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| ASTERIX & MENHIRS |
Menhirs are, in stone, what Obelix is in flesh and bones: tall, but also very wide! The name comes from the Breton men which means stone, and hir, which means long. Menhirs can be found in the homes of all respectable Gauls, last forever, and are totally worthless... therefore, indispensable!  As he carries them all day long, and carves them with love and attention, menhirs seem inseparable from Obelix, as we see in the very first story, Asterix the Gaul. As a menhir delivery man, Obelix works in his quarry, and supplies tremendous megaliths to the village and its surrounding area.  Since "little gifts are a good token of friendship", Obelix always gives menhirs as presents, such as to Metalurgix, his distant cousin from Lutetia, as we see in Asterix and the Golden Sickle. In Asterix the Legionary, it is only after getting advice from Asterix that he accepts to give a bouquet of flowers, rather than the nicest menhir he has, with a red ribbon around it, to the beautiful Panacea.  You need a lot of experience to make a menhir. According to the Gaulish tradition, menhirs must be long and must have a rounded base. In Asterix and Cleopatra, Obelix, influenced by the pyramids, does his best to create a new style, but the chief, Vitalstatistix, enforces the time-worn customs in his village!  When you send a menhir by mail, you should follow the advice of Postaldistrix and register it. You never know what can get lost in the mail...  Menhirs look just lovely in a living room or in the middle of a field, but they can also be used as weapons. We can see how proficient Obelix is at menhir throwing; he never misses a Roman target.  In Obelix and Co., Caius Preposterus, Caesar’s advisor, orders lots of menhirs, hoping to distract the Gauls from their favorite activity: thumping Roman troops. The lure of Sestertis first gets the Gauls all wound up. All the villagers start carving menhirs. But once Caesar’s coffers are empty, Obelix once again becomes the only official menhir delivery man.  And why not collect them? By Toutatis, menhirs, of course! They’re much more unique than shields, and less dangerous than rounding up Roman helmets. “Oi doint’ use that for nowt,” says Bucolix in front of his field, " They do say as the land hereabouts bain’t no good for growing nowt but stones, so oi moight as well see if that be an old woives’ tale!” .  Menhirs and dolmens first appeared long before our indomitable Gauls, around 4,000 BC. When the Celts arrived in Brittany, Great Britain and Ireland, they found standing stones, a kind of monumental tomb. And, above all, as Obelix, "they’re nice"..  |
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