Rahan. Episode Sixty. By Roger Lecureux. The Childhood Secret of Rahan. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

Episode Sixty.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Childhood Secret of Rahan.

In these wild times when "Those-who-walk-upright" fought fiercely to ensure the survival of the species, one clan lived happily.
Because its territory was full of game and its leader the fairest, the wisest of hunters.
This clan was that of the blue mountain and this chief was called Crao.

This morning, Crao and his people were raising their traps.
When.
Look Crao!
A couple unknown to the clan, along with three “Saber-tooth” tigers were lying in the clearing.

The bloody axes that the man and woman still clutched proved that their fight with the wild beasts had been terrible.
We will never know where they came from!

Page Two.

This hunter and his companion fought until their last breath.
May they be buried with the respect due to the braves.

Weak cries rose from a nearby crevice.
It is a “Rah”. Crying!
Crao understands why the hunters confronted the "Goraks"!

The child they discovered must have been born in the green leaf season.
Your mother and father sacrificed themselves for you, “little man”!
Come!

But they will continue to live in you, “Little man”!
“Those of the Blue Mountain” will make you a hunter worthy of them!

And since we don't know the name they gave you, we'll call you "Rah-Hank", "the son of the brave"!

Page Three.

The child was entrusted to Shawa the Elder, Crao's own mother.
Shawa was gentle and the guttural name bothered her.
Ra-hank. Ra-hank is a name for "Four-Hands", yes?

Shawa prefers to call you "Ra-han" and why not "Rahan"?
Her age was respected.
This name that she suggested was adopted by everyone.

The season of yellow leaves was followed by the season without leaves, hunting became more difficult and more dangerous.

Crao and his family always came back, exhausted but happy.
These meats will feed the clan until the new moon!
How is our little Rahan, mother?
He spoke!

The first words Rahan spoke were Crao, Shawa.
And his own name he stammered "Rahaa."
Ha-ha-ha! You are becoming a man, my son!

Page Four.

Because Rahan, for everyone, was now Crao's son, a son.
And he was proud to see him trotting between the huts.
He is already curious about everything.
He will resemble you Crao.

And the round of seasons continued.
Ten times that of “Green Leaves” returned, with its gentle warmth.
Where is Rahan Mother?
He is challenging the others, as usual!
On the run this time!

My strength is failing me, Crao.
You will soon have to take care of our Rahan alone!
Do not talk like that, mother!

For his ten springs, Rahan already demonstrated astonishing physical qualities.
No other child outdistanced him in the race.
Ra-ha! Rahan won!

No one was more agile than him in jumping.
No one climbed more nimbly in the trees.
Ha-ha-ha!
Page Five.

But he also knew how to listen to the wise advice of Crao who knew a thousand things.
The agile and strong hunter is not yet a hunter, Rahan!

When he shows himself, he only becomes more cunning than the beasts he tracks!
When he can, patiently and tenaciously stay on the lookout for days and nights!

Crao also spoke, and remembered very well, all about men.
All “Those-Who-Walk-Upright” are from the same horde!
The same horde! The strong must support the weakest!

All hunters are brothers, whether their hair is the color of night or whether it is, like yours, the color of fire!

Crao also spoke of the distant territories that the clan had once crossed.
He described the terrible clashes with the herds of “Two-teeth.”

Page Six.

One day he revealed the secret of the necklace he never took off.
These claws were bequeathed to Crao by his father who himself received them from his father.

Each symbolizes the best of what “Those-who-walk-upright” have in them.
Courageousness.
Loyalty. Generosity. Tenacity. Wisdom.

And Rahan-the-turbulent, Rahan-the-intrepid listened, listened.
Crao knows you will not be a hunter like the others, Rahan.
You will be the most skillful, the most cunning, the bravest.

But you will never forget that you are only a man, a brother of all men!

One day, it was very sad.
Shawa the old, Shawa the sweet, Had fallen asleep forever.
Goodbye, mother. We will meet again in the “Territory-of-shadows”!

Page Seven.

Rahan mourned for a long time the one who had shown him so much tenderness.
Rahan knew that Shawa was not his mother.

Why does Rahan not have a mother like the others?
You had one, Rahan. And a father too. Both were young and beautiful.

But they were killed by "Goraks" a long time ago, while protecting your life, the life they gave you!

And Crao replaced mine!
Rahan loves you as he would have loved them, Crao!
But when he grows up he will kill all the "Goraks"!

This revenge soon began.
One evening, in fact, two saber-toothed tigers came roaming around the outskirts of the village.

Page Eight.

Four hunters come with Crao! The others will protect the women!
The men armed themselves with spears.

And, for the first time, Rahan disobeyed Crao.
No one saw him, light and supple, slipping through the thickets.

He was the first to discover the big beasts lurking in the clearing.
Crao had told him about the ferocity of these monsters, but he overcame his fear.

Get up, “Goraks”! Rahan has come to kill you!
The wild animals gathered themselves together to pounce.

And the two spears flew away, almost at the same time.
One to avenge my mother! The other to avenge my father!

Page Nine.

The astonishment petrified the hunters who came running.
The felines, their sides pierced, were dying in the grass.
Rahan was disobedient and was too bold!

