by Ben Waggoner
He replied, “It must be as Amilias says, my lord. He must have made it.”
The king replied, “If you’re not telling the truth, you’ll feel my anger.”
Wieland said, “I wouldn’t want your anger, if it were up to me”—and he told him how he had lost the knife and made another one in its place.
The king said, “I suspected that Amilias could not have done such good smithing. Never before have I seen a knife as good as this one.”
Amilias could not stay silent. “My lord, it may be that Wieland has made this knife that’s as good as you say—yet it may also be that I can forge something that’s no worse. And I never want it to be known of me, that his smithing is better than mine. I would rather put our skill to the test, before being called less skillful than Wieland.”
Wieland said, “I can’t make many things with skill, but what I can do, I won’t hold back, so that we may put our smithing to the test. Make one thing, and I will make another, and then it may be known who is better.”
Amilias said, “I’ll lay a wager on that.”
Wieland answered, “I don’t have much money. Still, we can wager something, if that seems fitting to you.”
Amilias answered, “Though you don’t have enough money, stake your head, and I’ll stake my head in return. The one who is more skillful shall cut off the other’s head.”
Wieland said, “Make as large a wager as you want, and make the best thing that you know how. But what will you forge? How will we make the test?”
Amilias answered, “You shall forge the best sword you can, and I will forge a helmet and mailcoat and greaves. If your sword cuts this armor so that it gives me a scratch, you shall cut off my head. But if your sword doesn’t cut my armor, never doubt that I will surely take your life.”
Wieland said, “I’m quite willing. Don’t take back your words, and hold to what you’ve spoken.”
Amilias said, “I want to have someone bear witness that what I have pronounced will not be quashed.” And two of the bravest knights in the king’s household, who knew Amilias’s skill, had to do this.
Amilias said to Wieland, “Where are your witnesses?”
Wieland answered, “I don’t know who would stand witness for me. I don’t know what I can do, since I am unknown to all men in this land.”
Then the king himself said, “Everything that he has forged, he has made well”—and it occurred to him how the tree-trunk had floated, and how well it was built, with such great artifice. He said that rather than Wieland not having a witness, he himself would answer for him. And thus they confirmed their agreement, with King Nidung pledging surety for Wieland, and two knights for Amilias.
That same day, Amilias and all his apprentices went to the smithy and began forging, and this went on for all of twelve months. But Wieland served before the king’s table every day and acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. Half a year went by in this way.
CHAPTER LXV. Disappearance of Wieland’s Tools
Now one day the king asked how Wieland wanted to redeem his pledge, and when he wanted to prepare for smithing.
Wieland answered, “Whenever you advise me to, my lord. But I want you to have a smithy built for me to work in, o king.”
It was done as he said. Once the smithy was built, Wieland went to where he had hidden his tools and treasure. The tree-trunk was broken up, and the tools and all the treasure had been taken away. He felt this was terrible, and it occurred to him that one man had seen where he had hidden his tools. He knew that man had taken them, but he didn’t know his name. Wieland went to the king and told him everything that had happened. The king felt that this was a bad thing, and asked if Wieland would recognize the man or not.
He said, “I’ll recognize him, my lord, but I don’t know his name.”
The king summoned an assembly, ordering every man in his kingdom who heard his words to come. The summons came to every farm in Jutland. Everyone thought this summons was strange, and no one knew what it meant. The assembly was called to order. Wieland went before each man at the assembly to see whether he could recognize the man who had taken his tools and gold and other treasures. Wieland didn’t find the man, or anyone like him. He told the king how it was.
The king took this badly, and said to Wieland, “You’re much less clever than I thought, and you deserve heavy fetters on your feet. You’ve made a laughingstock out of me. I summoned this assembly for your sake, and every man in my kingdom has come here. The one who has taken your tools and other treasures must have come here, but you never recognized him. You’re a complete fool.”
Now the king left the assembly, and all the other folk went with him. Wieland thought it was terrible that he’d lost his tools and gold and gained the king’s anger.
CHAPTER LXVI. Wieland Makes a Statue of Regin and Gets his Tools
A little while later, Wieland sculpted a statue of a human being, made as much like a man as possible, with hair on its head. Wieland went to the king’s hall one evening. He set the statue in a nook where the king went to the privy. Then Wieland went into the hall and served like the other squires.
Now the king and all his men had to go, and Wieland bore a candle before the king. The king looked to his right and said to the statue, “Hail and welcome, my good friend Regin. Why did you go out by yourself? When did you get here? Did you fare well on the mission to Sweden that I sent you on?”
Wieland said, “My lord, this man must be haughty; he won’t answer you. I made this statue from memory. That must be the name of the man who took my smith’s tools and gold, my lord.”17
The king said, “You couldn’t have expected to find him here. I’d sent him to Sweden on important errands for me. You are certainly a clever and skillful man, and a good man. Now I will get your tools and treasure, if he has taken them, and I shall make amends for speaking harsh words to you.”
