Wednesday, Feb 2, 2022 • 34min
256-Indian Folklore: Tiger Mom
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A story about why you shouldn't give your children to the first person who shows up at your door who's definitely not a tiger what are you talking about if anything they're so human that you might be the tiger. Ever thought of that? That you might be a tiger? Hm. Something to consider before you go around accusing people (who are definitely people!) of being tigers (which they're not!)
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Jason Weiser
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Jason Weiser
00:34
Brave disclaimer. There is some violence against animals this week, nothing graphic as usual, but it does exist. Check out the post on myth podcast. com link in the show notes for more info.
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00:46
This week on Myths and Legends. It's a story from
India
about marriage and also love and how when someone stops by whose definitely not a wild animal in disguise, it's probably okay to give one of your adult children to them forever. On the creature this week, we'll see how you can solve all of your problems with an all-you-can-eat buffet.Share
01:09
This is Myths and Legends, episode 256, Tiger Mom.
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01:19
This is a podcast where we tell stories from mythology and folklore, some are incredibly popular stories with surprising origins, others are stories that might be new to you but are definitely worth a listen.
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01:31
Today's story comes to us from
India
and as we'll talk about at the end of the episode when we break it down a little, it's more of a fairy tale, so there's nothing super historical here. And link the source in the show notes, but we'll jump right into a story of a rich family sitting down to a dinner and a stranger who just emerged from the jungle.Share
01:50
The Brahman man knocked on the door of the house. He was sorry, but that vegetarian feast the family was making that smelled amazing, cooking food, who knew? The family, who just sat down to dinner, said "thanks", but if he didn't cook food, what did he do? The man obviously rich smirked, "oh, him! He just chased it through the jungle, killed it and ate it raw". The family laughed, this new guy was alright.
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02:36
The elderly father, also a Brahmin look to his only daughter with an eyebrow waggle. He didn't need to say it because it wasn't exactly subtle, the visitor was a handsome man. The father rose and invited the man in. What was the stranger's name? The stranger said that he was Tiger, Tyler was his name, not Tiger, Tyler, he was a human man. Human man, he was Tyler human man.
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03:05
The father said, "Tyler, Human Man, that sounds like a respectable name". He should come in and enjoy this feast with the family, they were rich, so there was always good food in this house. And as the father sat Tyler Human Man down next to his daughter, he added "good food and even better company", he winked.
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03:29
Two weeks later, the pair was married, they lingered in the home a bit longer, until one morning. Tyler announced his intention to bring the daughter back to his home beyond the jungle, not in the jungle because he was a human man and human men don't live in the jungle.
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03:46
The father said, "sure, the daughter was Tyler's wife now, so he could make her go anywhere and no one could stop him". Sure, they've only known him two weeks, but they trusted him to take their daughter away forever, and so he did.
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04:02
The morning they left, the girl's mother prepared some sweet cakes for them with neem leaves in each bundle of food and in the girl's hair to ward off demons. Tears fell and hands waved, but eventually the couple disappeared around the bend in the road, their new life had begun.
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04:23
"Hey, if it's okay with you, can we stop for a minute by this cool stream, the way fast". They've been really moving all morning and a shady tree in a cool stream, sounded pretty nice. "No, it's not okay", Tyler said to the woman, she chuckled and started putting her bag down, but he stepped in front of her.
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04:50
What was she doing? She pointed to the tree, she was taking a rest. "You will be quiet and come along, or shall I show you my true face". Tyler Human Man then asked. She understood well enough and shouldered her pack. Maybe he was hungry, maybe it was travel, I mean
Hemingway
once said "you shouldn't go on trips with anyone you don't love".Share
05:15
And she had only known him for two weeks and had been forced into the marriage by her father, so yeah, the whole love thing with her new husband was still a work in progress. He said that "shall I show you my true face, bit", exactly two more times before the wife lost it. She wasn't loving this change that was coming over the man she married as they got closer to home, and she was hungry and tired.
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05:41
"Or shall I show you my true face? " The husband asked. The wife threw up her hands, "you know what? Let's do it, let's go there". Orange and black hair exploded from his face and body, his claws tour and fell away. Tyler Human Man was really a tiger, who could have seen that coming?
