1

Comprehension Check - I

Question 2: What did Lencho hope for?

Answer 1:

Lencho hoped for a good rain as it was much needed for a good harvest.

Question 2:

Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like 'new coins'?

Answer 2:

Lencho compared the raindrops with new coins because they were promising him a good harvest resulting in more prosperity. That is why, he said "The big drops are ten cent pieces and the little ones are fives."

Question 3: How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho's fields?

Answer 3:

The rain changed into hailstones. As a strong wind began to blow and huge hailstones began to fall along with the rain. The hailstorm did not pass quickly and field was white, like it was covered with salt. All the crops in Lencho’s field got destroyed because of that bad weather conditions.

Question 4: What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

Answer 4:

Lencho's soul was filled with sadness as he saw the condition of his field. He was filled with grief and sorrow after the hail stopped because everything was ruined and there was nothing that he could feed his family with. He could see a bleak future for the family.

Comprehension Check - ll

Question 1: Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

Answer 1:

Lencho had strong faith in God. He believed that God can see everything, even what is deep in one's conscience and help everyone in one's problems.

He wrote a letter to God requesting him for help. He demanded a hundred pesos to sow his field again and live until crops com e, or else his family would go hungry.

Question 2: Who read the letter?

Answer 2:

Postman saw the letter and went to his boss. N ever in his career, Postman had seen a letter addressed to God. So, Postmaster read the letter.

Question 3: What did the postmaster do then?

Answer 3:

The postmaster read the letter and broke out laughing, but soon he became serious and was moved by the Lencho' s faith in God and wished. He also had that much faith in God and came up with the idea of answering the letter. He didn't want to shake Lencho' s faith. So, he decided to collect money from all possible sources and send it to Lencho on behalf of God.

Comprehension Check - III

Question 1: Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

Answer 1:

Lencho was not surprised at all to find a letter with money from God. He had full confidence and was sure that God will help him.

Question 2: What made him angry?

Answer 2:

Lencho became angry when he counted the money. There were only seventy pesos in the envelope whereas Lencho had demanded a hundred pesos. The difference in the amount made him angry. He though t that the men in the post office had stolen his that money.

Thinking about the Text

1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Wich 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.)

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?

Answer:

1.       Lencho has complete faith in God as he is believed that God knows everything and helps us in our problems. There are few sentences which show this.

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.

)>      "God'', he wrote, "if you don't help me, my family and d I will go hungry this year". He wrote 'To God' on the envelope, put the letter inside and still troubled, went to town.

)>      God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.

2.       At first the postmaster found it funny to read a letter that was addressed to God. But eventually he was completely moved by it. He wanted to keep Lencho' s faith in God alive and firm. He decided to send money to Lencho in name of God. He gathered money with the help of his post office employees and friends, and gave his part of salary on behalf of God and signed the letter 'God' so that Lencho' s faith does not get shaken.

3.       Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he had complete faith in God and never suspected his presence. He could not believe that it could be anybody else other than God who would send him the money.

His faith in God was so strong that he believed that God had sent money to him for his help in his problem.

4.       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 could never make such a mistake. So, he assumed 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. 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 an d Lencho is totally lovable and different.

6. Conflict between Humans and Nature: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the demolition of Lencho' s crop field by the hailstorm as Lencho expected a good rain to have good harvest as that was the only hope he had for earning. He was an ox of animal. He worked so hard to feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.

Conflict between Humans and Humans: The story illustrated another conflict, between humans themselves as Lencho blamed the employees of post office for taking away some amount of money. The postmaster, his friends and staff decided to give Lencho money as an act of charity that he demanded from God although they didn't know Lencho. He called them "a bunch of crook". This shows that man does not have faith in other man, thereby giving rise to this conflict.

Thinking about Language

Question I: Look at the following sentence from the story.

Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.

'Hailstones' are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a 'hailstorm'. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning.

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 descript ions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary to help you.

1.       A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: _ _ c _ _ _ _

2.       An extremely strong wind: _ a _ _

3.       A violent tropical storm with very strong win ds: _ _ p _ _ _ _

4.       A violent storm whose center is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: _ _ _ n _ _ _

5.       A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: _ _ r _ _ _ _ _ _

6.       A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage:   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 Answer I:

1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: Cyclone

2.       An extremely strong wind: Gale

3.       A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: Typhoon

4.       A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in th e shape of a funnel: Tornado

5.       A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: Hurricane

6.       A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement t and causes a lot of damage: Whirlwind

Question 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.

Question III: Relative Clauses

Look at these sentences

(a)     All morning Lencho -who knew his fields intimately -looked at the sky.

(b)     The woman, who was preparing supper, replied, "Yes, God willing."

The italicized parts of the sentences give us more information about Lencho and the woman. We call them relative clauses. Notice that they begin with a relative pronoun who. Other common relative pronouns are whom, whose, and which.

