I dont get this riddle, someone plz explain it me (5 STARS TO BEST ANSWER)?

The first line says "As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives." So it is saying "I" am going to St. Ives, and I met those people and their cats along the way. It doesn't say where the others were going, so you've got to ume that only one person was going to St Ives, and that is the person telling the story.