Rudolfo Anaya was born in the village of Pastura, New Mexico, and was raised in Santa Rosa and Albuquerque. Formerly a professor at the University of New Mexico, Mr. Anaya is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the Prernio Quinto Sol national Chicano literary award for his novel Bless Me, Ultima, and the PEN Center West fiction award for his novel Albuquerque. He is the author of the children's picture books The Farolitos of Christmas and Maya's Children: The Story of Ia Llorona. Rudolfo Anaya lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A young Spanish man named Rolando journeys to the New World to find the legendary Fountain of Youth. But at what price will Rolando taste the waters of eternal life?

On a dare, Lupe goes down to the river one night to search for la Llorona, a ghostly woman who walks in search of her drowned baby.

Abel, a shepherd, saves a snake from a fire and in return is given the ability to understand the speech of animals.

In these ten stories, Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima, draws on a rich Hispanic and Native American folklore tradition, capturing the rhythm of life along New Mexico's Río Grande valley.