Lore 279: Singular

Even the brightest members of the fairytale world have dark and shadowy origins. In fact, one particular medieval beast developed a terrifying reputation that is still a part of our world today. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Jamie Vargas, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources: Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com https://www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE http://www.betterhelp.com/lore, and get on your way to being your best self. Mint Mobile: For a limited time, wireless plans from Mint Mobile are $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month plan with UNLIMITED talk, text and data at MintMobile.com/lore http://www.mintmobile.com/lore. Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore http://squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. StoryWorth: Give the gift of precious memories with StoryWorth. Go to StoryWorth.com/lore https://www.storyworth.com/lore and save $10 on your first purchase. To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to [email protected] mailto:[email protected] with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code PODCAST for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Breathe in and reset with Lincoln Rejuvenate. An available multisensory feature in the 2027 Lincoln Navigator SUV. Experience the luxurious massage, visuals, and sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit Lincoln.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate does not operate unless the vehicle is in park, when the vehicle is off, or if any doors open. Do not use the feature in a closed garage or in other enclosed areas. See owner's manual for important operating instructions. Lincoln and Navigator are trademarks of Ford or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

• 1:10Aaron Mahnke?

  There are always patterns. If you stare long enough at the pages of history, you're bound to spot them as well. The yo-yo between peace and war. The rise of abusive rulers and the people who tear them down. And the countless moments when people looked at the world around them and completely got it wrong. From ancient peoples who believed the stars were pinpricks in an otherwise solid, snow globe-like dome, to not-so-ancient New Englanders mistaking tuberculosis for vampirism. Sometimes misunderstandings can lead to stories far more fantastical than the truth. And few places contain more delightful mistakes than medieval bestiaries.

• 1:50Aaron Mahnke?

  For the unfamiliar, bestiaries were compendiums of creatures both real and imagined. Basically, they were encyclopedias of every known animal in the popular imagination. And while these books have been around since antiquity, they became really popular during the Middle Ages when monks spent their days hunched Over illuminated manuscripts. The texts included both written and illustrated depictions of each animal, blending Christian allegory with real zoological facts. Well, sort of. You see, these monks had one tiny problem. Having spent their lives cloistered in European abbeys, they hadn't actually seen most of these creatures, which led to some inventive entries.

• 2:33Aaron Mahnke?

  For example, male goats were considered to be so lustful that their blood could literally melt diamonds. And hedgehogs? The reason they had spikes, they believed, was so that they could roll in a pile of grapes, get a grape stuck on each spike, and then waddle home to feed those grapes to their children. Honestly, countless medieval drawings of hedgehogs show them absolutely covered in grapes. Do yourself a favor and look it up. From beavers and snakes to bats and goats, sometimes the myth of an animal can outshadow their reality. But of all creatures great and small, none have strayed further from their truthful origins than one very pointed icon. Everyone's favorite: the unicorn.

• 3:17Aaron Mahnke?

  I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

• 3:35Aaron Mahnke?

  When I say the word unicorn, it probably evokes an elusive feminine horse, glowing white as if drenched in moonlight. Maybe a glittery shimmer wafts up from its mane. Perhaps it even has a cartoonish pair of eyelashes, which it bats while tossing its head. Ahead sporting, of course, a single, long, spiraled pearl-white horn. What you probably don't imagine is a dragon-headed horse that may or may not include the mouth of a crocodile, a lion's nose, ears like a dog, a deer's cloven hooves, fish scales, and a mustache. And yet, in Vietnamese folklore, that's exactly how unicorns are described. They're called quay li or lan. And as if that jigsaw...

• 4:20Aaron Mahnke?

  A puzzle of features weren't enough to keep track of, the quaili can also shapeshift, appearing in different forms to different people. But don't worry, they're benevolent creatures, bringing good luck and happiness. In Japan, there are two versions of the unicorn, the kedain and the sinyu. While the kedain is shy and docile, the sinyu can literally tell if a person is innocent or guilty of wrongdoing, just by looking at them. And you better hope this thing doesn't find you guilty, because if it does, it uses its horn to spear you through the heart. In Chinese mythology, there's the qiling, and it honestly sounds breathtaking, with a blend of red, yellow, blue, white, and black fur on its back, and a dark yellow belly.

• 5:03Aaron Mahnke?

