THE house — the only one in the entire valley — sat
on the crest of a low hill. From this height one
could see the river and the field of ripe corn dotted
with the flowers that always promised a good
harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a
downpour or at least a shower. Throughout the
morning Lencho — who knew his fields intimately
— had done nothing else but see the sky towards
the north-east.
“Now we’re really going to get some water, woman.”
The woman who was preparing supper, replied,
“Yes, God willing”. The older boys were working in
the field, while the smaller ones were playing near
the house until the woman called to them all, “Come
for dinner”. It was during the meal that, just asLencho 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...