Episode 114 – Donkey Kong – Myths Your Teacher Hated

Episode 114 Show Notes

Source: Central African Folklore

This week on MYTH, we’re headed into the Congo to meet the real king of the jungle – the mountain gorilla. You’ll discover that growing bananas can be dangerous, that the most overlooked direction is up, and that ventriloquism is a deadly skill. Then, in Gods and Monsters, you should be careful who you trust. 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 114, “Donkey Kong”. As always, this episode is not safe for work.
This week’s story comes from a recent acquisition from my local used bookstore – African Folk and Fairy Tales collected by J. K. Jackson. In addition to having a built-in bookmark ribbon (which more books should have – it makes me feel like an ancient librarian), it makes a conscious effort to tell stories that are actually representative of the African oral tradition. While researching this week’s tale, I found another, much older version of this story that’s kind of terrible. That book with an unfortunate title written in 1875 is…problematic to say the least. I’m very happy to have found a better source for this cool tale from central Africa.
Long ago, in the early days of Uganda, there was a small village. It lay in Buddu along the banks of the Katonga River and was famous for its bananas. In days past, the people had planted banana groves there that had grown into enormous tracts of deliciously sweet fruit. When the fruit hanging in the trees was nearly ripe, the intoxicating aroma was so potent that it could make your stomach growl from miles away. This was mostly a good thing, but it could occasionally bring unintended consequences. On one particular day, a powerful gorilla was wandering through the jungle looking for nuts and berries to munch on when the breeze brought the pungent smell of bananas wafting through. He stopped his search and sniffed deeply. You know those cartoons where a critter is carried along by the smell of delicious food (sometimes literally picked up by the smell)? That’s basically the situation. The hungry gorilla followed his nose towards the village and its bananas, walking on his tippy toes with his hands dragging behind him.
From time to time, the breeze would die and the gorilla would drop again to all fours, lost and hungry. When it picked up again, he would rise to his feet and follow the smell of bananas. In short order, the gorilla found himself gazing out at the vast fields of banana trees. “A-ha,” he thought to himself. “Bananas. I must get me some!” It seems that Donkey Kong got this one right. As he neared the groves, his keen ape eyes spied movement and he froze.
As he watched, the movement resolved itself into a woman bent nearly double beneath the weight of a massive basket full of – you guessed it – bananas. He watched her for a moment and decided that she was not a threat. Indeed, this might be one hell of an opportunity. Moving with surprising stealth for a beast so big, the gorilla crept up on the unsuspecting woman. Leaping to his feet, he rushed her and, before she could make so much as a surprised squeak, he grabbed the woman and her basket and ran off with both.
The gorilla carried the woman and her banana basket deep into the jungle to the place where he made his den. Safely away from the village, the gorilla tossed the woman to the ground like discarded trash and turned his full attention to his treasure: the bananas. Inhaling the intoxicating aroma, he gorged himself on the sweet fruit. He muttered to himself the entire time, seated with his legs around the basket protectively. The woman…did absolutely nothing because she’d hit her head when the gorilla tossed her (he didn’t realize his own strength being, you know, a fucking gorilla) and had passed out.
It was a big damned basket, so even a full-grown gorilla took time to go through it all. He had only gotten about halfway through it when the poor woman stumbled back into the waking world. She sat up, woozy from the head trauma, and glanced around as one does. Her attention was understandably drawn to the noisy, messy sounds of many bananas being devoured by a truly massive animal. She screamed in terror, which is a totally fair if unfortunate reaction, and tried to flee the beast’s den. If she’d snuck out quietly, she probably could have made it but her scream of pure terror was enough to draw his attention away from the succulent yellow treats. Anyone who’s ever been around a skittish animal mid-meal will know that beasties do NOT like being disturbed while they’re eating.
The gorilla reacted very predictably. He reached out one enormous arm, seized the fleeing woman in one enormous hand, and squeezed her until she stopped screaming. He squeezed until there wasn’t breath left in her body to scream and then he dropped her lifeless body to the ground. Satisfied that peace had been restored, he returned to the half-empty basket. Her corpse was soon buried under smashed banana bits and torn peels. He didn’t stop until there was nothing left in the basket and his gorilla belly was swollen and engorged. Dropping the basket, he double-checked that the woman hadn’t moved – which she hadn’t of course – and then yawned hugely. He climbed up the trees above his nest to take a little snoozle after his massive meal.
