Ludwig entered his laboratory. He made sure the door was closed before going over to his racks of tools. He picked up a screwdriver and walked over to a large object. Removing the sheet, Ludwig looked proudly at his latest invention.

"Just a few twists of my screwdriver and it’ll be done," Ludwig said to himself. He tightened the bolts, adjusted a piece, and made sure the lever was secure.

Ludwig didn’t have good ideas very often, but when he got them, they were doozies. This was one of his good ideas. Ludwig decided to wait until the next morning to try his invention. He carefully replaced the sheet and put away his tools. Ludwig left his lab and locked the doors.

Early the next morning, Ludwig opened the doors to his laboratory. He uncovered his invention and made sure all the parts were secure. The machine looked like a reclining beauty salon chair, with a lever and a domed helmet. If it worked, it would make Ludwig’s incredibly intelligent, but he would still be able to be evil.

Ludwig sat in the chair and pulled the helmet securely over his head, fastening the chin strap tightly. He took a deep breath and shoved the lever forward. Everything was brightness, then all went dark.

Ludwig woke up sometime in the afternoon. He was lying face down on the floor of his laboratory. His invention was in bad shape, bent and broken. Slowly, Ludwig got up. He went to the small desk in the laboratory and picked up a printed sheet.

Ludwig sat down with a pencil and the sheet. He pushed the button on a stopwatch. The sheet was a test that Ludwig had typed up. He answered the questions and again pushed the button on the stopwatch.

Ludwig looked at the stopwatch. "47.8 seconds," he said. Quickly he checked his answers. "And every answer correct."

Ludwig smiled. He locked up his laboratory and left his room.

"Now for part two." Ludwig couldn’t help laughing at his plan. He checked the map to see where all his siblings were. "All eating dinner," Ludwig said. "Just as planned."

Quietly, Ludwig stole into Larry’s room and took one of Larry’s potted flowers. He put the flowers on Morton’s deck and took a tape recorder from Morton’s living room. He left the tape recorder in Wendy’s living room and carried off a small statue that had been sitting on Wendy’s mantelpiece. Soon the statue was on Iggy’s mantelpiece and Ludwig was making off with a large book from Iggy’s library. Leaving the book in Roy’s library, Ludwig went into Lemmy’s room carrying Roy’s diary. Ludwig traded the diary for one of Lemmy’s balls and walked to Larry’s room. He left the ball in Larry’s closet and slipped out of the room. Ludwig smiled and nodded.

Ludwig hurried back to his own room before the other Koopas came back from dinner.

"Have you seen Ludwig at all today?" Lemmy asked Wendy as they waited for the elevator.

"Why would I want to? Either way, I haven’t seen him," Wendy replied.

"Wonder what he’s up to," Lemmy said.

"He’s probably been sleeping all day," Wendy mused.

The elevator arrived and Wendy and Lemmy stepped in. Soon the elevator arrived at the floor with the Koopas’ quarters, and they each went to their own room. The other Koopas came up soon after.

A little later, Wendy went to Lemmy’s room for her ball-riding lessons. Today Wendy and Lemmy were going to practice the new routine they had worked out for Roy’s birthday party.

When Wendy knocked, Lemmy yelled, "Door’s open! I’ll be there in a minute!"

Wendy entered. A few minutes later, Lemmy came out. "I can’t find the right ball for doing the spinning stay," he explained. "It wouldn’t be safe on any other ball."

"Too bad," said Wendy. "That part of the show is the part I had wanted to practice."

"I can’t imagine where my ball is," Lemmy said. "I didn’t give it to anyone and I never lose a ball."

"I’m sure it will turn up," Wendy said. "But as long as you can’t find it, I also wanted to practice my ball-sticking moves."

Roy unlocked the door to his room and went in. He sat at his desk and reached for his diary. After some groping around, he came out of his thoughtful trance and looked for the little notebook. It was not in its usual place.

"That’s funny," mused Roy. "I always leave it here." Roy searched the room but found no trace of his diary.

"Maybe one of the servants accidentally filed it in the library," Roy thought. He checked his many shelves, but did not find the diary. He did find Iggy’s book.

"I didn’t know I had a book about dinosaurs," Roy looked inside the cover of the book. "No wonder! This is Iggy’s. I wonder how it got in here. But I still haven’t found my diary!"

Roy left his room and knocked on Lemmy’s door. Lemmy answered the door looking very frustrated.

"Too much work, Lemmy?" Roy asked.

"No, I misplaced one of my balls," Lemmy replied. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, my diary is missing. Have you seen it?"

"No, but I’ll check." Lemmy disappeared into his room. He came back a minute later and handed Roy the diary. "It was on my desk. I swear I don’t know how it got there. I didn’t take it!" Lemmy looked worried.

"Tell it to the judge!" Roy answered, stomping back to his room.

