Rahan. Episode Ninety-Five. By Roger Lecureux. The Breath of Heaven. A Puke (TM) Comic.

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

Source of Rahan Comics:
Philippe Ropers.
https://vk.com/topic-203785966_47424128
Rahan.

Episode Ninety-Five.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Breath of Heaven.

For the three days that he had been wandering in this territory, the son of Crao had not discovered any spring.
This is why his heart beat with joy when he saw the watering hole near which a young woman was busy.

Fire is eating Rahan's throat, sister! Will you offer him water?
The water does not belong to Oonou.
The water belongs to the clan!
Casting fearful glances around her, the woman filled a bamboo.

Drink quickly and go!
Oonou would be punished if her people saw her giving away the clan water!
Oh. Attention!

Page Two.

The warning came too late.
The son of Crao did not even have time to turn around.
Crack.

When he recovered his spirits, hunters surrounded him.
He saw his claw collar on their leader's neck.

We left you your knife because our custom requires that our enemies join the "Territory of Shadows" with their weapons!
Rahan is not an enemy!
Rahan is a hunter who was eaten away by thirst!

And Oonou gave you Our water!
This water that we have collected with such difficulty!
For this crime, Oonou will be banned from the clan!
Onoo refused to give the water, but Rahan threatened her!

Rahan lied to spare the young woman the anger turned against him.

Page Three.

Rahan jerked his hips to avoid the assegai that the leader had thrown.
So you admit to having behaved like an enemy!

An astonishing reflex allowed him to dodge a second assegai, which was to pierce his stomach!

He dreaded the next one when the hunters.
Suddenly abandoning him, they rushed towards a nearby cave.
The “Breath of Heaven”! The “Breath of Heaven”!

The wind had suddenly risen and was howling in the forest.
Rahan understood.
He had conceived tribes who would worship the wind, others who feared it.
This must have been the case with this clan!

He turned around with a new and powerful thrust of his waist.
His fettered hands were thus at the height of his ivory knife.

Page Four.

He drew the weapon slowly, slowly turning the blade towards his chest.
If Rahan drops his cutlass, he is lost!

The hunters, huddled in the cave, shouted when their captive fell to the ground.
But the "Breath of Heaven" worried them too much for them to return.

Rahan could hear a slight lapping sound in the depths of the earth.
Going to draw water so far from this narrow crevasse must have been tiring!
Rahan understands why water is so precious to them!

And these hunters must undoubtedly, as in too many clans, demand this work from their companions!
The son of Crao could not and had no desire to confront this clan.

So he rushed towards the forest.
Rahan will take back his necklace!
He does not fear the "Breath of Heaven"!
The wind whistling through the bamboo thickets, whipped the foliage of the sycamores and maples, tearing away their swirling samaras.

Page Five.

Rahan did not know that these strange "Butterflies" were the fruits of these trees.
He chased away laughing the one who, flattened by the wind, turned on his heart.

And remained stunned in front of another that had impaled itself on a long thorn and was turning, turning, turning.
If trees can do such curious things, Rahan must be able to do it like them!

The son of Crao never discovered a new mystery of nature without trying to understand it.
And to better understand, he often recreated the phenomenon.

This is why, shortly after, taking inspiration from the shape of samaras, he made a sort of propeller.
And it turned in the wind, stopping when the wind weakened.

It is the “Breath of Heaven” that makes these wings turn. Oh.
He also warns Rahan of danger!
The gust of wind had just brought him the scent of a wild animal that was certainly nearby.

Page Six.

He had not reached for his weapon when a large cheetah appeared. The feline remained petrified.
Well, “Spotted Skin”, would you be afraid of Rahan?

The beast stared at the propeller which purred in the man's hand.
This unknown weapon must have frightened him.
Ha-ha-ha! Is it the spinning thing that scares you?

For he jumped and disappeared into the thickets as soon as Crao's son uttered his battle cry.
Ra-ha-ha!

