Chapter 7: The Dreamtime Duck of the Never-Never
Dates: 1893-1896
From Darkest Africa to Pizen Bluff to Kalgoorlie, Australia, Scrooge continues his quest for gold. But first, he saves an Aborigine wiseman from a bandit, and hears the legend of the Dreamtime. The wiseman also shows him the cave with the Dreamtime story painted and carved into its walls, along with a sacred opal the size of a melon. Scrooge then has to stop the bandit from stealing the relic, losing his #1 Dime in the process, and eventually gets a chance to steal the opal himself as the cave collapses so that no one would even discover the theft for a hundred years. After making his choice, he is rewarded by the miraculous return of his dime and inspiration from the last segment of the legend, with pictures that look like the aurora borealis in the Yukon...
This chapter provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming:
- Scrooge says a throwaway line, "Great! Now I'm John Philip Sousa!", causing his Aborigine companion to call him "Jonflip Zooza" for the rest of the story (Scrooge never corrects him).
- Averted in the Portuguese edition. He is called Benny Goodman (who was known as the King of Swing). That happens to be a rather awkward anachronism, though, as Benny Goodman wasn't even born in the timeframe of this story.
- Animal Stereotypes: One legend narrates the tale of a sly dingo stealing an egg and a courageous platypus pursuing him.
- Battle Boomerang: Scrooge gets to use one once to disarm a bandit.
- Because Destiny Says So: Continued from Chapter 5, Scrooge's destiny of becoming the richest duck in the world is confirmed by an Aborigine legend. Images in the Australian cave have already predicted his adventures in Yukon, his Money Bin in Duckburg, and the birth of his nephews.
- Bottomless Pits: In the dream cave there is a seemingly bottomless pit, so deep Scrooge doubts that all the rope in Sydney would help reach the bottom.
- Call-Forward: After Scrooge leaves for the Yukon, attention was drawn to the Dreamtale's depictions of the Goose Egg Nugget, the money bin, and Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie.Jabiru Kapirigi: The great platypus finds a yellow egg? He builds a mighty nest? And what are these other figures? How confusing! What have they to do with an out-of-luck fossicker like poor Jonflip?
- Celestial Deadline: Every century, an Aborigen "dream cave" reveals itself to narrate a legend.
- Chekhov's Gun: The didjeridoo, which Scrooge uses to summon the dream cave, is also used as an emu call to permit his escape from said cave.
- Foreboding Fleeing Flock: A fleeing horde of kangaroos warns Scrooge of an incoming flood.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: A flash flood coming from the nearby mountains threatens to drown Scrooge, and the wave is not only several times higher than Scrooge, it is also remarkable in that it covers the whole desert.
- Kangaroo Pouch Ride: Scrooge uses a Kangaroo for transportation in order to get fast enough to the gold fields to grab a good claim. He is nevertheless too late though.
- Kangaroos Represent Australia: Kangaroos of course make several appearances in the course of the story.
- Horse of a Different Color: That is beside him riding a camel and an emu at different points in the story.
- Land Down Under: Set in Australia.
- The Legend of Chekhov: The legend painted into the walls of the dream cave is actually a retelling of Scrooge's own misadventure. Moreover several other paintings basically describe his future life as the richest duck in the world.
- Magical Native American: Jabiru plays the Australian Aboriginal variant straight, introducing Scrooge to mysticism and Dreamtime (and inspiring Scrooge's passion for history).
- Men Are Uncultured: Scrooge is this at first, because he is only interested in getting rich and doesn't see the interest of archaeology. That the legend he happens to read actually comes true convinces him that there is value in history. This sets up his path to becoming a Cultured Badass. Note that Barks' Scrooge is an amateur archaeologist who habitually seeks the truth behind legendary narratives.
- Power Crystal: Jabiru's crystal can help him see the way, and indeed shows Scrooge the way to wealth, by making him see Alaska's Northern Lights.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Scrooge's aborigine companion actually believed Scrooge was "Jonflip". He also doesn't realize that the bushwhacker is intentionally stranding them.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Scrooge returning the opal.
- Time Abyss: The dream cave's last visitor came 100 years ago, respecting a rigorous cycle, and marks on the wall indicate that there were hundreds of visitors over time, making the cave paintings at least 20,000 years old, predating almost all of civilization (for context, agriculture is only 11,500 years old). Even Scrooge is speechless at the ancienty of this tradition.
- What You Are in the Dark: Nobody would know for a hundred years if you returned the opal or stole it. Scrooge returned it. note
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: An unusual version: the giant opal is revered by the aborigines, but not for its enormous value (which would have been worthless to them before the Europeans showed up anyway) but because they consider it a sacred relic of the Dreamtime, and keep it on a pedestal in the cave.
