The topic of this play revisits the popular theme of cannibalism, drawing on a real-life event: the 1835 death sentence of a butcher from San Giorgio Canavese (Piedmont), nicknamed ‘the hyena of San Giorgio’, for rape and murder, who, according to popular legend, made sausages from the flesh of his female victims. The story was taken up by various theatre companies and puppet theatres in the 19th century. The young Gualberto Niemen saw it performed in Milan by the puppeteer Canardi during the First World War, and he made it his own, performing it for several decades. At the end of his career, he reconstructed it from memory for publication (1999).

Testafina and the aged Mrs Carlotta wish to enlist as volunteers in the hunt for the hyena, a beast that devours the young women of the village of San Giorgio. Giorgio Orsolano, the village delicatessen owner, immediately reveals himself to be the hyena: in his first appearance, like a good shopkeeper, he thinks about how many victims he needs during the San Giorgio fair to meet the demand for fresh sausages. After introducing himself, Giorgio Orsolano takes action and, at the end of the first act, drops the young Bianca and Colombina into the trapdoor connected to his workshop. The latter is engaged to Gianduja, who, together with Testafina, is the protagonist of the hunt for the hyena. It is Gianduja who, after buying sausages from Orsolano, finds a piece of a woman's finger (which he recognises from the nail polish) in his plate and realises who could be hiding behind the hyena. While Testafina calls everyone together, Gianduja breaks into Orsolano's shop, who was about to kill Colombina, and knocks him out with his stick. The mayor and the guards then take care of bringing the delicatessen owner-hyena to justice, to everyone's satisfaction.