Episode 186: Mythological Dogs (Boston Museum of Science Virtual Live Show)
/Who’s a good boy?! Apparently, there’s a lot of good pups across the world and throughout history. Julia takes Amanda and Eric on a tour of the best dogs of mythology as part of the Boston Museum of Science’s Virtual Happy Hour series.
Find the slideshow for this episode here!
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, hell, murder of women and children, ear disease, beheading, disease/plague, natural disasters, war, imprisonment, dismemberment, animal attack, and implied suicide.
Housekeeping
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- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends the podcast, What a Day. Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Merch: Our new pins, digital coloring book, and posters are all for sale at http://spiritspodcast.com/merch!
- Multitude: Our resource on fiction podcast production is now available at http://multitude.productions/resources!
Sponsors
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Transcript
Amanda: Welcome to Spirits, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I’m Amanda.
Julia: And I’m Julia.
Amanda: And this is episode 186: Mythological Dogs Live from the Boston Museum of Science, but on the internet!
Julia: But on the internet! Yeah, this was supposed to be a in-person live show, but unfortunately, because of the pandemic, we weren’t able to get to the Museum of Science, but we were so grateful that they were willing to have us do a virtual show instead because it meant a lot of the people on the internet got to come that wouldn’t have been able to.
Amanda: It was extremely fun. I think it’s still a very good show--in audio, not just in video--and thank you, again, to the museum for having us! We hope to make it in-person soon.
Julia: Yes. Hopefully.
Amanda: And when we do, Julia, I know that I would love to walk through a museum with our newest Patrons: Rebecca, Afternoon Star, FroodyChick, and The Lovely Loveless. Along with our Supporting Producer level Patrons, who always have a favorite exhibit that they want to take you to and describe exactly what it is they love about it, Megan Moon, Keegan, Landon, Baz, Mr. Folk, Jen, Hannah, Alicia, Sarah, Niki, Megan, Debra, Molly, Skyla, Samantha, Neal, Jessica, and Phil Fresh. And, Julia, those Legend level Patrons, who are the equivalent of people who have wings named after them in museums, but they’re not often terrible racists, which is great!
Julia: No, they are definitely not.
Amanda: Jordan, Donald, Eden, Drew, Avonlea, Ashelia, Chelsea, Clara, Frances, Josie, Kylie, Morgan, Bea Me Up Scotty, Audra, Chris, Mark, Sarah, and Jack Marie.
Julia: We love you all. Very much. Very, very much. We’ll put up statues of you one day.
Amanda: I love that, and, Julia, remind us what we were drinking during this episode. Very themed.
Julia; So I made us Salty Dogs, which actually is a callback to a cocktail that I made for the Selkies and Kelpies episode all those years ago.
Amanda: Ah, so early.
Julia: So it was nice to kind of revisit it.
Amanda: Fantastic.
Julia: Amanda, what else has been fantastic in your life? What have you been listening to, reading, watching?
Amanda: Well, I would love to recommend, to the conspirators this week, What a Day, which is a podcast co-hosted by my friend, Akilah Hughes, and it is a fantastic, short, daily news podcast that somehow is both a really realistic and unflinching look at what’s happening, but also leaves me feeling empowered and like I am motivated to do something like I know something that I didn’t know before. Akilah’s absolutely fantastic, she also wrote a book that you can pick up, we’re going to put it in our bookshop.org list at spiritspodcast.com/books, but she is great, her podcast is great, and you should listen to What a Day.
Julia: Yeah, Akilah is a wonderful person, and I enjoy hearing her voice all the time.
Amanda: And that book is called Obviously: Stories from my Timeline and it’s great, and the cover’s beautiful.
Julia: Wonderful. What other exciting stuff do we have to tell our Patrons? We talked about our coloring book that they can download from our merch store right now, do we have anything else in the works, Amanda?
Amanda: We do. Yeah, so we are basically doing limited edition pins where we’re going to make a limited run and then when are they sold out, they are done and we move on to the next limited edition pin, and these ones are absolutely gorgeous. They are copper, first of all, a beautiful bronze color--which I don’t have any of yet and I’m very, very stoked.
Julia: Yeah, you don’t see a lot of those in enamel pins, and I think that they really pop.
Amanda: They are also in partnership with Shaker and Spoon, so these are depicting three gorgeous drinks. There is a cobbler, a hot toddy, and a whiskey sour, and you can choose the drink that best represents you or you can get all three and split them up with your friends or put them on your denim jacket and it looks absolutely fantastic. They are for pre-order right now, and they will be shipping soon.
Julia: Yes. They are absolutely gorgeous. I think they are one of my favorite things we’ve designed in our store. I like all of our stuff, all of our creepy, cool stuff, but this is a little bit more on the cool side and less on the creepy side.
Amanda: Absolutely, and we’re just so grateful to have this partnership with Shaker and Spoon and keep on working with them in new and really, really exciting ways. So you can check out these new pins, the virtual coloring book we told you about last week, as well as the beautiful haunted national park posters we debuted earlier this spring, and a whole lot more at spiritspodcast.com/merch.
Julia: Get. Your. Creepy. Cool. Merch. Now!
