“Besides casual onlookers there were also permanent watchers. This was merely a formality: the artist would never swallow the smallest morsel of food.

No one could possible watch the hunger artist continuously, therefore he was bound to be the sole spectator completely satisfied with his own fast.

Such suspicions, anyhow, were a necessary accompaniment to the profession of fasting.

Yet for other reasons he was never content.

For he alone knew how easy it was to fast.

Experience had proven that the interest of the public could be sustained for about forty days.

But after that their enthusiasm began to wane.

So on that day
the cage was opened.
Two doctors entered to
measure the results of the fast,

and two young ladies were selected for the honor of helping the hunger artist in a small table,

on which was spread a carefully chosen meal.

And at this moment the artist always turned stubborn. Why should he be cheated of the fame he would get for fasting longer, breaking his own record as the greatest hunger artist of all time?

- A Hunger Artist”