CBSE Class 10 English Notes
CBSE Class 10 English Notes
They say faith can move mountains. But what should we put our
faith in? This is the question this story delicately poses.
Lencho is a farmer who writes a letter to God when his crops
are ruined, asking for a hundred pesos. Does Lencho’s letter reach
God? Does God send him the money? Think what your answers to
these questions would be, and guess how the story continues, before
you begin to read it.
Activity
1. One of the cheapest ways to send money to someone is through
the post office. Have you ever sent or received money in this
way? Here’s what you have to do. (As you read the instructions,
discuss with your teacher in class the meanings of these words:
counter, counter clerk, appropriate, acknowledgement, counterfoil,
record. Consult a dictionary if necessary. Are there words
corresponding to these English words in your languages?)
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2. Fill out the Money Order form given below using the clues that
follow the form.
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• Think about who you will send the money to, and how much.
You might want to send money for a magazine subscription,
or to a relative or a friend.
• Or you may fill out the form with yourself as sender and your
partner as receiver. Use a part of your pocket money, and
submit the form at the nearest post office to see how it’s done.
See how your partner enjoys getting money by post!
• Notice that the form has three parts — the Money Order form,
the part for official use and the Acknowledgement. What would
you write in the ‘Space for Communication’?
Now complete the following statements.
(i) In addition to the sender, the form has to be signed by the
(iv) The form has six sections. The sender needs to fill
out sections and the receiver
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Lencho had predicted, big drops of rain began to
fall. 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.’’
With a satisfied expression he regarded the field
of ripe corn with its flowers, draped in a curtain of
rain. But suddenly a strong wind began to blow
and along with the rain very large hailstones began
to fall. These truly did resemble new silver coins.
The boys, exposing themselves to the rain, ran out
to collect the frozen pearls.
‘‘It’s really getting bad now,’’ exclaimed the man.
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have left more than this. The hail has left nothing.
This year we will have no corn.’’
That night was a sorrowful one.
“All our work, for nothing.”
‘‘There’s no one who can help us.”
“We’ll all go hungry this year.”
1. What did Lencho hope for?
2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
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fellow — also broke out laughing, but almost
immediately he turned serious and, tapping the
letter on his desk, commented, “What faith! I wish I
had the faith of the man who wrote this letter.
Starting up a correspondence with God!”
So, in order 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 goodwill,
ink and paper. But he stuck to his resolution: he
asked for money from his employees, he himself gave
part of his salary, and several friends of his were
obliged to give something ‘for an act of charity’.
It was impossible for him to gather together the
hundred pesos, so he was able to send the farmer
only a little more than half. He put the money in an
envelope addressed to Lencho and with it a letter
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the envelope with a blow of his fist. The moment
the letter fell into the mailbox the postmaster went
to open it. 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. But don’t send it to
me through the mail because the post office
employees are a bunch of crooks. Lencho.”
1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
2. What made him angry?
1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell
you this?
2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the
letter ‘God’?
3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
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.)
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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.
6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature,
and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary
to help you.
II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story:
(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a single hope: help from God.
In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to
happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something
to happen.
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Match the sentences in Column A with the meanings of ‘hope’ in Column B.
A B
1. Will you get the subjects you want – a feeling that something good will
to study in college? probably happen
I hope so. – thinking that this would happen
2. I hope you don’t mind my saying (It may or may not have happened.)
this, but I don’t like the way you – stopped believing that this good
are arguing. thing would happen
3. This discovery will give new hope – wanting something to happen
to HIV/AIDS sufferers. (and thinking it quite possible)
4. We were hoping against hope that – showing concern that what you
the judges would not notice our say should not offend or disturb
mistakes. the other person: a way of being
5. I called early in the hope of polite
speaking to her before she went – wishing for something to happen,
to school. although this is very unlikely
6. Just when everybody had given up
hope, the fishermen came back,
seven days after the cyclone.
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3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance
has been excellent. (whose)
4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)
5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)
Sometimes the relative pronoun in a relative clause remains ‘hidden’. For
example, look at the first sentence of the story:
(a) The house — the only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a
low hill.
We can rewrite this sentence as:
(b) The house — which was the only one in the entire valley — sat on
the crest of a low hill.
In (a), the relative pronoun which and the verb was are not present.
3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.
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V. Metaphors
The word metaphor comes from a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors
compare two things or ideas: a quality or feature of one thing is transferred
to another thing. Some common metaphors are
• the leg of the table: The leg supports our body. So the object that supports
a table is described as a leg.
• the heart of the city: The heart is an important organ in the centre of our
body. So this word is used to describe the central area of a city.
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.
Raindrops
Hailstones
Locusts
An ox of a man
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.
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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.
Sarah goes to
Lencho suffered first due to drought and then by floods. Our country is also facing
such situations in the recent years. There is flood and there is drought. There is
a need to save water through water harvesting. Design a poster for your area on
how to save water during summer and when it is available in excess.
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The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
This poem presents a moment that seems simple, but has a larger significance.
[Compare this other quotation from Robert Frost: “Always, always a larger
significance... A little thing touches a larger thing.”)
1. What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet say has changed his mood?
How has the poet’s mood changed?
2. How does Frost present nature in this poem? The following questions may
help you to think of an answer.
(i) What are the birds that are usually named in poems? Do you think a
crow is often mentioned in poems? What images come to your mind
when you think of a crow?
(ii) Again, what is “a hemlock tree”? Why doesn’t the poet write about a
more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a maple, or an oak, or a pine?
(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent — joy or sorrow? What does
the dust of snow that the crow shakes off a hemlock tree stand for?
3. Have there been times when you felt depressed or hopeless? Have you
experienced a similar moment that changed your mood that day?
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Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
perish: die
suffice: be sufficient
1. There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world
will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got
so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder and colder?
2. For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:
3. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the
contrasting ideas in the poem?
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