Fairy Tale Fix - 35: Strong Chaos Baby (ft. Ghosts in the Attic, Bodies in the Basement)

Episode Date: January 18, 2022

Time for an epic crossover episode! Anna and Lindsey from the true crime and paranormal podcast Ghosts in the Attic Bodies in the Basement join us for “Scary Tale Fix!” Lindsey tells us the origin story for Maui, AKA the strong chaos baby, and Anna tells us a Russian folk tale that inspired Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride, simply called The Finger.

What we'd really like to say this episode is from the bottom of all of our hearts, thank you people. Thank you people on TikTok for telling us about stuff we did not know. Welcome to Fairy Tale Fix, the podcast where Abby and I tell fairy tales to each other. I'm Kelsey. I'm Abby. And we're actually not doing that today. We are not. Welcome to a different podcast where other people tell us stories. Yes, today we are Scary Tale Fix.

We are joined by two wonderful guests, Anna and Lindsay. Hi. Hi. Yeah, you guys want to introduce yourselves and tell us about your podcast? Well, I'm Anna. And I'm Lindsay, and we are the hosts of a podcast that's true crime and paranormal called Ghosts in the Attic, Spies in the Basement. Yes, Ghosts in the Attic, Spies in the Basement is Yes, Ghosts in the Attic, Spies in the Basement is approaching its one year mark. What? What? Woo. Congratulations. Thanks. We are so excited to be on this today and just get to hang out with you lovelies and tell you something a little

interesting and different maybe that you haven't heard before. And if you have, pretend you haven't. Absolutely. We're so excited to have you on. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the podcast before, but basically all of the podcasts I listen to are exclusively true crime and paranormal podcasts, spooky stuff. So I'm so excited that you guys reached out and wanted to collaborate. I've been listening to your podcast. It's so much fun, so much spooky stuff. Oh my gosh. Yes. Kelsey. Kelsey talks about your podcast constantly. Oh, with your all podcast. She loves it. Yes. I am a diehard fairy tale fix fanatic. And my husband who doesn't really listen to podcasts, it's not like his thing. He's a very

big fairy tale fix fan too. Every time I'm playing a podcast, it's not like his thing. He's a very big Fairytale Fix fan, too. Every time I'm playing a podcast, he's like, is that the Fairytale Girls? I'm like, no. He's like, can it be? I'm like, yes. That's a note. He doesn't listen to our podcast. He does not.

Yeah. I mean, that's about par for the course. Neither does my partner. He doesn't listen to my podcast he's yeah they hear everything we're talking about so yeah there you go they kind of listen to it just uh from uh the first person perspective yeah I guess they get a preview or something like that yeah I think uh my husband Adam used to listen to the podcast and then slowly kind of dropped off, which is fine. I feel that because he listens to me talk all the time. He lives with me. So why would he want to listen to me on his way to work?

It's like, that's his quiet time. I get that. I hear her voice constantly. quiet time. I hear her voice constantly. It's everywhere. Oh my gosh. Well, we're so excited to have you here. So obviously before we get started, I have to ask you guys a couple of questions. So, you know, usually I ask like, what's your favorite Disney princess? Well, I'm changing that up today. I would love to, what's your favorite childhood fairy tale? I'm going to make it a little bit broader. I like that. For me, I would have to say it started out with Sleeping Beauty, the cartoon. A fine choice. And then it progressed into Sleeping Beauty, the fairy tale slash Rumpelstiltskin anything.

Oh, nice. Rumpelstiltskin, really? That was your jam? Yeah, well, he's just so mischievous. That's fair. You never know what you're going to get. That's very true. The Fae are always unpredictable.

And then since listening to you guys, Baba Yaga all day. Oh, yes. Baba Yaga. That's been my biggest change since we started doing this podcast as well of like just discovering just how amazing baba yaga is the boss energy that baba yaga brings to the table oh my god absolutely yep lindsey what about you oh i've always loved like the classic the golden age of disney fight movies like beauty and the beast and stuff but i i remembered thinking about this podcast i had like a memory unlocked

moment of this little box set with like a flip-flop box set that my granny and granddaddy had in their living room that i played with and it was grim fairy tales and i loved flipping through the rapunzel book and like looking at all the pictures and stuff nice such a good one we love rapunzel we haven't done that one yet no we haven't there's so many good there's well no there aren't so many good retellings there's some middling to fine rapunzel retellings but uh there'll be a good one someday probably i also i also wanted to know so i think both of you have kids yes what fairy tales are kids these days into very interested that's a good question i never

really thought about that before my My son likes everything spooky. So of course he does. You're his mother. Yeah. I have three girls. Oh, yeah. And I asked them about fairy tales because they're into all sorts of different stuff. First of all, the toddler, her only answer was Elsa.

Nice. Sure. That's where she is in life. The older two actually like the Ice Queen. Like the actual story. Or whatever version they read at school or whatever. So kind of all the same thing but not

One of them is loosely inspired. Very loosely inspired. That story is amazing though. We definitely have to cover it eventually. It is a long one, though, so we have to kind of figure that out. But it is wild. Twists and turns for that story, for sure.

