380: British Legends: I Loathe that for You

This week on Myths and Legends.

It's the story of the Lady Worm, a dragon from the north of England, and how to avoid being eaten by dragons in the north of England.

Try to kiss them on the lips.

The creature this time is a little-known Polish water monster who might just propel your next work to international success.

This is Myths and Legends, episode 380.

I loathe that for you.

This is a podcast where we tell stories from mythology and folklore.

Some are incredibly popular stories you might think you know but with surprising origins.

Others are tales that might be new to you but are definitely worth a listen.

This week's episode is a fairly famous story that takes place, like I said, in the north of England.

It's the story of the Lady Worm.

Ladyly being something of an archaic word, meaning ugly or loathsome.

That's all we're going to talk about for right now, though, and instead jump right in and not Northumberland, but somewhere in continental Europe, where a prince with a massive fortune has gone to seek his fortune.

A dragon.

A dragon in his father's kingdom.

His kingdom.

The miller laughed at the tavern.

Laughed about people being eaten alive.

They were just stories, he said, when Wind grabbed him by the collar and demanded more.

They were just stories.

There couldn't be a dragon.

Not really.

But the details of the stories were too sharp.

Bamborough Castle, the names of the deceased.

Wind knew these men, these women, these children.

It was too specific for across the sea.

The man with the fat lip, rubbing his busted eye, said it was just the king, trying to make up a curse for the land, so that no one would ask questions about that daughter of his.

Wine grew serious, or more serious than you'd have to be to slam a man's head down onto a bar.

What was he talking about?

What

happened to May Margaret?

The patron, not wanting any more contusions, said he knew her name?

Well, well, he didn't know any more than what he'd heard from the merchants, but the princess, May, he said.

May was the first one eaten by the dragon.

The princess must have been communing with the devil himself, because even though the dragon raged through the castle, it emerged from her room.

The dragon killed 12 people, servants and nobles alike, before they managed to force it outside, pushing it out to the small castle town, which was a bit of an oversight because it ravaged the markets and the streets.

The merchants who shared the tale not a fortnight prior, they were one of the last ones to make it out of the nearby port.

Wynne dropped a few quid for the man's medical bills, he used it on drink, and rode for the first port he found.

There were no ships willing to go to Northumberland, at least to Bemborough, with a dragon guarding the coast.

He could keep traveling, but if the story had made it this far, it would be weeks before he could find a passage.

No, better to commission a ship.

Yeah, I guess when you leave to seek your fortune like Wine had, it helped to already have one.

Wine's childhood was blessed.

He was the top 1% of the top 1%.

Yes, he was the first son of a well-to-do king, but more than anything, his parents adored him and his sister May.

And he and May Margaret loved each other.

The siblings had a wonderful childhood, but like all things, it ended.

Wine remembered the day that his childhood ended, when his mother died.

His father, once jovial and carefree, retreated into himself.

He became obsessed with legacy and strength and declared that his son, who he never permitted to leave or journey in the town without at least two guards, knew nothing of the world and its dangers.

If he was to take over the kingdom, he was to find his own fortune.

He apparently brought a fortune with him to find his fortune because he used the gold that he took out of the kingdom only for emergencies to build a ship.

And now the kingdom was in disarray.

He had to go home and he had to save his people.

Nah, we're good.

The king shrugged.

Wind paced the stone, the cool morning air whipping up the furs of his cloak.

Good, but a dragon ravaged the castle.

It destroyed the town and port.

It killed May Margaret.

They weren't they weren't good.

The king sighed.

Yes.

Yes, May was a tragedy.

They all were, but the warlock assured them that if they delivered the milk, then they would be good.

The the

mind blinked.

Um, okay, he needed a little background here.

After they lost the first the king looked to his new wife.

Half dozen warriors?

Three dozen, she corrected.

Three dozen.

Wow.

The king shook his head.

Well, after after the first three dozen, they sent a few guys out to the warlock's cave.

You know, the warlock that lives in the caves and the cl Yes, I know about the warlock who lives in the caves.

What did he say?

Wind interrupted.

