Abdullah Sticks Out His Tongue – Figurines Tintin La Collection Officielle – 70 – Abdallah Tire La Langue

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Price: £90.00
Publisher: Editions Moulinsart
Publication date: 2014
Format: Original pictorial boards with passport and figurine
Condition: In near fine condition
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout

Description:

Original pictorial boards. Includes passport loosely inserted. Text in French. Includes the accompanying figurine. One from the collection of 111 books and figurines. Very slight wear. In very near fine, clean condition overall.

Abdullah: A Brief Account

Prince Abdullah (originally Abdallah, in French) is the young son of Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, ruler of the fictional Middle Eastern kingdom of Khemed. He appears in two Tintin adventures — Land of Black Gold (Tintin au pays de l’or noir, 1950)* and The Red Sea Sharks (Coke en stock, 1958)* — and, though a minor character, he leaves an unforgettable impression.

Abdullah embodies both comic chaos and social satire. He is a spoilt, hyperactive child of immense privilege whose mischievous pranks bring pandemonium wherever he goes. Yet beneath the humour, Hergé used him to explore themes of youth, innocence, and moral contrast, setting his childish antics against the political intrigues and moral corruption of adults.

Character Overview

Prince Abdullah is portrayed as an energetic, gleefully anarchic boy of around eight or nine years old. He is dressed in traditional Arabian clothing — a white dishdasha (robe), sandals, and a small head covering — but his behaviour is anything but regal.

He is notorious for practical jokes, childish tantrums, and an apparent inability to remain still or silent for more than a moment. Firecrackers, ink squirters, exploding cigars, toy guns, itching powder, and other tricks form his personal arsenal.

He takes particular delight in tormenting Tintin and Captain Haddock, whom he regards as ideal targets for mischief.

First Appearance — Land of Black Gold

Prince Abdullah first appears in Land of Black Gold, a story that combines international intrigue with political satire. Tintin travels to the kingdom of Khemed, where oil production is being sabotaged and tensions run high between the Emir and his rival, Sheikh Bab El Ehr.

When Tintin visits the royal palace, he is introduced to the Emir’s only son — Prince Abdullah — who instantly causes havoc.

Abdullah greets Tintin not with courtesy but with a string of jokes and pranks. He squirts ink in Tintin’s face, sets off fireworks indoors, and drives his father’s attendants to despair. His father, Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, alternates between exasperation and indulgent affection, uttering the immortal line:

“You will excuse my son, he is… a little lively.”

Hergé’s portrayal of Abdullah in these scenes is masterful: the boy’s antics provide genuine comedy without cruelty, and his energy contrasts sharply with the rigid formality of court life. He is both a nuisance and a joy, embodying the unpredictable spirit of youth amid adult solemnity.

Later Appearance — The Red Sea Sharks

Abdullah returns in The Red Sea Sharks, though this time the tone is slightly darker. The Emir has been overthrown by the rebel Bab El Ehr, and Tintin learns that Abdullah has been sent to safety — under the protection of Captain Haddock and Tintin at Marlinspike Hall.

What follows is one of Hergé’s finest examples of domestic comedy. Haddock’s quiet English country life is turned upside down by the prince’s arrival. Abdullah’s pranks — setting off firecrackers in Haddock’s study, sabotaging his shaving routine, and terrifying the household staff — push the Captain to the brink of apoplexy.

In one memorable scene, Abdullah hides in Haddock’s bed and detonates a firecracker under the blankets, prompting a volcanic eruption of “Blistering barnacles!” and “Thundering typhoons!”

Despite Haddock’s fury, Tintin treats Abdullah with patience and good humour — embodying tolerance and moral restraint even in the face of unrelenting irritation.

At the story’s conclusion, when Tintin and Haddock restore order to Khemed and the Emir regains his throne, Abdullah returns home, leaving Marlinspike Hall in ruins but the reader delighted.

Personality and Traits

Prince Abdullah’s defining characteristics include:

• Mischievousness: His pranks are endless and inventive, motivated by boredom rather than malice.
• Confidence: As a prince, he expects his behaviour to be tolerated; authority never frightens him.
• Cheerful cruelty: His tricks often verge on painful or humiliating, but he laughs without understanding the harm.
• Charm: His energy and unfiltered honesty make him oddly likeable, even when he is unbearable.
• Affection for Tintin: Beneath the mischief, he clearly likes Tintin, treating him as a playmate rather than a subordinate.

Hergé depicts Abdullah as both spoilt and innocent — a child untamed by discipline but uncorrupted by cynicism.

Relationship with the Emir

Abdullah’s relationship with his father, Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, is central to his characterisation. The Emir loves his son deeply but struggles to control him, oscillating between indulgent laughter and impotent rage.

Their dynamic mirrors a familiar parental dilemma: the conflict between affection and authority. The Emir’s frustrated attempts to discipline Abdullah — always undermined by the boy’s charm — humanise him, making the ruler of Khemed a more relatable and comic figure.

Through this father–son relationship, Hergé injects warmth into the political backdrop of the stories, transforming what could have been a stereotypical “Arab prince” into a recognisable family dynamic.

Relationship with Captain Haddock

Haddock’s encounters with Abdullah are among the funniest in the entire Tintin series. Their chemistry depends on contrast: Haddock’s craving for order collides with Abdullah’s appetite for chaos.

