The Greek army sailing to Troy stopped on the island of Delos. The king of Delos, a son of Apollo, foresaw that the Trojan War will only be won 10 years later.
So, he invited the Greeks to spend 9 years in his kingdom partying, instead of fighting.
They declined.
Imagine, they could have saved 9 years of war on a technicality...
Reading a legend about how emperor Franz Joseph's wife was a witch who used to turn him into a horse and ride him every night.
As a reminder that traditional storytellers often used everyday spoken language, here is what the wise advisor says when the Emperor confides in him about the matter:
A man sets out with a sword and encounters a sleeping 7-headed dragon. Not wanting to kill it while it is asleep, he lies down and snuggles it. The dragon wakes up later, sees the sleeping man, and decides to not kill it while asleep either.
I just found out that there is an entire folktale type where a husband (going on a long journey) asks Satan to guard his wife's modesty. The devil spends the rest of the story chasing and scaring various lovers away, until he gives up the task as hopeless.
Is it just me, or would this be a great premise for a supernatural romance story 🤣🤣
There is an Italian folktale about three sisters who are courted by a mysterious man. The two elder sisters reject him because he is only ever seen at night. The third one agrees to marry him. Turns out that he transforms into a tortoise during the day.
I now want to see a modern retelling of this were the youngest sister is a Twilight fangirl and is all like "oooh he must be a vampire!!!"
I'm digging into the story of Euthymus, a legendary (but real) Olympian boxing champion from the 5th century BCE. The story says that he defeated a ghost-zombie-werewolf monster in a boxing duel.
The monster was the ghost of one of Odysseus' sailors who violated a maiden in Italia and was stoned to death for it. His vengeful revenant kept demanding a tribute of virgins - until Euthymus showed up and banished him
Jesus Christ, while walking the earth, encounters some mean and greedy people. And he punishes them by turning all ears of corn in their fields into horse d***s.
"Murmeltier" (Marmot) is a tale from the earliest Grimm collection that seems to be a retelling of a French fairy tale by Mme de Villeneuve (famously the author of Beauty and the Beast).
Murmeltier is a "Frau Holle" type tale, with a heroine who has a magical emotional support beaver. It also features a miller who marries a male earth spirit and lives with him in domestic bliss, raising their son together. It's quite the fun story.
24 brothers (12 sets of twins) come across a castle with 24 enchanted princesses. They try to break the enchantment but ultimately fail. The youngest brother moves on, marries a merchant girl, and has 24 sons.
When the 24 boys grow up they return to the castle, break the enchantment, and marry the princesses 😄
This is from a Hungarian Roma version of The Prince Who Sought Immortality.
Venturing back into the world centuries after finding the land of immortals, the prince encounters Death, who tries to claim him. Death and the immortal wife of the prince have an argument over who gets to have him.
Finally, the queen splits the prince in half, gives half of him to Death, and uses the other half to magically regrow him like a starfish.
I read a Hungarian Roma folktale today that featured an evil dragon woman trying to kill a man by cursing him with hunger, and planting an enticing pear tree in his way.
Luckily a girl knocked the pear out of the man's hand. The pear screamed so loud it made trees snap. Had he eaten it, she says, he would have exploded from the sound.
Thb this entire folktale is pretty wild. It begins with a young wizard falling into a wolf trap. Sometime later a dragon, carrying a kidnapped princess, also stumbles into the pit. The wizard pulls his knife, dragon falls on it and dies, princess is thus rescued. The dragon's mother, however, swears revenge. Cue the exploding pears.
🐲 🍐
Sparrow wants to make beer, roasts 1 grain of barley and drops it into a pond. He offers animals a drink from his beer pond.
The mouse and the dog pretend it's beer because they don't want to disappoint the sparrow.
The cat pretends it's beer hoping to eat the sparrow. The horse tells the sparrow the truth, but still drinks.
The sparrow decides to use two grains next year. 🍺
Reading a Romanian version of Mother Holle. Instead of cleaning the house and shaking the pillows, in this one the girl has to feed Holy Mother Friday's pets: frogs, toads, snakes, ferrets and dragons.
Hands up if you'd rather feed goth pets than clean the house 😄
"Once upon a time there was and there wasn't - but if there wasn't, we wouldn't be talking about it, because we don't make a living from storytelling."
In the 10th century, Persian traveler Buzurg ibn Shahriyar wrote in his book about a jinn market located in Kashmir.
According to local informants the jinn marketplace was located in luscious gardens among running streams. The jinn could be heard around the gardens buying and selling, but no one ever saw them.
Sadly he doesn't record more than that. Even though, it sounds like a fascinating setting for a story. 🧞 🧞♀️
The hero, on his way home from meeting the fairy princess, stops to go to the bathroom, and accidentally drops the magic item she'd given him into the toilet.
😬