Asterix and the Cauldron

Infobox Asterix
Title=Asterix and the Cauldron


Frenchtitle=Asterix et le Chaudron
Story=Rene Goscinny
Illustrations=Albert Uderzo
FrenchDate=1969
EnglishDate=1976
Preceded=Asterix at the Olympic Games
Followed=Asterix in Spain|

"Asterix and the Cauldron" is the thirteenth volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). It was first serialized in Pilote issues 469-491 in 1968 and translated into English in 1976.

Plot summary

Whosemoralsarelastix, the chief of a neighboring Gaulish village, is a mean and greedy man who often does business with the Romans. When the Romans instigate new taxes, Whosemoralsarelastix asks the people of Asterix's village to safeguard a cauldron full of money, his village's treasures.

Asterix is left in charge of the cauldron full of sestertii which promptly gets stolen during the night. As the strict laws of the Gauls demand, Asterix is banished, and Obelix immediately “banishes” himself to stay with his friend. In order to regain his honor, Asterix (with Obelix's help) must find money to refill the cauldron and repay Whosemoralsarelastix.

Asterix and Obelix engage in many futile attempts to earn back the money. This includes trashing the pirates, who were for once trying to engage in an honest profession by turning their ship into a restaurant. The pair also resort to selling boars, prize fighting, acting, gambling and even trying to rob a bank which is empty of money due to the recent tax increases by the Romans.

They finally stumble upon and rob a Roman tax collector. But as they set off to take the money to Whosemoralsarelastix, Asterix catches a suspicious smell on the coins. The cauldron had previously been used for cooking onion soup - and the coins, fresh from the collector's coffers, smell of onion soup as well.

Asterix and Obelix go to Whosemoralsarelastix's village, which lies on a high cliff at the coast. Asterix confronts Whosemoralsarelastix with the onion soup-smelling money having correctly guessed that Whosemoralsarelastix stole back his own money, paid his taxes to the Romans to retain their favor, and then used Asterix to get his money back. A fight between Obelix and the villagers and Asterix versus the treacherous chief ensues, which results in the cauldron and the money falling off the cliff after the section upon which the cauldron was standing breaks off, resolving the issue.

The money itself, however, falls right into the ship and the lap of the Pirates, who for once conclude an adventure on a happy note for themselves, and Asterix and Obelix return to their village in triumph.

New characters

This volume introduces several new characters:
*Chief Whosemoralsarelastix (Chief whose morals are elastic)
*Pigskidnix (Pigs kidneys)
*Antibiotix (Antibiotics)
*Laurensolivius (Laurence Olivier)
*Alecguinus (Alec Guinness)
*Confidenstrix (Confidence tricks)

Notes

*When Obelix suggests they get paid by telling people their adventures, Asterix rejects the idea as unlikely to raise any money. The joke is that, by this time, the series had made Goscinny and Uderzo two very wealthy men.

*Goscinny and Uderzo themselves appear in the story. When the Roman dignitaries assemble at the theatre at the beginning of the show, Uderzo is shown talking to the Prefect, while Goscinny, on the right, is making his neighbours laugh.

*The tax collector in the book appears to be a caricature of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the French minister of finance at that time. He later became President.

*This is the first — and so far only — volume in which the pirates actually enjoy a happy ending. This is also the first of the few rare stories where their ship is not sunk (though they have already taken a beating earlier in this episode).

*A number of readers disliked this volume because Asterix and Obelix are seen as uneducated.Fact|date=August 2007

*Nevertheless, the arc of the story is Whosemoralsarelastx's plot. And it's only by Asterix's cunning that the plot is finally unraveled (Obelix however is bemused...).

In other languages

*Catalan: "Astèrix i el calderó"
*Dutch: "Asterix en de koperen ketel"
*Finnish: "Asterix ja rahapata" ("Asterix and the Cauldron of Money")
*German: "Asterix und der Kupferkessel"
*Greek: "Ο Αστερίξ και η χύτρα"
*Italian: "Asterix e il Paiolo"
*Norwegian: "Asterix på skattejakt"
*Polish: "Asteriks i kociołek"
*Portuguese: "Astérix e o Caldeirão"
*Serbian: "Котлић с благом"
*Spanish: "Astérix y el caldero"
*Swedish: "Asterix och skatten" ("Asterix and the Treasure")