Episode 112A – In the Hall of the Mountain King

Episode 112A Show Notes

Source: Japanese Folklore

This week on MYTH, we’re climbing up the mountains of ancient Japan for a monstrous encounter. You’ll see that not all goblins are as sexy as David Bowie, that ronin travel in packs, and that you shouldn’t trust wandering monks. Then, in Gods and Monsters, a magical cloak gets stolen. This is the Myths Your Teacher Hated podcast, where I tell the stories of cultures from around the world in all of their original, bloody, uncensored glory. Modern tellings of these stories have become dry and dusty, but I’ll be trying to breathe new life into them. This is Episode 112A, “In the Hall of the Mountain King”. As always, this episode is not safe for work.
I’m cracking open another of my new mythology books this week and diving into one of the great legendary heroes of old Japan. As many of the figures in Japanese folklore do, this week’s protagonist straddles the line between historical figure and mythical hero. Who is this dashing adventurer, you ask? None other than Minamoto no Yorimitsu, better known in folklore as Raiko. The Minamoto name was one bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were outside the line of succession, demoting them into the ranks of the nobility but giving them a chance to earn personal glory.
Yorimitsu was very much a real person, who lived from 948 to 1021 and served the regents of the Fujiwara clan. He’s one of the earliest members of the Minamoto clan to make it into the histories, thanks to his impressive military exploits – especially quelling the bandits of Oeyama. Thanks to his skill and dedicated service, Yorimitsu was granted governorship of Izu Province and later others as well. In the histories (and especially in the folklore), the great warrior is almost always accompanied by his four loyal retainers known as the Shitenno, or the Four Heavenly Kings. They were Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, and Usui Sadamitsu.
The particular story we’re covering today comes from Warriors of Japan and Other Stories by Yei Theodora Ozaki. It tells of one of the early adventures of Raiko aka Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Long, long ago in Old Japan, during the reign of Emperor Ichijo (traditionally the 66th emperor of Japan), there lived the brave general Minamoto no Raiko. As mentioned earlier, it was common for generals to hand-pick a group of four loyal bodyguards known as the Shitenno to accompany the general on his exploits and to vie with each other in acts of bravery and derring-do. Raiko and his four loyal men were no exception. Each was said to be the equal of a thousand lesser men and, as such, they lived for glory and adventure.
The capital at this time was the great city of Kyoto, but the ancient city was not having a great time of things. See, a terrible demon (or goblin, depending on the translation) lurked high in the mountain known as Oye in the province of Tamba. From its stronghold high on the peak, the demon known as Shutendoji became the terror of Kyoto, his name ringing through the city like the toll of doom.
Being a terrible demon, Shutendoji was of course as ugly as he was evil, and it is said that any who had the bad luck to look upon him could never forget the awful sight until the day they died. Of course, being a demon, Shutendoji also had magical shapeshifting powers and would often take the form of a human to sneak into the city. These weren’t just idle mischief jaunts either – the goblin hunted through Kyoto for children and teenagers. He crept through the streets looking for vulnerable sons and daughters in the homes of Kyoto to kidnap.
These poor miserable wretches didn’t even get the luxury of a quick death. Shutendoji would force his victims to serve him for days or weeks, slaving away at hard labor and serving hand and claw on their monstrous captor until the day the demon grew tired of his game. On that day, this demonic asshole would finally end the psychological torment by tearing his victim apart limb from limb and devouring them. No one taken by the goblin was ever seen alive again.
This devastation had gone on for a long time in Kyoto with the flower of the city’s youth vanishing into oblivion. Many homes were left desolate and empty thanks to the predation of the goblin. Worse, no one in the city knew what was happening. Children would simply vanish never to be seen again. As time went on and kids kept getting snatched, the demonic culprit finally became a suspect and word began to spread beyond the city walls. Horrifying stories of the monstrous cannibal Shutendoji and his den of horrors were whispered over beers and around campfires.