Wild beasts, like "Those-Who-Walk-Up", are too often afraid of what they do not know!
Rahan is also often afraid. But when he's afraid, he knows why!

The wind fell as suddenly as it had risen.
When Rahan has regained his necklace, he will flee this territory where hunters are ready to kill for a sip of water.
But why did they not look for Rahan?

Page Seven.

The Clan seemed in fact to have forgotten him.
While the men seemed to be preparing for a fight, the women tirelessly drew water from the deep crevasse.

When night came, only one of them continued this exhausting work.
Poor Oonou! She is punished for giving Rahan water!

The clan had place here and there of watchers.
But none detected the approach of the son of Crao, who knew how to remain as silent as a reptile.

Oh. Why did you come back, “Fire hair”?
Ghoho will kill you!
Rahan wants to take his necklace back!

Go away! Run away while there is still time! You can not risk your life for a necklace!
This necklace is not like any other necklace, Oonou!
Rahan's gaze had become distant.

Page Eight.

From the depths of his memory came images.
Those of the terrible night which had made him the only survivor of the horde of the Blue Mountain.

Those of Crao the brave bequeathing him the necklace.
Each claw represents a virtue of “Those-who-walk-upright.”
Courage. Generosity.
Loyalty. Tenacity. Wisdom.

From father to son we have always been worthy of this necklace.
May it never leave you.
Rahan swears to it!

A cry of alarm abruptly brought Rahan back to reality.
Dahok is here!
Run, “Fire hair”, run!
Dahok's clan is going to attack ours!

Oonou was already rushing towards the cave from which his people emerged.
Discovered, the son of Crao no longer had time to retreat.
Rahan only has this hiding place!

Page Nine.

Clinging to the edge of the well, he heard Ghoho's men running.
And suddenly.
Oh!
You have chosen a very dangerous hiding place!

Angrily stomping on his fingers, a hunter had forced him to let go!
Argh!

The walls and crevasse were so close that he was able, in an instinctive reaction, to arrest his fall.
Ra-ha-ha!

But it would be impossible for him to hold on like this for very long!
Rahan is lost!
The water will drag his body into the bowels of the earth.

No projection allowed it to free itself from the bottleneck.
Straining all his muscles to delay the fall, he could hear the disturbing lapping of the underground spring.

Page Ten.

And suddenly, as his strength left him.
Oh!
A long vine descended into the well.

At the same moment.
Ha-ha!
Gohou and your men are like "Long-ears," like rabbits.
Bring up some fresh water, women!

This vine must have gotten stuck somewhere. Pull harder, women! A little more nerve!

Oh! Look, Dahok! The “Water Genie”!
You have to be a Genie to live in the well!
Rahan is not a Genie!

Recognizing Oonou among the women, Rahan understood that they were prisoners of the Dahok clan.
And if these women hadn't helped him get out of there, he wouldn't have lived long!

Page Eleven.

Their surprise having passed, Dahok and his men rushed towards him.
He had to zigzag while fleeing to avoid their assegais.
A moment later he leapt into the thickets.

Hum.
Rahman escapes from Dahok. To come back to Ghoho!

Ghoho's clan was emerging, thirty steps in front of him!
Ghoho's hunters are more courageous in front of a single man than in front of Dahok's clan!

You are wrong, "Fire-Hair"!
We refused the fight because Dahok captured our women!
But we will take them back from him!

Rahan has a debt to your women!
He will help you deliver them!
But Gaho must return this necklace to him!
Back "Fire-Hair"!
I know how you will help us deliver the women!

Page Twelve.

You are strong and you can do more work by yourself than ten women!
I am sure that Dahor will accept the exchange!

Closely watched, Rahan was led back to the watering hole.
Release our women, Dahok, and we deliver the fire-haired enemy to you!

I accept, Ghoho! Since "Fire-Hair" was able to get out of the well, he will no doubt be able to get a lot of water out of it!
Ha-ha-ha! Let him come closer!