He said that if they gave the ladyly worm, that's as we've taken to calling it, if we gave the ladyly worm every drop of milk from seven white milk cows every day and every night in the trough of stone at the floor of Spindlestone Hew, then the dragon would stop eating people.

And it did.

So what's the next step?

Where's the army we have doing a training montage to take this thing down?

Wind instinctively held his own sword.

You sound like her, the king laughed.

No, no, no.

The plan was to

stick to the plan.

Stay the course.

All it took was a bunch of milk, and no one had to die.

Not even a lottery of young women to be eaten daily or monthly.

Seriously, as far as dragons go, they got off easy.

This was a good deal.

Wine said, yeah, that brought up another thing.

He pointed to her.

Who was her she?

This is your new mom, the king grinned, putting his arm around the middle-aged woman to his left.

I would really rather you didn't call me that, the queen said.

She was the young man's stepmother.

The king nodded, Yes, yes, he said.

I mourned my late wife long and faithfully, as the story assures us, and I never thought I'd love again.

Then the woods, the king laughed.

The

woods.

Wind narrowed his eyes.

The king said, Yep, the forest, a particularly dark part of the forest.

He was out hunting, but a giant hind had pulled him away from his guards and everyone who could talk him out of stuff.

You know the type, the father said.

The big, otherworldly looking things.

Anyway, it got away, but it was the king's heart that was pierced.

By love.

Love for her.

They married the following week.

Wind sat with his dad and stepmother, and it was strange.

The stepmother seemed to be the only one mourning May Margaret, Wine's sister.

In fact, whenever Wind brought her up, the king seemed detached, like he had read about the princess dying from some overseas dispatch from a faraway land.

It was sad, to be sure, but he was so far removed from the tragedy and it was stripped down to its bare facts and nothing more.

It wasn't as if he had lost a daughter.

It was later, after his father had gone to bed, that the stepmother turned to Wind.

Your father is wrong about the dragon, she said.

Wind grew serious.

Who was she to question his father's orders or will?

But yeah, no, she was right.

It was a bad course of action.

Feeding a dragon, it's it's appeasement.

You make it stronger at your own expense until it's ready to turn and consume you.

The queen took a drink of wine.

But the king wouldn't listen to reason.

He nearly died in the attack, the queen revealed.

The dragon came mere feet from him before pausing, snorting, and turning down a stairwell.

No one knows why the dragon didn't kill the king, but Wine's father was nearly catatonic after.

After the dragon wrapped itself around Spindlestone Hugh and the warlock made the proclamation, the king declared that no one else would die.

They would give the dragon all it demanded.

So no one can march or sail north, under pain of death, the queen shrugged.

That wasn't exactly a hard sell for the warriors.

And for now, while the ships remained stuck at port, and people watched the roads north, there was nothing anyone could do.

Wine sat up at the table.

No, no, no, no.

He had his own ship, made from Rowanwood.

He had his own men under his command.

Wine would sail north and fight the dragon on his own.

The queen nodded.

Okay, yeah, that could actually work, but it was still really dangerous.

She barely knew him, but she not only didn't want his dad to suffer the pain of losing another child, but if it did happen, she didn't want to be implicated.

Wind laughed.

Well, that was simple.

He just wouldn't die.

He was a prince, anyway.

That's what all the old stories were always saying, right?

Princes killed dragons.

The queen had to admit, yes.

Okay.

Yes, they did.

We'll see the trip to kill the dragon, but that will be right after this.

We all have days when just thinking about cooking is a no-go.

Or the grocery store, just no.

Not when you're really busy or when you're tired.

And even though school is right around the corner, that's no scheduling walk in the park either.

What with sports practice and playing taxi driver, homework, and we still want to have relaxing downtime.

The dinner solution is Home Chef.

Yeah, this is our secret weapon that's taking the stress out of dinner time, especially Home Chef's family menu with its variety and tons of convenient options.

We're actually able to enjoy family time together.

Instead of rushing through the evening after work and school, I mean, who knew?

With Home Chef, we can enjoy delicious, chef-prepared, oven-ready, and express meals for the whole family.

Plus, they roll out 18 fresh options every week from boneless pork chops and salmon to classics like taco kits and pizza night.

