What The Folklore?

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
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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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 out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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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 Ball, Nega-Bilbo, Kafka Kourt

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find u...

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 Boys, Roy G. Bear, Honorary Bug

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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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 The 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, The Sheer Power of Upies, In This Place There are ONLY Bald Men, You Can Trust a Dad Who is Dressed as a Bear, A Beary Scary Sleeping Bag

This week on WTFolklore, we do what we've always done best: complain about commercials. Then we read Chapter 1 of The 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

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show...

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 Dedicated to Corn and Corn-Enjoyment, Longing to Return to the Lava Dimension

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If...

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, The Problem of the Hot Lady, Strengthen Your Thoughts with Manliness, We're So Sick of These Horny Men, I'd Put a Bug in a Headlock

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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 Armpits, Yelling "BLOOD!" in a Crowded Theater

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

...

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 support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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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 WHOLE TIME?!, Sucking in Complimentary Ways, One Man's Prince is Another Man's Lake Monster, A Sword the Length of a First Down

Check...

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 Point to Eaten, A Concentrated Frog-Punch

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

...

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 in an Envelope

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If...

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, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online...

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, Secondhand Grievances

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online...

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 you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to he...

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 TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find u...

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 Corn

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to h...

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's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to help spread the...

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, A Cactus Does Not Grow on Gossip Alone, Cornborne

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to...

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, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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It's back to business-as-usual this week on WTFolklore as we re-calibrate our fairy tale senses with some good ol' fashion eastern european fare, The Glass Mountain, which stars a guy dressed as Hugh Jackman, who is dressed as Jack Black, who is dressed as a school boy.

Suggested talking points: A Farquaad Wandering Amongst the Furries, Schrödinger's Wizard, Everything is Shaped like Jack Black, Unmade by Apples, The Line Between "Wonder" and "Nightmare", Prison in the Shape of a Prize

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic e...

DISCLAIMER: Gordie lost about half of his audio recording this week, so we had to improvise. See if you can guess the parts that got re-recorded!

Spooklore 2025 draws to a close this week, and we have another WTFolklore-exclusive, custom made Cryptid tale for you! Join us as we venture to the most terrifying location in North America...New Jersey...

Suggested talking points: Bricked My Toothbrush, Bobo or Bust, Paranormal Beach Vacation, Cryptid Support Group, "Please! Our Pigs are Brainless!", A Surprising Amount of Kangaroo

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd...

Spooklore 2025 continues this week, with a bit of a twist. Rather than continually avoiding every instance of a "This is a THING, and here are it's SCARY FEATURES" type stories, Carman has elected to assemble her own folktale about one such THING, The Santa Compaña. So enjoy this custom-made spooky story!

Suggested talking points: Spooktralizer Prime, Facebook Marketplace: Post-Apocalypse Edition, Vitamin Weird, Dr. Eepy, Megastitious, Cauldron Cooties, Ghosts Vs. Machines That Beep

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

Spooklore begins in earnest this week, as we read what may well be the earliest-recorded Found Footage ghost story, The Haunting of Athenodorus, or as we elected to call it, "Ghost Hunters: Ancient Athens Edition". 

Suggested talking points: A Barbershop Quartet of Air Horns, A Gas Station for Mimes, Eldritch Horny, The Clanking of the Whimbus, Haunt Me In a Second, My Spooky Wagon of Ghost Milk, Unbarbered In Their Dying Moments.

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

I...

On what is TECHNICALLY the first Spooklore installment of the year...we got a little distracted. Thankfully, our spooky instincts kicked in and we accidentally turn The Vision of Mac Conglinne into a ghost story anyway.

Suggested talking points: Sorry About the Belly Ghost, Whetstone Dentistry, Applesauce IV, Creamgate, Consider the Butter, Cloudy With a Chance of Post-Apocalypse

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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This week we return to our good friend Carl Sandburg for a Rootabega-adjacent story, The Haystack Cricket, and How Things Are Different Up in the Moon Towns. If you like random sounds strung together with no evident rhyme or reason, buddy look no further than a Carl Sandburg story...