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06:03
His story was as short as it was incomplete. The tale just says that the tiger required a magical ability to transform into a human, somehow, and left it at that. Seems like kind of a big thing to leave unknown, but the wife didn't really have the luxury of questioning how they got there, j. Just that she was now staring into the eyes of a full-grown male tiger.
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06:28
The tiger told her not to worry, he had always wanted a Brahmin wife, so he wouldn't hurt her. They were almost home and once they got there, "he would take care of her". I'm sorry, did that come out as evil? It kind of sounded like it came out as evil. He meant it the nice way though, "he would take care of her", that was too nice, basically, he would give her everything she needed vegetables, rice, spices, she was to cook for him and keep house and never disobey him, ever.
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06:57
The woman hesitated for a moment. She didn't need to put up with this, but it was a tiger, this situation required some tact because he probably had the impulse control of a tiger. The wife smiled and picked up her pack, of course, anything for her new husband.
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07:21
They kept different schedules. He hunted at night and slept in the heat of the day, she was diurnal and was up with the sun. She had given birth to a lion cub, something she didn't think she would ever do, most don't. She tried to love the kid, but she knew that he would grow up to be like his father because he was a literal tiger. Nursing was a challenge, she also had to lick the baby tiger belly like a tiger mom.
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07:55
But at about eight weeks, the kid was good to go, that was nice, it gave her plenty of time to cry, she would do that too. She would go outside while her tiger husband slept and her tiger son did. Who knows what, and she would break down. Breakdown and rage for the life that had been taken from her, for the hopelessness that she now felt. She looked up when she heard a noise at the window.
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08:22
"Oh, sorry. " The crow said "I saw some rice there in the dirt, and I was like, hey, free rice, it's okay, right? Do you want any of that? " "Did I want any dirt rice? No, I had some maggots earlier", the woman said, annoyed that the crow had seen her crying. "Uh, okay, wow, just scavenging for my food because I'm a scavenger. Didn't think I was going to be higheroded by tiger princess here".
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08:47
The crow said in a low co, "not everyone can live in luxury with your non-dirt rice". That caused the daughter, the wife, to break down again. She apologized to the crow, she was just, she was captive here, she didn't ask for this life. The tiger had deceived her family, and he had taken her into the jungle, they didn't know what had happened to her. The crow said, "man, okay", now he was sorry, he got all indignant.
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09:15
He glanced inside to the sleeping tiger. "Look" he wanted to help If she could scribble out a letter, he could get it to her family. The woman tiptoed inside and got up on my relief scratching out a note with an iron nail she had found for reasons, she didn't know why she had kept a nail she found on the road. She couldn't kill a tiger with a nail, but you know she could dream, and she could also write a letter.
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09:52
Caw-caw, the crow cawed. One of the woman's brothers standing in the village looked up. "Huh? Did any of his other brothers think that crow was trying to tell them something? " The other brother said, "no, it's a crow". "Yes, I'm trying to tell you something, it's about your sister", the crow cawed, but they just came out in caws because he was a crow.
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10:20
"No, I really think he's trying to tell us something". The brother replied, focusing in on the crow "caw-caw, yes I'm trying to tell you something, your sister has been married off to a monster and what I'm pretty sure it's just a metaphor for patriarchy caw-caw" the crow still cawed to the young man. "Oh, my gosh, why can some humans understand some animals? Like everyone understood the tiger, caw-caw just read this", the bird said and shimmied out of the note.
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10:48
"Whoa! He was trying to tell us something literal, bro", the brother said, turning to one of his other brothers, "bro, what do you mean? " One brother said, stepping forward. The brother presented him with a letter scribbled with a nail on a leaf, " bro, bro, come check this out", one bro said to the third.
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11:08
"Bro, I'm standing right here, bro. Not you bro, our other bro". "Bro's, I'm here too" the third brother said, he had walked up and was standing right next to them and was already looking at the letter, "bro's, this isn't looking good. I think our she-bro is in trouble", he said, putting down the leaf.
