Myths and Legends

This episode explores a Slavic fairy tale about Ivan the Cow's son, featuring magical elements like pregnancy-inducing fish dinners and a house on chicken legs, set in a medieval context with a czar seeking an heir.

This episode explores three and a half stories of love and justice from European folklore, starting with a tale about a bell that grants justice to those brave enough to ring it.

This episode of Myths and Legends explores two Turkish folklore stories about characters named Ahmet, focusing on themes of following or ignoring dreams, starting with Ahmet the Junkman who goes to bed early to escape his grueling reality.

This episode explores Icelandic sagas from the Viking Age, focusing on the dangerous lives of celebrity poets and the violent consequences of their actions, including a story about a farmer waking from a nap.

This episode explores the story of Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, focusing on his relationship with Persephone and his role among the Olympians.

This episode of Myths and Legends presents two Danish folklore stories about people confronting unexpected situations, including a family discovering their neighbors are monsters and a scientist removing his own heart.

This episode tells the story of Nala and Damayanti from the Indian epic Mahabharata, exploring themes of gambling and misfortune.

This episode explores two Flemish folklore tales about a wild night out involving murderous ogres, dog sledding, and a goose personification of evil that targets drunk people.

This episode explores a Celtic folklore tale from Ireland about a young man's quest for vengeance that transforms into a deeper journey of self-discovery and the choice between upholding past feuds or seeking peace.

This episode explores five interconnected Japanese folklore stories set in the countryside during the Edo period, featuring elements like talking animals, a merman, and themes of violence and survival.

This episode explores a Slavic fairy tale involving a devilkin, contracts, and a prince needing new shoes, blending folklore with cautionary themes.

This episode tells an Icelandic fairy tale about a grieving king and his son, weaving in Norse mythology elements like giants and a merman.

This episode of Myths and Legends explores the Irish folklore story of O'Sheen, part of the Fionn MacCool legends, starting with two old men in a monastery 300 years after the heroic era.

This episode tells the legendary story of Cambrinus, the jovial patron figure known as the king of beer, exploring his origins and cultural significance through a 19th-century retelling set in medieval Flanders.

This episode explores a Japanese folklore tale about a monster with backwards feet set in a forest temple, while providing historical context about the Meiji Restoration and Edo Period.

This episode explores three stories of witches and wizards from Scottish folklore and Norway, starting with Gilly MacDonald's encounter with a dangerous wizard and a rumor about a fortune.

This episode explores two Celtic folklore stories involving magical creatures and moral choices, starting with Prince Ian's encounter with a blue falcon.

This episode explores two stories about the Korean Grim Reaper (Saja Boys) in Korean folklore, featuring a general who tries to avoid death and a creature that eats nightmares.

This episode explores a Finnish folklore tale about Osmo, a shepherd who encounters mysterious beings, blending elements of fairy tales with mythological warnings.

This episode explores two Hans Christian Andersen stories about pride and power, including a king's ambition and a soldier's moral dilemma in war.

This episode tells the story of Guy of Warwick, a flawed medieval English folk hero from the 10th century, exploring themes of chivalry, violence, and love through his adventures.

This episode tells a Canadian folklore story about 19th-century French-Canadian loggers in the wilderness who make a deal with the devil to escape their New Year's isolation.

This episode explores Aesop's fables, focusing on a story about a donkey who learns to lighten its load by falling in a river while carrying salt for a peddler.

This episode continues the Journey to the West story, following the monk Xuanzong and his supernatural companions as they encounter suspicious signs on their dangerous quest.

This episode of Myths and Legends explores a story from 1001 Nights involving a sultan's quest for an heir, marital issues, and supernatural elements like demons.

This episode explores the story of the Maiden King, a powerful female ruler from Scandinavian legend, set against the backdrop of Viking Age history with magical elements.

This episode explores a Slavic folklore tale about a czar who foolishly boasts about his daughters' extravagant lives, potentially inviting trouble from supernatural beings like wizards and baba yagas.