As the day went on, the Koopa Kids met with a number of difficulties, some resulting in fights between friends, some merely annoying. Iggy wanted to check some facts on dinosaurs, but couldn’t find the book. Morton wanted to record a speech on the differences between plants and plant-like protists, but couldn’t find his tape recorder. Wendy was having a new dress made and wanted it to be the exact color of a statue on her mantelpiece, but couldn’t find the statue to show the tailor. Every time a Koopa Kid found something missing, they would ask some of the other Koopas about it. If they found it, they would be mad at the person who they thought had stolen it. If they did not find it, they would be generally annoyed.

The only Koopa Kid who did not get annoyed was Larry. Having Ludwig steal or make a mess of his plants was practically a part of his daily schedule. When Larry discovered that his pansy pot was missing, he assumed that Ludwig had taken it and did not even bother to search for it. When Morton found the pansies on his deck, he thought that someone had enjoyed one of his recent soliloquies and had decided to leave him an anonymous gift.

Throughout the day, Ludwig kept an eye on his brothers and sisters.

"What a clever trick I have played," Ludwig said to himself. "This morning, all was well. Now, Wendy is mad at Iggy, Roy is mad at Lemmy, and Lemmy is mad at Larry! Oh, what a clever trick I have played!"

Eventually, some of the Koopa kids complained to Bowser. Since so many things had been stolen at the same time, Bowser decided to hold a session of Koopa Court.

The next morning, all of the Koopas met in the courtroom. Ludwig arrived right on time so he would not appear suspicious. When all the Koopas were seated, Bowser rose and called them to order.

"Due to the sudden theft of so many items, I have decided to hold a trial to find the thief or thieves and do justice to them," he began. "Unfortunately, it is difficult to find witnesses, because all of you had something stolen. Therefore none of you are thinking clearly and all of you are biased."

Larry raised his hand. Bowser nodded to him and Larry rose.

"The item stolen from me was a pot of common flowers. I was barely annoyed at their disappearance and did not even attempt to find them. Therefore I believe that I am unbiased, and I will gladly testify if I should be called."

Larry sat down.

"Let us review our leads," Bowser decided. "We know that Wendy’s statue was in Iggy’s room. Roy’s diary was in Lemmy’s room. Lemmy’s ball was in Larry’s room." As some of the Koopa Kids began to interrupt he added, "Remember that just because someone’s item was found in someone else’s room, the someone else did not necessarily take the someone’s item."

The Koopas nodded in agreement. Bowser continued, "I jotted down a list of who complained of a stolen item. The list reads, ‘Wendy, Iggy, Roy.’ Would anyone else like to report a stolen item?"

Morton and Lemmy raised their hands. Bowser called on them in turn. They reported their stolen items, and Bowser copied down their names.

"Reviewing my list," Bowser said. "The only Koopas who have not reported a stolen item are Larry, Ludwig, myself, and Clawdia. I am sure there was nothing missing from my room. Larry, Ludwig, did you notice anything?" (Clawdia is Bowser’s wife. Where do you think the Koopa Kids came from?)

"Actually, there was a flower pot missing from my room," Larry recalled. "Not to accuse, but I just assumed that Ludwig had done something with it."

"Were they pansy-type flowers in a long, low-type pot that was kind of greenish-black? Were the flowers in black-type soil that was kind of damp and had little white things in it? Were-"

"Out of turn!" Bowser bellowed. "But you bring up an important point, Morton. Do your missing flowers match his description, Larry?"

"Yes, they do," Larry answered.

Bowser made a note. "Another missing item that turned up in someone else’s room," he mused. "Anyway, that leaves Ludwig. Did you find anything missing?"

"No," said Ludwig. Thinking quickly, he added, "But I always make sure my things are secure before I leave my room."

Bowser nodded. Lemmy raised his hand, and Bowser called on him.

"The thief struck sometime yesterday," Lemmy reviewed a fact. "And yesterday I noticed that I hadn’t seen Ludwig at all. Wendy hadn’t seen him either. We tend to spend most of the day outside our rooms, so it would be easy for a thief to slip in and steal something. But a thief wouldn’t be able to steal something from Ludwig’s room if Ludwig was in his room all day."

Ludwig stifled a sigh of relief. 'Good ol’ Lemmy,' he thought. 'He gave me an excuse for why nothing is missing from my room!'

Lemmy sat down, and Bowser continued.

"Let’s review our list of suspects. Not to accuse anyone, but as Larry pointed out, Ludwig has been known to do things like this."

Larry stood up and said, "To counter Lemmy, I would like to say that perhaps Ludwig is the thief, and forgot to 'steal' something from his own room."

"I would like to counter that," said Roy, standing up. "As you all know, I spent many years as Ludwig’s accomplice. I believe that he would do this, but I do not think that he would think of such a complicated plan. If he is the thief, he must have slipped into our rooms, taken an item, and left it in someone else’s room, which is a rather clever plan, and not one that Ludwig would generally think of."

'I’ve trained him too well,' thought Ludwig. 'He hit my plan right on the head!'

"Next on our list," Bowser continued, "is Playful." (Playful is the Koopas' cat. This isn’t a seven kids, no pets family.)