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11:29
The crow flapped and took flight. "Hey uh, caw-caw did the letter say follow me? caw-caw because you should be following me". "I think our little crow bro, wants us to follow him". One of the brothers pointed "bro, come on, don't say bro in reference to people who are not our siblings, it cheapens the word, also yeah that crow is moving pretty fast, we should follow him".
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11:53
One brother frowned, this was his day off, he wanted to relax today. "Come on man", one brother said, "we need to do this, bro's before repose". He agreed, and I was pretty convincing and also rhymed, and they took off towards the jungle.
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12:18
We'll see the brothers and sister confront the tiger, but that will be right after this.
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Jason Weiser
14:58
"What? How come he gets a pet, bro? " The middle brother said, they were sweating it out on a trek through the jungle to find their sister, trying to keep up with the crow and also picking up pets along the way. "Two things bro", the oldest said, "first the donkey that the youngest got wasn't a pet, it's a beast of burden, and he really shouldn't be thinking about it as a pet", the youngest said.
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15:27
"Oh, sorry bro, I was just started an Instagram for Carl, my donkey, what were you saying? " The oldest brother rolled his eyes, additionally the ant that the middle brother wanted, not a pet, it was a giant ant he found on the jungle floor, "so many reasons not to namely that thing will bite you, and you can't carry it".
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15:49
"Oh bro, but I can" middle said producing a hollowed out coconut, the only objection being satisfied before the oldest brother could make any of their objections. The middle brother said he was keeping the ant, he scooped it up in his hollowed out coconut and the trio continued on their way.
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16:09
An hour or so later, the oldest brother found something he wanted to take along, a tree. "Bro, a tree is not a pet", the other two protested, and the eldest brother said "yes, he knew it was a tree", he thought it looked nice, and it just fell over in a recent storm, its roots were still exposed. He could transplant this thing.
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16:31
Did they know how useful Palmyra tree could be? The wood could be used for building, the stem for water pipes, the leaves for fans, mats, baskets, buckets, thatch, not to mention the fruit. He trailed off and looked up to see the others nodding off. Oh ha ha! Well they got to take things, so he was taking something too, let's go.
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16:52
One brother walked alongside his donkey, the other carried his ant, and the third dragged a down Palmyra tree. He also picked up a washbasin they found in the jungle because I guess he wasn't carrying enough stuff already.
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17:04
Eventually the crow settled on a house in the heart of the jungle and the brothers, by virtue of the fact that they couldn't talk to animals, missed all of his witty observations about how did the tiger build a house in the jungle without thumbs before coming to the realization that the tiger probably just ate the previous owners.
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17:22
It was nearly dawn when the brothers snuck up to the window. "Hey! Hey sister! " They were here to rescue her. Her head popped out of the window, "oh, no". The brothers were confused, was she mad that they were here to save her? She shook her head, it wasn't that she was super happy about that, it was just that it was almost dawn. Tyler will be back any minute, they had to hide, she glanced up.
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17:50
All right, inside here's a loft, it's mostly used for storage, "just get up there and hide". The middle brother scrambled up, then look back. "Why so slow, bro's? We gotta lie low. Oh no, Is it your cargo? " The youngest brother said he was not leaving his donkey Carl down there, when the tiger spotted that plump, slow donkey, Tyler would definitely risk a kick to the face for some of that meat. It was a no-go without Carl. The eldest said same for him, but with his tree he paused.
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18:21
What? This wasn't his whole weekend, he wanted to get this train to his garden when he got home, and then tiger might want it, it was coming too. So the three brothers, a donkey an ant, a Palmyra tree and a washbasin. All struggled up the loft, just in time to lay there quietly, the tiger was home.
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18:42
"I smell human", Tyler announced the moment he walked in. The wife laughed nervously, "well, he married a human". The tiger shook his head, "no, not her", he was used to her stench. Then he grimaced as he sniffed, "well, he guessed it could be her, all right". He was feeling like mixing things up today, "no meat, vegetarian feast, get started".
