This first English translation makes available to English-speaking readers a powerful modern Mexican novel, first published in 1961. Fernando Benitez, well-known Mexican author, journalist, and winner of Mexico s 1968 best-book award, exploits a true but little-known incident by building it into a tightly structured, tense, and tragic novel of social protest.The incident on which the novel is based is a bloody rebellion against the village feudal master touched off by joking comment on the poisoning of the water as one of Don Ulises s men is pushed into the plaza fountain. Feeding on itself, the rumor spreads that the boss has poisoned the local spring, and rebellion follows, with its violent and unforeseen consequences. The result is a frightening look at one of Mexico s major social problems and glaring ironiesthat over fifty years after a revolution fought by the peasant and for the peasant, most rural groups are still living below the national economic standard."