Story code W US 12-02 Hero Scrooge McDuck Layout 3 rows per page Date 2 June 1955 | Ink Carl Barks Pages 31 Page count 31 | |
Appearances Scrooge McDuck
Donald Duck
Huey, Dewey and Louie Similar Tralla La, Only a Poor Old Man, Horsing Around with History, Uncle Scrooge Adventures, The Ghost of the Grotto | ||
"The Golden Fleecing" is a Scrooge McDuck comic book story from 1955, written and drawn by Carl Barks. It's about Scrooge who wants the Golden Fleece to make a jacket.
Contents
The golden fleecing preview clip
Plot
Scrooge wants a coat made of solid gold, but the coat merchant tells him there is no such thing. Despite that, Scrooge still desires one, so he meets a strange man who is known as an Eikral who is from the country of Seikral. Donald Duck, who has never heard of Seikral, is suspicious of the Eikral's intentions, so he asks his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie to look up the name Seikral in the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook. It mentions Jason and the Argonauts. The nephews figure out that "Seikral" is "Larkies" spelled backwards and Larkies are creatures who are half women, half birds.
Donald and the nephews are about to warn Scrooge that he is walking into a trap set by Larkies, but at the last minute Donald gets captured with Scrooge and they are both prisoners on Mt. Colchis. Huey, Dewey and Louie come to the rescue in a helicopter. One of the Larkies agrees to help Scrooge and Donald escape if Scrooge says that her recipe is the best. To Scrooge's chagrin, it happened to be parsnip pudding, and Scrooge hates parsnips more than any other food. Later, the Larkie that cooked the parsnip pudding lets Scrooge and Donald go but regrets it, so she later tricks them into yelling the word "Seikral" to find the way into the cave. The cave has a unique effect that will reverse the sound, so "Larkies" is shouted back. The Larkies find out that they escaped and bombard them near to the point of submission. However, the nephews arrive and drive the beasts off.
Eventually, Scrooge and Donald reunite with the nephews and they find the Golden Fleece and defeat the Sleepless Dragon. After that, they go back to Duckburg and Donald and the nephews watch Scrooge take his old coat out of the trash because his new one, being made of metal with no insulating value, is too cold to wear.
Analysis
The moral of the story is to be happy with what you have if it makes you feel comfortable. This story was later adapted into a DuckTales animated television episode. Donald was replaced with Launchpad McQuack and Ludwig von Drake was added. Also, in the DuckTales version, Scrooge doesn't keep the Golden Fleece but leaves it in Colchis.
This story was originally printed in Uncle Scrooge #12 then reprinted in Gladstone Comic Album #19 and Uncle Scrooge Adventures #28 and then Carl Barks' Greatest DuckTales Stories #2.