What The Folklore?

TW: Brief description of marital SA between 51:38 and 52:00 After probably-months of teasing, it is time to begin another epic, this time The Epic of Sundiata . And by "begin", I of course mean "we'll get around to talking about him eventually, maybe". Suggested talking points: Septennial Parasite, A Professional at Eating Scenery, Immersion-Therapy for Pun Appreciation, A "Just-In-Case" Tax, This...

Have you seen the movie "Her"? No? Go check out the trailer...okay, got it? Now you basically understand this week's story, The Wonderful Stone . Except instead of Scarlet Johansson's disembodied voice, just picture a cool rock. Suggested talking points: A Human Repository of Important Municipal Information, Whoville's Siren Santa Song, Returning a Bandaged Cow, Basically Kidnapping an Egg, A Gran...

This week we read The Tale of Katcha and the Devil: The Story of a Clinging Vine , which is a story we can all agree we've never read before. 100% sure about that, as are you. Right?? Suggested talking points: A Husk of Loose Thoughts, TIME SISTER, Scolding Dogs from a Mile Away, The Bagpipe Boyz, A Licensed Devil Franchise, Can't Talk While You're Pipin' Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis I...

Enticed by Carman's cryptic clue of "Grandpa, Man-eating, Egg", we dive headfirst this week into The Legend of Aji Saka. It for sure has each of those things in it. Suggested talking points: Big Water vs. Big Queso, Thick Gloopy Vocal Cords, The Channing Tatum Chin Experience, Quietly Undo the Boy, Living Six Lives at Once, Accidentally Forged a Pottery Sword, Meat into the Alphabet-Grinder Check...

After reading a much-too-long epic (that really could've been boiled down to a single episode), we decided we needed a palette cleanser. For some reason, we also decided that palette cleanser would be Hans Christian Andersen. This week, we read The Rose Elf. Suggested talking points: Advancements in Bellibolt Technology, Excommunicated from the Pinocchio Community, Folktale Chop Shop, Magic Ennui...

This week on WTFolklore, we finally conclude the epic known as The Story of Harap Alb, with perhaps the most pitiful, confusing "Animal A-Team" we've yet encountered on the podcast. Suggested talking points: Emoji Hieroglyphics, The Proposal-Disposal House, Now Available For Three Easy Payments of Two Easy Payments of $99.99, This Horse's MSRP Was Wildly Exaggerated, The Whiny Squadron of Various...

This week on WTFolklore, cooler heads prevail, and instead of alternating back and forth between epics, we pick up where we left off last time and read Chapters 2 and 3 of T he Story of Harap Alb,  titled Under the Power of Bald-Man and The Bear's Lettuce and The Stag's Precious Stones Suggested talking points: Putting the "Monster" in Pocket Monster, King of the "One Guy Plays Every Guy" Genre, T...

This week on WTFolklore, we do what we've always done best: complain about commercials. Then we read Chapter 1 of T he Story of Harap Alb, which is itself titled The Ember-Eating Flying Horse Suggested talking points: Punched in the Mouth by a Sandwich, Bros En Masse, A Good Way to Annex Sons, Somewhere Cold and Full of Bears, A Castle Full of Ho-hos and Bagel Bites, Water-Spitting Mole-Horse Chec...

Even though it says "Part 3" in the  title, we close out Part 2 of The Trial of Lovers: The Maiden of Mátsaki and the Red Feather this week, thus bringing an end to our tale of a guy so dumb and annoying he caused the very concept of death to exist. Suggested talking points: One Cat One Taco, The Minions Pit, We're Putting for Bogey on this Folktale, The Ol' "Panini Hands" of Sadness, A Room Dedic...

This week, we conclude at least Part 1 of The Trial of Lovers: The Maiden of Mátsaki and the Red Feather, having learned nothing about said Red Feather, but a surprising amount about bugs, their legs, and the lexicon of demons and wizards. Suggested talking points: My Breaths Aren't Finite, Armpits of Steel, Caring is at a Minimum, Dropped Bundles From Weak-Armpited Men Running from Bug Children,...

This week on WTFolklore, we begin an unexpectedly long journey into The Trial of Lovers: The Maiden of Mátsaki and the Red Feather, a Zuñi Folktale that we've barely scratched the surface on, if the episode title serves as any indication Suggested talking points: Dream Tyler Redemption, What If Tom Clancy Bought a Farm, Sad-squatch, Optimus Dad-Bot, Screaming in Two Languages, Spare Not the Armpit...

We're back to regularly scheduled antics after surviving d'Aulnoy again, this time to read The Dun Cow , a story that would've fazed us a decade ago, but to which we now find ourselves unfortunately inured. Suggested talking points: Side-Witch, I Don't Need Your Stink Bread, Grandfathered Into Being the Youngest, Clothing-based Vision Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis If you'd like to suppo...

We conclude our Journey through The Benevolent Frog , and come to the unanimous consensus: to improve the story, the frog must go. Thank you once more to Dani for joining us on this particular ride! And if you're interested in Gordie's new kickstarter, check it out HERE!!! Suggested talking points: Just Get to the Vows Before the Frog Shows Up, We are Proven Fools, SHE HAD KICKING STRENGTH THIS WH...