In the court of Kyoto there was a high-ranking official named Kimitaka. He and his wife had only one daughter, who was widely considered to be extremely beautiful. Her parents both loved her and doted on her; it should come as no shock that they were utterly devastated when she disappeared without a trace. Kimitaka and his wife turned their house upside down to no avail and the entire household plunged into deep despair. Without any other ideas to speak of, the girl’s mother decided fuck it – let’s ask a soothsayer.
Grabbing a random-ass attendant to come with her, she left their house and headed for the home of the most famous fortune-teller in Kyoto. After going through the whole ceremony, the diviner revealed to the distraught mother that her daughter had been taken by the goblin up to Mount Oye. Choked with grief and horror, she hurried home (followed by the attendant who seems to have done fuck-all in the story) to tell her husband the dismal news. He too fell into a deep depression, abandoning any pretense of doing his job in the palace. The two parents spent their days weeping and wailing over the loss of their beloved daughter. Losing her was bad enough, but having their worst fears about her grisly fate at the red claws of the demon was even worse, especially since her father was powerless to save her.
Word of this bottomless grief soon spread through the palace until it reached the ears of the Emperor himself. He also heard of the terror the lurking monster was spreading through his beloved city and he was, to put it mildly, fucking furious. How dare that fucking goblin sneak into his kingdom’s capital and kidnap his subject for torture, mutilation, and murder? He sprang to his feet, throwing his fan angrily to the floor. “Who’s going to do something about this shit? Surely there is some hero in my kingdom who can hunt down and punish this foul goblin! Who will avenge the wrongs done to my people and bring peace to my city again?”
Since none of the Emperor’s attendants in that particular room had any good ideas about who to call, he instead summoned his Council and put the matter before them. “I pay you all to have good ideas for me, so give me your best idea for getting rid of this goblin asshole. We need to get rid of this terrible scourge on the city.” The ministers muttered and mumbled amongst themselves before answering. “Your Majesty has many great warriors under his command that he could call on, but none is so brave or so bold as Minamoto-no-Raiko. It is our poor advice, oh August Emperor, that the Son of Heaven send for this great general and command him to slay the demon. We hope that this advice meets with the Emperor’s wise approval for our small minds can think of nothing better.”
Despite the groveling and false modesty of the ministers, the council’s advice pleased the Emperor. Yes, summoning a great hero to purge the disease from Kyoto was just the ticket. Plus, the fight (which would undoubtedly be legendary) would make for one hell of a story. Word of Raiko’s mighty feats were already spreading throughout Japan, even to the Emperor’s ears. Raiko seemed like just the fierce warrior for the job. The text describes him and his companions as knights (essentially knights errant, though they might more accurately have been ronin). Thus, he was duly summoned to the palace for an audience with the Emperor.
Raiko received this unexpected summons (which was not the kind of thing you could ignore) and hurried immediately to the palace. The entire way, his brain was abuzz with questions. A summons from the Emperor could mean a lot of things, many of them decidedly unpleasant. Throwing himself prostrate before the Emperor, he listened as his task was laid out before him. This wasn’t the worst thing that could have been asked of him, for sure, so he accepted the job (not that it was exactly a request) with some enthusiasm. He and his four loyal warriors had been getting kind of bored lately. Kyoto had been quiet for some time, so a little daring adventure was a welcome relief. The game was afoot!
Leaving the Emperor’s presence, Raiko’s mind was already whirring with plans and ideas about the upcoming escapade. The more he thought about it, the more dangerous the whole thing seemed – and thus the more exciting it became. Raiko was an old-school adventurer, the kind that D&D characters are built upon. The more impossible a thing seemed, the more excited he was to do it. By the time he had returned to his home to plan in earnest, Raiko had determined to slay the goblin or die trying.