Yeah, that one would definitely have to be like a three-parter. Probably, if we ever actually did The Snow Queen. If you do, I look forward to hearing it. Because any type of like, it's so intense, I have to break it into multi parts like I'm into it. Oh, yeah. You like the multi parts? I do. Well, because, you know, it gives you something that you know what you're getting into the next time.

And it's like that cliffhanger of what's next. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Oh, man. Yeah, I'm excited to do that one. It'll be fun. It will be a good time. Have you done any two-parters?

No. I don't think so. I think we have spent like one episode on one fairy tale. We haven't got to do any two-parters yet. There's a lot of them out there, though. Yeah. Well, we'll get there. Anna will get her

deepest desires. We will do multi-part series on some super long stories. You should do the Baba Yaga, like, have, like, a trilogy of just Baba Yaga, just nothing but Baba Yaga stories. There are so many, too.

I imagine there are. Doesn't it cross multiple like regions like russian and other regions too like yeah pretty much that entire corner of the world has baba stuff and i think there's also some crossover down into uh german folktales where there's uh not exactly a baba yaga figure but, but I've definitely seen a few similarities between a few German stories and some Russian ones that I've read. She's just too good.

Word of how awesome she was spread throughout all of Europe. They were all aware. Well, I'm here for it. So speaking of spooky queens, I just wanted to ask, so how did you two meet? How did you start your podcast? Tell us your journey about your journey for ghosts in the attic, bodies in the basement. I always get those switched. I feel like I always say ghosts in

the basement, bodies in the attic, and I like mess it up. Well, we met when our husbands were in the military in Colorado, like almost 10 years ago, and we became fast friends. And about two years ago, I started heavily listening to podcasts and heavily suggested she also listen to podcasts. She caved. And from there, I had the like audacity to think I should be on a platform in general. And I was like, well, we could do this, right? We talk constantly. That's what podcasting is, is just talking. And so it took about a year to figure out a lot of things. And we're still figuring things out as we go. But it took about a year to make our first episode. And it's just been fun ever since.

Got some of that up for me. And tell us about the network you're on. Are there any, like what other podcasts are on the network? We are a part of Beerscape Media Network and a lot of the podcasts on there are in the realm of paranormal. There are some other ones such as

oh man, I can't think of the name of it right now, but she gets drunk and talks about stuff. Binge drinking and wishful thinking. Or is it binge thinking, wishful drinking? So many good titles. I know, that's a great title.

Isn't wishful drinking like the title of someone's memoir. Was that Carrie Fisher? I can't remember. That's, that's a non-second. That's not important. Skip it.

A few others are, uh, misters of the dark and, um, or beyond the veil, which we were on for their Halloween special. There's so many good podcasts on the network. It's kind of hard to keep up with all

of them. It is wishful drinking binge thinking. I checked. Nice. So if anyone wanted to find you, what's the best way to find you? How do they find your podcast, your network? Our network is just fearscapemedia.com and you can find us on all socials as GABB podcast. You've racked up a few episodes at this point, a year in where would you, what, what is your favorite episode that you've done? We had our very first guest speaker and it was the great, great grandson of HH Holmes. It was really interesting to get to meet him and talk with him. And he basically was this giant con artist who also killed a lot of people in his murder castle in Chicago. Murder castle?

Wow. No. Absolutely not. Which is our post office. And he also is theorized to potentially be Jack the ripper oh yeah that's right in chicago that he traveled to europe allegedly at the same time as jack the ripper okay and you actually had like one of his descendants on to talk about it that is super cool so okay fun fact.

What's your favorite episode you guys have done so far since you've hit a year mark? I don't know. I was just trying to think of that. That's why I awkwardly paused because my brain just took me off, Donna. Like, what would I say our favorite episode is? Mine's definitely...

I feel terrible, but it's this patreon episode we mention it every other episode I know it was one of the first random readings and I think I got dapplegram this was actually no it was the second random reading we did where we just picked a story and it was just so funny because we were just talking about how there's so much horse murder in fairy tales. And I happened to pick a fairy tale where literally dozens of horses are getting murdered. And I was laughing so hard. I think Justin had to cut out like 10 minutes of me just cry laughing because I couldn't get it out. It was just like going. He just kept killing horses like over and over. And I was like, what is going on? And she hadn't she still hadn't managed to read the paragraph to me. So I was sitting there not knowing anything about why she was just dying. And I that one was a fun one.

It was really fun. I liked that one a lot. I, I, I don't know. I think my favorite, uh, it's again, it's one where we break format, but it's, it's the one where we did, um,

we did Rumpelstiltskin and the three Billy goats gruff. We did like Kelsey, Kelsey read the, uh, the traditional versions of them. And then I read the, uh, politically correct satirical versions of them.

And I think they're so funny. They're so funny. That book is so good. Oh, no. You know what? No, I'm sorry. I take it back. It's definitely the episode.

It's our Christmas episode from last year where Kelsey read me The Fir Tree. And then I read The Snowman. And it was just so surprisingly horny. man and it was just so surprisingly horny i think so far if i had to pick a favorite which it's very difficult of your show it's when you guys covered the shrek like where shrek originated from and like you guys were like is donkey gonna be in this and like i don't know it's just so much fun listening to that because i'm a shrek fan since like adolescence so it's good stuff um and it was amazing it was such a fun story so i still have the book i actually am planning on giving it to my niece soon because it's so cute she's going to love it all right well speaking of awesome fairy tales do you guys

want to get into it? Absolutely. All right. We're so excited. So Anna and Lindsay have two stories that they're going to tell us. Yeah. And Lindsay, what is the title of the one that you're going to be telling? It is called Maui. It's just called Maui. It's just called Maui.

