By the way, Willcock takes note of the lines just preceding the description of the shield (lines 474-477) -- in Lattimore's translation (which Willcock cites throughout):
He cast on the fire bronze which is weariless, and tin with it
and valuable gold, and silver, and thereafter set forth
upon its standard the great anvil, and gripped in one hand
the ponderous hammer, while in the other he grasped the pincers.
Willcock:

The connection between Hephaistos and Daidalos occurs late in the description of the Shield's designs. Willcock writes:

Here are the lines 590-605 from Lattimore's translation:

My discussion has evolved. It began with my grabbing Kerényi's Dionysos from its shelf nearby, intending to post passages from his discussion of Daidalos. But while leafing through the volume on my way to these passages I came upon the following:

One wonders at how similar the "winding and unwinding" dance of the human dancers was to the "reversing circle" dance of the honeybees.

Kerényi continues...

Hollander notes "They take no more than one ring (which probably had magic power) in order not to arouse suspicion. Fearing the supernatural strength of Volund -- he is termed a lord of the alfs -- they mean to overcome him sleeping, and so lie in wait for him until he returns weary from the chase." In Hollander's translation Volund is termed "the alf's folk-warder" in the passage above, and later Nídud calls him once "lord of alfs" and once "alfs' leader" -- so Volund is definitely considered, as an elf, otherworldly. The golden armring Nídud takes he presents to his daughter Bödvild, and he takes Volund's sword for himself.

Back in his own hall, Nídud's unnamed queen warns him about Volund:

Sævarstath (Orchard: Sævarstad) is 'Sea Stead'. With this hamstringing Volund becomes even more crippled than Hephaistos, for he cannot walk at all, but would have to crawl about using his arm strength, and sit (not stand) at the forge.

Nídud's (also unnamed) young sons one day arrive (accompanied by their nurses) with desire to look at all the precious and wondrous objects Volund had made that were kept in "the chest." Volund convinces them to return the next day alone to see "the gleaming gold":

Hollander notes this is the scene pictured on the Franks Casket. He also notes that in Thiðreks saga (a quite late conflation of many "hero's tales") "Volund tells the boys to return when fresh snow has fallen, and to walk backwards to the door. After their disappearance, Volund is suspected but clears himself by showing the tracks leading from his door." Volund covers their skulls with silver and presents them to Nídud as drinking vessels. He creates shining beads from their eyeballs and "gave to the cunning queen of Níthoth," and sent "beauteous brooches" made from their teeth to Bödvild.

Next, Bödvild herself comes to Volund to have the golden armring repaired.

Orchard quotes these lines (from a different translation) identifying the drink as "beer." This is all that's said at this point in the poem, which continues:

Hollander thinks there may be lines missing here, basically saying that though I cannot use my hamstrung feet, I've forged me wings, and I'll fly with my strong arms. Orchard points out that Thiðreks saga does report that Volund manufactured the wings himself. Here, clearly he escapes from his smithy prison in the same manner that Daidalos escaped from his smithy prison.

Volund flies to Nídud's hall, and perches high there to taunt the king. Seeing him there Nídud speaks...

Finally, I found another passage in Kveldulf Gundarsson's Teutonic Religion:

Bellows' translation:

On the other hand, Larrington's translation agrees more with Bellows':

Another stanza Hollander translates thus:

So too, Terry:

While both these translations would belie Bellows contention the poem does not characterize the swan-maidens as valkyries, again Bellows and Larrington's translations offer no implication of that.

Bellows:

Larrington:

Clearly the phrases (apparently found in both stanzas) that Hollander and Terry translate as referring to war or battle, Bellows and Larrington translate as referring to a personal fate.

Note that all these translators, in translating the annotator's prose introduction to the Lay of Volund, do refer to the maidens as valkyries and to battle:

Hollander: "Early one morn they found by the shore three women who were spinning flax. By them lay their swanskins, for they were valkyries. . . . Thus dwelled they seven years. Then flew they away to be at battles, and did not return."

Bellows: "Early one morning they found on the shore of the lake three women, who were spinning flax. Near them were their swan-garments, for they were Valkyries. . . . There they dwelt seven winters; but then they flew away to find battles, and came back no more."

Terry: "Early one morning they found on the shore three women who were spinning flax. Their swanskins were lying beside them. They were valkyries; . . . They lived together for seven years. Then the valkyries flew away to go to battles, and didn't come back."

Larrington: "Early in the morning, they found three women on the shore, and they were spinning linen. Near them were their swan's garments; they were valkyries. . . . They lived together seven winters. Then the women flew off to go to a battle and did not come back."

Terry's translation of Volund's epithets are "The Master of Elves" and "Elf King" and "Lord of Elves." Larrington translates these, in order, as "Prince of Elves" and "Lord of Elves" and again "Prince of Elves."

Following her translation of the Lay of Volund, Terry provides this information:

In the stanza where Volund seduces and rapes Bödvild, Larrington annotes the phrase (in her translation) overcame her with beer, by noting the "scene is illustrated on the eighth-century whalebone box known as the Franks Casket, which can be seen in the British Museum."

Larrington's translation of the stanza in which Volund then takes flight is rather unique among the four translations:

The other translations all have Volund (recall he had been hamstrung at Nidud's orders) wishing he could walk -- apparently an ironic or sarcastic statement (to Bödvild?) since then he rises into the air with (triumphant?) laughter. Hollander does footnote the line about wishing he could walk as "Conjectural." Larrington annotates her webbed feet thus "this phrase, and the crippled smith's method of escape from the island, remain obscure. It is possible that the ring which he has now recovered has some transformative power, changing Volund into a swan (hence the webbed feet), like the swan-maiden for whom it was made. The later prose account of the story Thidreks saga, has Volund's brother Egil come to his rescue, shooting down geese with his bow so that the smith can make himself wings. This scene may also be illustrated on the Franks Casket." Finally, she annotates Volund's declaration that Bödvild is with child, with "in Thidreks saga Volund returns with an army, kills Nidud, and marries Bodvild. Their son, Vidia, becomes a great Germanic hero."

One final intriguing set of epithets for Volund.