What The Folklore?

I'll be honest, it's a doozy of a story this week. We are subjected to the whimsical mind of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, AKA Lord Dunsany, who delivers us to The Fortress Unvanquishable Save for Sacnoth, AKA The Fortress of Doom. Get your High-Fantasy britches on for this one, folks. Suggested talking points: Lying Will Save Your Life, 2999 Whoopsie Boys, Ghost-Wizard-Punzel, We're Good at...

It's a Tale of Two Tales, this week on WTFolklore, again! Again! This time, at least, there's some connective thematic tissue.  First up is A Man That Was Married to a Goose , followed up by Uinigumasuittuq and the Origin of Living Beings   Suggested talking points: Google-Fingers Activated, Diabolical (Citation Needed), Nary a Grass in Sight, Roolette: The Dating App That Deletes Itself, There's...

It's a Tale of Two Tales, this week on WTFolklore, again! First up is The Snake Who Became the King's Son-in-Law , followed up by God's Godson   Suggested talking points: Get Out Your Smile Calipers, The Foley Files, Idioms Better Watch Out, The Wheel of Cake, My Guns are My Sword, Buff Baby Battle If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthi...

It's a Tale of Two Tales, this week on WTFolklore, as we read both The Tale of the Silver Saucer and the Crystal Apple and The Tale of the Silver Saucer and the Trasnparent Apple. But not before we spend much too much time discussing World Milk Day, which is apparently a thing. Suggested talking points: #MotherEarthUdders, The Raddest Vitamin on the Internet, A Whoopso Thematic-ish Good Job, Third...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Story of the Black Cow, and as with most things, we try to contort it into a Willy Wonka-esque shape. Suggested talking points: Zipline Magnate, The Ratio of Ghosts to Guys, Legally a Cake, The 352-Day Calendar, Milk From the Heart, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Premium+, Somewhere In the Churro Family If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit:...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Legend of Coatlicue & Coyolxauhqui, which are two Aztec names we can absolutely pronounce without mangling them! We learn a lot about the Moon, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and a surprising revelation about Dr. Seuss. Thanks, Mesoamerica! Suggested talking points: A Whisper of Citrus, The Crime of Sustenance, Zero to Pissed Off, 401 Cooks in the Kitchen, The Un...

Well, hey there, stranger! Been a minute, hasn't it? We're back, and already up to our old antics again as we read The Three Citrons: The Story of Prince That Climbed a Glass Hill , as you may be able to surmise from this week's episode title .  Suggested talking points: A Court-Mandated Month of Minutes, The Chosen Treeman, An Expensive Way To Feel Bad About Yourself, Not Invited to the Wedding (...

Alright, gang. It's time to finally talk fantasy again, with the tragic tale of Clive Rosefield, and...oh, hold up. Did I miss a digit in the title?

After the "celebration" that was reading d'Aulnoy for a month, it's time to get back to basics. And by "basics", I mean Hans Christian Andersen. This week we read The Flea and The Professor. Suggested talking points: Surrounded By Strangers and Smelling Flamingos, Parachuting into Poverty, Magic'd WAY Too Hard, The Fun Husband-Leash™, Living That Pig Life, Bigger, Dumber Chickens, Whimsical In All...

This week we finally claw our way to the end of The Princess Mayblossom, and learn much more about Lucky Charms lore than anyone could've anticipated. Suggested talking points: I No Longer Side With The Children, Lucky Charms Creation Myth, Figuring Things Out is for Peasants, Cue Tears (Again), A Life On Emotional Cocaine, Live by the Well Die by the Well If you'd like to support Carman's artisti...

This week we conclude our reading of The Princess Mayblossom ! W..wait? We don't? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON'T?? Suggested talking points: You WILL Learn the Pain of Existence, The Copypastas of Yore, An 8-Madrid Woman At Most, 3 Hours Of Silence Well Spent, Royalty Playpen Simulator, Chapeau 2.0, Land-Pirates Never Took Off If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.pat...

We resume our reading of The Princess Mayblossom this week, down one man from the last. d'Aulnoy just takes and takes and takes from us, doesn't she? Suggested talking points: Big Merlin and Lil' Merlin, Indoor Daughter and Outdoor Daughter, Lions: Are They Real?, The Weeping Five, Comfort Diamonds, Loin-Hunger Vs. Regular-Hunger, Elephantvator, I Punzled My Own Brain If you'd like to support Carm...

