Nobody in France had seen anything like it. The boy, Tarrare, could eat whatever he wanted, in enormous quantities, and never felt full or put on weight. Tarrare was just hungry. He was hungry all the time. And as he wandered Paris, eating anything he pleased, he would, in turn, be swallowed up by forces great and sinister. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something True on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: David Szesztay – Above Us 2* Kevin MacLeod – Enchanted Journey* Oskar Schuster – Sneeuwland* Robert Farmer – Turn the old; return to them* Jahzzar – Guilty* Scott Holmes – Close To The Distance* *modified for the podcast.
Mesdames et monsieur, I know what you want.
Cried the young man to the passing pedestrians on the Paris streets.
You want to watch me eat an entire snake, whole.
No.
Oh God, no.
We don't want this.
Here goes.
Later, in hospital, the young man rested, having been prescribed an intense course of laxatives to purge the dark things happening in his intestines and colonization.
The house surgeon, a monsieur Giraud, came by to check on him.
Well, here's what we've found in you.
So far, he said.
A snake, a collection of wine, corks, stones, a basket of apples, both the apples and the actual basket.
And then just beef.
So, so much beef.
I don't understand how you were able to eat all of this without dying.
But the good news is you will make a full recovery.
Oh, thank God, said the man.
But look, I don't have much in the way of what you call money, but if you want, as payment for saving my life, I shall do for you something very special.
I will eat your watch.
Well.