The Fairy Tellers

Katrina and Geoff celebrate Mer-May! Making up for our oversight last year, we go all in with a mermaid tale from The Thousand and One Nights, "Julnar of the Sea." Besides the Nights, this story also appears in Tales of the Marvelous and News of the Strange, an older, raunchier, more racist, and "problematic" collection of tales from the Middle East that was translated into English for the first time in 2014. Before getting into the tale, Katrina gives us some back story into the history of this new collection. And then we dive into the odyssey that is the tale "Julnar of the Sea". 

In this minisode, Katrina retells her favorite Aesop Fable of all time: The Sorceress. Enjoy!

Katrina and Geoff talk tricky foxes! This week, we dedicate an entire episode to our favorite Aesop Fable character, the fox. This sometimes lovable trickster is both clever and sneaky, and easily the most nuanced of Aesop's characters. While we are often encouraged to be smart like the fox, he also occasionally uses his intelligence to the detriment of others.

Katrina and Geoff back at it again! In this episode we continue our discussion of The Thousand and One Nights by delving deep into the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. While this tale has some major name recognition, I would bet several dinars that most people don't actually know what it is about (I know I didn't). Katrina retells the "orphan tale" of Ali Baba which includes a much overlooked character.  But first! Geoff retells a story from the Grimm Brothers' collection that is clearly inspired by Ali Baba but inexplicably ends halfway through the tale!

Katrina and Geoff talk superheroes in antiquity! In this tale from the Ming Dynasty, we are introduced to the original super-humans, the Ten Chinese Brothers. Before Katrina tells their story, Geoff retells a surprisingly similar story from the Grimm's brother collection called "How Six Got on in the World." Forget the Snyder Cut, these are the superhero stories that you need to hear.

Katrina and Geoff dive back into The Nights and find "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni" and it's many tales within tales. But first Katrina fills us in on all the things we didn't learn about King Solomon in Sunday school, or watching Indiana Jones. Through these stories Scheherazade really hits us HARD with the theme of enacting justice on the appropriate people for the appropriate crimes. I wonder how that could be relevant? Also... How does King Solomon play in to all of this? Strap in folks. It's gonna be a wild ride.

Katrina and Geoff celebrate Saint Patrick's Day! In this episode, we discuss the man himself and the various legends that surround him. Including the time he got into a fight with a druid priest over an Easter bonfire, and why everyone thinks he drove all the snakes from Ireland.

Katrina and Geoff tell tales within tales within tales! In this episode we dive deep into a listener question about scholars who argue that The Thousand and One Nights was complied by a single author for a specific narrative purpose.  Then we get into the The Tale of the Three Sheiks, which encompasses the first three nights of tales, and what happens as Scheherazade carries out her plan to survive.

Katrina and Geoff talk tea and sugar and rum! Piling on to the current sea shanty craze, we discuss the surprisingly specific form of folk song called sea shanties, and other songs of the sea. A highlight is the retelling of the true story of Timothy Connor, an American privateer who became an accidental archivist when he wrote down a collection of songs collected by fellow sailors while spending time in an English prison. We also get to the bottom of WTF a Wellerman actually is.

Katrina and Geoff get dishonorable! In this Fifth Friday Fable Fest, Katrina and Geoff retell a number of Aesop's famous fables around the theme of "honor among thieves" or the lack thereof. This topic was inspired by a conversation Katrina had with one of our listeners about our first Aesop's Fables episode.