When Regin came home, the king summoned him, and he came to meet the king. The king asked whether he had taken Wieland’s tools and treasure. He confessed, and said that he had done it as a joke. Now Wieland got his tools and treasure, and he stood and served the king every day. Four months passed in this way.
LXVII. Velent Forges the Sword Mimung
When this time had passed, the king asked why Wieland didn’t want to work, as he had pledged. He said, “I’ll start work as soon as you see fit and you advise me to.”
“It looks to me as though you have a lot at stake,” said the king, “and you have to deal with a crafty and wicked man. Go forge something and test yourself.”
Wieland went to the smithy and sat down to work, and for seven days he worked on one sword. On the seventh day, the king himself came to see him. Wieland had completed the sword, and the king thought he had never seen a more handsome or sharper sword. Wieland went to a river, and the king went with him. Wieland took a hank of felted wool a foot thick and threw it into the river, letting it drift with the current. He set the sword’s blade in the river and turned it into the current. The wool drifted onto the sword, and the edge cut the wool in two.18
The king said, “That’s a good sword.” He wanted to bear it himself.
Wieland said, “This isn’t a very good sword. It has to be much better before I’ll be finished.”
The king went to his hall, and he was cheerful. Wieland went to the smithy and took a file, and filed the whole sword down into shavings.19 Now he took the shavings and mixed them with meal. He took poultry and starved them for three days. Then he took the meal and gave it to the birds to eat. He took the birds’ droppings and put them into the forge, and all the slag in the steel came boiling out.20 And from that steel he made a sword which was shorter than the first.
When the sword was ready, the king came to Wieland. As soon as he saw the sword, he wanted to take it with him, and he said that no better treasure had ever been found or won there than th
at sword.
Wieland said, “My lord, this is a good sword, but it must be even better still.”
They went to the river. Wieland threw a hank of felted wool two feet thick before the sword, and the sword cut the wool in two as before. The king said that Wieland wouldn’t be able to make a better sword, try as he might. Wieland said that he would make it better by half. The king was pleased, and went home to his hall, happy. Wieland went to his smithy and filed the sword all to bits, and did the same thing with it that he had done before. And when weeks had passed, Wieland had made a shining sword ornamented with gold, with a beautiful hilt.
The king came to Wieland and saw the sword, and he felt he had never seen a better sword or a sharper one. It was a properly sized sword, while the ones he had made before were larger than was suitable. Now they went to the river. Wieland was carrying a hank of felted wool, three feet thick and three feet long. He threw it into the river and held the sword still in the current, and the wool drifted onto the sword’s edge. It cut the wool in two, as easily as it cut the current itself.
King Nidung said, “Even if the whole world were searched, no sword as good as this one could ever be found. I must have this sword every time I fight my enemies.”
Wieland answered, “I will let no man but you use this sword, my lord, if it’s of any use. But first I must make a belt and scabbard. Then I will give you the sword.”
The king wanted it so, and he went home cheerfully to his hall. Wieland went into his smithy and sat down to work, and he forged another sword, so much like the first that no man could tell one from the other. Wieland hid the good sword under his bellows and said, “Lie there, Mimung.21 Who knows whether I might need you again before this is over?”
CHAPTER LXVIII. Wieland Wins the Wager
Wieland had now finished all his smithing. Every day he stood before the king’s table and served him in every way, until the appointed day.
Now the appointed day came. Early in the morning, Amilias took his greaves and clasped them on, and went out in the marketplace and amused himself and showed off. Everyone who saw him said that they had never seen iron as good as those. They were doubly thick and amazingly well-made. When breakfast was over, he put on his mailcoat. It was doubly thick, and long and wide. And so he went to the king’s table. No one could believe he’d ever seen a single piece of armor better than that mailcoat. Amilias was cheerful and glad, and he made great boasts of himself and his armor.
When Amilias came before the king’s table, he set a helmet on his head. It was well-polished and enormously large and thick, and the king thought it was excellent. When the king had eaten and the tables were taken away, Amilias went out to a certain field, and there stood a chair where he sat down. The king went out, and all his men went with him, including Wieland. Amilias said he was ready to put his wager to the test.
Wieland went to his smithy and took the sword Mimung and came back to the king with the sword drawn. He went behind the chair where Amilias was sitting, and set the sword’s edge against the helmet. He spoke to Amilias, asking if he recognized him. Amilias replied, “Strike with all your might. Act as if it’s of some use to you—if it will be enough.”
Wieland struck so hard with the sword that it split the helmet and head and mailcoat and body all the way down to the waist. Thus ended the days of Amilias’s life. Many a man said this: where a man sets his arrogance highest, it may be brought lowest.
The king ordered Wieland to bring him the sword, wanting to carry it away himself. Wieland answered, “My lord, I have to get the scabbard, which is lying in the smithy. I want to give you everything together.” The king was well pleased with that.
Now Wieland went to the smithy and tossed Mimung under his bellows, and took the other sword and slid it into the scabbard. He went out and brought it to the king. The king thought that it was the same sword with which Wieland had achieved his mighty deed. He believed that he had such a great treasure that a man might search the world over and not find a greater one.
Some time now passed.