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19:08
"Wow, can you believe he talks to her like that? Carl" The youngest said to his donkey up in the loft, then he started squirming. "Ah-oh", "what bro? " The oldest asked the youngest. "I gotta go, bro". The youngest said, "he'd been drinking from the river with Carl earlier, and he drank a lot, trying to get the right shot".
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19:32
He did it for the gram, not only was it now putting them in a life-threatening situation with an adult tiger, but it only got like ten likes. The oldest brother looked around and whispered, "okay, but bro, tip try to get outside and avoid the loft". The youngest said he knew how to use the bathroom, so he turned and peed off the balcony of the loft and into the kitchen.
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19:58
"Why did you do that? " The oldest brother asked the youngest said "uh, because he didn't want to go in the loft, duh", remember he knows how to use the bathroom. They both looked down and saw that he had gone right in the rice on the plate. Should they? They should tell someone right.
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20:19
The youngest brother said that he had something to tell the oldest, he still had to go to the bathroom. The oldest was puzzled, "How could he have to go to the bathroom? He just went to, oh yeah, no, I got it".
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20:34
Then he saw the youngest squatting over the edge of the loft balcony. "What are you doing? " The oldest whisper shouted "pooping, it's kind of obvious". The youngest, strained. "Yes, that was, but why? Why are you pooping? " The youngest said "uh, because he had to go, he ate a lot of grass today with Carl trying to get the perfect shot".
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20:58
"And grass tastes bad", "you know, you can just pretend to eat grass for the picture". The oldest whispered, "and be a poser, no, thank you, everything on Instagram was real life, and he wouldn't be the first to compromise the integrity of that wonderful, healthy hashtag authentic place". He pulled up his pants.
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21:21
Well, he felt better, the pair looked down and saw that he had gone again directly on the tiger's plate, the sister stopped dead when she saw the plate and grabbed it, she turned to toss it out the window, but found herself looking into her husband's tiger eyes.
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21:43
"Oh, was the dinner done? She said yes, but" he sniffed. "Oh my gosh! What was that? It smells like crap". She stood up straighter, that was her cooking, thank you very much. And it was mashed lentils, it wasn't her fault his palate was so unrefined.
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22:03
He took the plate and as he ate dinner, his ears turned to the loft and the sister said, "oh yeah, some cat got in the upstairs window and was playing around up there. " She would handle it later. Then the eldest brother got an idea.
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22:18
First he swiped the giant ant from the middle brother, then he pulled on Carl's rains, He explained what he was going to do to the other two brothers who acknowledged that. Yeah, it was a good plan, but poor Carl. As the youngest stroke Carl's knows, the oldest plucked the ant from its coconut home and yelled.
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22:39
One version says that he yelled out "tiger your time is up, I'm your brother-in-law up here, I am going to eat you". The tiger stopped eating actual poop and looked up to the loft quizzically, "um, first hi, second, where are you? " He heard him, "up here, hear me roar", and then he took the ant and quote, "put it on the donkey's anus", it bit down and the donkey braids so loud that the house shook.
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23:16
The tiger froze "wow, that was, that was something" he said, the last time he was at his wife's place you just saw a bunch of soft small boned people, could he see this brother-in-law? Build a set of course in his best Thor impression and lowered down his own tree from the loft.
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23:39
"See that, that's my leg, pretty impressive, huh? Never skip leg day kids", the oldest said. And just to prove that I can eat you up, check out this belly, and he held the big washbasin up to where the tiger could see it, "check it out big enough to hold you, I'd say" the tiger agreed.
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23:58
He threw down his vegetarian feast and bolted from the house, "the consequences of his own actions, they had come for him". The brothers descended and embraced their sister, and the story says they all had dinner before they headed out.
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24:11
They also ransacked the place, taking everything that the tiger had taken from all the people he had killed because if smog has taught us anything, it's that you might be a complete monster with absolutely no way of spending your treasure hoard because you're a complete monster, but you can still like nice things.
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24:30
There was still one issue though, the child, the tiger kitten was now a pseudo dangerous tiger adolescent, but it was still their sister's child, and they wanted to be sensitive to their sisters, "nope kill it", she said, the brothers paused. "Wait, what? No, yeah, straight up, cut it in half", the sister said.
