The Fairy Tellers

#58 Harun al Rashid | Thousand and One Nights

Katrina and Geoff talk caliphs, real and imagined! In this episode, Katrina and Geoff retell the tale "Harun al-Rashid and the Second Caliph" from The Thousand and One Nights. But first Katrina tells us who Harun al-Rashid was in real life (along with a cast full of real characters). The Thousand and One Nights is filled with stories featuring Harun al-Rashid and looking back to the 8th and 9th centuries gives us a clearer understanding of why this Abbasid ruler is so important in the folk culture.

#57 Chu Cuoi the Moon Boy

Katrina and Geoff kick off the holiday season! That's right, the holidays are just around the corner, starting with the Mid Autumn Moon Festival, an immensely important holiday throughout eastern Asia. In celebration, Katrina retells a Vietnamese folktale brought to our attention by a listener suggestion. We also discuss another tale from Vietnam about why some people believe that they see the image of a very important rabbit on the moon.

#56 Wiles of Women | The Thousand and One Nights

Katrina and Geoff talk wily women (and vile viziers)! In this complex and in no way controversial cycle of tales within tales a king's seven viziers engage in a high stakes storytelling battle for the ages. On one side the viziers are trying to save the king's son from execution by convincing the king that women are not to be trusted. Meanwhile, a singing girl who has wrongly accused the king's son of making moves on her tries to get him killed with her own tales of cruel and distrustful men, especially scheming vizier. And boy oh boy do we get into the layers upon layers upon layers of meaning that can be taken by the way these tales interact with the overall frame story of The Nights.

#55 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Spoiler Alert: If you don't want to have the end of The Green Knight spoiled for you, wait on this episode.

Katrina and Geoff get medieval! Many have wondered how Hollywood could take the 50 page poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and turn it into a 2 hour movie. Well buckle up, because we've taken that same poem and turned it into a 2 hour podcast! To start this episode, Katrina gives us a quick and dirty rundown of European history, and introduces us to the world of Arthurian legend (or as Geoff likes to call it, The Arthurian Literary Universe). Katrina then regales us with a retelling based on the absolutely BEAUTIFUL translation by none other than J.R.R. Tolkien. Afterwards, Geoff gives us a run down of differences between the poem and the recently released film, The Green Knight, starring Dev Patel. And our intrepid hosts discuss what these differences say about the cultural values of the 14th and 21st centuries respectively.

#54 The City of Brass | The Thousand and One Nights

Katrina and Geoff discuss death (again)! In this super-sized edition of our Thousand and One Nights series we dive deep into The City of Brass. What starts off as a quest to bring the caliph his very own jinni in a bottle takes a hard turn for the philosophical when the squad decides to detour through three increasingly creepy ruins of lost civilizations.

#53 The Taming of the Shrew

Katrina and Geoff talk Shakespeare! In this episode Katrina educates us on the tale type that was the basis of The Taming of the Shrew. Even though the tale type far predates Shakespeare's play, scholars straight up retconned the name to match his title because it was just that big of a deal! We discuss what Shakespeare changed and why and how the tradition of folklore adaptation continues to this day (or at least until the release of 10 Things I Hate About You in 1999).

Content Warning: Domestic and Psychological Abuse

Note: Katrina was recording in a different environment for this week so there is quite a bit of echo. I'll make sure she doesn't record while on the toilet going forward so it doesn't happen again!

#52 The Legend of the 47 Ronin

Katrina and Geoff talk samurai! In this episode, Geoff leads the discussion on the legend of the 47 Ronin (masterless samurai) and their quest to avenge the death of their lord. While this story is based on actual historical events, it has achieved a legendary status as it has captured the imagination of storytellers, novelists, playwrights and audiences in Japan and throughout the world and morphed into what we know today. We explore how the stories commonly told about the 47 Ronin compare to the actual historical event and why we think they differ.

CW: Discussion of self harm and suicide in the context of forced suicide as a form of execution.

#51 The Wolf and the Fox | The Thousand and One Nights

Geoff and Katrina talk animal tales in The Thousand and One Nights! In this episode we check in with King Shahryar and Scheherazade, when the king starts actively engaging with her stories and even begins making requests. And what kinds of stories do you think the most powerful man in all the land wants to hear? Stories about animals of course! And Scheherazade is happy to oblige. Katrina retells the story of The Wolf and the Fox. And lemme tell ya, this tale gives off MAJOR Aesop vibes as the two titular characters sling proverbs and poems at one another in an attempt to teach a lesson.

#50 Jack and the Beanstalk

Katrina and Geoff talk the best (or worst?) trade deal in the history of trade deals! That's right we're talking all about Jack tales. Who is Jack? Are all fairy tale Jacks ACTUALLY the same character? (Spoiler: No). And while you may have heard the story of Jack and Beanstalk from England, it's doubtful you've heard the tale of Jack and the Beantree from the Appalachian region of the United States. And in this episode, we tell both! 

#49 Julnar of the Sea | The Thousand and One Nights

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". 

Minisode: The Sorceress

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

#48 Fox Tales | Instagram LIVE

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.

#47 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | The Thousand and One Nights

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!

#46 The Ten Chinese Brothers

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.

#45 I'm a Jinni in a Bottle, Baby | The Thousand and One Nights

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.

#44 The Legend of Saint Patrick

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.

#43 Scheherazade Enacts Her Plan | The Thousand and One Nights

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.

#42 Sea Shanties and Folk Songs

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.

#41 Honor Among Thieves

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. 

#40 The Thousand and One Nights

Content Warning: Sex, Coercive Sex, Rape, and Domestic Violence

Katrina and Geoff are back! This episode launches an ongoing project for this year to cover ALL one thousand and one nights worth of tales.... Just kidding. But we will be talking about them a lot! In this episode, Katrina instructs us on the complicated nature of this collection and how it is paradoxically both much older and much newer than you might think. She then retells the elaborate (and often overlooked) backstory of King Shahriyar and his brother that sets up the familiar frame story of  Scheherazade and her thousand tales.