Edith Howe's version. Edith Howe's version. Okay. Before we get into the origin or the story of the Hawaiian trickster god slash folk hero Maui, I did want to take a quick pause to acknowledge a couple of truths about the context of this conversation as for white women who love a good story. First of all, we wanted to acknowledge and hold great respect for the fact that for Native Hawaiians, this is not just a story. It's part of the mythology of their land, and it's also a part of their religion. It should also be mentioned that practicing their religion was outlawed around 1831, and Native Hawaiians would have had to tell this story and practice their other traditions in secret until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 made it legal for

them to practice again in public. So just wanted to mention that, that we are extraordinarily privileged to be able to share this story with you and that that's just something to think about. Yeah. And just crazy that, you know, I didn't know that. Yeah, I know. We were talking about this earlier, but I learned that from TikTok. It's where I get all of my history lessons these days. Which is crazy. Which is wild that they just don't tell you about these things in elementary school around here at all. So I've also I'm going to be putting a couple of the Instagram and TikTok handles of the people that educated me into our show notes so that you can go follow them if you want to. They are actual

native Hawaiian people. And so you can get the information not filtered through me. And then secondly, I also just wanted to mention that these islands are gorgeous, and we all love to visit when we can, but it is important to do so respectfully and with the awareness that the Hawaiian Islands largest unhoused population is Native Hawaiians, the people whose land it originally is. And that's in large part because of the economic impact of tourism from the mainland. So we'll be linking some guides on ethical tourism in Hawaii and ways native Hawaiians have asked for support. And that'll also all be in the show notes for you to check out. So that said, and that out of the way, Lindsay, tell me the story of Maui.

I am deeply, deeply curious. Abby and I are both going to be making predictions because we actually don't have a story. Oh, is there something else we do on our show? Sometimes, if we don't forget. All right. So what's the predictions? All right. I'm going to go first.

You know, and a lot of this is probably going to be based on my very limited knowledge about Maui and probably from like Disney's Moana. Because that's literally the only idea I even have. That's actually what got me curious to look it up. Nice. Yeah, I do love that movie. It was really fun. That movie is so good. All right.

I think my first prediction for Maui is going to be... My first prediction is that I think Maui turning into some sort of animal is important to the story. Okay. But why am I saying that? I'm not telling the story. That's up to Lindsay. I'm going to shut up. Okay. But why am I saying that? I'm not telling the story. That's up to Lindsay. I'm going to shut up. Okay. My second prediction, it is a creation story, like, of the island. Of the island. And my third prediction is going to be that I want to do something totally different.

I want to predict that there is some sort of magical talisman. I guess that's still kind of based on. Heart of Tafiti. Yeah. I'm going to guess that that, that there is some sort of magical talisman that's important to the story. I will start off by saying there are multiple Maui stories and this is just one of them.

Okay. Yeah. So he's more like Baba Yaga in that sense i i did not look to see how many stories there were this is just one and it's the one that started when he was a baby so that's why i picked it okay nice oh i'm so excited let me start by saying i tried to look up pronunciations oh yeah um some of the names in here i guess is names in several languages and i'm not sure which pronunciation was the correct one. So my apologies to everybody.

I'm trying. I think as long as we try, we can be forgiven for mispronunciations. I'm not trying to butcher it, but I am a white girl from the United States. But you also don't speak any Polynesian languages. Exactly. I picked up a few words in Bora Bora, but that's it. And I don't even remember them. Damn, what do I want to do for my three?

Okay, well, you gave me the clue that Maui is a baby in this story already. And all I can picture now is scenes from Hercules, the Disney cartoon, where he's picking up really heavy stuff as a baby. Strong baby. I love that. I feel like you should make that prediction. I'm going to predict that Maui is a strong baby. All right.

That's cute. This story will cover see now i'm moving on to the incredibles uh mally will cause a lot of chaos as he crawls around a la jack jack strong chaos baby is my prediction. Here's Disney's next movie. Oh my gosh. I really, I want that so badly. Maui history movie.

Yes. Yes. I, if they could get like, I really, I would love a tie in sequel. That's just about Maui. Yes.

That would be super cool. I also have a giant crush on The Rock, so, like, literally, I'm here for it. Strong Chaos Baby, who, by the end of the story, has created a valley or something. Okay. Created a valley or something. Okay. Created a valley or something. All right.

I wrote those down. In his chaotic, chaotic crawling. I picture a little baby Maui with his curly locks. I know. That sounds really adorable. It does. I know. Love it.

These are just my hopes and my wishes and my dreams for the story. So, and I'm trying not to like, Anna has a very good poker face. Cause I know you've already heard the story. I'm trying so hard not to give away with my face. I'm just like plastered smile. Like all is good.

