Adaeze Checks the Man UFLI Foundations Lesson 66
Practice Words
This is Adaeze. She is the King's kid. Adaeze stands by the wide, still lake. She looks, and she thinks, and she thinks.
A tall man visits the King. All grin at the tall man, and the King is glad. But Adaeze thinks the man is odd. She will not trust him yet.
At dusk, Adaeze sits by the lake. A wise friend, Mama Nnaji, hands Adaeze a flat, white ash disc. 'Set it where he must step,' she says. 'Then check it.'
Adaeze sets the ash disc flat in the hall. It is pale like the slab, so it is well hidden. The man glides past it. Swish, swish!
Adaeze checks the ash disc. Two long lines cross it. It is a snake track! Adaeze must make a plan, and quick.
Adaeze has a plan. 'In Oguta, we drip water on the hands,' she says. 'The hands must be flat and still.' The man just grins and nods.
Adaeze tips the glass jug. Drip, drip! The water spills on two flat hands. Then a hand shifts, and black snake scales shine on the skin! All in the hall gasp.
'It is a trick!' he yells. Adaeze lifts up the ash disc. 'Two long lines,' she says. 'A snake slid past!' Then the man begins to rise, up and up.
The man is a huge snake! All run back, but Adaeze stands still. 'I see the trick,' she says.
'I can not win,' the snake hisses. 'I will go.' 'Go,' says Adaeze, 'and do not glide back.' She lifts up the ash disc.
The snake slides into the lake, and then all is still. Adaeze and the King sit hand in hand by the water. Mama Nnaji nods from the plants.
At sunset, Adaeze sits by the still lake. Many kids ask, 'What is the trick?' 'Look well, and trust the facts,' says Adaeze with a grin.
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