  It, like the quaili, has a dragon's head, and sometimes the green scales of a fish. It might have a deer's body, or even a tiger's. Oh, and by the way, in some cases, the Chinese unicorn's horn doesn't point straight up, but curves backward over its head. And did I mention, it can fly? In the stories, qiling are wise and gentle. They cause no harm to any living creature, even refusing to walk over living grass so as not to crush it underfoot. But the most exciting thing about them, well, that has to be their habit of appearing at the births and deaths of great rulers. According to legend, there was a young couple who desperately wanted a son, and so the woman decided to journey to a holy shrine in the mountains to pray for one.

• 5:47Aaron Mahnke?

  On her way, she met a qiling, who gave her a gift. It was a jade tablet, and engraved upon it was a prophecy. It said, "The son of the essence of water shall succeed to the withering Chu, and he will become a throneless king." Soon after, the woman gave birth to a son. She named him Kung Fu Cze, which means "the essence of water." But today, we remember him by a different name. We call him Confucius. Moving west, the biblical mythology had its own version of the unicorn. You've probably heard the story about unicorns in Noah's Ark. How Noah invited them aboard, but they refused, too busy frolicking at some kind of raging unicorn party.

• 6:29Aaron Mahnke?

  When the waters rose, they drowned, which is why we have no unicorns today. There are other versions of this story, though. In one, Noah figured that he couldn't take both the unicorns and the lions on the ark because they were known enemies and would be a total nightmare together on a closed ship. Rather than have them fight the whole time, he decided to save the lions and leave the unicorns to die. In another version, this time from Ukrainian folklore, Noah did invite them on board, only for the unicorns to say, "Thanks, but we'd rather swim." And impressively, that's exactly what they did, through all forty days and forty nights of the storm. When the skies finally cleared, there were unicorns casually treading water alongside the boat.

• 7:12Aaron Mahnke?

  It was all well and good, until the birds that had been sheltering on the ark reemerged and perched on the unicorns' horns, accidentally drowning them. And of course, the unicorns of Western Europe have a rich legend all their own. And surely, these must be these snow-white horses with pearly horns that we all know and love, right? Well, not exactly. Think less Twilight Sparkle and more a murderous, bellowing beast with the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, and a long, black horn. That's right, European unicorns weren't always the glittery girl's best friend we know them as today, and they weren't always imaginary either. In fact, for many centuries, unicorns were believed to be all too real.

• 7:54Aaron Mahnke?

  The earliest surviving record of what would become our modern unicorn comes from the Greek historian Herodotus way back in the 5th century BCE. Except, well, he doesn't exactly use the word unicorn. No, Herodotus mentions Libyan animals that he refers to as "horned asses." Not quite as romantic, I know. A few decades later, another Greek by the name of Tezius mentions them again, and he's the one to really put the unicorn on the map. Because Tezius doesn't just name-drop the one-horned creature. No, he- ...provides an in-depth description of the thing. "They are in India," he writes, "certain wild asses which are as large as horses and larger. Their bodies are white, their heads are dark red, and their eyes dark blue.

• 8:37Aaron Mahnke?

  They have a horn on the forehead which is about a foot and a half in length. The base of this horn is pure white, and the upper part is sharp and a vivid crimson, and the remainder, or middle portion, is black." And then he goes on to warn, "The animal is exceedingly swift and powerful, so that no creature, neither the horse nor any other, can overtake it." Now, I'll admit, Tzsius had never exactly seen this fantastical animal himself, but he trusted the Persian officials who told him about it, and he had seen a cup allegedly made from its horn. Proof enough, right? A century later, another Greek historian by the name of Megesthenes actually did visit India, and he described seeing something similar, this time featuring a boar's tail

• 9:21Aaron Mahnke?

  and an elephant's feet. Even Aristotle mentions, and I quote, "an Indian ass with," you guessed it, "one single protruding horn." And of course, no ancient creature feature would be complete without a word from good old Pliny the Elder. Pliny, too, describes an elephant-footed, boar-tailed beast with a horse-like body that, in his words, "cannot be taken alive." And thankfully, by this time, he has a better name for it than the horned Indian ass. He calls it the monosaurus. And, look, I know what you're thinking, a fierce giant animal with elephant-like feet, a bristly tail, and a big black horn that lives in India? This monosaurus is starting to sound a whole lot like a rhinoceros.

• 10:05Aaron Mahnke?

