Pocci takes up motifs already present in his 1855 shadow play Casperl bei den Menschenfressern. The author parodies colonial exoticism, of which he reproduces all the clichés, pushing them to the point of caricature. There are, for example, characters such as cannibalistic black savages who nevertheless speak a mixed macaronic language that sounds suspiciously like German... For it is Germany that Pocci is mocking above all. The first act on the island of savages features the chance meeting of two Germans, Casperl Larifari and the naturalist Gerstlmaier. The second act takes place entirely in Germany and satirizes the small town that has been thrown into turmoil by Casperl's return. For Pocci, the savages are merely a pretext for once again mocking parochialism and regionalist self-indulgence.

Casperl wants to immigrate to America, but is cast ashore on an African island populated by cannibals. There he meets the German naturalist Gerstlmaier, who at first mistakes him for a parrot and ends up hiring him as a servant. But the cannibals capture him while he is sleeping. He swears not to drink any more beer if he manages to escape, whereupon the god Neptune frees him and allows him to return to Europe on the back of a dolphin. Casperl is then abducted by a large bird which releases him in the market place of his hometown, where his arrival causes general panic. Casperl has sworn not to drink any more beer, so he goes to the tavern to drink several to celebrate his return home.