The Sign of the Triple Distelfink

[Olaf Solstrand]

> A few weeks ago I did put Don Rosa's "The Sign of the Triple Distelfink"
> (The Norwegian version) on-line due to a frindly request from our friend
> Maciek. The part of the story where DR indicates that Grandma is giving a
> mammal birth to Gladstone's mother is on page 12! And please notice that
> that's not something I have come up with myself - it's something that Don
> Rosa once told me himself.
>

Pardon my language - but it is BULLSHIT calling this a "mammal birth"! Yes,
that may be what Don Rosa meant with it - but that is certainly not what is
said in the story (unless this frame was brutally malfracted by a
translator - and even if it was, it was for a reason.)


Allow me to translate from Norwegian, for those who still can't find their
copy:

Grandma telling: "Grandpa had rented a travelling painter and were watching
him as he finished the new barn..."
Grandpa: "What is the strange pattern you're painting? I have seen it on
other barns, but..."
Painter: "It is my gift to the child your wife is waiting. It's called a
[word I' don't know]."
Grandpa: "What? [word I don't know]?"
Painter: "Don't worry - [word I don't know] always brings luck. This is a
triple distlefink, that triples people's luck. Combined with the symbol that
wishes the child all well."
Painter: "And I painted a _reverse_ triple distelfink on the backside. That
means that all bad luck is _behind_ you!"
Grandpa: "That was a very nice thing to do, stranger!"
Grandma (off): "Ooh! I think it is time!"
Grandpa: "What time, Grandma? I'm standing here talking to..."
Grandpa: "?!"
Grandma telling: "And the sign seemed to work! Daphne was born lucky, and
Gladstone inherited all of her luck!"

If different in many other countries, please say so.

What in this story implicates that this is a mammal birth? Yes, the painter
says "my gift to the child your wife is waiting", but that doesn't mean this
child HAS to be a lump on her stommach. It COULD be an egg.

And the line I vaguely remembered, "I think my water just broke" - pfft, I
was completely wrong! The line used was "I think it is time", which
CERTAINLY does NOT stress that this is a mammal birth!




Another funny detail I noticed (because it is the kind of error Don Rosa
tries to never do, and either he or the translator did so) is that when
Grandpa talked to Grandma, he called her "Bestemor" ("Grandma") - although,
they didn't have ANY grandchildren yet, while they probably still went under
the names "Ma" and "Pa" Duck [reference: The Life and Times of Scrooge
McDuck X] - if even that.




Olaf the Blue
www.andebyonline.com