onkey Stick

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

Over the years Lilliland Castle began to look more like a country manor than a medieval castle. But it still looked much like a castle as far as the Baron cared.

In the dungeon, which was used for storage and a wine cellar, was a mysterious room. It was believed that room was used to store the valuable treasures of the castle. The Baron installed a new vault in another room to keep the valuables of the Von Lodge family.

The mystery room in the dungeon had a carving on one of the corner stones. It was a carving of the faces of three monkeys. The monkey in the center had its mouth open in a wide smile. It appeared that the mouth had a space in it for a keyhole for a round key on a small pole.

Since the stone carving of the three monkey faces was in a supporting corner stone, if anyone tried to open the area it might cause the room to collapse. For now, the Baron decided to do nothing about the three monkeys carved into the stone.

One day while in an antique shop, Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, saw an old man with a strange looking cane. The cane had the carvings of three monkey heads on it very similar to the three monkey heads carved in the corner stone of the mystery room.

The Professor asked the old man about his cane. The old man said that he purchased it in an antique store. He thought that it was unique and enjoyed walking with it. The Professor asked the old man to bring the cane to the castle to show the Baron.

The following day the old man with the monkey stick, which is what he called it, came to Lilliland Castle to meet the Baron. The Baron saw the cane and showed him the three monkeys carved into the stone in the mystery room. The old man inserted the monkey stick into the hole and gave it a turn. The wall opened up and a treasure chest of gold was discovered inside.

The Baron was pleased with the discovery and offered some of the contents of the treasure chest to the old man. The old man thanked the Baron for the share of the treasure. He said that he could now live with his wife more comfortably in Lilliland for the rest of his days.

The old man with the monkey stick would often visit the castle to see the Baron who was glad to see him.