The relative clauses in (a) and (b) above are called non-defining, because we already know the identity of the person they describe. Lencho is a particular person, and there is a particular woman he speaks to. We don't need the information in the relative clause to pick these people out from a larger set.

A non-defining relative clause usually has a comma in front of it and a comma after it (some writers use a dash (-) instead, as in the story). I f the relative clause comes at the end, we just put a full stop.

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)

2.       My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (Who)

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 h ill.

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.

Answer III:

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

2.       My Mother who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.

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

4.       Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.

5.       This man whom I trusted cheated me.

Question IV: Using Negatives for Emphasis

We know that sentences with words such as no, not or nothing show the absence of something, or contradict something. For example:

(a)     This year we will have no corn. (Corn will be absent)

(b)     The hail has left nothing. (Absence of a crop)

(c)      These aren't raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins.

(Contradicts the common idea of what the drops of water falling from the sky are)

But sometimes negative words are used just to emphasize an idea. Look at these sentences from the story:

(d)     Lencho ...had done nothing else but see the sky towards the northeast. (He had done only

This)

(e)      The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body. (He had only this reason)

(f) Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money. (He showed no surprise at all)

Now look back at example (c). Notice that the contradiction in fact serves to emphasize the value or

Useful ness of the rain to the farmer.

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

2.       The letter was addressed to God himself.

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

Answer IV:

1.       The trees lost all their leaves.

Not a leaf remained on the trees.

2.       The letter was addressed to God himself.

It was nothing less than a letter to God.

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

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

Question 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 center 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.

Object         Metaphor    Quality or Feature Compared

 Cloud Raindrops Hailstones Locusts Huge mountains of clouds the mass or 'hugeness' of mountains an        epidemic     (a       disease)       that   spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead

Answer V

 Object Cloud Raindrops Hailstones Locusts Metaphor

Huge mountains of clouds new coins frozen pearl Plague of locusts

Quality or Feature Compared

The mass or 'hugeness' of mountains. Excessive value like money and metal. Ornamental value, hugeness of ice.

An     epidemic     (a       disease)       that   spreads       very rapidly and leaves many people dead.

Farmer        An ox of a man

A hard working and laborious person.

Speaking

Question 1: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.

Answer 1:

It was a Sunday in late June, I went to enjoy nature near a mountain ranges. One of my best friends was also with me. The area was full of rocks. It was quite deserted with mountains  and thorny bushes. We went on movi ng and just forget the time to come back. Now it became dark. A violent storm came. We were frightened and I started weeping. The atmosphere was turning more and more fearful.

Somehow, we managed to come down to road and trying to get some help. Suddenly a two wheeler came into sight. We stopped that by waving our hand. Person was very kind and helped us to bring near our hotel. At last we reach ed to hotel room and thanked to God.

Listening

Question 1: 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.

The writerologises (says sorry) because The writer has sent this to the reader

The writer sent it in the month of

The reason for not writing earlier Sarah goes to

Who is writing to whom?

Where and when were they last together?

Answer 1:

The writer apologises (says sorry) because The writer has sent this to the reader

The writer sent it in the month of

The reason for not writing earlier Sarah goes to

Who is writing to whom?

Where and when were they last together?

 He has not written for a long time. A birthday card

September 2005

Turned to new house

School named LITTLE FEET Uncle to cousin

Bangalore, last year

Writing

Question 1: Lencho suffered first due to drought an d 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.

Answer 1:

This is an activity, do yourself.

Dust of Snow

Thinking about the Poem

Question 1: What is a "dust of snow"? What does the poet say has changed his mood? How has the poet's mood changed?

Answer 1:

A "dust of snow' means the fine, smooth particles of snow. This "dust of snow" changed the poet's

mood. The poet's mood changed from that of disappoin tment to happiness. He was holding the day in disappoin tment when this dust of snow fell on him and this effortless littl e thing brough t him some joy.

Question 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 mention ed 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?

Answer 2:

Frost has put forward the nature in quite an unusual manner.

(i)      While in other poems based on nature, we come across birds such as nightingales or sparrows. Frost has used a crow in this poem. A crow can be associated with something dark, black, and threatening. That is why other poets usually m ention singing nightingales or beautiful white doves in their poems.

(ii)     The poet has also written about a hemlock tree, which is a toxic tree. He has not written about

any beautiful tree such as a maple, or oak, or pine because these trees are a symbol of splendour and happiness. Frost wanted to represent the belief of sorrow and feeling apologetic, which is why he has used a hemlock tree.

(iii)    The crow and the hemlock tree both represent grief. The dust of snow that is shaken off the hemlock tree by the crow stands for happiness that Frost experiences. That is why, he has used an unconven tional tree and bird in order to compare them with joy in the form of snow.