This episode explores the brutal medieval tales of Renard the Fox, an anthropomorphic trickster in the Beast Kingdom, as part of a mythology and folklore podcast series.

This episode of Myths and Legends tells a West African fairy tale from Ghana's Dagara people about a tyrannical chief who faces a snarky talking baby, beginning with a woman giving birth alone.

This episode continues the mythological story of Fassib and the Queen of Serpents, featuring a tale about Janshaw encountering supernatural events on a mysterious island.

This episode of Myths and Legends explores the Arthurian tale of Sir Morian, starting with his parents and a humorous encounter involving Sir Aglaval and a princess.

This episode continues the Monkey King saga, following the monk Xuanzang and his supernatural companions as they embark on a mythological adventure in medieval China.

This episode explores the Chinese Zodiac story, explaining how the years got their animals through a race involving threats, betrayal, and mythical elements, timed with the Lunar New Year.

This episode of Myths and Legends continues the story of Sun Wukong and the Journey to the West, focusing on the group's adventures outside a city with the Monkey King encountering a soldier.

This episode of Myths and Legends begins a two-part story from 1001 Nights, focusing on the tale of Hasib and the Queen of Sorcery, set within the framing narrative of Shaharazad's storytelling to a sultan.

Myths and Legends episode 404, "Not Found," returns to Sun Wukong, Xuanzang, Pigsy, Sandy, and Yulong the Dragon Horse from The Journey to the West.

Myths and Legends episode 398, "The Bleak Midwinter," strings together Nordic Christmas folklore about brownies, trolls, a white bear, and an Icelandic church service for the dead.

Myths and Legends episode 395, 'Darkest Night,' retells a Breton lay from Brittany and modern-day France about a king who meets marriage proposals with jousts and a princess who disappears into the forest.

["Myths and Legends episode 418 retells Countess de S\u00e9gur's French fairy tale about Orson, the boy born under a bearskin curse, and the family that shelters him.", "A cherry-stealing toad triggers Fairy Furious's curse, while Fairy Drolette can only limit it and set the story's rules.", "Orson grows up isolated, meets Violette in the forest, and the episode keeps returning to rings, memory, and the costs of being seen as monstrous.", "The narration stays comic and specific, with jokes about toads, bears, third-person speech, and awkward job interviews."]

Myths and Legends episode 402, "Misconceptions," frames three Japanese love stories around a merchant who calls himself a "temporary widower," a pair of frogs comparing Kyoto and Osaka, and a geisha named Sakurako.

This episode tells a famous Japanese ghost story set in the Edo period, following ronin like Naosuke and Yemon whose selfish ambitions lead to murder, betrayal, and supernatural vengeance.

This episode tells Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale 'Swan Song', where a witch queen marries a king, curses his eleven sons into swans, and exiles his daughter Eliza.

This episode tells a Korean folklore tale about Pongnu and Eunha, two ten-year-olds who betroth themselves with a magical fan.

This episode tells the Finnish folktale of Miko, a poor woodcutter who, with the help of a talking fox, rises to marry a princess and become king through cunning and kindness.

This episode concludes the Slavic folklore tale of Bova, a prince seeking vengeance for his father's murder while navigating battles, magical disguises, and personal sacrifices.

This episode delves into Slavic folklore, focusing on a tale of Princess Militresa who is forced into marriage with the violent King Gweedon, orchestrates his murder, and seizes power, while her son Bova grows up imprisoned and escapes to face his own adventures.

This episode explores Aesop's Fables through animated retellings, including a wolf disguising as a sheep, a fir tree's hubris, a fox outsmarting a lion, oxen contemplating rebellion, and a farmer's tragic encounter with a snake.

A Turkish prince is cursed to love the silent princess after tormenting an old woman, leading him on a quest where he must make her speak or die.

In the second part of the Monkey King story, Sun Wukong survives being eaten by the Lion Demon King and turns the tables from inside his stomach.

In this episode of Myths and Legends, Sun Wukong and his companions face three demon kings guarding the Lion Camel Cave with an army of 48,000 fiends.