CH 1 – A LETTER TO GOD – NOTES

Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What did Lencho hope for?
Answer:
Lencho hoped for a good rain as it was much needed for a good harvest.

Question 2
Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Answer:
Lencho compared the raindrops with new coins because they were promising him a good
harvest resulting in more prosperity.

Question 3.
How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
Answer:
The rain changed into hailstones as a strong wind began to blow and huge hailstones began to
fall alongwith the rain. All the crops in Lencho’s field got destroyed because of the weather
conditions.

Question 4.
What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Answer:
Lencho was filled with grief after the hail stopped as everything was ruined and there was
nothing that he could feed his family with. He could see a bleak future for him and his family.

Question 5.
Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Answer:
Lencho had firm faith in God. He believed ‘ that God sees everything, even what is deep in
one’s conscience and help everyone in one’s problems. He wrote a letter to God demanding
him a hundred pesos to sow his field again.

Question 6.
Who read the letter?
Answer:
Postmaster read the letter.

Question 7.
What did the postmaster do after reading a letter?
Answer:
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.
Page 7
Question 8.
Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Answer:
Lencho was not surprised to find a letter with money from God as he believed that God will
help him.

Question 9.
What made Lencho angry?
Answer:
There were only seventy pesos in the envelope whereas Lencho had demanded a hundred
pesos. The difference in the amount made him angry.

Thinking about the Text (Page 7,8)

Question 1.
Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer:
Lencho has complete faith in God as he is instructed that God knows everything and helps us
in our problems. There are few sentences which show this

 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.
 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.
 “God”, he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year”.
 He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and still troubled, went to
town.
 God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had
requested.

Question 2.
Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter God?
Answer:
The postmaster sends money to Lencho in order to keep
Lencho’s faith in God alive and firm as he was completely moved by it.
When postmaster reads the letter of Lencho to God, he becomes serious and does not want to
shake his faith and decides to answer the letter. He gathers money with the help of his post
office employees and friends on behalf of God and signs the letter ‘God’ so that Lencho’s
faith does not get shaken.

Question 3.
Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why or why not?
Answer:
Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he never suspected the
presence of God and had complete faith in God. He could not believe that it could be –
anybody else other than him who would send him the money.
His faith in God was so strong that he believed that he had sent money to him for his help in
his problem.

Question 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).
Answer:
Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money as he had
demanded a hundred pesos from God and in the letter there was only seventy pesos and God
cannot make such a mistake. So, he assumes that they have stolen the money.
The irony in this situation is that Lencho suspects those people who helped him in his
problem and tried to keep his faith alive in God.

Question 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

Answer:
It is almost impossible to find a person like Lencho as he is an unquestioning and naive kind
of person. He is not stupid if he doesn’t know who has sent him money or a letter will reach
God without any address. It is Lencho’s faith in God. In real world, people are selfish and
greedy and Lencho is totally lovable and different.

Question 6.
There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and between humans
themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer:
Conflict between Humans and Nature: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated
by the destruction of Lencho’s crop by the hailstorm as Lencho was expecting a good rain to
have good harvest as that was the only hope he had for his earning. He worked so hard to
feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.
Conflict between Humans and Humans: The story also illustrated another conflict, between
humans themselves as the postmaster alongwith his friends and staff sent Lencho money that
Lencho demanded from God although they didn’t know Lencho. Lencho blamed them for
taking away some amount of money. He called them “a bunch of crook”. This shows that
man does not have faith in other man, thereby giving rise to this conflict.

EXTRA QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Question 1.
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”.
(a) Where was Lencho’s house located?
(b) What was Lencho’s wife preparing?
(c) Find the word from the passage which means ‘very closely’.
(d) What does ‘Crest’ means?
Answer:
Lencho’s house was located on the crest of a low hill.
(b) Lencho’s wife was preparing supper.
(c) The word is ‘Intimately’.
(d) Crest means the top part of a hill.

Question 2.
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. [CBSE 2012]
(a) What could be seen approaching in the North-East?
(b) Why did Lencho go out?
(c) Give an antonym of the word Big.
(d) Which word in the passage is a synonym of ‘forecast’.

Answer:
(a) Huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching in the North-East.
(b) Lencho went out to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.
(c) The word is ‘small’.
(d) The word ‘predict’ is a synonym of forecast.

Question 3.
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 alongwith 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.
(a) What happened to the rain suddenly?
(b) ‘The frozen pearls’ refers to which thing in the paragraph.
(c) Find the similar meaning-of ‘contented’ in the paragraph.
(d) Find from the passage a word which means ‘to take after’.

Answer:
(a) The rain suddenly changed into hailstones.
(b) ‘The frozen pearls’ refers to hailstones.
(c) The word is ‘Satisfied’.
(d) The word is ‘Resemble’.
Question 4.
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.
(a) Describe Lencho’s feeling as shown in the passage.
(b) What happened to the crop when the storm had passed?
(c) Find the word that means the opposite of ‘restored’ as used in the passage.

Answer:
(a) Lencho was filled with sadness when the storm had passed.
(b) The crop was completely destroyed when the storm had passed.
(c) The word is ‘destroyed’.
(d) ‘Hail’ is balls of ice that falls from the sky in the form of rain.

Question 5.
“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. [CBSE 2014]
(a) What was Lencho’s only hope?
(b) How did Lencho work in the field?
(c) Find the exact word of similar meaning ‘moral sense’ given in the passage.
(d) Explain ‘an or of a man’.

