Rahan. Episode Thirty Six. The Monkey Men. by Roger Lecureux. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

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Episode Thirty Six.

The Monkey Men.

The season-of-yellow-leaves" had arrived and the son of Crao watched these golden butterflies fluttering in the wind.
Then will come the "Season-without-leaves". Then that of the "Green-leaves".
The trees therefore live, like "Those-who-walk-upright"!

His gaze fell on a large leaf that a breath had just flattened on the surface of the pond.
They also know how to "crawl on water", he thought!

Amused, he followed for a moment the race that seemed to be taking place between two leaves pushed by the wind.
And they go faster than Rahan's Raft, he thought!

Page Two:

As the son of Crao thought of his raft which he had abandoned to cross this territory, a nearby noise arose.
The "Two Horns" have returned!

And indeed, as on the previous day, the antelopes approached fearfully from the pond.
Maybe this time Rahan can kill one!

Rahan not only wanted to appease his hunger, but also to protect himself from the rigors of the leafless season he knew was near.
A skin of a "Two-horn" would allow it.

He was only a few paces away from the animals when they sniffed the wind.

And, like the day before, they took off at the very moment when the son of Crao leapt!
It was again a desperate race in the thickets.

Page Three:

In the confusion of which the antelopes disappeared.
Rahan does not run fast enough to catch the "Two Horns"!

He will have to invent a trap!

Annoyed, the son of the fierce ages returned to the pond where the leaves continued their course, slipping on the water, at the mercy of the wind.

Unaware that his every move was being watched, he went back to carving the fragment of branch.

He was as skillful as he was patient, and the wood gradually took the form of a knife.
A knife that looked just like his own ivory knife.

This was just a pastime to practice his dexterity.
He knew this very well!
The wooden blade was ineffective, even unusable!

Page Four:

This weapon would break at the first shock!
But Rahan is happy to have been able to reproduce his knife!

A squall blew over the pond, carrying away the dead leaves at breakneck speed.
If Rahan was also running he would have killed a two-horned!

An experienced hunter, the son of Crao had difficulty admitting having been twice defeated by the rapid antelopes.
A good hunter must think and be tenacious, said Crao!

He fingered the claw of his necklace which symbolized tenacity.
Tomorrow, Rahan will find a way to kill a "Two-Horn"!!
He must!

As night fell, he gathered leaves and dead branches to build a fire.
When sparks sprang from the flints, the being who was watching him, suddenly worried, retreated into the half-light.

Page Five:

For a long time, the son of fierce ages meditated.
Rahan could dig a pit on the passage of the "Two-Horns".
But he does not have the time!

And then, the "Two-horns" are cunning beasts!
They would sense this trap and would avoid it!

He finally fell asleep and had a strange dream.
In this dream he was challenging a dead leaf in a race!

Did this sensation of water he felt in his dream suggest a plan?
Maybe, because of this, he woke up with a start.
Ra-ha-ha!
Rahan has found it.

Rahan knows how to overcome the mistrust of the "Two-horns"!
The fire was still glowing and the morning mist floated over the pond where the dead leaves were still gliding.

Page Six:

The "Two-horns" always come back to drink at the same place!
They sense Rahan lying in ambush in the thickets. And they flee!

But they will not sense anything if he hides in the water, under the water!!

This is where Rahan will be waiting for them!
The son of Crao had spotted some clumps of reeds near which the antelopes came to drink.

Playfully sticking the wooden cutlass in the soft earth of the bank.
He jumped into the water.

The being on the lookout growled in amazement.
This enemy he did not dare to attack, this enemy who knew how to bring fire out of stones, this enemy who was now crawling on the water!!

Page Seven:

In ambush near the reeds, his ear glued to the ground, the son of fierce ages waited a long time.

His heart beat faster when he finally heard the sound of hooves.
The "two-horns" are back! The "Two-horns" are coming!

Indeed, he caught a glimpse of the antelopes and let himself slide under the water, supple and silent as the gray grass snake.

