Chapter 1: The Last of the Clan McDuck
Dates: 1877-1880
Chapter One, of course, tells how a 10-year-old Scrooge first went into business with a shoeshining kit his father made him for his birthday and earned his #1 Dime — an American dime that was worthless to him in Scotland and made him vow to be "sharper than the sharpies and tougher than the toughies" so that he would never be cheated again. After three years of shining shoes, selling firewood and peat, and protecting the McDuck ancestral castle from the McDucks' rival clan the Whiskervilles, 13-year-old Scrooge leaves home to seek his fortune in America.
This chapter provides examples of:
- Aside Glance: Hortense, still a toddler, spends most of the story apparently capable of saying only "Glxblt." When Scrooge departs for America, she says, "'Bye, Scrgy!" Everyone gapes at this, while Hortense smirks at the reader.
- Badass Creed: Scrooge's promise to be tougher than the toughies, smarter than the smarties and to make his fortune square.
- Call-Forward: The Whiskervilles were about to uncover Sir Swamphole McDuck's alternate entrance to the castle's dungeons, as well as Scrooge's ancestors discussing if Sir Quackly should have shown him the hidden treasure, which would be discovered by Scrooge and his nephews in the Barks story The Old Castle's Secret, about 70 years later.
- Dead All Along: The kind duck who presents the McDuck's history to Scrooge is actually the ghost of Quackly McDuck.
- Didn't Think This Through: Quackly McDuck sealed himself into a wall with the Templars' treasure in his eagerness to hide it.
- Feuding Families: The McDuck against the Whiskervilles.
- Gone Horribly Right: Fergus planned Scrooge getting his Dime to teach him to be more careful with his money. Given what Scrooge will become, this ploy has been 1000% successful. In fact, When young Scrooge begins demanding receipts for the money he gives his family to report on the taxes, Fergus remarks, "Hoots, mon! I may have overinspired the lad!"
- Haunted Castle: The McDuck's ancestral castle is haunted by the ghosts of said ancestors.
- Hell Hound: The Hound of Whiskerville, a direct lift from The Hound of the Baskervilles.
- Identity Denial: Quackly's ghost denies being a McDuck, because there are only 6 surviving McDucks at this point in time (Fergus, Jake, Angus, Scrooge, Matilda, and Hortense). He could not explain that he is part of the Clan, but no longer among the living.
- Impoverished Patrician: The McDuck clan is an empoverished clan of Scottish nobles.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: Scrooge was told that his family doesn't fear anyone, except the tax collectors.
- It Runs in the Family: All the McDuck were incredibly stingy. Scrooge is and will be no exception.
- A Lesson in Defeat: Fergus sets up his son to be given an American (thus worthless in Scotland) dime after hard work, so that he learns to not be too trusting. It actually inspires Scrooge's Badass Creed.
- Mythology Gag: While pretending to be Quackly's ghost, Scrooge bellows "I am invincible! I am doom itself!" which is from the Barks story "The Duck in the Iron Pants".
- Pintsized Powerhouse: The McDuck were all runts, but fearsome warriors too. Being very small when armor wasn't designed to let you see below you was a nice bonus.
- Post-Victory Collapse: Scrooge has to clean a pair of boots so dirty, it takes him half an hour and he nearly faints afterward from the effort. Note that Scrooge is only 10-years-old at this point, and is nowhere near as athletic as he would become as an adult.
- Quicksand Sucks: The highlands contain quicksands, but the Whiskervilles, frightened by the fake ghost of Quackly McDuck, run too fast to even notice them.
- Riches to Rags: After the McDuck were driven out of their castle, Seafoam McDuck lost the family's fortune because of the disatrous sinking of a trading ship. (Reference to The Horseradish Story (1953) where Seafoam had put his own fortune as a guarantee that the ship's cargo would reach its destination.)
- Scarecrow Solution: Scrooge scares the Whiskervilles away by making a fake ghost.
- Shoe Shine, Mister?: For his tenth birthday, Scrooge gets a shoeshine kit from his father, and cleaning dirty boots becomes Scrooge's first job.
- Shout-Out: Sir Quackly's line "McDucks sailed forth in fear o' no man born o' woman..." alludes to a rather famous play centered on Scotland. Also an in-joke in this case. Quackly's backstory is that he was a loyalist supporter of the historical King Macbeth (reigned 1040-1057) during an 11th-century Scottish civil war.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax:
- The Hound that originally drove away the McDucks from their land were the Whiskervilles in disguise, in an attempt to get the land. They have kept the hoax up for centuries for the day when the McDucks finally fail to pay the taxes on the land and they can buy it.
- Scrooge also drives the Whiskervilles away from the castle by making his own hoax. He loads the armor of Sir Quackie with peat and lights it on fire, pretending that the flaming ghost of Quackly is angered by the Whiskervilles' presence.
- The Shadow Knows: Pay attention to the feet of the castle caretaker. Even in direct sunlight, he never casts a shadow.
- Title Drop:Sir Quackly: After all, you are the Last of the Clan McDuck!
Scrooge: Last, but not least! Not from now on! - Violent Glaswegian: Everyone here is Scottish, and ready for a fight with the rival family.
- Young Future Famous People: Scrooge, the future Living Legend and richest duck in the world is featured as a 10 years old duck.
