ystery Cat

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

Since Lilliland was situated in the Alpine Mountains with most citizens living in the valley below, a seasonal avalanche was of utmost concern. The winter and spring were when the mountain ski patrol were watching the weather with the greatest concern.

Once a rumble was heard, the people in the valley below were notified to take cover and follow the safety instructions posted everywhere. The quicker the early warning was given, the more protection the people had. Time was of the essence between the first sound and until the moving snow headed toward the valley.

The Baron wanted to make certain that every modern warning device was in place in the offices of the ski patrol in the mountains.

One Christmas Day a gift arrived at Lilliland Castle in a small box addressed to the Baron “for the safety of the people of Lilliland.” When he opened it out came a tiny cat named Noelle. The attached note said that the cat would jump up on a piece of furniture and meow very loudly about four minutes before an avalanche could be heard by the ski patrol, or by any human.

Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, the Baron’s fiancée, liked the cat and said it would be interesting to see if the message in the box was true. Noelle, was brought into the castle household to wander about freely.

One day about three weeks later while the Baron was asleep, the cat, Noelle, leaped upon the bedroom dresser and began to meow very loudly. The Baron awoke with a surprise and looked at his clock. It was 6:42 in the morning.

At 6:45, just three minutes later, a castle security guard knocked on the Baron’s door to inform him that an avalanche had been reported by the ski patrol office. The Baron thought that maybe it was just coincidence that the cat meowed three minutes before the avalanche was officially reported.

A month later, the cat jumped upon the Baron’s desk in the study as the Baron was going over some important papers and she began to meow loudly again. Sure enough, the ski patrol office reported an avalanche just four minutes later.

Professor Hamblin, chief advisor to the Baron, was asked why the cat could predict these avalanches. The Professor said that the cat’s hearing was four times better than a human’s and Noelle’s senses must be extra sensitive. The cat wanted to share her information to help save the people of Lilliland. The mystery of the cat was really no mystery because history would show that animals had keener senses and had ways of knowing certain things before humans did.