Kersh, a war correspondant, remembers his story involving an extraordinary, mysterious figure, Corporal Cuckoo. Cuckoo has more scars than skin on his body, deep gashes, at only thirty years old. Kersh and Cuckoo begin talking and Cuckoo reveals his story to him. He has been alive for four centuries and thirty-eight years. He has seen countless battles, from the Battle of Turin in the sixteenth century to World War II. But Cuckoo has been kept alive. A doctor doused him with a digestive-- a mixture of egg yolks, oil of rose, turpentine, and hone. This elixir granted Cuckoo complete healing abilities and a defense against aging. Cuckoo says that he stole this recipe from the doctor, hoping to become wealthy. However, Cuckoo cannot read, so after finding a trusted friend to help him decipher the doctor’s notes, he sets about replicating the elixir. No matter how many times he tries, he cannot successfully reproduce the results of regeneration. Kersh points out the endless reasons why the recipe cannot be recreated, and thus why Cuckoo can’t get rich from it. Cuckoo, dismayed, proves to Kersh that he truly does have the ability to heal from any wound and uses his thumb for a live demonstration. Kersh believes him. Cuckoo suggests that Kersh write his story and publish it, and from the rewards the two split the money. Flustered with the prospect of failing to make money, Cuckoo flounces away from Kersh. Kersh calls after him, but this is the last time he ever sees Cuckoo, the eternal man doomed to live forever.