ilver Spoon

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

The Baron ran a tight ship as far as his castle was concerned and kept an exact inventory of all the possessions in the castle, especially when it came to tableware, such as table knives, forks and spoons. “Why are there just missing spoons and not some missing forks or knives?” the Baron thought.

The Baron asked his chief advisor, Professor Hamblin, to investigate the strange matter.

After several months, the Professor remembered some of the sermons that a new priest gave about children who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. The priest’s explanation was not as clear as it should have been because, while certain fortunate children grew up with rich parents of noble rank, this was not the case with most children. The priest meant that the “silver-spoon” children received almost everything that they needed and desired.

But the sermon seemed to have a different message as heard by the parishioners. They heard a message that was more literal than figurative. So they tried to obtain a silver spoon from the Baron’s pantry and give it to a child. This, they believed, would bring wealth and prosperity to the child as he grew up. But what the priest meant in his sermon was that if a parent did not have much wealth when the child was born, by saving money and providing for the child, from the savings the child would be well-off in the future.

When Professor Hamblin realized this, he asked the priest to modify his sermon to reflect the literal and figurative aspects of the sermon when it came to the silver-spoon-in-the-mouth aspects. Or better yet, discontinue the use of the silver spoon example.

In the meantime, the Professor asked the local banks to give a silver spoon to every parent with a child who opened a savings account in their bank.

This idea worked out very well. The Baron’s spoons stopped disappearing and everyone received a silver spoon free with a child’s new account at the bank.