  And there's a good reason for that, because most historians believe that what all these early scholars were describing was actually none other than the Indian rhino. Yep, it turns out that unicorns have been real all along, and you've probably seen one of them at the zoo. They just look a little different than you might have thought.

• 10:37Aaron Mahnke?

  From the beloved Lisa Frank stickers of the 1990s to the Starbucks unicorn frappuccino introduced in 2017, unicorns are all the rage in pop culture. But how did a raging rhinoceros transform into a doe-eyed glittering rainbow machine? Well, basically through a centuries-long game of telephone. Over time, the "body of a horse" description got more and more literal, until eventually we land at Walt Disney's 1940 film Fantasia. This first introduced the idea of prancing feminine unicorns with pink, blue, or lavender fur, and people went wild for this horse of a different color. Fast forward to 1983, when Hasbro let My Little Pony out of the stables for the first

• 11:21Aaron Mahnke?

  time, and suddenly we were in a full-blown unicorn craze. Heck, even Barbie had a unicorn companion. By marketing to little girls, this one-horned wonder had officially become a cash cow, or should I say, a cash rhino. But honestly, if you think that we're obsessed with unicorns, you clearly haven't been to medieval Europe, because no one went more bonkers for unicorns than those folks. You see, it was during the medieval period when the pearly-white spiral-horned image really took root. And when I say "took root," I mean this thing was everywhere. There were unicorns carved into medieval pews and church altars, unicorns chiseled into stone walls, mosaics and stained glass windows, and even intricate tapestries.

• 12:06Aaron Mahnke?

  Bards recited verse upon verse of unicorn-themed poetry, there were unicorn songs and paintings, they were even depicted in official heraldry. Now, it's important to remember that in the medieval period, unicorns weren't just random animals, they had a specific story attached to them. It was called the virgin capture story, and, well, it might be easier to show you than to tell you. You see, one of the best examples of the virgin capture is depicted on the famous unicorn tapestries currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York City. Created around the year 1500, the tapestry... consist of seven panels which together tell the chronological tale. Basically, it's a giant medieval comic book.

• 12:48Aaron Mahnke?

  In the first panel, a group of men and their dogs enter a lush forest to hunt. They're wearing feathered caps and little striped skirts with red tights underneath. You know, standard hunting outfits, which nicely complement the sharpened spears in their hands. In the second panel, the men approach a fountain, and there, with its horn dipped in the water, is a unicorn. Now, the horn in the fountain bit is important because an essential part of unicorn folklore back then was that their horns had the power to purify water. This was before the days of Brita filters, after all, unicorn filtration would have to do. Everything for a moment is peaceful and serene, at least until the third panel begins, and the hunting party attacks.

• 13:31Aaron Mahnke?

  The unicorn attempts to flee, and in the fourth panel, it fights back, skewering a hunting dog on its horn while kicking a hunter with its hind legs. For a moment, it looks like it might just get away, but then, the fifth panel arrives. And it's here that we meet the real protagonist of the virgin capture story. That is, the virgin. A virtuous young maiden arrives, and her very presence has tamed the beast entirely. But if you think the maiden is there to protect the creature, think again. No, she's only distracting it, allowing the hunters to strike, which in panel six is exactly what they do. The unicorn is at last killed, and with that, it's brought back to the castle, until finally we arrive at panel seven.

• 14:13Aaron Mahnke?

  Just like any good horror story, this one ends with a twist. Because you see in this final panel, we see the unicorn caged within a circular fence, still bloodied but very much alive. Somehow, the magical creature has come back to life. And that, my friends, is the gist of the virgin capture. Just about every medieval unicorn depiction examines the same tale. Hunters fail to capture the un-capturable beast, they send a virgin into the woods to tame it, because, after all, everyone knows that only a virgin can tame a unicorn. The beast trusts her, and laying its head in her lap is then betrayed, attacked and killed by the hunting party, waiting in the wings. It is an odd little tale, and different historians interpret it in different ways.

• 14:58Aaron Mahnke?

  In fact, even during the Middle Ages, the virgin capture story tended to represent three different things, depending on who was telling the story. In some cases, it was a romantic allegory. Just like any pop song today, most secular writing in art back then was about the trials and tribulations of heartache, and artists soon realized that the unicorn story was a perfect metaphor for courtly love. A specific, multi-stepped courting process that men were required to follow to win over a lady. There were, of course, many other interpretations. The creature might have had just one singular horn, but it was layered with metaphor. Honestly, it turns the old tales into puzzles of a sort, and they aren't always easy to solve.