CHAPTER LXIX. Wieland Becomes Famous For His Smithing
King Nidung stayed in his kingdom. With him was Wieland, the famous smith, whom the Varangians22 call Völundr. He crafted all sorts of treasures for the king from gold and silver and every material that can be shaped. Wieland is so famous throughout the northern half of the world that all men believe that they can best praise his skill by saying that whoever makes any piece of smithcraft that’s better made than others is “a Völundr in skill”.
Wieland stayed with King Nidung, greatly favored and highly honored, the most skilled and famous of all men.
CHAPTER LXX. Wieland Seeks the Victory-Stone and Kills the Steward
One day, as King Nidung was seated at his table, men came before the king and told him that a huge host had entered his kingdom and done terrible harm. King Nidung summoned his forces, and they set out, five days before the forces met.
In the evening, when the king had pitched his tent, he realized that his victory-stone had been left at home. In those days, kings owned certain stones whose nature was such that whoever had one on him won victory. Those who were warriors or champions, or who had to deal with hostilities, used them the most. I don’t know whether that came about because of the nature of the stone itself, or all the faith that people had in the stones. But the king felt it was terrible that his victory-stone was lying at home. He summoned his counsellors and close friends, and said that he would give half his kingdom and his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man who brought the stone to him before the sun rose in the east the next morning. Many were eager to make the journey, but few believed that the journey could be brought about in such a short time as was available. Now evening was coming on.
The king saw that no one wanted to attempt the journey, and he called Wieland and said, “My good friend Wieland, will you make this journey?”
Wieland said, “Lord, at your command I will make it, if you will fulfil what you have sworn.”
The king said, “We will do well all that we have said.”
Wieland rode on his good horse Skemming. He had gotten that good horse from the south, from the herd that Studas the Old had in his care, as was told earlier.23 This horse was as fast as a flying bird, huge and handsome in every respect. Wieland rode off in the night and traveled in half a day the distance that the king had marched his forces in five days. He arrived at the town around midnight and got the victory-stone, and rode back and approached the king’s tents before the sun had risen in the east. Now Wieland let his horse Skemming prance. Seven men came to meet him before the king’s tent as they went to water their horses. Their leader was the king’s steward. They rode to meet Wieland and welcomed him warmly, and he them.
The steward said, “My good friend, do you have the victory-stone here? You certainly exceed other men in almost every respect, if you made that journey directly in such a short time.”
Wieland answered, “I should think I do have the stone, and I think I have discharged this errand as best I could.”
The steward said, “Give me the victory-stone, and I will take it to the king. I will give you gold and silver in return—as much as you ask for.”
Wieland answered the steward, “You could have made this journey, no less than I, but I don’t believe that you’ll get the stone from my hands. It’s a discourtesy to ask for such a thing, since someone else has fetched the stone, and since such matters depend on it.”
Then the steward said, “You’re a fool if you think you’ll marry the king’s daughter, just a smith with small prospects, when those of the best families in these lands haven’t gotten her. But you’ll get something you’ll have trouble with. Draw your swords, my men. He must now give up the victory-stone, and his life along with it.”
Now they attacked him, but he drew his sword Mimung and struck the steward himself on the
helmet and cleaved his head in two, so that he fell dead to the earth. The remaining six men fled.
CHAPTER LXXI. King Nidung Makes Wieland an Outlaw
Wieland came to meet the king and brought him the victory-stone. The king welcomed him warmly. Now Wieland told the king everything that had happened on his journey, and also that he had killed the steward.
The king said, “You’ll have no thanks for that. You’ve killed my best and dearest serving-man. Go away as quickly as you can, and never come into my sight again. If you don’t leave now, I’ll have you hanged and you shall die like the worst thief.”
Wieland backed away from the king and said this: “You may make such accusations against me now, o king, because you want to break our contract. But even if I weren’t displeased about this, it won’t turn out well for anyone.”
Now Wieland left the king in disgrace. That same day, King Nidung encountered the raiders, and they fought. King Nidung won victory and purged and pacified the land, and went home with great glory and thought he had come out ahead. Some time passed, and no one knew where Wieland had gone, but King Nidung stayed at home in his own kingdom.
CHAPTER LXXII. The King Has Wieland’s Sinews Cut
Wieland was completely displeased at having suffered the king’s anger, and he himself was outlawed. Now he thought of vengeance. He went to the king’s estate once, in secret and in disguise, and headed for the cookhouse. He called himself a cook and set to work, carving meat and boiling it with the other cooks. Platters of meat went before the king and his daughter. She took a certain knife and stuck a piece of meat that lay on the dish before her. But such was the nature of the knife, that the handle rang out if there was anything unclean in the food. The maiden found that there was poison in the meat, and she told her father. He became angry and ordered that the man be searched for. Wieland was found and led before the king.
The king said, “Wieland, for the sake of your skill, you shall not lose your life, although you have done evil.” And he was set before the king. The king had the sinews in both of his legs cut, both the hamstrings and those in front of his insteps, and also the tendons above the heelbones. From then on, for as long as Wieland lived, both legs were useless to him for walking.