Asterix and the Magic Carpet
Encyclopedia
Asterix and the Magic Carpet is the twenty-eighth volume of the Asterix
comic book series, by René Goscinny
(stories) and Albert Uderzo
(illustrations). It was first published in 1987. It is the fourth book to be published after the death of René Goscinny and is thus both written and drawn by Albert Uderzo alone.
The full original French title was Astérix chez Rahàzade ou Le compte des mille et une heures (Asterix meets Orinjade or the 1001 Hours Countdown), a reference to Queen Scheherazade
who tells the famous 1001 Arabian Nights collection of stories.
ish village inhabited by Asterix and his friends has been newly rebuilt by the Romans
(it had been burned down in Asterix and Son
). Though Chief Vitalstatistix is trying to give a speech, he is interrupted by the bard Cacofonix, who is testing the acoustics of his new hut. This causes it to rain; a pivotal point in this comic.
A small, dark-skinned man suddenly falls from the sky and introduces himself as Watziznehm the fakir
, who had been brought off of his flying carpet by Cacofonix' downpour. The carpet itself lands near the huts of Vitalstatistix and Geriatrix, causing there to be an argument between their wives as to whom the carpet belongs to. The result is an all-out fight between the villagers. Watziznehm however is delighted because it means that he has found the village of madmen which he was looking for — having been told about it by a Roman trader. He soon settles the argument by terrifying the two ladies with a short flight.
Watziznehm explains that he is searching for a way to make it rain in his country (a kingdom in India in the valley of the River Ganges). He reveals that if it doesn't rain in 1001 hours (a reference to One Thousand and One Nights), Princess Orinjade, daughter of Rajah Wotzit, will be executed as a sacrifice to the gods. This prophesy is actually part of an evil scheme by Grand Vizier
Hoodunnit, who plans on taking the Rajah's throne once he had disposed of the only heiress. Vitalstatistix agrees to send the rain-making Cacofonix to India, accompanied by Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix.
The next day, they encounter their "old friends" the pirates. Although the Gauls do not, as customary, sink the ship, Obelix throws out all of the ship's booty on the grounds that it is just junk and not food. The captain hurredly calls for all the food to be brought and the Gauls and the fakir leave with it, paying with just one small coin. After the captain remarks that they got off easily this time, the African lookout reveals that he scuttled the ship to preserve honor. Meanwhile Hoodunnit reveals to his henchman that if it doesn't rain he will have the Rajah executed, then if it still doesn't rain it won't matter as he will be Rajah himself.
The carpet flies over Rome, where the Gauls say hello to a feverish Julius Caesar
, causing him to go into a further delirious state along with his Doctor, and on over the Adriatic Sea
. Cacofonix insists on singing, to the point that Watziznehm jumps off the carpet in horror. Without a fakir to steer it, the carpet plummets into the sea, where they are picked up by a Greek merchant's ship. Watziznehm has fallen into a jug of wine. To sober him up, Cacofonix sings yet again, causing a storm and grounding the ship on a tiny island. Obelix and Asterix free the ship easily, sending the Greek merchant on his way. Obelix is still complaining about the lack of food. Meanwhile Watiznehm is worried, as he feels he will be punished for drinking.
After flying over Athens
and Tyre, they enter another thunderstorm (this time, not of Cacofonix' making). A bolt of lightning strikes the carpet and Watziznehm is forced to make an emergency landing in a Persian village, where a carpet seller refuses to fix Watziznehm's or sell one of his own carpets. However, after saving the Persians from Scythian raiders, the Persian gives one of his carpets to the Gauls.
milk.
The Gauls take Cacofonix to elephant-man Howdoo's home and set up the bath, leaving him to sit in it. Howdoo says there was an elephant who had this problem, and he cured it by blowing down it's nose
. He offers to do the same to the evidently worried Cacofonix, but Asterix stops him. The evil Hoodunnit, however, sends his henchmen to kidnap the bard, and they tie him up, take him to an ancient elephant meeting-place and graveyard, and leave him to the elephants. In the morning, Watziznehm, Asterix and Obelix set out to pick up the bard, but are stopped by Owzat, Hoodunnit's fakir sidekick. While Watziznehm and Owzat shoot curses at each other, Asterix and Obelix escape down an enchanted rope held up by another Fakir, and go to Howdoo's to pick up Cacofonix, only to find that he has disappeared.
Dogmatix picks up the smell of elephant milk, and after being held up by tigers, monkeys and a rhinoceros
, not to mention Hoodunnit's henchmen, they arrive at the elephant graveyard to find Cacofonix alive and well; his elephant-milk smell led the elephants to believe that he was one of them.
