Wayland and the Valkyrs
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
Of all swerdes it is king,
And Weland it wrought,
Bitterfer it is hight.”
Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Coneybeare’s tr.).
There are countless other tales of swan maidens or Valkyrs, who are said to have consorted with mortals; but the most popular of all is that of Brunhild, the wife of Sigurd, a descendant of Sigmund and the most renowned of Northern heroes.
William Morris, in “The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” gives a fascinating version of another of these Norse legends. The story is amongst the most charming of the collection in “The Earthly Paradise.”