nchanted Fireplace

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

On cold winter nights at midnight, if the Baron could not sleep, he would have a small fire lit in the old fireplace in his study. He would sit back in an old leather chair that his ancestors had used. As the fire flickered, he would wonder what his ancestors would advise him to do if they were around today.

As the fire flickered to a soft glow, the Baron would almost pass into a light sleep. In his sleep, he would dream that his ancestors were in the room with him, talking to him about the future of Lilliland.

The Baron told his chief advisor about the recurring subject of his dreams. An ancestor would be warning the Baron about the future of politics in Europe. There was always someone in history that wanted to be aggressive and capture land from another weaker country and include it into his boundaries. This pattern seemed to be every twenty years, or so, and the conflict would last for about four years. Sometimes the enemies of one war would be allies in the next war. Mankind never seemed to learn that aggressive conquering behavior was a very uncivilized way to conduct the affairs of any country.

This was the essence of the recurring dreams. Each dream was somewhat unique with a different ancestor doing the advising. But, the message was always the same. Keep Lilliland out of any war. The country could easily perish as the victim of a war.

The Baron told Lady Angela of Alpine Castle of the dreams from the very beginning. She said that the dreams made some sense. Lilliland is too small to get involved in any conflict. “We don’t even allow citizens to shoot guns at all. The skillful use of our brain power must be used wisely to keep us on a steady and even course.”

Maybe the dreams were the sign of a responsible leader. The diaries of various leaders of Lilliland spoke of dreams. But, the dreams focused on natural disasters such as floods, avalanches and fires. Wars were not mentioned except as a passing thought. The Baron thought that it was before long-range cannons, tanks, planes and bombs.

The best advice that the Baron had was to “stay the course.”