They return quickly to the capital city with the help of Watziznehm, who has finally defeated Owzat by flying upwards, causing Owzat to fly into a wall, Asterix and Cacofonix have magic potion to defeat the guards, and arrive right on the count of 0. Asterix sky-punches Orinjade's executioner into the air and saves her in the nick of time. With the help of his magic carpet, Watziznehm catches Hoodunnit and throws him against a tower. While fighting the Indian guards, Cacofonix realizes that he can speak again (because of the dose of magic potion he had taken), and sings Singin' in the Rain
at the considerable top of his lungs, causing it to rain at last.
At the victory feast in the palace, Obelix muses that now their fellow villagers might be (and indeed are doing so) having their traditional banquet, this time without him. And back in the village, some of the Gauls begin to express some desire to have the bard back, since it hasn't been raining for some time now. The most unhappy of all appears to be Fulliautomatix the blacksmith who sits apart from the others, cradling the hammer with which he usually knocks Cacofonix out, but appears to be missing him.
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
comic book series, by René Goscinny
René Goscinny
René Goscinny was a French comics editor and writer, who is best known for the comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.-Early life:Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family...
(stories) and Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his work on the Astérix series, but also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny.-Early life:...
(illustrations). It was first published in 1987. It is the fourth book to be published after the death of René Goscinny and is thus both written and drawn by Albert Uderzo alone.
The full original French title was Astérix chez Rahàzade ou Le compte des mille et une heures (Asterix meets Orinjade or the 1001 Hours Countdown), a reference to Queen Scheherazade
Scheherazade
Scheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.-Narration :...
who tells the famous 1001 Arabian Nights collection of stories.
Watziznehm arrives in Gaul
In the opening scenes, the GaulGaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
ish village inhabited by Asterix and his friends has been newly rebuilt by the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
(it had been burned down in Asterix and Son
Asterix and Son
Asterix and Son is the twenty-seventh volume of the Asterix comic book series, created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo .-Plot summary:A baby boy inexplicably appears at the porch of Asterix's house one morning...
). Though Chief Vitalstatistix is trying to give a speech, he is interrupted by the bard Cacofonix, who is testing the acoustics of his new hut. This causes it to rain; a pivotal point in this comic.
A small, dark-skinned man suddenly falls from the sky and introduces himself as Watziznehm the fakir
Fakir
The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....
, who had been brought off of his flying carpet by Cacofonix' downpour. The carpet itself lands near the huts of Vitalstatistix and Geriatrix, causing there to be an argument between their wives as to whom the carpet belongs to. The result is an all-out fight between the villagers. Watziznehm however is delighted because it means that he has found the village of madmen which he was looking for — having been told about it by a Roman trader. He soon settles the argument by terrifying the two ladies with a short flight.
Watziznehm explains that he is searching for a way to make it rain in his country (a kingdom in India in the valley of the River Ganges). He reveals that if it doesn't rain in 1001 hours (a reference to One Thousand and One Nights), Princess Orinjade, daughter of Rajah Wotzit, will be executed as a sacrifice to the gods. This prophesy is actually part of an evil scheme by Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
Hoodunnit, who plans on taking the Rajah's throne once he had disposed of the only heiress. Vitalstatistix agrees to send the rain-making Cacofonix to India, accompanied by Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix.
Journey on a Magic Carpet
The group sets out slightly disgruntled, as Cacofonix is not allowed to sing and Obelix isn't allowed to bring a whole cart-load of roasting wild boar with him (Obelix' constant request for food is a running joke in the story). When Asterix points out some wild boar in the forest, Obelix leans over in such excitement that Cacofonix falls from the carpet, but manages to catch hold of a tree branch.The next day, they encounter their "old friends" the pirates. Although the Gauls do not, as customary, sink the ship, Obelix throws out all of the ship's booty on the grounds that it is just junk and not food. The captain hurredly calls for all the food to be brought and the Gauls and the fakir leave with it, paying with just one small coin. After the captain remarks that they got off easily this time, the African lookout reveals that he scuttled the ship to preserve honor. Meanwhile Hoodunnit reveals to his henchman that if it doesn't rain he will have the Rajah executed, then if it still doesn't rain it won't matter as he will be Rajah himself.