Time passed and, eventually, the gorilla woke again. Stretching hugely, he scratched himself and scampered back down the tree. There, he found the piled peels, empty basket, and human body. Pawing listlessly at the stripped peels, he lifted the limp body and dropped it again. It didn’t respond, so she clearly wasn’t going to magically fetch him more delicious bananas. If he wanted more (and he very surely did), he’d need to do…something. He wasn’t sure what exactly. Scratching at his paunch and picking at his fur, he pawed absently in case he’d missed one (he hadn’t) as he thought. After a while, he came to a decision. He had a plan. Of sorts
He’d awoken early this morning, well before the sun rose, so it was still quite chilly out. The humans (without the benefit of the gorilla’s fur) were still safely in bed as he moved silently through the jungle. The sun was just rising when he reached the edge of the trees. The first light of dawn reached out and woke up the local rooster, who did what roosters do. He cock-a-doodle-do’d loud and long, startling the gorilla. Being apparently a fairly jumpy asshole, the gorilla said to himself “well damn – someone is clearly stealing my bananas. This will not do.” Snorting angrily, he shuffled off towards the offending rooster.
The trees thinned out and vanished altogether as he entered the village proper. The houses there were tall, taller even than the gorillas hidden treehouse hideaway. This spectacle distracted the gorilla and he stopped and stared for a moment. As he did, the door to one of the houses opened and a man walked out. Alas for this poor unfortunate soul, he was looking the wrong way as he exited (and quite reasonably not expecting a fucking gorilla to be waiting for him). Before he could notice or react, said gorilla seized the surprised fellow in one enormous fist and, as before, squeezed until ribs cracked and all movement stopped. It’s kind of hard to scream while being wrung out like a dishrag, so this whole murder happened in silence. Tossing the limp corpse to one side, the gorilla wandered curiously through the open door.
Inside was a woman who, unbeknownst to her, had just become a widow. She was kneeling next to the coals of the central fire blowing on it to reawaken the flames. The gorilla snatched her up from behind and crushed her to death as he had the other humans to cross his path. For good measure, he also crushed the three small children still asleep in the bed, leaving no one alive. He nosed around a little but found nothing interesting, so he wandered out. Vicious curiosity now awakened, the ape left the first house and headed into a second. Before anyone could squeak much less scream, he killed everyone inside and moved on. Five entire households fell to the gorilla’s bloody fist, without a single survivor. Inside the sixth house, there lived a boy named Kinneneh. He’s the first named character we’ve met, so you know shit’s about to go down.
Young Kinneneh lived with his elderly mother. He awoke from sleep with a start. Something had awoken him, some sound that seemed out of place. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly but he was still young enough to instinctively believe that a monster could be stalking the village. He crept over to the woven reed door of his home and peered out through a small hole. He stood there, eye pressed to the hole, as he held his breath and searched for the source of his anxiety. After what felt like forever, he saw it – a creature lumbering through the village. He had never seen a gorilla before (the gorillas living in the Congo are notoriously reclusive, avoiding humans as much as possible), so it seemed to him like some kind of terrible half-human, half-beast monster. As we’ve seen from the string of vicious murders, he’s not exactly wrong.
It walked upright like a man but using the knuckles of its inhumanly long arms as much as its squat feet to get around. Its fur-covered torso was wider than any person he’d ever seen and looked powerful enough to tear him apart. He didn’t know what it was, so he just watched in silent terror as it shuffled across the village clearing and disappeared into his neighbor’s home. He was waiting this time, so he was sure he heard those strange, strangled, wheezing noises that had awoken him. He didn’t know what they were exactly (though you and I do), but they were horrible and terrifying. Nothing good was happening in there. Being very reasonably afraid of what was happening, Kinneneh crept over to his mother and quietly woke her up.
