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        riddles >> what happened >> Left Arm
        
(Message started by: Kitty on Aug 1^st, 2003, 1:22pm)

Title: Left Arm
Post by Kitty on Aug 1^st, 2003, 1:22pm

I just remembered this riddle.

One A Man Gets A Letter.
Opens it.
Reads it.
He goes to a unpopular part of town
The words for the letter ring in his head over and over again.
He takes someones left arm.
Sends it off to were the letter had come from.

---------------------------------------------------------------------Why?----------------------------------------------------------

Title: Re: Left Arm
Post by maryl on Aug 4^th, 2003, 9:16am

Oh, promises, promises.

Title: Re: Left Arm
Post by Kitty on Aug 10^th, 2003, 12:19pm

Oh well, i knew someone would know it. 8)

Title: Re: Left Arm
Post by fatball on Nov 26^th, 2004, 6:54pm

Can you explain why the answer is promise pls?

Title: Re: Left Arm
Post by John_Gaughan on Nov 28^th, 2004, 1:26pm

There are a few variations on this riddle, but usually the man gets a letter from an old war friend who lost an arm in battle. They made some kind of promise, and now he has to fulfill it. It could be cutting his own arm off, killing himself, whatever.

Try searching the forums. There are a few like this but people explained it better.

Title: Re: Left Arm
Post by Sir Col on Nov 28^th, 2004, 4:33pm

The typical phrasing of the riddle is:

"An elderly gentleman meets a depressed man in a bar who tells the old man that he is desperate for money and would give his right arm. The old man tells the younger man that he can quite literally help. They strike a deal: the younger man gets his money, and the older man, being a retired doctor, removes the right arm. He places the arm in an ice box and has it shipped to Mexico where it is collected by three one armed men. They drive into the desert, examine the contents of the box, and bury the arm before driving off into the sunset. Why?"

As John explained, it usually involves some incident that happened during WWII in which a group of men became stranded. After exhausting their supplies they were forced to "improvise" to stay alive. The man in the riddle, being a medic, was able to safely amputate limbs so that they could eat, and agreed that in the future when his services as a medical practitioner were over he would have his own arm removed. The letter was probably a reminder and so he struck some deal with a desperate individual, removed his arm, and sent this to pretend that he had fulfilled his promise.

I don't know who was worse though: the doctor for deceiving his commrades, or the men for demanding that he should have his arm removed? After all, it was his expertise that kept them alive and they actually owe him!

[e]Edited to say that I should have written "commrades in arms", making some 'armless humour. ;)[/e]