ady Angela's Missing Nutcracker

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

The Baron was engaged to marry Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, which was situated just a few miles away from Lilliland Castle on beautiful Castle Lake where the Baron had grown up. They both had been tutored by Professor Hamblin and had known each other for many years.

The Baron knew how much Lady Angela liked to collect nutcrackers so one year he had a life-sized nutcracker carved in the town’s woodshop and gave it to Lady Angela when she was a young girl. Lady Angela kept the very large nutcracker in her room in Alpine Castle in a favorite place next to the window opening onto her balcony.

One day after Lady Angela was returning from a long trip with her parents, she noticed her favorite nutcracker was missing. The entire castle was turned upside down but no sign of it was found. After several months it still had not been found and was presumed stolen. Thieves must have entered the castle when the family was away and stolen the large nutcracker.

Lady Angela felt so bad about the missing gift that she never told the Baron about the robbery.

Then one day a message came from a friend of the family from Switzerland saying that a large nutcracker was seen standing outside a dress ship in a small town in Switzerland. The nutcracker had been missing for over seven years by now and Lady Angela had been telling the Baron that it was stored away in the castle’s attic.

Lady Angela took a secret trip to Switzerland to see if the large nutcracker was the one that was stolen from the castle. She sent ahead a description of the nutcracker to the local police department in the town where it had been seen.

When Lady Angela arrived in the town, the police went with her to the dress shop to see the nutcracker. It was hers, and she proved it by locating the initials and date that she had secretly carved in a hidden place. The shop owner said that it was purchased at an auction for an old house. The shop owner turned over the nutcracker to Lady Angela and Lady Angela gave her a reward to cover any expenses she may have incurred. Lady Angela secretly brought back the nutcracker to Alpine Castle.

Later she decided to tell the entire story to the Baron because it was the right thing to do.