Yesterday, we made tortilla crusted chicken with the chili cheese sauce and green beans.

It was amazing.

On a weeknight, no doubt.

Clean plates all around.

Home Chef helps us enjoy homemade feasts that even the pickiest eaters will approve.

For a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 18 free meals.

Go to homechef.com/slash legends fam.

That's homechef.com/slash legendsfam for 18 free meals.

Homechef.com/slash legends fam.

So, what do this animal

and this animal

and this animal

have in common?

They all live on an organic valley farm.

Organic Valley dairy comes from small organic family farms that protect the land and the plants and animals that live on it from toxic pesticides, which leads to a thriving ecosystem and delicious, nutritious milk and cheese.

Learn more at OV.co-op and taste the difference.

Don't miss the EV lease incentive ending soon.

And now, well-qualified current FCA lessees get an ultra-low mileage lease on the 2025 Cheap Wrangler Sport S4xE for $189 a month for 24 months with $3,079 due at signing.

Tax, title, license extra.

No security deposit required.

Call 1-888-925-JEAP for details.

Requires dealer contribution and lease through Stellantis Financial.

Extra charge for miles over $10,000.

Current vehicle must be registered to consumer 30 days prior to lease.

Includes 7,500 EV cap cost reduction.

Not all customers will qualify.

Residency restrictions apply.

Take delivery by 9:30.

Jeep is a registered trademark.

The first time a dragon tries to sink your ship, I don't care how brave you are.

That's an experience.

It had been a tough trip up the coast, even before the dragon.

Storms the likes of which he had never seen hit him, and after that, nothing.

The wind died on his sails, and they had to row until finally they spotted Spindlestone Hugh.

They had hoped to land just after the dragon's morning milk, when it would be the most docile.

They didn't actually get there until mid-afternoon, when the dragon was at its hungriest.

You have to imagine a dragon is used to people approaching, at least to provide the milk.

But this time it seemed to know.

It seemed to know that the prince was there to kill it.

At least when the dragon's eyes snapped open, its gaze found them, and it slid off the rock, its scales rubbing on the stone as it dropped off into the water.

That's what the prince deduced.

The boat rocked hard the first time, and Wynd held on.

The warriors rushing up from below telling him what he could guess that they had been hit, they were taking on water.

Another hit, another crack.

If a dragon could truly want anything, it would want them to retreat, to move into deeper water where there was no hope of getting to shore, where, once the ship was gone, it could pick them off at its leisure.

No, he told his men to drop their arrows and harpoons, row as fast as they could for shore.

His men dropped their weapons and obeyed.

When Wind splashed in the shoals, he knew that the easy part, surviving a dragon attack at sea and getting all the people in his charge to safety, was over.

Running from the growing ridge of water behind him, Wind knew that the hard part, the fight with the dragon, was just beginning.

The fight with the dragon was over, if it could even be called that.

The dragon scrambled up through the waves and barreled Wind over, who fumbled for his sore before getting on his feet and running for dry land.

When Feet found stone, he began questioning his Prince V dragon Prince Always Wins logic.

But as the dragon's feet flung stones in every direction and the creature reared up, raising its claws, as Wind was about to plunge his knife between the thing's scales and hope for the best, best, it faltered.

It twitched and fell on its back, and it didn't just roll over, but seemed to be presenting its neck for Wind's sword.

Wind, not wasting a moment, raised the blade, but but hesitated before he lowered it because softly, on the wind, he thought he heard a voice.

Oh, quit thy sword, unbend thy bow, and give me kisses three, for though I seem a lady worm, no harm I'll do to thee.

He didn't quit the sword, not yet, but that voice continued, Oh, quit thy sword, unbend thy bow, my ladyly form forget, forgive the wrong and kiss me thrice, for love of May Margaret.

It was the voice of his sister, May Margaret.

But kiss

a dragon, that

felt like a trap.

Even from a hygiene perspective, this was iffy.

I was always told growing up that reptiles can give you salmonella, and a quick search shows that salmonella is actually part of their healthy gut microbiota, so it is possible to get salmonella from them.

Especially if you kiss them on the mouth at the prompting of your dead sister's voice.

