Eigil admired the workmanship and Wayland asked him to try it.
"How shall I rise, how fly, and how alight?" asked Eigil.
"You must rise against the wind, and fly first low and then high, but you must alight with the wind."
Eigil did as he was told, and had a good deal of trouble in alighting. Finally he knocked his head with such force on the ground that he lost consciousness. When he came to himself Wayland spoke:
"Tell me, brother Eigil, do you like the shirt?"
"If it were as easy to alight as it is to fly," was the answer, "I should fly away and you would never see me again."
"I will alter what is wrong," said the smith, making a slight change in the shirt. Then with Eigil's help he put on the feathers, flapped his wings and rose into the air. He lighted on a turret of the castle and called down to Eigil.
"I did not tell you the truth when I said that you should alight with the wind, for I knew that if you found out how easy it was to fly you would never give me the shirt back again. You can see for yourself that all birds rise against the wind and alight in the same way. I am going home to my own country, but first I must have a few words with Nidung. And, remember, if he bids you shoot me, shoot under the left wing, for there I have fastened a bladder filled with blood."
With these words Wayland flew to the highest tower of the king's castle and called to the king as he passed with his courtiers.