| Searching
for the a jade elephant Scrooge and his family arrive
in Unsteadystan, "where every thug wants to be a
ruler," and "where there is always someone shooting
at some else." (TR 99, US 7/66, Treasure of Marco
Polo). A state of civil war is immediately turned
into an incomprehensible game of someone-or-other against
someone-or-other, a stupid fratricide lacking in any ethical
direction or socio-economic raison d'être.
The war in Vietnam becomes a mere interchange of unconnected
and senseless bullets, and a truce becomes a siesta. "Whan
Beeg Rhat, yes, Duckburh, no!" cries the guerilla
in support of an ambitious (communist) dictator, as he
dynamites the Duckburg embassy. |
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| Noticing
that his watch is not working properly, the Vietcong
(no less) mutters, "Shows you can't trust these
watches from 'worker's paradise'." |
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| The struggle for
power is purely personal, the eccentricity of ambition: "
Hail toWhan Beeg Rhat, dictator of all the happy people,"
goes the cry and sotto voce " happy or not".
Defending his conquest, the dictator gives orders to kill. "Shoot
him. Don't let him spoil my revolution." The savior of
this chaotic situation is Prince Char Ming, also known, in the
Spanish version) as Yho Soy ["I am" - the English
is "Soy Bheen"], names expressive of his magical egocentricity
He comes to reunify the county and "pacify" the people.
He is destined to triumph, because the soldiers refuse to obey
the orders of a leader who has lost his charisma, who is not
"Char Ming". So one guerilla wonders why they "keep
these silly revolutions going on for ever." Another denounces
them, demanding a return to the King, like in the good old days." |
| In
order to close the circuit and the alliance between Duckburg
and Prince Char Ming, Scrooge McDuck presents to Unsteadystan
the treasure and the jade elephant which one had belonged
to the people of that country. One of the nephews observes:
" They will be of use to the poor." And finally,
Scrooge, in his haste to get out of this parody of Vietnam,
promises "When I return to Duckburg, I will do even more
for you. I will return the million dollar tail of the jade
elephant."
But we can bet
that Scrooge will forget his promises as soon as he gets back.
As proof we find in another comic book (D455) the following
dialogue which takes place in Duckburg:
Nephew: "They
got the asiatic flu as well."
Donald: " I've always said that nothing good could come
out of Asia." |
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