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24:53
The brothers still didn't understand, the sister asked what they didn't understand, the thing was a monster, it represented the worst thing that had ever happened to her, and it would grow up to be another tiger like his father.
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25:07
She wasn't asking them anymore, "cut it in half", so they did. People seem to have way more of a reaction to animals dying than Children on this podcast for some reason, so here we get to have a fun instance of kind of both.
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25:22
Anyway, the four siblings took off and hours later there was a claw pounding on the door. Tiger dad was home and he smelled pancakes? "I know you're making pancakes in there for your big brother", the tiger snarled. " I know their pancakes because they smell like burnt hair and sadness, also, I've never actually smelled pancakes before because I'm a tiger, open up". She didn't because she wasn't there, so the tiger slunk around back and pounced through the window, shattering it and landing claws out, prepared for a fight.
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25:57
He wasn't prepared, however, for what he saw in the fireplace. Not sure why the sister and the bro's went to the extra steps to leave the adolescent tiger suspended in two halves over the fire. It seems like they're kind of just twisting the knife. That being said, the tiger is a murdering kidnapping, thieving rapist, so I'm not sure he deserves that much sympathy.
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26:20
Kind of feel for the tiger cub though, maybe he could have gotten out of the situation, broken the chains of abuse and become a different tiger, not like his father who presumably was raised by a monster and subsequently became a monster, we'll never know though, and that's the tragedy.
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26:36
The tiger, clutching the remains of the child that he, yes, was going to raise up into a monster, vowed revenge and the sister and all of her siblings, he would do to them what they had done to his precious evil boy, and he knew where they lived.
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27:03
We'll see what happens when the tiger goes to see his in laws, but that once again will be right after this.
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Jason Weiser
29:51
Who wants a body massage? The tiger heard when he got ready for dinner at his in laws. He ran all night until he was at their village, but he didn't see his wife, he would track her down next, but in the meantime he was going to find the big one, the brother that had been in his loft to tear him to pieces. Once he was gone, all of his wife's family would be next.
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30:15
She would follow them to the grave, knowing that they died horribly because of her. But for now, it was body massage time. The tiger had resumed the form of Tyler Human Man and received a warm welcome from his in laws, they were super happy to see him.
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30:33
Was their daughter with him? Tyler flashed a smile. She couldn't get away, so much luxury, so many of their grandchildren already. She was just too indisposed to join him on the long journey through the jungle, but he assured the parents that they would meet again soon, very soon.
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30:53
The three bro's came out of the back room of the house, "bro's, it's our bro in law, bro's". They all went in for a hug, the eldest turned to the others, "bro's, you know what this guy needs? " The two brothers grand, "ah yeah bro". The three turned towards Tyler, "its body massage time". Tyler said, "wait, what? " The three brothers grand "uh yeah" he was their guest and the son-in-law. It was customary among households such as theirs to give their son-in-law an oil body massage.
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31:29
Tyler must have known that, right?, he was a Brahmin too. Tyler grinned again, sheepishly. Of course, he knew that he was definitely a human man, as his surname so clearly indicated. "Well, this guy", the eldest brother said, slapping the middle brother on the back "is a body massage machine".
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31:49
"Go out to the backyard", The middle brother said, "so we can start this massage". Tyler human man nodded to himself, not every day your prey gave you a massage before you ate them, he should do this to more human families.
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32:05
They pointed him to a mat in the backyard, Tyler Human Man took a seat and dropped into the pit, he hit the ground hard, it was the bottom of a deep disused well. The tiger glared up with a hatred toward the people whose silhouettes framed the top of the well, once he got out of here they were dead, they were all dead.
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32:29
Then the rocks started, small ones at first, then larger and larger, until the tiger was bleeding and dazed. Then the people at the top parted and the daughter, the tiger's wife, stood. The tiger begged her, saying he was sorry they could go home together, he would be different. She lifted the biggest rock and dropped it in the well, nothing, neither words nor tiger came out of that well, again. Everyone left the well, but the three brothers found their sister and put their arms around her, they were sorry she had to do that.
