In June 1947, there circulated widely among the population of Buenos Aires a story about a roasted child. There were nine variations, differing from one another only in minutiae. The story is, in brief, that the servant of a young married couple takes advantage of their absence to kill and cook their infant son and on their return serves him to them on a platter. The mother goes mad, the father shoots the servant and either flees or kills himself. This terrible story was believed by large numbers of people and Langer considers it a 'modern myth'. It is compared to the classic myth of Tantalus and to comparable tales in other cultures. In modern times cannibalistic fantasies which underlie the myth are commonly found in analytic experience, and Langer discusses some of the ramifications of these fantasies which have an Oedipal as well as an oral significance.