Written in magic realism, the novella exposes the absurdities of life, its injustices and hypocrisy. A corpse of an old man being taken for burial converses with an unborn child trying to persuade him not to be born in a cruel world. The child refuses to heed the advice and the two agree that the child should be born dumb and see for himself the folly of living. The old man's words prove to be true in a development of dramatic events.
