odeling in the Alpine Mountains

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

When the Lilliland mountain climbers went up into the Alpine Mountains they would communicate with each other by yodeling. As time went by the yodeling became a musical art form. People would meet informally in town to see who was the best yodeler in the group.

Finally, the people of Lilliland wanted the Baron to hold a yodeling contest to see who was the best yodeler according to a professional and renowned judge. The Baron agreed and sent a message to Switzerland to have their best yodeler become the official judge.

The people of neighboring Switzerland had seven yodeling contests a year but Lilliland citizens, who also loved to yodel, had no contests at all.

The contest would be held during the second week in July. There was some concern that the yodeling would cause an avalanche if there happened to be a lot of snow on the mountains on the day of the contest. But July was a very safe month because the mountains were so green and very little snow existed except on the very tops of the mountains.

The contest was announced and open to any citizen of Lilliland. The first prize would be a St. Bernard puppy. Of the twelve yodelers who signed up for the contest, eight were men, two were women, and two were children. The contest was great fun for everyone. The Swiss judge was very fair and the winner was announced. It was a woman who was a grandmother. She said that she learned to yodel by calling to her family who were avid mountain climbers.

Everyone liked the yodeling contest and the winner liked her prize. She named the St. Bernard puppy "Yodeler."