Caught between the two clans, Rahan had no chance of escaping.
The freed women crossed paths with him.

And joined the hunters of Ghoho.
Do not think you will keep the spring for long, Dahok!
We will take it back from you!

Page thirteen.

Why are your clans fighting over this source?
It is the only one in this territory!
We thought about sharing the water, but it is too hard to draw water for everyone!

So, one day we chase Ghoho out of here.
Another day, he chases us out!
Most of the time, fortunately, it happens without a fight. Like today!

Rahan knows how to draw water ten times faster!
The women are exhausted from pulling up the bamboo one by one!
What are you saying?

While bamboos go up, others can go down! You'll see!
Soon after Rahan was tying the vines, attaching bamboo containers here and there.

It was astonishing when he had installed this "Endless Chain" on the large tree which overlooked the crevasse.
Help Rahan!
Pull! Pull with him!

Page Fourteen.

Then there was joy.
The containers disappeared into the well, and reappeared filled with water while others disappeared in turn.

It is wonderful, fire-hair!
Yes, Dahok! It is wonderful!

But I think the time has come to end this once and for all between us two!

I am tired of this incessant struggle between our clans. One of us must join "The territory of shadows"!
Ghoho and his men emerged from the thickets.

While their men stood aside, Goho and Dahok, clubs in hand, challenged each other.
You are right, Ghoho, we're going to end this once and for all!

Page Fifteen.

No! What is the point of this fight since you can have plenty of water?

Yes, "Fire-Hair". Thanks to you, we know how to get a lot of water faster.
But we will always need arms to pull this water from the source!

And one day, Dahok will want to make our women his slaves again!
Slaves? Your clan does not treat them any differently, Groho!

No! Back!
It was too late.
The heavy clubs of the two chiefs were already colliding with an unheard-of violence.

But suddenly.
Look what I found. Look at this strange thing!
Oonou came running with the propeller that Rahan had abandoned the day before in the forest.

Page Sixteen.

Ghoho and Dahok, stunned, had stopped fighting.
Uh.
It was Rahan who made this "Thing."
It is "The Breath of Heaven" that makes it turn.

He suddenly screamed.
Ra-ha-ha!
It is the "Sky Breath" who will be your slave!
But you all have to help Rahan!

Oh. Wait.
Do not say anything anymore, do not talk anymore.
The son of Crao observed the propeller, then the branch held by its “endless chain”, then the propeller.

We are going to make a "Thing that Spins" ten times bigger than this one.
It is that which will bring up the water from the well!

From then on Rahan busied himself, giving orders and advice. He had large skins sewn and bamboos assembled. Not only did he copy the "Thing that turns", but he perfected it.

Page Seventeen.

The sun was still high when what would be called, millennia later, a "Wind mill" was hoisted into the great tree.

The Ghoho clan and the Dahok clan, united by the same anxiety, saw Rahan attach the skins.
A light breeze had risen.

And the "Thing" began to spin.
Slowly at first, then faster, faster still.

Driven, the “chain without end” went to draw from the depths of the well and brought back the water to the amazed men.
Ra-ha-ha!

You will no longer have to fight each other!
Your women will no longer be slaves!
Your slave from now on will be the "Breath of Heaven"!

Page Eighteen.

Everything you have done is too beautiful, too great.
I do not know how to thank you "Fire-Hair"!
I know! Take your collar back, brother!

It was a night as Rahan enjoyed them.
Around the "Thing," the clans were reconciled.

Water from an inexhaustible spring flowed down with the wonderful sound of a waterfall.
You have made a wonderful offering to our clans, Rahan!

The sip of water you offered me yesterday was too, Oonou!

Rahan, once again, was happy that "Those-who-walk-upright", his brothers, were happy.
It is very difficult to say how the idea of using the power of the wind in this way came to man.
But who knows if this idea did not germinate in his mind, in wild times, at the sight of these curious and swirling little fruits that are the sambers of the maple?