The Fairy Tellers

#97 Snow White

In this episode, Geoff and Katrina complete their shining tiara of a series, with this crown jewel. After a year devoted to exploring the motifs, themes, and elements that have traveled through the ocean of stories for centuries, we cover the story of Snow White. Crafted and created by the Brothers Grimm, Little Snow White is a tale that most people feel familiar with, but there are still surprises to be had in this episode. 

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Book that we used in this episode:
The Fairest of Them All by Maria Tatar
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers' Grimm translated by Jack Zipes

#96 Bestiary of Bakemono: The Yokai Party

CW: Violence and Death of Children

Fate dictates that we provide our audience with a “B” inspired episode and Geoff does not disappoint with his Bestiary of Bakemono. In this Geoff-isode, we dive into tales of Japanese spirits that explain why things so often go bump in the night. While some might be downright silly sounding, with eyeballs for buttholes, others are waiting to bounce at the least provocation, frighten you by bodies of water, or marry you. Geoff has us all exploring the line between monstrous creature or beautiful gods.

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For more information on Michael Dylan Foster and his work, check out this FolkWise episode (FolkWise: Michael Dylan Foster)

The Book of Yokai

Tree Stories | Fifth Friday Folklore Fest LIVE

The 5th Friday in September was a special selection of tree tales from various locations around the world. With the prompt for "plant tales" picked out by our Patreon subscribers, we decided to do an episode on trees. We retold tales of Baobab trees, which were flipped upside down for their ungratefulness and Hera's marriage present of citrons. Greeks weren't the only people to have a special relationship with citrons. And we also talked briefly about items made of trees and how their tie in to folklore help give them context.

#95 Tale of Tales PART 2

Katrina and Geoff are back to finish up the frame story of The Tale of Tales by Giambattista Basile but first, one last story about a hunt for a woman started by the colors red, white, and black. But unlike the other tale, the color black is framed as a force for harm, giving us some cultural context on how to view the tricolors in the tale. With Diarrhea Linda out of the picture, we see if Zoza is able to outwit Lucia and claim the prince that she cried a bucket of tears for. And Katrina ends with a mic drop quote from Maria Tatar.

The Fairest of Them All by Maria Tatar

#94 The Tale of Tales PART ONE

In this episode, Geoff and Katrina dive into The Tale of Tales by Giambattista Basile for another installment of the Snow White series. The tri-colors of fairy tales (white, black, and red) appear over and over but in Snow White we think of these elements being embodied by one beautiful woman. Retelling these tales inside The Tale of Tales requires an understanding of the frame narrative that The Crow/The Raven is found in so Katrina embarks on framing the stories with the trials and quest of Zoza, no matter who many nuts and tears are required.

#93 The Story of Hedgy

In this episode Katrina and Geoff fight their burnout by turning to ATU 650 Strong John, an episode that the fates decided we would do during our December Divinations episode. While researching this tale type, Katrina came across a wild tale with twists and turns that happens to take place in The Un-United Kingdoms of America. Throw away your textbooks and get ready to hear the history of castles and kingdoms that never were. This tale is a crazy ride with the prince of West Virginia trying to claim his rightful crown, while falling in love with his coworker Tom (at least in Katrina's version), fighting dragons, and saving his mother. Buckle up for one of the most unhinged stories of the year!

#92: The Little Mermaid

Happy Mer-MAY...or rather...this episode was recorded in Mer-MAY in anticipation of the release of the new Little Mermaid movie coming out in theaters. In our most long awaited episode, after a very unplanned hiatus, we are back talking about mermaid lore and the Christian tone that this story was originally written with by Hans Christian Andersen. We first start the episode with two short mer-man tales from the area that Hans Christian Andersen grew up that might have helped inspire his tale that has long since left the confines of the shores of Denmark. Please enjoy this 2 and a half hour long special. We are happy to be back.

Travel Folklore | Fifth Friday Folklore Fest | Instagram Live

Katrina and Geoff have been traveling! And they came back with some fascinating folklore from their travels. Join us for the recording of our Instagram Live episode all about it.

#91 Magic Mirrors and Divination

Content Warning: Child Abuse, Infanticide, Suicide, Domestic Violence and Assault

In this episode, Geoff and Katrina talk magic mirrors in another installment of the Snow White project. We dissect the importance of the mirror in the Snow White tale by telling a tale of vanity and another of tools for divination. The first tale is the story of Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Tales of reflective surfaces serve the important function of communicating the theme of vanity. But if this was the only purpose, why do some Snow White variants not have a mirror but instead feature magical trout and the anthropomorphic sun? 