We continue our Journey through The Benevolent Frog , and, unfortunately, this section DOES include a frog. Its benevolence, however, is up for debate. Thank you to Dani for joining us on this particular ride! Suggested talking points: Slowly Returning to Baby, We're Doin' Shrek, The Raddest Croissant, D'Aulnoy Walked so AO3 Could Run, Counting is Not a Frog Power, Juggling With Punches, All Signs...

The time has come, once more. The clock has rolled over again, another year has passed, and to usher us into Year 11 of WTFolklore is none other than our dear, dear friend, Madame d'Aulnoy. Thank you to Dani for joining us on this particular ride! Suggested talking points: Fae Notary, Technofecalism, The Fortnite of Cookies, Goo That Is Alive, The Unrelenting Postman, The Delivery Olympics, Meat i...

This week, after celebrating our own brand of "Big Game", we dive into one of the Four Great Folktales of China, The Butterfly Lovers Suggested talking points: The Super Toilet Bowl, Secret Treaty (to Defeat Gordie), All of the Beach Happening To You at Once, The Franz Kafka University of Turning Into Things, Good But Worse LLC, Hauntings Are Just Your Soulmate Missing You Check out Gordie's TTRPG...

A slightly-less-but-still-bite-sized episode of WTFolklore as the Whimbus continues to throw its tantrums on us. This time we crack open a tome that threatens to remain with us for some time to come, The Cats' Arabian Nights, or, King Grimalkum Suggested talking points: A Folklore Receptacle, The Return of Ichabod, I Can Has Mammothburger?, Our Annual Cat-Meme Reunion, The Ever-Present Custard Pie...

It's a bite-sized episode this week on WTFolklore as we race against the sky to complete a recording. Not all of us made it... we read Shippeitaro, a tale from Japan. Suggested talking points: Nary a Goof, Boat% Speedrun, The Adventure Famine, Yowllicle Cats™, Stinky-Girl Pageant, The Boy Who Left His Yard to Climb a Rock and Didn't Even Punch a Robber Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis If y...

This week on WTFolklore we read The Bad Mother, a Romani tale so chock-a-block full of chaotic magic, it may well be our Primordial Fairy Tale.  Suggested talking points: The Price is Wrong, Speaking of Brain Diseases, Going Backwards on the Simba Log, My Other Horse is a Bus, Dentures and Draggins, When the Apple Trees Nap, A Garage of Many-Winged Horses, More Porker Than Man Check out Gordie's T...

We return in 2026, kicking things off with two short tales, one from Hans Christian Andersen, the other a Grimm, with the sliveriest of slivers for connective tissue to one another: traveling occurs in both. Suggested talking points: BYOB(omb), Self Actualized Pokémon Card, Doxxing Hans Christian Andersen, Any Tree; Giving or Otherwise, Hans Christian Andersen's PCP Shower Thoughts, The Cult of Co...

We cut it VERY CLOSE this year, but it wouldn't be a year of What The Folklore without us dipping in to another chapter of The Journey West. Thanks to Dave, Jayson, Matt and Melissa for all joining in on this one, and Thank YOU for listening to another year of this show. See you all in 2026! Music used was "Auld Lang Syne Instrumental Jazz", provided royalty free by E's Jammy Jams Check out Gordie...

After a quiet December of very little posting, we've returned with a gift for the holidays as we read The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff. Suggested talking points: Gordiesmas, Golfception, Pulp Fiction: The Grandma Cut, The Krampus is Now Literate, The Year Without a Monkey King, A Record-Breaking Tangent, The First Grilled Cheese, Have Yourself a Merry Little Radical Day Check out Gordie's TTRPG, M...

Content Warning: The story this week revolves around the central plot point of a dog's death. This week on WTFolklore, we read The Dog and the Sparrow, another Grimm tale that has somehow yet alluded our eyeballs...but no longer!  Suggested talking points: The Tortoise and the Highlander, A Private Collection of Spheres, KrampusCon, Bart Simpson's God-Fearing Face, Maintaining the Crime Ecosystem,...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Lambikin, originally an Indian story, retold as an Irish story, that we then wrestle into the shape of a Thanksgiving story. Suggested talking points: Gordie's House of Pain, Garfield Shrugged, Bored Halfway Through a Burger, Sillybles, Spending Corn to Make Corn, Patrick Bateman Visits Grandma, A Turkey in the Background for Legal Reasons, Tom Bombadil Disease...

This week on WTFolklore, we read Vukub-Cakix, a Mayan tale that purports to be about "Twin Hero-Wizards". We purport they are neither. Suggested talking points: Make N' Shake, Forgive Me For the Blow Dart (and the Strangling...), Nobody Eats Plums, We Are Famous Doctors Trust Us, Licensed to Stethoscope, It Sounds Like Overkill Because It Is, Mountain Dribbling Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorph...