The Little Digger

Once there was a little compact digger on a construction site. There was also a crane, an excavator, a dump truck, and a big digger.

One day, Big digger had a mechanical fault.

‘Oh, no,’ she said, ‘my engine is not working.’

‘What are we going to do?’ asked Mr. crane. ‘We need a digger for the construction.’

All the engines mumbled and grumbled. Suddenly, they heard a sharp squeaky voice speak up. It was the little compact digger.

‘I can help,’ he said, ‘I will do the digging today.’

The engines laughed and laughed. ‘You can’t do this job, Little digger, it is a job for a big digger.’

The compact digger felt hurt, and he went back into the construction shed.

He was thinking. ‘Maybe they are right. Maybe I cannot do this job.’

He spent some time thinking about the situation and then he decided. ‘If I believe in myself then they will believe in me.’

The compact digger zoomed out of the shed and spoke up loud and clear for all to hear.

‘Construction vehicles. hear me out!’ he said. ‘I can do this! I know I can. I will need your help to get the job done. I need you, Ms Excavator, and you, Mr Dump truck, to help me with the excavation and clearance. Will you help me?’

The bigger equipment looked at him in bewilderment.

‘Sure, little digger, we’ll help you out. What do you need?’

And so, the compact digger began to dig. He dug up the first level of sand and asked Ms Excavator to clear it out of the trench and load it into Mr Dump’s trunk. Little digger then asked the dump truck to move it offsite.

They worked for a few hours in this way until they had reached the right depth for the day.

The little digger was in so deep by this time, that it couldn’t get out. So, the crane helped to lift him out.

illustration by Osh Imomoh

‘Thank you crane’ he said. ‘See what we can achieve when we all work together?’

The little digger went to bed happy that night.

The big digger was back at work from the repair shop the next morning. She had heard all about the little diggers’ courage and hard work.

She went up to him. ‘Thank you, little digger, I appreciate what you did. You are the best mate anyone can ask for.’

‘You are most welcome, said the little digger!’

The End