All right, Lindsay, take it away. All right. When he was a baby, Maui was lost on the seashore, but though lost, he was not harmed for the sea creatures to care of him. Little wavesed him to and fro jellyfish made a soft bed for him seaweeds floated above his limbs to shelter him beach winds pruned light cradle songs to lull him off to sleep that

is so cute I know that's our introduction for the movie I already want this movie like that's so cute oh my god i love the idea of sea creatures taking care of this little baby it does make me think of the start of moana when she's on the beach with the baby turtle yep yep he slept happily till hungry seabirds spied him in their cruel eyes and strong hooked beaks they gathered around him eager for a feast seaweeds tossed themselves above him as protection, but the birds would certainly have devoured him had not Kongi looked down from the sky and observed his danger. He called to the mountains, lift that child from the sea and hand him up to me. Mountains stooped, lifted Maui from his dangerous bed and held him high as they could reach. Kongi stretched down his arms, took the little baby, and lifted him into the sky.

Disappointed seabirds flew away, and the kindly jellyfish and seaweeds were at liberty once more to float about on their own important businesses. And, you know, I do kind of like that for them, because there is an element just kind of like, there's just this baby, we're taking care of it, we're not really going to do that, though. We have things to do. I'm an adult, I'm an enterprising adult small business jellyfish owner, and I, you know,

can't. Please take this baby. Please do, mountains. In the skyland, Maui lived with Rangi until he was 12 years old. Life was very different from that which he would have lived amongst his brothers on Earth. Sky foods and cloud beds, sky games and sky work made a most unusual boy of him.

Best of all, Rangi taught him magic. Through his magic lessons, Maui learned how to lift with ease a thing a hundred times as big as himself. How to stretch a few feet of any substance so far that the further end became invisible. How to make himself invisible, how to change himself into any bird or animal he wish. Is that a point for Kelsey? Do I still have a point for Kelsey? I believe you both have a point.

Strong and changes. He was 12. I'll take that. He's a child, maybe not an infant. Maybe not a baby. Anything under 21 is a baby. He's under 12. You know what, Anna?

I'm taking that. I am absolutely taking that. 100%. Strong baby. Absolutely. Rangi taught him also many new ways of making ropes and fish hooks, spears and axes, better ways than any Earthman knew. Now he looked down on Earth and saw his brothers at play. May I not go to them?

Yes, Rangi. With them is my real home. Go down if you wish, replied Rangi. I would not keep you here if you prefer a life on Earth, but promise first to teach your brothers the useful lessons I have taught you. Now he gladly promised. He said goodbye to Rangi and was gently lowered to the beach by his mother's house. There his brothers were playing.

So he was born from a mortal woman. Yes. And so these are all his actual brothers. He was just lost. But the sea took care of him. And the sea took care of him. Okay. Awesome.

That's awesome. Thank you. That is so cool. I love that a lot. This is very, this is a little bit, it's a little bit Hercules. The cartoon.

A little bit. All right. There were his brothers playing. He joined in their game game but they all stopped to stare at the strange boy who are you one of them asked i'm your brother he answered they would not believe him we have no brother they said they ran to the house and told their mother that a strange boy calling himself their brother had come to play with him she hurried out to question him oh my god i'm your little boy he said i was lost on the seashore and have lived with wrongy ever since his mother believed him and took him into the house she kissed him and told his brothers to be kind to him so now he lived at home he taught his brothers

the useful arts that wrongy had taught him and he kept them amused by his marvelous tricks at first they were jealous of their mother's love for her recovered son they were inclined to quarrel and be spiteful but he showed them his magic powers and so won their admiration he pulled a whale onto the beach using only one hand in the effort okay no i'm sorry that's rude that doesn't seem like a good magical also i want to say i do kind of love this uh i like this so far because in the moana story maui talks about how his parents didn't want him yes I did much prefer this yeah sweeter than him trying to gain human affection

because his parents hated him right I love this so much more of that like no his mother like his mother like probably do like dearly missed him and was super worried about him and then he actually comes back like that's insane but on the other hand his brothers are all like meg

you're here so we don't we can't win everything it's true there's gotta be something he taught them magic so they like that is that who wouldn't love that i don't love him pulling a poor whale up onto the beach though that's one hand with one that is impressive throws it back right is it catch and release whale i would hope so he changed himself into all the different birds one after another he made himself invisible followed by his strange powers his brothers seized their persecution when he was grown up he wandered around the village one night and put out all of the fires. This was a serious matter, for the secret of making fire had long been lost. For many

years, the fires had never been allowed to die out. Now they were gone, and nobody knew how to start another. In the morning, the people cried out in dismay. Naughty Mally. Right. Naughty little boy. I'm actually really upset, because I was going to predict that fire was going to be important.

And then I decided to go with the talisman thing because I was like, why fire? Something told you. Dang it. Should follow your instincts. Go with your gut. You should have. Look how well it worked out for me with my strong chaos baby.

Strong chaos baby. And he was Over the chances. In the morning, the people cried out in dismay. Some enemy has entered the hall and served us this ill turn, they lamented. How shall we warm ourselves and cook our food? This was the opportunity Maui had been seeking. See how helpless we are when

our fires go out, he said. What we need is the secret of making fire. The opportunity he'd been seeking slash created for himself created for himself because he is a girl boss boy boss go out there and create your own opportunities that's maui's philosophy i will go to the fire goddess for this secret. People exclaimed in horror at his daring. His mother begged him not to expose himself to such danger, but Maui would go. He went gaily through the dreary dark passages that led below the earth to the cave of the fire goddess.

