Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’ Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not? Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money?

Thinking About the Text

Question 1: Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
 Answer: Lencho had complete faith in God. The sentences in the story that show this are as follows:
(i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) “God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”
(iv) He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town.
(v) God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
(vi) 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.”

Question 2: Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’? 
Answer: The postmaster sent money to Lencho in order to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive. He turned serious when he read Lencho’s letter and wished he had the same faith in God. Even after he saw that Lencho had requested for money, he stuck to his resolution of answering the letter. He gathered as much money as he could and sent it to Lencho. He signed it ‘God’ so that Lencho’s faith would not get shaken.

Question 3: Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not? 
Answer: No, Lencho does not try to find out who had sent the money to him. This is because he never suspected that it could be anybody 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.

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 thought that the post office employees had taken the rest of the money. The irony of the situation was that the employees whom he called a “bunch of crooks” and suspected of taking some of the money were the same people who had contributed and sent him the money in the first place.

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 Naïve stupid ungrateful
selfish comical unquestioning
Answer:
There might be a few people like Lencho in the real world. He is an unquestioning, naïve kind of a person.

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: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the destruction of Lencho’s crops by the hailstorm. Lencho had worked really hard on his fields and the harvest was really important for him. He required the money to feed his family. However, the nature turned violent. The rains were accompanied by a hailstorm, which destroyed the crops. The story also illustrates another conflict, between humans themselves. The postmaster, along with the help of the other post office employees, sent Lencho the money that they could manage to collect. They were not related to Lencho in any manner. It was an act of kindness and selflessness on their part. Even though they did a good deed, Lencho blamed them for taking away some amount of money. He called them “a bunch of crooks”. This shows that man does not have faith in his fellow humans, thereby giving rise to this conflict.