The great warrior considered and quickly rejected confronting the dread creature in open combat. If his foe had been a mere mortal like himself, Raiko would have been willing to meet them one-on-one. The demon was, well, a fucking demon so the cunning strategist saw no dishonor in being a little sneaky, or in bringing backup. This would be a raid, not a siege, so he figured his best bet was to go in quiet with a small group of hand-picked fighters rather than an entire army. Thus did he summon only his four lieutenants: Kintoki, Sadamitsu, Suetake, and Tsuna along with one other wandering warrior named Hirai Yasumasa. This last fighter bore the nickname Hitori, which translated roughly to ‘the only warrior’. Maybe not the best trait in a team player, but he certainly sounds like he can get the job done.
The six men gathered together to discuss their plan of attack. “Alright friends – our target is no mortal man, but a blood-soaked demon known for being a cannibal. I think maybe we shouldn’t knock on the front door and announce ourselves, right? Seems like a bad idea. Instead, I propose we get ourselves some cunning disguises to head up to the mountain stronghold. A sneak attack gives us a better chance to take down this terrible goblin. Thoughts?” All of these fighters typically preferred a stand-up fight to skulduggery, but they also were all survivors. They saw the wisdom of Raiko’s suggestion and all agreed to the plan. Breaking, they left to go and make their individual preparations.
Swords were sharpened, armor was polished, and helmets were fitted. The excitement of action at long last buoyed them along as they made their preparations. Once their adventuring gear was assembled, the warriors turned to the next logical step in any RPG adventure – getting the gods on your side. Given how dangerous this particular expedition promised to be, it seemed prudent to have the favor of the gods on their side before setting out.
Thus Raiko and Yasumasa headed for the Temple of Hachiman, God of War, at Mount Otoko; Tsuna and Kintoki traveled to the Sumiyoshi Shrine to pray for the aid of the Goddess of Mercy; and Sadamitsu and Suetake went to the Temple of Gongen at Kumano, the primary temple for the kami, or spirits, for the surrounding area. At each location, the warriors offered up the same prayer for divine aid, guidance, and strength. With knees bent, palms touching, and heads bowed, they beseeched the gods for success in their grand adventure and a safe return to the capital city.
Having done my fair share of tabletop RPG sessions where we had to infiltrate a monster’s lair, Raiko’s party made the obvious choice of disguise in my opinion – they dressed as mountain priests. Even people (and/or monsters) who don’t like religion in general will tend to give a modicum of deference to a group of traveling holy men – or at least leave them the fuck alone and stay as far away from them as possible. Thus the six men hid their armor and weapons in the travel knapsacks they carried on their backs and dressed themselves in holy robes with priest caps and long ceremonial stoles. In their right hands, each carried a pilgrim’s staff and in the left a string of sacred beads. To complete the disguise, they wore rough straw sandals on their feet (the extremely cheap kind our protagonist made back in Episode 100). The disguises complete, they looked each other over with a smile. No one meeting these solemn, dignified holy men would suspect them to be the famous war band of Raiko. The goblin would never see it coming.
In this disguise, the party set out and traveled across the land until at last they came to the province of Tamba where Mount Oye stood. Having established a pretty solid cover identity, they stood at the foot of the mountain and considered their next move. The demon had chosen this particularly inhospitable peak as its stronghold for good reason. Raiko and his men were reasonably experienced in the difficulties of mountain combat, but they had never experienced any terrain as difficult as Mount Oye. The sheer rock was unbelievably steep with the few navigable areas blocked by enormous rocks and dense forests. The branches of the trees covering the mountainside were so thickly laced together that it was dark enough to need a lantern even at midday. The treacherous path through these obstacles led along deep gorges and across plummeting ravines that fell so far below that looking down made even these doughty men a little bit light-headed.
