Exhausted by their previous superhuman efforts and by the bailing of their water-logged vessel, the men were too weak to land when they at last reached the Orkney Islands, and had to be carried ashore by Björn and Frithiof, who gently laid them down on the sand, bidding them rest and refresh themselves after all the hardships they had endured.
"Tired indeed are all on board,
All the crew of Frithiofs men,
Scarce supported by a sword,
Can they raise themselves again.
Björn takes four of them ashore,
On his mighty shoulders wide,
Frithiof singly takes twice four,
Places them the fire beside.
'Blush not, ye pale ones,
The sea's a valiant viking;
'Tis hard indeed to fight
Against the rough sea waves.
Lo! there comes the mead horn
On golden feet descending,
To warm our frozen limbs.
Hail to Ingeborg!'"
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
The arrival of Frithiof and his men had been seen by the watchman of Angantyr's castle, who immediately informed his master of all he had seen. The jarl exclaimed that the ship which had weathered such a gale could be none but Ellida, and that its captain was doubtless Frithiof, Thorsten's gallant son. At these words one of his Berserkers, Atlé, caught up his weapons and strode out of the hall, vowing that he would challenge Frithiof, and thus satisfy himself concerning the veracity of the tales he had heard of the young hero's courage.
[Sidenote: Atlé's challenge.] Although still greatly exhausted, Frithiof immediately accepted Atlé's challenge, and, after a sharp encounter, threw his antagonist, whom he would have slain then and there had his sword been within reach. Atlé saw his intention, and bade him go in search of a weapon, promising to remain motionless during his absence. Frithiof, knowing that such a warrior's promise was inviolable, immediately obeyed; but when he returned with his sword, and found his antagonist calmly awaiting death, he relented, and bade Atlé rise and live.
"With patience long not gifted,
Frithiof the foe would kill,
And Angurvadel lifted,
But Atlé yet lay still.
This touched the hero's soul;
He stayed the sweeping brand
Before it reached its goal,
And took the fall'n one's hand."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga(Spalding's tr.).
Together these doughty warriors then wended their way to Angantyr's halls, where they found a festal board awaiting them, and there they ate and drank, sang songs, and recounted stories of thrilling adventure by land and by sea.
At last, however, Frithiof made known his errand. Angantyr said that he owed no tribute to Helgé, and would pay him none; but that he would give the required sum as a free gift to his old friend Thorsten's son, leaving him at liberty to dispose of it as he pleased. Then, since the season was unpropitious, and storms continually swept over the sea, the king invited Frithiof to tarry with him; and it was only when the gentle spring breezes were blowing once more that he at last allowed him to depart.
After sailing over summer seas, wafted along by favorable winds for six days, Frithiof came in sight of his home, Framnäs, which had been reduced to a shapeless heap of ashes by Helgé's orders. Sadly steering past the ruins, he arrived at Baldershage, where Hilding met him and informed him that Ingeborg was now the wife of Sigurd Ring. When Frithiof heard these tidings he flew into a Berserker rage, and bade his men destroy all the vessels in the harbor, while he strode up to the temple alone in search of Helgé. He found him there before the god's image, roughly flung Angantyr's heavy purse of gold in his face, and when, as he was about to leave the temple, he saw the ring he had given Ingeborg on the arm of Helgé's wife, he snatched it away from her. In trying to recover it she dropped the god's image, which she had just been anointing, into the fire, where it was rapidly consumed, and the rising flames soon set the temple roof in a blaze.
Frithiof, horror-stricken at the sacrilege which he had involuntarily occasioned, after vainly trying to extinguish the flames and save the costly sanctuary, escaped to his ship and waiting companions, to begin the weary life of an outcast and exile.
"The temple soon in ashes lay,
Ashes the temple's bower;
Wofully Frithiof goes his way,
Weeps in the morning hour."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).