do nothing to help his beloved parents, and that if he
came down he would only be forced to share their cruel
fate.

Now a procession of the Northmen passed between the
boats and the palace, bearing the rich furniture,
splendid draperies and rare ornaments of which the
royal palace had been robbed, together with such food
and other plunder as they could lay their hands upon.
After this, the men of Regos and Coregos threw ropes
around the marble domes and towers and hundreds of
warriors tugged at these ropes until the domes and
towers toppled and fell in ruins upon the ground. Then
the walls themselves were torn down, till little
remained of the beautiful palace but a vast heap of
white marble blocks tumbled and scattered upon the
ground.

Prince Inga wept bitter tears of grief as he watched
the ruin of his home; yet he was powerless to avert the
destruction. When the palace had been demolished, some
of the warriors entered their boats and rowed along the
coast of the island, while the others marched in a
great body down the length of the island itself. They
were so numerous that they formed a line stretching
from shore to shore and they destroyed every house they
came to and took every inhabitant prisoner.

The pearl fishers who lived at the lower end of the
island tried to escape in their boats, but they were