Wintertime Wager is a Donald Duck comic book written and drawn by Carl Barks. It was first printed in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #88 in January, 1948. It is debut of Gladstone Gander, Donald's cousin and domestic rival.
It is Christmas in Duckberg, and so cold that all Donald wants to do is huddle in his warm house. However, his cousin Gladstone Gander arrives to remind him of a bet Donald made last summer: If Donald cannot go swimming in Frozenbear Lake on Christmas Day, Gladstone will take possession of his house!
Poor Donald cannot bring himself to do it, and Gladstone has seemingly won. However, Daisy Duck shows up with a wager Gladstone himself made to her: If he cannot drink two galleons of lemonade, he will return Donald's house. Sure enough, Gladstone is unable to drink the two galleons, and Donald gets his house back.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie declare that "A bragging mouth always gets one into trouble." But as Daisy leaves, she overhears Donald and Gladstone making ridiculous wagers all over again, showing that they haven't learned anything.
Tropes
- Aesop: In-universe, and provided by the nephews.
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Even for Donald, this was a stupid idea - he bet his house on whether or not he could take a winter swim, risking to put both himself and his nephews on the street.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just when it seems like Gladstone has won, Daisy arrives to set things right.
- Crazy-Prepared: Daisy had Gladstone make the lemonade wager just after he got Donald to make the Christmas Swim wager.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Gladstone doesn't have his absurd-good luck yet. It would take until the sixth story he appeared in, Race to The South Seas, for him to gain his iconic luck.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the story, Donald and Gladstone are back to making silly bets.
- Mirror Character: Gladstone's character in his debut, as well as a few subsequent stories; he's pretty much another version of Donald at this point.
- Tempting Fate: The first page (as shown on the page image) has Donald and his nephews expressing how cold it is, and their plans to remain indoors.