Really though, salmonella is probably the least of your concerns, and Wind knew this as, bending down, He found the mouth of the dragon and kissed not once, but thrice, just as the voice of the ghost girl asked.

He did it for her, for May Margaret, his sister.

Wind was gone.

Father was different.

Everything.

was different.

May Margaret asked the servant about the laundry and the place settings for the night, if the silver was ready.

The woman's eyes searched the stones and the waves and found every spot in the room and on the horizon that wasn't May Margaret's gaze.

At the hesitation, May Margaret sighed.

That's right.

Fine then, do whatever she said.

The witch, Margaret hissed under her breath when the young woman shuffled away, face parallel with the floor.

Wind would have laughed about that, but he wouldn't have understood what it felt to have it all and then have it all taken away.

Well, her brother was the sole male heir.

He always had it all.

He just never realized it.

After her mother died, but before the witch arrived, May Margaret found herself

in charge.

At first, it was an imposition.

With her forlorn father, and her brother who always had everything done for him and thus never thought about the complicated apparatus that supported their whole endeavor, she was the only one left in the royal family who cared enough to give the orders.

So she gave the orders.

And it was intoxicating.

A command shot from her mouth and instead of checking with May's mother, the queen, the servants competed to complete it.

It wasn't about being in charge, though.

It was about running the kingdom in the best way possible, her way.

Then the witch of the woods.

She wasn't really a witch, as far as May Margaret knew, but it was her little inside joke, a very inside joke because it was inside her head only, seeing as she had absolutely no one in which to confide.

It wasn't too long until her father was to be married.

The woman queen, and May Margaret, well, just a princess again.

And she realized that being a princess was way more than most other young women got in this world.

But for a brief few months, she was in control of her own life again.

The witch was only a witch in how quickly and completely she took over running the household.

And then, once again, only in May's mind.

She was actually polite to indifferent regarding May Margaret.

And she did help the king realize one thing.

May Margaret had to go.

Go, get married.

It wasn't even a bad thing.

In the time since his first wife died, May Margaret had passed into marriageable age.

He hadn't noticed it for equal parts her always being his little girl, and him dealing with his own stuff consuming his thoughts and life, but now it was time for her to move on and find a husband, and to manage a household of her own.

And things went well.

They called in various young lords to meet with the princess, and each found her charming, wonderful, and beautiful.

May Margaret was enchanted.

This was the best time of her life.

She peeked from the door as the lord from Scotland, the man who would be her pick, seemed to sing, quote, Forsooth, May Margaret's grace surpasses all that we have met.

She has so fair a face.

So struck by the comment, May turned and danced away before she could see her stepmother's reaction.

Surpasses all we have met?

The queen turned the phrase over in her mind as she lay awake at night next to the king gently snoring beside her.

Surpasses all we have met.

He said that.

Right in front of her, having met her, the queen, who won the king over without name or blood in the woods.

This was no good.

No good at all.

The princess, May Margaret, an appropriate age match for the young man, was described as having grace and beauty that surpassed hers.

The man who had come seeking to marry May Margaret complimented her instead of the queen, the woman married to the sovereign.

This had to be answered.

This tall poppy had to be cut down.

When you think about tall poppy syndrome, you think about equals cutting down each other when someone pulls ahead, not a parental figure cutting down their own child when someone gives a fairly boilerplate compliment because they're there to marry the adult child.

No, something had to be done about this.

Whispering a few words, the queen both rose and stayed in bed.

Well, more accurately, she rose and a visage stayed in bed.

She had given the king a potion to knock him out until morning, but the image was for any servant who happened upon the room.

Oh, and yeah.

Turned out May Margaret's nickname for her was both figurative and literal because the queen was actually a witch.

And if no one had ever said anything about her stepdaughter being beautiful in a completely appropriate context while equally appropriately not hitting on the king's wife, they could have all lived happily ever after.

But this non-existent slight could not go unanswered.

The queen said another word, and the darkened bedroom slowly illuminated with the moonlit crags and jagged rocks.

The waves on the rocks replaced the king's snoring, and lowering her hands, the candles on the tables hissed to life.

