Het grote voorleesboek: De eieren

De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak Het grote voorleesboek
Chapter 1: De eieren →
Written by	Herman van Veen
Artwork by	Hans Bacher Harald Siepermann
Publisher	Uitgeverij Kok
Language	Dutch
Release date	2010
Number of pages	6
Binding method	Hardcover
ISBN	9789043518383

"De eieren" (lit. 'The Eggs') is the chapter of De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: het grote voorleesboek and is a retelling of the story of the first episode of the Alfrd J. Kwak animated series. Several pieces of dialogue in the book are taken directly verbatim from the original episodes of the animated series.

Story

Summary

Some chapters start with a verse

Original Dutch Op het stille water drijven lelies, een kikker springt van het ene naar het andere blad, blauwe libellen zweven kriskras van het hoge riet naar het lage gras en de gemaaide akkers, een zwaan dobbert in het vroege licht. Haar hals beweegt als de arm van een ballerina.

Translation On the still water, lilies float, a frog jumps from one leaf to another, blue dragonflies hover crisscross from the tall reeds to the low grass and the mown fields, a swan drifts in the early light. Her neck moves like the arm of a ballerina.

Henk de Mol emerges from his molehill in the pastures of Groot Waterland. Checking the time, he remarks that Johan Sebastiaan Kwak is late for their meeting again. Meanwhile, Johan rushes to meet Henk. He crosses the road without looking left or right and nearly gets run over by a truck. He finds Henk, apologizes about his tardiness. Henk asks Johan if it isn;t his time to to get married. Johan thinks he's still too young, but just as he says that he hears singing from in the distance and Johan starts swooning. They find Anna van de Polder and Henk introduces her to Johan. Johan, overwhelmed with nerves, struggles to speak coherently. Immediately smitten with her, Johan walks into the pastures, and starts dreaming about her. Unbeknownst to him, two heron surveyors, Stip and Stap, begin measuring the pasture around him.

The next morning, Johan wakes up hears Anna's voice in the distance. He heads toward her but quickly returns to the river to clean himself and brush his teeth. Johan approaches Anna, offering her a flower out of nowhere. In return, Anna kisses him. He now knows for sure, Anna also likes him.

A few weeks later Henk comes over on a maternity visit to see Johan and Anna’s clog filled with seven eggs. Meanwhile, Rap de Kiekedief spies on them through binoculars.

In the office of the Beton Maatschappij, Olaf Nijlpaard, manager of Groot Speelgoedland shows K. Rokodil a miniature model created by Stip and Stap, who are present alongside Bart 'Beton' Bever, the construction supervisor and director of the Beton Maatschappij. K. Rokodil id interested in Nijlpaard's themepark plans as an investor. Nijlpaard plans to build the theme park right on top of the pasture where Johan and Anna live.

Henk de Mol carrying Alfred Jodocus Kwak on his back. This image can be found at the end of the chapter.

Schor de Kraai and Miriam Merel judge Anna's and Johan's freshly laid eggs, loudly proclaiming they will likely spoil before hatching. Angered, Johan takes back the egg Schor is holding. At that moment, Rap, disguised as a bush, sneaks in and steals an egg. Johan chases after Rap, who trips, causing the egg to soar into the air. The egg lands in the water, where Snel de Snoek swallows it whole. Johan pulls him out of the water and forces him to spit the egg out.

As Henk scolds Rap, Johan returns to receive a scolding from Anna. Johan confidently reassures her that the egg is safe, but when he shows her, only pieces of the shell remain. Henk then soon spots a duckling nearby and Johan and Anna run to help the duckling back home. Henk suggests naming him after his grandfather, Alfred de Mol, who also ran away when he was young. Anna adds Jodocus to his name. Just as they make the decision, Alfred’s other brothers and sisters hatch.

Suddenly, the clog and the ground around them begin to rise, lifted by a giant excavator. The neighborhood is filled with construction machinery tearing up the land. Johan tries to protest with Olaf Nijlpaard, K. Rokodil and Bart 'Beton' Bever, but they say that they have bought this land. Nijlpaard tells Johan and Henk that they have a permit.

Henk shows Johan a photograph of Alfred de Mol, his grandfather, standing in front of a mine house, suggesting moving there. Johan feels an attachment to this place, so wants to sleep on it a couple of nights. Seven days later Alfred escapes the clog at night and walks into the theme park. He walks into a haunted house. He is frightened by a ghost animatronic and let's out his first quack. He runs back to the clog and goes back to sleep.

Continuity

This book retells the story of Episode 1 of the animated series. Please check that page for more info.

• In the original episode, it was insinuated that Alfred left the clog to visit Groot Speelgoedland on the same night that Henk de Mol showed Johan the photograph of Alfred de Mol and his mine house. However, in the book adaptation, Alfred waits seven days before deciding to check out the theme park.

Errata

• While many other books establish that Johan Sebastiaan Kwak, Henk de Mol and Anna van de Polder live in Breed Rietland during this part of the story, including the original episode's outline written by Herman van Veen, this book claims that it is set in Groot Waterland.

Cast

Character gallery

The characters in order of appearance.

• 
  Henk de Mol
• 
  Johan Sebastiaan Kwak
• 
  Anna van de Polder
• 
  Jan van de Polder (mentioned)
• 
  Stip
• 
  Stap
• 
  Rap de Kiekendief
• 
  Olaf Nijlpaard
• 
  K. Rokodil
• 
  Bart 'Beton' Bever
• 
  Schor de Kraai
• 
  Miriam Merel (not named)
• 
  Snel de Snoek (mentioned)
• 
  Alfred Jodocus Kwak
• 
  Alfred de Mol (mentioned)
• 
  Alfred's brothers and sisters
• 
  Animatronic gorilla

Locations

• 
  Plaspoelpolder
• 
  Beton Maatschappij office
• 
  Groot Speelgoedland

Production notes

The chapter ends with an animation cel from the beginning Episode 2 of the animated series.

Changes from the original

Changes from the episode

The following lists all the changes between the original episode from the animated series and this book.

• Some dialogue has been expanded to be slightly more descriptive, as the book version lacks the visual elements present in the animated episodes. Some scenes have also been shortened.
• Henri Dropshot and Johnny Hollyday are completely skipped in this version of the narrative.
• Instead of Alfons Rokodil it's Kaspar Rokodil being convinced to build a themepark in de Plaspoelpolder.
• While Rap de Kiekendief does steal Johan's egg, the chase and the inclusion of Snel de Snoek is instead told in a flashback format.
• Alfred Jodocus Kwak leaving the clog just after his brothers and sisters have been born has been omitted.