Let them come and drink! Quickly!
Rahan will not be able to stay underwater for long!
Let them come quickly! Quickly!

The prudent beasts watched the bank.
Their nostrils throbbed, trying to detect the smell of the man.

Page Eight:

The son of Crao, out of breath, felt the blood rush to his neck at times.
He was going to emerge from the water when.

The nostrils of a "Two-horned" punctured the surface above him!
He divined the head of the beast bent over the water.

And he suddenly uncoiled!
Ra-ha-ha!
His hands gripped the horns, suddenly pulling the large antelope into the pond!

The second beast, terrified, was already far away.
Rahan was more cunning, and faster than the "Two-horns"!!

The antelope struggled furiously to regain the bank.
The son of Crao knew that a single blow from his sharp horns would kill him.

Page Nine:

So he decided to complete this difficult aquatic melee as soon as possible.

Ra-ha-ha!
The ivory knife disappeared in the red fleece.

A moment later, he was hoisting the "Two-horns" onto the bank.
Rahan will be able to eat for many long days!
And your skin will protect him from the bite of the cold!

Somewhere in the thickets, the being remained, petrified.
Where did the sun-haired-enemy get his power?

An idea became embedded in the primitive’s brain.
All the power of the enemy came from this magic object, this pointed and wonderfully polished object.

Page Ten:

Soon after the son of the fierce ages had skinned the "Two-horn".
He carefully cleaned the skin, which was large and healthy.

Then he dried it in the bright sun, stretched out on the ground.
The wooden knife is still useful to Rahan!

A little later.
As soon as he regains his strength, Rahan will return to the shore he glimpsed yesterday.
He will build a new Raft.

And set off again on the "Great River”.
In search of new lands!
The meat was starting to grill gently.

And spread around a delicious smell.
A smell completely unknown to the being who spied on the son of Crao.

Page Eleven:

Rahan has time to look for some fresh water!
The "Two-horns" will provide him with something to bring it back!

One of the long hollow horns of the antelope could, in fact, serve as a receptacle.
But only the inventive Rahan could attribute this function to it!

He had been able to see how brackish the water in the pond was, so he started looking for a spring.

Oh!
Crao would not forgive this oversight!!
Deprived of the ivory knife, he felt helpless for a moment.

But the light lapping of a stream reassured him.
Rahan does not need his weapon.
When he has drawn the water. He will return to his fire!

Page Twelve:

He had just plunged the horn into pure water when the wind suddenly turned.
And brought him the scent of a panther.

No sooner had he turned his head than the beast leapt with all claws out!

It was then that the son of the fierce ages showed his marvelous instinct.
He let himself fall into the stream, and he raised the long, sharp horn.

Ra-ha-ha!

The clear water of the stream turned red.
And, surprised to be still alive, Rahan freed himself.
Everything can become a weapon in the hands of "Those-who-walk-upright"!

Page Thirteen:

Without this horn, Rahan would have joined the "Territory of Shadows"!
But maybe, without the horn, Rahan would not have forgotten his knife!

Guided by the scent of grilled meat, the son of Crao easily found his fire.

He was planting the horn filled with fresh water in the ground when he froze in surprise.
The quarter of antelope on the fire was gone!

At the same time he noticed that the ivory knife, which held the skin taut.
It too had disappeared!

And it was then that he saw the being in the shadow of the trees.
A frighteningly hairy being who devoured the grilled meat and wielded the precious ivory knife!

Page Fourteen:

The son of Crao had already met "Monkey-men" as close to "Those-who-walk-upright" as "Those-who-live-in-the-trees".
This meat belongs to Rahan!
It was he who killed the "Two-Horns"!

Rahan will share the meat with you, but he wants you to return his knife!
The being growled.

He tossed the meat aside, and sat up, and clutched the ivory weapon fiercely.
He wants to fight! Without a knife, Rahan is lost!

Unless.
Unless.
This weapon lets him change things!!?
The son of fierce ages rushed to the “Knife of Wood”, and snatched it from the ground.

