Summary

Orpheus makes his way to the gate of the underworld. The journey there is rough. He travels on foot a great distance and survives Thessaly, where witches are said eat the flesh of men's faces for their spells. He met with the Oracle of Delphi who gave him a sprig of mistletoe that would gain him admittance into the underworld. He had no weapons with him, just his lyre. The narrator points out that this was unusual and quite dangerous in a time period when all men were warriors. He finally ends up at his destination: a cavern that emitted a foul stench and "noisome vapors."

To be admitted into the underworld, he gives the gatekeeper a sprig of golden mistletoe, the fee charged of the living who want to enter. The gatekeeper takes him across the river Styx on...