rofessor Hamblin at Mount Saint Michael

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

One day Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, received word from his friend Ronald Sofarno who was the economic advisor for the order of monks at Mount Saint Michael’s just off the coast of France. The monastery became separated from land during high tide several times a day. The monastery became an island during the high tide. A boat was the only way to get to the island during high tide. As a result, the monastery had to be self-sufficient at all times. That put a severe strain on the economic reserves of the order.

While the island was only one mile from the mainland, everything, including deliveries of supplies, had to be planned with the tide’s schedule in mind.

Professor Hamblin was invited to visit Mount Saint Michael with the Baron and Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, the Baron’s fiancée.

A group of monks liked being independent of the mainland for it became a time of quiet and religious reflection. But the economic condition of the monastery could not support the cost of maintaining this situation. If a mile-long road were built to connect them permanently to the mainland, it would solve the economic problem for the present.

After a few days of visiting, the Professor had an idea that might solve both requests. First, the request that the monastery be economically solvent and second, that the monastery be an island independent of the mainland.

The plan that Professor Hamblin suggested was that a road be built to connect the monastery with the mainland but that the elevation of the road should be carefully considered so that access would be closed for only a short part of the time during high tide.

In other words, the problem would be solved by having an access road for all supplies, and yet that road would be covered for just a brief time during the very last part of high tide.

A few months after Professor Hamblin returned to Lilliland, a letter from his friend Ronald Sofarno said that the road was completed and the plan was in place. Everyone was happy with the solution.