Question 3: Have there been times when you felt depressed or hopeless? Have you experienced a similar moment that changed your mood that day?

Answer 3:

There have been innumerable times when  I felt depressed and hopeless. These situations come due to various beha viour and attitude of other but sometime it comes due to loneliness. Once I was very upset, I was on my balcony. I saw two puppies playing on the road. This little joy changed my mood and I felt very happy for the rest of the day. I went to road and tried to feed them milk.

Fire and Ice

Thinking about the Poem

Question 1: There are many ideas about how the world will 'end'. Do you think the worl d will end some day? Have you ever though t what would happen if the sun got so hot that it 'burst', or grew colder and colder?

Answer 1:

Yes, I beli eve that this world will definitely end someday but when and how is not known. Whet her the sun gets hot or cold, in both the circumstances end of this world is sure.

Question 2: For Frost, what do 'fire' and 'ice' stand for? Here are some ideas:

greed avarice

conflict        fury insensitivity   coldness cruelty

intolerance  indifference          lust   rigidity        hatred

Answer 2:

'Fire' here stands for voracity, greed, envy, disagreement and anger. 'Ice' stands for unkindness, prejudice, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, lack of sympathy and hatred.

Question 3: What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it hel p in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?

Answer 3:

The rhyme scheme of the poem is: a, b, a, a; b. c, b, c, b.

The contrasting ideas of 'fire' and 'ice' are presented using this rhyme scheme. Both fire and ice are possibl e ends of this world. While the poet ta lks about how fire represen ts craving and can therefore be responsible for the end of the world, He mentions ice in between to represent that the chilliness and indifference towards one another will also be sufficient to end the world. In the second stanza, he says that he knows of pl enty hatred in the world to be sure that even devastation through ice would be sufficient to bring about the end of the world.

 (Summary)

Chapter 1:A Letter to God

'A letter to God' is a story of tremendous trust in god. The writer had tried to portray the convictio n of a poor and simple farmer in god. Lencho was a sincere and hardworki ng farmer. Once there was a hailstorm which devastated his crop completely. Lencho had a huge faith in God. He sent a letter to god asking him to send him some money. The postmaster saw this letter and decided to help Lencho. He collected some money and put it inside an envelope. When Lencho came to the post office to check his mail, the post office people gave him that envelope. Lencho opened the envelope and took out the money and started counting it. He found that it was less than what he had asked for. So, he wrote another letter to God and asked God to send him the rest of the m oney. But this time he wanted God not to send the money through mail. He thought that a gang of crooks had stolen his thirty pesos from the hundred pesos sent by God.

Chapter 1: Poem 1- Dust of Snow

The poet is upset and sitting under the hemlock tree.All of sudden, a crow sitting on the tree shakes the tree and the fine particles of snow from tree start falling on the poet. The soft, smooth and cold touch of snow changes the poet's mood from sad to happy. He starts feeling calm, soothed and refreshed. In this way a simple momen t proves to be very major and saves rest of the day of poet from being whacked and be disappointed. A black crow is commonly a symbol of death and fear. Since the crow is not associated with righteousness, it is ironical that in this poem, it is doing a good deed by shaking off the snow. Robert Frost didn't use an oak, maple or pin e tree rather he chose the hemlock tree which is typically associated with impurity and toxicity. However, the beautiful snow that covers the poisonous hemlock tree and its branches is  shaken  off  by  a  creepy  crow. Robert Frost uses the elements of the fearsome crow and poisonous Hemlock tree to do good - shake the white, pure snow off the branches. The good act makes the person who wanted to commit suicide change his mind about killing himself. The small act causes the man to have a toleran t insight. He decides to live, not remember the regret and sorrow and enable healing.

So, the poem shows that if we can take the hard times of life in pace something will happen which will change the worse situations into happier tim es. The simple things that we do for others can make a difference. N oticing and appreciating the small things in life will make us happy and have courage to change and succeed.

Chapter 1:Poem 2 - Fire and Ice

The poet talks about the two different beliefs regarding the end of this world. He says that he is in the support of those who say that the world will end in fire as he has seen the effect and outcome of enduring and never-ending wishes. He finds the human desires are same to fire in nature. On the other hand, the second belief says that ice is adequate for destroying this world and the poet compares the nature of ice with disgust. As ice can make any body part numb with its long-lasting contact similarly hatred can make our minds numb and our thoughts tactless and nasty. The speaker brings us to a disagreement between people who think the world wi ll come to a scorching end and people who think the world will freeze. He could be talking about the factual end of the worl d, but he's also talking about the power that human beings have to harm one another. The speaker's experience with passiona te desire taught him that adoring or "hot" emotion like love and desire would have the authority to turn the earth into a huge fireball. But he has also experienced the other extreme and he knows that emotions like hate have huge demeaning effects. Love gets all the praises, but hate is quiet killer. It may not have the same splend our.