Zarathustra and Bodhi continue walking in the Woods of Wisdom until they arrive at a small jail. Adjacent is a hole in the ground from which a monkey ascends on a ladder. Reaching the surface, he becomes startled by the visitors and begins to go back under. Zarathustra calls out to him:

stop underground animal
the prophesied day is here
no need to descend again
there’s nothing left to fear

the overanimal has come
a lion crowned in flame
to lift us from the dust
and give our kind a name

Underground Animal pauses, looks up at Bodhi, and climbs out of the hole. Once above ground, he addresses Zarathustra: 

you speak of higher forms
of what we might become
but i distrust your light
and every cure it spun

i cling to what resists
to what will not be healed
for something in the wound
refuses to be sealed

Underground Animal pauses and turns to Bodhi:

i am a broken thing
aware beyond my place
i see too much, too sharp
and cannot bear my face

my sickness is to know
i wish to shrink, disappear
to crawl beneath the earth
and dull this constant fear

animals speak of reason’s rule
of order, truth, and plan
but man will break it all
just to prove he can

he’ll choose against his good
against his stated aim
to feel that he is free
and not a cog in frame

each day i climb above
to feed this wretched frame
then burrow back below
where nothing asks my name

Underground Animal picks up a banana and climbs back down into the hole. As he does, a voice is heard from inside the nearby prison.