Swan-Maidens

The Swan-maidens was another name for the Valkyries, because they wore garments with swan feathers which enabled them to fly, just like the goddess Frigg or Freyja had a cloak of falcon feathers.

Here, I am interested in three particular swan-maidens found in the poem in the Poetic Edda, called Völundarkvida ("Lay of Völundr").

Volund, or Wayland as he was known in English legend, was a famous master smith. Volund and his two brothers, Egil and Slagfid, encountered three swan-maidens bathing in a lake. The three brothers raped these maidens.

Two of the maidens, Alvit (Hervor) and Svanhvit (Hladgud), were the daughters of King Hlodver. The third swan-maiden, named Olrun, was the daughter of King Valland. The three brothers each married one of the maidens. Volund (Wayland) was married to Alvit, while Egil was husband of Olrun and Slagfid that of Svanhvit.

The three swan-maidens lived with the three brothers for seven years, before they unexpectedly abandoned their husbands and were never heard from again. Volund's two brothers went to find their wives, but the smith stayed at home in Wolfdale.