Shows / Myths and Legends
Myths and Legends
Jason Weiser and Carissa Weiser tell stories from myths, legends, and folklore that have shaped cultures throughout history. Some, like the stories of Aladdin, King Arthur, and Hercules are stories you think you know, but with surprising origins. Others are stories you might not have heard, but really should. All the stories are sourced from world folklore, but retold for modern ears. These are stories of wizards, knights, Vikings, dragons, princesses, and kings from the time when the world…
Episodes
Myths and Legends447: Medieval Knights: Bevis and Butting Heads
🐴So, your step-dad is an evil emperor who's trying to murder you. Bevis of Southampton has had a difficult life. His dad went to the pharmacy (the woods) and…
Myths and Legends446: Samhain: Back from the Dead
👻No one parties on Halloween Night like Nera and his friends Because their parties involve making bracelets. And corpses. And making bracelets for corpses…
Myths and Legends445: Indian folklore: Fake It 'Til You Make It
💪There's something powerful about confidence. Except that, if you're not actually powerful...or generous...or deadly, pretending to be those things can get you…
Myths and Legends444: Dwarves: Ortnit Wit
🗡️Ortnit has it all. The strength of twelve men. A secret, super lineage. A dwarven sword and unbreakable armor. The question is, what is he going to do with…
Myths and Legends443: Tricksters: Does Whatever A Spider Can
🕷️Spiders don't have tails, but this one has tales. Anansi is one of the most famous folklore tricksters in the world, but we'll see that behind every great…
Myths and Legends442: Greek Myths: The Poseidon Adventures
🔱It's Poseidon's turn. On the podcast. Not to be king of the gods. He's actually totally not mad that his little brother is king. Because Zeus isn't the king…
Myths and Legends441: Celtic folklore: Deerly Beloved
🗡️If at first you don't succeed, die, die again. Ian's had a hard life. That life gets even more difficult when he falls in love with a woman who is…
Myths and Legends440: Monkey King: The Shakedown
🐒 Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, knows a demon shakedown when he sees it. And what's happening in this town, where people need to pay upwards of $30k (in 2026…
Myths and Legends439: Indian folklore: Guess I'll Die
✏️Gaṅgâdhara's astrologer dad has some bad news for his boy: he's going to die. Well, first he'll spend a decade in prison, and then die. Then things will get…
Myths and Legends438: Maui: Whatever Happened to the Man Who Snared the Sun?
🏝️No one has seen or heard about Maui for quite some time Meanwhile, all these strange portents are leading disparate groups to a faraway island, all the while…
Myths and Legends437: Czech folklore: House of the Dragon
🍼 If your parent goes through the trouble of getting you superpowers... Kind of the least you can do is get them a new house. And fight all the dragons…
Myths and Legends436: Korean folkore: Feet First
🪱Mr. Worm is getting married! That (not creepy) stranger is looking in your windows! Shin is driving tired! Five interconnected stories from Korean folklore…
Myths and Legends435: Medieval Knights: Fifty Shades of Graelent
⚔️Sir Graelent is too beautiful for his scruples At least that's what the queen thinks. Good thing she doesn't have the power to wreck his whole life if he…
Myths and Legends434: Norse Mythology: The Old Man and the Stick
🐐 Who knew packing so many epic Norse heroes into a single house could have such disastrous consequences? Not Odin, that's for sure. There's trouble brewing in…
Myths and Legends433: Spanish folklore: Doña of the Dead
⛰️When the unthinkable happens, Doña must become something she doesn't even recognize to bring justice But, once she travels so far from herself, can she find…
Myths and Legends432: Japanese folklore: Sword it Out
🍜Samurai Pirates, Stabby Sumo Wrestlers, and Punchable Oni Are the consequences of Jiuyemon's actions. We all make mistakes. Too many of the samurai Jiuyemon's…
Myths and Legends431: Turkish folklore: These Dreams
✨Cobbler Ahmet just wants to fix shoes✨ But his wife wants those sweet, sweet bath reservations, so it looks like he's going to go be the Chief Astrologer to…
Myths and Legends430: Finnish folklore: Worn Out
✏️Osmo is a pretty solid sketch artist✏️ He’s not drawing a criminal, though. He’s drawing his sister, whose only crime is stealing the prince’s heart. And…
Myths and Legends429: Slavic folklore: The Devilkin Made Me Do It
