Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/587

 beasts. They came to Ulfdal, and there made themselves a house, where there is a water called the Wolfiake. Early one morning they found, on the border of the lake, three maidens sitting and spinning flax. Near them lay their swan plumages: they were Valkyries. Two of them, Hladgud, the Swan-white, and Hervör, the All-white, were daughters of King Hlödver; the third was Olrun, a daughter of Kiàr of Valland. They took them home with them to their dwelling: Egil had Olrun, Slagfid had Swan-white, and Völund All-white. They lived there seven years, and then they flew away, seeking conflicts, and did not return. Egil then went on snow-shoes in search of Olrun, and Slagfld in search of Swan-white, but Völund remained in Wolfdale. In the German story of the mighty smith, as preserved in the Wilkina Saga, this incident has disappeared; but that the myth was Teutonic as well as Scandinavian, appears from the poem on Frederick of Suabia, a composition of the fourteenth century, wherein is related how the hero wanders in search of his beloved Angelburga. By chance he arrives at a fountain, in which are bathing three maidens,