“Mom! Mom! Wake up – there’s some kind of monster in the village killing our neighbors. I’m serious! Please, just be quiet and follow me.” Kinneneh’s mother had never seen her son like this. He was a good, smart kid and if he was this scared, be probably had good reason. There was certainly no harm in trusting him for the moment, at least. She nodded seriously. “Okay, but where do we go?” “If we go outside, the beast will see us. We have to hide, which means the loft is our only option. Come on!” Putting his words into practice, he hurried towards the loft and began helping his mother make the climb.
I mentioned briefly that the houses were very tall, but that doesn’t really do it justice. The story is very clear that the houses of Uganda are not the usual low-lying houses of the rest of the Congo. They had high-peaked roofs stretching above the tall trees (which is why the gorilla had been so surprised by the sight) with multiple levels. At the very tippy top, tucked into the peak of the roof, was a small loft where stuff was kept out of the way. Nets and pots are tucked away up there when not in use, and the wood for spears and arrows are set out there to season before use. It was also where corn would be stored to dry and bananas left to ripen. It was by far the best hiding place in the house. Kinneneh and his mother crouched there in the stifling darkness, breathing as quietly as possible.
It was good that they did. Not long after they’d settled themselves in the tense silence, the door far below opened and in walked the gorilla. By now, he’d come to expect a family of squeezable people lying around when he walked in. This house appeared empty, which was surprising and confusing. Puzzled, he looked around in the dim light. Curiouser and curiouser. He wandered around looking for someone to murder. He poked the bed, he peeked under the grass mats, and he peered into the pots but found no one. Scratching his head, he smiled a toothy ape smile and beat his chest in that signature gorilla way. “Fuck yeah! I guess I killed all of those squishy whatevers, which means I’m the king of this place now. Screw my old nest, this is my new home. I’ll take the biggest, tallest one of these treehouses and make it mine! This is gonna rock. I can feast on bananas all day and sleep like a king at night. No one can stop me now! Ha ha!” From high above, a tiny voice echoed back ‘ha ha!’
Frowning, the confused beastie looked around for the source of the noise, but he was apparently alone. With one last look around the house, he was satisfied that it was indeed empty so he headed out. The pair of hidden humans waited for a spell to be sure that he wasn’t trying some sneaky trick, but the gorilla didn’t return. Eventually, Kinneneh scampered nimbly down the ladder out of the loft and peered through the half-open door as cautiously as he could. He watched as the gorilla ambled across the village into their precious banana groves. He kept watching as the beast grabbed as many as he could carry and lug them back to feast. Setting his burden down, the gorilla decided his welcome feast needed to be bigger, so he headed back out into the grove for a second load.
Knowing how much time he had, Kinneneh told his mother to stay hidden and then made a break for it. He probably could have fled the village, but that would have meant abandoning his mother, which he wouldn’t consider. Besides, where was there to go? Instead of fleeing, the young boy raced for the house where the bananas were being piled up (which was the one the gorilla had chosen as home). He dashed inside and scampered up the ladder into the loft of the beast’s lair to wait.
He didn’t have to wait long. The mighty gorilla returned with another armload of bananas and, finally satisfied, seated himself next to the pile to feast. In honor of his newfound riches, he took time to savor his meal, peeling the bananas and devouring them one by one, chortling to himself the entire time. He was so very proud of his clever deeds (even though he was mostly just fast, strong, and lucky) and he said so aloud. Now, I’m not entirely sure if the gorilla is speaking in a human language or a gorilla one. The story leaves it open so that either interpretation honestly works, so just pick whichever version you prefer and go with that. Anyway, he was so smug that he couldn’t help but gloat. “Ha ha! This is the best shit ever! I have all the bananas I could ever want and not a single asshole here to ask me to share. I hate sharing! There mine, all mine ha ha!”
From high above, the tiny voice again echoed back ‘ha ha!’ The gorilla paused mid-bite. “Okay, that’s fucking weird. This is the second time I’ve heard someone repeat ‘ha ha’ after me. If I ever find the dickweed mimicking me, I’m gonna squeeze him until his eyeballs pop out of his skull! Ungh ungh!” From somewhere in the darkness came back the echo: ‘ungh ungh!’
