Beagle Boys

[Olivier]

Sorry for answering only now, Timo.

>>Checking quickly couple of stories.. US 28 shows them with human ears.
>>But I was quite fascinated about US 7, where Barks seemed to be little bit
>>confused, whether to draw them with  dog ears or just regular human ears..
>>Look for example page 13 panel 3 where one of them has floppy ears while
>>others have more or less human ears.. strange.
Right. Odd.

Regarding the Beagle Boys, as I was reading "Only a Poor Old Man" last night,
one thing suddenly struck me: their names.
They always called each other by their number.
I know, that's not a discovery.
But it suddenly occured to me: why *would* they call themselves in such away?

1/    They do have a name: Beagle.

2/    We know their grandfather's first name: Blackheart.
       Or is it rather a nickname? Sounds more like it.

3/    They surely must have first names, but perhaps got to calling each other
        by their number because dishonesty runs in the family and they all go to prison:
                      a/ the number becomes a natural nickname
                      b/ or rather (that's what I think) it is a proud proof  of  their being true
Beagles,
                           who live on that side of  the law; the first stretch in jail would then
be sort of
                           a coming-of-age ritual
                      c/ or maybe they were sent to jail so early in their lives and heard
themselves
                          called that way so often (that is, always) it seemed like their numbers
were
                          their natural / true names

4/    Or might they have been given numbers for names from the start?

5/    We don't a have a clue as regards their mother either.
       Could they have been born in prison? I wonder if  that was possible at the time.
       The only reference to a female Beagle character I know of  is in L&T chapter 10 ("The invader
of
       Fort Duckburg"), p 7 panel 7:
               "Ma-- if'na  *posse* comes by, tell 'em you don't know nuthin' about no missing
*cattle herd*!"
               "You think they'll *believe* me?"

6/    What do the "Mrs Beagle Boy"s do?
                      a/ stay at home (as in the example above)?
                      b/ have a gang of  their own ("The Beagle Girls")?    : )

6/    Dishonesty and robbery is the family's way of  life.
       Can you imagine the possibility of  there being a Li'l Bad Wolf  kind of  Beagle Boy that's
honest?


Olivier

PS:
Still no answer to the DR quiz:
        "The Lone Ranger!"