That's cool. Hey, our fires on the earth are out. He said to her, I have come to you for help. Fire goddess pulled fire from one of her fingertips, lit a stick with it and gave the stick to Maui. He set off for home, but he was not satisfied.

This will start our fires, he thought, but it will not teach us how to kindle fire. It is not what we need. Coming to a pool of water, he purposely dropped the flaming stick in it. The fire went out. He carried the stick back to the fire goddess. See, he said, I dropped the stick in the water. Please give me another. I'm so clumsy.

Oh, no. What happened completely on accident? You're're just gonna have to teach me how to make it he didn't he said please give me another oh okay the fire goddess drew fire from her next fingertip lit another stick and handed it to maui still disappointed maui treated the second stick as he had treated the first nine times he came back and nine times the fire goddess usually paid unusually patient through fresh fire from a fingertip that the 10th request she woke up to the fact that maui was tricking her that he was in fact trying to take all of her fire from her in order to discover how she set to work to make new flame angry at his presumption she dashed the 10th fire on the ground wait a second uh-huh

this kid is beguiling me 10 times 10 times to get it um she's just a really good you know she's unusually patient maybe it's because of the chaos maybe energy yeah she really liked his chaos look I heard Rangig raised you man this kid is just really clumsy yeah why are there so many puddles around there's so many puddles around

angry at his presumption she dashed the tenth fire on the ground from where it fell a burst of fierce flames spring in a moment the whole place was ablaze maui fled the raging goddess after him which makes me think of take off running across the ocean yeah uh-huh wonder if that's where they got that idea could be yeah definitely definitely some similar imagery faster than the goddess came the fire it roared through the passage coming out to earth close behind him the surrounding forest caught and maui was soon wreathed in flames speed could not save him for the fire was ahead no he changed himself into a hawk and flew high

above the flames the air above the fire was unbearably hot looking down he saw a pool of water i'll call myself there he thought he dived into the pool but to his horror he found the water boiling with the heat of the fire. He rose hurriedly again into the air. As far as he could see, on every side, the land was on fire. Even the sea was boiling with the heat. But what to do, he could not think, nor how to save his mother's house and all the houses of the Pa. His own life, too, was in danger.

He felt he could not bear the heat much longer. Suddenly, he remembered Rongi. Suddenly, he remembered the guy who's raised him for 12 years. It's like, oh, yeah. You know who'd be good in this situation? Oh, yeah, I know the Skyfather. Yeah. He's my stepdad.

He cried to him for help. Send rain, he begged. Rongi heard the cry, saw Maui's danger, and sent rain at once. The fire was so great that the rain could not quench it so he gathered all the rain clouds and storms of the sky and sent down a deluge that made a flood that put the fire out higher and higher rose the flood till the fire goddess was thoroughly soaked and almost drowned she fled in terror to her cave all her fire was lost except for some sparks which she threw in the tops tops of the tallest trees now he was saved he went home and

related his adventures his people had been terror stricken at the sight of the great fire and the flood and were rejoiced to welcome him. But where is the fire you went to find? Asked his mother. It's in the tops of some trees, said Maui. He climbed the trees, broke off small dried branches. I definitely put it there on purpose. It was all part of the plan. Oh, it's up there where I always intended it to be. He climbed the trees, broke off small dried branches. He rubbed the branches upon one another until sparks flew out.

He caught the sparks and twigs and blew them into flames. He had found the secret of making fire. Ever since, his people have made the fires from branches of these trees. Ian. Awesome. That was amazing. That's really cool. That was so good. I really wish there was a movie about this.

Oh, yeah. Well, I think they do talk about, I mean, you know, like Maui has this whole song in Moana where it's like, you know, I brought the fire. He does say he pulled the fire up. Yeah.

So I'm sure it was a reference to the story. Oh my gosh. I love it. I want more stories from Maui. That was so enjoyable. Or at least a few. They need to make a prequel to Moana and it should just be called You're Welcome, the Maui story. Yes.

Oh my gosh. Disney, The Rock, hit us up. Hit us up. We've got all the ideas. Oh my gosh. Disney, the rock hit us up. Hit us up. We've got all the ideas. All the ideas. Specifically, specifically the rock hit all of us up. We would.

Yes. Please. That would be fine. Dwayne. Call me. Okay. So I counted a point for each. At least. I counted two. i counted two for abby since it was a strong and chaos baby he was a strong chaos yes he did do he did do chaos

he did not make anything he destroyed stuff instead um but i do i do love that sort of um similar theme i feel like it crops up in a lot of different mythologies around the world is the concept that you had just that you know we had to steal fire from the gods um that that the secret of fire had to be tricked out of the gods yeah seems to be a common theme all around the world. And I think that's really interesting. Yeah. Except Maui didn't get chained to a rock and have his liver eaten by Eagles

once a day. So you really got away with something there. Yeah. Or the Hawaiian gods aren't douchebags like Zeus. So yeah, probably anybody likes it slow. Yeah, exactly.

