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20
INCREDIBLE
By Richard Hyman
CAN you picture the Mayor of Scarsdale, N. Y., or Peoria, Illinois, wearing a crown, ordering troops about, collecting taxes, beheading subjects and appointing envoys, councillors and other dignitaries of state ?
Robert L. (Believe-it-or-Not) Ripley, recently returned from an extensive trip to distant lands to gather material for his forthcoming National Broadcasting Company programs. The little countries visited by
Ripley were the Vatican State, Goust, Tavolara, San Marino, Andorra, the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza), Corsica, Albania and Monaco, where the famous city of Monte Carlo is located.
The Vatican State, although one of the smallest independent states of the world is of course the best known, because for centuries it has been the sovereign residence of the Papal rulers of the world.
In these little monarchies and re
Believe it or not this is Robert L. Ripley himself.
publics, Ripley has uncovered amazing facts and believe-it-or-nots.
Let's hop aboard with Ripley and visit these places to discover to our amazement, believe-it-or-not, that:
The Vatican state is the smallest independent state of the world it could be entirely gold plated with 100 ounces of gold ... it has only one Negro citizen and one American born woman, the niece of a priest, employed in the Vatican .... the only political refuge is a dog street cleaners from Rome require passports on entering the Vatican gates for work .... the Vatican has the smallest railroad in the world It's 300 feet long.
Next we go to Goust, the second smallest state of the world situated in the lower Pyrenees to find to our amazement that:
There are but twelve houses in Goust. . . . About twelve families in the entire state .... the 70 citizens are governed by a council of elders .... and 98 per cent of the residents live to be 100 years old or more.
Then we make our way to Tavolara and find that the island kingdom was created one day by King Charles Albert of Sardinia, who was drunk one day and deeded the land to a' lobster fisherman.
Next we go to San Marino. The country is 32 square miles .... elections are held in a church . . . only two coins have ever been minted, and they are still in use. . . . Two pictures of American presidents hang in the Government house, but no one in San Marino knows why.
Let's skim through these other countries, where to our amazement we find that in Andorra the seat of government is in a remodelled stable .... visitors are initiated by wearing the president's tri-cornered hat which was made in New York .... and two men periodically travel to France and Spain for the country's mail.
In the Balearic Islands we find other strange facts. In Mallorca there is a tax on store signs . . . the military march is Wagner's "The Last Supper" .... a night watchman announces his hours with a horn.
In Corfu married women encircle their heads with long braids of hair. In Yugoslavia a mysterious river originates from nowhere. The average man in Corsica is 7 feet tall .... dead men are buried sitting on their horses held up by twigs.
In Monte Carlo no hymn is ever sung bearing a number less than 37 .... this prevents gambling on hymn numbers .... People who work in Monaco, including actors, are not allowed in the Casino.
And all that is true, as Ripley found out, believe-it-or-not.