Satire
But it's pretty heady stuff for kids. In fact, we think that the subtitle actually tells us, through satire, that it's not a tale for kids at all. Instead, it's a tongue-in-cheek, biting warning for adults about how silly people can act when they get around something really special.
And how do they act? They want to cash in on it (Elisenda), explain it in terms that don't quite work (Father Gonzaga), kill it (the neighbor woman), or poke it with a stick (everybody else). By representing society in such a ridiculous way through using characters as representations of particular worldviews, Gárcia Márquez is laying on a pretty heavy satire.