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155: African Folklore & Fables
63 Plays4 months ago
This week we traveled all the way to Africa for the latest ep in our folklore series. Kelsey covers 2 interesting legends from South Africa , first up is the Hole in the Wall. A rock formation formed over millions of years, and maybe with a little help from a sea man and a fish. Next is a creature known as the Grootslang, with stories and warnings all over Africa, it has been feared for generations.
Alanna shares 2 popular Nigerian Folktales, The Woman with Two Skins and Why the Bat Flies at Night. Check out our patreon where we will be sharing Alanna's 3rd story, you can also catch up on monthly bonus eps and videos!
We won't have an episode on Aug 9th as Alanna is on holidays (lucky lady), but we will catch up with everyone on the 16th (we hope) Thanks for listening and keep it cryptic!
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Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:00
Speaker
Startcast Network. Welcome to the dark side of podcasting.
00:00:30
Speaker
ah Welcome to Castles and Cryptids, where the castles are haunted and the cryptids are cryptic as fuck. And I'm your host, Alana. And I'm Kelsey, and this is Gordo, all up in my business. Literally.
00:00:48
Speaker
We were like, no, he's not here, but he will be for the intro. But that's okay, you can't hear his cuteness. He's boring. Is he?
Dreams and Sleepwalking
00:01:00
Speaker
I may have had a dream about trying to find my dog or a pet last night. It's like one of those like, were you trying to get to something in the dream? Usually to me it's to work or to the toilet or something, but my legs just won't move very fast. Yeah, the dream running that Spiderman gif. You're like, yes. Everybody runs in their dreams.
00:01:25
Speaker
Your legs are molasses. I feel like I'm always like, like, what if I could just like grab this tree or something that I can just pull myself along? That would be faster than running, right? But at least I don't sleepwalk, because you know then you just do crazy thing when your brain doesn't shut off your muscles when you're dreaming. Yeah. I told you you need to watch that Selena spooky boo. She doesn't do as many sleepwalking videos, but that was kind of what got her famous on like the TikToks and the Instagrams and whatnot. And then you're just like, so it's just like the night vision in the house. And then it's just like she'll like get up and say something crazy. like
00:02:06
Speaker
move
Podcasting Technical Issues
00:02:09
Speaker
get the crackers it's like you're like fucking is crazy yeah that sounds creepy right um sleepwalking would you rather sleep sexing or sleep eating also a thing yeah and this week we're talking about some namorousness no just kidding
00:02:38
Speaker
um I just informed Kelsey of the ah audacious ah audio issues that we had. I had with making the other episode. Neither did I until it got released that there was an issue because I had edited it all and it had sounded fine, but you know, I don't always do like a triple check before posting the audio. and the before I knew it, it was like talking to my brother and he was like, yeah, but there was no Kelsey up a segment or something. And I was like, wait, what? So it's just like me reacting to calm nobody talking about Pussy Riot for an hour.
00:03:24
Speaker
And I don't know how to take them down with this new hosting service. It doesn't just let you like, i will publish it. I couldn't find
Phone and Connectivity Struggles
00:03:33
Speaker
a way. It's just there. i can take look at You can try. I can look at it. See? Yeah. I'm horrible. Because I was wondering why it was still up. I was like, can we not delete this? Because I deleted the YouTube one. I like released it. Don't know. Damn. We have to be able to delete it. That's garbage. Come on, Zencaster. What's trying to figure out how to find for podcasters? You could like.
00:04:02
Speaker
kind of sort of edit it I think after the fact and then go yeah publish or whatever I don't know but with this one I was like I don't know what to do yeah anyway I wasn't trying to hide it from Kelsey. It was just she was busy with birthdays and stuff on the weekend when I... Yeah, and then I didn't check into anything and then I found out really late last night and I was like, oh, this was fixed like six days ago. and me I didn't know it was a problem. I didn't know it was been fixed. I should update the YouTube video.
00:04:39
Speaker
And the website. I'm sorry, I've been incommunicado. It's been harder because like, that I didn't have a phone because that was part of the other issues that we like, we're talking about poor Kelsey's car issues last week and that things were melting up and blowing down or vice versa. let My phone like decided it had overheated one too many times because the back part was pulling away for the longest time, but I couldn't really upgrade it or forward to or whatever. And then it just like, we had that hot, that heat wave, right? And then in my car a couple of weeks ago, I've left it in my console and my air conditioning wasn't so great and shit. So it just like decided it would not charge again. And then I had so many issues just trying to like use an old phone with my SIM card and all this other bullshit that did not work. So.
00:05:36
Speaker
now as of this recording time i have a phone downstairs that is successfully texted pat and i think i have a new phone knock on wood yeah oh my god Thanks to Pat, too, because we had to like outright go like buy an old one, which is such bullshit. But anyway. Yeah. I feel like phone companies just make it the most difficult it could be. I know when I was upgrading my phone and I went in, they're like, yeah, if you just buy a phone from a third party and bring it in, we'll set it up for you. And I was like, OK, cool.
Environmental Discussions and Wildfires
00:06:11
Speaker
And then I brought in my phone that I had just bought at Best Buy. And I was like, she can set this up for me. And they're like, no, who would ever tell you we could do that?
00:06:19
Speaker
and't but Just buy a phone outright, meaning you like spend a thousand dollars on a brand new one. Yeah. or something Yeah. Yeah. God forbid I try to use Pat's old phone that was in perfectly good condition, but you know, at the time we'd got it was through a different carrier or whatever. So they like could lock it, you know, purportedly in case of, you know, theft that someone tries to use an old SIM in your old phone. It's like, Motherfucker, it's my people in my house trying to use my old phone. Fuck off. I know. I even there was like sites that were like, we can unlock a phone for any carrier. And none of that worked either. It was so frustrating.
00:07:06
Speaker
Anyway. Yeah. They just want people to upgrade, get a new phone, spend more money, yeah kill the kill the planet. oh my god buy more fast fashion yeah okay buddy you're gonna you're gonna have roll right off the table a little cinnamon roll oh anyway the time this comes out it will be August I will be
00:07:39
Speaker
technically on vacation and hopefully uh yeah just living the life not having to go to work for a few days and hanging it with my family on the east coast so that'll be fun yeah yeah We don't get out much as you can tell because that's all I ever have to talk about is what's broken. Same. Right? Oh my god. I was even supposed to go to like a barbecue thing last weekend and then the smoke was so bad from like the wildfires and stuff and then I was so stressed from having to re-edit the episode and everything that I just peaced out or whatever and I was like, I'm a dick but...
00:08:18
Speaker
Like it's been super smokey here cause wildfires and shit too. So
Folklore and Upcoming Topics
00:08:22
Speaker
it's been like, the yeah. But you know, half of Jasper just caught on fire. So that's cool. Right. One of our biggest like tourism things in Alberta here. It's a nice little mountain town. Yeah. gone Businesses and homes to burn down and the rock and gym shop. and All these other places. Yeah, one of the nicest places in Alberta. And then something inevitably catches on fire. Like from California up the Pacific coast into BC or here in Alberta. I mean, you have some dry areas. So yeah, it's been kind of shitty. Gordo is so cute right now. Here, I'm going to tilt this down. Look at him.
00:09:14
Speaker
Are you laying on the table? Pay attention. He was upside down. He was like, this is my belly. like I was like, you're going to bite me if I pet you. I thought of Gordo a little bit. I was looking at there were some big cats that came up when I was doing some research for our upcoming animals. crimes capers sort of episode on our for our patreon yeah and i was like look at this house cat and look at this big cat they're just the same you'll see i'm gonna video gordo gordo is a big house cat
00:09:53
Speaker
yes but the big cats are sometimes just like them it's so cute oh yeah they meow and they that kind of stuff like oh yes like she doesn't stuff meow i'm like i heard um i think it was like a cougar yeah scream sort of thing the other day where they were like does this sound like an animal to you and like you know what it also sounds like It's kind of like the, rah, rah, and you're like, ooh. Is it a person or what? Yeah. It's crazy.
00:10:27
Speaker
Anyway, and what are we here to talk about today? What day
South African Legends and the Hole in the Wall
00:10:31
Speaker
is it? What are we doing? Who knows? Yeah, we thought it'd be cool to go back into some folklore. I guess I've been been a little bit. I can't remember how long we figured out. At least a couple months, probably. Yeah, definitely a few episodes since we've done some folklore. It's fun and also it made for like a pretty
00:11:01
Speaker
a nice one for me because I was like I can look up some folklore stories and then I also couldn't sign back into my google account and then I was like where did my word document go I guess I'll look up those folklore stories again oh no it's good but I'm excited I don't even know what you're talking about um or where I guess I have two things. I think I told you I was kind of focusing on South Africa. That's true. You did because I said ah just Nigeria. Yeah, just so we knew we weren't kind of going to end up talking about any of the same kind of thing. So I have a couple things to talk about. I like that. And it's not like we were just like Africa.
00:11:49
Speaker
It's one country. It's like, no. but and No. We like to feature like different countries sometimes. So this time I like that we both featured a different one. Yeah. yeah The first thing I have to talk about is called the hole in the wall. o ah Yeah, it's kind of cool. um It's the proverbial hole in the wall that dive bar we all go to. maybe ah This is actually part of the
00:12:27
Speaker
um the west coast of the eastern cape in South Africa and there's like this giant cliff face that was there and I guess over over time a piece of it detached so there's kind of like this beautiful archway like really really tall and wide um and then they're in that like archery i know he's like why are you petting me your hands are moving they could be petting me right now he was being a very attentive student i really appreciated it that's why i had to explain why i'm laughing just so everyone knew ah so it's got like this archery and it has a little hole in the middle so that's the hole in the wall okay yeah okay that's cute
00:13:16
Speaker
So it's a symbol of like different people in Africa. So there's the hosha or hosa. I think it's hosa. They refer to the eskaline as like the formation as the place of thunder or place of the sound um because of the loud clap that the waves make against the hole. yeah
00:13:48
Speaker
son feel the thunder up ah no on that makes sense though totally yeah it's like crashing waves against it and they believe that this is actually like a gateway uh to the world of their ancestors which is really cool also side note did you hear like we had a bunch of Um, like storm winds and shit last night. I don't know about like so much thunder, but the rain and stuff. Oh, I slept through it like a baby. I was so tired. I laid my head down, got comfortable and snap on my fingers. I was waking up from my alarm and it was like, damn it. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Back to work. That's how Pat says he sleeps all the time. I don't know. It's weird. Cause with his PTSD, like you'd think he'd get
00:14:41
Speaker
uh, nightmares, night trauma, but instead he just doesn't dream at all. And I'm like, I feel like that happened to me once when I went to camp and I was so tuckered out that I just fell asleep so hard. But as a kid, I'd never, you know what I mean? Like never having been like drunk or anything like that. That was like the purest sleep I ever remember getting. I just woke up the next morning. Like you said, you're just like, whoa, time passed. And and like Pat will be like, yeah, that's how it's like for me. Like every night I'm like, whoa. but maybe he has them he just doesn't ever remember them that's what yeah that's what a lot of people say right that you don't remember half of them or whatever yeah right it's you remember it like in the first 10 seconds and then
00:15:22
Speaker
If somebody asked you like a minute later, you would probably not remember most of your dream. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The only, I could remember mine. I was telling you earlier cause it's that recurring sort of I'm late. I'm running to get something or I'm late for work or this time I think I was trying to find my dog or something. It was weird. yeah just weird anxieties playing it when you're asleep it's just so great um yeah so there is pictures if you want to look this up it is like a pretty beautiful uh rock formation oh okay i probably can now that you gave me the password back to the drive
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, you can also Google it. It does come up when you Google the hole in the wall. It won't take you to like anything weird or... Toed in the hole, the breakfast, whatever it is. I don't think I've ever actually had that. Maybe my mom made it once. So bread, just toast with egg in it or something, I don't know. Yeah, just the egg in the middle. ah So it stands at the mouth of the Peko River, and the cliff consists of these dark blue shales, mudstones and sandstones, and dates back about 260 million years.
00:16:48
Speaker
oh Which, yeah, it it's extremely old. I didn't think it would be that old. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think I got it this time. and First, it was just a Toronto bar, but... Oh, shit! I lied to you. Okay. Google it. Nothing else would come up. It was something. I was like, wait, what? My algorithms just all, do you want bars? Alcohol? No. Jesus.
00:17:21
Speaker
hello oh man so There's ah many theories about what could have created the hole that's found in the rock. ah This near perfect opening at the bottom of it. Scientists believe that it resulted from the cliff's location as well as exposure from the breaking waves over these 260 million years. And they believe that the cliff detached from the mainland through the same process. So I guess they're kind of saying like eventually that hole will get big enough that it will separate. And then it would be like two like pillars probably. Sure. Like water erosion. It takes a while, but apparently 260 million years. I was like, just damn.
00:18:13
Speaker
That's like so long. It's insane. Right. i So there is... Oh, I just have a little tidbit I found in one of the sources that said that the it was named the Hole in the Wall in 1823 by a Captain Vidal who was sent by the British to survey the coastline. So that's how I got the name the Hole in the Wall.
00:18:44
Speaker
but it does have like stories. There's a South African legend about what formed the hole in the wall. um There's a few different versions. So I found one of the versions of the like South African legend. It was from the collector dot.com. This was probably one of like the nicest write ups about it. Okay. There's different kind of variations. But
00:19:18
Speaker
It says that the South African legend of the hole in the wall tells how it was once connected to the mainland, forming a lagoon that but ah lagoon fed by the Mpako River and cut off from the ocean. The story is that there was a beautiful maiden who, unlike her people, loved to see. And she would sit at the edge of the water and watch the waves rolling in. And one day, one of the sea people appeared out of the ocean. He had flipper-like hands and feet, and flowing hair like the waves. It's like mermaids. His hair is like Fabio. Yeah. What is it? From like Old Spice? Oh my god.
00:20:08
Speaker
but Look at your mind, now back to me, but if I can turn my mind, now back to me, I'm on a horse. That dude was in Shadowhunters. He was.
00:20:21
Speaker
Those smell like the manual man could be. Oh my god. Yeah. Two tickets for the concert of the band you like. It's like, what? It's as silly as, the kids know a lot of this list, but about Fabio, and it was like, Fabio's eating peanuts. I wish he'd eat me. And those were the guys. And that's all I remember. Ressa will, though. She'll get it. That's hilarious. It's all so stupid. I also supposed to do a bunch of that. Or Herbal Essences commercial hair.
00:20:59
Speaker
I also just have to mention I was listening to a bunch of um Andy Samberg was on Smartless and then like I guess I must have been the only like millennial on the planet that didn't know he had a bunch of like skit songs like with Lonely Island you didn't know? No! Oh they're from like- I knew he was on SNL! Yeah most of them were like digital shorts from SNL I think that's how it kind of started. Guess I just didn't watch them? So you finally watched Dick in a Box? I've heard of Dick in a Box. I'm on a boat. They were referencing other ones that I was like, I don't know. What's Lazy Sunday? And then they were like, theron the cools of Narnia. And I was like, what is this? I have no idea.
00:21:48
Speaker
But Will Arnett was like, there was before Lazy Sunday and like after. Like, how was that? You got all crazy big. And I'm like, I don't know what they're talking about. I'm so, maybe I'm so out of touch, you know, but. Uh, I ah feel enlightened now. What the fuck are you doing right now? Are you getting quite the look? You're like, how? like He looks like he was trying to curl up, but now he's pushing himself away from the wall, but he's also like squishing himself down. And it looked like he... I don't know. like really weird Anyway, so this Murman dude comes out of the ocean.
00:22:37
Speaker
The creature said that he had watched her from some time and admired her. He asked her to be his wife. The maiden went home and told her father what had happened, but he was furious and said that his people would not trade their daughters with the sea people and forbade her from going back to the lagoon ever again. Damn, okay. That night, however... Sea people and the lagoon people? No, ah the sea people live in... Oh no, she watches them from the lagoon. That's what it is. oh Yeah, this is very classist.
00:23:20
Speaker
of you
00:23:24
Speaker
That night, however, she slipped away to meet her lover. What's he though? They barely said hello. Sorry, I was like, she met him once. Her celebrity crush. Yeah. He met with her and told her that she must wait until high tide and he would prove his love to her before he retreated back into the sea. The girl waited and a number of sea people appeared bearing a large fish. Fish. Yes, you heard that. Which they used to batter a hole in the cliff face, thus connecting the lagoon to the sea. It was a battering pod.
00:24:07
Speaker
Or like a fucking whale? I don't know what they use. Yeah. Oh my god. In every okay and every almost every story they use a fish to make the hole. I will say that. In almost every variation. Okay. It's great. Thus connecting the lagoon to the sea. As the tide came in, a huge wave smacked against the hole, creating a massive fountain of spray. ah Riding the crest of the wave was her lover. She leapt into his arms and was whisked away. Aquaman! Fucking Jason Momoa! Or the silver surfer. Because he's on a wave, I don't know.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, so that's, that's a legend. um There's like different variations, including ones where what is it like she makes the whole or they kind of go back and forth for longer. um or they're trying or she gets trapped in the lagoon and they kind of are trying to break her out because her family's like holding her there. I do see now that I think I've actually got the right picture there how it does look like a big long piece of cliff rock like kind of barrier yeah in the sea and the the goon or the bay or whatever yeah it's just like oh
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah, so it's like separated. That's a crotch. A tiny one. Made by a fish. It's a tiny one. That's so cool. So according to the Hoshia people, the sound of the waves crashing against the hole in the wall is the sound of the sea people calling out for a bride. So I guess they're still looking for brides. Uh, more, more like, I almost said semen. Uh, more, more Burman looking for brides. That's what she said on the, uh, that's what she said on sinister hood the other day when they were talking about the Kraken.
00:26:28
Speaker
It was taken down. I think they said dozens of semen. I said, you should have said mouthfuls of semen.
00:26:39
Speaker
The Kraken stories though. Oh my God. So fun. In Newfoundland, somebody apparently yeah like had a tentacle. Like whether it's from a giant squid or whatever, cause we know that those did exist, but like, yeah, someone like had it like hanging up in their like bathroom or whatever for a while. They're like, I just to take the picture, like a but hanging over the shower curtain, they're like fucking long tentacles, man. Anyway, I digress. Right. Oh man.
00:27:16
Speaker
All right, so it is said that during certain seasons and weather conditions, the waves ah can hit against the rocks in such a way that the sound can be heard throughout the valley a and surrounding areas. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And it also says that certain times of the year, ah the music and singing of the sea people can be heard probably coming from that same area, which is I like that. If and it's like,
The Groot Slang Mythology
00:27:46
Speaker
and makes sense for especially because of all the ways that wind makes sound on like sea cliff things and stuff yeah um yeah so that's the hole in the wall um okay yeah i like that a lot yeah that was kind of cool there's a
00:28:12
Speaker
I don't know, like a creature cryptid kind of thing I ended up looking up to. Really interesting. I don't remember ever running across it before. There's so many you just don't know to look for or search about. Yeah. yeah um So this one's called the Groot Slang. If you want to look it up. G-R-O-O-G-S-L-A-N-G. It sounds vaguely familiar. Sorry. Like, grouped as in I am grouped. Yeah. And then slang, like... I don't know. Yeah, I was going to say terminology. I don't know. Exactly. Okay, they're tentacle-y. It's wild looking. It kind of reminds me of the...
00:29:07
Speaker
ah
00:29:12
Speaker
Oh, frick, what? The Snallygaster? That's like the flying like octopuzzy thing. ah This has kind of got that same vibe. Yeah, because multiple like tusky things coming out of there. Yeah. Like a mole. So the Grootslang or Big Snake. Kind of in English. It's a creature of Zulu mythology in South Africa. It's this enormous serpent and its name translates to Great Snake and Afrikaans, legends of the creature.
00:29:51
Speaker
Legends of the creature are passed down through many generations. so It's really old and like it's legends and history and even encounters that people have said that they've had. Damn. Ancient. Okay. Yeah. Its image has even been seen in ah cave paintings that they've discovered. Yeah. that's That's intense. I know they didn't paint about a ton of shit. it tomorrow
00:30:22
Speaker
They're like painting above their heads sometimes. They're like, no. Yeah. Uh, it has a long history of siting and singing counters. There's a really cool site I found. Um, this guy, he has like little podcast videos as well. It's mythlock dot.com. Um, like myth and at loc.com. And he had some cool information about it. It was like one of those like cryptid Wikipedia pages. but it had a lot fanom and monsters yeah lot of really cool information that I um looked really well researched and I didn't really find anywhere else so nice yeah when they were talking about on sinisterhood the Kraken they were like
00:31:11
Speaker
And we're not ashamed to say when we went to the library, some of the books were in the kids section. The one girl who doesn't have kids, she's like, I need it for research in the library and didn't bat an eye. And I'm like, I love that for you. I need this book on krakens, please. i'll Check out what what what are you reading about 12 books about krakens? Oh, and the one that has like the four year old who's like, already so into cryptids, she got her daughter Ella to like say, well, what do you like about the Kraken book? And then she was talking about it. It was so cute. ah I know I was like, I should have started mine that young.
00:31:54
Speaker
Now my kids cool though.
00:31:58
Speaker
and Anyway, uh, so from their website, um, it said that it's known by many names across Africa. So it does have like, depending on what country you're in, it does have oh yeah kind of different things that refers to, but they're all sure pretty it ah similar characteristics. Uh, in the Congo, it's referred to as Nick and Yamba. while the Bushmen in their tradition referred to it as, I'm gonna say Gaora.
00:32:35
Speaker
no yeah that's true Among the Zulu people, it is recognized as Aigrut. I am Groot, but I Groot. It's just missing VM. Or maybe it's E Groot. I'm not too sure. Some of these I couldn't look up, didn't come up with any pronunciation because it's like... Or maybe it's we are Groot.
00:33:03
Speaker
There's also in Slavona that emphasizes its hybrid essence, embodying the fusion of an elephant, which is in Slovu, and snake, was which is Inja. Okay. Yeah, because it does have like the head of an elephant and then the body of a snake, so if you picture that. Oh my god. ah How do you hold your head up? You're a lollipop, as they used to call those really skinny actresses during like the Friends era.
00:33:37
Speaker
You're very top-heavy you with the tusks and the trunk and the big ears. the Jesus. And then this little snake, snakey body. I kind of think of it. Some stuff, I don't know, it doesn't really talk about too much about limbs, but I don't know, in my head I kind of picture more of like a dragon type thing. Okay. It's gotta be interesting. I don't know if there's any artist renderings of that, but I would love to see them. Oh yeah, there's a lot of pictures online if you Google it actually.
00:34:15
Speaker
So there's some more names that they had on the website. There's various Afrikaans and Zulu names that contribute to the multitude of ways that the Groot Slang is identified as well as Groot Slang, Groot Slang like separated. Then there's different routes, got different dialects, right? Groot. As-el, which I think is like eel, because it's kind of like one. The next one's like Groot Python. There's Groot Snack, S-N-E-K, and then Groot Elephant, like looking like a snake or how everybody smells. Yeah. ah It's like the the Gen Z ah slang for snake or whatever.
00:35:06
Speaker
I don't know. There's Groot Elephant, Groot Slang, and then in Zulu it also carries names like Nikosi Malillo, translating to God Loves You. um And Nagami Nikosi signifying God has created you. um Because there is like stuff in his mythology which we'll get into of why those names um kind of make sense. Okay, cool. For like Zulu, yeah. um So the Groot slang is known for its speed, strength, and durability.
00:35:54
Speaker
It said that even gods themselves deemed them beyond their cre control after they created the Grootsling. So that's why like oh God loves you. um Oh shit. God loves it because we can't control you. Yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker
In an effort to contain or limit its power, they cleaved the roots lying into two separate entities, um the gods do. One that evolves into an elephant and the other that evolves into a python. Okay. One has legs. and Yeah, they're kind of like we created this animal to begin with and it was too powerful. So now we separate it and that's how we got elephants and pythons. Weird. I love it. ah Yeah. There are tales of Grootslang who managed to avoid the divine partition, they called it, and were able to breed with other creatures to create these hybrid beings. maybe Maybe there's a liger. Maybe there's a lion tiger. Yes.
00:37:06
Speaker
The divine partition too. Yeah, like what? The divine partition. I might like that even more than the, what was it? Mental machinery phrase from the Watsika Wonder.
00:37:23
Speaker
Most often the Grootslinger said to be a fusion of an elephant's head and a trunk and a serpent's body and tail. ah Typically they're described as reaching lengths of up to 60 feet or about 18 meters and then about three feet or almost a meter. It says 0.91 meters wide like its trail. It kind of leaves behind. What? Yeah, so like they're very big. Oh, 0.91. Okay. Yeah. It's like almost a meter wide trail. For a minute that was like weight. Yeah, or like three feet. like So they're they're big. It's like a tree. Right. Yeah, or like there's that one snake that's like a sidewinder. Makes a little weird sideways path. I don't know how much space, but yeah.
00:38:20
Speaker
a cool name. Ariam has a song that says, the side water sleeps, sleeps, sleeps in the dark.
00:38:32
Speaker
um So they have are covered in these scales. Normally, they're green, brown or black. And ah They can change color, I guess, to reflect the creature's mood or even their so of surroundings. So like, kind of like chameleon. It's cool. Nice. Wish I could do that. Some of them say that there's these diamonds, like actual diamonds that cover their eyes or like eye sockets or horns on oh the like elephant head part. Yeah.
00:39:08
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's like covered in diamonds. They're diamond encrusted, okay. They may vary a bit in appearance, but their size is normally pretty typical and said to be greater than any known snake. Its scales are described as impenetrable and can act as a shield against any sort of attack. Oh no. um Other descriptions follow kind of more traditional serpent descriptions with large luminouscent luminescent eyes and a huge forked tongue that drips with venom because I guess they're also venomous. It's like a venomous elephant snake thing.
00:39:54
Speaker
ah Watch out for venom. yeah not That whole Marvel movie.
00:40:01
Speaker
Also the MM song slaps. I kept thinking of it whenever I was talking about um whenever the name came up in the my possession case because her name was Loreneze Venom. I thought about that after when I was like googling it. I was like, oh yeah, Venom. ven um You never know what hit him. No, I can't drop. But oh, my God. Speaking of rappers, did you know that Snoop Dogg is going to be part of the Olympics? Like, yeah, I've already been with Kevin Hart and they've been reacting to some like ah Olympic event with the the horses, the dressage or whatever. But I guess he's going to be like in the Olympics that are starting like tonight. Yeah, they already did the ceremony. People were talking about it online. There was like some craziness.
00:40:53
Speaker
I feel like I need to watch the opening ceremony because the descriptions are wild online. Apparently they have some sort of like like queer polyamorous three-way involved somehow. They have beheaded queens. Yeah, they're like, yeah, they literally put a menagee trois in their opening ceremony. They have backlash that we got when, uh, Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's breast and now we're getting, uh, no, no, I just knew that. I think the opening ceremonies were like tonight. So I was like, Oh, I should try and catch them. um And then we were going to try and record. So I was like, Oh, I'll try to catch my lights later. Yeah. They had, what else did I hear about? Oh, there's some, some person, they haven't revealed their gender. They're calling it. Oh, what did they say?
00:41:45
Speaker
the individual. What were you reading this? It's just on like the internet, like Tumblr. No, but like today, just today. and hes Yeah. Okay. Earlier. Earlier before we start recording. I'm like, she was looking at her phone during the break. No, no they were ah doing a bunch of parkour, because France is and like Paris and stuff is well known for parkour. Somebody with the Olympic torch was doing parkour through Paris, which was really cool. I can just picture the office and Michael Scott. Parkourist. As they just flop themselves onto a freaking couch. That would have been great too. That would have been great too.
00:42:32
Speaker
ah But I feel like out of any any Olympic opening ceremony, I was like, I feel like I need to watch this one because some of the pictures I saw online were wild and they're like, wow, what the fuck's happening in Paris right now? Yeah, I'm gonna check out the highlights at least. Yeah, I looked crazy. um All right, I don't have too much more about them. All right. powers and stuff they had. So they say that its speed is greater than humans and animals on land. And I think I said this before, it's known to be swift and agile, ah despite its enormous size, very resilient, apparently able to withstand bullets, fire explosions, and extreme temperatures without any sort of harm. god It's like the Tremors ones all over again, right?
00:43:26
Speaker
Twister! No, that's not the same. Nevermind. Cut that. I'm an idiot.
00:43:35
Speaker
They also have super senses. They can navigate in darkness and see through walls using the luminescence from their diamond eyes. Oh my god. You see in the sky with diamond eyes. Right, See in the sky with diamond eyes. I also love the Paul Simon ah diamonds on the soles of her shoes. That's also a very good one. I've never heard that song. It's cute.
00:44:06
Speaker
ah So Grootslinger said to be very intelligent with innate and innate ability to learn new skills and adapt to situations quickly. They are also said to possess magic, allowing them to manipulate the elements and summon storms at will. Storm witches! Damn! I'm not obsessed with that idea. It sounds so cool. Storm witches. They can also weave allusions with their voices because apparently, oh yeah, they do talk, I guess. Okay. um
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah, they can weave allusions with their voices to confuse those who encounter them. So that's maybe we don't have a ton of sightings or like reliable sightings of them. Oh, the creepy things, the amount of like folklore creatures and stuff that can mimic people that you know are so scary. Yeah. Because like you're out in the woods and then I hear like your voice being like, oh, help me. And I'm like, okay i get eaten it's just like no it's no good so grudslang they're said to live in these large caverns um okay mostly called the wonder hole um yo where oh it's my favorite song
00:45:37
Speaker
or bottomless pit, apparently there's a cavern in. South Africa called Wonder Hole or Bottomless Pit. So that's specifically where they're said to live. ah It's located in, I think this is Richtersveld, which is said to be connected to the sea about 64 kilometers or 40 miles away. So like underground, it connects to the sea. So they say that's like where they live. They go in and out of the sea, like through this cavern.
00:46:08
Speaker
I guess. ah They're said to be reclusive and rarely seen outside. Some legends state that they love these precious gems and guard hordes of jewels and other treasure within their caves, which kind of reminded me of dragons as well. Yeah, no kidding. Like, hoarding their treasure. Their dragons or... Oh, is that the one in Harry Potter that goes after the gold coins and the little badgers, I think. Oh, maybe. Thank you. Magpies, crows. There's a bunch of creatures that actually are attracted to shiny things. Shiny things. Yeah. Oh, too funny. It is said that people captured by the Groot Slang can bargain for their life in exchange for gems, so carry some gems with you, I guess.
00:47:07
Speaker
and so okay Some versions state that there are actually male and female Groot Slang and that their offspring called Klein Groot Slangs or small great snakes are smaller replicas of their parents while still being just as deadly. So even though they don't like grow up as big, they're still considered just as deadly. Uh, okay. Small business. Thanks. That's like when it, my GPS tells me to call it up. Yeah. On Gretzky North Southwest. Cause it's like, you know, it'd be saying like the street direction. And then you're like, that's not a direction. Yeah. Just shoot yourself into the sky towards the sun. Take a slight right to stay on. Yeah, no. Yeah.
00:48:02
Speaker
get me started. um There is a little bit more from mythwalk.com. I didn't know how else to like reword any of this because it was about their like reproduction. It was just I, I don't know. I'm doing so much fun like not like jazz hands. It's almost like raining down. ah Yeah, I didn't know how else to reword this. It was like, okay. I don't know, it might be confusing trying to figure it out. So it said, in contrast, conventional ah familial structures, the group slang adheres to an unconventional method of procreation. The creature eschews conventional mating rituals and sexual reproduction.
00:48:54
Speaker
Instead, it employs a unique mechanism wherein it splits itself into two components, one transforming into an elephant calf or python hatchling, while the other remains in the parental role. These parent Groot Slangs nurture their offspring with either milk or venom contingent on their respective species. The progeny thus nourished matures into independent entities capable of either leading solitary lives or integrating into communities of other Groot Slangs.
00:49:30
Speaker
this
Podcasting Reflections and Breaks
00:49:31
Speaker
unconventional reproductive process adds a distinctive and enigmatic dimension to the myth of the Grootslang. So I could, no, I couldn't ever figure out if it meant that like, so one of them splits into two and then they become like those two that it splits into are the babies or that like, Yeah, like a single-celled organism or a zygote or whatever splitting into two things. Yeah, so like you have the two parents, one of them splits into the babies and then like becomes the babies and now there's just a single parent. I don't know. That's a little confusing for me trying to figure out. So I was like, I'm just going to copy this and source it and not attempt to reword it because I don't understand.
00:50:25
Speaker
I don't know what you can source it against when you're trying to get good cryptid. I guess I could have looked up like what their sources were, but that was from midlock.com and that was the only place that it talked about their reproductive systems. but I could not verify. Interesting though. Yeah, I thought that was kind of different. Like it just like splits in two and then the other one becomes apparent. I love that. Just feel like, okay, I'm just going to become a useless baby now. You're going to take care of me. Is that mitosis or metamorphosis? Yeah. ah Yeah, I can't remember. It's been a long time since biology.
00:51:10
Speaker
But yeah, ah so that's all I got. That's the hole in the wall and the Groot slang that lives in a cave in the cave in the dirt. I don't know. I definitely remember hearing that name before, the Grootslang. It sounds familiar to me, definitely. but When I saw a picture, I was like, this looks familiar. But when I was looking at it, I was like, I don't really remember much about this, but the picture, it seemed like I had seen it before. so
00:51:42
Speaker
I still don't think it's one of those ones where I'm like, I don't know if I'll retain any of it. What does it look like? A snake? Okay. I got to look at a picture. I'm very visual. I still haven't been able to sign back into our, um, Just Google it. You don't need to go on the drive with Google. There are some great pictures. You gave me the password and I could sign it on my stupid tablet. I don't understand. I'm having such hard time signing into things on my stupid laptop. Anyway. Yeah, when you Google it, the pictures people have done are really well done. There's some really cool ones. No, I actually didn't Google it. I have groups laying open up here because that's how he looks like a weirdly skinny slash snakey elephant head dude. It's very um hard to process, but interesting.
00:52:41
Speaker
but Yeah, it's just like a lyger, a lion tiger. It's just like a snake had sex with a tentacled elephant. Yep. All right. Well, we've had some issues with the first recording stopping, but I think we're ready. This is where our typical break would fall in maybe. Yeah. So you guys can take a break, but we won't, maybe. Oh, no. And I've been having troubles putting the breaks in because I told Kelsey I can't get into the Google Drive. I'm a ah useless tentacle human being. I wish all my tentacles could do something. OK, so we'll take a quick break. Maybe you'll hear promo after this, and we'll be right back for my case.
00:53:38
Speaker
Sup creeps, and welcome to creepy confidential. Is Mothman really a supernatural force predicting impending doom? Did Apollo 11 really land on the moon in 1969? Did you find out if that was a cult that was living just two doors down that you waved to every single day when you got your mail? If these are the things you ponder when you should be sleeping, then I would like to welcome you to creepy confidential. I'm your host Noelle, your resident weirdo Wisconsinite. I open case files on my favorite cryptids, cults, conspiracies, and other worldly creepy with new cases, live broadcasts, and local lore. Some stories have been lost with time. Others are perhaps still happening today in your local communities, right up under your very creepy noses. So get ready creeps, it's creepy confidential.
00:54:46
Speaker
Well, all our long time listeners will definitely know that recording a podcast is not always easy. Nope. So ah you better believe like when we find something we like that we're going to probably stick to it and not look for anything else. um So yeah, that's one of the reasons why I love Senncaster. When we tried it, we were like, okay, finally I wanted to have the video And it's, what, up to 4K video, which is pretty effing cool. I can see every pour on Kelsey. No, I'm just kidding. I hope not.
00:55:29
Speaker
But it's a great video and like just really easy on this one. So like once we stopped recording on our our phones, so i just I was like, yeah, this is the this is the one for us. So even though sometimes our computers fuck up. It always it comes through for us in the end because ah we've never lost like a recording, knock on wood. And every time we've had to use it, it's just been really great and really easy. And everything's just recorded when we wanted to, which is, you know, it's a lot to ask for when you podcast as much as we do.
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's nice that each of us has our own separate audio recording that you can download and edit. So it makes when one of us is doing something or has something, it's easy. You can edit that out even with the other person was talking because you have two separate tracks that you can edit. Yeah, it's one of the reasons we love Zencaster. It definitely, it makes it a lot easier. And the audio quality is also a lot better um than any of the other things ah programs we tried using in the past. Yes, it is the best. So
Introduction to Nigerian Folklore
00:56:52
Speaker
go to zencaster.com slash pricing and use my code cryptic and you'll get 30% off your first month of any zencaster paid plan.
00:57:04
Speaker
We want you to have the same easy experiences we do for all our podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. Keep it cryptic.
00:57:17
Speaker
I have some folklore stories for y'all from Nigeria. Right now, I'm excited. I like the stories too. I knew you were doing stories, so I'm like, I'm going to do a cryptic this time.
00:57:34
Speaker
I love stories. They're fun to read and just all the things. I don't know. Although I do love a good cryptid. Yeah. I was like, it's my turn. I'll do a great turn. You do a great story. So much. I know we've hardly been to Africa in any of our episodes. No, I don't think so. I would love to go to Africa. Both my grandmother and my aunt at separate times lived in, one of them lived in Kenya and the other one lived somewhere else um in Africa. I think about four or five years each of them at different times. So I have a lot of stuff that's from Africa, like beaded stuff. I have um yeah i'm like
00:58:22
Speaker
ah like statues and figurines and like all these kind of things. But I would love and to be able to go there one day. Yeah, no kidding. And you're like, Oh, okay, this is where this came from. Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, the thing with me is I'm like, definitely would love to go there. What countries like people are like, I would love to go to Canada. I'm like, which part? It's such a big country. And then we like, sometimes say Africa, like it's one big country. And it's like, it's a big fucking continent. And it's like, where the hell would I want to go? Like, I don't know, Morocco, Egypt, like, I don't know, somewhere in the south, like Tanzania, Kenya, Nairobi, somewhere you can go see like the big five animals or whatever, like, yeah, everywhere. Yeah.
Nigerian Folktale of the King and Spider's Daughter
00:59:13
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I was like, I love the folktales. They're so fun. So I think we'll start with the, the longer one is called the woman with two skins. Oh, yeah. And this is they're all my Nigerian folktales. So, um, Excuse my poor pronunciation, I suppose. Right. um Yeah, even the name is like E-Y-A-M-B-A, so Ayamba.
00:59:55
Speaker
um Ayamba I of Calabar was a very powerful king. He fought and conquered all the surrounding countries, killing all the old men and women but the able-bodied men and girls he caught and brought back as slaves, and they worked on the farms until they died. Okay. Yeah, I forgot that sorted out so dark. I was like, yeah, we're off to a great start.
01:00:26
Speaker
Slaves everywhere. Okay. This king had 200 wives, but none of them had born a son to him. I think that's a you problem, buddy. but If you can't, you have sex with 200 women, not a single one of them gets pregnant. You're not using birth control. It's a you problem. But it's it's so funny how they always blame women for it when it's literally the guy that has to provide the Y chromosome or whatever. yeah
01:00:58
Speaker
You're like, okay, sure, it's my bad. His subjects, seeing that he was becoming an old man, begged him to marry one of the spider's daughters, as they always have plenty of children. um
01:01:16
Speaker
yeah These sisters be fertile.
01:01:22
Speaker
and spiders are they spiders like actual spiders i don't know it's a it's a fairy tale it's probably both right you're like are they just anthropomorphic or like that one dnd campaign i watch where the they're the one lady's like this spider woman and her character's name was lilith and she's like Oh, I have all these children and I can't keep a man, but yet I picked some bones out of my teeth last night. I wonder what happened to that guy I slept with. And she was like a really funny character. You eat all your days.
01:02:03
Speaker
Um, okay. as they always had plenty of children. But when the king saw the spider's daughter, he did not like her, as she was ugly, and the people said it was because her mother had had so many children at the same time. Ouch. Oh! I guess, as spiders typically do, right? I think so! You know, us humans don't have a litter, but yeah. um However, in order to please his people, he married the ugly girl and placed her among his other wives. Married the ugly one? I know, I'm just like, just try and read it, right? Like, it's so crazy. Yeah, they're mean like that. yeah But they all complained because she was so ugly and said she could not live with them.
01:02:58
Speaker
The king therefore built her a separate house for herself where she was given food and drink the same as the other wives. Sign me up. but I don't want to deal with 200s of your other spouses all the time. Like she gets to hold pentos, guest hosts to herself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The other ones probably have to share. You just you just bought yourself a whole house.
01:03:27
Speaker
Everyone jeered at her on account of her ugliness, but she was not really ugly, but beautiful as she was born with two skins. And at her birth, her mother was made to promise that she should never remove the ugly skin and until a certain time arrived saved only during the night and that she must put it on again before dawn. Oh, okay. Sorry, I have to breathe. Yeah, it's like, It reminds me of um the curse in Shrek or something, I don't know.
01:03:57
Speaker
yeah
01:04:00
Speaker
um Now the king's head wife knew this, his head wife, mind you, um and was very fearful lest the king should find it out and fall in love with the spider's daughter. so she went to a juju man and offered him 200 rods to make a potion that would make the king forget altogether that the spider's daughter was his wife i know that's already a little confusing because the spider's daughter is his wife i guess oh yeah he be he begged him to marry one of the spider's daughters the subject but she was too ugly
01:04:45
Speaker
um sorry this is the long one so it might be a little harder to understand um this the juju man finally consented to do after much heckling over the price for 350 rods and he made up some medicine which the head wife mixed with the king's food For some months, this had the effect of making the king forget the spider's daughter, and he used to pass quite close to her without recognizing her in any way. When four months had elapsed, it is weird, had elapsed and the king had not once sent for Adi Aha, for that was the name of the spider's daughter, she began to get tired and went back to her parents.
01:05:33
Speaker
Her father, the spider, then took to took her to another juju man who, by making spells and casting lots, very soon discovered that it was the king's head wife who had made the juju and had enchanted the king so that he would not look at the aha.
01:05:52
Speaker
He therefore told the spider that Adi Aha should give the king some medicine which he would prepare, which would make the king remember her. He prepared the medicine for which the spider had to pay a large sum of money. And that very day Adi Aha made a small dish of food into which she had placed the medicine and presented it to the king.
01:06:15
Speaker
Directly he had eaten the dish, his eyes were opened and he recognized his wife and told her to come to him that very evening. So in the afternoon, being very joyful, she went down to the river and washed. And when she returned, she put on her best cloth and went to the king's palace. Directly it was dark and all the lights were out. She pulled off her ugly skin and the king saw how beautiful she was and was very pleased with her. But when the cop crowed, Adi Aha pulled on her ugly skin again and went back to her own house. Ha ha.
01:06:52
Speaker
It's like someone like, you know how you're like, oh, you go for the night and you look so cute. And then the next morning you wake up and y'all your makeup, suddenly you get like raccoon fit. Yeah. I'm a small monster. And she's like, I got nothing. But then she has to pull on our gooey skin again.
01:07:12
Speaker
this walk of shame. um This she did for four nights running, always taking the ugly skin off in the dark and leaving before daylight in the morning. In course, in course of time to the great surprise of all the people, and particularly of the King's 200 wives, she gave birth to a son. But was surprised. But what surprised them most of all was that the that only one son was born, whereas her mother had always had a great many children at a time, generally about 50. I guess that's a spider aspect. Yeah. Lord. The king's head wife became more jealous than ever when Adi Aha had a son, so she went again to the Jiju man, and by giving him a large present, induced him to give her some medicine which would make the king sick and forget his son.
01:08:11
Speaker
And sad why don't you give him a potion that'll fucking make him have a baby with you? down They understand Procreation that But they put a lot of pressure on it. Oh Yeah, so funny and like listening to some of the podcast episode of the constant when they're like talking about how people used to try and figure out how like we knew that having sex made babies but they didn't quite understand like how much of a guy's berm was important and how much of the girl's egg was important they're like well even if you didn't have a girl there you know like they said some crazy ideas where they'd be like two sperms make a baby you know what i mean like we don't get it we're just stupid sometimes like it takes us a long time to figure some things out yeah
01:09:08
Speaker
Whether it's like the scientific side of a relationship or the emotional side. That's why we love folklore. Damn it, where was I?
01:09:26
Speaker
Make this, did we say make the king sick and forget his son? Yeah. Okay. Then the medicine would then make the king go to the Juju man who would tell him that it was his son who had made him sick as he wanted to reign instead of his father. The Juju man would also tell the king that if he wanted to recover, he must throw his son away into the water. Oh, no, leave the kids out of this. We'll just take your firstborn son. Thank you. ah Love God.
01:10:00
Speaker
And the king, when he had taken the medicine, went to the Juju man who told him everything has as had been arranged with the head wife. But at first the king did not want to destroy his son. Then his chief subjects begged him to throw his son away and said that perhaps in a year's time he might get another son. So the king at last agreed and threw his son into the river at which the mother grieved and cried bitterly. No fucking shit. Yeah. Then the head wife went again to the Juju man and got more medicine which made the king forget Adi Aha for three years during which time she was in mourning for her son. She then returned to her father and he got some more medicine from his Juju man which Adi Aha gave to the king and the king knew her and called her to him again.
01:10:53
Speaker
And she lived with him as before. Now the juju who had helped Adiaha's father, the spider, was a water juju and he was ready when the king threw his son into the water and saved his life and took him home and kept him alive. And the boy grew up very strong. I'm like, I understand. I've heard the term juju, but everything else is, it can be very confusing. You're like, what? I think I'm following. Okay, good. I'm not sure I am. After a time, Adiyaha gave birth to a daughter and her, the jealous wife, also persuaded the king to throw away. It took a longer time to persuade him, but at last he agreed and threw his daughter into the water too and forgot Adiyaha again.
01:11:43
Speaker
But the water juju was ready again, and when he had saved the little girl, he thought the time had arrived to punish the action of the jealous wife. So he went about amongst the head young men and persuaded them to hold a wrestling match in the marketplace every week. This was done, and the water juju told the king's son, who had become very strong, and was very like to his father in appearance, that he should go and wrestle, and that no one would be able to stand up before him. It was then arranged that there should be a grand wrestling match to which all the strongest men in the country were invited and the king promised to attend with his head wife. It's gonna be a fun title to have, I gotta to say.
01:12:31
Speaker
On the day of the match, the water juju told the king's son that he need not be in the least afraid and that his juju was so powerful that even the strongest and best wrestlers in the country would not be able to stand up against him for even a few minutes. He's gonna mike Tyson you bitch. No. But we did explain to rain what happened there because There's a D and&D character on a YouTube, or we watch, she's called Mike Baicha, who's named after Mike Tyson. Yeah. And Pat was like, did you know that's cause he bit off of Van Der Holyfield's ear? And I was like, I kind of forgot that. Yeah. Everybody jokes about it. They just make fun of his voice, but like, he crazy. Yeah. We use humor as such a defense mechanism here. Yeah. You're like, did you know about, do you remember?
01:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't think he bit off his entire fucking ear, but I'm like, okay. Yeah, it was like a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I'd rather take on Gordon Ramsay, who's another one in that fake D and&D campaign. We're like, these people might have played D and&D together, but they don't. It's fun though. um damn it okay and all the strongest men came and that's what she said when they saw the king's son who nobody knew they laughed and said who is this small boy he can have no chance against us but when they came to wrestle they very soon found that they were no match for him
01:14:12
Speaker
The boy was very strong indeed, beautifully made and good to look upon, and all the people were surprised to see how like he was to the king. After wrestling for the greater part of the day, the king's son was declared the winner, having thrown everyone who had stood up against him. In fact, some of his opponents had been badly hurt and had their arms or ribs broken owing to the the tremendous strength of the boy. After the match was over, the king presented him with cloth and money and invited him to dine with and inviteded him to dine with him in the evening. The boy gladly accepted his father's invitation and after he had had a good wash in the river, put on his cloth and went up to the palace where he found the head chiefs of the country and some of the king's most favorite wives. Then they sat down to their meal and the king had his own son whom he did not know sitting next to him.
01:15:06
Speaker
On the other side of the boy sat the jealous wife who had been the cause of all the trouble. All through the dinner, this woman did her best to make friends with the boy, with whom she had fallen violently in love on account of his beautiful appearance, his strength, and his being the best wrestler in the country. Ugh, don't fall in love with your husband's son. What the fuck?
01:15:33
Speaker
no So just and for me, the term violently in love made me think of ah ah Metallica and their lyrics that's like, I'm madly in anger with you on their St. Albert St. Anger St. Albert St. Anger album. Is that Gordo? Yeah. Very annoying. Gordo, we're almost done, bud. We got like two stories and this is the longest one.
01:16:08
Speaker
um the boy the woman thought to herself i will have this oh god boy as my husband no it just sounds weird i will have my stepson as my husband and yeah is that yeah that's right that's who she's talking about right yeah it's it's not great as my husband is now an old man and will surely soon die
01:16:38
Speaker
The boy, however, who was as wise as he was strong, was quite aware of everything the jealous woman had done, and although he pretended to be very flattered at the advances of the king's head wife, he did not respond very readily and went home as soon as he could.
01:16:56
Speaker
When he returned to the water juju's house, he told him everything that had happened, and the water juju said, as you are now in high favor with the king, you must go to him tomorrow and beg a favor from him. The favor ye will ask is that all the country shall be called together, and that a certain case shall be tried, and that when the case is finished, the man or woman who is found to be in the wrong shall be killed by the egg boss before all the people. i don't know if i'm saying that right So the following morning, the boy went to the king, who readily granted his request, and at once sent all around the country appointing a day for all the people to come and hear the case tried.
01:17:47
Speaker
Then the boy went back to the water juju, who had told him to go to his mother and tell her who he was, and that when the day of the trial arrived, she was to take off her ugly skin and appear in all her beauty, for the time had come when she need no longer wear it. This the son did." They just memorized all these stories. I don't know how. Yeah, it's like insane. I know, I forget what I'm talking about because it's not a story I know really well, yeah. When the day the trial arrived, Adi Aha sat in the corner of the square and nobody recognized the beautiful stranger, that's a Madonna song, as the spider's daughter. Her son then sat down next to her and brought his sister with him. Immediately his mother saw her, she said, this must be my daughter whom I've long mourned as dead and embraced her most affectionately.
01:18:43
Speaker
The king and his headwife then arrived and sat on their stones in the middle of the square, all the people saluting them with the usual greetings. The king then addressed the people and said that he had called them together to hear a strong palaver at the request of the young man who had been the victor of the wrestling, and who had promised that if the case went against him, he would offer up his life to the egg bow. The king also said that if on the other hand the case was decided in the boy's favor that the other party would be killed, even though it were himself or one of his wives. Whoever it was would have to take his or her place on the killing stone and have their heads cut off by the eggboats. To this all the people agreed and said they would like to hear what the young man had to say.
01:19:31
Speaker
Okay, because you guys have no stakes in the matter. Yeah, either way, somebody gonna die in front of you. Yeah, but not you guys. So you're like, whatever. Do it, do it. The young man then walked around the square and bowed to the king and the people and asked the question, am I not worthy to be the sung son of any chief in the country? And all the people answered, yes. The boy then brought his sister out into the middle leading her by the hand. She was a beautiful girl and well made." Great. I don't know. When everyone had looked at her, he said, is not my sister worthy to be any chief's daughter? And the people replied that she was worthy of being anyone's daughter, even the king's. Then he called his mother Adiaha. And she came out looking very beautiful with her best cloth and beads on, and all the people cheered as they had never seen a finer woman.
01:20:30
Speaker
The boy then asked them, is this woman worthy of being the king's wife? And a shout went up from every one present that she would be a proper wife for the king and looked as if she would be the mother of plenty of fine, healthy sons. It's her only worth, as we know. Yeah.
01:20:51
Speaker
Then the boy pointed out the jealous woman who was sitting next to the king and told the people his story, how that his mother, who had two skins, was the spider's daughter, how she had married the king and how the head wife was jealous and had made a bad juju for the king, which made him forget his wife, how she had persuaded the king to throw himself and his sister into the river, which as they all knew had been done, But the water juju had saved both of them and had brought them up. Then the boy said, I leave the king and all of you people to judge my case. If I have done wrong, let me be killed on the stone by the eggbows. If, on the other hand, the woman has done evil, then let the eggbows deal with her as you may decide." Sounds like witch trials, man. I don't know. Yeah.
01:21:45
Speaker
ah When the king knew that the wrestler was his son, he was very glad and told the eggboats to take the jealous woman away and punish her in accordance with their laws. He's like, I got 200 other wives. Why do I care about this? The other wife's just like, so nervous. um oh Yeah, the egg boss decided that the woman was a witch so they took her into the forest and tied her up to a stake and gave her 200 lashes with a whip made from hippopotamus hide and then burnt her alive so that she should not make any more trouble and her ashes were thrown into the river. Damn, that's hard. Right? 200 lashes. I think that's the most I've ever heard.
01:22:39
Speaker
My brain is all so unhappy, I'm like, oh, they tried to, yeah, have hippo, spell hippo, but it's on a, ah you know, as a trivia question the other day when I was listening to something. Anyway, my brain trying to cling to something happy.
01:22:59
Speaker
a Okay, so the king then embraced his wife and daughter and told all the people that she, Adiaha, was his proper wife and would be the queen for the future. When the palaver was over, Adiaha was dressed in fine clothes and beads and carried back in state to the palace by the king's servants. That night the king gave a big feast to all his subjects and told them how glad he was to get back his beautiful wife whom he had never known properly before, also his son who was stronger than all men and his fine daughter. The feast continued for 166 days and the king made a law that if any woman was found out getting medicine against her husband, she should be killed at once! Jesus! Oh my god!
01:23:50
Speaker
Why did I pick this one?
01:23:55
Speaker
Then the king built three new compounds and placed many slaves in them, both men and women. One compound he gave to his wife, another to his son son, and the third he gave to his daughter. They all lived together quite happily for some years until the king died when his son came to the throne and ruled in his dead. i forgot that
Episode Closing and Acknowledgments
01:24:14
Speaker
got all like colonizer yeah shit okay wait um i have also a short one called why the bat flies at night and i think that would be a better maybe one to end it on and then okay uh for patreon i'll save the disobedient daughter who married a skull
01:24:41
Speaker
Oh, I know they both sound good, right? OK, but the first one ended up being long shit. OK, so why the bat flies at night? A bush rat called Oyot.
01:24:57
Speaker
oh Is that just what they call bats, a bush rat? Oh, gosh, I don't know. I hoped it meant like prairie dog or something. Oh, OK. I mean, it does sound like it could be a horrible slang for like a ah prairie groupie or something. Or like, what do they call them? The ones that are um interested in the hockey players on like letter K and they're like, Oh, it's a puck bunny. You know? Yeah. That's where my mind went. Stupid.
01:25:34
Speaker
um A bush rat called Oyot was a great fit friend of Emyong the bat. They always fed together but the bat was jealous of jealous of the bush rat. When the bat cooked the food it was always very good and the bush rat said, how is it that when you make the soup it is so tasty? The bat replied, I always boil myself in the water and my flesh is so sweet that the soup is good. oh This reminds me of the sausage one with the sausage and the bird.
01:26:11
Speaker
I love fucking folktales, man. He then told the bush rat that he would show him how it was done. So he got a pot of warm water, which he told the bush rat was boiling water and he jumped into it. And very shortly afterwards came out again. When the soup was brought, it was as strong and good as usual as the bat had prepared it beforehand. He's such a gas lighter.
01:26:40
Speaker
You're just asking for the other thing to kill you. i like To make soup. I don't understand the purpose. ah The bush rat then went home and told his wife that he was going to make good soup like the bats. He therefore told her to boil some water, which she did. Then when his wife was not looking, he jumped into the pot and was very soon dead.
01:27:08
Speaker
this reminds me um freaking what is it disenchantment is that the one i was supposed to say hopefully not something real because this is very different now we're gonna get your me flavored water here me flavored water that dude that's always like in the fucking barrel with the water flavor on Yeah, rain would probably get through. I've watched that show a couple times because rain really loves it. And it's like, I yeah i get it because it's this seems like a guy. yeah Yeah. Yeah. There's a guy that like lives in a barrel outside of the bar and he's like me flavored water. cycles No.
01:27:51
Speaker
yes and she the main character has a little bit of an alcohol problem but oh and then there's a little bit of a demon oh yeah it's pretty funny um yeah that one was Pretty much it, other than... He just dies? He jumped into the pot! When his wife looked into the pot and saw the dead body of her husband boiling... What is her husband? She was like, hmm, don't waste the soup. Oh, he's a bush rat. Yeah, yeah, bush rat soup! She was very angry and reported the matter to the king, who gave orders that the bat should be made a prisoner.
01:28:38
Speaker
This is so American. Put him in jail. No. Yeah. You tricked my husband. No, my husband's dead. Put him in jail. Lock him up. Everyone turned out to catch the bat. everyone turned out to catch the bat but as they expected trouble he flew away into the bush and hit himself and all day long the people tried to catch him so he had to change his habits and only came out to feed when it was dark and that is why you never see a bat in the daytime because he's running like his sexual abuse charges no i don't know
01:29:18
Speaker
Because he's problematic and we're trying to cancel him. I don't even know anymore. Damn. That's why I just want, like even folklore, I'm just like, I just want something that's like, I don't have to think too much into it or like talk about how it needs to be politically correct. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you just want to like read something that's not heavy. So I love folk tales. Yeah. Thank you guys for letting me be lazy and just read some folk tales.com or whatever. Yeah. No, that was fun. so Okay, good. I love that style.
01:29:57
Speaker
You guys will have to check out our Patreon then for the last story. Yeah, do you want to know what it's called? I think you told us. Oh yeah I did. The disobedient daughter who married a skull. How punk rock is that? Yeah sounds cool. I know right? And that's the thing is like you can go and look up and there's like there'll be like a ton of folk tales and they all have really neat names so you'll be like oh yeah okay let me read a couple and like maybe pick one. Because sometimes they are really long. I know the first one was really long and so thank you for sticking through it but I thought it was a pretty good one so yeah I was like whatever.
01:30:35
Speaker
Anyway, yay, I may have a phone and we have this episode coming out this week. And then I don't know, I'm away when this comes out. So we'll see what we get recorded before the next week, maybe, and yeah check out our Patreon. Yeah, you guys can follow up. ah Yeah, we don't know for sure if we'll have an episode. We'll we'll try, but we we won't force ourselves because we won't be able to record yeah because this one comes down the second yeah we're so i i'll just be away visiting my family um on the east coast so we might not get to record until the week after but yeah our patreon will be coming out yeah that's there's plenty of episodes there to catch up on if you're not all
01:31:28
Speaker
caught up or if you're already all caught up with all of our regular episodes you can head over to patreon catch up on those no there's there's some really fun ones over there so yeah but yeah and if not we will see you next week so keep it cryptic yeah bye
01:32:09
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Castles Encrypteds. We love all our listeners and appreciate every subscriber, every new review, every listen, rate, and download. Our music is by Cobie Affair and our cover art is by Antonio Garcia. We are also a proud member of Darcast Network where you can find the best and spookiest of all indie podcasts. Follow us on social media where we are at Castles and Cryptids on mostly all of the things, now including TikTok. Check out our bonus content on Patreon. Cryptid clashes, video mini-sodes of your hosts making asses of themselves, Ask Me Anything, quizzes, other special episodes and more. Starting at just $2 a month, you can get one to two extra episodes depending on your level.
01:32:55
Speaker
We produce, edit, and research everything ourselves, and any support you can lend helps us to keep it cryptic.