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Background
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- English Title: Asterix
and the Cauldron
- French Title: Asterix
et le Chauldron
- Asterix Book Number:
13
- First Published: 1969
- First Published in English:
1976
- Written by:
Rene Goscinny
- Illustrated by: Albert
Uderzo
- Translated By:
Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge
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Goscinny and Uderzo set their sights for the first time on
greed and money - to great satiral effect.
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Plot
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"Financial skulduggery in ancient
Gaul! When local chief Whosemoralsarelastix wants a cauldron
full of money kept out of Roman hands, the cash disappears
while Asterix is guarding it. He and Obelix must earn enough
to repay it through fairground gladitotial conquests, trendy
theatrical contests, even bank robbery - they'll try anything.
But whose morals are really elastic? And how do the pirates
for once get an unexpected bonus?"
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Take
a look Inside
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You
can view Images from Asterix and the Cauldron here.
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Notable
Characters
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Chief Whosemoralsarelastix
- What it means: A chief whose morals are
elastic
- About: The Chief of a neighbouring Gaulish
Village, Whosemoralsarelastix entrusts a cauldron filled
with money to Asterix's keeping. An unscrupulous person,
he deals with Romans instead of Gauls and is always trying
to keep in their good books - even if it means betraying
Asterix and his village.
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Laurensolivius
- What it means: Laurence Olivier the famous
actor
- About: When Lauransolivius has a fallout
with two of his fellow actors, he employs Asterix and Obelix
to feature in his new play. He wants a new type of a production
- one with a message, and he hopes Obelix will be a just
the person to give it!
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How
to (not) make money in the Ancient World
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| Asterix and Obelix have a cauldron to fill. But
neither of them are businessman, just two Gaulish warriors who
have never previously had much use for money (or sestertii)
before. So they embark on a campaign to fill that cauldron,
trying many different business ventures... |
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If you want to make sestertii, play to
your strengths. Both Asterix and Obelix hunt boars, so
what better way than to capture boars than sell them at the
market? If you have competition, it is good to offer your
products for less... but don't go overboard! Asterix and Obelix
sell 14 boars for only five sestertii (when they are worth
five sestertii each), causing the bottom to fall out of the
boar market.
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People will glady pay to see animals
do tricks. Just make sure it is the dog, not the owner
doing the tricks like Obelix. And if you do manage to teach
them a trick, for Tautatis' sake, make sure you teach them
properly!
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Why not enter a competition? It won't
hurt if you loose (unless you didn't fall into the cauldron
when you were a baby) and if you win, you'll get a prize.
Obelix enters a gladiatorial contest and easily defeats all
the gladiators. The only problem was all he won were worthless
trophies. If you don't have the entrepreneurial ability, why
not get a job? This Asterix does, getting employed
as a gladiator and offers the audience to fight him. But he
destroys the audience, meaning they can't pay his boss and
his boss can't pay him
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Whatever you do, don't become an actor.
They get paid little, if anything at all, and acting in front
of all those people can be daunting for the best of people.
You may also be asked to improvise, to make up a line, like
Obelix, but this is hard if you can't think of anything to
say. And if you offend the authorities you'll land up in jail!
And then there are those egos. Stay clear!
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If you've had no luck thus far, then why
do you think you'll suddenly become lucky by gambling?
But this is what Asterix and Obelix do, when they place money
at the races on the blue team ("He just can't loose!").
But he did loose. So there!
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If all else fails, why not resort to criminal
activity and rob a bank? This does however require
a lot of planning, recording when the guards change, formulating
a fool proof plan, and practising whistling and looking innocent.
Just make sure that the bank has some money or all that planning
would have been a waste of time.
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We all know the Government's tax collectors
rip us the tax payer off, so why not take the taxes back?
It works...
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Review
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The story is told in a whole series of mini-adventures
about the different ways Asterix and Obelix try and fill
the cauldron with money. This means that maximum humour
is packed into the book. The lack of business sense that
Asterix and Obelix possess accounts for much of the humour
- selling fourteen boars for five sesterii then buying one
boar for that ammount of money! I was laughing throughout
the entire adventure.
One of the best!
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Buy
Asterix and the Cauldron
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