Podcast Benomtad

I question the seemingly pure motive of the younger brother, who takes on the destructive boar seemingly purely out of selflessness.  LL posits he could be a Christ-like figure.  Still, one thing I take away from this is that even when society is being ravaged, one still has to watch out for evil within one’s group.

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A demonic boar ravages the land, destroying crops and livestock, and ripping up the bodies of people.  The king offers a large reward, but no one dared go into the forest where the beast lived.  Finally, he offers his daughter to wed, and two brothers, sons of a poor man, agree.  The elder does so out of pride.  The younger, from a kind heart.  They are to enter from the western and eastern sides of the forest to trap the wild pig…...

Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess” 

Three soldiers are finished with their tour of duty, and they are camping in the forest on their way home.  Having built a bonfire to protect themselves, they each guard against the night successively, and each is approached by an old woman seeking warmth by the fire.  Each in his turn refuses, but relents when offered a magical gift (a hat that whisks one to a wished destination, a horn tha...

Grimm’s “Cinderella:” Feminine Work and Shaping the Masculine (Clip)

Why does Cinderella run from the prince at the end of the dance?  Is she trying to get the prince to give chase to open his eyes?  Mostly, this story does not say much about the prince.  The third time, he finally has the stairs tarred, which gives him the slipper so he can find her.  The stepsisters compete by denigrating and hiding Cinderella.  Cinderella’s work...

A king is very sick and this distresses his three sons.  In a palace garden an old man tells them the water of life can save him, but it is very dangerous to obtain.  The first decides to get it, thinking it will ensure the inheritance of the kingdom.  The king resists, but then relents, but on the road a dwarf asks the firstborn where he is going, and he gets trapped in a ravine when he insults the dwarf…

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At the story’s beginning, the poor brother throws off his red coat of soldiering and becomes a farmer, a major life transformation that makes him his brother’s opposite. Ian and I contrast these brothers, including in comparison to The Bible’s Cain and Abel.  A fruit of his labor is an enormous turnip.  He does not know what to do with it, so he gives it to the king as a mark of respect. So he is poor, but he gives his most extraor...

A daughter promises her dying mother she’ll remain good and pious, and does so.  Her father remarries and his stepdaughters consign Cinderella to housework.  She asks her father for a humble gift – a hazel tree branch that touches him on the way, and she plants it and everything transforms for her.  

Join us for this discussion on quiet, hidden virtue and loud wrangling, about work and faith vs. denigration of your competition.  

T...

The turnip, grown underground, could symbolize the soul, and the prince, whose task is to combine the nail from the cave wall, would recover his self.  “He has a place for the thing that he is longing for,” and this is shown by the impression of the princess in the transformed turnip bowl.  This is the clue that allows him to find the cave again. 

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The Brothers Grimm’s “The Riddle” 

A king’s son goes off into the world with only his trusted servant and encounters three deadly places to sleep, wandering in the forest and the world for a long time.  He encounters beautiful and good maidens but tries to marry the third: a bewitching lover of riddles who has already dispatched nine suitors.  His harrowing experiences provide him a riddle she cannot guess, and which he uses to p...

Grimm's "The Turnip:” Getting Not What You Seek, but What You Need 

There are two brothers – one rich, the other poor.  The poor one wants to better himself so he casts off his red coat and becomes a gardener, digging a well and sewing turnips.  One turnip grew larger and larger.  He reasons that he can sell it only at the same price as the others, and the little ones are better for eating.  He decides to take it to the king as a s...

When the Titans’ Committee is trying to figure out what to do with Death, a white weasel comes and licks their eyes.  Was it sent by Death?  What does it mean?  And what of the balancing of the relationship between Death and the Sun?  Is it only a commentary on male-female love relations, or does it have a larger import on government and civilization?  Either way, I think this story is poetic commentary on the opposites we see ever...

We discuss the turnip as Jungian symbol of the soul and continue our analysis of this fascinating, fecund folktale.

For the first “Turnip” episode, go to:

https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-turnip-princess-by-fxv-schonwerth-with-ian-reclusado/

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“The Sun's Shadow” by Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess

Death ruled the world, but when the Sun and Moon grew up, they banished death, who killed everything they’d created in retribution.  Nearly everything perished in a flood, and then the Titans held a meeting in a mountain.  A weasel came from underground and licked their eyes, and the Titans ended up taking Death’s side, but he wouldn’t accept their verdict.  Enraged, ...

What freed Iron John?  LL wonders if doing good, helping the prince fulfill his fate frees him from his curse.  I look at the effects of the enchantment, which in general stagnate the land.  With the relationship with the boy, he provides, he is able to be useful.  This former “wild man” bequeaths his fortune to the boy at the end of the story.  We reflect on real wealth in this story.

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 “Prince Dung Beetle” by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess 

A poor girl, Barbara, went out to find medicine for her sick mother.  Leaping over a paving stone, she slipped and nearly crushed a dung beetle.  Startled, she is nonplussed, then sobs.  The beetle slides under her and takes her to the druggist and then back home.  He is gone before she can thank him.  

She and her mother see a prince with retinue on...

A hunter, and then another, disappear in the forest, as do those sent to find them, so the forest is left untouched for years.  A mysterious fearless hunter arrives from abroad, and when he ventures in, his dog, chasing game, is stopped by a body of water, and a hand reaches out from it and snatches the dog.  The water is drained, and a rust-colored man with hair down to his knees lay at the bottom…

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The prince passes out and wakes up after a long time, and tries to search for turnips again.  This part of the story may resemble being asleep in life to a true dream you’ve had. Then we expound on the story’s sleep theme, and relate the bear’s instruction to the boy to the indirect relation between words told and finding wisdom.

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My friend IR and I discuss the titular story from The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales.  Summary: A prince lost in the forest takes shelter in a cave and falls asleep.  When he wakes up an old woman and a bear are leaning over him, but they are kind and helpful.  Later, the bear, alone with the prince, instructs him to remove a nail from the wall and bury it under a turnip.  He runs out only to encounter a mon...

LL asks what is with the gnome dropping the bread donation at the door?  Is it a test?  Maybe only the youngest hunter shows himself to be strong enough to detect what the mannikin is doing while hiding behind the propriety of Xenia.  I draw a parallel with Odysseus, who also deals with bad guests.  Anyway, this scene cracks open the story, opening important possibilities for the young hunter and leading to the story’s resolution.

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