Trejo, Blanca Lydia [Marimba: A Tale of the Mexican Indians]. Marimba: Skazka meksikanskikh indeitsev. 

Translated from Spanish and adapted by E. Kedrova and I. Cherevataia. 
Illustrations by I. Prager. 

Moskva, Detgiz, 1961. 
8vo, 17, [3] pp., ill. 

In original pictorial wrappers. 
In good condition, rubbed, small tears to spine. 

Rare first and only edition. The only book by Blanca Lydia Trejo published in Russian.

This story is set among the Indigenous peoples of Mexico who were colonized by white settlers. A group of them escaped and found refuge deep in the forest. One day, the main character, Pluma de Quetzal (translated as Pero in the Russian edition), overhears a conversation among the jungle’s trees and plants, who wish to help the oppressed. One of them, the hormiguillo tree, claims it has absorbed the sound of the world beneath its bark and can release it as beautiful music. Enchanted by the melody, Pluma returns the next day – but the tree remains silent. The villagers believe the tree has driven Pluma mad and decide to cut it down. From its wood, they craft a musical instrument that becomes known as the marimba – a percussion instrument made of wooden bars struck with mallets.
The story was written by Blanca Lydia Trejo (1906–1970), an outstanding Mexican writer, educator, researcher, diplomat, and feminist activist. She helped establish several libraries in Mexico, directed schools, and was one of the first scholars and critics of children’s and youth literature in the country. Her 1950 work 'La literatura infantil en México desde los aztecas hasta nuestros días' ('Children’s Literature in Mexico from the Aztecs to the Present Day') remains one of the earliest overviews of Mexican children’s literature.
The illustrations for the book were created by artist Igor Prager (1934–2015), who emigrated to Canada in the early 1970s.

OCLC locates two copies of this edition: at Stanford University and the University of Oregon Libraries (Collection of Lucille Ogle).