Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

The Treasure of LeMonde!

Album: Gold Audio 06: Mission: Accomplished

Episode: 102

Lesson/Theme: Greed

Bible Verse: Proverbs 28:25

Characters: Connie, Whit

Writer: Phil Lollar

Sound Designer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: February 3, 1990

Last Air Date: May 22, 2008

Description:
Exciting things are happening at Whit's End. Connie has discovered a new room, which is boarded up in the turret attic! She, Whit, and Robyn tear down the boards and explore the forgotten room. Amid all the dust and cobwebs, tarps are covering an old pipe organ. Whit guesses the organ is there because Whit's End was once a church. The main sanctuary burned down, but the tower stayed up, and the rest of the building was built around it. Robyn decides to play the organ, but the middle "C" key isn't working. Whit examines the pipe and discovers something stuffed inside it-an old, gray rag with writing on it. Actually, it's a poem. It says, "I, Rufus Cowley, do hereby attest / The words you now read are the truest and best: / Your course is now set, the path you're now on, / To the greatest of riches-the Treasure Le Monde! / This prize you may find by heeding said adage: / Start in the middle and play 'a deaf cabbage.'" Apparently, Whit, Robyn, and Connie have stumbled across a clue to a hidden treasure! But Whit believes the only way to be certain is to talk to one of Whit's friends, history professor Alduous Webster. Webster confirms that there really is a Le Monde treasure, named after a French nobleman, Henri Le Monde. He became a missionary to the region just before the French Revolution, taking his family fortune with him. Henri hid his treasure so fortune seekers would have to wade through a series of clues to find it. Rufus Cowley, writer of the poem, was a fortune hunter who moved to Odyssey in the late 1850s. He learned about the treasure and, through a series of circumstances, ran afoul of the law and ended up in the steeple of the old church, where he planted the piece of cloth in the organ! Robyn becomes consumed with the idea of finding the treasure and figures out the meaning of "a deaf cabbage." Our heroes then quickly put together the remaining pieces to the puzzle of the treasure of Le Monde and find themselves in a secret bat-filled cave. But they are not alone-Professor Webster has greedily followed them to claim the treasure for himself. Surprisingly, though, the treasure is not what the world considers a treasure-money or riches-but is the greatest treasure of all: the Bible! Le Monde certainly had his priorities right.

Questions:
What does "LeMonde" mean? Did Rufus Cowley get what he deserved? What about Professor Webster? Why is greed so bad?