At length King Bele fell very sick, and, knowing that he was about to die, he sent for Thorsten and their three sons and said:
"I know that this sickness will be to my death, and I have called you, my children, to hear the last counsel of your father.
"My sons, govern the realm in peace, and let force stand sentinel at the borders. The king is helpless who hath not the confidence and affection of his people, and the throne is insecure if it rest not on a foundation of just and equal laws.
"Choose not the forward for your counsellors, but confide, rather, in the wisdom and valour of one tried friend. Thorsten and I have faithfully kept friendship's troth in steadfast union, so do ye, in weal or woe, wend together with Frithiof. If ye three will hold together as one man, your match shall not be seen through all our Northland.
"Let my last words be for my beloved Ingeborg. She hath grown lovely in peace as the rose. Helge, be thou her guardian, and let no storm-wind scatter those fair petals."
Then Thorsten, in his turn, addressed Frithiof:
"My son, I too must shortly wend to Valhalla, and I rejoice to think that Odin has bestowed upon thee much strength and courage of heart. It is good, but remember that strength without wit is soon brought to naught, even as the bear, who wields in his paw the strength of twelve men, is laid low by a thrust from the sword of one. Beware of arrogance, which goes before a fall, and bend before the will of the king's sons. Above all, will noble deeds and do thou every right."
After this the old men gave directions for their burial, and they charged their sons to lay them beneath two barrows or mounds, one on each side of the narrow firth, whose murmurs would ever be sweet music as they slept, and across whose waves their spirits would hold converse as of yore.
After the death of Thorsten, Frithiof took his land and ruled in his stead, with the aid of his two foster-brothers, Björn and Osmund. And he was now the owner of Ellida, the good ship which understood every word that was spoken to her, as though she were alive; and of two other heirlooms of priceless value. The first was a sword, Angurvadel it was named, which tradition said had been forged in Eastern lands by the dwarfs. Its hilt was of hammered gold, and the blade was covered with magic runes, which in peace were dull, but which flamed blood-red when the sword was brandished in war. The other was a marvellous arm-ring, carved with all the wonders of the heavens.
It had always been the custom of the House of Thorsten to invite the household of the king each year to a banquet, and so, soon after he had succeeded to his father's place, Frithiof gave a feast more magnificent than any that had been given hitherto. For he knew that, with her two brothers, would come also Ingeborg the Fair, whom he loved with his whole heart. And while the two young kings sat at the board with hostile looks and downcast faces, this sweet princess laughed among her maidens like a sunny day in June. Her hair was as golden as the butter-cups in the spring meadows, her eyes were blue like a summer sea, and her face fair as a hawthorn bush when it first opens its buds of red and white.