Not Scared at All UFLI Foundations Lesson 99

Fig Pig swings his ax up high. His boots are on. His bag is full. 'Today is the day!' he says. 'I will dig so deep! I will find the best coal in this mine!' He holds his lamp up and marches right into the dark. Not one bit afraid. Not one little bit.

Down, down, down he creeps, until the tunnel opens wide. Old lamps glow on the walls. Rusty tracks run off into the dark. The rocks rise so high that Fig Pig has to tip his head all the way back just to see the top. Stone arches bend over him. 'Hands made all this,' he says. 'And hands left it all behind.' His voice comes out very small. He puffs out his chest to make up for it.

Around the next bend sits a chest, lid open wide. Fig Pig peeks inside. Gold coins! Red stones! And one very sharp blade, just left there in the chest. The coins glow soft gold and the stones glow deep red. Fig Pig does not take the coins or the stones. He stands very still and gazes at the blade a long while. He sets his ax down on the rocks. Then he picks up the blade. 'This is not mine to keep,' he says. 'I will just take it for a while. To be safe.' Then he walks off fast, before the chest can say a thing. He does not look back.

Then he sees the web. It goes from the floor all the way up to the top, thick as rope and sticky as jam. Right in the middle sits a spider as big as a cart. Its jaws are huge. Its long legs twitch in its sleep. Its eyes are shut. For now. Fig Pig holds his breath. He grips his blade. One step. Two steps. Three steps. The spider snores. Four steps. Five steps. Six steps. Go.

The tunnel ends at a cliff. Far down below, hot rock bubbles and pops. The heat comes up in waves. The one way across is a set of old tracks. They are so thin! They do not look safe at all. 'I am not afraid,' says Fig Pig. He holds his blade. He puts one foot out on the tracks. Then the other foot. But his legs wobble with every step. Hot drops hiss far below. Do not look down. Do not look down. He looks down. He wishes he had not.

At last, Fig Pig stumbles outside into the daylight. Bright, safe daylight! He looks at his boots. He looks at his blade. Not one scratch! Then he sees the red words on a post by the mine. Big red words: BEWARE. 'BEWARE?!' Fig Pig squeals. He tucks his blade under his arm and runs. His little legs pump so fast. Fig Pig does not find coal that day. But he finds out one very big thing: always read the red words before you go in. Not after.