Here we see the ancient city that stood on the site of the present Trigan City. Its people were warlike, proud and superstitious . . . This is a portrait of the long-dead King Yutta, whose mummy lies in the newlydiscovered tomb. He was known as the Lord of the Skies and Sovereign of the Stars! The scientist Peric ended the illustrated lecture that he had been giving to the Emperor and the Imperial Council. There is little else I can tell you about the life and times of King Yutta. As to the socalled curse that was placed upon his tomb all those uncounted centuries ago . . . Peric was interrupted by Rothi, a bluff, no-nonsense councillor. That’s a load of rubbish! Put there to frighten old women! I vote that the dead King and his treasures should be moved to the Imperial museum, and that the public be invited to view them for an entrance fee of two zersts a head. Make a fortune for the Imperial treasury, I shouldn’t wonder! Rothi’s suggestion was carried out. In the lunar months that followed, thousands of spellbound people filed through the Imperial Museum. One fateful night, when the museum had closed, and the night-watchman was settling down for his long vigil, a strange sound echoed through the hall. What’s that? Who’s there?And then . . . Eeeeaaaagghhhh! They found him next morning . . . Who could have done this? And why? And that was not all. Aaaaaah! King Yutta has gone! That same day, Ricci, one of the two wealthy Trigan businessmen who had been the first to enter the forbidden tomb, was being driven home to his villa. Suddenly, the driver saw . . . something! Eeeaaaaagggghh! They brought the news of the disaster to the Emperor. . . . Is the curse of Yutta coming true already? “They who defile the resting place of the King shall swiftly perish!” . . .
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 560 on 7 October 1972.
