Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/370

 this mysterious blacksmith is of Northern origin. In Scandinavian mythology, the Völundar-Koiða recounts the tragic adventures of Völundr, who was the Dædalus of the North, and one of its mythical heroes. The same high authority shows that the root of the word, which is Anglo-Saxon, is Wealand, Welond, or Weland, in German Wielant, and is the Velint of the Vilkina-Saga, is derived from the Norse Vel, skill, art, craft, or cunning, and the old German Wielan, Anglo-Saxon Welan, to fabricate, the participle of which would be Wielant and Weland. The word, therefore, according to Mr Mallet, denotes a skilful artificer, in which sense it is still employed by the people of Iceland, who say 'Hann er völundr à jarn,' 'He is a famous smith or workman in iron;' and a labyrinth with them is a Wayland house.

'It is in the Icelandic Sagas,' remarks Depping and Michel, 'that Veland is the subject of long romantic fictions, and the story regarding him forms one of the oldest fragments of this poetical literature. It has been attempted to trace the romance to a historical period, — to the reign of King Nidung, who appears to have lived in Sweden in the 6th century of our era, and who is reported to have been the protector of the smith. But there is nothing historical in this, and if on the one hand such has been claimed for it, on the other hand it is as likely to belong to Scandinavian mythology.'

We must not forget that the Teutonic word 'Welsh, 'Wilisc,' or 'Wælisc,' was the term for stranger or foreigner, and that France was called by the old and mediæval Germans 'Das Welsche lant;' while the