Could this primitive being approaching be deceived by appearances?
Rahan did not know.
But he no longer had a choice!!

Page Fifteen:

Gragh!
Ra-ha-ha!
The two adversaries collided, one armed with an ivory knife, the other with a derisory wooden one!!

The ape-man's fury was countered by Rahan's flexibility and cunning.
He avoided all the blows.

And managed to trip the being, and to paralyze his weapon arm.
Rahan could cut your throat!
But he does not cut the throat of those who look so much like "those-who-walk-upright!"

The wooden cutlass would break before penetrating the monstrously muscled chest.
But the "Monkey-man" did not know this!

He threw away the ivory weapon and his cries indicated that he was surrendering to his adversary.
Rahan will not take your life!!

Page Sixteen:

The son of Crao leapt to retrieve his knife.
Smashing the branches, the being was already disappearing into the forest.

This territory where men are still beasts does not suit Rahan!
Rahan is going back on the big river!!

He had appeased his hunger and quenched his thirst when distant shouts arose.
The monkey-man has alerted his people!!

Far away in fact, the wild cries of a disturbed horde were punctuated with the description which one of them made of the “enemy-with-hair-the-color-of-the-sun".

A breath of anguish swept through the great forest when the horde of "Monkey-Men" set off.
From the thickets to the foliage, everyone knew that the horde was on a hunt to kill!!

Page Seventeen:

The son of Crao, however, haunted by the unceasing clamor had just reached the shore.

The sea is stormy, but that was not what worried him.
The "Monkey-men" will be here very soon!
Rahan will not have time to build a Raft!

The wind that was blowing from the forest, indicated to him the approach of danger.
They are ten times more numerous than the fingers of the two hands!

For the first time the son of the fierce ages did not have to turn his ivory knife on a rock to know where to direct his steps.

Looking along this shore, he saw no other way out than the great river!
This stump should float as well as a raft!

Page Eighteen:

But will "The Great River" accept Rahan?
The waves rolled in, bringing the skiff back to the beach.

And this beach was suddenly invaded by the horde of "Monkey-Men".
Help Rahan "Great River!" At least take me! Quickly! Hurry up!

But the stump, for a moment carried out to sea, was immediately brought back by the waves!!
A hail of stones fell around the raft.

Rahan would have liked to teach everything he knows to the "Ape-men".
But it's impossible, impossible!
He can leave them only one memory!

The wooden knife he threw floated on the waves and was washed ashore.

Page Nineteen:

A moment later the "monkey-men" were fiercely fighting over this weapon!
If the "Great River" does not carry me away, Rahan will be massacred like a beast!

Despite the wind blowing out to sea, the waves kept bringing the skiff back.
Ah! If Rahan could glide through the water as fast as yellow leaves!

The son of Crao suddenly remembered his dream.
The race where he was opposed by a dead leaf.
The wind beating on this curled leaf.

A dazzling idea sprang from his imagination.
Could not it, like the leaf, provide a great grip on the wind?
His pole!
The skin of "Two-Horns"!

It only took him a moment to wedge the pole in place, and find the best way to stretch the skin across it.
Wind! Blow on the sheet of skin!!

Page Twenty:

The skin tightened, and swelled.
And Rahan's victorious clamor burst into the wind!
Ra-ha-ha!

The raft glided over the waves, out to sea!
Once again, his powers of observation, his imagination, his ability to take advantage of everything.

Had saved the son of Crao!

The "Monkey-men" ceased to fight, and contemplated with bewilderment this enemy who escaped them.
An elusive enemy who knew how to beat fire from stones and control the wind!!

This primitive horde thought, on this morning in the fierce ages, that their territory had been visited by a supernatural being!
It was no such thing!

If Rahan was more evolved than some of his kind, he was however only a man!
And it was with the pride of belonging to the great horde of "Those-who-walk-upright" that he let himself be carried away by the wind to other shores, other mysteries, other adventures.

Index:
https://rumble.com/v3486cm-rahan-index-of-episodes-by-roger-lecureux..html

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