Answer:
Explanation:
On the surface, it is about the need of 100 pasos. However, the story goes much deeper and although some people regard it as funny, it did not strike me that way.
The central character was looking forward to harvesting a bumper crop of corn and beans. The field was in need only of a little water. What developed was a rain in the form of hail and as he observes, "a cloud of locusts would have left us more than this storm."
In the middle of the night he gets the idea of writing to God asking for the 100 pasos. The postmaster opens the letter and reading the request, is touched by it. He collects all he could but it only came to 70 pasos.
Not enough.
So the farmer writes a second letter which is the point of the "joke."
I guess laughter did not occur to me because he was not grateful that he got anything at all, but angry because there was a shortage. Of course had he shown gratitude, there would have had to have been a different kind of story written. Still, I look forward to some writer picking up the story and ending it with gratitude.
