A Letter to God

G.L. Fuentes

By
JEMIMA HOBDAY
VIDYA MANDIR ESTANCIA
About the author
⚫ Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes was born on July
11, 1897 at Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
He first went to sea as a deck boy with his
father at the age of ten. As a teenager,
Fuentes worked on cargo ships that went out
of the Canary Island to Trinidad and Puerto
Rico. He also sailed to the Spanish parts of
Valencia and Sevilla to South America. He
migrated permanently to Cuba at the age of
twenty two, Fuentes, a lifelong cigar smoker,
died from cancer in 2002 at the age of 105
years.
Canary islands on the map
 Theme of the story
⚫ This is the story of a hard working farmer
Lencho. He is expecting a good harvest this year if
it rains. The rain does come bringing a brief
happiness. However, a hailstorm follows the rain
destroying all his crops. Being deeply hurt, he
looks toward God. Having unshaken faith in God,
he writes a letter to Him demanding one hundred
pesos. This amount is sufficient enough to sow his
crop again.
⚫ He posts the letter. The postman has a hearty
laugh when he reads it and shows it to the
postmaster. The postmaster being a generous
man, decides to help Lencho. He gives a part of
his salary and collects money from the
employees. He sends seventy pesos to Lencho.
Lencho’s happiness was momentary when he
counts the money. God can’t deceive him, it is
the work of the post office employees. He
writes another letter to God asking Him not
to send the remaining 30 pesos by mail as post
office employees are a ‘bunch of crooks’.
⚫ The lesson shows three things. It shows
Lencho’s firm faith in God. His faith is
rewarded though the helpers are human
beings. Secondly, it shows the utter
innocence of the farmer, Lencho.
⚫ Thirdly, the lesson gives a message that
sometimes even your generosity is not
recognised.You may not get any credit for
your generosity and kindness. But on the
other hand, you may be misunderstood as
a ‘bunch of crooks’.
 Lencho’s Hope of Good Harvest
⚫ Lencho was a farmer who lived on the
crest of a low hill with his family. His
house was the only one in the entire
valley. His field needed a good harvest. He
was looking towards the sky hoping for a
rain. During the meal, the rain began to
fall. He went out to feel the rain on his
body.
 Raindrops like coins
⚫ Lencho was satisfied. The drops of rain
were like the coins. The big drops were ten
cent pieces and the little ones were worth
five each. Suddenly, a strong wind began to
blow. Lencho was worried.
Unexpected hailstones
⚫ Along with the rain came very large
hailstones. They truly did resemble silver
coins. The house, fields and the hill side
were covered with the white hails. Not a
leaf remained on the trees. The corn was
totally destroyed. So were the flowers.
Lencho was sorrowful. They would have
no corn that year.
 Single hope – Help from God
⚫ Lencho thought that there was
only one hope. It was the help
from God. The following Sunday,
he wrote a letter to God. He
wrote that if he did not help, his
whole family would die. He
needed a hundred pesos in
order to sow his field again and
to live until the new crop came.
He wrote ‘To God’ on the
envelope, placed a stamp on it
and dropped it into the mailbox.
 Strange address

⚫ One of the postmen who read the address

laughed heartily and took it to the postmaster.
The postmaster was quite a friendly and
pleasant man. He too broke out laughing. But
soon he became serious. He realized that the
sender of the letter had a great faith in God.
He didn’t want to shake the writer’s faith in
God. He decided to answer the letter.
 Help from the postmaster.
⚫ The generous postmaster collected money
from his employees. He himself gave a part of
his salary. He put seventy pesos, all the money
he could collect, in an envelope and sent it to
Lencho by mail.
Lencho’s anger against Post Office
Employees
⚫ Lencho had a firm and unshaken faith in God. He
did expect help from God. When he received the
money, he was not surprised. But his happiness
was just for some moments. When he counted
the money, he became very angry. He believed
that God could never deceive him. Immediately,
he wrote a second letter to God and posted it.
The postmaster opened the letter eagerly.
Lencho wrote that he received seventy pesos
that had been sent by God. He requested God to
send him the rest of the money. He asked God
not to send the money through the mail. The
post office employees were ‘a bunch of crooks’.
Justification of the Title
⚫ The title, ‘A Letter to God’ arouses the reader’s
interest as the idea of someone sending a letter
to God is quite intriguing. The interest is
sustained and even heightened on reading the
story of how Lencho, the main character appeals
to God for monetary help through a letter. It is
not so much about the actual letter but the
unquestioning faith of a naïve man in the benign
power of the almighty. Hence, the title is suitable
as it is the letter that reveals the character of
Lencho and also makes the story unfold.
Character Sketch
⚫ Lencho:
⚫ Lencho was a man of limited means and
earned his living by farming his fields. He had
an unshaken faith in God. He believed that
God always helps the people with a clear
conscience. Therefore, when he lost all hopes
and he and his family were on the verge of
starvation, he looked towards God for help.
His deep faith in God even impressed the
postmaster who decided to help him. He was
a little educated to write a letter. He showed
his innocence by trying to have a
correspondence with God directly.
 Character Sketch
⚫ Postmaster:
⚫ The postmaster had all, that is, good in human
thinking and behaviour. He had thorough
understanding of a sharp, sympathetic and sensitive
mind. He knew how the mind of a God-fearing rustic
like Lencho works. He didn’t want to break the deep
faith of Lencho in God. First, he laughed at the man
who wanted to have a direct correspondence with
God. After reading the letter, he was deeply moved
and impressed by Lencho’s faith in God. He knew
that merely goodwill was not sufficient. The farmer
needed financial help. So he collected a sum of 70
pesos from his employees. He also contributed a
part of his salary and sent the money to Lencho.