CBSE Class 10 English A Letter to God Assignment

A Letter to God

INTRODUCTION—
‘A Letter to God’ is a story of extreme faith in God. A natural calamity leaves Lencho, a hard-working farmer, in distress. The farmer writes a letter to God asking him to send money. The chapter concludes in a very ironic situation.

SUMMARY—
Lencho was a poor but hardworking farmer. His house was on the top of a hill and that was the only house in the valley. He hoped for a good crop, but his fields needed rain or at least a shower. He waited for the rain and it did come. One day, it started drizzling. In the beginning, Lencho felt the falling rain drops as ‘new silver coins’ falling from the sky. But gradually, the rain transformed into a hail storm. The hailstones fell for an hour. It destroyed his crop completely. Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. He thought that they would go hungry the whole year unless they found someone who could help them. Suddenly his heart was filled with hope. He had firm faith in God. Lencho knew how to read and write. The following Sunday, he wrote a letter to God mentioning his destroyed crop and asked him for money so that he could sow his field again. Then he put the letter in an envelope, addressed it to ‘God’ and went to the post office. He affixed a stamp on it and dropped it in the mail-box. The postman, who took the letter out of the mail-box saw the letter and showed it to the postmaster. Everyone in the post office had a hearty laugh. But immediately the postmaster realised the man’s predicament and unshakable faith in God. He decided to help the man. He discussed with his colleagues and all of them decided to part with some money for an act of charity. They collected money, put it in an envelope and addressed it to Lencho. This letter contained a single word in the form of a signature : God.
The next Sunday, Lencho went to the post office. The postmaster handed him the letter. Lencho was not at all surprised on receiving a letter from God. He had unshakable faith that God would reply in the form of money and he did receive it. He opened the envelope but became angry on counting the money. There were only seventy pesos in the envelope, whereas he had asked for one hundred. He knew God could not have made a mistake. Immediately, he wrote another letter to God, put it in the mail-box and went out.The postmaster took out the letter from the mail-box and opened it. Lencho had requested God to send the rest of the money i.e., thirty pesos as he had received only seventy pesos. Lencho had a feeling that the people at the post office had cheated him by taking out some money from God’s envelope. So, he wrote that God should not send money through mail as according to him, the post office employees were a bunch of crooks.

Extract Based Questions

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 

1.So, in order to 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 good will, ink and paper. But he stuck to his resolution : He asked money from his employees. 

Question. Who decided to answer the letter ?
(i) The clerk
(ii) The Post office employees
(iii) God
(iv) The Postmaster
Answer.(iv) The Postmaster

Question. The Post master sought whose help to contribute money?
(i) God
(ii) The visitors
(iii) The Government
(iv) Post office employees
Answer.(iv) Post office employees

Question. Which word in the extract means the same as ‘firm decision’ ?
(i) evident
(ii) resolution
(iii) right decision
(iv) perfect decision
Answer.(ii) resolution

Question. Who is ‘he’ in the passage ?
(i) Clerk
(ii) Lencho
(iii) Post-master
(iv) God
Answer.(iii) Post-master

2.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.”

Question. Why did Lencho go out in the rain?
(i) to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.
(ii) to bathe in the rain.
(iii) to collect his corns.
(iv) to cover the roof of his house.
Answer.(i) to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.

Question. Lencho compared the rain drops to new coins because
(i) they were round in shape.
(ii) good rain means good money.
(iii) Both (i) and (ii)
(iv) they were as hard as coins.
Answer. Both (i) and (ii)

Question. Which word in the extract means the same as ‘coming closer’?
(i) mountains of clouds
(ii) falling
(iii) went out
(iv) approaching
Answer.approaching

Question. What are the raindrops compared to?
(i) clouds
(ii) fresh air
(iii) new coins
(iv) big drops
Answer.new coins

3.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, not could he have denied Lencho what he had requested. 

