Cornelia Coot & Gyro as HD&L's uncle

[Matilda]

Having been alerted by xanderares to the existence of Cornelius' descendant Cornelia Coot in the Fallberg story "The Fabulous Fixer," I finally got myself a copy of the story, in German in Micky Maus. And I like her! Her response to an unexpectedly eventful carousel ride is surprisingly positive. I'm always happy to add another female character to my Duckworld, so thanks, xanderares! Even more fun to find out about her because she's a relative of the Duck clan.

Given that this was published in 1971, I'm not surprised that the German translation doesn't identify her [great-]grandfather as Cornelius Coot/Emil Erpel--he is here named Gottleib Güldenthal. I'm assuming that wasn't an earlier German name for Cornelius Coot, and the translator at the time just didn't know who Cornelius Coot was. But Fallberg did! And I take it from the line in INDUCKS and from xanderares' comment that Fallberg did write her as Cornelia, Cornelius' great-granddaughter.

What did surprise me, though, was that Cornelia referred to Gyro in talking to HD&L as "your uncle," and one of the boys then refers to him as "our uncle." On the last page, that is. Earlier in the story, they call him "Herr Düsentrieb" (Mr. Gearloose) or "Herr Ingenieur." So where does this "Gyro as HD&L's uncle" come from? Does it exist anywhere else in German Ducklore? Was Gyro called their uncle in Fallberg's original script? (The story has never been published in English.) Is he called their uncle in other translations of this story?

[Baar Baar Jinx]

I always thought it was Rosa who came up with the idea that Cornelius Coot was an ancestor of Grandma (and thus also of HD&L); does this story, written in 1970, already suggest that that is the case? Regardless, yes, it is remarkable that Fallberg chose to resurrect an at-the-time relatively obscure (in America) Barks character, Cornelius Coot. Needless to say, since it's never been published in English, I haven't had a chance to read the story ... what role does Cornelius, and his great-granddaughter, play? Is there a romantic relationship between Cornelia and Gyro?

[Matilda]

No, the story doesn't suggest any familial relationship between the benefactor and his granddaughter (not here in German translation identified as Coots, remember) and the Duck clan. No, no romantic relationship between Cornelia and Gyro. The granddaughter of the benefactor comes to town, wants to revisit childhood happy memories, wants to see/ride the carousal her grandfather donated. Gyro gets it working, but there's a (literal) fly in the ointment, and the carousel goes haywire. Happily, she is cool with that, and ends by saying she wants to donate an amusement park for the children of Duckburg...but meanwhile, Gyro has fled Duckburg for a place Far Away (at one of the poles), as Donald often does at the end of 10-pagers where he has wrought disaster.

The English summary on INDUCKS, and xanderares, say that the character is supposed to be Cornelius Coot's great-granddaughter, Cornelia Coot.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

So the idea that Cornelia is a "relative of the Duck clan" is not present in-story, but can be assumed by those who subscribe to Rosa's (now essentially mainstream?) theory that Grandma is the granddaughter of Cornelius Coot (and, I suppose, made official by Legend of the Three Caballeros; although they didn't clearly stated that Clinton was Cornelius' son on that show, there's no reason why he wouldn't be).

Given her last name, where do we put Cornelia on the family tree? Is she the granddaughter of another son of Cornelius (a brother to Clinton)? Or a daughter of Casey Coot, or of another brother of Casey's and Elvira's? In any case this story as I understand it (based on descriptions without having read it myself) seems a bit incompatible with Rosa's Family Tree ... Cornelia would only be as directly descended from Cornelius as Elvira/Donald/HD&L are, but apparently that doesn't come up at all, nor does the fact that Cornelia is so closely related to the Ducks (although I suppose all that could be altered in an English rewrite, especially if the original English script isn't still available).

Does Cornelia appear on Maurice's Tree?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Jul 17, 2019 15:23:57 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

So the idea that Cornelia is a "relative of the Duck clan" is not present in-story, but can be assumed by those who subscribe to Rosa's (now essentially mainstream?) theory that Grandma is the granddaughter of Cornelius Coot (and, I suppose, made official by Legend of the Three Caballeros; although they didn't clearly stated that Clinton was Cornelius' son on that show, there's no reason why he wouldn't be).

…"theory"? I'm fairly sure it's on the printed version of Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Jul 17, 2019 15:58:11 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Jul 17, 2019 15:23:57 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

So the idea that Cornelia is a "relative of the Duck clan" is not present in-story, but can be assumed by those who subscribe to Rosa's (now essentially mainstream?) theory that Grandma is the granddaughter of Cornelius Coot (and, I suppose, made official by Legend of the Three Caballeros; although they didn't clearly stated that Clinton was Cornelius' son on that show, there's no reason why he wouldn't be).

…"theory"? I'm fairly sure it's on the printed version of Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree.

Let's not forget the relationship between Grandma and Cornelius was mentioned in Rosa's W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N., indeed confirming that this tidbit of info is much more official than other Rosa "theories" such as Ludwig von Drake marrying Matilda or Fethry being the son of Eider. I also think the relationship is made explicit in this story, but I could be wrong, as I haven't actually read it.