👞Goria the shoemaker has a bad boss👞 Is his boss the devil? Literally...well, no. Is the devil that Goria meets in a bar actually better than his boss? 100%…
Myths and Legends428: Monkey King: The Pride
🐺Inside each of us there are two wolves. They are named 'Shifty' and 'Freaky'.🐺 Which one wins? Well it doesn't matter because they're both demons so maybe try…
Myths and Legends427: Norse Legends: Wither or Not
🧙♀️So, you think your stepmom might be a sorceress🧙♀️ Common problem. Well, common for fairy tales, at least. But, have you thought that she might not like…
Myths and Legends426: 1001 Nights: Djinning Up Some Trouble
🧞♂️Trying to meet the love of your life? Maybe ask for help from two genies trying to kill each other.🧞♂️ Even if you're not trying to meet the love of your…
Myths and Legends425: Flemish legends: A Night Out
🧌We've all been there.🧌 You spend a night out with friends, hanging out in the dark forest, crashing an ogre party and making dog friends. The only problem?…
Myths and Legends424: Irish legends: Out of Time
🦌Oh, deer.🦌 No, really, the love of your life might just be a deer...or, well, a human in the form of a deer. Just ask your two cousins who are also your best…
Myths and Legends423: Japanese folkore: The Illusionists
👹Something is lurking in the forest temple👹 While the country outside is rocked by the changes in the world, a village grapples with the idea that a monster of…
Myths and Legends422: Scottish folklore: Witchful Thinking
🧙♂️So you've decided to steal from a witch or wizard🧙♀️ Are you sure about that? If you are, you might want to think about what you're going to do more than…
Myths and Legends421: Viking Legends: Famous
🔥All the Viking warriors' hearts burn with love for Nítíða🔥 And also the rest of them is on fire as well because that's what happens when you try to kidnap a…
Myths and Legends420: Korean Grim Reaper: Saja Boys
⚰️It's Halloween⚰️ What do you do when death comes for you? Well, the characters in today's stories have a lot of ideas, and they're surprisingly successful…
Myths and Legends419: Slavic folklore: Bad Heir Day
Ivan fights wizards and monsters and Baba Yaga with a music streaming subscription What do you get when your daughters have been kidnapped by a sleezy cloud…
Myths and Legends418: French stories: Our Son, Ourson, the Bear
🐻Ourson is a Beary Good Guy🐻 Sorry, I couldn't resist, but he is actually a good guy. He isn't a bear though. He just looks like one to people who have…
Myths and Legends417: Guy of Warwick: Don't Be That Guy
🛡️This Guy?🛡️ This guy is Guy of Warwick, and he's your guy. But only if you need someone to be the best guy in the world at fighting and killing. It's just…
Myths and Legends416: Hans Christian Andersen: Humbugs
🪲They're not so different🪲 One is the king of the world, and the other is a beetle. One wants to fight God, the other wants to wear golden horse shoes. When it…
Myths and Legends415: Aesop's Fables: Bray it Ain't So
🫏One little rent-a-donkey, one big journey🫏 Actually he's a full-grown rental donkey but the journey is a big one because, when you're a poorly treated rental…
Myths and Legends414: Monkey King: Ham-bushed
🐷Sun Wukong is a bad friend🐷 But, to be fair, he never said he and Pigsy were friends...because you don't send your friends to dinner parties where everyone is…
Myths and Legends413: European folklore: Justice
🔔Ring the bell for justice🔔 Want justice? Ring the bell. Doesn't matter if you're a horse or a snake or a merchant or a peasant but if you're one of the latter…
Myths and Legends412: Indian folklore: Dicey
🎲Losing your kingdom in a game of dice🎲 The story of Nala and Damayanti is a tale of love, loss, and losing everything but your underwear because of your…
Myths and Legends411: Celtic folklore: The Wake
⛵️Get lost at sea with Maelduin⛵️ All Maelduin wants to do is avenge his father's murder...with more murder. He should have listened to that wizard. Because he…
Myths and Legends410: Japanese folklore: Provincial
⛩️Stories from the Japanese countryside⛩️ Five interconnected stories of purpose, meaning, justice, talking animals, the boss falling off a cliff, mushrooms…
Myths and Legends409: Reynard: Nasty, Brutish, and Short
🦊 Reynard the fox hates meetings, too 🦊 Especially because at most of the meetings he's invited to, people usually try to kill and eat him. Today, we're back…
Myths and Legends408: Knights of the Round Table: Hither and Thither