The carpet flies over Rome, where the Gauls say hello to a feverish Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, causing him to go into a further delirious state along with his Doctor, and on over the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
. Cacofonix insists on singing, to the point that Watziznehm jumps off the carpet in horror. Without a fakir to steer it, the carpet plummets into the sea, where they are picked up by a Greek merchant's ship. Watziznehm has fallen into a jug of wine. To sober him up, Cacofonix sings yet again, causing a storm and grounding the ship on a tiny island. Obelix and Asterix free the ship easily, sending the Greek merchant on his way. Obelix is still complaining about the lack of food. Meanwhile Watiznehm is worried, as he feels he will be punished for drinking.
After flying over Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Tyre, they enter another thunderstorm (this time, not of Cacofonix' making). A bolt of lightning strikes the carpet and Watziznehm is forced to make an emergency landing in a Persian village, where a carpet seller refuses to fix Watziznehm's or sell one of his own carpets. However, after saving the Persians from Scythian raiders, the Persian gives one of his carpets to the Gauls.
In India
The Gauls arrive in India with exactly 30 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds left in which to save Orinjade. When told to sing, however, Cacofonix can do little more than produce three dots: ... . He has lost his voice during the journey. Rajah Wotzit's doctors (some of which, oddly, can speak Latin) proclaim that to regain his voice, Cacofonix must take an overnight bath in elephantElephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
milk.
The Gauls take Cacofonix to elephant-man Howdoo's home and set up the bath, leaving him to sit in it. Howdoo says there was an elephant who had this problem, and he cured it by blowing down it's nose
Nose
Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for respiration in conjunction with the mouth. Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes through the pharynx, shared with the...
. He offers to do the same to the evidently worried Cacofonix, but Asterix stops him. The evil Hoodunnit, however, sends his henchmen to kidnap the bard, and they tie him up, take him to an ancient elephant meeting-place and graveyard, and leave him to the elephants. In the morning, Watziznehm, Asterix and Obelix set out to pick up the bard, but are stopped by Owzat, Hoodunnit's fakir sidekick. While Watziznehm and Owzat shoot curses at each other, Asterix and Obelix escape down an enchanted rope held up by another Fakir, and go to Howdoo's to pick up Cacofonix, only to find that he has disappeared.
Dogmatix picks up the smell of elephant milk, and after being held up by tigers, monkeys and a rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
, not to mention Hoodunnit's henchmen, they arrive at the elephant graveyard to find Cacofonix alive and well; his elephant-milk smell led the elephants to believe that he was one of them.
They return quickly to the capital city with the help of Watziznehm, who has finally defeated Owzat by flying upwards, causing Owzat to fly into a wall, Asterix and Cacofonix have magic potion to defeat the guards, and arrive right on the count of 0. Asterix sky-punches Orinjade's executioner into the air and saves her in the nick of time. With the help of his magic carpet, Watziznehm catches Hoodunnit and throws him against a tower. While fighting the Indian guards, Cacofonix realizes that he can speak again (because of the dose of magic potion he had taken), and sings Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain (song)
"Singin' In the Rain" is a song with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown, published in 1929. However, it is unclear exactly when the song was written with some claiming that the song was written and performed as early as 1927. The song was listed as Number 3 on AFI's 100 Years.....
at the considerable top of his lungs, causing it to rain at last.
At the victory feast in the palace, Obelix muses that now their fellow villagers might be (and indeed are doing so) having their traditional banquet, this time without him. And back in the village, some of the Gauls begin to express some desire to have the bard back, since it hasn't been raining for some time now. The most unhappy of all appears to be Fulliautomatix the blacksmith who sits apart from the others, cradling the hammer with which he usually knocks Cacofonix out, but appears to be missing him.
Introducing
- Watziznehm - the fakir
- Wotzit - the rajah
- Orinjade - the princess
- Hoodunnit - the scheming Grand Vizier
- Owzat - Hoodunnit's fakir henchman
- Howdoo - the elephant man
In other languages
- Ancient Greek: Αστερίκιος παρά Σακχαραζάδι
- Catalan: Astèrix a l'Índia
- Czech: Asterix a Rahazáda
- Dutch: Asterix in Indus-land
- Spanish: Astérix en la India
- Finnish: Asterix Intiassa - Tuhannen ja yhden tunnin matka (Asterix in India - The Thousand-and-One-Hour Journey)
- German: Asterix im Morgenland
- Greek: Ο Αστερίξ και η Χαλαλίμα
- Italian: Le mille e un'ora di Asterix
- Norwegian: Asterix og det flygende teppet
- Portuguese: As 1001 horas de Astérix
- Polish: Asteriks u Reszehezady
- Serbian: Астерикс и летећи ћилим
- Swedish: Asterix i Indien
More information
- http://www.mage.fst.uha.fr/asterix/rahazade/etude.html (in French)