Suggested talking points: A Lamp Shaped Like a Scary Arm, A Leather Homunculus, Hummadummadarmanda, DJ of the Corn, Wave Goodbye to the Corntanic, Headaches with Pictures

Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis
If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com...

We are joined this week by very special guest T. Kingfisher! We had to call in back-up to wade our way through Princess Miranda and Prince Hero, a Polish tale featuring everyone's favorite creep, Koschei the Deathless. It also features a hero (named Hero) who makes some staggeringly questionable inventory-management choices on his quest. 

Suggested talking points: A Very Successful Quarry/Brothel, Friend Zoning (Not That Kind), Koschei I Choose You!, Classic Marriage Siege, The Moon Would Rather Not Know, All-Terrain Horse.

A big thank you once more to T. Kingfisher!
Check out Gordie's T...

After talking about some crucial current events (read: Stuart Little Lore), we dive into The Little Purse with Two Half-Pennies, a Romanian tale with some stunning revelations about Project Birdfall's humble beginnings.

Suggested talking points: An Awkward Starbucks Date with Spiderman, Skateboarding up the Wrong Tree, Geriatrics Anonymous, Chief Chicken Flogger, Decorative Ladies, Discovering New Colors of Rage, Kaiju Rooster Franz Ferdinand.

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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This week on What the Folklore, we read FOUR different explanations for where the heck all these god-dang mosquitos came from. As is our want, we take a more...buffet approach to the answer.

Suggested talking points: Label Maker x Spooktralizer Slash Fic, Panera Bread Crime Aura, Wandering Around with a Mosquito Sack and a Grude, Petty Revenge Ravens and Snacks, Never Stop Gaz-Snacking

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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This week on What the Folklore, we read two different stories, The Eye Juggler and Gobbleknoll, which inadvertently creates our most Body Horror-oreinted episode yet! It's Spooklore Summer, baby!

Suggested talking points: An Artificial World of Body Parts and Holes, Flirting for Free Cream, An Organic "Guess Who?" Board, A Spider in a Wig, Buffalo Tears, Dedicated to Being Eaten

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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This week on What the Folklore, we read The Nodding Tiger, a Chinese story that introduces us to the humble beginnings of a beloved friend.

Suggested talking points: Modular Lego Road, Trained on Gas Station Roller Food, A Robust Evening Wood-Market, These are Man-Catchin' Nets, The Only Son That's Ever Mattered, The Definitive Temp-Tiger Timeline

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to help spread the word! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Support us on...

This week on What the Folklore, we read the Spanish tale The Bird of Truth, which has some serious texture pop-in issues. Either that, or the protagonist is legally blind and shy about it.

Suggested talking points: Grizelda's Bar and Grill, Back to the Chaos Mines, Like Moses, but Way More Gucci, Pigeons in Leather, Serious Boy Business, Every Lizard is a Hot Man, Great Rejoicing (Some Be-headings)

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

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This week on What the Folklore, we're reading Ligur the Water Giant, an obscure German-language tale with a wizard that rivals even the mighty Gaznak!

Suggested talking points: A Bowl of Loose Toppings, We've Done a LOT to Vampires, Queen Oprah, Briefly At War with Whales (and Wales), A True Graduate of Princess Academy, Eagle-Surfing, WTFolklore DLC

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to help spread the word! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Support...

This week on WTFolklore, we head back to our old stomping ground of France for Blanche and Vermeille. You can tell it's a riveting tale, because we spend a good chunk of the episode discussing things you could wear instead of pants.

Suggested talking points: Sneaking Agenda Into the Prose, 2,370,563 Ziplines to France, Hot Egg, A True Thing About Pants, Deep in the Pleats, Pants That Need Feeding, The Peasant Ick, Not a Happy Face in Rich-People-Land

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If y...

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 Letters, Customary Butter Bath, Bereft of Elephant, Wolves in the Wainscot

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/carmandaartsthings

If you...

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 a Wife in the Wife-Hole, Cyrano de Bergerac Sans Rizz, Consensual Meat-Fetching, Date Night with Dog-Husband

If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavors, visit: https://www.patreon.com/ca...

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/carmandaartsthings

If you like our show, find us online to help spread the word! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Support us on P...