The way up the mountain was difficult and exhausting, so the men stopped to rest beneath the branches of the midnight forest. Now that they had a break from the effort to think, they began to realize just how fucking difficult killing this goblin asshole was actually going to be. They hadn’t even arrived at the monster’s home yet and they were already struggling. This realization took some of the fire out of their bellies and left them more discouraged than they had been in a long time. These were a band of adventurers though and so they didn’t stay down in the dumps for long. Drinking from a trickling stream they found and washing the dust of travel from their hands and faces, they encouraged each other with brave words to keep up everyone’s spirits. They all put on a brave face and tried to appear as confident as they could, but they all found themselves looking around nervously more than once, wondering if Shutendoji or some of his demonic minions might be lurking in the deep shadows or behind a rock. All of them kept these dour wonderings to themselves to avoid killing their friends’ spirits.
Because they were on high alert (or at least medium alert), they all noticed immediately when three old men appeared from behind a rock. Raiko was a brave warrior to be sure but he had just been having those dark thoughts about possible ambush when the men appeared, so he immediately assumed this was the anticipated assault. Sure, they looked like harmless old men but so did Raiko and his deadly warriors, so clearly the goblins had just had the same idea for the same age-old disguise. With glances and subtle, practiced gestures, Raiko conveyed to his fellow soldiers to be on their guard as he warily approached.
The old men smiled as the fake holy men approached, having picked up on everyone’s very tense body language. “Do not fear – we are not the demons who dwell on the mountain’s peak. I am from the province of Settsu; my friend here is from Kii and my other friend lives near Kyoto. All of us have had family members stolen away, sons and daughters taken by Shutendoji and his vile horde. We came to this place to try and do…something, I don’t know that we really thought it through. When we got here, we quickly realized that we were fucked. The goblin keep is beyond our abilities, so we have waited here as our sorrows grew each day hoping for another way. We heard that the great Raiko might be headed this way and we hoped we would meet you. We are here to beg you for your help. Please, find the demon Shutendoji and slay him without pity or mercy to avenge the deaths of our children and of all the families that have been torn apart by this horror.”
Raiko listened to their earnest plea and nodded solemnly. “You’ve guessed correctly who we are and, since you’ve already asked for my help, I don’t think there’s any harm in telling you that we’re here by order of the Emperor to do exactly as you ask. We intend to slay Shutendoji and avenge those who were taken. If any still live, we will save them and bring them home to their families or we will die on that mountain trying. I so swear it.”
This brought radiant smiles to the faces of all three tired men. If anyone could end the demon’s reign of terror, it was the great general Raiko and his loyal companions. Beaming bright as the sun, they thanked the brave warriors for their great deeds to come and offered them a jar of sake. “This is no ordinary wine, brave warrior, but a magical brew known as Shimben-Kidoku-Shu. The name means ‘a cordial to men but a poison to goblins’ and yeah, that’s pretty much exactly what it is. If a demon drinks this wine, they will be paralyzed, all strength stolen from them. If you can get Shutendoji to drink this before you fight him, you will certainly win with ease.” I mean, it’s a pretty specific and powerful magical artifact for the GM to dole out from a random NPC, but maybe Raiko rolled really, really well. Or maybe there’s something else going on here.
Raiko took the small white stone jar carefully, fully aware of the boon he had stumbled across. He looked down at the jar and then back up at the three men to thank them. Even as Raiko opened his mouth, all three men glowed with a dazzling brilliance that rivaled the sun, forcing the fake monks to look away. When they opened their eyes again, the three men had vanished and that impossible light was soaring high into the clouds until it was lost from sight.
For a minute or two, everyone just stared up at the heavens, mouths agape. Raiko pulled himself together first. “Gentlemen, that is one hell of a good sign. We have been visited by the gods this day. Unless I miss my guess, those were the gods of the very three shrines we visited before setting out on this journey. The one from Settsu must have been the deity of Sumiyoshi; the old man from Kii had to be the divinity of Kumano; and the one from the capital could be none other than the god Hachiman of Mount Otoko. We asked them for their blessing and hoo boy they delivered in spades. It explains how they knew we were coming too, after taking such pains with these disguises. Let’s offer up our thanks to the Heavens for the incredible gift they have given us before we move on.” So they dropped to their knees and prayed to the gods right there in the mountain pass.
