Dec 19, 2018

How a Bundle of Straw Became a Fortune is the Japanese take on the “exchange” type of story, which we could also call the “pay it forward” type. In it, an individual does a good deed by giving away something, and receives a gift in return; this gift is then given to someone else who needs it, and the hero then...

Nov 16, 2018

Tug Of War comes from the Island of Andros in The Bahamas, and continues the tradition of a clever trickster animal getting the best of bigger and brawnier bully beasts. Our monkey is named Timmy, thanks to a listener and Patreon named Caleb.

We come to you from Jamestown, Virginia, where we've just toured Jamestown...

Oct 23, 2018

Boots and the Troll is a tale that has many elements in common with other folk and fairy tales, including Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as countless others about siblings setting out to find their fortunes.

We come to you from Abington, MA., where we've been performing as ghouls and goblins and other...

Sep 15, 2018

Yes, The Chinese Mirror is indeed a Korean story, a tale about fools and about how the introduction of something new often leads to comical results.

We come to you from Scarsdale, NY, just north of New York City, which we just took a walking tour of. Since our last podcast, we've been to Maine, including Acadia National...

Aug 16, 2018

The Monkey Husband from Japan is one of those many stories about a girl from a poor family marrying a beast of some sort or other -- including, of course, one of the best known, Beauty and the Beast. This one also seems to be related to a legend that Shakespeare borrowed for King Lear: a father with three daughters, of...