The “semi-barbaric” tyrant of a kingdom somewhat influenced by distant “Latin” neighbors, the king has grandiose ideals, not least among them that justice should be administered with absolute impartiality, by chance. It is to this end—and also for his own viewing pleasure— that he has established the public arena in which the accused are forced to choose between one door, one of which hides a beautiful lady to whom the accused will be married (whether he likes it or not) if he opens her door, and the other a ferocious tiger that will devour him should he open its door. When the king discovers that his daughter, the princess, has a lover beneath her royal station, a young man who serves in the royal court no less, the king condemns this young man to trial by arena.