Contents page Hergé Biography 2

10. SYNOPSIS

Exhausted from his many adventures, boy reporter Tintin is holidaying in the Swiss Alps with his friend Captain Haddock and pet dog Snowy. He is unable to relax, plagued by nightmares containing the desperate cries of an (as yet) unidentified boy. The play opens in one of these dreams, with Tintin struggling in vain to reach the voice - fighting goons who get in his way and egged on by his friends Nestor the butler, Professor Calculus, the opera singer Bianca Castafiori, and police officers Thompson and Thomson. Tintin is woken from his nightmare by two snooping newspaper reporters and begins a game of chess with Haddock. However, the young man cannot keep his eyes open, and soon falls into another dream. When Tintin awakes with a cry he discovers a newspaper story about a plane crash in the Himalayas. A letter is delivered to Tintin from his dear friend Chang, a Chinese boy who had saved Tintin’s life on one of his earlier adventures. The letter announces Chang’s intention of visiting Tintin. But joy turns to grief when Tintin learns that Chang was on the crashed plane. Tintin, however is now convinced that his dreams are telepathic visions. Chang is alive and needs his help!

Tintin jets to Kathmandu, dragging Snowy and a sceptical but loyal Haddock with him. Here Tintin visits a highly-strung official at the Department of Mountain affairs to obtain a pass for the perilous ascent of mountain Gosain Than. The trio then visit Pundit and Pandit’s Mountain Travel Agency to find an expert guide. Their enquiry leads them to a Buddhist temple, and experienced sherpa Ang Tharkey. Like everyone else they encounter, Tharkey warns that such an expedition will result in certain death for all those who attempt it. Yet Tintin is unrelenting, and Tharkey, moved by the boy’s devotion to his friend, agrees to join him.

The expedition gets off to a decidedly shaky start – Haddock falls out with the Head Porter and gets delirious from exhaustion, whiskey and altitude sickness, whilst Snowy gets too drunk on whiskey. Crossing a rope bridge Snowy falls into the river and has to be rescued by his master.

Haddock searches the planes’ fuselage and reports that there are only dead bodies within. Tintin is distraught. However that night he decides that he has to see the grisly sight for himself. Braving the piles of frozen bodies, Tintin discovers that Chang’s seat is empty and the seatbelt unbuckled!

Climbing a sheer cliff, Haddock loses his grip and hangs perilously over the edge. He wants Tintin to cut the rope that joins them, but Tintin refuses, saying that they must either both be saved or they’ll die together. Tharkey (honour bound as their guide to lead the party to safety) rejoins the expedition just in time to save them.

Buddhist monk Blessed Lightning has a vision of the stricken party. When Snowy arrives, the monk leads a mission to rescue them just as Tintin reaches the point of collapse.

Tintin finally finds Chang, sheltering in the Yeti’s cave. Haddock frightens the beast away before Chang can explain that it was the Yeti who saved him and cared for him after the crash.