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| ASTERIX & ANIMALS |
Animals Asterix and Obelix live close to nature. Their village is in a forest, near the sea. Many animals live around them: boars, of course, but also rabbits, squirrels and foxes. We even see a dragon lurking. Our friends' many adventures lead them to distant lands and give them the chance to meet other, more exotic species. In addition to the lions of the Roman arenas, our friends discover elephants, tigers and camels. Here is the Asterix bestiary. "..  In Asterix and the Golden Sickle, while Asterix and Obelix are fighting against bandits beneath the forest, we discover how the animals live: little birds warble along the leafy branches, and squirrels play on the mossy ground.  In Asterix the Gladiator, the bard Cacofonix is kidnapped by the Romans. He ends up in a Roman arena, at the mercy of the lions. But his songs make the wild beasts run away.  At the beginning of Asterix and the Banquet, the battles between the Gauls and the Romans make all the animals of the forest run away: boars, deer, wolves, snakes, rabbits and foxes. During their journey, our heroes visit Rotomagus, and they ask direction from a farmer who is milking a cow. When they get to Lutetia, they buy a chariot pulled by an exhausted horse. They soon have to steal a Roman's horse to continue their journey.  In Asterix and the Big Fight, a Roman legionary disguised as a tree goes to spy on the Gauls. He is unmasked by a kind owl.  In Asterix at the Olympic Games, Obelix goes to Greece with a herd of boars. They are part of his athlete's diet. We notice that when the local rooster sings out at sunrise, he does so in the local language, saying "Cockadoodledoo" but "Cockadoodledos".  In Asterix and the Cauldron, the entire village is in a panic. They have never seen this much agitation. Someone stole the Sestertis that Whosemoralsarelastix entrusted to Vitalstatistix. Asterix and Obelix start selling boars at the great market of Condatum to reimburse the stolen money. They see some performing dogs. They act as gladiators, bet on horse races, rob a bank, steal from a tax collector, before they finally realize that Whosemoralsarelastix stole his own money. ".  In Asterix in Spain, our friends help Pepe, a grouchy little boy, get back home. Captured by the Romans, Asterix is thrown in the arena. He ends up face to face with a wild aurochs (a bull), whereas he expected to fight lions. He overcomes the animal thanks to a red cape that a Roman dropped. ".  In Asterix and the Roman Agent, animals are mostly used as weapons in the fights among Gauls, and the preferred weapon is still the fish. The pigs and chicken of the village watch indifferently as the villagers fight it out amongst themselves. When Unhygienix gets angry with Fulliautomatix, he becomes so red that the birds of the forest think he is a goldfish. ".  In The Mansions of the Gods, the village rooster is awakened by the Roman night shift. He starts crowing in the middle of the night, keeping the Gauls awake. Squareonthehypotenus, the architect sent by Caesar, has the trees of the forest pulled out of the ground to build apartments, forcing the animals to move. ".  The fake soothsayer, wearing a wolf's skin, tricks the Gauls into giving him food, since he pretends that he can read the future in animal entrails. In order to prove to the villagers that he is really a charlatan, Getafix concocts a potion whose smell makes all the animals of the forest run away. This is where we see that there are not only boars in the forest, but also deer, snakes, squirrels, hedgehogs, turtles and rabbits. ".  In Asterix in Corsica, the Romans try to take their enemies by surprise. They didn't count on the vigilance of the Corsicans who use donkeys (that they pull by the tail) or boars to signal their presence. ".  During their Great Crossing, Asterix and Obelix discover animals that they have never seen before: turkeys and bears. They also make some new friends, funny people with feathers on their heads. ".  At the beginning of Asterix and the Black Gold, we see boars chatting. Obelix's favorite meal, these animals are not so dumb. When they are discovered by the Gauls, they lead them toward a Roman patrol. Since the Gauls naturally prefer banging on the invaders, the boars can get away. In this story, we see that animals are actually quite intelligent. Dubbelosix, the druid spy sent to the Gaulish village by Devius Surepetitius to steal the secret of the magic potion, uses a fly that can cross long distances to deliver his messages. ".  In Asterix and Son, Obelix gives the baby that Asterix found on his doorstep some magic potion to drink. The child then picks up a cow that he uses as a rattle. The poor creature goes for a little spin. ".  In Asterix and the Magic Carpet, our friends meet Howdoo, who trains elephants, in India. Kidnapped by the evil Hoodunnit's henchmen, Cacofonix almost makes the elephants go wild when he goes to the elephants' graveyard, the sacred place where they go to die. Asterix and Obelix go to free him, and are successively attacked by a tiger, a snake, a monkey and a rhinoceros. But none of these ferocious creatures scares Obelix in the slightest. ".  In Asterix and the Secret Weapon, it is not the fights between the Gauls and Romans that make the animals of the forest run away, but Cacofonix's songs. The feminine legion sent to invade the village runs away together with the bears and owls as the bard sings out his tune. We even discover that there is a dragon that doesn't like his songs very much either. ".  In Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, our friends go to a fantastic island, Altlantis, hoping that the science of the Atlantans will help Obelix become an adult again. They discover all sorts of fabulous animals: children riding dolphins, swans, as well as flying cows. |
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