This was seriously getting on his nerves and ruining a perfectly good banana feast. Leaping to his feet, the gorilla began to search thoroughly through the pots and mats and other things he could see lying around. For good measure, he also grabbed the corpses of his new home’s previous owners (who had once been the leaders of this village) by their ankles and bashed them against each other a few times to make good and sure they were really dead. And yeah, they were super duper dead. Still not satisfied, he went house to house and searched each one, desecrating every body he found with further violence to be safe. Despite making his own nest high in the jungle trees however, the not-very-clever gorilla never thought to look up. All of the people had been at ground level, so he never bothered to search the spaces above. To be fair, I’m not sure he really understood the concept of storage space.
Having failed to uncover his cruel tormenter, the gorilla returned to his banana feast with bad grace. He ate enough of the yellow fruit to have satiated twenty men but he was still on edge. Not ready for a nap, he instead decided to go and gather more fruit. It was a pain in the ass to have to go harvest new bananas every time he wanted to eat. If he grabbed enough now, he could stay in his nice, warm nest and have breakfast in bed like a civilized ape. He still had some piled up, but more was always better right?
No sooner had the gorilla disappeared into the grove than Kinneneh was down the ladder again. He grabbed up all the bananas that had been left behind and carried them over to his own house. He’d had a lot of practice carrying heavy loads up to the loft, so he had no trouble getting them all up to where his mother was still hidden. Encouraging her to eat a little (but, you know, quiet-like), he went back down and peered out through the hole in the door to see what would happen when the village monster returned. After some time, the beast came back carrying a collection of golden fruit that would have taken ten men to carry. Tossing them carelessly inside, he returned to the trees for another load.
While he was gone, Kinneneh stole as many of the bananas as he could and carried them up into the loft of his own home. He had the beginnings of a scheme in mind, a big part of which was going to be gaslighting the fuck out of this gorilla. Multiple times, the big beast brought heaps of bananas back to his lair but each time, the pile seemed to have gotten no bigger. No matter how hard he worked or how many trips he made, the pile seemed pathetically small. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why and had no better idea than to just keep plugging away at it until he eventually exhausted himself. Kinneneh wasn’t able to squirrel away every banana that made it back, but he grabbed more than enough to confound his foe. As darkness fell, the gorilla collapsed into his new bed and ate a few bananas from his meager pile. Tomorrow would be better. He would definitely be able to make a proper banana pile tomorrow – he just needed rest. Kinneneh and his mother slept restlessly but safely in their own home.
When the sun rose in the morning, the gorilla set out for the grove with renewed determination, and Kinneneh again hid himself in the lair’s loft. He hadn’t been in place for long this time before the gorilla returned. He was carrying a smaller, more manageable bunch this time to avoid exhausting himself so easily. He tossed them onto the pile and was happy that it did seem a little bigger than yesterday. “Ha ha! I knew I could do it, I just needed a good night’s sleep. I have plenty now and can eat myself silly, ha ha!” Again he heard that tiny, directionless echo – ‘ha ha!’ It seemed so close and so clear that he could swear it was coming from right beside him. The gorilla leapt to his feet and grabbed at the voice, but his murder mitts caught only air. Enraged by his failure and by all of yesterday’s frustrations, he beat the earth and screamed a challenge. No one answered, so he raced out into the village to check the houses for any intruders once again.
While he was distracted, Kinneneh again made his move. It was too risky to try and carry the bananas back to his place but the gorilla’s lair had its own perfectly serviceable loft that this squatter hadn’t managed to find. The young boy carried all of the remaining bananas up into the former chief’s enormous loft and covered them with bark cloth to hide them from prying beady eyes. The disappointed and frustrated gorilla returned soon after having found no one to vent his rage on. Worse, when he reached out to continue his interrupted breakfast, his hand found only discarded peels from yesterday.
He was sure there had been more here before but clearly there weren’t. Growing hungrier and angrier, the gorilla went back out to the grove to fetch more. Dammit, the whole point of his multiple trips had been to avoid this kind of bullshit. What was going on here? He grabbed as many bananas as he could carry and came back, flinging them to the floor to eat. “Ha ha! This time, I will eat all of the bananas I brought back at once so that they can’t vanish mysteriously on me. And if that motherfucker who keeps copying me shows up, I’ll squish him to a pulp!” He squeezed a banana to demonstrate, crushing it in his fist and squirting mashed banana all over himself and everything else. “Just like that, ha ha!” This time, the shrill voice seemed to come from just behind his furry ear – ‘ha ha!’
