Le Génie des alpages

The short stories are usually told in one-page segments, and unpredictably follow the lives of the series' cast. This includes the old nameless shepherd, his successor, the young Athanase Percevalve, the Dog Without a Name (an intellectual talking shepherd's dog), and a flock of eccentric, verbal sheep, led by Romuald the black ram. Other unorthodox characters appear, such as the Berthold the stupid St. Bernhard, Kattarsis the petite self-conscious sphinx, a lion, a fox, eagles, snakes, and "Death" in the shape of an attractive woman. Some of these recur frequently. There is usually no apparent plot in any of these stories from the Swiss Alps. Instead, they often consist of different dialogues and simultaneous happenings, making the overall impression of a totally absurd and secluded world. Nevertheless, F'murr always manages to maintain a kind of direction and realism in his otherwise pointless universe, and somewhere in between is the humour that his fans find hilarious but inexplicable.