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33:11
She didn't say anything, and soon she was alone by the well she would marry again of course and though she knew her family was there for her if she needed them, she also knew that she was strong by herself too.
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33:26
She had lived with a tiger for months, and now she was alive, and the tiger wasn't, it had been horrible and no one should have to endure that, but now she knew that she could face anything that life had for her.
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33:55
I like this story because it's really similar to a couple of different stories from the
Grimm brothers
, Bluebeard and The Robber Bridegroom, but with a tiger that eats poop, which really makes this the superior version. I can't imagine there was any sort of interaction with one culture inspiring the other or anything like that. So it's just really cool to see similar stories develop organically.Share
34:22
Next week we're actually back in Chinese folklore with a love story, a weird problematic love story.
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Break
Jason Weiser
34:52
The creature this week is the
Gurumapa
from Nepal
.Share
35:02
Now, my first impression of the
Gurumapa
was of like a grumpy hair guy who maybe has his teeth protruding at the bottom of his mouth. He has the name of a children's book character, looks like a monster from where the wild things are, the only difference is that he won't dance with the children, he will eat the children.Share
35:18
The story starts not with the
Gurumapa
, but with Kesh Chandra, a man who bet big and lost and then did that several more times in a row without stopping until he had gambled away all of his property. He kind of literally hit rock bottom when his sister, knowing he would steal even the plates and cutlery that she served food to him with, made him eat rice off the stone floor. He was angry at this injustice.Share
35:44
He was going to sell those plates, and so he scooped up the food in his handkerchief and left. Kesh got far away from his sister's village before unwrapping the handkerchief, only to find that it had gone bad. The rice was rotten and squirmed with maggots, he picked all them out, spread out the foods that it would dry in the sun and took a nap.
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36:04
He awoke to pecking and clucking his shrieks, drove off some of the pigeons and is swatting the rest, but he found that they had eaten all of his rice. Then he felt something hit his head from the sound of flapping wings above him. "Are you serious? " But it wasn't quite a splat, more like a gentle thud because the pigeons were apparently pooping gold.
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36:31
They apparently took pity on him. So I guess try and earn the pity of pigeons though, if cash is any indication, you have to fall pretty far until that's going to happen, so maybe you're better off asking for help or trying to improve yourself than banking on golden pigeon poop.
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36:49
Now though, Kesh had a different problem, he had too much gold and also a monster was about to eat him and to the
Gurumapa
, he smelled, pray AKA Kesh Chandra. Kesh wasn't without his skills and immediately went to work charming the beast, which he did two ways, calling the monster uncle and offering him an all you care to eat children buffet.Share
37:14
The pair of monsters worked out a deal. If the
Gurumapa
helped Kesh carry the gold back, he could live in Kesh's attic and have the right to carry away and eat any kids whose parents said they were bad, despite Kesh not having worked out any deal with the parents of his town and this being actual murder.Share
37:34
The pair's shook on it, and the monster helped cash carry the gold back. Word spread around town about the
Gurumapa
, and it worked, it was terrifying and all the kids in town behaved, which was a problem for the hungry monster living in the attic who had been promised a steady stream of disobedient children.Share
37:53
So the
Gurumapa
amended the deal unilaterally and decided that he got to eat any child that was even threatened with being eaten. This was a problem for the village who, surprise, loved their children and did not want to have their children eaten after a single idle threat.Share
38:11
So they banded together, got their forks and fire and cook the monster a delicious meal. They approached the
Gurumapa
and asked if he could move, they would cook him an annual meal of rice and buffalo meat if he lived out in the fields, and you stopped eating their children. The monster said, "yeah, okay", and he did.Share
38:34
And I read that each year people still leave food as part of this tradition, as it turns out, talking through your problems is the way to go and also offering unlimited all-you-can-eat buffets.
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38:48
That's it for this week, myths and legends is by Jason and Carissa Weiser. The theme song is by broke for free and the creature of the week music is by Steve Combs. There are links to more music in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.
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