Stupid Samuel was a sensation in his barrio. Tourists passing by would loudly inquire about the boy who had no clothes on. "Oh, that will be Stupid Samuel," the villagers would say. Travellers, wanting to know the story behind the boy's nakedness, would always have this answer: "We're trying to find out." 

It was in the year of La Gran Caravana when the natives began trying to find out the reason Stupid Samuel did not wear any clothes. This trend started one day when the Governor-General visited the small town. A parade and a grand fiesta were being held in his honour. After all, he was once a guerrilla  chief — no small feat to be the leader of an independent, armed group organized to fight against the institution. What this institution might have been, was removed from further discussion.

In the crowd was Stupid Samuel, stark naked as a newborn baby, wearing only his papa's sombrero, a straw hat which was too big for his head, when the General, riding a calesa, passed by. The General was incredulous at the boy's impertinence — or so he thought it was — and stopped the horse-drawn carriage. The ponies would most likely be grateful for this intrusion, as they had very little rest from the tour of the town since morning.

The Governor-General, who no one knew the name of, demanded from the child's parents the answer to the question burning in his mind. "Señor, Señora," he first started, then paused, swallowing his fury. After spitting his anger on the ground, the general asked, "What's the meaning of this?" He accompanied this question with a wide flourish of his hand, which the parents mistook for a sign of dismissal, but he was only swatting a fly. 

The father responded with a nervous laugh, and the mother said, "Jesu Cristo! Forgive him; he's only a little boy. They don't call him 'Stupid Samuel' for nothing." 

Unsatisfied with this reply, the general instructed his compadres, his trusted men, to reward those who knew the answer with a sack of rice. Since then, Stupid Samuel became a riddle to be solved.