed to the annotator who
composed the prose introduction. The Finns, meaning the dwellers in
Lapland, were generally credited with magic powers. Egil appears in the
Thithrekssaga as Völund’s brother, but Slagfith is not elsewhere
mentioned. Ulfdalir (“Wolf-Dale”), Ulfsjar (“Wolf-Sea”), Valland
(“Slaughter-Land”): mythical places without historical identification.
Valkyries: cf. Voluspo, 31 and note; there is nothing in the poem to
identify the three swan-maidens as Valkyries except one obscure word in
line 2 of stanza 1 and again in line 5 of stanza 5, which may mean, as
Gering translates it, “helmed,” or else “fair and wise.” I suspect that
the annotator, anxious to give the Saxon legend as much northern local
color as possible, was mistaken in his mythology, and that the poet
never conceived of his swan-maidens as Valkyries at all. However, this
identification of swan-maidens with Valkyries was not uncommon; cf.
Helreith Brynhildar, 7. The three maidens’ names, Hlathguth, Hervor,
and Olrun, do not appear in the lists of Valkyries. King Hlothver: this
name suggests the southern origin of the story, as it is the northern
form of Ludwig; the name appears again in Guthrunarkvitha II, 26, and
that of Kjar is found in Atlakvitha, 7, both of these poems being based
on German stories. It is worth noting that the composer of this
introductory note seems to have had little or no information beyond
what was actually contained in the poem as it has come down to us; he
refers to the “old stories” about Völund, but either he was unfamiliar
with them in detail or else he thought it needless to make use of them.
His note simply puts in clear and connected form what the verse tells
somewhat obscurely; his only additions are making Nithuth a king of
Sweden and Völund’s father a king of the Finns, supplying the name
Ulfsjar for the lake, identifying the swan-maidens as Valkyries, and
giving Kjar a home in Valland.

1. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza; two
lines may have been lost before or after lines 1–2, and two more, or
even six, with the additional stanza describing the theft of the
swan-garments, after line 4. Myrkwood: a stock name for a magic, dark
forest; cf. Lokasenna, 42.

2. In the manuscript these two lines stand after stanza 16; editors
have tried to fit them into various places, but the prose indicates
that they belong here, with a gap assumed.

3. In the manuscript these two lines follow stanza 1, with no gap
indicated, and the first line marked as the beginning of a stanza. Many
editors have combined them with stanza 4.

4. No lacuna indicated in the manuscript; one editor fills the stanza
out with a second line running: “Then to her breast Slagfith embraced.”

5. Line 3 looks like an interpolation, but line 5, identical with line
2 of stanza 1, may be the superfluous one.

6. The phrase “Völund home from a weary way” is an emendation of
Bugge’s, accepted by many editors. Some of those who do not include it
reject line 4, and combine the remainder of the stanza with all or part
of stanza 7.

7. The manuscript marks the second, and not the first, line as the
beginning of a stanza. Some editors combine lines 2–3 with all or part
of stanza 8. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, but many editors
have assumed one, some of them accepting Bugge’s suggested “Till back
the maiden | bright should come.”

8. No line in this stanza is indicated in the manuscript as beginning a
new stanza; editors have tried all sorts of experiments in regrouping
the lines into stanzas with those of stanzas 7 and 9. In line 3 the
word long is sheer guesswork, as the line in the manuscript contains a
metrical error.

9. Some editors combine the first two lines with parts of stanza 8, and
the last two with the first half of stanza 10. Njars: there has been
much, and inconclusive, discussion as to what this name means; probably
it applies to a semi-mythical people somewhere vaguely in “the East.”

10. Some editors combine lines 3–4 with the fragmentary stanza 11.

11. No gap indicated in the manuscript; some editors combine these
lines with lines 3–4 of stanza 10, while others combine them with the
first two lines of stanza 12. The one ring which Nithuth’s men steal is
given to Bothvild, and proves the cause of her undoing.

12. The manuscript indicates line 3, and not line 1, as the beginning
of a stanza, which has given rise to a large amount of conjectural
rearrangement. Line 2 of the original is identical with the phrase
added by Bugge in stanza 6. Line 5 may be spurious, or lines 4–5 may
have been expanded out of a single line running “The wind-dried wood
| for Völund burned well.”

13. 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.

15. 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.

16. The manuscript definitely assigns this stanza to Völund, but many
editors give the first two lines to Nithuth. In the manuscript stanza
16 is followed by the two lines of stanza 2, and many editions make of
lines 3–4 of stanza 16 and stanza 2 a single speech by Völund. Grani’s
way: Grani was Sigurth’s horse, on which he rode to slay Fafnir and win
Andvari’s hoard; this and the reference to the Rhine as the home of
wealth betray the southern source of the story. If lines 1–2 belong to
Völund, they mean that Nithuth got his wealth in the Rhine country, and
that Völund’s hoard has nothing to do with it; if the speaker is
Nithuth, they mean that Völund presumably has not killed a dragon, and
that he is far from the wealth of the Rhine, so that he must have
stolen his treasure from Nithuth himself.

17. Line 1 is lacking in the manuscript, lines 2–4 following
immediately after the two lines here given as stanza 2. Line 1,
borrowed from line 1 of stanza 32, is placed here by many editors,
following Bugge’s suggestion. Certainly it is Nithuth’s wife who utters
line 4. Who comes from the wood: Völund, noted as a hunter. Gering
assumes that with the entrance of Nithuth’s wife the scene has changed
from Völund’s house to Nithuth’s, but I cannot see that this is
necessary.

Prose. The annotator inserted this note rather clumsily in the midst of
the speech of Nithuth’s wife.

18. In the manuscript lines 2–3 stand before line 1; many editors have
made the transposition here indicated. Some editors reject line 3 as
spurious. Sævarstath: “Sea-Stead.”

19. This stanza is obviously in bad shape. Vigfusson makes two stanzas
of it by adding a first line: “Then did Völund speak, | sagest of
elves.” Editors have rejected various lines, and some have regrouped
the last lines with the first two of stanza 20. The elimination of the
passages in parenthesis produces a four-line stanza which is metrically
correct, but it has little more than guesswork to support it.

20. The editions vary radically in combining the lines of this stanza
with those of stanzas 19 and 21, particularly as the manuscript
indicates the third line as the beginning of a stanza. The meaning,
however, remains unchanged.

21. Several editions make one stanza out of lines 3–4 of stanza 20 and
lines 1–2 of stanza 21, and another out of the next four lines. The
evil was open: i.e., the gold in the chest was destined to be their
undoing.

22. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and
several editors have adopted this grouping. In the Thithrekssaga Völund
sends the boys away with instructions not to come back until just after
a fall of snow, and then to approach his dwelling walking backward. The
boys do this, and when, after he has killed them, Völund is questioned
regarding them, he points to the tracks in the snow as evidence that
they had left his house.

23. No gap indicated in the manuscript. Some editors assume it, as
here; some group the lines with lines 3–4 of stanza 22, and some with
lines 1–2 of stanza 24.

24. Some editions begin a new stanza with line 3.

25. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and
many editors have adopted this grouping.

26. These two lines have been grouped in various ways, either with
lines 3–4 of stanza 25 or with the fragmentary stanza 27. No gap is
indicated in the manuscript, but the loss of something is so obvious
that practically all editors have noted it, although they have differed
as to the number of lines lost.

27. No gap indicated in the manuscript; the line and a half might be
filled out (partly with the aid of late paper manuscripts) thus: “But
soon it broke, | and swiftly to Völund / She bore it and said—”

29. The manuscript does not name Völund as the speaker before line 3;
Vigfusson again inserts his convenient line, “Then Völund spake, |
sagest of elves.” A few editions combine lines 3–4 with the two lines
of stanza 30.

30. No gap indicated in the manuscript; some editors combine the two
lines with lines 3–4 of stanza 29, and many with the three lines of
stanza 31.

31. 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.

32. The manuscript indicates line 4 as the beginning of a stanza, and
many editors have followed this arrangement.

33. 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.”

34. No gap indicated in the manuscript, but it seems clear 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.

35. 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.

36. Lines 3–4 are nearly identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 24.

37. Identical, except for the pronouns, with stanza 25.

38. Lines 1–2: cf. stanza 26.

39. 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.

40. Line 1: cf. stanza 31. The manuscript indicates no lacuna.

41. The first line is a conjectural addition. Thakkrath is probably the
northern form of the Middle High German name Dancrat.

42. The manuscript indicates no gap, but indicates line 3 as the
beginning of a stanza; Vigfusson’s added “Then Nithuth spake, |
lord of the Njars” seems plausible enough.

43. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Different editors have
rejected one or another of the last three lines, and as the manuscript
indicates line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, the loss of two or
three lines has likewise been suggested. According to the
Thithrekssaga, the son of Völund and Bothvild was Vithga, or Witege,
one of the heroes of Dietrich of Bern.