A Letter to God is a short story by G.L. Fuentes, included in NCERT Class 10 First Flight. Lencho, a farmer, writes a letter to God asking for 100 pesos after a hailstorm destroys his crops. The story's central irony is that Lencho suspects the post office workers of stealing part of the money they secretly collected for him, never realising it was a human act of kindness.
Author: G.L. Fuentes (translated from Spanish); included in NCERT Class 10 First Flight.
Lencho's crop was destroyed by a hailstorm he described as 'a plague of locusts'.
Lencho asked God for exactly 100 pesos in his first letter.
The postmaster collected 70 pesos from employees and his own salary and sent it signed 'God'.
Lencho wrote a second letter accusing the post office workers of stealing 30 pesos.
The core irony: humans who helped Lencho were called crooks; God (who sent nothing) was completely trusted.
The story was originally written in Spanish and is a classic example of magical realism blended with irony.
Key theme: unshakeable faith can be both admirable and blinding.
Lencho is a hardworking farmer who is very hopeful about a good harvest. A hailstorm destroys all his crops, leaving him devastated. Lencho has deep, unshakeable faith in God, so he writes a letter to God asking for 100 pesos to sow again and to survive until the new crop grows. The postmaster, amused but moved by Lencho's faith, organises a collection among employees and friends but manages to gather only 70 pesos. He sends the money in an envelope signed 'God'. When Lencho opens the letter and counts the money, he finds only 70 pesos instead of 100. He is angry and immediately writes a second letter to God asking Him to send the remaining 30 pesos — but not through the post office, as Lencho believes the post office employees are 'a bunch of crooks'.
Q: What did Lencho hope for? Lencho hoped for a good rain to ensure a rich harvest of corn.
Q: How did the hailstorm affect Lencho? The hailstorm destroyed the entire crop, leaving nothing — Lencho compared it to a plague of locusts.
Q: Why did Lencho write a letter to God? Because he had immense faith in God and believed God would help him; he needed 100 pesos to re-sow his field and sustain his family.
Q: What did the postmaster do on receiving the letter? He did not want to shake Lencho's faith in God, so he collected money from employees and his own salary and sent 70 pesos to Lencho signed as 'God'.
Q: Why was Lencho angry after receiving the money? He expected 100 pesos but received only 70, and he suspected the post office workers had stolen 30 pesos.
Q: What does the story say about faith and irony? Lencho's blind faith in God is contrasted ironically with his suspicion of human beings who actually helped him.
Faith: Lencho's unquestioning belief in God is the driving force of the story. He does not doubt for a moment that God will help him.
Irony: The central irony is that the very people Lencho accuses of being crooks are the ones who tried to fulfil his wish. Human kindness is mistaken for dishonesty.
Human Goodness: The postmaster's act of collecting money shows that human beings can embody God-like compassion.
Simplicity and Ignorance: Lencho's simplicity — his literal belief that God sends money through the post — adds gentle humour and pathos to the narrative.
Lencho: A simple, hardworking farmer with deep religious faith. He is literate enough to write a letter but naive enough to suspect kindly strangers. His faith is both his strength and his blind spot.
The Postmaster: A compassionate, empathetic man. He understands the value of faith and selflessly organises money to protect Lencho's belief in God. He represents human goodness.
After the hailstorm destroyed his crops, Lencho's one hope was his deep faith in God. He believed God would help him, so he wrote a letter to God asking for 100 pesos to resow his field and support his family until the next harvest.
The postmaster was first amused and then deeply moved by Lencho's faith. Not wanting to shatter that faith, he collected money from his colleagues and contributed from his own salary, managing to gather 70 pesos, which he sent to Lencho in an envelope signed 'God'.
Lencho expected 100 pesos from God but received only 70. Since he had absolute faith in God, he concluded that God could not have sent less than 100 pesos. He therefore assumed the post office workers had opened the envelope and stolen 30 pesos, calling them 'a bunch of crooks'.
The central irony is that the human beings who showed compassion and generosity by collecting money for Lencho are the very people he accuses of theft. Lencho's blind faith in God leads him to distrust kind humans, making the reader reflect on how faith can sometimes blind us to human goodness.
The story teaches that faith can be a powerful source of strength and hope in adversity. Lencho's unshakeable belief allowed him to act decisively (writing the letter) rather than despair. However, it also shows that extreme faith without reason can lead to misjudgement, as Lencho wrongly accused honest, generous people of stealing.
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