astle's Rag Bin

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

The Baron used to think that he knew everyone on the castle staff, but it turned out that there were many seasonal workers, what with crops and castle projects, that he really knew about half the staff. Since people were coming and going all the time in different parts of the castle, he really only saw those staff members that dealt with his living area.

Therefore, when it was reported to him, through Professor Hamblin, his chief advisor, that there was something amiss in the castle rag bin, he wanted to know more about it.

The rag bin was not really a bin, but a room in the sub-basement of the castle. The rag bin was more like a medium sized closet. The report was that it looked like someone was sleeping there. The room was used to keep cleaning rags and was rarely used for anything else. Nothing was out of the ordinary except that it looked like a pile of rags in one corner was positioned in the shape of a mattress.

The Professor said that most castles had numerous secret passageways to be used to protect the royal family in case of some emergency. It was a safe place when protection was needed. There were even secret passageways that no one knew about because they were never used and often sealed during reconstruction projects.

The rag bin room was watched for several nights to see who came and went. Sure enough, a strange man would come in the evening dressed in typical castle work clothes and then leave in the morning. He was caught and asked why he was sleeping in the rag bin room. He said that he was really not an employee of the castle and needed a warm place to stay.

The Professor said that he was harmless and honest about his situation. The Professor asked the Baron if he might hire him as a member of his staff.

Everything worked out well and the stranger who hid in the rag bin room worked well with the Professor. Later, the Professor found out that the man’s previous profession was as a monk. His religious order failed and he was left out in the cold, and that is how it all began.