• 15:40Aaron Mahnke?

  But one thing we know for certain is this: While scholars could argue all day over the allegorical meaning of the unicorn in art, plenty of people still believed that they were literally real. And if unicorns were real, their magical, purifying horns must be as well. Horns that people would do just about anything to get their hands on.

• 16:12Aaron Mahnke?

  Maybe he had found it washed up on the beach. Maybe he acquired it in trade with Inuit travelers. Whatever the case, in 1,000 AD, somewhere off the shores of Greenland, one Viking scored a real doozy of a treasure. It was a narwhal tusk, and it's somewhere between 1.5 to 3 meters long, with a spiraling pattern curling down the ivory, it sure looked a lot like, well, let's just say, another kind of horn. Now, sure, the Viking would have known that it belonged to a narwhal. After all, he would have seen all sorts of remote creatures in his seafaring days. But do you know who didn't know that it was a narwhal tusk, and in fact, wasn't aware that narwhals even existed?

• 16:54Aaron Mahnke?

  The European who the Vikings sold the thing to, promising that it had come from none other than a unicorn. But little did that Viking know, his one small swindle was about to explode into a worldwide hoax involving kings, queens, and even the Pope. You see, it wasn't just that one European customer who hadn't heard of narwhals. Most of Europe in general hadn't either, and you can't blame them. After all, these splotchy whales with one single long tooth lived deep in the icy Arctic, far away from civilization. Oh, and by the way, the name narwhal, it comes from the Norwegian nar and val, which together literally translate into corpse whale. Why?

• 17:36Aaron Mahnke?

  Well, it was thought that their splotchy skin resembled that of a drowned sailor. Just another fun fact for you to whip out at parties. You're welcome. Anyway, when the European trader returned with his new prize in tow, the people of Europe went berserk. Everyone wanted a unicorn horn, and where there's demand, supply will follow. Soon enough, the kings of Denmark caught word of what was going on and saw an opportunity. You see, these guys already knew about narwhals. Up north as they were, they even had access to them. And where before they had only seen creepy whales that looked like rotting corpses, they now saw something else: money. The match had been struck. The great unicorn horn boom had begun.

• 18:18Aaron Mahnke?

  Before long, these unicorn horns, and I say that with major air quotes, were worth more than 10 times their weight in gold. By the 1500s, a single complete horn was worth more than an entire town. In fact, Denmark grew so wealthy selling them that their royal family even built a lavish throne plated with unicorn horns. Basically, it was a very expensive way to laugh at how gullible the rest of Europe was, which of course went right over Europe's head. Now, I know what you're thinking. Sure, unicorn horns sound cool and all, but why were they so coveted? Well, it all goes back to the folklore. Remember how in the virgin capture story, the unicorn would purify water with its horn?

• 18:59Aaron Mahnke?

  Well, it turns out that it wasn't just water that could be purified, but the human body. Basically, unicorn horn was believed to be a cure-all. In the 16th century, everything from fever to rabies to, and I quote, worms within- The body from which children faint could be treated with a sprinkle of powdered unicorn horn. Heck, it was even an aphrodisiac. Not to mention the fact that impure water often led to typhoid or dysentery, so a magical water cleansing horn was pretty handy. But there was one final feature that pushed it over the edge from a simple medicine to a must-have for kings and queens. And I'll let our old friend Tezius tell you about it. Way back in around 400 B.C.

• 19:40Aaron Mahnke?

  he wrote, "Those who drink out of these horns made into drinking vessels are immune even to poisons." So, there you go. If you were worried about being poisoned, all you had to do was drink all of your beverages out of a unicorn horn cup. Which was a big deal, honestly, because during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, leaders were being poisoned left and right. It wasn't uncommon for rulers to be assassinated through food or drink tampering, falling dead right there at the dinner table. Unicorn horn, or alicorn as they called it, may have been costly, but what price won't a monarch pay to keep their throne and their life? Now, big shout out to historians because we actually have quite a robust record of which royals purchased unicorn horns.

• 20:24Aaron Mahnke?

