obbie, the Left Shoe Bandit

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

The talk around Lilliland was about a person who had been going around stealing shoes. The puzzle was that it was always the shoe for the left foot. Why would anyone steal the left shoe and for what purpose would they steal? He couldn’t wear only one shoe and he couldn’t sell only one shoe. It just didn’t make any sense.

The police were baffled and they hoped that if it were a joke it would all go away soon.

When the Baron had his candlelight dinners with his fiancée, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, the evening would always begin romantically but soon the conversation would move to the puzzle of the person who stole only the left shoe.

Finally, the Baron conferred with Professor Hamblin, his chief advisor, regarding this mystery. The Professor noted that the shoe thief seemed to have a pattern to his behavior. Obviously, it was always the shoe from the left foot but the shoes were always of the white canvas type that people wore for tennis, boating, and other sports activities.

Finally, the thief was caught in the act of stealing another shoe. The thief was Robbie, the town’s shoeshine man whose stand was located in the center of town.

The Baron, the Professor and Lady Angela wanted an opportunity to ask him why this odd behavior of stealing only one shoe? Robbie replied, ”It is because I am losing business because the canvas shoes do not require one of my shoe shines.” But he did not consider himself a real thief because to be a real thief, he thought he would have to steal both shoes. By stealing only one shoe, it was only a protest at not getting enough business. This was an example of poor judgment that ended by getting him in serious trouble with the law.

The Baron suggested that when he got out of jail, and if he went back to his job, he could add an additional service to his shoeshine business, and that would be the cleaning of canvas shoes for the sports people who wore them.

Since Robbie did not have a previous criminal record, and he made restitution to all the people who lost one shoe, the sentence he received was somewhat firm, but he was able to return to his shoe shining business in a short time. Everything came out well for all concerned.