I got this from the library in spanish, without realizing it. I do read and write in Spanish, So I kept it, and figured I'd be able to Wing it. There were so many words that I didn't know, but I didn't want to look up every word I didn't know, because it would have taken me four times as long to read it. I could more or less figure out from the context what those words meant.

Macario is a wood cutter. He has pestered his wife so much that they have 11 children. They are so poor that they go to bed every night hungry. As much as Macario has pestered his wife, she still loves him dearly. His One wish in life is to eat a whole turkey all by himself. His wife saves a penny a day or a penny a week, who knows? After 3 years of this scraping and saving, she buys him a whole turkey for his name day. She cooks it with tenderness and love, and when he wakes up the morning of his name day, she tells him to take it out to the woods where their children won't see it so he can enjoy it in peace and solitude.

He finds a spot in the woods where he can sit down to eat. He begins to separate a leg from the turkey, when he sees a pair of charro boots in front of him. He looks up and sees a fancy dressed man in front of him. this man begs him for a piece of his turkey because he's so hungry. Macario denies him. The man keeps on begging him, saying these woods belong to him and he'll give them to him so he can cut as much wood as he wants to cut. Macario still denies him. The man finally leaves. Macario is just about to pull the leg again to eat it, when a pair of worn sandals appear in front of him. He looks up at the man in front of him and sees a man so poor and so skinny. The man begs him for the leg of turkey. Macario tells him that he just can't give it to him. He has been waiting all his life to eat a whole turkey by himself and he just has to do it. The man pleas with him, telling him how hungry he is as Macario can see for himself. Macario still refuses. Macario once more begins to eat his turkey when another man appears in front of him. This man is the Grim reaper. This man, Macario cannot refuse. So he splits the turkey with him. The two of them have a good time eating and talking for a while in the forest. As a reward for his generosity, the Grim reaper gives Macario a bottle of drops that can cure any illness. But he warns Macario that once the bottle of drops is gone, that's it! There's no more. Also, he tells Macario that if he appears at the head of the patient, he cannot let him be returned to good health. However, if he appears at the foot of the patient, then macario can cure him.

"...Nunca tendré un pavo entero para mí solo. nunca, nunca. Así, pues, qué hacer? bien, compadre, llénase la barriga, yo bien sé lo que es tener hambre. Nunca he tenido otra cosa en mi vida. siéntese, siéntese frente a mi. medio pavo es suyo, gózelo."

Macario cures many people, and becomes rich from the people who give him money for curing their wives or their sons. He builds a nice house for his family, and he has money to send his children to college. But there comes a Day when a big politician ask him to cure his son. He tells him that if he cannot cure his son he will have to burn him on the pyre in the Commons. The trouble is, that the Grim reaper is standing at the head of the bed with the sick child in it. No matter how many times Macario spins the bed around so that the Grim reaper will be at his feet, there the Grim reaper is again at the head. The child dies. Macario takes his fate in his hands, accepting it. But out of pity and gratitude for his sharing his turkey, the Grim reaper lets Macario die before the rich man can burn him on the pyre. Takes his life. Macario Dies happy. ( )

I first read this story in a high school Spanish class, and it stuck with me. I've since read it several times.
The story is a German folk tale transferred to the Mexican jungles, which is appropriate since Traven was a German who transferred himself to the same Mexican jungles - what we know of his story suggests that his life reflects some interesting facets of the twentieth century, but that's another story for another day.
In summary, Macario is a woodcutter, living in gruelling poverty, which is spelled out in few lines and great detail in the early part of the book. Macario's one fantasy is simply to have a meal, a roasted turkey, for himself, and to not have to share it with his starving children. One day, Macario's wife manages to bring this to pass, and she sends him to the woods to eat so he won't be tormented by his hungry children's faces.
From here, we enter into fairy tale territory: Macario is visited by God, the Devil, and Death, each of whom asks him to share his meal. The first two, he rejects, but with an amazingly practical logic he chooses to share with Death, who returns the favor in a manner familiar to those who have read the German folk canon. Macario, with Death's help, becomes a great doctor, and is able to rise in the world, until his inevitable undoing.

The story is a simple one, but Traven's unremittingly honest pen tells it impeccably, and without making it into propaganda, turns it into a fairy tale about rich and poor and the real word. A really remarkable little story altogether.