  For example, we know that in 1533, Pope Clement VII gifted King Francis I of France with a unicorn horn mounted in solid gold. Ivan the Terrible had a unicorn staff, while the Royal Hapsburg family had a scepter, both of which were absolutely covered in precious gems. King Philip II of Spain owned not one, but 12 unicorn horns. I guess he really wasn't taking any chances. And of course, Queen Elizabeth I, after learning that her enemy Mary, Queen of Scots, had obtained a unicorn horn, wouldn't be outdone, so she bought two. Today, one of those horns, known as the Horn of Windsor, is still around, and it's parts of England's crown jewels.

• 21:05Aaron Mahnke?

  Oh, and the Queen also drank regularly from an alicorn drinking cup, which she was convinced would, if tainted with poison, just straight up explode. But I think my favorite is the grisly story of when King James I of England purchased a horn. King James was no fool, and wasn't just going to believe- that some random piece of bone had magical powers. And so he forced a servant to drink deadly poison, followed by some of the powdered unicorn horn. And let's just say, things did not end great for that servant. But if you think that that woke King James up to the fact that this whole thing was a hoax, you would be wrong. No, he was only angry that someone had sold him a fake horn, rather than an authentic specimen like other rulers had.

• 21:49Aaron Mahnke?

  But alas, nothing gold can stay. The alicorn boom had to fizzle out eventually. And in the end, its collapse was the fault of one single man. His name, and I swear I am not making this up, was Ol Worm. He was a Danish naturalist, physician, and bone expert. And he eventually founded a respected archive called the Museum Wormanium. Seriously, this is all real. For years, Ol Worm had watched his country scam the rest of Europe. And as a man of science, that was probably super annoying. Eventually, he was tasked with investigating the alicorn industry. And at the conclusion of his research, he decided enough was enough. The lies had to stop. And so Ol Worm gathered the public, climbed up on stage,

• 22:33Aaron Mahnke?

  and told everyone about the existence of Arctic narwhals. Perhaps the crowd was skeptical at first, but they wouldn't be for long. Because for his grand finale, Ol Worm presented his audience with a narwhal skull, with a horn still clearly attached. And with that, it was over. The age of the unicorn horn had finally come to an end.

• 23:03Aaron Mahnke?

  A Greek historian tries to describe a rhinoceros. Then a woodworker in a medieval church carves a horse-like creature into the walls. A weaver makes steady progress on a colorful tapestry. And suddenly, centuries have passed, and a little kid is braiding the blue plasticine hair of a toy unicorn named Izzy Moonbow. It may seem like quite a transformation, but actually, the unicorn retains more of its origins than you might think, hidden beneath the surface. For example, I can't help but I wonder if the modern link between unicorns and girlhood is simply a watered-down version of the virgin capture narrative. Maybe that medieval belief that only young maidens could tame a unicorn simply evolved

• 23:45Aaron Mahnke?

  into an association with young girls and unicorns in general. There are still lingering remnants of the alicorn trade, too. Images of unicorns continue to adorn any number of chemist shops scattered around Europe, including over the entrance of London's Apothecary's Hall. Even Ol Worm himself found his way into the present, when H.P. Lovecraft based a character on him named Olus Wormius. And then, of course, there are the bronies, a term for diehard fans of the animated series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. But would you believe me if I told you that this fandom might just be a present-day version of those long-gone kings and queens desperate for an alicorn cup? According to Dr.

• 24:26Aaron Mahnke?

  Marsha Redden, who contributed to a study on the "Brony phenomenon," the rise of My Little Pony's popularity among adults may have a lot to do with death. You see, Dr. Redden noticed that the "Brony fandom" peaked in the early 2010s, a decade into America's seemingly endless war on terror. People were, in Dr. Redden's words, "tired of being afraid," and here was a world of sparkly pink unicorns, ponies, and pegasus to escape into. In other words, just like the royals of the 16th century, who were terrified there might be poison in their cup, people are still, to this very day, turning to the magic of unicorns, because it makes them feel safe.

• 25:19Aaron Mahnke?

  It's clear that sometimes what may seem like sugar and spice and everything nice might actually be anything but. And as it turns out, unicorns aren't the only childhood figures with a secret past. In fact, I have one more story to share, and it reveals the sinister underbelly of one of folklore's favorite symbols of innocence. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Mental health awareness is growing, but there's still progress to be made. 26% of Americans who participated in a recent survey say they have avoided seeking mental health support due to fear of judgment. When people hesitate to get help, it doesn't just affect them, it impacts families, workplaces, and entire communities.

