Three stories of people making deals. The first is from Japanese folklore, and it's about making the most of what you have...even when what you have is a dirty piece of straw and a fly friend. The second story is about a man who made a deal with the devil...and all the stupid (maybe brilliant?) decisions he made after that deal. The third story is that of Rumpelstiltskin, a weird little imp that might have been a hero if he didn't insist on purchasing humans.
The creature of the week the poludnica, and she is looking out for you and your rights at work...violently.
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Like stories? Like listening? Like listening to stories? Check out audible (the book I mentioned was "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline): http://www.audible.com/myths
Spiders...why'd it have to be spiders? (bit.ly/2cl1yyX)
Music:
"Solemn Application" by Blue Dot Sessions
"Micolai" by Blue Dot Sessions
"Lost and Found" by Podington Bear
"Lope and Shimmer" by Podington Bear
"Lead Shroud" by Blue Dot Sessions
"Giving Tree" by Podington Bear
"Denouement" by Podington Bear
"Bootstraps" by Podington Bear
Hi! I was wondering, in the first story, the Japanese one, if any of the versions give any reason why the woman’s rich father was willing to pay/offer millions for a random horse? Why did he want THAT horse so bad? Thanks!
The first story seems to be the opposite of Hans in Luck, who starts with gold and ends up with nothing after many trades but is still happy about it.
Kannon is an interesting goddess/bodhisattva who is sometimes male and sometimes female. In China and Japan Guanying / Kannon is usually a goddess, but originally (s)he was the male bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshwara.
In Tibet the Dalai Lama is seen as an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara..
I know a similar story to the secpnd one you told where the man wishes for a bag that he can trap anyone inside just by wishing for it. When St. Peter refuses to let him into heaven, the man says he didn’t even want into heaven, he just wanted to return the bag. St. Peter takes the bag and the man promptly wishes to be inside the bag and this is how he gets into heaven.
There’s also a version where the man doesn’t trap the devil, but Death. But when he sees the consequences of Death not being able to do his job – the number of insects rapidly increasing destroying crops, wounded soldiers forced to live in unbearable pain, overpopulation – he realizes the signifcance of death and allows his soul to be taken.
By the way, Daddy Longlegs aren’t spiders, they’re insects, because they only have 6 legs.
There are three different creatures that go by the moniker Daddy Longlegs, and people from various regions call different animals by that name. The first, the crane fly, is indeed an insect with 6 legs. The second, the cellar spider, is as the name implies a spider. And the third, the harvestman, is a second kind of arachnid.
The more you know
Yep, I was referring to pholcidae, or cellar spiders. Here in Ohio in the US we call them daddy long-legs, but I guess that could be more of a regional thing. I’ve never heard the crane fly called that, but I could totally see it.
That death one sounds great. I’m going to look into that.
Oh, I just saw the comment from Owen about the spiders!
The graphic novel Fables incorporates the myth about trapping Death in a bag. In their version, Jack, of beanstalk climbing fame, wins the bag from the Devil in a poker game. He later traps Death in order to impress a love interest. :)
There is a wonderful derivative of that story by Anthony Minghella called “The Soldier and Death”. You can watch the Jim Henson rendition on YouTube or find the whole story text online.