For today's Lang Fairy Tales episode we have a tale with its very own ATU number - The Master Thief!
First recorded, to our knowledge, by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. the story became popular in Europe due to a single writer in the Italian Renaissance who popularised the "Rise Tale" - the story of someone from a more modest background outwitting the rich to become rich themselves.
In this case, with the Langs taking their version from Asbjørnsen and Moe, we have a youngest son who is a trickster, cross-dresser, huntsman, passable fake corpse, and torturer of priests.
Is he a hero? Perhaps not - but is that perhaps the point, with European society being so unfairly organised that only the deceitful can succeed within it?
Naturally we have a chat about all that, and about the story's clear roots in commedia dell'arte, at the end.
If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.
Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.
They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.
Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).
Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.
Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.
The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.
Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?
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