Three figures took form behind her, her sisters, the witch wives, as the story calls them.

Now, these aren't married friends of the witch, who were also witches themselves, despite that feeling like the most obvious definition based on the title.

No, these were spirit helpers for the witch.

Their eyes glowed in the recesses of the cave.

They received their summons, and the components for the spell were ready.

Good, good.

The queen rubbed her hands together in the cave.

In the candlelight, she seemed to glow like a demon, as, with charms three times three, and passes nine times nine, She uttered the spell, I weard ye to a lady worm, and such sal ye ever be, Until Child Wine, the king's dear son, Comes home across the sea.

Until the world comes to an end, and spelled ye'll never be, Unless Child Wine, of his own free will, Sell give you kisses three.

And I I guess she said that about 81 times, according to the story.

And then it was finished.

There was a cough from the witch wives.

Okay, just say it, the witch said.

We don't have all night.

I just said the same chant 81 times, and I'm fairly certain I mixed up shall and sale, so thanks to whoever prepared the notes on that one.

The witch wives said, um, speaking of the notes, why

give her an out?

The whole kissing her brother thing, it's gross, sure, but are we sure that's what we're going for?

Gross and not, you know, airtight?

Oh, would you like to be the witch now?

The queen crossed her arms.

Oh, yeah, no, I would love to have a corporeal form and not be a spirit enslaved to help out a witch 100%,

the witch wife said.

But I'm just saying, what if the spell

didn't have downsides?

Like it just, it just worked without a catch.

Wouldn't that be nice?

The queen shook her head.

No, I mean it would just be an effective spell, like why put a fatal flaw in it at all?

The witch wife might not be an expert, but this didn't seem to fall in the expert category of things, but in the kind of obvious if you think about it category of things.

Just, you know, put some bars or a grade on that Death Star exhaust port.

The Queen waved her hands and the trio disappeared from view.

She was tired of their back talk and thoughtful critique.

She had to get home.

Her head hit the pillow for a few moments before the screams went up.

The king snapped awake.

What was that?

We'll see what happens to the dragon and the witch and the prince with the unorthodox way of fighting the dragon, but that will, once again, be right after this.

So what do this animal

and this animal

and this animal

have in common?

They all live on an organic valley farm.

Organic valley dairy comes from small organic family farms that protect the land and the plants and animals that live on it from toxic pesticides, which leads to a thriving ecosystem and delicious, nutritious milk and cheese.

Learn more at OV.coop and taste the difference.

I was sipping my latte when my friend gasped.

Her phone had just alerted her to a data breach.

Again, that's when I told her about CAPE.

It's not just another app, it's a mobile carrier built to protect your privacy.

No name, no address, no data collected.

Cape offers premium nationwide service for $99 a month.

First month, just $30.

Use code CAPE33 and get 33% off your first six months.

She signed up that afternoon.

And now, no more gasps.

Go to Cape.co.

Privacy starts at the source.

Today, we're exploring deep in the North American wilderness among nature's wildest plants, animals, and

cows.

Uh, you're actually on an Organic Valley dairy farm where nutritious, delicious organic food gets its start.

But there's so much nature.

Exactly.

Organic Valley small family farms protect the land and the plants and animals that call it home.

Extraordinary.

Sure is.

Organic Valley, protecting where your food comes from.

Learn more about their delicious dairy at ov.coop.

It's 2025, a new year, and the perfect time to turn your business dreams into reality.

Maybe you've been tossing around a great idea, but haven't acted yet.

Well, Shopify is how you're going to make it happen.

Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business, and make your first sale.

With thousands of customizable templates, you don't need coding or design skills.

Just drag, drop, and go.

Plus, Shopify's social media tools help you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts so you can sell everywhere your customers scroll.

Managing your business is easy too.

From shipping to taxes to payments, Shopify handles the details on a single dashboard, letting you focus on what really matters: growing your business.

Established in 2025, it has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com/slash DAX.

All lowercase.

Go to shopify.com/slash DAX to start selling with Shopify today.

Shopify.com/slash Dax.

So, um, this is new.

I'm a prince.

I'm supposed to be killing dragons, not kissing them.

