The letter, the postmaster and the irony

A letter to God. Lencho has worked like 'an ox' all his life, but he can also write. On Sunday he writes to God. He asks for a hundred pesos: enough to sow his field again and to live until the new crop comes. He writes 'To God' on the envelope and posts it.

The postmaster. The postman laughs when he sees the address. The postmaster, 'a fat, amiable fellow', laughs too, then becomes serious. He is moved: 'What faith! I wish I had the faith of the man who wrote this letter.' He decides to reply, so that Lencho's faith is not shaken.

Collecting the money. He asks his employees and friends for money, and gives part of his own salary. Still he can collect only a little more than half: seventy pesos. He puts it in an envelope signed 'God'.

Lencho is angry. Lencho is not surprised to get money; he was sure God would answer. But he counts it and gets angry. God cannot make a mistake, he thinks, so someone must have stolen thirty pesos.

The second letter: the irony. He writes again. God should send the rest, but not by mail, because 'the post office employees are a bunch of crooks'. The people he calls crooks are the very people who helped him. That is the irony of the story.