The brothers of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing are tormented by Answelica, a goat that enjoys biting and terrifying them. The monks contemplate killing the goat but decide that she would be even more terrifying in death, which turns out to be a good decision because “without the goat, Beatryce surely would have died” (7).

One fine morning, Brother Edik, one of the monks, goes to the stable to feed Answelica, who is quietly sleeping, and he wonders what trick the animal is playing now. Brother Edik’s left eye tends to see strange things because, as his father explained, that eye has a demon in it, “and that demon has made its way into your mind as well” (9). Today, he thinks Answelica has two heads until he realizes one head belongs to a human child, who is holding one of the goat’s ears.

Edik is terrified because he fears Answelica will attack when she realizes what’s happening. As he approaches carefully, Answelica rouses, which wakes the girl, who is crying the tears “of someone who was trying very hard not to cry” (13).