ot Little Old Busy Bodies

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

Lilliland was a small country whose citizens seemed to keep busy talking about everyone else. They all realized that most citizens knew a lot about their neighbors. Everyone was a busybody and some more than others.

A group of seven elderly women often gathered quietly in the park by Lilliland Lake. They were very busy several times a week always talking about something. But when anyone tried to eavesdrop on the conversation, the women became very quiet.

Some curious people think that they are probably talking about their grandchildren. Others think they are talking about their husbands, others think it’s about their aches and pains, and others say they don’t want to know and do not particularly care.

One day Lady Angela of Alpine Castle was asked to meet with the group. Since even the Baron and Professor Hamblin were asked what the ladies might be talking about, they were curious to see if Lady Angela would attend the meeting to see what were their subjects of interest.

When Lady Angela returned from the meeting she said that she was sworn to secrecy about the topic of conversation, but the secret would be told to the public in two weeks.

As curiosities grew, the time soon came for the announcement of the subject of the meetings.

The entire secret would not be divulged; only one word would be issued to anyone who was interested. The one word was “Opera.”

More would come in another two weeks and soon the next bit of information would be forthcoming. It was that the group was forming a Lilliland Opera Guild.

The purpose of the opera guild was to sponsor six operas every season in the Lilliland auditorium.

The reason it was kept a secret was because the group had to inquire about the use of the auditorium and whether the staging and orchestra were ample for the productions. Also a sponsor would have to be identified in order to support the events.

The Lilliland Opera Guild came about more easily than they thought it would because the traveling opera companies found that Lilliland was well situated to accommodate their traveling opera company.

To no one’s surprise, the operas were sponsored by the Baron. And now Lilliland offered the cultural experience of the opera in all its magnificence and glory.