But I think that from now on he will be able to accompany us hunting!
Crao hid his pride poorly.

Alas, Rahan never accompanied him hunting!
That night, the bowels of the earth suddenly began to rumble.

And the blue mountain, until that day so peaceful, seemed to burst.
It was a terrible night, one that Rahan would never forget!

The blue mountain threw rocks towards the sky, vomiting a frightening torrent of fire which, in an instant, submerged everything!

Page Ten.

Huddled under a flat rock, Rahan experienced the horrible nightmare.
All the huts were burning and collapsing.

Men, women and children surrounded on all sides were bogged down in the molten lava.
It was the night of terror.

When the anger of the cursed mountain ceased, the village had disappeared!
Crao! Crao!
Where are you Crao!

Oh!
Crushed under a huge rock, Crao had only a moment to live.
Approach, Ra-han,
Approach. My son.

You are. The only survivor. Of the Clan.
This necklace is yours!
Be. Always worthy of what it represents!

Page Eleven.

Rahan swears to it!
You will join Shawa the sweet, but you will remain alive in the heart of Rahan.
Rahan will always be the son of Crao!

A final glint of pride passed through the eyes of Crao.
And then he gave up his spirit.
Rahan will never forget your advice father!

At the age of twelve, Rahan found himself alone in a wild world about which he still knew nothing.
He fled the cursed valley where all his family had perished.

From then on, he lived like a beast, feeding on the fruits of the jungle, hiding in caves as soon as darkness fell.

All the weapons had been swallowed up by the torrent of fire, and he had to face many dangers with a simple bamboo.

Page Twelve.

He learned to kill to survive.
And his desire to live was so fierce that one day, attacked by a "Long-mane" he slit the beast's throat with his teeth.

Ra-ha-ha!
That day his first cry of a victorious hunter erupted, a cry that would often resound in the forests and near the rivers.

The rivers!
For the son of Crao, who did not know how to swim, these "water paths" were impassable.
He was walking along one of them one morning.

When he discovered two spears buried in the ground!
Oh! Rahan will finally have weapons!

He grabbed these spears when clamors arose.
He saw two men crawling on the water.
He was confused.
“Fire Hair” is stealing our spears!

Page thirteen.

Other hunters appeared from the bushes, threateningly.
He brandished one of the spears.
And the words of Crao came back to his mind.
We do not kill "Those Who Walk Upright"!

He lowered the spear.
Rahan did not know.
He did not want to steal, he thought the spears were forgotten there!

Your tongue is made for lying!
Maybe the river clan will cut it off!
And Rahan was taken towards a village.

The leader of the clan was a brutal being.
Cutting a quarter of meat, he barely raised his head.
So you wanted to steal the spears!

No! Crao taught Rahan never to steal!
If Rahan had seen “Those who crawled on the water” he would not have touched their spears!

Page Fourteen.

You lie! I will cut out your tongue myself at daybreak!
The chief brandished a knife, like Rahan had never seen before.

The weapon smooth and polished like the tusk of a “Two teeth” shone in the sunset light.
Its strong blade seems to be able to cut through anything!

Alone in a hut Rahan thought for a long time about this marvelous knife.
Even the stones that throw stars that Crao cut so well were not so formidable!

Rahan would like to own this knife!
Before his tongue is cut out!

The captive's youth undoubtedly tranquilized the man responsible for his surveillance, because it did not take long for him to doze off.

Page Fifteen.

He rushed into the darkness as the hunters emerged from the huts.
A few axes flew and arrows whizzed around him.

They will quickly lose track of Rahan!
Since the terrible night, the forest had become his domain.

Rahan will have to be as wary of “Those-who-walk-upright” as he is wary of wild animals!

Other seasons passed. Fascinated by the marvelous fruit of fire suspended in the sky, Rahan dreamed of discovering the “Endless River”.

Or, according to Crao, where the sun god took refuge every night.
And every day he discovered new horizons.
But the sun seemed to be fleeing him!

Page Sixteen.

He sometimes saw villages at the bottom of the valleys that he cautiously avoided.
How far was the happy time of sweet Shawa, of his carefree childhood.

Rahan lives like a savage beast!
Rahan betrays the memory of Crao!

But, one night, his destiny would return to its true course.
That night he thought he heard Crao, returning from the “Territory of Shadows.”
You are not loyal to the claw necklace Rahan!

How will you demonstrate loyalty, generosity, and wisdom.
If you avoid “Those-who-walk-upright”!?

The clans are as numerous as the leaves on a tree, but you have to know them!
Go to them, my son! Go to the men!

Page Seventeen.

Put your courage and your cunning at the service of men!
Fight against mysteries to awaken the minds of men!
Tear from nature its secrets to deliver them to men!

It will be so, father!
And that night, in front of a ghost that existed only in his thoughts, with one hand on his necklace and the other on his ivory knife, Rahan swore that such would be his destiny!

Dawn found him again in the kingdom of the "Four Hands" which he had seen fifteen times since that morning when the Blue Mountain clan had discovered him.

Ra-ha-ha!
His cry frightened the birds and annoyed the young monkeys.
But the son of Crao did not care.
Happy and confident, he set off to discover “Those-who-walk-upright.”

Index:
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