He's a special boy and we all hate him. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, that was amazing. Do you have a fix for the story at all? I feel like especially considering my knowledge prior was just Moana. I feel this is a much better story than being just discarded by the humans. Yeah, I can't't think the only fix i could think of is he never even tried to ask the fire goddess yeah just automatically just like oh

yeah nope so i know that she said that she i know that the story had said that she caught on that he was trying to figure it out or whatever but he never even directly asked yeah i think point i think her being angry had more to do with the fact that he was tricking her than what exactly 10 times it was on her 10th finger yeah if he was just like hey can you teach us fire maybe it wouldn't have gone that way yeah no i think that's a great fix for the story. Absolutely. I mean, at some point she had run out of patience. Yep. And then she lit the whole island on fire. Yeah. Anna, did you have a fix for the story?

Kind of agree with Lindsay on this one. If he could have just asked instead of being tricky. But outside of that um i really enjoyed it yeah i did too that was so much fun thank you for telling us that trickster stories are always are always so great about just like you're just mischievous so you get into trouble but then you find a way to save the day and get yourself back out of it again so you're still you're the hero even though you created all the problems to begin with he put out all the fires to begin with there would have been no problem but also uh humanity would not have been able to make fire if he uh wasn't kind of a mischievous boundary

pusher so go maui thank you for telling us that story, Lindsay. That was great. Well told. Yeah. Good job. Anna, what story are you telling us? I stumbled across a TikTok. TikTok is where everything comes from. It's the font of all knowledge these days.

And it said something loosely along the lines of, did you know the corpse bride was inspired by a fairy tale? And I said, loosely along the lines of, did you know the Corpse Bride was inspired by a fairy tale? And I said, I'm listening. And it was inspired by the fairy tale called The Finger. And it's of Jewish and Russian folklore. Okay. I guess there's multiple versions. The one that I'm going to be telling is from Howard Schultz.

The book is Lilith's Cave, Jewish Tales of the Supernatural. Now, I did not get my hands on an out-of-production book, unfortunately. But I did find a website that had the story told. So if it's not exact as it is in the book, I apologize. This is the best I could find. But it really intrigued me. So before I get started, does anybody have any predictions about the finger? I'll go first this time since Kelsey had to go last time. Oh man, I am very excited. I am doing my level best to recall anything about The Corpse Bride. I think I only watched it once.

the main protagonist will be a uh simple village lad the corpse bride is someone that he knows oh okay and he will and he will die by the end of the story that is that is what I predict. All right. Miss Kelsey, any predictions? Okay. I am going to predict that the finger is disembodied. Yes. That's awesome. Oh, man. I forgot it was even called the finger. I went completely in the corpse bride direction with that. I forgot there were bones or fingers involved. I'm so excited to find out why it's called the finger. with that I forgot there were like bones or fingers involved. I just I'm so excited to find out why it's called The Finger. Yeah, I haven't seen The Corpse Bride in a while either.

You know what? I'm going to predict that the protagonist is murdered. Ooh. It has nothing to do with the bride. The protagonist is murdered. I like it. or attempted murdered maybe not murdered but attempted at least may may be murdered check yeah and then my last prediction oh oh i know what i want to predict and this is weird but i feel like this is in almost every

russian folk tale that i've read i want to predict that i want to predict that somebody says there's a russian smell okay because that happens in like every story somebody says i smell I smell a Russian smell. It's like, what is that? Yeah. So that's what I would like to predict. Perfect. Do you have any predictions, Lindsay? I guess going Corpse Bride route, I predict that they do somehow get married. Okay.

Oh, I love that. All right. Let's see who gets some points. Once upon a time, there was a young man who lived in a village in Russia, and he was to be married. He and his friend prepared to go to the village where his bride-to-be lived. It was a two-day walk from his own village. The first night, the two friends decided to set up camp by the river. The young man who was going to be married spotted an unusual- looking stick in the ground that looked like a bony finger.

Oh, God. He and his friends started joking about the bony finger sticking out of the ground. And the young man who was to be married took the golden ring out from his pocket and put it on the strange looking stick. Why would you do that? That's kind of a nice thing to do. Of course. And then he started to do the wedding dance around the stick. He danced around with the golden ring three times and sang the Jewish wedding song and recited the entire marriage sacrament as he danced around the stick.

And he and his friend laughed the whole time. Okay, but why? Don't do that! Never do a binding spiritual ceremony around a finger. I feel like they left out they may have been drunk in this, but that's just my own...

I feel like that's important. It's my own feelings. It's not in the story. They have vodka with them that they have been liberally enjoying. What if I married the stick? What if I did the full wedding ceremony? That's the first thing they decided to do. Their fun suddenly stopped when the earth started to rumble and shake beneath their feet i love this so much the stick had been had opened up and a very bedridden looking corpse

emerged she had been a bride but was now barely more than skeleton held together by shreds of skin still wearing an old torn white silk wedding dress worms and spiders webs hung on the once beaded bodice and tattered veil the two men were aghast she said you have done the wedding dance and pronounced the marriage vows you have put the ring on my finger now we are man and wife i demand your rights as your bride yes i love i love her she's not having anything go astray this time she's like it's happening it's like i you did the dance i have the ring it's happening dress it's binding and i'm already dead so you can't murder me shuddering with tear at the corpse bride's words, the two men fled to the village where the young bride was waiting to be married. They went straight to the rabbi. Rabbi, the young

men breathlessly asked, I have a very important question to ask you. If by some chance you were walking in the woods and happened to see a stick that looked like a long bony finger coming out of the ground and you happen to put a golden ring on the finger and do the wedding dance and pronounce the vows is it indeed a real marriage is that is that binding rabbi i did something stupid i did something stupid how stupid you might ask let me tell you the rabbi puzzled, said, do you know of such a situation? Why would anyone do that ever? It says, oh, no, no, of course not.

