A Letter to God: NCERT English Solutions Class 10 -First Flight Chapter 1

‘A Letter to God’ is written by G.L Fuentes, a Mexican writer. Lencho, the protagonist, is a farmer who is a simpleton and so honest in his faith in God that he writes a letter to God to help him overcome the terrible situation caused by hail-storm that destroyed his standing crop in the field. His letter is answered by the post master with compassion for this ultimate believer in God……See the video tutorial given below to see the whole story and its word by word and line by line explanation to the lesson ‘A Letter to God’.

Summary: A Letter to God Class 10

A Letter to God

Book: First Flight (Book Exercises) Class : 10

Oral Comprehension Check

Page-5

2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Ans. Lencho compared the raindrops with new coins because they appeared rounded appearing like coins and since the rain was meant to help good harvest, it was attributed with the word “gold” also.

1.What did Lencho hope for?
Ans. Lencho hoped for a good rain because a good harvest needed it.

3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
Ans. The strong winds changed the weather and the rain changed into hailstorms. Lencho’s fields were covered with hailstones and the crop had been destroyed by these hailstorms.

4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Ans. 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.

Page 6

1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Ans. 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.

2. Who read the letter?
Ans. Postmaster read the letter.

3. What did the postmaster do after reading a letter?
Ans. 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

1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Ans. Lencho was not surprised to find a letter with money from God as he believed that God will help him.

2. What made Lencho angry?
Ans. 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

1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Ans. Lencho had complete faith in God because he believed in what he had been instructed or had heard that God sees everything and knows what goes in one’s mind. See the few sentences that explain this faith of Lencho.

• 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.
• It was nothing than less than a letter to God.
• “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.
• Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence-.
• God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.

2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter God?
Ans. 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.

3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why or why not?
Ans. 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.

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).
Ans. 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.

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.

Ans. 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.

6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans.

First conflict (Humans and nature): The first conflict is illustrated in the beginning when the natures plays havoc destroying the Lencho’s harvest. The conflict here lies between the hard work like an ox by Lencho (human) just to have a good harvest that needed rain but this was conflicted hailstorms (nature).

Second conflict (Humans and humans): Lencho and the postmaster both belong to the human fraternity but the conflict explains lack of faith of man in man even in an act of charity. The postmaster and his staff contributed 70 pesos just to sustain Lencho’s faith in God. But the same people were blamed for stealing money and were called- “a bunch of crooks” by Lencho.

Thinking about Language

 Page – 8, 9, 10 & 11

I. There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks?

1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle __  __ c __  __ __ __      (Ans. cyclone)
2. An extremely strong wind __ a __ __(Ans. gale)
3. A violent tropical storm with very strong wind __  __  p __ __ __ __   (Ans. typhoon)
4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel __ __ __ n __ __ __       (Ans. tornado)
5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the Western Atlantic Ocean __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __ __       (Ans. hurricane)
6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage __ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __    (Ans. whirlwind)

II. Match the sentences in column A with the meaning of ‘hope’ in column B.

Answers

III. Relative Clauses

Q. Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.

1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)
Ans. I often go to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India.

2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)
Ans. My Mother who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.

3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent, (whose)
Ans. These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.

4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds, (whose)
Ans.  Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.

5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)
Ans. This man whom I trusted cheated me.

IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis

Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
1. Tree had lost all their leaves.

Ans: Not a leaf remained on the trees.

2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

Ans. It was nothing than a letter of God.

3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

Ans. Never in his career as a postman had he seen that address.

V. METAPHORS

In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.

Answers:

VI – SPEAKING  

Q. Have you ever been in great difficulty, and felt that only a miracle could help you? How was your problem solved? Speak about this in class with your teacher.  

Ans. Let me relate one incident. I was travelling by car from Prayagraj to Varanasi. My father was driving the car and I was sitting beside him. It was a hot day. We had crossed Panipat and were going towards Karnal. Suddenly my father saw an oil tanker standing in the middle of the road about fifty metres away. The oil had leaked from the tanker and had slipped all over the road making it slippery. My father applied brakes to stop the car. But the car instead of stopping started slipping at great speed towards the tanker. I thought that our end was near and only a miracle could save us. But miracle did happen. A few feet away from the tanker, the car suddenly turned to the left and stopped after moving a few yards in the nearby fields 

VII – LISTENING (Page -12)

Q. Listen to the letter (given under ‘In this Lesson’) read out by your teacher/on the audio tape. As you listen fill in the table given below:

Answer: