WokeTales - Woke Folktales

The Golden Valley is a Sicilian story, taken from Ruth Manning-Sanders’ collection A Book of Monsters. One royal family locates the natural phenomenon of their dreams: a whole valley of gold. This is a story of a king and queen who are wonderful parents, three brothers who love each other, and a monster who loves a golden architectural flair. Sometimes gold is just pretty, and a monster can become the best friend you’ve ever had.

‘Gretel in Darkness’ is a 1975 poem by Louise Glück exploring trauma. The poem is a dramatic monologue spoken by Gretel, the little girl from the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. In the poem, Gretel directly addresses the readers/listeners and Hansel, and offers her intimate thoughts reflecting on how she is haunted psychologically by the memory of the witch she killed, in order to save herself and her brother Hansel.

The Ebony Horse is a story from the Arabian Nights, also known as the One Thousand and One Nights. The tale borders on being ‘science fiction’ before the genre existed. It sees a cunning inventor design an ebony horse which is capable of flying. A prince uses the horse to travel to other lands, where he falls in love with a princess. It is an entertaining tale, full of adventure and love and danger and suspense.

The Red Pearls is a Chinese Fairytale with a familiar set-up of love, magic, and immortality but takes a delightfully unexpected approach. It is a story of Liu Hai and Ninth Sister and how they have each other’s back and support each other. There’s a golden toad to stir things up but tune in to find out who’s side the godly magic is on.

The Lion, the Tiger, and the Eagle is a Greek fairy tale from the Ruth Manning-Sanders collection Damian and the Dragon. It is a story of three brothers and three sisters and how their father’s dying words chooses their marital destiny.

The Lass Who Went Out at the Cry of Dawn is a story from Sorche Nic Leodhas’ collection of Scottish folk lore, Thistle and Thyme. This is a story of a girl who goes on an adventure to rescue her sister with an unconventional weapon, thanks to her farsighted parents.

Not many frogs can claim the resourcefulness of this African fairy tale’s titular character, Mainu. He helps Kiman throughout the story, from making journeys between heaven and earth, impressing lord Sun and lady Moon, to coming up with a trick to get Mainu married to the girl he is in love with, and all this without expecting anything in return.

Three Heads in the Well (or The King of Colchester’s Daughters) is a tale hundreds of years old. Listen to what happens when two daughters of the king are rewarded or punished by the fairy heads in the well.

The Hare’s Liver is a folk tale from Korea, in honor of the Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit). It tells the story of an ailing Dragon King who is told he can recover his health only through eating a hare’s liver. He sends Turtle to get a hare from dry land. Remarkably, Turtle successfully returns with Hare, but can the Hare escape through his sharp wits?

Martin and the Lions is taken from Ruth Manning-Sanders’ 1988 collection A Cauldron of Witches. The story has a nasty witch and a conscientious hero, Martin. The story has elements of animal cruelty and progresses with how Martin manages to free the lions from the witch’s curse.

“The White Snake” begins with a king who eats a bite of the white snake every evening, and rules his kingdom with such power, it seems he knows what will happen in it before anyone possibly could. He’s our only glimpse into the larger implications of the power of the white snake—once the king’s servant discovers the secret, the story becomes all about the servant’s use of this power to gain wealth, stature, and a wife who is resistant to him, that it takes three tests before she gives in and marries him.

The Three Snake-Leaves is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a young man who marries a princess. When she dies he is buried alive with her. Using folk medicine troupe in the story, while in the tomb he brings her back to life with three snake-leaves. She comes to life but is not the same, she betrays him with another man and that betrayal leads to her possibly ultimate death.

‘A Bought Dream’ is an interesting story where it seems like someone threw half a dozen fairy tale elements into a blender just to see what would happen, making it a perfect story to start the year with. It is a story of Sarsembai and a dream he has for his life. He goes through a journey to realize if his dream has come true and if he earns a happy ending for himself and his village too.

The story of Snow Queen, Gerda, and Kai is perfect for this cold winter. After tiny fragments of a magic mirror become lodged in one of Kai’s eyes and his heart, his personality begins to change and he starts to turn cold. It then becomes easy for the Snow Queen to abduct the boy. Kai is carried off to the Snow Queen's faraway palace. Join Gerda on a dangerous and whimsical quest to save her best friend before he is trapped forever in the Snow Queen’s palace.

In a holiday-themed episode this is an Icelandic legend of Jólakötturinn, aka “Yule Cat”. This monstrous feline stalks the entire country looking for those who aren’t wearing new clothes on Christmas Eve. Upon finding such a poor soul, the Yule Cat spares no mercy and eats the human before resuming the hunt for others. To find out more, let’s take a look at Icelandic mythology, the importance of oral storytelling, and wool production.

A baker was well known for his honesty as well as for his fine Saint Nicholas cookies. He always gave his customers exactly what they paid for — not more, and not less. So, how could he agree with a mysterious old woman on Saint Nicholas Day when she insists that a dozen is thirteen? The woman’s curse puts an end to the baker’s business, and he believes it would take Saint Nicholas to help him. But if he receives that help, will it be exactly what he imagined? Find out in this inspiring legend from Dutch colonial New York about the birth of an honored American custom.

Little Mukra is an Arabic fairytale about an unlikely hero, a dwarf, whose enemy is not a vengeful sorceress or dastardly king, but the widespread bigotry of ordinary people. With the help of one-woman animal welfare league, a dog, and some magic he finds his purpose.

Kate Cracketnuts is an English story taken from Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales and the premise is familiar: a king with a beautiful daughter called Anna marries a queen with a comparatively plain one called Kate. Guess who interprets the genetic lottery as a personal insult! Here’s a clue – it’s not Kate. Instead she rescues her beautiful sister from an evil enchantment and a prince from a wasting sickness caused by dancing nightly with the fairies.

In this Thanksgiving “decolonizing our dinner” story, meet the sustainer of Indigenous cultures for centuries and one of the original examples of regenerative farming, The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans) planted or eaten together create an ideal environment for success, and hold a strong spiritual and cultural connection to the history of Indigenous people. Many Native American legends have been woven around the "Three Sisters" - sisters who would never be apart from one another - sisters who should be planted together, eaten together, and celebrated together.

Opossums, awe-Inspiring but often underappreciated, are marsupials with many fascinating attributes and superheroes when it comes to cleaning up around your property. Opossum is a loanword from Powhatan, an Indigenous language from what is now the Virginia area. Additionally, a number of Indigenous tribes had origin stories of the opossum, which speaks to its range throughout what is now the United States and Canada. This Northern Cherokee Nation story explains why the opossum’s tail is bare.