World's First "Modern" Shoe Discovered

Indiana James holding the newly discovered stone shoe

The world of archaeology was a buzz about a recent find! So I, Mr. Smiley and my photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater, headed over to Burlington, Vermont to get the inside story on the finding of the first “modern” shoe ever made. Indiana James, a famous archaeologist was off exploring in the Amazon Rainforests of South America when he discovered the some very old ruins that were estimated to be 3,000 years old. In an ancient temple, he found a pair of stone shoes. This is evidence that ancient royalty wore the first modern looking shoes. How does it look modern? Well for starters it is completely enclosed. Most other people at the time were wearing sandals or bare feet. So these are the first “modern” looking shoes. “They are very similar to sneakers,” says Indiana James, “but since the material to make sneakers wasn’t invented yet, they had to make these shoes out of stone.” Some old paintings on the temple walls may have the story as to how these stone shoes came to be: a great Native South American king wanted to look more impressive than his contemporaries. So he told his head shoe maker (possibly named Sir Keystone), to make him an impressive shoe within 24 hours or else he would be stoned to death (the king was very strict). So in sheer desperation, he sat thinking over the next 24 hours as to how he could make these impressive shoes. He thought of what types of stone they would use to stone him, and this gave him an idea. Why not make stone shoes? So he got to work. By the end of the 24 hours, he had made a pair of beautiful shoes with the king’s face where the ankle was and three blue jewels on the sides of this shoe. The king was so pleased, he offered to give the shoe maker whatever he wished. The shoe maker wanted one of the blue jewels (which is why one of the jewels on the shoes are missing!). The king granted his request and to this day, the shoes look exactly how they did when they were first made. But I’m not sure I’d want to wear those shoes, it would make running make your feet sweaty!

Story written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographs taken by: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan M.

Weekly Cartoon

 Movie Spotlight

Animal Face-Off: Lion vs. Tiger - Coming to DVD Summer 2012

Next Issue: Elizabeth is being . . .good?!?