Giacomo, The Sicilian Cobbler

Giacomo Gianelli was the town of Salerno, Sicily's oldest cobbler. As a matter of fact, he was the town's only cobbler. He had been repairing and making shoes for some 65 years.

When you wore a pair of his shoes, you felt taller. But it wasn't just the feeling of being taller, you actually were four inches taller because Giacomo made the heels thicker. The toes were pointed, and the inside of the shoe was made with the finest soft leather packed with down. People would feel like they were floating high above the clouds when they walked where ever they had to go. And the people of the town loved them because no one was over 5 feet tall. People were so short in Salerno, sometimes they didn't know if they had a headache or a footache. With the shoes Giacomo hand crafted, everyone was tall.

One day, his wife came in and suggested to Giacomo that he make himself a pair of shoes. She mentioned that he had been wearing the same pair of shoes for the last 65 years. He turned to his wife, Giovannina, and said in Italian, "La Moglie! Me ha portato sessanta cinque anni a loro rompere va bene."

Translation: "Wife! It took me sixty five years to break them in right."

But he agreed and decided to make the best pair shoes he had ever made in his life. He worked every day and night for a month. He finally finished the shoes after coating them with his secret shine wax and set them outside to dry before he went to bed for a few hours.

It just so happened, the garbage man, who smelled so bad, was picking up the trash that morning when he saw the shoes and thought they were thrown out so he took them and put them on. Dealing with garbage all day, he smelled so bad that his odor got to places before he did.

When Giacomo went to retrieve his shoes, they were gone and he became very upset. "Qualcuno ha rubato le mie scarpe!!! Qualcuno ha rubato le mie scarpe!!!"

Translation: "Someone has stolen my shoes!!! Someone has stolen my shoes!!!"

His voice was heard for blocks and people came running to see what was the matter. When he told them, they decided to comb the streets of Salerno to look for the shoes.

Besides people asking everyone they came in contact with if they had seen the shoes, a sketch artist drew a sketch of the shoes per the description Giacomo game him. The towns people circulated the flyers not only in Salerno, but in all the surrounding towns. A reward of *10,000 Lira was offered also.

Days, weeks and months went by with no sign of the shoes. All the flyers that were handed out were thrown in the trash and the hopes of ever finding the shoes followed the flyers.

The same smelly garbage man, who was picking up the garbage one day, saw the flyer in a trashcan and read it. He looked at the sketch and looked at his shoes. He did this several times and exclaimed, "DIO MIO! Devo ritornare queste scarpe al loro proprietario e prendo la mia ricompensa!

Translation: "MY GOD! I must return these shoes to their owner and get my reward!"

He took off the shoes when he arrived at the cobblers home and knocked on the door. Giacomo opened the door to find the garbage man standing in front of him, barefoot, and with his shoes in his hand grinning from ear to ear exclaiming ...

"Ho trovato le sue scarpe! Dove la mia ricompensa è?"

Translation: "I found your shoes! Where is my reward?"

Giacomo grimaced, stepped back and holding his nose because of his odor, looked at him up and down and replied, "Ciò sta bene. Lei può tenere le scarpe. Non penso che loro voglia più!"

Translation: "That's OK! You can keep the shoes. I do not think I want them anymore!"

Giacomo turned......and shut the door promptly.......leaving his shoes and their new personality with their new owner behind.

The Moral: If you wear someone else's shoes, take a bath before you return them. Especially if there is a reward.

*10,000 Lira = about $4.61 US currency. Heck of a reward, wasn't it?

The End.