The gorilla was officially Over This Shit. He hadn’t murdered an entire village just to be mocked in his own stolen home by a tiny voice. He sprang to his feet in a red rage and began to smash. His fury wasn’t directed at anything in particular, so he crushed pots and baskets and corpses and the bed with equal abandon. And also with equally little effect. Through it all, the small voice of Kinneneh kept echoing from nowhere, imitating his grunts and screams of frustration. Once everything in his own den had been broken, thrown, or otherwise destroyed, he raced around the village giving the other houses the same treatment.
You know what happened next. That’s right, our young trickster hero snuck down from the loft and spirited all the bananas away to his high-above hidey hole. The gorilla was definitely more brawn than brains, but he came up with what he thought was a very clever idea. Galloping to the grove, he ripped one of the trees up by the root and dragged the whole damned thing back to his home. Too angry to even notice that his remaining bananas had again disappeared, he threw himself to the ground and grabbed a banana off the tree smugly. “Ha ha! I’ve got a whole fucking tree this time. I can eat my fill, sleep it off, and then eat my fill again without ever having to leave. This is the dream – and if that mocking little shit shows up, I’ll crush him between my hands. Ha ha!”
Doing his best impression of Nelson from the Simpsons, Kinenneh again echoed him – ‘ha ha!’ The voice seemed to come from directly behind his head this time (not sure if Kinneneh can throw his voice or what – it’s not explained). Snarling, the gorilla whipped his arms behind him for the source of his anger but found only his own back, which he slapped with a meaty thunk. ‘Ha ha’ came again, and the gorilla leapt to his feet, enraged. Racing outside, he began to pursue his foe, who he imagined must be just ahead of him. Running around and around the village, he never quite managed to catch his tormentor (who, of course, wasn’t outside at all).
This whole escapade took quite some time, leaving Kinneneh plenty of opportunity to squirrel away the whole tree’s worth of fruit. By the time the exhausted and infuriated gorilla returned, all that was left was the empty tree and a pile of discarded peels. He searched all of it twice over, but in vain. Not a single fucking banana remained. He scratched his head, utterly confused. His overtaxed mind was not up to the challenge of solving this puzzle (which was mostly just ‘look up, asshole’) so he did the next best thing: he sat down and cried like a giant toddler. It didn’t solve anything and it didn’t make him any less hungry. He had no choice but to make the trek back to the banana grove yet again. And again. And again. Each time, he would flop down with the intention of gorging himself on what he’d gathered. Each time, he would chortle to himself and that damned voice would echo it back mockingly. It got under his thin skin each time and he would race out of his home to challenge his foe, who was of course hiding in the loft. By the time he returned, all of his bananas would be gone. All that would be left were the blackened, rotting peels left over from his first (and only) feast.
The gorilla would then throw a tantrum, crying and beating his fists on the ground, before heading back out to get more bananas he would never get to eat. He just couldn’t seem to keep himself from boasting aloud about how clever he was and how good the bananas would taste, nor could he stop himself from abandoning his hoard in a futile quest for vengeance. Days this went on, with the gorilla never managing to eat more than a few mouthfuls between long bouts of running around and smashing shit. His belly grew emptier and emptier and he began to weaken. On the fifth day after his sacking of the village, he fell across the threshold of the house he had stolen and died there in the dust.
By this point, the next closest village had started to wonder what was going on. By now, someone should have come by with bananas or baskets or even just news to trade, but no one had. They found the dead gorilla and the brutalized remains of the villagers. They also found Kinneneh helping his mother down from the loft she had been hiding in and pressed the boy for the story. Amazed at his cunning and heroism in defeating the man-killing beast, they brought the two with them to live in their village, gifting them with a nice, large house. They also gave him slaves, which I’m not a fan of, but what’s a myth without some crimes against humanity?
