THIS MAGNIFICENT CAKE!
The King's Dream
Georges?
Georges!
Yes, Your Majesty!
From this point onwards
We find ourselves in an impenetrable jungle
A river...
Fungeno...
For years, the King had been consumed by a desire...
to have his very own colony in Africa
And now, on a cold Winter's morning in the year 1885
His wish had finally come true
The Anziko...
The Bororos...
Passing by Kilongo...
Try suppressing it with your willpower, Your Majesty
Georges!
Get rid of that clarinet!
Sir
The King kindly asks that you refrain from playing
The Hotel Pygmy
The Hotel was built on the banks of the river
It was the first stop for nearly all
the new arrivals from Europe
It was so comfortable, that most of its guests never left.
It was in this hotel that Ota...
- after the tragic death of his wife
and two children in a fire...
as the first member of his Pygmy tribe -
had found employment
Idiot!
Come down!
C'mon you fool it's time to come down now!
No-one thinks you're funny!
Ants!
Stop that horrible racket!
You hear me?
Or should I come break your face?
Dammit!
One, two, three!
Throw him back up!
Don't cry, little doggie
Don't worry now, little doggie
Hello, Brother!
I found this shoe lying in the grass
It belongs to one of the guests
How is Mother?
She stills has her pains sometimes...
I should really go visit her
You're looking tired
I haven't been sleeping well
I've been having a strange dream lately
I'm in the forest at night, trying to find the village...
I shout, and I can hear you...
but I can't find you
I'd also have strange dreams if I worked in this place...
I have something for Mother...
Here!
What's this?
It's a 'baguette'
What?
Baguette?
It's all they eat around here
Baguette
Thanks Ota
I'll see you soon
Take care, Brother
You too
Where are you?
The Fate of Van Molle
The bankruptcy of the renowned 'Van Molle Pâtisserie'...
came as a shock to all
Rumors soon began to spread through the village
that the eldest son had fled to the new African
colony...
taking the entire family fortune along with him
Sordid tales of his decadent excesses in the tropics
would enthrall the village for years to come
Whether there was any truth to these stories or not...
would forever remain a mystery
Van Molle had vanished into thin air
On the way back home from the fair one night
Gilly! Gilly! Gilly! Gilly! Hey! Hey! Hey!
And she was just a wee thing...
but still a floozy
From here to there and you all know where...
You have to watch where you put your feet!
Dammit!
You goddamned bunch of bastards!
Bunch of buffoons!
Come back!
Scorching hot sun...
It burns!
Ho-hum
No, no, no, no, no.
I mustn't!
Oh to hell with it all!
Hup, off we go!
Three weavers went to the market one morn...
...but the butter they could not afford...
Three weavers went to the market one morn...
Just a sec...
It is what it is...
...but the butter they could not afford
You're a friendly fellow!
Are you thirsty?
Oh, it's empty!
Why didn't you tell me?
Just a bottle or two!
beer, beer, beer...
Hey! Where are you going?
Wait for me, I'm coming!
You found a good spot here!
Nice and cool!
There you are little fellow!
Look what I've got!
Hold on a minute...
Just a minute!
So beautiful!
Mama?
Little Brother!
And everyone knows who I am
Troo-la, troo-la, troo-lala!
I'm going to drink as much as I can!
Troo-la, troo-la, troo-lala!
Drinking from a great big pot
Troo-la, troo-la, troo-lala...
Because a drinking man is all I am!
Troo-la, troo-la, troo-lala
Oh, Popaul!
I really screwed you over, didn't I, Popaul?
I know! I know!
The Lost Porter
My friend!
Where am I?
I don't recognize anything...
It all looks so strange...
Friend, I almost envy you...
I remember your silly magic tricks
You could make sticks and stones disappear up your nose
You were always the clever one...
You would know what to do now...
Go upstream
Find my village
Find my people!
The Deserter
On the morning that Louis was to present
himself at the army barracks...
He was nowhere to be found.
A suspicious farmer found him...
shivering with fear in the rafters of a barn
The police officer pitied Louis' parents
and registered the incident as a simple misunderstanding
They gave Louis a simple choice:
present himself at the barracks the next morning...
Or be sent to prison for desertion
That night, Louis saw an ad in the newspaper
promising employment in the country's new colony
The last of his savings would just suffice
for a swift passage to the tropics
Troo-la, troo-lala!
Drinking from a great big pot...
Troo-la, troo-la, troo-lala...
Because a drinking man is what I am!
Troo-la, troo-lala!
Hey!
Come back here!
What the hell's going on here?
C'mon Pierre, you forgotten how to open a
door?
C'mon, open up!
Stupid door...
Something's up with that door, I don't know...
Good heavens, my head...
Do you want some coffee?
No, thanks
Say, ever hear of 'Van Molle Pâtisserie'?
Yes... I have
Well it belonged to my father and his brother
At first, business flourished
People came from far and wide for the pastries
But one day, my uncle just disappeared!
I was the only one to see him leave.
He'd taken my dad's bicycle
He hadn't told anyone.
Later, they found the bicycle at the port
He had taken a boat to Africa!
And then it all came out...
He'd taken all our money!
Leaving behind a huge mountain of debt!
My dad was heartbroken...
He struggled for years afterwards
and started drinking
We buried him last week
he fell out of a tree
And do you want to know something else?
Uh...
Among my father's papers, I found invoices!
Beer deliveries! To Africa!
Can you believe the nerve?
Taking advantage of my poor dad like that!
He's probably living the good life now!
In a huge mansion!
While the rest of the family withers away!
Well I'll tell him a thing or two!
Sorry...
How about you, what are you going to do?
Puttemans Company is hiring...
br... bricks...
Bricks?
You're going all the way to Africa
for bricks?
Though they had nothing more in common
than being far from home...
...the young men soon became fast friends.
They shared their meager rations...
and drank a lot...
to make the endless crossing to the tropics...
...as bearable as possible.
Louis gradually abandoned his own plans
influenced as he was by Pierre's disdain for bricks
He decided to follow his new friend
on his fascinating adventure
I don't feel well...
I'm so cold...
Isn't it terribly cold?
It's alright Louis...
I'm putting my shoes back on
We're getting going!
Hop, hop, hop!
Louis...
I want to go home
Pierre!
Three weeks later
Mama?
Papa?
Louis!
Finally!
My dear little boy
I missed you so much!
Go close the shutters Father
The sun is coming up
And as Louis gently drifted off to sleep...
in his own beloved bed...
he thought about everything that had happened
He thought of poor Pierre...
and the strange path that had brought him back home
he couldn't quite make sense of it all...
Maybe in the morning...
Maybe, he thought,
an invitation would arrive from the King!
The King would no doubt be very interested
in his African adventures!
And just before drifting off...
Louis could hear the King announce:
Louis
You're a good boy
A very good boy