Question. Was Lencho surprised on seeing the money?
(i) a little
(ii) not at all
(iii) very much
(iv) a sort of
Answer. (ii) not at all

Question. Lencho didn’t get 100 pesos from God, it was only __________.
(i) Eighty pesos
(ii) Fifty pesos
(iii) Seventy pesos
(iv) Sixty pesos
Answer.(iii) Seventy pesos

Question. Lencho’s belief in God was __________.
(i) strong
(ii) weak
(iii) somewhat strong
(iv) very weak
Answer.(i) strong

Question. Who handed the letter to Lencho?
(i) The Post master
(ii) The Clerk
(iii) The Postman
(iv) Stranger
Answer.(iii) The Postman

Short Answer Type Questions :

Question. Where was Lencho’s house situated ? Why did he sit seeing the sky ? 
Answer. Lencho’s house was situated on the crest of a low hill in the valley. The whole day he sat seeing the sky because he knew that his fields needed downpour or at least a shower and he was waiting to see the signs of rain.

Question. Explain the qualities of the post office employees ?
Answer.The post office employees represented the people who believed in helping others. They were kind and helpful.
They cooperated with each other and contributed to their best of the capability just to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive. They had love, concern, compassion and empathy for Lencho.

Question. Why was Lencho angry when he received the letter ? 
Answer. When Lencho received the letter, he opened the envelope. He, at once, became angry on counting the amount in it. There were only seventy pesos in the envelope, whereas he had asked for one hundred.

Question. What were Lencho’s feelings when he found the letter with money in it ? What did he do after opening the letter ? 
Answer. In the beginning, Lencho was very happy and satisfied to receive the letter. But when he counted the money and found it less, he became very angry. He wrote another letter to God, demanding thirty more pesos.

Question. How did Lencho’s hope change to despair ? 
Answer. Lencho was waiting for a shower of rain that his field needed. But his hope for good rain vanished when the wind changed into hailstorm. It destroyed everything. So, Lencho’s hope changed to despair as his family would face starvation.

Long Answer Type Questions :

Question. In the lesson ‘A Letter to God’, what moral values does the postmaster display in his behaviour ?
Answer. The Postmaster 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 to be intact in God. The Postmaster was a kind and compassionate fellow. He tried to keep Lencho’s faith in God intact by collecting the amount for him. He was an empathetic and softhearted fellow who cared for Lencho. He displayed good leadership qualities by asking each Post office employee to contribute to his extent. The Postmaster himself gave a part of his salary and also requested his employees and a few friends to contribute for the good cause as a charity. He encouraged to perceive others in a more positive light. He was a man who fostered a sense of community building and spreaded positivity which helps in creating a healthy society.

Question. The Post Master represents the people who still believe in helping others. Mention those values of the Post Master which you would like to emulate. Write it in about 100-120 words.
Answer.The postmaster represents a bunch of people like Lencho who have faith in God. And they believe in helping others. We learn from the story that still there are people like the Postmaster and the Post Office employees, who help others without any self interest. To keep Lencho’s faith in God intact, the postmaster co-operated with his employees and collected the amount. He had love and empathy towards Lencho when he knew about his situation. He was a compassionate man and even hid his identity in helping Lencho. He sent the amount to Lencho in the name of God. Even though none of the Post Office employees or Post Master were related to Lencho in any manner yet it was a pure act of humanity, kindness and selflessness on their part. The way they all helped Lencho in his hard times even restores our faith in humanity and motivates us to be a noble and kind person like the Postmaster.

Question. Write a letter as Lencho to your friend and tell him about the destruction of your crops, about the letter you wrote to God and also about the reply with money that you received. Express your irritation about the Post Office employees also.
Answer.
17A, Carter Road
Southern Valley
Madagascar
Spain
05th April, 20××

Dear Juan,
Hope this letter of mine will find you hale and hearty. This year I was waiting for good rain, which could shower my corn fields. The rain did come last week but it brought hailstones along with it. The rain had completely ruined my harvest. Me and my family were having nothing to eat. We thought, we will be starving soon. But I had not lost the hope, so I wrote a letter to God and asked him to send me 100 pesos for help. God did help me. After four days, I received a money-order from God. I got the money but not the full amount, which I had asked for. I got only 70 pesos. My 30 pesos are missing which I doubt these Post-Office employees, who are crooks must have kept it for themselves. I don’t trust them at all. Once again I have written a letter to God to send me the balance 30 pesos. I’m sure he will definitely help me again. I’m waiting for God’s reply.

With love
Lencho.