Not British as such, he was imported by the Anglo-Saxons from the continent. He is known in Teutonic sources, Frankish sources, and in Scandinavia, where he is called Volund. The gist of his tale is that he loved a swan-maiden who lived with him for seven years, but disappeared at length. He pines for her, but awaits her return, making wondrous jewelry and artifacts in the meantime. Set upon by an outlaw king and his sons, he is hamstrung and marooned on a small island with a smithy at his disposal. He encompasses the death of the sons, the violation of their sister (who wears the ring he gave to his own love, stolen from him), and escapes the isle on a pair of contrived wings... He became a byword for the art of the smith, and the forging of miraculous objects; and he seems to have had a geas placed upon him with respect to his craft, to the effect that he could not refuse any commission, no matter how impossible the task, once he had been offered a payment.. Note the very typical thread of the maimed smith.
