In this folktale retold, Esperanza gives her very last pear to a beggar and is rewarded with the best pear crop she's ever had--and the power to ensnare anyone she wants in her tree. When Se or Death comes for her, Esperanza tricks him into climbing her tree, where he becomes stuck, unable to come down and do his work. From that point on, no one dies. But when Esperanza learns that her friend in the next town is suffering terribly,...