The first chapter opens with a description of the scene in which the goddess Nerissa and her husband, Malvolio, were preparing to execute a man for his role in the destruction of the city of Arimathea. The man, Nerissa, had been made guardian of a severed witch's head by the goddess of the underworld, who had given him the gift of the "stool" . Nerissa explains that the goddess had made him guardian of the severed head in order to protect it from the evil spirits that try to steal it. She had also made him the guardian of some other severed heads, which she had given to him as a gift. He tells the story of how he and Nerissa were searching for the stair when they were stopped by a group of men dressed as merchants. The men were caught attempting to sneak into the southern gate. The story of the men's capture is recounted in great detail, and the reader is told that the men were executed by a "great shaved bear" , a symbol of the power of the people of the kingdom.