The Koopas stood up and stated their opinions in turn. They came to the conclusion that although Playful was certainly smart enough to devise such a plan, it would have been rather difficult for him to carry off some of the objects, such as Wendy’s heavy statue.

Next Bowser proposed that Playful and Ludwig had worked together. That idea was promptly trashed. The Koopas knew that Playful did not ask for help. It would have to be Playful’s plan, and they also knew that Ludwig did not play second fiddle to anyone.

This left the Koopas scratching their heads until Larry boldly suggested, "Let’s do a mind probe."

The Koopas stared at him in disbelief. They had a machine that would render a Koopa’s brain helpless, allowing other Koopas to mind merge and enter any area of the brain they pleased. But this machine was used very rarely. Surely this case was not so serious that they needed to do a mind probe!

"It may not be a very serious case," Larry explained, "but it was important enough to be brought to the Koopa Court. We have no leads, and a mind probe is a sure way of finding out what someone knows."

"I think it’s a good idea," Lemmy agreed.

"Prepare the mind prober!" Bowser ordered.

Soon the machine was ready. The logical mind to probe was Ludwig’s, so he was strapped into the seat of the machine. When all was ready, Bowser addressed the Koopas again.

"Who will mind merge with Ludwig?" he asked. "I will go, because I am the judge. Larry will come because he appears to be unbiased. I would like to have one other Koopa join us."

The Koopas talked and considered. Finally they decided that Roy should go, because he would be able to understand some of Ludwig’s thoughts better than any of the others. The small party prepared for the journey into Ludwig’s mind.

The Koopas who were not involved went back to their rooms. Soon Bowser gave the signal. Bowser, Larry, and Roy merged into Ludwig’s mind. In a moment they were standing in Ludwig’s brain.

Bowser led his group into the room containing Ludwig’s thoughts from yesterday. They searched through many shelves and boxes of thoughts.

"I never imagined that Ludwig thought so much," Larry joked.

"I found it!" Roy called. The others hurried over and peered into the box that Roy was standing next to. It contained a thought that read, "What does Roy like? His diary! Here it is. Now to drop off Iggy’s book."

"Well, that proves it," Bowser said. "Now we have to find a thought that tells us what his motive was."

The three continued to search Ludwig’s thoughts. Finally Bowser called Larry and Roy over.

"We’ve searched just about every thought in here. Perhaps we need to go back a little farther in Ludwig’s thoughts."

The party left the room and entered the room containing Ludwig’s thoughts for last week. They started with the section for thoughts from two days ago.

Larry found the answer quickly. "So that’s it," he said almost admiringly. Bowser and Roy hurried over to read the thought.

"If my new invention works, it will more than double my intelligence, but I will still be able to act any way I choose."

Another box nearby revealed another part of the solution. "My invention has worked! Now I will invent a master plan that will surpass all the other evil things I have done."

The next box contained the thought, "Eureka! It will be most entertaining to watch the effects of this plan. I shall take an item from the rooms of each of my brothers and my sister. Each item will be left in the room of another sibling. My siblings will discover their items are missing. Finding them in a trusted sibling’s room will result in broken friendships for them and great entertainment for myself."

"Quite a clever plan he worked out," Bowser said when they were all finished reading Ludwig’s thoughts. "Unfortunately, he has a bad reputation, making him the likely suspect. We shall leave now. I will call the court back to order and discuss Ludwig’s punishment."

Larry, Roy, and Bowser merged out of Ludwig’s mind. They turned off the mind prober and allowed Ludwig’s brain to return to its usual state. Larry knocked on everyone’s door and told them to come back to court.

Soon everyone was back in the courtroom. Bowser announced the findings of his group.

"Now we must decide a suitable punishment for Ludwig," he finished.

Wendy stood up. "Before we send Ludwig to the dungeon or anything like that, we must make sure that he retrieves all the items he took that we haven’t found yet. I’m sure that Lemmy would like his ball back and Iggy would like to have his book."

"Good point," said Bowser. "We must decide on a punishment for Ludwig, to be administered after he gives back all the things he stole. Any suggestions?"

After much discussion, the Koopas decided on a punishment.

Grumbling, Ludwig went into each of his sibling’s rooms and retrieved the things he had stolen. He brought the items back and put them where they had originally been.

Next, the Koopas made sure that Ludwig’s extra intelligence was taken away. They wanted Ludwig to be smart, but they knew that he would only use his intelligence for evil.

Then Bowser set up a special camera to follow Ludwig. The camera was tiny, and mounted on a small device. The device would float behind Ludwig and monitor his behavior. Bowser wore a small beeper-like device on his belt. If the camera detected Ludwig doing certain pre-programmed behaviors, such as eating chocolate or going into any of his sibling’s rooms, the "beeper" would make a noise. Then Bowser could push a button, and a screen on his device would turn on, allowing Bowser to see what Ludwig was doing. This way, Ludwig would be caught immediately if he was misbehaving. This punishment would last for an entire month.

Several times Ludwig tried to make trouble, but was caught before he could do any harm. And so ends the story of the great theft.

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