Haddock’s explosive temper provides the perfect comic counterpoint to the prince’s impish calm. The more furious Haddock becomes, the more delighted Abdullah grows.

Hergé exploits this dynamic with exquisite timing — the slow build of irritation, the inevitable explosion, and the aftermath of comic devastation. Yet even Haddock, at heart, cannot truly hate the boy. Beneath his bluster lies affection, tinged with relief when Abdullah finally departs.

Symbolism and Interpretation

1. Childhood as Anarchy

Abdullah represents the unfiltered energy of youth — creative, disruptive, and free from inhibition. His pranks, though destructive, inject vitality into the rigid world of politics and hierarchy.

2. Spoiled Innocence

As a royal child, Abdullah embodies the moral contradictions of privilege: he is simultaneously innocent and entitled, charming and impossible. His lack of boundaries mirrors the indulgence of adults who enable him.

3. Comic Chaos versus Moral Order

In Hergé’s moral world, Tintin symbolises discipline and justice; Abdullah symbolises spontaneity and disorder. Their encounters reaffirm the balance between restraint and vitality — reason tempered by laughter.

4. Satire of Decadence

In post-war Europe, Hergé’s portrayal of a spoiled young prince also served as light satire of hereditary privilege. Yet Hergé avoids cruelty: his humour is affectionate, portraying excess as folly rather than vice.

Artistic Portrayal

Visually, Abdullah is drawn with charm and clarity: a small, round-faced boy with wide eyes, perpetually in motion. His expressive features — raised eyebrows, grinning mouth, flailing arms — capture his irrepressible energy.

Hergé’s clean-line technique emphasises fluidity and rhythm. In panels featuring Abdullah, props like firecrackers, smoke clouds, and startled servants create visual comedy through contrast and motion. The humour often emerges not from dialogue but from the choreography of chaos.

Psychological Reading

Hergé’s affection for Abdullah is evident. The character’s exuberance reflects the artist’s fascination with childhood — a recurring theme in his work.

Tintin himself, though ageless, is serious and morally adult; Abdullah restores the childlike element that Tintin has outgrown. His antics echo the imagination and playfulness that Hergé valued but also feared losing.

At a deeper level, Abdullah represents the unpredictable joy of life itself — a reminder that innocence can be unruly and that laughter often arises from disorder.

Cultural Sensitivity and Context

Created in the 1950s, Abdullah could easily have been rendered as a crude stereotype, yet Hergé treats him with surprising subtlety. The humour is universal, not racial: his behaviour would be equally absurd in any setting.

The relationship between Tintin and the Emir’s family reflects mutual respect rather than colonial condescension. Tintin serves as friend and ally, not as moral superior. This reflects Hergé’s growing cultural awareness, influenced by his post-war reflections and his effort to correct the simplifications of earlier works.

Legacy

Prince Abdullah remains one of Tintin’s most memorable supporting characters. His brief appearances are enough to define him as a symbol of uncontainable mischief and comic vitality.

He has featured in numerous figurines, posters, and adaptations — often frozen in the act of sticking out his tongue, a perfect emblem of irreverence.

Readers remember him not for heroism or wisdom, but for laughter — the joy of chaos that enlivens the moral order of Tintin’s world.

Summary

• Full name: Prince Abdullah of Khemed (Abdallah in French)
• Parentage: Son of Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab
• Nationality: Khemedian (fictional Arabian kingdom)
• First appearance: Land of Black Gold (1950)
• Later appearance: The Red Sea Sharks (1958)
• Personality: Mischievous, spoiled, exuberant, fearless, charming
• Symbolism: Innocence as chaos; the energy of childhood; moral humour
• Relationship with Tintin: Fond mischief-maker and occasional ally
• Relationship with Captain Haddock: Comic antagonist; child as irritant to adult order

Conclusion

Prince Abdullah is one of Hergé’s most vivid comic portraits — a small whirlwind of noise and laughter in a world often burdened by duty and seriousness. His mischief, though maddening, represents the vitality of youth and the refusal to be subdued by protocol or politics.

Through Abdullah, Hergé celebrates the humour that emerges when order collides with chaos — the child who upends the world of adults and reminds them, however inconveniently, that life is not to be managed but experienced.

He may drive Captain Haddock to despair and test Tintin’s patience, but he also restores something essential to Hergé’s universe: the ungovernable joy of being alive.

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Cataloguer: Daniel Hornsey

Daniel Hornsey has specialised in fine and rare books, ephemera, and collectors’ editions for over thirty years. As a long-standing member of the antiquarian book trade, he has advised private collectors, curated catalogues, and sourced works for leading dealers, libraries and institutions across the world.

Hornseys’ exhibit regularly at book and map fairs in London and throughout the UK and are members of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, the PBFA.

His fascination with Hergé’s work — especially ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ — began in childhood. Daniel recalls reading Tintin in original European editions and quickly recognising that these were not merely children’s books, but finely illustrated narratives crafted with artistic depth and wit.

As noted by the Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, Hergé’s ‘ligne claire’ style has influenced generations of European comic artists and his original drawings and paintings command very high prices with his painting of ‘The Blue Lotus’ jar fetching £2.8m at auction in 2021.

By presenting these works through Hornseys’, he hopes to contribute to the continued appreciation of one of the 20th century’s most influential illustrators, helping new generations discover the artistry and legacy of Hergé.