When you think about it, it is really quite surprising that Carl Barks' duck characters in the stories are, in fact, the odd-sized inhabitants of the duck universe! Practically every other character we meet are human-sized, and in that respect the ducks can be seen as Little People. But this page chiefly takes up stories in which the ducks were up against characters smaller than themselves. In this page they will be referred to as Pygmies.

 

 

 

THE STORY

  U$18 Land of the Pygmy Indians - 1957

Synopsis:
Scrooge longs for some peace and quiet so he buys a large, remote area to enjoy its tranquillity. But the land is inhabited...

Comments:
The title says it - here we are dealing with a tribe of small people. No doubt that the story plot would function almost as well with normal-sized Indians, but by using - sometimes quite elusive - pygmies Barks added to the adventurous mystique of the surroundings.

 

VERSATILE PYGMIES

  FC0062 Mystery of the Swamp - 1945

Synopsis:
Donald and the nephews travel to an unexplored swamp just to show their grit. They meet a strange tribe and decide to bring one of the inhabitants back home to prove that they have been in the area.

Comments:
The tribe consists of pygmy swamp dwellers, Gneezles, who have their own culture and are adapted perfectly to their surroundings. They also have the capability to swell up to giant sizes at will, a capability Barks reused for another group of pygmy people namely the Terries and Fermies from U$13 Land Beneath the Ground.

 

DUCK PYGMIES

  U$33 Billions in the Hole - 1961

Synopsis:
Using an atom subtracter that can shrink objects drastically, the Beagle Boys shrink the Money Bin. It becomes so small an ant carries it off...

Comments:
Barks made a few stories in which the ducks were brought down in size causing them to be pygmies to their immediate surroundings. Due to their drastic shrinking they are all of a sudden in the power of an ant colony. In WDCS199 'Bigger and Bigger' they travelled to other planets and stars where they became completely dwarfed by their surroundings.

 

NEIGHBOURING ALIENS

  U$53 Interplanetary Postman - 1964

Synopsis:
Scrooge takes over the job as postmaster in order to provide better service, but he has to deliver a letter to Venus!!!

Comments:
Apparently, the planet Venus is inhabited by giant humanoids, while planet Mars - which is visited first - is inhabited by 'a small colony of people-things' as Donald puts it.

 

DISTANT ALIENS

  U$29 Island in the Sky - 1960

Synopsis:
Scrooge decides to hide all his money on an asteroid far away from thieves. But the asteroid is inhabited...

Comments:
...by big-nosed Indians of a diminutive size. Their asteroid is barren and their only food source is eggs from visiting birds coming from an adjacent planet where food exists in abundance. Scrooge finds a way to transport the pygmy Indians to the bountiful asteroid.

 

VISITING ALIENS

  U$65 Micro-Ducks from Outer Space - 1966

Synopsis:
The Sceptics' Club has offered a prize to whoever can produce a genuine flying saucer. Shortly after, such an object lands in Scrooge's office...

Comments:
The visiting aliens come from the planet Micro 4 years travel from Earth. They are very small duck-like pygmies who made the trip in order to get only a few corn kernels which will feed their hungry families back home.

 

INTERCHANGEABLE SIZES

  U$32 That Small Feeling - 1961

Synopsis:
Gyro is visited by an evil witch doctor who can shrink people to a very small size. He suddenly has a king-size problem...

Comments:
The story shows both Gyro and the witch doctor being up- and downsized. At one point they are the size of Little Helper (who, by the way, might be considered somewhat of a pygmy in everyday life!), but soon things are back to normal.

 

INVISIBLE PYGMIES

  U$04 'Hawaiian Hideaway' - 1954

Synopsis:
Scrooge buys a volcanic island where he intends to hide his money. But The Beagle Boys learn about his plans!

Comments:
In this story Barks played with us by inventing a whole tribe of helpful and very small imaginary Hawaiian Menehunes. The trick being that we are fully aware that they are present but we never actually get to see them except in the closing panel!

 

ARABIAN PYGMIES

  U$30 Pipeline to Danger - 1960

Synopsis:
Scrooge wants to store vast amounts of oil in an old volcano crater that will serve as a giant oil tank. But he is not aware that the crater is inhabited...

Comments:
It turns out that the inhabitants are pygmy-sized 'replica' of normal-sized Bedouins. And their camels are exactly the matching size as well.

 

PYGMYISH OBJECTS

  WDCS262 Way Out Yonder - 1962

Synopsis:
Donald and the nephews spend their holidays in the desert where they hope to find some valuable old fossils. A midget motor-bike catches Donald's eye...

Comments:
Barks even made a few stories in which standard objects were introduced in pygmy size. In this one Donald races around on a small motor-bike, and in WDCS166 'Midget Racers' he raced very small motor racers.

 

 


http://www.cbarks.dk/THEPYGMYSTORIES.htm   Date 2007-05-19