an immediate retreat to their homeland. When Asterix questions the Normans' interest in fear, Getafix replies that courage is achieved only by having first been afraid, and superseding the fear to the desired effect. Thereafter Justforkix is claimed to have gained courage himself, and the story ends with the customary banquet, but with Cacofonix as guest of honour and Fulliautomatix tied up, with his ears filled with parsley. Historical background In France, Normans are the descendants of Norsemen (Vikings) who invaded northern France in the late 9th century and gave their name to Normandy; wherefore the name of 'Norman' is given the Vikings in this volume. Indeed, the Norman chief tells the Gauls that they do not want to invade their country, but their descendants will do so, centuries later (they even briefly reference 1066). In the book, the Normans' heavy use of cream in recipes is a reference to stereotypes of the cuisine in Normandy. Puns In the original French version, Justforkix is called "Goudurix" ("a taste for risks"), a name he lives up to only towards the end. In Finnish, the story is called Asterix ja normannien maihinnousu ("Asterix and the Landing of the Normans"). This is a reference to the Normandian maihinnousu, the standard Finnish history-book term for the Normandy Landings of 1944. Other themes In this story, we see Dogmatix's distress over the uprooting of trees for the first time. This is the first album in the series since Asterix the Gaul where Cacofonix is not tied up for the story-ending banquet. Fulliautomatix the blacksmith had previously appeared in both Asterix the Gaul and Asterix and the Banquet, but he differed somewhat from the appearance he now took in Asterix and the Normans, and he would remain essentially unchanged for the rest of the series. Whereas Justforkix learns courage, the Roman soldier Oleaginus learns to fear the Gauls and Normans and also the means of evading confrontation, such as wasting time on making three copies of the same report (i.e. red tape). When Justforkix explains his Chariot is from Mediolanum (now Milan, Italy) it is a reference to modern sports cars made there. Adaptations Justforkix was the star of a series of Asterix gamebooks, popular in the 1980s. The basic storyline of the book was adapted into the animated full-length feature Asterix and the Vikings. Rolling Menhirs is a reference to the famous rock group the