aris Park Incident

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

It was quite common for the Baron and Lady Angela, of Alpine Castle, to visit Paris for a long weekend. It was only a few hours away by train. Sometimes it was a good change of pace when the couple wanted to be alone.

While Lady Angela was doing some shopping, the Baron decided to sit in one of the lovely parks of Paris and just enjoy the afternoon.

While sitting there, the Baron noticed a rather distinguished gentleman walking in his direction. He admired the man’s appearance and fashionable attire. He walked with the air of a poised and dignified person.

Suddenly the distinguished gentleman, in top hat and cane, stopped. He looked at a small pigeon that was standing in his path. He then pointed his cane at the small bird and began to slightly shake his cane at the little creature. The little bird quickly walked out of the man’s way.

The Baron thought about the incident that really was not very important, almost trivial, and asked himself, “What would I have done?” He thought that he probably would have walked around the bird and not disturbed it in the least.

Then the Baron laughed to himself and thought, “Here I am, the head of a country, and I move out of the way for a bird. Am I too humble, or what?”

In the meantime, the Baron’s attitude and impressions of the man with the top hat and cane dropped off quite a bit. He was not quite the distinguished gentleman that he had thought before the incident with the small bird.

The little bird was not harmed and the gentleman was not really inconvenienced, so why give it another thought?

“Maybe,” the Baron thought, “that this is what Lilliland is all about. Taking care of all the birds, trees and animals in the forests that surround Lilliland.”

Hopefully, Lilliland would always be a beautiful country, full of beautiful birds.