ecret Key

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron’s Lilliland Castle was more like a manor house because Lilliland, like Switzerland, was a neutral country. Through all wars and conflicts in Europe it maintained a neutral position. There, a fortified castle was not necessary, but a large home-like manor house was necessary with its more than fifty rooms. The rooms were for guests who would visit the Baron from time to time. Each room had several keys so that the guests could lock their doors if they did not want to be disturbed, and, for the personal security of their jewels or important documents.

All the keys were kept in a file and carefully labeled. One key, however, was marked “secret door.” The Baron asked his chief advisor, Professor Hamblin, to identify the door that had the lock for the secret key. After months of research, the Professor said that he could not find the door. All of the staff was asked many times if they could identify the key. None said that they could. Finally, the Baron told the Professor to offer a reward to anyone who might know where the door was that had the lock that the secret key fit. Weeks went by but no one came forward.

Finally, a man named Hans, who worked part-time in the castle, said he might have the answer. Hans was in charge of gathering firewood for all the fireplaces in the castle. Each fireplace had a storage area for the logs so that no one would be cold because the fireplace in their room ran out of wood.

It seemed that in one of the many guestrooms the wood was piled neatly on the side of the fireplace in an alcove. In the back of the alcove was a small door. The Baron was notified of this and requested the secret key be tried in this lock. The key fit the lock. The door was opened to a small room no bigger than a small clothes closet. In the closet was a box that contained a map. The map was very old and contained a drawing of a cave near the castle on the side of a mountain.

The following day, the Baron and the Professor, with two security guards, went to explore the cave that was described on the map. The cave was found and inside the cave was treasure chest of gold and jewels. Two skeletons were found of two men holding swords. Their clothing resembled that of very old clothes worn by pirates. There had been reports down through the history of Lilliland that pirates had kept some ships on Castle Lake. But most thought it was more folklore rather than fact.