The story “A Letter to God” by G.L Fuentes resolves around the idea of having unquestionable belief in something.
Table of Contents
Passage For Comprehension
Read the passage and answer the following questions.
- The house ………………………….. God Willing”. (Page 3)
Questions:
(i) Where was the house located?
(ii) What did the field of corn dotted with flowers promise?
(11)What did the earth need?
(iv) Pick out the words from the passage which mean the same as (a) Peak, (b) Rain, (c) Food.
Answers:
(i) The house was located on the crest of a low hill.
(ii) The field of ripe corn dotted with flowers always promised a good harvest.
(iii) The earth needed an immediate shower as Lencho need it for his good pro- duction of crops so that he will get a good price for his crops.
(iv) (a) crest, (b) downpour, (c) supper.
- With a satisfied………………………. frozen pearls. (page 4)
Questions:
(i) Who is “he” in the passage?
(ii) What did it suddenly change?
(iii) What resembled new silver coins?
(iv) Why did the children run out?
Answers:
(i) Lencho is ‘he’ in the passage.
(ii) uddenly, a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall along with the rain. The hail rained on the valley for an hour, because of which Lencho’s fields were destroyed.
(iii) Hailstones resembled the new silver coins.
(iv) The children ran out to collect the frozen pearls i.e., the hailstones.
- He wrote “To…………………….with God” (Page 5-6)
Questions:
(i) Who is “he” in the passage?
(iii) Why did he Write a letter to God?
(iii) Who received the Letter? Why did he laugh?
(iv) Why did the Postmaster become serious?
Answers:
(i) Lencho is “he” in the passage.
(ii) He wrote a letter to God asking for help.
(iii) The Postmaster received the letter. He laughed heartly to see a letter addressed to God. Nobody ever wrote to God.
- The postmaster ………………….an act of charity’.
Questions:
(i) What kind of a person the postmaster was?
(ii) How did the postmaster help Lencho?
(iii) Find the exact word in similar meaning ‘without delay’ given in the passage
(iv) Determination is synonymous with……………
Answers:
(i) The postmaster was a fat, amiable and helpful fellow. He was very kind hearted.
(ii) The postmaster helped Lencho by col- lecting money from his employees and friends. He also contributed a part of his salary for this act of charity.
(iii) The word is ‘immediately’.
(iv) Determination is synonym with resolution.
Oral Comprehension Check I (Page 5)
Questions:
- What did Lencho hope for?
- Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins”?
- How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
- What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Answers:
- Lencho hoped for a good rain desperately as he is a farmer who is waiting for his ripe corns to grow and harvest.
- Lencho compared the raindrops with new coins because the rain drops help his corn crops to grow healthier and in turn him a good harvest resulting in more prosperity.
- The rain changed into hailstones as a strong wind began to blow and huge hailstones began to fall along with the rain. All the crops in Lencho’s field got destroyed by the hailstones. The flowers were gone from the plants and the corn was totally destroyed.
Oral Comprehension Check II (Page 6)
Q.1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Ans. Lencho had firm faith in God. He believed that God sees everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience and help every. one in one’s problems. He wrote a letter to God demanding him a hundred pesos to sow his field again.
Q.2. Who read the letter?
Ans. Postmaster read the letter.
Q.3. What did the postmaster do then?
Ans. The postmaster laughed when he read. Lencho’s letter but soon he became serious and was moved by the writer’s faith in God. He didn’t want to shake Lencho’s faith. So, he decided to collect money and send it to Lencho on behalf of God.
Oral Comprehension Check III ( Page 7)
Q.1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Ans. Lencho was not surprised to find a letter with money from God as he believed that God will help him.
Q.2. What made him angry?
Ans. There were only seventy pesos in thee envelope whereas Lencho had demanded a hundred pesos. The difference in the amount made him angry.
Short Answer Type Questions
Q.1. How was Lencho sure that it was going to rain?
Ans. Lencho knew his fields intimately and he could predict the weather by looking at the sky. His experienced eyes saw clouds and he predicted rain.
Q.2. What promised a good harvest?
Ans. Lencho felt that the field of ripe corn dot- ted with flowers always promised a good harvest. That is why, he was anticipating a good harvest.