Just a hypothetical question. Stroking his long beard thoughtfully, rabbi said let me think about it and then a big gust of wind blew the door open and walked in the corpse bride i lay claim to this man as my husband for he has placed the wing the ring on my finger and pronounced the solemn marriage vows she demanded her bony finger rattling as she shook it intending at the, her bridegroom. Uh, I think she's absolutely in the right here. He did this to himself. Oh, look,

it's the consequences of his actions. Right. This is indeed a very serious matter. I'll have to consult with other rabbis said the rabbi. Soon, all the rabbis from the surrounding village were gathered. They went into conference while the two men anxiously awaited their decision. All the rabbis.

All the rabbis. I love this so much. The corpse bride waited on the porch, tapping her foot, declaring, I want to celebrate my wedding night with my husband. Oh, yeah. I like that. She's chilling. chilling i do she takes what she wants she's got it all figured out she really does these chilling's words made every hair on the young man's body stand on end

though it was a warm summer's day yeah that makes sense yeah she is dead while the rabbis were conferencing the real human bride arrived and wanted to know what all the fuss was about when her fiance explained just what happened she started weeping oh my life is ruined all my hopes and dreams are shattered i'll never be married never have a family just then the rabbis came out and asked did you indeed put a gold ring on the finger and did you dance around three times and did you indeed pronounce your wedding vows in their entirety the two young men who by this time were cowering in the far corner, nodded their heads, looking very serious. The rabbis went back in conference again. Like, okay.

This really happened. I want to hear the conversation. Like, so I accidentally married this corpse. So here's the thing. There was a stick, right? Right? And it was funny. But like, oops.

Yeah. The poor human bride. I know i know honestly maybe dodged a bullet he doesn't seem like the brightest um he seems like he gets drunk and does really stupid things so maybe it sounds like it was some bachelor party shenanigans. I mean, that's true. It seemed like a tame party. It was not. So they went back to conference and the bride, the young bride wept bitter tears while the corpse bride was now gloating at the prospect of her long awaited wedding night. Oh, my God.

So good. That's so good. night. Oh my gosh. So good. That's so good. After a short while, the rabbi solemnly marched out, took their seats and announced, since you put the wedding ring on the finger of the corpse bride and you danced around it three times reciting the wedding vows, we have determined that this is a proper wedding ceremony. So we have decided that the dead have no claim upon the living. So the dead have no claim upon the living, but yet it is a proper ceremony. Okay. So that's the question they were weighing? Yeah. They were trying to figure it out. Slight murmurings could be heard from all

corners and the young bride was especially relieved. The corpse bride, however, howled, oh, there goes my last chance for life. I'll never have my dreams fulfilled. It's forever lost. She collapsed on the floor. It was a pathetic sight. A heap of bones and a tattered wedding gown lying there, lifeless. Overcome with compassion for the corpse bride, the young bride knelt down and gathered up that old heap of bones carefully against shredded silk finery and held her close,

half saying, half murmured as if cradling an infant. Don't worry. I'll live your dreams for you. I'll live your hopes for you. I'll live. I'll have children for you. I'll have enough children for the two of us.

And you can rest in peace knowing that our children and our children's children will be well cared for and will not forget us tenderly she closed the eyes of the corpse bride tenderly she held her in her arms and slowly and with measured steps marched down to the river with her frail body took her down by the river where she dug a shallow grave and laid her in it and crossed the bony arms over the bony chest one hand clasping with one hand the ring on it and folded the wedding gown around her she whispered may you rest in peace i will live your dreams for you do not worry we will not forget you oh okay i did not expect to like get choked i know i've heard I've read it three times. It's so sweet.

It is. For a Russian fairy tale, it's not as dark as I expected. No, that is so kind. I am also tearing up a little bit over here. I've read it several times and it still affects me. I thought I could pull through. I'm not doing a very good job. So she buried her gently.

The corpse bride looked happy and at peace in her new grave, as if somehow she knew she would be fulfilled throughout this young bride. And the young bride covered her up slowly. The corpse covered up the tattered wedding gown in the shallow grave, covered it all up with the earth, and put wildflowers all over the grave and stones around it. The young bride went back to her fiancé, and they were married in a very solemn wedding ceremony. Are you sure you still want him?

Right. I mean, she did make a promise to a dead lady. She has to fulfill it somehow. She has to marry someone. Someone. They lived many happy years together, and all their grandchildren and grandchildren and great grandchildren were told the story of the corpse bride and so she was not forgotten nor was the wisdom and compassion she taught them had been forgotten either the end oh my gosh wow i did not

expect that that went from like kind of a horror story to just like the most beautiful heartfelt. It was touching. So touching. I was not expecting that even a little. And listen, if this is not the way it reads in the book, I'm okay with this story being what it is. Oh, yeah. I couldn't get my hands on an out of production book, but what I found on the internet did please me quite well. So let's see.

