Pretty Lady Named Moose

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

Nearly every summer, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle invited a college friend from England to visit her in Lilliland.

Her friend was a very attractive young woman. Her nickname was Moose. The Baron wanted to ask Lady Angela to ask Moose how in the world did such an attractive person get the name of Moose. Lady Angela had no idea exactly how the name came about but decided to ask Moose during her next visit.

Summer soon arrived and Moose came for her two-week stay with Lady Angela at Alpine Castle.

During one of their private conversations, Lady Angela asked Moose how the nickname came about. Moose said that there were two reasons. It seemed that when she was eight years old she would wear her hair up so that it looked like moose antlers. But that was a big stretch of the imagination, even for a young person at eight years of age.

The second reason was that Moose did not really care for the name she was given at her baptism. That name was Margaret Ann. Some of her very young friends must have concluded that it was easier to call her Moose than Margaret Ann.

“Even to this day,” she admitted, “I don’t like Margaret Ann because it sounds too much like a doll’s name.” And she said she liked hiking, horseback riding and sailing too much to be called Margaret Ann.

“Maybe someday, Moose concluded, “I will answer to my given name of Margaret Ann, but for now I really like being called Moose.”

Lady Angela said, “Well, that’s that. Moose it is, until I am told differently.”

When the Baron heard the explanation, it reminded him of the nickname that he had been called by his nanny as a very young child. He recalled not liking the name very much but he said that he conveniently forgot the name anyway.

Lady Angela laughed at the story and wondered what his nickname was as a child. Quietly she thought that she might ask Professor Hamblin if he could remember the Baron’s early nickname.

Later when she asked the Professor, he said that he did not recall any nickname the Baron may have had.