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.)

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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.)

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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.

We talk about Rumpelstiltskin’s destruction brought about by no one other than himself.  His being stuck in the earth may symbolize his low quality, which is the opposite of the miller’s daughter.  He is in a way a personification of the power of nature and yet he, unlike it, does not change.  Alchemy.  The fluidity of categories in the pre-modern mind.  

(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 analyze the Grimm’s tale “Rumpelstiltskin,” focusing on the miller’s daughter, who gets everything despite and because of the various scheming of the men around her.  Finally, her knowledge of he who had all the power – when she learns his name – destroys him.  This obviously is reminiscent of naming demons to allay their power in exorcisms.  

(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 the Grimm Brothers’ story “Rumpelstiltskin,” a tale about class, men and women, and above all, magic, which transforms, usually in unexpected ways.  The tale starts off with a desire for a miller father hopelessly trying to convert his daughter’s imagined ability into social capital then transitions to a king using his political power to attain wealth.  The story’s throughline is the seemingly helpless heroine who ends up getting gold and making life, and she gets to keep it all, little man be damned (after she acquires The Power of his Name). It’s a seemingly simple question, but do you believe in magic?  I am very interested in tales of transformation and transformative tales.  Please share ones you know. 

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For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

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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.

Rumpelstiltskin Summary (Clip)

We give a summary of the Grimm Bros.’ story “Rumpelstiltskin.”  

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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 talk about what we think is anti-human rhetoric, seemingly uber-rational but coldly inhuman.  And these don’t help male-female relations.  And I think the solution isn’t all or even mostly rational.  

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-ibgvn-17f6deb

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.

People may have a psychological need to feel useful.  Is there a turn against this for men and women.

Please comment, like, and subscribe! 

For the full episode: 

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-ibgvn-17f6deb

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.