This chapter's epigraph is from the Book of Job. It's a quote from Job, in which he says, "I am not a man, but I am a beast. I am an animal, and a beast is an animal." Job is referring to the fact that he is a beast, not a human being, and that he has been created by God. He says that God created him to be like his father, who was a great sage and a holy man. Job asks his father why he killed his father. He tells his father that ten years ago, they were ordered by King Dedlock to investigate the ruin of the country of Dacia.