In this Russian Fairy Tale from the same collections as the stories of Koschei the Deathless, we find a prince who goes on a quest for the firebird. This leads us into a Russian nesting quest situation, where he ends up on a quest-within-a-quest-within-a-quest. We'll also follow his doofus brothers, who decide that taking an extended camping trip getting drunk in their silk party tents is much better than questing.
On the creature of the week, it's a large horse-headed monster who will push you down or trample you...all while giggling like a child.
The sponsor this week: Imakeokthings
Music:
"Dew" by Cousin Silas/Black Hill
"Jackbird" by Blue Dot Sessions
"Gondola Blue" by Blue Dot Sessions
"Something Elated" by Broke for Free
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hi jason i love your podcast
you retell myth with a funny type
im a major fan and i have one requests
can u do a podcast about thor and loki and odin etc
Hi. I’m sure you won’t see this. I love your podcast.
So, Ivan is one of the most common names in Russia and that area. This could be the same Ivan from previous episodes, but it might not be.
This is another tale that has some similarities with a Romanian one (maybe the Romanian one has some roots into it, as the Romanian culture has some Slavic heritage/connection). The Romanian tale is called “Praslea cel voinic si merele de aur” / “The strong youngest boy and the golden apples”.
Started listening to this show via Spotify. Great way to listen to the show during travels.
Great speaking voice, humor and seriousness balanced perfectly. Will definitely make sure to listen to all 100+ episodes and hope all will come available on Spotify.
interesting podcast! I love listening to podcasts and I love to here folklores. Thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely visit this site for more
Heh. I’ve always loved this story because of how truly idiotic Ivan is. The version that I grew up with didn’t include any reason for grabbing the cage and bridle other than “ooh, shiny!” and included a bit where the wolf warns Ivan that if he tells his brothers what happened then they will kill him. Guess what he does!
Also, the wolf blackmails the bird to fetch the magic water by grabbing her child and tearing it to pieces (although he does heal it later)
Do you post bibliographies for each podcast?
I should, and I’m planning on it. It’s one of those things where I didn’t do it in the beginning, and I just continued not doing it. I’m getting more and more people wanting to read the stories now, though. I’ll probably start and work my way back.
He’s just called the Grey Wolf. The Russian fairy tales aren’t big on individual names. Even “Baba Yaga” just means basically “horrifying old woman.”
Hi J
Does the wolf in this story have a name? Or is it just called the wolf?