POMPEII...Buried Alive!

POMPEII. . . Buried Alive!

1 The Sleeping Giant Once there was a town named Pompeii. Say: pom-PAY. Near the town there was a mountain named Vesuvius. Say: veh-SOO-vee-us. The people in Pompeii liked living by the mountain. It was a good place to grow grapes. It was a good place to raise sheep. And-it looked so peaceful!

But the mountain was really a dangerous volcano. It was like a sleeping giant. If the giant woke up, it could destroy the town. Did the people know about the danger? No, they did not!

A volcano is a special kind of mountain. It has a hole at the top. One day-almost two thousand years ago-something was happening under Vesuvius. Way down deep it was very, very hot. It was so hot that rock was melting. As the rock melted, a gas was made. The gas was trying to escape. The gas and the melted rock were mixed together. The mixture was hot and bubbly. The gas was pushing the melted rock up through Vesuvius. The melted rock was about to blast right out the hole at the top!

The day started out the way it always did. The sun rose. People began coming to Pompeii with things to sell. Fishermen were bringing fish. Peddlers were bringing melons and straw hats.