Wayland the Smith
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In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (Old English: Wēland; Old Norse: Völundr, Velentr; Old High German: Wiolant; Proto-Germanic: *Wēlandaz) is a legendary smith. In Old Norse sources, Völundr appears in Völundarkviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda, and in Þiðrekssaga, and his legend is also depicted on the Ardre image stone VIII. In Old English sources, he appears in Deor, Waldere and in Beowulf and the legend is depicted on the Franks Casket. The only German source that mentions him is Der grosse Rosengarten.
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Old Norse attestations
Weyland had two brothers, Egil and Slagfiðr. In one version of the myth, the three brothers lived with three Valkyries: Ölrún, Hervör alvitr and Hlaðguðr svanhvít. After nine years, the Valkyries left their lovers. Egil and Slagfiðr followed, never to return. In another version, Weyland married the swan maiden Hervör, and they had a son, Heime, but Hervör later left Weyland. In both versions, his love left him with a ring. In the former myth, he forged seven hundred duplicates of this ring.
At a later point in time, he was captured in his sleep by King Nidud in Nerike who ordered him hamstrung and imprisoned on the island of Sævarstöð. There he was forced to forge items for the king. Weyland's wife's ring was given to the king's daughter, Bodvild. Nidud wore Weyland's sword.
In revenge, Weyland killed the king's sons when they visited him in secret, fashioned goblets from their skulls, jewels from their eyes, and a brooch from their teeth. He sent the goblets to the king, the jewels to the queen and the brooch to the king's daughter. When Bodvild took her ring to him to be mended, he took the ring and raped her, fathering a son and escaping on wings he made. Völund made the magic sword Gram (also named Balmung and Nothung) and the magic ring that Thorsten retrieved.
Old English attestations
As Weland he also fashioned the mail shirt worn by Beowulf according to lines 450–455 of the epic poem of the same name:
Toponyms
Wayland is associated with Wayland's Smithy, a burial mound in Oxfordshire. This was named by the English, but the megalithic mound significantly predates them. It is from this association that the superstition came about that a horse left there overnight with a small silver coin (groat) would be shod by morning.
See also
- Culture of Närke
- Deor
- Ilmarinen
- Sigurd
- Weyland Smith in Vertigo's Fables series
- Wieland der Schmied (libretto)
References
- Heaney, Seamus (2000). Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32097-8.
- Larrington, Carolyne (transl.) (1996). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2.
Popular culture
- The former superstition is mentioned in the first episode of Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling, "The Sword of Weland", which narrates the rise and fall of the god.
- The character "Weyland Smith" is prominent in the "Animal Farm" story arc of the Fables comic book.
- Weyland is referred to as a historical personage with mythic overtones in The Hollow Hills, by Mary Stewart. In this Arthurian retelling, Weyland is the actual crafter of the sword Excalibur.
- The character Wayland Smith also appears in Raymond E. Feist's 1988 fantasy novel, A Faerie Tale.
- In Michael Scott Rohan's book Hammer of the Sun (Winter of the World Trilogy) the smith Elof is hamstrung by the King and imprisoned on an island. He obtains revenge by killing the King's sons in the fashion described above, seduces the kings daughter, and escapes on mechanical wings of his own making.
- In the TV series Robin of Sherwood the episode called "The Swords of Wayland" is about 7 swords which are according to legend can be used to raise Lucifer. "The Swords of Wayland" are possessed with the powers of Light and Darkness. The names of the swords are: Morax, Solas, Orias, Elidor, Beleth, Albion and Flauros. All swords are destroyed at the climax of the programme, apart from Albion, which had been entrusted to Robin Hood in the first episode of the series.
- Weyland Smith is mentioned in Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust.
- Another reference is the character John Wayland Smith in The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. This Smith serves as a vital guide and protector to the novel's protagonist, Will Stanton. He is one of the mystical and immortal "Old Ones," masquerading as a normal human being in the modern world; unlike other Old Ones however, Smith aids the servants of both the Light and the Dark in his capacity as a smith.
- A Neo-Expressionist work by Anselm Kiefer entitled Song of the Wayland features a lead wing on a scorched, desolate field.
- In Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile, the character Antony Bryce Weyland is a metallurgist, pivotal in the re-industrialisation of the Many Coloured Land.
- In Christopher Paolini's book Eragon the name Völund is used for a dwarvish war hammer.
- Julian Cope's album The Skellington Chronicles contains a track called Wayland's Smithy Has Wings
External links
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