Fig Pig and the Strange Enderman Jolly Phonics · Step 3, Unit 4: /ai/ mixed

Fig Pig stops so fast his glasses slip down his snout. 'An enderman!' he yells. He aims his snout at the dark cave mouth. 'There! See it? The tall creepy one with the lit up eyes!' Player takes one step back. Fig Pig takes one step in.

At night, Fig Pig wakes up. A sound! He creeps out, and there it is. An enderman stands by the house, like a shadow with no home. A strange blue beam zooms up to the sky. The enderman's eyes burn in the dark. 'Why is it so mad?' Fig Pig says softly. He wants to run back in. He really does. But Fig Pig stays and gazes.

'I do not get it,' says Fig Pig the next day. 'Why do they take blocks? Where do they go with them? What is the aim?' Player has no clue. 'So,' says Fig Pig, and he marches to the cave. 'We go in.' 'We?' says Player. 'We,' says Fig Pig.

Up close, the enderman is tall. So, so tall. Fig Pig's legs shake, but it is just the chill. Yep. Just the chill. 'Do not gaze at its eyes,' says Player, and he hides by a rock. Fig Pig turns to the side, looks hard at the ground, and says, 'So. Why so mad, big pal?' No sound. No sound at all.

The Enderman does not say a thing. It does not even blink. It just reaches down, takes a block like it has no heft, tucks it under one long arm, and whoosh! Gone. It vanishes into the dark like a flame in the wind. 'Wait!' yells Fig Pig. 'I was speaking to it!'

But then Fig Pig gets really quiet. He gazes at the spot where the enderman was. The block was so safe in its long arms. Like a kid with a toy. 'I see,' Fig Pig says softly. 'I see, I see, I see.' He looks at Player. 'They do not steal. They want to make homes with blocks, just like us. But no one lets them join in.'

And then Fig Pig gets the rest of it. He can see it all. A vast beast with wings comes to their land. It darkens the sky. It comes in a rage and smashes all they have. All the blocks. All the walls. All the homes. They scream and scream. That fright never ends.

Fig Pig presses his snout on the fence. The Enderman stands alone on the path. Sparks flicker by it like little lost stars. Fig Pig gives a sad little oink. 'He shakes with fright,' he says softly. 'Just like me, when he came by my window at night. He does not scream because he is mad. He screams because he wants a pal to let him in.'