• 26:01Aaron Mahnke?

  So, this Mental Health Awareness Month, let's encourage everyone to take care of their well-being and break the stigma. After all, the world is better when people are healthy and happy. I know how important and helpful therapy can be, and it isn't just for folks who have experienced major trauma. Therapy is helpful for learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries in your life. It can empower you to be the best version of yourself. BetterHelp has over 10 years of experience matching people with the right therapist from their diverse network of more than 30,000 licensed therapists with a wide range of specialties. BetterHelp is fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide. And you can easily switch therapists anytime, at no extra cost. We're all better with help.

• 26:45Aaron Mahnke?

  Visit betterhelp.com/lore to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P, dot com slash lore. This episode was also sponsored by Mint Mobile. Summer is just around the corner, and the folks over at Mint Mobile have a hot take. Getting a summer bod is out, and getting your savings bod is in. This spring and summer, we want skimpy wireless bills and fat wallets, and with premium wireless plans for just 15 bucks a month, you can have both without breaking a sweat or the bank. Say bye-bye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw-dropping monthly bills, and unexpected overages. Mint Mobile is here to rescue you. All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

• 27:28Aaron Mahnke?

  You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. Ditch overpriced wireless with Mint Mobile's limited-time deal and get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at mintmobile.com/lore. That's mintmobile.com/lore. Upfront payment of $45. For three month five gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 per month. New customer offer for first three months only then full price plan options available taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. This episode was also sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business.

• 28:12Aaron Mahnke?

  Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain showcase your offerings with a professional website. Grow your brand and get paid all in one place. As a former freelance graphic designer, I know firsthand how tough it can be to craft a brand and a website that wows customers. But Squarespace makes it so incredibly easy. You can get paid on time with professional on brand invoices and online payments. Streamline your workflow with built in appointment scheduling. They even have email marketing tools and the actual building of your website. Well, Squarespace has cutting edge tools that are meant to give you the boost you need to craft a beautiful site around you and your brand. Gorgeous templates, drag and drop editing and personalized design recommendations. They will help you look so, so good.

• 28:53Aaron Mahnke?

  Plus Squarespace domains makes it easy to find the best name for your business at one fair, all inclusive price. No hidden fees or add ons required. And every Squarespace domain comes with advanced privacy and security tools to ensure your domain remains online and protected. Get started today. Head over to Squarespace.com slash lore for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Squarespace, build something beautiful. And finally, this episode was sponsored by Story Worth. I want to make Mother's Day extra special for my mom this year. That's why I'm giving her a unique heartfelt gift that will truly make her feel loved. It's called Story Worth. Here's how it works. Each week Story Worth emails your loved one a thought provoking question that you get to help pick.

• 29:38Aaron Mahnke?

  Questions like, did you ever get in trouble in high school? Or how did you decide how many children to have? All your loved one needs to do is respond to that email with a story. Long or short, it doesn't matter. They can either write the story or record it over the phone for Story Worth to transcribe. Then you'll be emailed a copy of your loved one's response as they're submitted over the course of a year. After that year of fun, Story Worth compiles your loved Stories and photos into a beautiful keepsake hardcover book that you'll be able to share and revisit for generations to come. I've really been enjoying the weekly writing prompts and it's been fun to know that they'll all be collected into a gorgeous hardcover book. I plan to give one to each of my kids. Families love Story Worth. That's why it has more than 40,000 five-star reviews on TrustPilot with millions of stories

• 30:23Aaron Mahnke?

  preserved since they were founded over 10 years ago. Give all the moms in your life a unique heartfelt gift you'll all cherish for years. Story Worth. Right now, save $10 on your first purchase when you go to storyworth.com/lor. That's storyworth.com/lor to save $10 on your first purchase.

• 30:51Aaron Mahnke?

  The djinn was furious. After all, he had held the beautiful princess prisoner for 25 years, and now, a mere human man had snuck in and seduced her. So, of course, both humans would have to be punished. First, the powerful djinn dealt with the princess, cutting off the woman's hands, feet, and head. And then he turned to her unfortunate lover and offered him a choice. "What animal," the djinn asked, "would he like to be transformed into?" When the fellow refused to decide, the djinn had no problem making the call for him. "Quit that shape," he said, "and take thou the shape of an ape." And with that, the djinn doused the man with a pinch of magical dust, and voila, he became an ape. It seems that a sprinkle of fairy dust can go a long way.

