Synopsis: Set in an unnamed country, in the village of Mandragora, this novel opens with a description of a harsh, rural existence that sounds like something out of the dark ages. Then one day, farmer Yves Gundron invents the harness and life begins to change. Yves's manuscript, which bears witness to these changes, has been prepared for publication by an academic named Ruth Blum—her notations supplement Yves's story. But what at first seems a historical document proves to be something else entirely. Yves's brother, Mandrik le Chouchou, the town mystic, regales his fellow villagers with exotic tales of his travels to "Indo-China." And when Yves recalls the words of a song that is recognizably a blues lyric, we know that either Ruth Blum is up to something or Mandragora is not what it seems.