Ten Years. Ten Years of doing this, and d'Aulnoy is STILL punking us... Suggested talking points: Entering The Eraser-Free Zone, NURSE TOURNAMENT!, This Didn't Take Long To Get Weird, All The King's Leeches, Constantly Leaking Chastity, The Biggest Punzel Money Can Buy,  If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings If you like our show, fi...

This week on WTFolklore we read two versions of The Wedding of Mrs. Fox, one of which was considered a favorite by Jacob Grimm. One features dick jokes, the other does not. Guess which one was his favorite. Suggested talking points: LEGO Comes For Us All, That's A Lot of Bepis, Is A House a Chef (When It's On Fire)?, An Easy Giggle, A Mickey Mouse Kink, Chucking the Corpse Bouquet If you'd like to...

This week on WTFolklore we read the Ukrainian tale, Oh: The Tsar of the Forest, and are legitimately shocked at how resilient it's canon proves to be, despite our best efforts to deviate from it. Suggested talking points: The Foretold Hose-Pipe, An Eternal Greasy Handprint, The World is Buffering, A Modern O, Babies Made of Things Babies Aren't Made Of, Moisturized (With Beer), Airtight Canon If y...

EDITORS NOTE: THERE IS A 10 MINUTE STRETCH OF INTENTIONALLY UNEDITED SILENCE FROM 9:09-19:09 This week on WTFolklore, after a very good joke that is worth everyone's valuable time, we read The Immortal Rooster, which is actually, secretly,  a much funnier ending to The Hobbit. Suggested talking points: Art World Tea, Reverse-Vampire Rooster, How is the Nut Trading?, The First Live Tweet, Ratatouil...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Tale of Ming , a relic of significant cultural importance to China. We have perhaps...different takeaways than the original author intended. Suggested talking points: The Year is 2136, Cursed with Good Luck, Baby-Play Polycule, All These Flesh Boys With Their Flesh Births, This Is Our Bulbasaur, Crab Shrimp Nervous System Voltron If you'd like to support Carman...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Snow Daughter and the Fire Son , AKA the story of the first two X-Men, Heatmiser and Snowmiser, a tale that begins, middles, and ends in tragedy for inexplicable reasons. Suggested talking points: Motorcycles Everywhere, The Integrity of the Dog, Distant, Diegetic Battle Music, Of Mice and Mons, But Like Where's Magneto? If you'd like to support Carman's artist...

This week on WTFolklore, to make up for missing you on Christmas Eve, and to kick off 2025 in style, we're in for a "Rootabaganing". In layman's terms, that means we're reading both How Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a New Village and The Potato-Faced Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on his Gold Accordion, two stories from the...unique mind of Carl Sandburg. Suggested talking points: The Only Pl...

This week on WTFolklore we read The Stones of Plouhinec, a "seasonal" story from "France" (but not THAT France...) Suggested talking points: We're Not Going to MegaFrance, Put Fear Into the Egg, Tangentially Seasonal, Bee Soup, Faith-Based Graffiti, Eavesdropping on Magic, Innocent Until Proven Wizard If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaarts...

This week on WTFolklore we read the Irish tale How The Wise Women Got Their Farm of Land Rent-Free from Lord Kilmaine, a title whose brevity matches the alleged wit of it's main characters. Suggested talking points: You Got Trucker In Your Soul, A Pilgrim-Themed Corner, Women Who Want Money for Sandwiches, Potato Drunk, Joggromancy, Winking Women of Influence If you'd like to support Carman's arti...

Here we go again...

This week we conclude the twisting, turning road that is What the Rose Did to the Cypress, with and even the story is sick of itself by the end. Suggested talking points: No Secrets When There's Breadsticks on the Line, Final Butt Diamond, Taking Baths With Strange Deer, Marriage In Exchange For Advice, Run-Of-The-Mill Sludge Prince, Miscellaneous Man Meat...Again, This Is Why We Hate Riddles If y...

This week we continue our puzzling journey into What the Rose Did to the Cypress, but we take a bit of a detour away from riddle-solving in order to gather snacks, learn nothing, and kill hundreds of thousands of men. Suggested talking points: A Human Hand Clap, Backseat Riddlers, Men of a Indeterminate Age, An Alternate Pant-Leg of Time, This is Dark Souls Now, An Honorary Bird If you'd like to s...

This week we begin our journey into What the Rose Did to the Cypress, a story featuring a riddle so enticing, even knowing it exists drives men to their (countless) deaths. Suggested talking points: Magnet Highway, The Folklore Ice Bucket Challenge, Horticultural Beef, The Sordid Inner-Lives of Garden Folk, I'm Tired of Hunting this Town, Ctrl+F "Face", Ready to be Piked If you'd like to support C...