The two sisters lived in the forest and are very different but very close.  In the winter a bear comes to their door.  It ends up sleeping there many cold nights and becoming their “lover” friend.  At winter’s end, he is set to leave to guard his treasure from the dwarves.  He leaves a bit of fur stuck in the doorway and Snow White glimpses gold underneath.  The girls are sent on an errand and meet a dwarf with a beard stuck under a tree.  He curses them when they help him.  Later, a dwarf’s beard is stuck in the fishing line and they again cut it to help him.  Next, they rip a dwarf’s coat, saving him from a bird.  Finally, a dwarf offers them up to save himself from a bear, but that bear is their very own friend and kills the dwarf, and now can change back into a man.  Both sisters marry – Snow White the bear/prince, and Red Rose his brother.

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

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For the full episode: 

Please see below.

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

We summarize and then analyze the Grimm’s Bros.’ story “Hans the Hedgehog.” This is a story about a wealthy peasant who only lacks a child and declares he’d want one even if it’s a hedgehog.  He gets his wish but is unsatisfied, and even wishes the child dead.  But the indefatigable diminutive half-man half-beast child, hidden behind the stove, gets a few gifts and happily goes off with them into nature, where he cultivates his herd and saves two kings.  He makes deals with both, and punishes the malevolent liar king and marries the other’s daughter, shedding his spines in consummating love, gaining a kingdom and his father’s acceptance. We analyze this story being about responsibility and becoming fully a human and a man, among other things. A different kind of story with a shod rooster, a bagpipe playing hedgehog boy hero, and a giant herd of pigs and asses.

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe!

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

What lowly origins for one who achieves such heights!  LL points out Hans’ father may not have been complete, as shown in his barrenness and then deformed child, but Hans is able to shed that legacy, become a complete man and bring that fullness home.  Where does he get his wholeness from? Leaving home, harmony and fullness in nature, planning and industry, and slaying a couple dragons.  What a brilliant ending for what started out an unwanted abomination! Please share any fuller circle stories you know.

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe!

For the full episode: 

Please see below (to be published 2/19).

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

We talk about the final stage of Hans Hedgehog’s transformation in the Grimm Bros. tale.  We compare this a bit to a very different story, from a different and non-Christian culture, that of the Minotaur.  

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe!

For the full episode: 

Please see below (to be published 2/19).

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

I go through what I think are most of the factors to the ascent of the lowly hedgehog boy.  Helpful characters, being wounded, and many other things.  LL points out the part the good nature-attunded wife played.  We have some subtle difference in perspective.  The bride may be the most important element to his ultimate transformation, as it’s only when he crawls into their bed that he is able to shed his rough exterior.

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe!

For the full episode: 

Please see below (to be published 2/19).

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Hans the Hedgehog, rejected by his parents, asks only for tools of survival, and leaves, going into nature and making his fortune.  Even when he returns wealthy, he is still rejected.  But now he is grown up and he is able to inflict some harsh justice/retribution on others who offend him, including a king! That is why I view this story as a “success story.” Many may find this story inspirational.  

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

Please see below (to be published 2/19).

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

My friend LL summarizes this story. A  wealthy peasant who only lacks a child and declares he’d want one even if it’s a hedgehog.  He gets his wish but is unsatisfied, and even wishes the child dead.  But the indefatigable diminutive half-man half-beast child, hidden behind the stove, gets a few gifts and happily goes off with them into nature, where he cultivates his herd and saves two kings.  He makes deals with both, and punishes the malevolent liar king and marries the other’s daughter, shedding his spines in consummating love, and gaining a kingdom and his father’s acceptance. 

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

Please see below (to be published 2/19).

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

In his rage, with the earth’s help, Rumpelstiltskin kills himself.  This small magic man, able to produce gold endlessly, lives outside society and covets a child.  Biblical parallels.  The illusion of wealth.  The miller’s daughter is able to play the system and win over everyone.  This is kind of a success story.  

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-5wcpx-18025e5

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

We talk about what may commentary about the value of women in this story, where a woman is surrounded by three men, who determine her fate, and yet she is the only one who can produce a child, which is what both the King and the titular mysterious and powerful, but incomplete man want.  Rumpelstiltskin, who can produce infinite gold, lives outside society and is ultimately valueless.  He kills himself with his own rage, with the earth’s help.  

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-5wcpx-18025e5

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

On the lowness of magic and “Rumpelstiltskin,” especially the titular character’s petulant self-destruction.  

Rumpelstiltskin’s naming is the key to the transformation of this whole story.  There is power in a name in many fields, including science and any knowledge. Simply by knowing his name, she is able to prevent his taking the most valuable thing from her.

I’m mostly interested in magic as a psycho-social phenomenon, although that in itself is dramatically powerful and fulfilling, ignoring possible supernatural possibilities.

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-5wcpx-18025e5

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube: 

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.