Links to Some Sources (These are unaffiliated links and I don't receive compensation for you using them):
SurLaLune

The Fairest of Them All by Maria Tatar

 

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#90 Entomology Etymology Mythology

Content Warning: Greek/Roman Gods, sexual assault, physical assault

After making a joke months and months ago on one of our LIVE events on Instagram, we make good on the episode devoted to bug names and how they got them. Geoff takes the lead in this episode while Katrina literally lies back and relaxes (while her back is healing). But first she retells the story of Arachne weaving truth to power against Athena. Then Geoff tells us the story of Scorpio and Orion followed by a tale from Romania of how the dragonfly got its name.

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Fifth Friday Fable Fest: Friendship Tales | Instagram Live

Join us for this recording of our first Fifth Friday Fable Fest of 2023. In this Instagram Live event, we retell a variety of Friendship Tales and discuss what we can learn from them.

#89 Turkish Tales: Peris and Dews

Geoff and Katrina talk Turkish Tales! A collector of tales over a hundred years ago tried to determine if tales from Turkey are more European in flavor or Southwest Asian. This leads to conversation we had in our Zora Neale Hurston episode where she was quoted talking about universality of stories but the flavors that ever region adds. These tales are richly flavored and extremely entertaining.

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#88 Polygamous Snow White: Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

Does the title sound like click bait? It is because in this episode, Geoff and Katrina are talking about a tale that, in 1892, shocked Joseph Jacobs as he was looking for Celtic Fairy Tales for his book of the same title. After our episode on the Lai of Eliduc, we're uniquely situated to talk about why he was off the mark when he said that this Snow White variant couldn't have originated in Europe. But it isn't the only Snow White tale from this area with polygamous wives saving the day and each other. Katrina tells the tale of Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland's Daughter. In this episode we also start to collect helpers in the woods and reflective surfaces that are too honest for our dormant heroine's good.

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#87 Zora Neale Hurston, Anthropologist

Katrina and Geoff talk Zora Neale Hurston, ethnography, and why women rule over men! In this episode, we discuss some of the amazing work to preserve African American folklore in the South done by the incredible Zora Neale Hurston. We compare two tales that are almost identical when Zora Neale Hurston collected them but differ slightly between the genders. Through these stories we also get to discuss how much richer books from Zora Neale Hurston (such as "Mules and Men") are because she included the context about the setting and conversations that take place around the telling of tales.

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Check Out Not My Fantasy Podcast:

The Fairy Tellers discuss La Belle et La Bete with Not My Fantasy Podcast

 

#86 The Lai of Eliduc | Snow White Series

Katrina and Geoff talk little known medieval women, specifically Marie de France, for our 2nd installment of our Snow White project. But first, has anyone ever told you that the tale of Snow White was based on a true story? Katrina explains how that theory came to be before diving into this episode's tale, The Lai of Eliduc. A story of a knight who falls in love while serving a new king...the only problem? He's already married. But when the princess swoons, see how quickly this tale becomes relevant to our project.

#85 Two Tails One Horse

Katrina and Geoff are letting fate lead with this episode as they explore ATU 47A (Fox Hangs Onto the Horse's Tail). That's right. Fate led us right back to fox, a character that's impossible to get away from. Interestingly, this also leads us into a Grimm's story that would probably have readers today scratching their heads if they didn't know about the history of Reynard the Fox. 

#84 The Apple of Discord and the Trojan War | Snow White Series

Trigger Warning: Greek Mythology...so literally everything. Sexual Assault, Infanticide, Suicide, Desecration of a Corpse, War, and Zeus.

Katrina and Geoff are starting out the year strong with our first episode on the road to Snow White. The first stop on the journey is a look into Greek Mythology, specifically the tales surrounding The Trojan War to pick out motifs that echo through the centuries. Specifically, apples. But less specifically, soft power and the commodification of beauty.

December Divination | Instagram Live

We tried to finish out 2022 with as much enthusiasm and silliness as possible. We announced our new project for 2023 AND we used some divination methods to help us pick out a few episodes for the year. But first, Katrina quickly retold the Norse myth of Idun and her apples of eternal youth. Apples were a major theme of this episode and Katrina had no idea how sticky apple seeds could be until they were stuck on her face.
Happy New Year! And thank you for all of the support through 2022!

#83 A Very Devil Christmas Special

Happy Holidays to One and All from The Fairy Tellers! All during 2022 we were taking audience requests and suggestions. We are happy to present the last one (for this year) which is both a Ukrainian literary folktale by Nikolai Gogol and a story featuring the devil. What more could you want from a story about Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve? Katrina and Geoff have fun laughing as Old Sly ruins the evening for himself and everyone else.

#82 Disability in Fairy Tales: Riquet of the Tuft

In one of the last listener requests for 2022, Geoff and Katrina turn to a discussion on disability in fairy tales. A lot has been said through the years about disability representation in fairy tales but not all of it is helpful. In this episode, Geoff and Katrina turn to a story recorded by Charles Perrault where he makes some *almost* insightful comments on the social model of looking at disability.

Katrina and Geoff also encourage listeners to learn more about disability studies and finding out what activists in this space are already doing.