He chuckled, but his humor belied his awkwardness.

Like, like on the lips?

Do Do dragons even have lips?

They don't, by the way.

The dragon wasn't saying anything.

It was a a dragon.

Wind took a deep breath.

Okay.

Three kisses for a dragon.

Let's do this.

He held the dragon's head in one hand and her scaly neck in the other in an embrace.

He wasn't trying to make it romantic.

It just sort of happened.

Alright.

He found those little scaly lips and met them with his own.

He wished he didn't accidentally lick his lips after.

It was bitter, bitter aftertaste, and also current taste.

He had to close off his nostrils for a a second go because the dragon had some pretty powerful milk breath.

The third time, though, was probably the most shocking.

When he opened his eyes, because you close your eyes when you're kissing a dragon, no need to make things more awkward than they already are.

When he opened his eyes, he was lip to lip with May Margaret, his sister.

He recoiled and dropped her hard on the stones.

Apologizing, he helped her up and wait, she was alive?

He took her into his arms, and they wept for joy.

She had been lost, lost in a haze for months.

She watched all those people die.

She killed.

No, you didn't kill anyone.

It was the dragon.

You're better now.

Wind stopped her.

No, you release a dragon in a castle, and that's what will happen.

They needed to find the person who released the dragon in the castle.

Wind put his mantle around his shivering sister and carried her back to the beached ship.

Is she here?

Wind asked of his father.

His dad said yes, but what did his son have in mind?

He didn't like that look in his son's eye.

So you figured it out, they all heard when they saw the queen standing before the throne, flanked by her witch wives and the other evil imps she called on their day off.

What's this?

The king reeled.

His wife?

A witch?

The queen laughed.

Yes.

And they would have been fine if the princess wasn't seen as more physically attractive than the queen by the princess's own suitors.

Wait, what?

Is that what this is about?

Really?

She knew that if they hit on the queen, that would, like, basically be a death sentence.

And those guys were there explicitly to try to marry the princess.

Like...

Really?

Silence!

The queen made a gesture with her hands all Doctor Strange-like, and then pointed at the king.

The king put his hands to his lips and then looked at his kids.

Was that...

Was that supposed to do anything?

Or...

No.

No, not anymore.

Wind stepped forward.

The queen tried more gestures and spells, but nothing.

Nothing was working.

Why?

Because I broke your curse, the prince said.

I kissed my sister three times on the lips.

The king grimaced.

He didn't think he needed to talk to them about appropriate sibling affection, but okay, that was a conversation they could do.

Wait, you not only built in a fatal flaw, but did it so that anyone who exploited it gained all of your power?

The witch wives couldn't quite believe how bad this had all gone.

Sister, sister, you're asking the wrong question.

Another one of the witch wives held up a hand.

The better question was Why were they still here?

Oh, yeah, that's right, she doesn't have any power, which means we don't have to listen to her inane plans and supervillain nonsense.

And so, as per the story, the witch wives abandoned the queen, and the Imps, who might still be able to make their kids' recitals if they hurried, left too.

The queen was completely and utterly alone.

The prince raised his palms, and the darkness began swirling around him, focusing in on his hands.

His eyes glowed white and pupilous as he looked on the queen, and words found him.

Woe, woe unto thee, thou wicked witch, an ill fate shall thine be, and doom thou dread on May Margaret, the same doom shall thou dream.

Henceforth thou't be a ladyly toad, that in the clay doth wend, and unspelled thou wilt never be, till this world hath an end.

The queen's arms flailed and shrivelled, her eyes bulged and popped, and her pupils expanded until they were completely black, and as they expanded, her body contracted, dropping into her dress.

When the dress flattened, a toad hopped out.

Even though they tried to catch it, the toad got away, but the prince, Wind, assured them that it was okay.

The witch could never do magic again.

She was trapped in the form of a toad until Judgment Day.

The king looked on his son.

Now that the boy had done magic, would it slowly corrupt him until he couldn't contain it, and he would be the new warlock who lived in the cliffs?

Wind smiled.

Nope, no worries worries about him.

He already gave it up.

