Myths and Legends

This week: two folktales from Japan. One is about a humble, happy stone cutter who becomes a power-mad, bitter stone cutter. The other is about, surprise surprise, supernatural occurrences at a Buddhist temple in a remote mountain region.
The creature of the week is...or are...the blue men of the Minch. They are blue, men, and very, very good at writing poetry...

The story of a famous dragon from the folklore of north east England is filled with knights, curses, and, of course, the need to kill your favorite childhood dog. The story of the Lambton Worm is a quest for redemption where many people die because of a young man who just wants to yell cuss words at children and throw his trash in a well.
The creature of the week is the butter cat. That should be enough to want to listen to the creature of the week...

Norse mythology, like all mythology, is strange. Thor's hammer is gone. It was stolen...or he just left it somewhere and forgot about it. To get it back, though, he's going to have to do something more difficult than fighting legions of giants. He's going to need to get married.
And there's the origin of poetry, which contains way more men formed from spit than you'd expect for the origin of poetry.
On the creature of the week, seriously, just stay out of the woods. It never ends well...

In this famous story from Greek Mythology, we'll meet Cupid (not a baby), as he accidentally nicks himself with his own arrow. In a podcast episode that is  like the movie "Mean Girls" with a trip to the Greek underworld, you'll see why it is against the law to harbor someone who's prettier than a goddess.
The creature of the week is a forest creature that operates on a very annoying wood chip economy...

A double-sized episode with the whole epic and slightly-ridiculous story of a cattle raid that ended up taking way longer than it should have. It involves a young man hulking out numerous times, several creative ways to kill your opponent in single combat, and a fight to the death between best friends. Also, you'll see why you shouldn't bring your squirrel to an active war zone.
The creature of the week is a scary, hairy little zombie who, like Jack Frost, will nibble at your toes...

Queen Medb, King Ailil, and Fergus make their way into Ulster while the army is crippled by feeling as if they are going into labor. Only one man, barely out of childhood himself, can stand against the invaders and protect his people until they are able to rise. That man is Cu Chulainn. This week, we learn the origin story of this Irish superhero (he's kind of literally a superhero, too. He can hulk out.), including how he got his name, which basically means dog...

Starting an epic string of legends from Celtic folkore. We're back in the time of kings, princesses, and intrigue. You'll see how you can steal a kingdom with fancy accounting, curse a nation because of a careless comment, and start a war to prove to your spouse how rich you are.
The creature of the week is the monaciello from Naples, Italy. When he's not helping you, he's stealing your clothes...off your body.....

It's the original story of the Snow Queen, more commonly known as the source material for the hyper-popular Disney movie named "Frozen". The original, though, is incredibly different, and contains much more violence, kidnapping, and weirdness than the adaptation...

This week, it's a horror story from Korean folklore. A little girl gets lost in the forest, and then a strange problem begins tearing her family apart.
Then, on the creature of the week, you'll see how buying sunglasses for the guard might help you rob a temple...

The first episode of much-requested Native American folklore has giants, ghosts, anthropomorphic coyotes, jilted lovers, and the reason for why the tick got so flat. Because you've always wondered how the wood tick got to be so flat.
On the creature of the week, it's an animal from Australian folklore who is lurking in stagnant water, just waiting to give you a deadly hug...