On a stormy night, Trifulgas is visited at home by a young girl, who asks him to tend to her dying father. Trifulgas enquires on the name of the father. When he learns that the father is Vort Kartif, a man who trades in salted herring at a location called Val Karnion, he refuses to help the girl. Trifulgas knows Kartif, and knows that he is a poor man. He does not expect to receive sufficient payment from him, so chooses not to bother and goes back to sleep.