• 31:36Aaron Mahnke?

  Yes, it can turn men into apes like in the second Calendars tale from 1,001 Nights, but it can also heal wounds and reveal secrets, or transform pumpkins into carriages and send a gaggle of children soaring over the streets of London. And, most essential of all, even just a pinch of it has the power to make dreams come true. At least, that's what the stories tell us. But have you ever wondered what exactly fairy dust is and why fairies became associated with such a banal substance as dust to begin with? Well, first of all, like unicorns, fairy dust wasn't always the cutesy glitter stuffed into cosmetics and bath bombs that we know today. It wasn't even the gold and silver sparkle that Tinker Bell leaves in her wake.

• 32:18Aaron Mahnke?

  No, that modern association of fairy dust with childhood was popularized by J M Barrie himself in the 1904 play and later the novel Peter Pan. Then when Peter Pan made it to the silver screen in Disney's 1953 adaptation, they even renamed fairy dust as pixie dust, which has been used interchangeably ever since. But the original fairy dust, well, it has a little less to do with childhood innocence and a lot more to do with the dead, and it all begins with the Sandman. Now, you probably know him from the graphic novels or the upbeat 1950s doo-wop song. But the original Sandman was a character in European folklore.

• 32:59Aaron Mahnke?

  He was known for visiting children at night and sprinkling magic sand into their eyes, which gave them dreams and good rest. But not all incarnations of this tale were quite so charming. For example, in Scandinavian folklore, the Sandman was known as Lakoya or the Eye-Closer, and he didn't just lull children off to sleep. No, this Sandman was a fairy who would punish children who stayed up too late. How? By rubbing sand in their eyes until their eyes popped out, of course. Not to let a perfectly good eyeball go to waste, he would then collect the children's eyes and take them back to his home on the crescent moon, where he would feed them to his own children. See? Doesn't that make you feel sleepy just thinking about it?

• 33:43Aaron Mahnke?

  Now, to be fair, not all fairy dust lore is quite so grisly. Some folklorists point to fairy status as nosey domestic sprites when explaining how fairy dust came to be. That is, fairies were creatures who might engage in a bit of dusting and sweeping around the house from time to time, potentially causing them to become associated with dust. Take the scene from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in which the fairy Puck enters the stage with a broom and says, "I am sent with broom before to sweep the dust behind the door." But then again, it isn't long before digging up the dirt on fairy dust brings us right back to the realms of horror. Many English and Scottish fairy stories include the idea that if a human

• 34:26Aaron Mahnke?

  visiting fairy land returns to the earthly realm, they will burst into, you guessed it, dust. Beloved folklorist Catherine Mary Briggs explains it best. "The suggestion behind all these stories," she wrote, "is that fairy land is a world of the dead, and that those who entered it had long been dead, and carried back with them an illusory body which crumbled into dust when they met reality." So, hey, the next time you contemplate death, try to remember how intertwined it is with those ancient tales of fairy powder. After all, our human existence has often been described as ashes to ashes, dust to dust. So may all of us find a way, in between those bookends, to add a bit of magic.

• 35:25Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercutt, research by Jamie Vargas, and music by Chad Lawson. Don't like hearing the ads? I've got a solution for you. There is a paid version of Lore on Apple Podcasts and Patreon that is 100% ad-free. Plus, subscribers there also get weekly bonus episodes that we call Lore Bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling, and a great way to support the show and the team behind it. Lore is, of course, much more than just a podcast. There's the book series available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the television show on Amazon Prime. Information about all of that and more is available over at lorepodcast.com. And you can follow this show on various social media platforms like

• 36:08Aaron Mahnke?

  Blue Sky or YouTube. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.

• 36:31Speaker 03

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of 5-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 37:02Speaker 04

  What's that?

• 37:03Speaker 05

  My fresh detector.

• 37:04Speaker 04

  Uh, your what?

• 37:05Speaker 05

  There it is.

• 37:06Speaker 04

  What is it detecting?

• 37:08Speaker 05

  Fresh produce, fresh meat.

• 37:11Speaker 04

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 37:16Speaker 05

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 37:18Speaker 04

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices. When your fresh detector is going off, head to your local Food Lion or shop at foodlion.com.