This is a story that was being told and retold around Victory Bible Camp one year. I heard a couple different versions of it, all with somewhat of the same main plot, and when I got home I wrote it down, greatly elabourated and with many of my own additions. Here it is.
ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a man by the name of Chico Melessi. He was very poor and had no relatives to help him. One day he received a letter from an agency that called themselves 'The Finders'. The letter stated that Chico's old Uncle Samuel Melessi had died and left him a farm as inheritance.
Chico was very excited and went to see the farm right away. However, he was disappointed. The farm consisted of a ten-acre lot that looked like a bulldozer had ripped up half of it. The other half contained a little shack, some scrubby trees, and a tall, stately white building that was obviously the farm house. Chico looked about the desolate yard and walked boldly up the steps of the veranda. He put his hand on the door handle and stopped short. Taped to the door was a piece of white paper which read, “DO NOT OPEN DOOR.”
Chico stared in astonishment. Obviously his relative had set up some sort of trap or test. But Chico was a very curious man, and, after holding out all day and spending an uncomfortable night in the shack, he got up next morning determined to open the door.
With trembling hands he fumbled with the door handle, only to find it locked. He was disappointed for a moment before he remembered the key that 'The Finders' had given him. He pulled it from his pocket and turned it in the lock. The door swung open to reveal a long hallway. The walls were painted deep blue, the ceiling clean white, and the floor carpeted bright green.
Chico closed the door behind him and walked the length of the hallway slowly, always fearful that something would jump out at him. But he got to the door at the other end without mishap, and felt his courage returning. On this door too there was a sign which said “DO NOT OPEN DOOR”, but Chico paid it no heed, and found himself facing another blue and green hallway that went to the right.
This continued for a long time; always when Chico got to the end of one hallway he opened another door with a sign and found himself facing another blue and green hallway. At last he opened a door and was surprised to see a spiral staircase winding down, down, down until he couldn't see the bottom of it. Across the top of the stairs there was little chain, and hanging on it was another sign that said, “DO NOT CLIMB DOWN STAIRS.”
Chico unhooked the chain and began his descent. Many times he would stop and peer into the darkness below him, but for a long time he could not see the bottom. At last he came quite suddenly upon the last stair, and found himself standing tiptoe to see over the six-foot wall in front of him. But there wasn't much to be seen, indeed there appeared to be nothing but more six-foot walls beyond that, so he stepped off the bottom stair and made his way over to a break in the wall a little to the left.
Across the break there was another chain and another sign. Chico was excited to find that the sign said “DO NOT GO THROUGH MAZE.” He happened to be a sort of maze fanatic, and was always eager to try a new one. But this was an especially difficult maze, and after getting lost twice, he came back to the very beginning and started again, this time marking his way with a little orange crayon that he found in his pocket.
After that he went quickly, and soon he again faced a door that said “DO NOT OPEN DOOR.” He boldly opened it, and stepped into a marvelous room.
The walls were faintly pink, the ceiling was hung with beautiful lace drapes, and the floor was clear glass with seashells and pretty rocks underneath. But by far what caught Chico's attention was a large dark chestnut coffin sitting on a table in the middle of the room.
His first thought was that this was Samuel's tomb, somewhat like ancient Egyptians might have. Then he thought of his aching muscles and hoped that he'd come all this way to discover that the coffin was full of treasure.
He stepped right up to the table and read the note on the lid. It said simply, “DO NOT LIFT LID.” Chico took a deep breath, and lifted up both sides of the lid at once.
Inside the coffin there lay a huge black bear. It's chest rose and fell gently, showing that it was asleep and not dead. On the inside of the lid another sign said “DO NOT POKE BEAR.” In a dainty silk nest at the base of the lid lay a short silver stick. It was quite stout, and tapered at one end, just right for poking something.
Chico hesitated for a moment, and then, figuring that since he had gone so far already, he might as well go all the way, he picked up the stick and gave the bear a firm poke. Nothing happened.
Suddenly furious at everything and everyone, Chico jabbed the bear with all his might. All anger quickly left him as he watched the bear rise up from the coffin. He stepped back against the door and watched, fascinated, as the bear yawned hugely, standing on the table and shaking it's head back and forth as one might do early in the morning.
Then he turned and scrambled madly with the door handle, for the bear had leapt off the table and was coming after him. He got the door open, slipped through, and slammed it behind him. Then he stood in the entrance of the maze, poised to run, but perfectly still, listening for sounds behind the door, hoping desperately that the bear couldn't open it.
But the moment he saw the handle turning, he was off like a shot, running through the maze as fast as his legs would take him, with the bear close behind. He followed the orange crayon, and within seconds, it seemed, he was at the entrance once more, and without any time to think he pelted up the stairs.
The trip up was certainly a lot faster then the trip down, but by the time he got to the top his breath came in gasps and he felt sick. In that slight pause he heard the bear's heavy breathing behind him, and Chico noticed that he had gained a little on the bear. But there was no time to rest. He opened the door in front of him and kept running. Now he was in the blue and green hallways again.
Each time he came to a door, he closed it behind himself, but the bear seemed to open them without difficulty. Even so, he gained a little time on the bear, and when he found himself sprinting down the last hallway he almost laughed in triumph. The bear was only just coming through the door when Chico finished. He took a deep breath and put his hand to the door handle. It was locked.
Chico threw himself against the door, kicking and screaming hysterically. Then he turned and watched the bear approach. As it got closer it slowed down a little, and then when it reached Chico it lifted one huge paw, brought it down on his head, and said,
“Tag! You're it.”