Everyone has heard tales of the maze of death.
No one knew it was real, not until three explorers left to find the maze in the suspected location, and only one survived. He told the townspeople of his journey, and how a big maze lay in the middle of the forest. He explained in heavy detail how he went into the maze and watched as his friends died before his eyes. His story frightened the children, and they would run away to their parents, and tell them about the man’s story.
But the children never stayed long enough to hear the happy ending, though it seemed impossible to find light in this dark tale. In the maze, the man had found a key, he found it at a dead end, and was shocked to see it. It stood there, suspended in midair. The man would reach out and grasp it in his hand, and a door would appear in the humongous leafy hedge.
The key fit perfectly into the keyhole of the door.
And when the man opened the door, he found a path. He followed the path which took him back to the village. He would smile to himself, all that fuss over a deadly maze, only for the special treasure at the end to be a key to get back home. He thought it was absurd, but each day he thought about it, he started to realize something. He didn’t need any expensive jewels or buckets of money to know that where he belonged was at home, with his wife and children.
He felt sorrow that his friends died for nothing and would mourn their deaths.
But as word spread about his expedition, more people travelled to the maze. The man warned them and begged them not to go, but the men scolded him for wanting the treasure all to himself and went anyway. The man knew he couldn’t stop the greedy people, so instead, he worked on educating the kids, so that they would never follow in their parents selfish and greedy ways.
The man became a teacher, he taught the kids about nature and would tell them all about his adventures to different places, including the maze.
The kids loved his stories! Though some parts scared them, they would stay till the end, and would finally be able to hear the joyous finish to the journey. They would listen quietly, wide-eyed and intrigued.
And as the man grew old, he still felt pity for all those people who went into the maze expecting riches beyond anything they imagined and finding their demise instead. The man would soon pass away peacefully, the kids turned into adults, and their parents grew old. The children that had grown into adults were smarter, thanks to the man. They knew the maze gave no gold or gems, they knew that there was no need to endanger their friends’ lives or their own.
They were smarter than their parents, they were more educated and considered the consequences. And they created a statue of the man, the one that made it out of the maze, the one that told them of his adventures and taught them how to be better people. They owed everything to the man, they would never make the same mistakes as their parents. They would tell their kids about the man’s journey, and the stories would live on for generations to come.