After some minutes of silent contemplation, Raiko carefully added the sake to his bag of equipment. Once it was settled securely, the journey up the mountain continued. Their sagging spirits had been well and truly lifted this time with no need for brave words of hollow encouragement. He felt like a giant with an iron staff, which is an old proverb meaning taking something strong and making it even stronger. That asshole Shutendoji didn’t stand a chance now!
They continued up the mountain until they came to another spring. This one had a damsel washing a blood-stained garment in the clear waters. They stopped to watch her from hiding for a bit and saw that she had to stop beating the clothes against the rocks to wipe away tears now and again. It was hard to tell with all the water flying around in the thrashing wash, but she was definitely weeping bitterly as she worked. Raiko found his heart breaking for this poor thing and he walked out to speak with her. “How is it that a beautiful young woman like yourself finds herself in a goblin-infested mountain like this?” Which feels a little like an odd take on an old pickup line, but I think he’s being sincere here. It’s a legitimate question.
The story’s narrator reveals to us that the young lady is in fact a princess (though no name is provided along with her title). She looked up at the noble-looking man cautiously approaching with genuine surprise. “You’re absolutely right about this place just crawling with goblins, so how in the hell did you get here? I’ve never heard of any mortal making it this far except as a victim of the demons.” Her eyes darted from Raiko to his fellow ronin as they also cautiously emerged now that this didn’t appear to be an ambush.
Raiko smiled as reassuringly as he could manage. “You seem trustworthy, so I’ll tell you the truth – we’re here by the Emperor’s command to slay the demon at the mountain’s peak.” That’s all she needed to hear. The princess threw herself onto Raiko’s shoulder and wept with mingled terror and relief. “Truly? You’re here to slay the demons? Who are you?” She looked at his face more carefully. “Could you be the great Raiko I’ve heard stories about?” He nodded in confirmation and she wept harder. “I thought I’d never get out of here! I can be your guide and take you to the goblin’s foul lair. Can we go now?”
The princess’ speech confirmed what the assembled warriors had already suspected – this poor young woman was clearly one of the missing victims. Nothing about her gave the impression of ‘goblin king in disguise’ so they decided to trust her as their guide. She led them further up the hill until they came to an imposing iron gate stretching across the pass guarded by two fierce demons. The one on the right was red and the one on the left was black; each was armed with a huge iron club. This is where you might expect to learn that one always lies and the other always tells the truth, but nope – it’s just for the aesthetic.
As they gazed upon it, the Princess whispered to her theoretical savior. “Behold the fortress of the goblin king. Beyond those gates lies a misleadingly beautiful palace built entirely of black iron, from foundation to turret. That’s where it gets the name Kurogane, or Palace of Black Iron. Shutendoji holds court inside during the day and hosts a grisly feast each night. He and his guests are waited on by maidens like myself, kidnapped from the villages and cities to be his slaves. We are forced to pour their wine into crimson lacquered cups, only it isn’t wine – it’s human blood. As you can probably guess, the food they feast on is the butchered corpses of other captives that have served their usefulness already. It’s torture serving the flesh of our friends to our kidnappers knowing that one day it will be our butchered bodies being served at dinner. How many people have I seen vanish from the slave quarters to be murdered and eaten? How many times have I prayed to the heavens for divine judgment to rain down on their foul heads and slay the monstrous king? And now you’re here, heavenly judgment in human form.”
