Asterix and the Great Divide

Asterix and the Great Divide (Le Grand Fossé)
Date	1981
Series	Asterix
Creative team
Writer	Albert Uderzo
Artist	Albert Uderzo
Original publication
Date of publication	1980
Language	French
Chronology
Preceded by	Asterix in Belgium
Followed by	Asterix and the Black Gold

Asterix and the Great Divide (French: Le Grand Fossé, "The Great Ditch") is the twenty-fifth volume of the Asterix comic book series. It was first published in 1980.

In a village similar to Asterix's, two rival chiefs, Cleverdix and Majestix, have been elected and a ditch dug through the village, dividing it into the party of the left (led by Cleverdix) and the party of the right (ruled by Majestix), which contest the leadership of the entire village. Histrionix, the son of Cleverdix, and Melodrama, the daughter of Majestix, are the only villagers who do not agree with the fight. After a failed attempt by both chieftains to persuade the other side, Majestix's advisor Codfix offers to invite the local Roman garrison in exchange for Melodrama's hand in marriage (while planning secretly to overthrow Majestix and become chief himself).

Melodrama reveals this plan to Histrionix, who alerts his father; whereupon Cleverdix directs him to Vitalstatistix, who sends Asterix and Obelix, accompanied by Getafix. Codfix persuades the Roman centurion by the offer of Cleverdix's followers in slavery to the soldiers; but Majestix refuses to concede any villager, left or right, as slaves. Enraged, the centurion imprisons Majestix and his followers. Exploiting the local Romans' ignorance of their identities, Asterix, Obelix, and Getafix infiltrate the Romans' camp, to set the prisoners free. A quarrel with the Roman sentinel leads to the demonstration of another of Getafix's potions, which restores the subject to full health while erasing his memory of the injury necessitating it.

Inside the camp, Getafix makes his usual magic potion in the guise of soup. When the suspicious centurion orders them to test it for poison, they give it to the prisoners, enabling them to free themselves and defeat the Romans. At the village, Getafix makes more potion, and places it at a house spanning the ditch, with Asterix on watch. With Getafix having left his curative 'elixir' near the Roman camp, Codfix uses it to cure the Romans and exploits their amnesia to claim that the Gauls attacked the Romans unprovoked. That night, he returns to his village and seizes the potion, which (after having drunk it himself) he conveys to the Romans.

In the next day's battle, the mixture of the two drinks causes the Romans to inflate like balloons, and then shrink to a size smaller than blades of grass. Terrified by this transformation, they return to their camp and promise to leave the local Gauls in peace. At the village, Majestix learns that Codfix has kidnapped Melodrama for a ransom of 100 pounds of gold; whereupon Histrionix goes after him, accompanied by Asterix and Obelix.

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