DCML digest, Vol 1 #32 - 7 msgs

[Kriton Kyrimis]

> The Lentils of Babylonia is one of my most-beloved story

==========================SPOILER WARNING=================================

Me, too. I guess what I like about this story is that it starts and
finishes with Scrooge defeated, with only a promise that things will
turn out right, unlike the often used in Barks' stories "so Scrooge gets
his money back and everything is as it was before". (In a similar vein,
the accompanying article in Komix describes how Scarpa made a non-Barks
story using all-Barks ingredients.)

Despite this, I can't help being extremely confused by the story.
I've read it in three different languages [Greek (two versions), English
and French], and all offer different explanations as to what the Beagle's
scheme for selling the same lentils over and over was. The Greek version
has a ring of buyers selling the lentils to the next buyer because they
taste awful.  The french version has the Beagles taking advantage of
currency exchange rates, that allow them to buy back their own product
and still make a profit. Finally, the american version has the Beagles
selling the lentils for "worthless" dust, which only they know is gold
dust, and buying them back for money. The Greek version doesn't make much
sense (why would buyers, who found the lentils awful, want to buy more
shipments, only to can get rid of them again?) The French version does
make some sense (though I would think that if you go to the bank and start
exchanging your money from one currency to another, by the time you get
your own currency back, you'll end up with a lot less that you started
with). Even so, it still doesn't explain why the various intermediaries
would want to play the Beagles' game.  Finally, the american version,
although it does sort of make sense, it would appear that it is an attempt
to make sense out of a nonsense premise. The american version even tries
to explain how the Beagles could dictate policy to Scrooge, even though
they only owned one share of their own company, by changing it to 50%
of the company. Although this does explain things (including how on
earth could the Beagles let Scrooge buy 99.9% of their own company,
which would require Scrooge to buy some of their own stock), it plays
down the fact that, blinded by greed, Scrooge gave his entire fortune
for one worthless stock.

I'd love to know what was in the original version, and if it actually
makes sense there.

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        Kriton  (e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
                (WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis
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"Well, Ivan, you're the one in the navigator's seat.  What are you doing?"
"Sir, I am instructed to keep this seat warm until Chekov returns."
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