1 A Letter to God
BEFORE YOU READ
They say faith can move mountains. But what should we put our faith in? This is the question this story delicately poses.
Lencho is a farmer who writes a letter to God when his crops are ruined, asking for a hundred pesos. Does Lencho’s letter reach God? Does God send him the money? Think what your answers to these questions would be, and guess how the story continues, before you begin to read it.
Activity
1. One of the cheapest ways to send money to someone is through the post office. Have you ever sent or received money in this way? Here’s what you have to do. (As you read the instructions, discuss with your teacher in class the meanings of these words: counter, counter clerk, appropriate, acknowledgement, counterfoil, record. Consult a dictionary if necessary. Are there words corresponding to these English words in your languages?)
THE house — the only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height one could see the river and the field of ripe corn dotted with the flowers that always promised a good harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a downpour or at least a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho — who knew his fields intimately — had done nothing else but see the sky towards the north-east.
“Now we’re really going to get some water, woman.”
The woman who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing”. The older boys were working in the field, while the smaller ones were playing near the house until the woman called to them all, “Come for dinner”. It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drops of rain began to fall. In the north-east huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching. The air was fresh and sweet. The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body, and when he returned he exclaimed, ‘‘These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins. The big drops are ten cent pieces and the little ones are fives.’’
With a satisfied expression he regarded the field of ripe corn with its flowers, draped in a curtain of rain. But suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall. These truly did resemble new silver coins. The boys, exposing themselves to the rain, ran out to collect the frozen pearls.
‘‘It’s really getting bad now,’’ exclaimed the man. “I hope it passes quickly.” It did not pass quickly. For an hour the hail rained on the house, the garden, the hillside, the cornfield, on the whole valley. The field was white, as if covered with salt.
Not a leaf remained on the trees. The corn was totally destroyed. The flowers were gone from the plants. Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. When the storm had passed, he stood in the middle of the field and said to his sons, “A plague of locusts would have left more than this. The hail has left nothing.
This year we will have no corn.’’
That night was a sorrowful one.
“All our work, for nothing.”
‘‘There’s no one who can help us.”
“We’ll all go hungry this year.”
But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God.
“Don’t be so upset, even though this seems like a total loss. Remember, no one dies of hunger.”
“That’s what they say: no one dies of hunger.”
All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience. Lencho was an ox of a man, working like an animal in the fields, but still he knew how to write. The following Sunday, at daybreak, he began to write a letter which he himself would carry to town and place in the mail. It was nothing less than a letter to God.
“God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year. I need a hundred pesos in order to sow my field again and to live until the crop comes, because the hailstorm... .”
He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town. At the post office, he placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox.
One of the employees, who was a postman and also helped at the post office, went to his boss laughing heartily and showed him the letter to God. Never in his career as a postman had he known that address. The postmaster — a fat, amiable fellow — also broke out laughing, but almost immediately he turned serious and, tapping the letter on his desk, commented, “What faith! I wish I had the faith of the man who wrote this letter. Starting up a correspondence with God!”
So, in order not to shake the writer’s faith in God, the postmaster came up with an idea: answer the letter. But when he opened it, it was evident that to answer it he needed something more than goodwill, ink and paper. But he stuck to his resolution: he asked for money from his employees, he himself gave part of his salary, and several friends of his were obliged to give something ‘for an act of charity’.
It was impossible for him to gather together the hundred pesos, so he was able to send the farmer only a little more than half. He put the money in an envelope addressed to Lencho and with it a letter containing only a single word as a signature: God.
The following Sunday Lencho came a bit earlier than usual to ask if there was a letter for him. It was the postman himself who handed the letter to him while the postmaster, experiencing the contentment of a man who has performed a good deed, looked on from his office.
Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence — but he became angry when he counted the money. God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
Immediately, Lencho went up to the window to ask for paper and ink. On the public writing-table, he started to write, with much wrinkling of his brow, caused by the effort he had to make to express his ideas. When he finished, he went to the window to buy a stamp which he licked and then affixed to the envelope with a blow of his fist. The moment the letter fell into the mailbox the postmaster went to open it. It said: “God: Of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much. But don’t send it to me through the mail because the post office employees are a bunch of crooks. Lencho.”
***************************************************
crest: top of a hill
draped: covered (with cloth)
locusts: insects which fly in big swarms (groups) and destroy crops
conscience: an inner sense of right and wrong
peso: currency of several Latin American countries
amiable: friendly and pleasant
contentment: satisfaction
***************************************************
Oral Comprehension Check
1. What did Lencho hope for?
2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
2. Who read the letter?
3. What did the postmaster do then?
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
2. What made him angry?
***************************************************
Thinking about the text
1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer: Lencho has complete faith in God. The sentences that show this are:
• "In the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God."
• "Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God."
• "God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested."
2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
Answer: The postmaster sends money to Lencho to preserve his faith in God. He is touched by Lencho's strong belief in God and doesn't want to break that faith. He signs the letter as "God" to make Lencho believe that the help came from God.
3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Answer: No, Lencho did not try to find out who sent the money because he had complete faith that it was God who sent it. He didn't doubt God's help.
4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation?
Answer: Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money. The irony is that the post office employees, including the postmaster, were the ones who collected and sent the money to him out of kindness, but Lencho believes they are dishonest and stole the money.
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
selfish
stupid
comical
ungrateful
unquestioning
Answer: Yes, there are people like Lencho in the real world. Lencho can be described as naive and unquestioning. He has complete faith in God and doesn't doubt the help he receives, but he doesn't realize who actually helped him. He might seem ungrateful as he blames the post office employees without knowing the truth.
6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer: The story illustrates two types of conflict:
1. Conflict between humans and nature: Lencho's crops are destroyed by a hailstorm. This shows the struggle between humans and natural forces, as Lencho and his family depend on the crops for survival, but nature's destructive power leaves them helpless.
2. Conflict between humans themselves: Lencho believes that the post office employees took part of the money he received from "God." This conflict arises from Lencho's misunderstanding and mistrust, despite the fact that the employees, especially the postmaster, had only good intentions in helping him.
Both conflicts highlight human vulnerability in different ways—one against nature's unpredictability and the other against misunderstandings among people.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment