ABOUT THIS EPISODE
After a long break, here is episode 7, the first of 2026. This story isn't what I started out intending to read, but I enjoyed it and wanted to share it. Over the past month I've been thinking about the values of different things, including the value of stories. Many stories are aiming to teach something, or encourage thought about something. We can just enjoy the stories, but there is often more to find if we choose to look. And where else is there value that we often don't really notice?
This episode's story is from the Grey Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang, which I incorrectly call The Grey Book of Fairy Tales in the episode. You can find it here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6746.
Chapters:
English
United States
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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OTHER EPISODES IN THIS PODCAST
In this episode I read The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen and reflect on the more obvious moral and social ideas it includes. But I also take a much longer look at the two characters in the story who do wicked things and ponder the reasons and whether it's possible that neither is evil in th…
This week I read my very first Japanese folk tale. It's about a folk hero well known in Japan, Momotaro, who was born out of a peach. The tale apparently dates back over 1000 years. I found it in a book of folk tales collected by Yei Theodora Ozaki. It considers ideas of teamwork, bravery, steadfas…
Christmas time, for those parts of the world where it is celebrated, is typically thought of as a time for cheer, family and friends. For some it centers around Santa Claus and gift giving, while for others the focus is spiritual or religious. Some prefer the notion of Festivus. For many it's a com…
A short story by Hans Christian Andersen about the evolution of a story in the telling.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:47 There Is No Doubt About It by Hans Christian Andersen
07:47 Commentary
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This episode is about the light and dark sides of our nature and the pursuit of a virtuous life. The light vs dark nature is illustrated by The Shadow by Hans Christian Andersen and I talk about it in the context of the stoic ideas of pursuing a virtuous life.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:41 The Shad…
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