Class 10 English — NCERT Solutions

Lencho, an industrious peasant whose modest house was the solitary one in the entire valley perched on a low crest, hoped for a good downpour or at least a modest shower for his ripe cornfield dotted with flowers, which promised a bountiful harvest. His family's complete livelihood and sustenance for the entire forthcoming year depended directly upon this rain.

Lencho compared the falling raindrops to 'new coins'—the big drops to ten-cent pieces and the little ones to fives—because rain was the vital catalyst for a rich harvest. Healthy crops would translate directly into prosperity, grain sales, and money in hand. Hence, in his optimistic mind, the falling droplets literally represented incoming coins.

1. Sudden Transformation of Rain:
Suddenly, a strong wind began to blow, and along with the rain, extraordinarily large hailstones began to fall. The tempest raged furiously for a full hour over the house, the garden, the hillside, and the entire corn valley.

2. Devastation of the Crops:
The field became completely blanketed in white as if salted. Not a single leaf remained on the trees; the corn was utterly demolished, and the blossoms were stripped from the plants, reducing Lencho's hopes to ash.

When the storm subsided, Lencho stood sorrowfully in the middle of his ruined field and told his sons that even a plague of locusts would have left more behind than the hailstorm. His soul was steeped in profound grief and despair, realizing that their year-long toil had produced nothing and that his family would face starvation unless divine intervention occurred.

Lencho had absolute, unquestioning faith in God, whose all-seeing eyes, he had been taught, see everything—even what is deep within one's conscience. Driven by this unflinching conviction, he wrote a letter addressed directly to 'God', detailing that without help his family would go hungry, and demanded 100 pesos to sow his land anew and survive until the next crop arrived.

1. Letter Received: The postman first laughed heartily and showed it to his superior; the postmaster—a fat, amiable, and generous gentleman—broke out laughing too, but immediately turned serious, deeply moved by the writer's immense faith.

2. Postmaster's Noble Gesture: Determined not to shake Lencho's sublime trust in God, the postmaster decided to reply. Realizing that goodwill alone was insufficient, he contributed a part of his salary, collected donations from his employees and friends as an 'act of charity', and gathered 70 pesos, which he mailed in an envelope signed simply: 'God'.

1. Not Surprised: Lencho showed not the slightest hint of surprise upon opening the envelope containing money; his conviction in God's willingness to help was so total and absolute that he took the arrival of the cash for granted.

2. Cause of Anger: When he counted the money, he discovered only 70 pesos instead of the 100 he had requested. Convinced that God could neither make an arithmetic mistake nor deny his plea, he concluded that the post office clerks had stolen the missing 30 pesos.

1. Lencho's Suspicion:
Lencho firmly believed that the post office employees had embezzled the missing thirty pesos. In his second letter to God, he pleaded: '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.'

2. The Supreme Situational Irony:
Irony is a literary device where the actual outcome is humorously or tragically opposite to what is expected. In this story:

• The postmaster and postal staff had exhibited extraordinary selflessness, empathy, and sacrifice by parting with their own hard-earned money to preserve a stranger's spiritual faith.
• Instead of receiving gratitude or praise, these very benefactors were branded as a 'bunch of crooks' and thieves by the recipient.
• Lencho's blind, naive faith in God made him suspect human goodness, creating a poignant and humorous paradox where noble charity was rewarded with bitter condemnation.