Abby gets a point because he was a villager. He was indeed a simple village lad because he did not make good decisions. Yeah. I did not get any points at all. No points. Lindsay did not get a point because he did not fully marry the corpse bride. So one point to be held. Does anyone

have any fixes? Champion! I want to know how the corpse bride died and why she was just lying in a shallow grave in the woods with her fingers sticking out in a wedding dress. I'm so curious.

I want to know what happened to her. Other than that, no, that was perfect. That was beautiful. They didn't have one thing. Why did they rebury her in another shallow grave? Well, probably because he was so drunk he couldn't find where he found her to begin with. That's just my guess. I feel like maybe bury her in a place where this can't happen again yeah yeah or like in the family grave or cemetery

family plot you know it's just so touching my fix is weird i hope that the ghost of the corpse bride visits everyone once a year and tells them magical stories i Oh, I love that. Like she gets to come visit and see all the people on their wedding anniversary. Because all three of us are in a weird relationship together. You promised. She told

the young bride, told the corpse bride all these sweet sweet things and it's just like i don't know if it was like sentiment that was meant or if it was just a way to appease her to get her to go away yeah that's true i'd like to think she was being sincere me too i do too it was so touching like it was dark in the beginning as soon as you said as soon as she said our children i got like my heart just like oh oh my gosh yeah it's almost like even she the bride didn't expect it because at first she's like crying like my life is over this lady's ruined this and then she collapses on the ground she's like oh wait wait i love that it kind of that it also ended as a story of um about about compassion and about taking and about taking

care of other people and and um remembering those who have passed yeah i i really like that that's where it ended even though it kind of started in like kind of like a dark gross funny place and then there was sort of like some, some jealousy issues around the middle. And then, and then, and then it ended in like such a, such a beautiful.

Oh, I have another fix. They would include somewhere in the story that he was drunk because you'd have to be. Yeah. I mean, I would not be surprised if there were, if there was a version or two out there that did explicitly mentioned that this dude was drunk. I mean, I would not be surprised if there were a version or two out there that did explicitly mention that this dude was drunk.

What are you doing? Putting your ring on a stick? That's not a funny joke unless you're drunk. Is that what happens in the Disney's version? Is that a Disney movie? He trips and he drops the ring and I think it falls on the stick at first. And then he's like, oh, because he's like practicing the wedding vows in the movie. And he trips and it falls onto what he thought was a stick.

And when he went to pick it up, he picks up a hand like a whole person raises with it. But that's been a minute since I've seen the Corpse Bride. Yeah, it looks like it is on hbo max i'm gonna watch that tonight because i haven't seen that i haven't seen it in so long well and i'd like to see how tim burton twists and turns it you know yeah now that we know the actual story yeah oh i love that so much that was amazing thank you for telling us that story thank you tiktok for telling me it even existed and this episode is dedicated to tiktok the best app ever there's more than just dancing we swear yeah i uh learn everything i know from tiktok now so yeah yeah seriously oh my gosh thank you anna and lindsay again so much for joining us that was so much fun we loved having you on um

tell everyone again how they can find ghosts in the attic bodies in the basement thank you so much for having us first of all and it was a dream come true for me, but I don't know if it was for anyone else. Like to be on this podcast means so much to me because I've listened to you guys on loop so many times. It's kind of ridiculous. at GABB podcast, or you could email us at GABB podcast at gmail.com. And we're on everywhere. You can listen to podcasts anywhere and everywhere. Thank you guys so much for having us on. This has been awesome.

Yeah. You've been, you two have been such a treat to have on and we're super excited to, you know, have an exchange and come on your podcast. Absolutely. In the near future. I think like I'm, We're super excited to, you know, have an exchange and come on your podcast. Absolutely. In the near future. I think like I'm so happy that we actually connected and we're getting to know each other. And we've got a lot of fun collaborations going on.

Yes. It's super fun. And I mean, we made pod friends. Yay. Yay. Yay. Definitely the best part of having been of having been doing this at all is getting to meet new people who were just like the same stuff it's so hard to make friends as an adult that i feel like

i had to resort to podcasting to find other adults who like the things i like i feel that deeply yes all right well thank you so much for having us well thank you so much for listening to fairy tale fix if you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave us a review on apple or stitcher and of course make sure to check out our good friends at ghosts in the attic bodies in the basement if you love the show and want to support us you can get extra episodes merch books and other bonus content at our patreon by signing up at fairytalefix.cash. And you can find us on Twitter and Instagram at fairytalefixpod. And please make sure to email us your favorite fairy tales, folklore, nursery rhymes, and other such things at info at

fairytalefixpod.com. I would say definitely stand by that Maui needs to just ask next time. I would say definitely stand by that Maui needs to just ask next time. Yeah, perfect. And I think the ghost of the corpse bride should get to come back and visit everyone on the anniversary of the wedding every year and see how they've all turned out. And they all lived happily ever after. The end.