After some further hushed whispering, the princess led the way up to the cruel gate and its twin demon guards. “My lords, these poor travelers have lost their way and ended up trapped here on the mountain. I found them wandering in the wilderness and brought them here to rest a little before continuing their holy journey. I hope you will be kind to them.” Four demonic eyes flashed with hunger and suppressed laughter at this seemingly innocent statement. The harmless-looking priests gathered before the gate looked like a tasty banquet in and of themselves. Having secured this incredible bounty, the two guard demons would surely be given the choicest cuts of human meat (an honor not usually given to lowly guards). They couldn’t stifle their huge grins as the two demons told the princess that she had done well. Opening the gate, they ushered the six men inside and told the princess to take them to see Shutendoji.
Thus did the monster hunters make their way into the goblin king’s stronghold as honored guests/feast fodder. They shared furtive glances with each other as they went but carefully maintained their ruse. This was going better than they could have hoped. They filed through the gate and up to the palace. The princess led them through spacious vaulted corridors dotted with enormous plushly appointed rooms until they finally emerged into the great hall in the inner palace.
At the other end of the hall, seated in the place of honor, was the demon king Shutendoji. The wandering knights had known they were coming here to face a monster, but none of them had imagined a creature this foul to behold. In their wildest nightmares, they hadn’t imagined such hideousness existed. He towered over them at 10 feet tall; his skin was a bright scarlet and a wild shock of coal-black hair fell in waves past his shoulders. The goblin wore a crimson hakama (a traditional Japanese garment similar to voluminous flowing trousers) that clashed with his skin. He glared at the imposter monks as they filed into his presence with fierce flashing eyes as big as dinner plates. Even with all of the war and monsters Raiko and his men had seen in their adventures, the sight of Shutendoji made their hearts quail. If they’d been even slightly less courageous, they might have fainted dead away right there in the hall.
Once he got over his initial shock, it was all he could do not to launch himself at the beast right the fuck now. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by being reckless though, so he forced himself to be chill. To avoid arousing suspicion, Raiko bowed deeply to their monstrous host. Shutendoji snarled at him. “I don’t know who the fuck you are or how you wandered onto my fucking mountain, but I am a hospitable host – make yourselves welcome.” His accompanying smile was full of sharp teeth. Raiko pretended not to notice, but made his voice as meek as possible. “Thank you, great sir. We are but humble priests from Mount Haguro of Dewa. We are on our way to the capital on pilgrimage to the shrine of Omine. These mountain passes are confusing and we got lost. Luck was with us however and we stumbled across someone from your palace who was kind enough to bring us here. Please accept our apologies for trespassing on your domain.”
The demon grinned wider, more wicked teeth showing. “That’s such a shame to hear. Please be at ease, all of you. No need to stand on ceremony here or worry about all the fucking rules, right? We’ll have a feast together. You’ll be my guests, right? The food here is to die for.” And that’s where we’re going to leave our merry band of plucky adventurers – very much in the heart of peril. Will they escape with their lives? Will they slay the goblin king? Will they save the princess? Find out next time – same MYTH time, same MYTH channel. But for now, it’s time for Gods and Monsters. This is a segment where I get into a little more detail about the personalities and history of one of the gods or monsters from this week’s pantheon that was not discussed in the main story. This week’s magical artifact is the robe of feathers.
This story also comes from the Japanese Myths and Legends collection. Once, long ago, birds were chirping in the springtime. Along the pine tree-clad shores of the beautiful Mio Island (whose name roughly means beautiful cherry or lovely spring), the blue sea danced and bright sunshine sparkled on the waves. It was a truly enchanting sight, and one that the fisherman Hairukoo came down to the shore to enjoy. As he walked between the pines, he happened to spy a beautiful robe of snow-white feathers hanging from a branch above the water.
It was a truly incredible piece of clothing and it immediately drew the eye. Hairukoo found himself reaching for the lovely garment when a stunningly beautiful woman broke the surface of the water and asked him to please return the robe to her. The fisherman looked down at the woman in the water and then back at the robe. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Finders keepers and all that. Besides, this robe is a marvel to match anything found in the finest palaces of Japan. I cannot possibly give up a treasure such as this.”
