The main character is a professional, fasting artist. His manager takes him from town to town across Europe, locks him in a straw filled cage for forty days, and advertises his feat of hunger, drawing large crowds. He becomes indignant when the town would assign men, usually butchers, to watch him to make sure he is not cheating. As time goes on, interest in his form of entertainment wains, and he ends up working for a circus, still fasting, but now his cage is nestled among the wild animals outside the main arena.