This story, written by G.L. Fuentes, explores the power of extreme, unquestioning faith in God and the irony of human nature. The main characters are:
Lencho's house sat on the crest of a low hill, overlooking his fields of ripe corn. The fields desperately needed rain. Soon, a downpour began, which Lencho joyfully compared to 'new coins'. However, the rain quickly turned into a devastating hailstorm, with large hailstones resembling frozen pearls. The storm lasted for an hour, leaving the fields completely white, as if covered with salt. The corn was totally destroyed, and a plague of locusts would have left more than what remained.
Faced with starvation, Lencho's only hope was help from God. Having a strong conscience and knowing how to write, he wrote a letter addressed 'To God', asking for a hundred pesos to sow his field again and support his family. He dropped the letter into the mailbox in town.
A postman found the letter and showed it to the postmaster. Though they initially laughed, the postmaster soon became serious, admiring Lencho's immense faith. To keep this faith alive, the postmaster collected money from his employees, gave a part of his own salary, and gathered contributions from friends as an 'act of charity'. He managed to collect seventy pesos, put them in an envelope signed 'God', and sent it to Lencho.
The following Sunday, Lencho received the letter. He showed no surprise but became extremely angry upon counting the money, realizing there were only seventy pesos instead of a hundred. Believing God could not make a mistake, he immediately wrote another letter. He licked and affixed a stamp with a blow of his fist and mailed it. The postmaster opened it to find Lencho asking God to send the remaining thirty pesos, but not through the mail, because the post office employees were a 'bunch of crooks'.
Non-defining relative clauses provide extra, non-essential information about a noun and are separated by commas or dashes.
Negative words like 'no', 'not', or 'nothing' can be used to strongly emphasize an idea rather than just showing absence.
A metaphor compares two unlike things by transferring the qualities of one to another.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Summary: The poet is in a depressive, sorrowful mood on a winter day. As he passes under a poisonous hemlock tree, a crow shakes down a fine spray of snow ('dust of snow') onto him. This simple, natural event instantly uplifts his spirit, saving the rest of his day from being wasted in regret (rued).
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.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Summary: The poet debates the two common predictions for the end of the world: fire and ice. He equates fire with human passion, desire, and lust, while equating ice with hatred, coldness, and indifference. He concludes that both forces are equally capable of bringing about the complete destruction of humanity.