astle Lake Wild Ducks

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Castle Lake was always alive with the sights and sounds of beautiful wild ducks. While the people favored seeing the graceful swans of the lake, the ducks also became a favorite.

A group of hunters from another country promised the Lilliland Treasury a lot of money if the Baron would permit a group of ten hunters to come to Lilliland for a ten-day duck-hunting season. After all, there were hundreds and hundreds of wild ducks and nobody would miss a few dozen. The offer was very generous and the treasury happened to be very low on funds to run the country at that particular time.

The Baron was very quick to answer the request in his most diplomatic terms. Guns were not allowed in Lilliland and that is a long-standing firm law. The only shooting of ducks would be taking pictures with a camera. Guns are not even allowed for target practice at cardboard targets because the noise disturbs the peace and quiet and frightens the animals.

The group would be welcomed free of charge without any guns. They could shoot all the pictures of ducks or mountains or anything else but no killing would be allowed.

After shooting their pictures, the group could go to any fine restaurant in Lilliland and eat duck, chicken, lamb or beef, or anything else on the menu.

The Baron was a true sportsman and cannot relate to a person with a gun shooting and killing a bird just for the sport of killing. There was a mother duck, father duck and baby ducklings. The duck that is being shot may be on a mission to provide food for his family and to shoot the duck would be depriving a whole family of ducks their next meal.