🏰When a knight says he'll be right back, he means it Unless he dies. Or gets captured. Or just forgets about it, prompting his son to come looking for him in…
Myths and Legends407: West African folklore: Wiser
🍼Have a budding tyrant? You need a snarky talking baby🍼 Yenga Naa is wiser than the chief. How do you know? Well, he named himself that...the moment he was…
Myths and Legends406: Slavic folklore: Udder Nonsense
🐄Baba Yaga, Dragons, Giant Talking Pigs🐄 We'll see what happens when a king who wants one son gets more than he bargained for: three sons, with the oddest one…
Myths and Legends405: European legends: Ale to the King
🍺Meet Cambrinus, things aren't going so well for him🍺 He's a peasant kid with a job that's going nowhere, a crush who doesn't love him back, and no one takes…
Myths and Legends404: Monkey King: Not Found
🤑 The Monkey King and friends are making money and staying in fancy hotels🤑 What is this that you heard about them being monks? What? No. That's ridiculous…
Myths and Legends403: Norse sagas: Wormtongue
⚔️The plight of the Viking celebrity poet⚔️ Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and none of what you actually say matters all that much...as long…
Myths and Legends402: Japanese folklore: Misconceptions
🐸Love means never having to say I'm sorry (I poisoned you)"🐸 ...or something like that. This Valentine's Day there are three love stories from Japan. On the…
Myths and Legends401: Chinese Zodiac: Rat Race
🐀It's Race Day🐀 Today, we tell the story of how the animals in the Chinese Zodiac got their years: a race that's terrible for all involved. 😈 The Creature…
Myths and Legends400: Celtic folklore: The Baddies
👸 Our princess is in another castle! 👸 Two stories from Ireland where it's unclear who the villain is...and how it might just be among the people we least…
Myths and Legends399: Canadian folklore: Wild Night
🎉At a bad New Year's party?🎉 It has to be better than little Joe and Baptiste's New Years, in the frigid Canadian wilderness. But they're going to change that…
Myths and Legends398: Nordic Christmas: In the Bleak Mid-winter
🌲Trolls, zombies, and evil housecats🌲 It must be Christmas in the Nordic countries. Today, a young officer is stuck in the city after being in a brief coma. At…
Myths and Legends397: Monkey King: King of Hearts
🐵Monkey and Co. are really hoping this city is different🐵 I mean, it has to be, right? Not every city can be full of monsters...can it? We're back in the…
Myths and Legends396: Greek Myths: Hades, Too
💀Hades is taking the long way home💀 After dropping Persephone off in the world of the humans, Hades makes the long walk back down to his palace at the heart of…
Myths and Legends395: Breton folklore: Darkest Knight
🏰 Why maybe you should pass on dating that person with the dad who murders everyone trying to date them 🏰 The tale of Degarré is a story of knights, chivalry…
Myths and Legends394: Danish folklore: Heartless
🧙♂️How a Scientist Becomes a Wizard🧙♂️ Two stories from Denmark about people dealing with their neighbors in very different ways. One loves and accepts them…
Myths and Legends393: 1001 Nights: Let it Be(ak) (part 2 of 2)
📝A Cavern Full of Snakes is apparently a Great Classroom📝 Hasib is still stuck in the room with the Queen of Serpents and twelve thousand snakes, and the QoS a…
Myths and Legends392: 1001 Nights: The Unthinkable (part 1 of 2)
🐍Hasib wants to avoid a freak library accident🐍 So he will avoid learning anything. Ever. This week, it's the story of Hasib and the Queen of Serpents, the…
Myths and Legends391: Japanese Horror: Handsome Bad Man
👹If you can't be with the one you love...👹 Love the one you're with? What? No. Kill everyone in your way until you get what you want. This week: a ghost story…
Myths and Legends390: Hans Christian Andersen: Swan Song
🦢 Let them eat sand 🦢 A story from Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen about a witch who wants to take over the kingdom and the twelve kids who stand in her…
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389: Korean folklore: Star-crossed
🖤 The story of why you don't menace crows. Even if the people you're doing it to try to mess with are extremely annoying and lovey-dovey. Or, if you're single…
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388: Finnish folklore: Uh oh, Better Get Mikko!
The story of King Mighty Mikko, a young man who isn't a king or mighty, but he is Mikko, and maybe that's all he needs. Oh...and a very clever fox conman. The…