Kinneneh continued to impress his new village and, when the old king died, everyone agreed that there was only one choice for replacement. After the period of mourning was over, Kinneneh was named their new king. He ruled wisely and well for many years, and everyone loved to tell the story of how their king had slain a gorilla with just his brain while still a child. And so, with the murderous gorilla dealt with (and a whole bunch of rotten bananas thrown away), 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 cruel trickster is the hare.
This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered the hare as a trickster animal. Bugs Bunny comes from a long and storied lineage of clever critters outwitting hunters. We’ve also discussed that the trickster archetype also has a dark side. Not every prank is deserved and not every trick is funny. What happens when the trickee doesn’t deserve to be tricked? The story of the Hare and the Baboon from the Nadu people of eastern Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi (also from the African Folk and Fairy Tales collection) gives us an idea.
Shu’lo the hare was bored one day. There wasn’t anything good on tv, what with it being the jungle and before tv was invented and our protagonist an animal. He tried to think of something fun to do, but everything sounded boring, exhausting, or both. As he pondered, he saw his acquaintance Zinhede the baboon bounding through the trees. Shu’lo smiled widely. He had a fun idea.
“Hey Zinhede, you look almost as bored as I feel. You interested in doing something fun?” Zinhede dropped to the ground next to Shu’lo and considered. “You know, I am pretty bored. What did you have in mind?” “I have a really fun new game I think we should try: let’s go kill our mothers!” The baboon was understandably uncertain about this quote-unquote “game” the hare was proposing. On the one hand, killing his mother seemed like a pretty terrible idea. On the other hand, Shu’lo the hare was much smarter than Zinhede was, so maybe the hare knew something he didn’t. On the first hand, the clever critter was also something of a tricky boy, so maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
Shu’lo could sense his buddy’s hesitation, so he decided to be extra convincing. “Tell you what: I’ll go home right now and kill my mother first to show you what a good game it is, okay?” Zinhede shrugged. He was still not entirely sure he understood what was going on, but he was willing to let Shu’lo demonstrate. That seemed safe enough. The clever bunny hopped home as quick as he could, outpacing the slower baboon. He grabbed an old fur blanket he had lying around and a huge stick. Draping the hide over a log to make it look like a rabbit (at least to a casual glance), he waited for Zinhede to get close and then began to beat the fur with the stick. He made sure to keep his back between the baboon and his “mother” both to keep him from getting a good look and to hide the fact that Shu’lo was the one screaming in fake agony as the beating progressed.
After faking a final death throe, Shu’lo hopped over to Zinhede with a big smile. “Huh,” thought the baboon. “He does seem like he had a lot of fun after beating his mother to death. Alright, I’ll trust him. I’ll go kill my mother, too.” And so he did. Shu’lo laughed and laughed at his little trick. He wasn’t ready for it to be over yet, so he invited Zinhede to go hunting with him. They both successfully killed something for dinner and brought it home. Zinhede was confronted with the cooling corpse of his mother lying on the floor of his kraal. There was no one there to help him clean and cook his meal or to talk with him about the day. He sat in the dust and wept at the terrible trick that had been played on him. He should never have listened to Shu’lo.
For his part, Shu’lo laughed all the way home to his own kraal. His mother, who was very much still alive, joined in the merriment as he shared the trick he had played on the gullible baboon. Together, they cleaned and cooked dinner. Together, they ate a meal as they laughed at ZInhede, who’d been so easily convinced to murder his mother, who was also his best friend. And that’s it. That’s the whole story. Shu’lo is a dick and gets away with it. There’s no moral, except maybe don’t listen to an asshole when he tells you to do something you know is a bad idea. Or maybe be careful who you trust – just because you’re someone’s friend doesn’t mean they’re your friend. It’s a rough lesson I (and many other neurodivergent people) had to learn the hard way when I was younger. Yay, fun story. Sorry for the bummer ending.
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, we’re headed to Mexico City for a dive into the city that once stood there: Tenochtitlan. You’ll discover what hides on the beach, what lurks beyond the Sun, and what it takes to make a bridge. Then, in Gods and Monsters, you’ll see that sometimes, you absolutely should shoot the messenger. That’s all for now. Thanks for listening.