“Cigars of the Pharaoh” (French Les Cigares du pharaon ) is the fourth comic book by Herges about the adventures of Tintin and Milou and the first in which a pair of mustachioed detectives and Rastapopoulos appear . Published in the journal Le Petit Vingtième from December 1932 to August 1934 under the title "Tintin in Orient" ( Tintin en Orient ). Released in a separate black and white album in 1934; a color version with abbreviations was released in 1955. It is connected through a storyline with the next album, " Blue Lotus ".
Content
- 1 plot
- 1.1 In Egypt
- 1.2 In India
- 2 References
Story
In Egypt
During a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea, Tintin casually makes himself an enemy - the fat sum Rastapopoulos. On the same ship, he meets the Egyptologist Philemon Cyclone bound for Egypt with a papyrus , which, in his opinion, contains the key to the whereabouts of the undisturbed tomb of Pharaoh Key Osk.
Meanwhile, detectives Dupont and Dupont (in the original version they call themselves X33 and X33b) find drugs in Tintin’s cabin and, after accusing him of drug trafficking, they put him under arrest. Reporter and Mil manage to slip out of the window. In Port Said, they meet with Cyclone and set off in search of the tomb. Near the entrance, Tintin finds a cigar with a seal of Ki-Osk, reminiscent of yin and yang .
The Egyptologist suddenly disappears somewhere, and Tintin and Milou set off to find him in the tomb. As they move deeper, the doors slam behind them. In the large hall they find a number of mummified Egyptologists (including Lord Carnival and E.P. Jacobini ). At the end there are three empty sarcophagi with the names of their future inhabitants - Cyclone, Milu and Tintin. The clothes of the missing scientist are scattered around.
Under the influence of opium fumes, friends fall asleep. At night, smugglers load sarcophagi onto the ship, which they then dump into the open sea. In these sarcophagi are Tintin and Milu. Fortunately, they are picked up by a passing ship, where they get acquainted with an indefatigable Portuguese merchant named Oliveira di Figueira. The latter sells Tintin a bunch of junk ( skiing , golf equipment, etc.).
Tintin leaves the ship and sets off into the depths of the desert, where people of the local sheikh intercept him. He dislikes the Europeans, but makes an exception for Tintin, as he reads comics about his adventures. Then Tintin tries to save a screaming woman from beating, and it turns out that it is Rastapopoulos who is making a movie in the desert.
In order not to attract attention, Tintin disguises himself as a local resident. The war between the tribes begins, and he is mobilized into the army. In the colonel’s office, he finds cigars with the seal of the pharaoh. The colonel catches him with this occupation and accuses him of espionage activities. He is sentenced to death, but the guns are loaded with blank cartridges. He is “buried” in a grave with a vent, from where two women in burqas extract him at night . Behind the Oriental robes are Dupont and Dupont, who set up the “execution” in order to capture Tintin alive and put him on trial for drug trafficking.
In India
Tintin manages to break away from his pursuers on an airplane. Landing in India , he finds Professor Cyclone in the jungle, who carves the seal of the pharaoh on the trees. He lost his mind and imagines himself Ramses II . He later tries to stab Tintin with a knife. It turns out that the professor was mesmerized by the local fakir , who gave him the task to get rid of the reporter.
Tintin is trying to find out the name of the head of the smugglers from a Hungarian writer by the name of Zloty, but the fakir hiding behind the window points an arrow at him with the juice of a poisonous plant. Under the influence of poison Zloty loses his mind. Tintin accompanies Cyclone and the writer into a madhouse with a letter from the doctor. The fakir manages to replace the letter with instructions to release Tintin’s wards, and imprison him himself as a dangerous psycho.
Meanwhile, Milu, lagging behind his master on the road, is attacked by a sacred cow . Indian peasants accuse him of sacrilege and decide to sacrifice Shiva . A voice from the dancing image of Shiva at the last moment orders to release the dog. As it turns out later, the voice belongs to Dupont and Dupont, who want to use the Fox Terrier to find and arrest his master.
Tintin manages to escape from the madhouse, but doctors overtake him at the station. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance collides with a car, behind the wheel of which are the crazy Zloty and Siklon. Tintin manages to break away from his pursuers and meet with the Maharajas . He talks about how his ancestors protected the local peasants from the fraud of the cartel of drug dealers. However, they all went crazy after hearing strange music. Maharaja also hears this music and understands that it was his turn to lose his mind.
Tintin suggests putting a mannequin in the bed of a Maharaja. At night, an arrow with poison fired by a fakir hits him. Tintin rushes after the villain into the hollow of the tree, which leads into the secret lair of the bandits. The leadership of the cartel gathered to meet in ridiculous Ku Klux Klan costumes with the symbolism of the pharaoh. Tintin stuns one of the bandits and, putting on his suit, makes a commotion at the meeting.
Maharaja, Milu, and detectives appear in the hall, reporting that the Egyptian police managed to find the smugglers' den in the tomb of Key Osk. Tintin's innocence is proven. The meeting participants are forced to take off their masks - these are the fakir, the Arab colonel and other people whom Tintin met during the trip. Heroin is found in cigars.
On the last pages of the album, the fakir who escaped from custody and the head of the bandits manage to kidnap the son of Maharaja and take him to the mountains. Tintin neutralizes the fakir, rescues the boy, but the main villain manages to slip away. His identity will be established in the next album - " Blue Lotus ", which takes place in China .