The young woman’s face fell. “You’re really not giving it back? Please, I beg you. Without my robe of feathers, I can’t possibly go soaring back into the sky and return to my celestial home. Please, kind man, please give me back my robe!” The fisherman, who was kind of a selfish asshole, refused. It didn’t matter that he was basically stealing this poor lady’s clothes or that she was weeping piteously as she begged for his help. He refused to relent. “Fuck that shit. The more you beg, the more certain I am to keep this robe for myself.”
Tears sparkled in her eyes. “How can you be so cruel? Like a piteous bird with broken wings, I am chained to the earth in pain and fear. You can fix all my woes with one simple act – just return to me my robe! Please?” She continued to plead for Hairukoo to return her magnificent robes and her desperation finally softened his stony-ass heart. “Alright, fine. You’ve won me over. I’ll give you back the robes on one condition – you dance for me, right here and now.”
The young woman nodded. “Very well. It is agreed. I will dance for you the mystic dance that makes the moon turn ‘round, allowing even a mortal like yourself to learn its secret mysteries. But I’ll need the robe back first – I can’t dance without my feathers.” The man glared at her suspiciously. “Absolutely fucking not. If I give you the robe first, you’ll just fly away without dancing like you promised.” I don’t know how much of his objection is suspicion that she’ll renege on the deal and how much is just creepy lech behavior. Either way, his objection angered the young woman in a way that simply thievery had not.
“How dare you accuse me of such a thing! The vows of mortals may be broken with impunity, but no such falsehoods exist among the Heavenly Beings!” Ashamed by his actions, Hairukoo finally handed over the lady’s clothes. She climbed out of the water and threw on the robe of purest white. Then, striking an instrument she pulled from…somewhere (the story offers no explanation), she began to dance to the single pure note. As she moved, she sang as well, an ethereal and hauntingly beautiful melody that spoke of many strange, otherworldly things from her distant celestial home. She sang of the Palace of the Moon where 30 kings ruled over all. 15 were dressed in robes of shining white and 15 in robes of purest black, their positions changing as the moon waxed and waned with the light of their robes. As she performed, she blessed Japan, asking that the earth provide a bounty for all.
The fisherman stared in rapt attention as the lady danced though the show didn’t last for very long. Her dainty feet stepped and swirled across the sand until, before long, they rose up into the air and danced on nothing at all. She rose up into the sky, white feathers gleaming and swirling around her against the deep green of the pines and the crystalline blue of the sky. Up, up, up she went beyond the trees and beyond the mountains, her song trailing off as she left the earth far behind and returned to her home on the moon.
This story is a variation on a common mythological trope – in Celtic and Norse mythologies, you find a similar phenomenon with the selkies, or the seal folk. I like that, in this version, the poor Heavenly Being manages to shame the thieving fisherman into doing the right thing, even if he asks a somewhat creepy price for it.
That’s it for this episode of Myths Your Teacher Hated. Keep up with new episodes on our Facebook page, on iTunes, on Stitcher, on TuneIn, on Vurbl, and on Spotify, or you can follow us on Twitter as @HardcoreMyth, on Instagram as Myths Your Teacher Hated Pod, and on Tumblr as MythsYourTeacherHated. You can also find news and episodes on our website at myths your teacher hated dot com. If you have any questions, any gods or monsters you’d want to learn about, or any ideas for future stories that you’d like to hear, feel free to drop me a line. I’m trying to pull as much material from as many different cultures as possible, but there are all sorts of stories I’ve never heard, so suggestions are appreciated. The theme music is by Tiny Cheese Puff.
Next time, it’s the thrilling conclusion. You’ll see that goblins aren’t the only ones who can magic dance, that battle doesn’t always go as planned, and that celebrating too early can get you into trouble. Then, in Gods and Monsters, we’ll climb the slopes of the iconic Mount Fuji for a tale of hope. That’s all for now. Thanks for listening.