Answer:
(a) Lencho’s only hope was the help of God.
(b) Lencho worked as an ‘ox’ in the field.
(c) The word is ‘conscience’.
(d) It means a man working hard like an ox or animal.

Question 6.
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 ndt 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 vreie obliged io
give something ‘for an act of charity’.
(a) What kind of a person the postmaster was?
(b) How did the postmaster help Lencho?
(c) Find the exact word in similar meaning ‘without delay’ given in the passage.

(d) Determination is synonymous with …………….

Answer:
(a) The postmaster was a fat, amiable and helpful fellow.
(b) The postmaster helped Lencho by collecting money from his employees and friends.
(c) The word is ‘Immediately’.
(d) Determination is synonym with Resolution.

Long Answer (Value Based) Type Questions [8 Marks each]

Question 1.
Who was Lencho and what circumstances forced him to write a letter to God?
Answer:
Lencho was a hardworking farmer who lived with his family on a crest of a low hill. He was
very caring and God loving man. Though, he was a farmer he could read and write. Lencho
eagerly waited for the rainfall in order to get good harvest and he became happy when it
came. But the pleasing rain changed into hailstorm and destroyed his crop.
He became sad and was worried about his family as they might remain hungry that year. His
last hope was the help from God as he had complete faith in him. Hence, he wrote a letter to
God asking him to send hundred pesos to survive and to reharvest.

Question 2.
Give a character-sketch of Lencho.
Answer:
Lencho was a simple man and a hardworking farmer. He worked as an ox in his field.
Lencho’s entire crops were badly destroyed by the hailstorm. So, he became very sad as he
was worried about his family. He was an optimistic person. Although his only source of
living was taken away, he didn’t lose hope. He had his last hope in God. He was confident
that God would help him in his distress. Lencho was an innocent atheist who didn’t know that
there was no such living person as God who could send him money. He had blind faith in
God and sought solution of his problem’Trom God only.

Question 3.
Sketch the character of the postmaster in the story ‘A Letter to God”.
(or)
How do you like ,the character of the postmaster in the story ‘A Letter to God?” Give reason
for your answer.
Answer:
The postmaster was a fat and friendly fellow. He was a sensible human being. He first
laughed looking at the letter which had a strange address. But soon he became serious. He
was surprised at the faith that Lencho had in God. He wanted his faith not to be shaken.
The postmaster himself gave a part of his salary and also requested his employees and a few
friends to contribute for charity. He felt happy and satisfied when Lencho received the
money. This shows that he was a kind and empathetic person as well. He loved to help others.

Question 4.
How did the postmaster and post office employees help Lencho? How did he react to their
help?
Answer:
The Postmaster and post office employees were very generous as they contributed for the act
of charity. First they laughed when they saw Lencho’s letter to God, but soon they were
impressed by his faith in God. They decided to send some money to Lencho so that his faith
in God does not get shaken. They collected seventy pesos and sent it to Lencho.
When Lencho got the envelope and opened it to count money, he became angry. He again
wrote a letter to God demanding the remaining thirty pesos. He thought that post office
employees had taken away the remaining money and called them a bunch of crooks, which
was not justified at all as they were the people who had helped him. But it shows his
innocence and firm faith in God.

Question 5.
How did the hailstones affect Lencho’s field? What was Lencho’s only hope?
Answer:
Lencho, a hardworking farmer, worked like an ox for a good harvest, depended completely
on his fields to take care of his family. He expected a good harvest that year. He needed a
downpour for the crops to ripe, but the rain followed by hailstorm completely destroyed the
crops.
It made him sad. He was worried for his family as he loved them so much. But Lencho had
firm faith in God and believed that nobody died of hunger. So, he decided to seek help from
God. He wrote a letter to God and asked him for a hundred pesos to survive and to sow new
crop.

Question 6.
“Humanity still exists”, this is what we get to know after reading A letter to God’ in which
firm faith in God of a poor farmer and helpfulness of the post office employees are aptly
depicted thought. Write a paragraph on the values in it, in about 80-100 words. Give the
paragraph a suitable title. [CBSE 2012]
Answer:
Existence of Humanity
After reading ‘A letter to God’, our faith in humanity stirs for strong. We learn from the story
that there still are people who help others without any self interest. The postmaster and the
post office employees lay an example for everyone of us to be kind. Though they all laughed
at his letter, they were really moved by the grip of faith Lencho had in God. The way they all
decided to help the stranger in his hard times restores our faith in the existence of humanity
and motivates us to be a noble and kind person.

Question 7.
Describe Lencho’s qualities in light of his faith in God. Do you have faith in God like
Lencho? Was Lencho’s reaction towards post office employees right? [CBSE 2015]
Answer:
Lencho was a poor farmer who totally depended on the harvest to survive and fulfil basic
needs of his family. Once his crops were destroyed due to heavy rainfall and hailstones and
he was afraid to think how his family would survive. He believed that God would help him in
this plight. He had firm faith in God, he believed that God would not let him be hungry.
Now-a-days faith in God like Lencho is almost impossible and unseen. People are very much
aware that nobody is willing to help others without any self interest. Lencho’s reaction
towards post office employees was not right or justified but it was just because of his
innocence as he could not believe that God had done such a mistake. It were only the post
office employees who had stolen money according to him.