He's just himself now, completely happy and uncomplicated and morally unambiguous.

Excellent, the king said, taking his children under each arm.

What was next for the kids in the story?

To live happily ever after.

Wind looked at his sister with a smile.

The king grinned and then paused.

With their respective eventual spouses.

Right?

Right, kids?

The story truly doesn't say.

In fact, it says that Wind and May Margaret loved each other as much as ever and lived happily ever after.

But I don't think we're actually supposed to read it all house Lannister-like.

It does say that the toad still lurks in the castle to this day, because, as far as I'm aware, Judgment Day has not arrived.

So, if you see a toad in Northumberland in general, or Bemborough Castle in particular, it's probably a witch.

Speaking of Bemborough Castle, too, it's still around, and it's possible to tour the castle if you find yourself in the north of England.

Apparently, its current claim to fame is as the filming location for Netflix's The Last Kingdom, and not for its cursed toads.

The creature this week is the Topielec from Poland.

On the face of it, the Topielets is a water monster.

Described as if the water was giving you a murderous embrace in one place, the creature is thought to be the souls of people who drowned and are apparently so mad about it that they lie in wait for others to subject them to the same fate.

Sources vary on how they look, but they mostly settle on a zombie-like water monster with tattered clothes and algae hanging from their arms and legs.

They have, quote, swollen, cloudy eyes and slimy green skin, in The Witcher series.

The interesting thing for me is not just the creature.

The most famous folklore stories involve people getting really drunk and then going for a swim in the moonlight, only to be pulled under by a creature, which, I mean, definitely don't do that.

We've talked about that so many times over the years.

But the most interesting thing is the life this creature has outside of folklore.

They're part of a Nobel Prize-winning novel, as well as two of the most successful video game franchises of all time.

The first one is, as mentioned, The Witcher series by Polish author Andrzej Spikowski and developed by Polish developer CD Projekt Red.

They make an appearance as the drowned dead.

They look and act pretty much exactly how you'd think, and consistent to the folklore.

I've only played a little of The Witcher 3, but I linked their page in the website.

The other appearance is in Minecraft, a game that, as the father of a 10-year-old, I pretend that being the father of a 10-year-old is the reason I know so much about Minecraft and not the server I've had running in my basement for the past seven years.

If you have any familiarity with the game, then Topielets is not just the inspiration for The Drowned, the mob introduced in 2018, but the game actually uses the name Topielets in the Polish translation.

The Nobel Prize winning work is by author Larislaw Raymond, and it's called The Peasants.

Apparently they talk about the Topielets as part of their folklore later on in the story.

It's in the public domain, so I'm going to go download an English version so I'm not only familiar with the video game appearances of this creature.

The real takeaway here though is that since the Topielets exist in a Nobel Prize-winning work and two of the most famous and lucrative video games of all time, look, I'm not saying that if you include the Topielets in your work, it will be a massive financial and cultural success, but I mean, it doesn't seem to hurt.

Here's hoping for this podcast.

That's it for this time.

Myths and Legends is by Jason and Carissa Wiser.

Our theme song is by Broke for Free, and the Creature of the Week music is by Steve Colms.

There are links to even more to the music we used in in the show notes thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time

you're juggling a lot full-time job side hustle maybe a family and now you're thinking about grad school that's not crazy that's ambitious at american public university we respect the hustle and we're built for it our flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path at apu the bigger your ambition, the better we fit.

Learn more about our 40 plus career relevant master's degrees and certificates at apu.apus.edu.

You want your master's degree.

You know you can earn it, but life gets busy.

The packed schedule, the late nights, and then there's the unexpected.

American Public University was built for all of it.

With monthly starts and no set login times, APU's 40-plus flexible online master's programs are designed to move at the speed of life.

You bring the fire, we'll fuel the journey.

Get started today at apu.apus.edu.

You're juggling a lot.

Full-time job, side hustle, maybe a family, and now you're thinking about grad school?

That's not crazy.

That's ambitious.

At American Public University, we respect the hustle and we're built for it.

Our flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path.

Learn more about APU's 40-plus career-relevant master's degrees and certificates at apu.apus.edu.

APU, built for the hustle.