"Mythological Menagerie" is a
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...
comic by
Don Rosa
Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created fo ...
, first published in ''
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American Comics anthology, anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mic ...
'' #523 in October 1987. This was the first story by Don Rosa story to be published in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, in 1990.
Plot
Donald
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
's
nephews are practicing their
animal identification
Animal identification using a means of marking is a process done to identify and track specific animals. It is done for a variety of reasons including verification of ownership, biosecurity control, and tracking for research or agricultural purpose ...
skills for a field trip with the
Junior Woodchucks
The Junior Woodchucks of the World is a fictional scouting organization appearing in Disney comics and the ''DuckTales'' animated television franchise, most notably in adventures featuring Disney characters Huey, Dewey, and Louie as members.
T ...
. This gives Donald an idea: he wants to see his nephews meet an animal they can't identify, so he can claim to have been a better scout.
On a trip into the woods, Donald heads to
Grandma Duck
The Duck family is a fictional family of cartoon ducks related to Disney character Donald Duck. The family is also related to the Coot, Goose, and Gander families, as well as the Scottish Clan McDuck. Besides Donald, the best-known members of th ...
's farm, disguises various animals as fantastical creatures from his own, wild imagination, and sends them off to meet the boys. However, the boys are able to identify each of them as
mythological animals
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
:
*A
Gulon
The Gulon is a creature in Scandinavian legend, also known as a "Jerff" in Northern Sweden and "Vielfraß" in Germany. It resembles a hodgepodge of various animals, usually described as being the size and shape of a dog, with some cat-like featur ...
;
*A
Mi'raj
The Israʾ and Miʿraj ( ar, الإسراء والمعراج, ') are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632) took during a single night around the year 621 (1 BH – 0 BH). With ...
;
*A
Basilisk
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk ( or ) is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes. According to the ''Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyrene is ...
;
*A
Catoblepas
The catoblepas (pl. catoblepones; from the Greek καταβλέπω (katablépō) "to look downwards") is a legendary creature from Ethiopia (Africa), first described by Pliny the Elder and later by Claudius Aelianus.
It is said to resemble a ca ...
;
*A
Peryton;
*A
Shadhahvar;
*An
Eale; and
*A
Barometz
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Latin: ''Agnus scythicus'' or ''Planta Tartarica Barometz'') is a Legendary creature, legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, once believed to grow sheep as its fruit. It was believed the sheep were connected to the pla ...
.
Frustrated, Donald becomes obsessed with showing up his nephews, so he runs to Grandma's farm and begins disguising her horse. However, he has mistaken Grandma's new, more sanguine horse for her older, calmer one, and when the horse kicks Donald out of annoyance, everything goes out of control. The boys expect to see perhaps a
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
or a
chimera
Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to:
* Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals
* Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilicia ...
, but what they do see is a complete jumble of animal parts. Having to admit that they have finally seen an animal they can't identify, the boys end their trip and head back home. The story ends with Donald claiming he can show his nephews something they certainly can't identify: "a genuine rustled-feathered, broken-jacketed Duckburgian pea-brain."
Notes
According to Don Rosa, every single creature the boys identify the animals as really exists in some
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an or
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n mythology.
External links
*
Disney comics stories
Donald Duck comics by Don Rosa
1987 in comics
{{Disney-comics-stub
Comics based on myths and legends
Legendary creatures in popular culture