Q3. How did Lencho’s prediction about rain come true?
Ans. Lencho had looked towards the north-east and remarked that they would get some rain. His prediction came true when it started raining in the evening.
Q4. Why did Lencho not want the money to be sent through mail?
Ans. Lencho wrote in his second letter that he received only seventy pesos but he needed a hundred pesos. He requested God not to send rest of the money by post since the post office employees were a bunch of crooks and would steal the money.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q.1. Describe the character of Lencho in the light of his faith and attitude towards God and man.
Ans. Lencho was a hardworking farmer who had immense faith in God. He had such an immense faith in the existence and help- fulness of God that he started communicating with him. He wrote a letter to God requesting him to send him one hundred pesos. When he received seventy pesos, he was not surprised at all. He even doubted the integrity of the post office employees who, he thought, had stolen his thirty pesos. He was a poor judge of human nature. His attitude towards man was negative. He could not think of a help from man.
Q.2. Bring out Lencho’s immense faith in God.
Ans. Lencho wanted some rain for his crop. The ripe corn stood proud in the field and promised a good harvest. Rain came, as he predicted but turned to hail and ruined his crop. Lencho’s heart was filled with sorrow. But he did not lose heart. He had firm belief in God. He wrote a letter to God, asking him to send 100 pesos so that he could sow his field again. He dropped the letter in the mail. The postmaster read the letter addressed to ‘God’ and to pre- serve the man’s faith in God, he raised 70 pesos and sent them to Lencho. Len- cho could not believe that God had made a mistake. He wrote again asking God to send the rest of the money, but not through mail. He believed that the post office em- ployees were a bunch of crooks’.
NCER Text Book Question
Thinking About the Text
Q1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Ans. Lencho has complete faith in God. The sentences are: “All through the night, Len- cho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes… see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience”.
Q.2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter t God’?
Ans. The postmaster sent money to Lencho, to keep alive the trust of Lencho in God. As he read Lencho’s letter he grew serious and wished he had the same faith in God. Even after seeing that Lencho had asked for money, he stuck to his pledge to answer the message. He raised as much money as he was able to and sent it to Lencho. He signed it as God so as not to shake Lencho’s faith in him.
Q.3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Ans. No, Lencho does not try to find out who had sent the money to him. This is because he had great confidence in God and never suspected that it could be someone else other than God who would send him the money. His faith in God was so strong that he believed that God had sent him the money.
Q.4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)
Ans. Lencho thinks that the rest of the money has been taken by the post office officials. The element of irony in the situation is that Lencho ends up suspecting those people who helped him in his crisis in or- der to avoid shaking his faith in god.
Q.5. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.
| greedy | Naive | stupid | ungrateful |
| selfish | comical | unquestioning |
Ans. Yes, there are still people like Lencho in the world. He is such a person who can go to any extent in his faith in God. He is resolute, determined and firm. Lencho is also ‘naive’, ‘stupid’ and ‘unquestioning nature.’
Q.6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans. The conflict between human beings and nature is demonstrated by the devastation by hailstorms on Lencho’s crops. Lencho had been working very hard on his fields and for him, the harvest was very important. He required the money to feed his family. Nature turned violent. When hailstorm struck the field and destroyed his crops. The tale also highlights a particular dispute, between people themselves. Together with the help of the other post office staff, the postmaster gave Lencho the money they could raise. They were in no way linked to Lencho. On their part, it has been an act of generosity and selflessness. While they have done a good deed, Lencho has blamed them for taking some money away. He called them “a crooks “bunch.” This shows that man has no faith in his fellow human beings, and thus gives rise to this conflict.
Speaking
1. Have you ever been in great difficulty, and felt that only a miracle could help you? How was your problem solved? Speak about this in class with your teacher.
Ans. Yes, once I fell in a great difficulty. I had mild asthma. I couldn’t take the medicine in time. In fact, I forgot. The weather became cloudy and stuffy. There came the asthmatic attack on me. I had my inhaler with me. But it had only one puff. I puffed at it. There was no relief. I started gasp- ing for breath. I saw my end was near as I gasped and gasped for breath. Suddenly, my mother found another inhaler. She gave it to me to puff. I puffed and felt some re- lief. I was at once taken to hospital.