Amanda: And for any of you out there who are aspiring podcasters hopefully you know that Multitude releases tons of free resources for you and for creative people of all stripes as well. Whether that’s about accounting or making a podcast trailer or working with your friends through understanding podcast networks versus collectives and all that stuff, and our newest one is our biggest yet. Eric Silver and I wrote a PDF all about fiction podcast production, so we talked with Julia, we talked with Brandon Grugle, all of the team on Next Stop and put together, basically, all of the things that we learned, the mistakes we made, and the resources we have to share for anybody making a fiction show. We shared our budget, we have templates, there is a contract template that our lawyer drew up for free for everybody if you’re working with actors on your show, and it’s basically one production’s point of view on how we did it and what we think will be helpful to you. So no matter what you’re budget is, whether you want to learn some tips and tricks for working with your friends, or if you work at a company or want to work at a company and better understand what the podcast production process looks like at a collective or bigger company, this one’s for you.
Julia: Yeah. I think that we really have a lot of tips and tricks for anyone of any sized production.
Amanda: So you can access that along with our dozens of other articles and videos and resources at multitude.productions/resources. And with that, we hope you enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode 186: Mythological Dogs: Live from the Boston Museum of Science Virtual Space.
[Theme music]
Julia: We’re going to be talking about “Who’s A Good Boy? A Tour of Mythological Dogs from Spirits.”
Amanda: Very good. This is a very good encapsulation of what Spirits is, for anyone who doesn’t know.
Julia: Thank you. So, first off, pups: there’s a lot of them. Mythological dogs come in many shapes and forms, some of them resemble the dogs that we know and love, some of them have human forms, others are even human/canine hybrids, which I know, Amanda, you love so much.
Amanda: It’s a running gag! Don’t love it.
Eric: Biggest fan.
Amanda: Don’t love it. Don’t love that Rubik’s cube of different animal parts. We’ve got a griffin, lion, snake, lizard, dragon hybrid. Just...I’m scared of it.
Julia: But each of these dogs represents something that we love about our four-legged friends and what about them piques our interest. It also reminds us why dogs have been humanities companions for a millennium. So as we go through this tour of mythological dogs, I would love if we could play a little mini-game if you guys will indulge me. Does that sound cool?
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: I did not know we would be playing a game, but I’m ready.
Amanda: I have my Salty Dog here with me, with blood orange juice, and I hope everybody at home, who can or wants to, has a drink as well.
Julia: I went with my Salty Dog, but we didn’t have grapefruit juice so I went with lime juice instead, which is basically just a Gin and Tonic, but that’s okay, it was a salt rim.
Amanda: That’s fine.
Julia: So for our mini-game, don’t get too competitive. It’s not going to be a super stressful one, but for each dog, I’m going to be providing a couple of pictures--not pictures Eric, not always pictures. Some of them are images--and I would love--
Eric: Illustrations
Julia: Illustrations! And I would love if you guys can imagine that you are in your local dog park and this pup has bounded up to you after playing with the rest of the dogs, and I want to picture you guys hearing the name from the owner calling out to that dog, to be like, “Hey, leave them alone,” and just tell me from your heart of hearts, what is that pup’s name? Do you think you can do that?
Amanda: Okay. Yeah.
Julia: All right. Awesome. So, we’re going to get started with our first pup, and this, my friends, is Sarama, or Deva-Shuni, and this is from Hinduism’s cosmology. Their name means “fleet one” or “the runner.” Now, what would you guys name said pup?
Amanda: Marshmallow!
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Going with Marshmallow? I’m going with Jack.
Julia: Okay, I’m into it.
Amanda: Very adorable.
Eric: I’ve always gone with human names. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, it being Indian, but I’m going with Jack.
Amanda: It does make sense that you have two dogs named Herbert and Henry. Great grandfather’s names.
Julia: They are. They’re old man names, I love them so much. One of them was in the room before we got started and--
Eric: He decided to leave.
Julia: Poor Henry. We love him tho. So, Sarama means “fleet one” or “the runner.” That name kind of indicates that she was, at times, a messenger for the gods, similar to Hermes in Greek mythology. Her official title is Deva-Shuni or God of the dogs. Her most well-known story is when a group of robbers stole the God of the heavens and storms, Indra’s cattle herd and in an attempt to get his cows back, Indra first sent a bird to deal with the robbers, but the robbers were able to bribe the bird with Dahi, which is like a yogurt or a curd. The bird goes back to Indra--flies back to Indra--and tell him that the robbers didn’t have the cows, but Indra finds out that the bird is lying because it spits up some of the curd, and it shows his betrayal. Not great. But we’re not talking about birds this episode!
Amanda: But, Julia, I’m so curious. How would you feed a bird yogurt? What would you do?
Julia: A little bowl, I think.Just a little bowl.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: A little bowl.
Julia: Like a water bowl.
Eric: Put some honey on that yogurt, that’s definitely going to get that bird over.
Amanda: Do they peck at it? Or do they take it away?
Julia: I don’t know. How do birds drink water? Probably like that.
Eric: Do birds have tongues?
Julia: Birds do have tongues!
Amanda: Birds have tongues.
Julia: Can confirm, birds have tongues.
Eric: I feel like they could slurp up some yogurt.
Julia: All right, cool, cool.
Eric: Maybe birds--maybe we need to invent Gogurt for birds.
Julia: Gogurt for birds. Interesting.
Amanda: Biodegradable? I love that.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: For your cosmopolitan bird-on-the-go!
Julia: Start to pitching to shark tank right now.
Eric: Or your skateboarding bird--
Julia: For your skatebird.
Amanda: That’s true.
Eric: --who just needs some protein while he does some kickflips.
Julia: Your cool 90s bird.
Amanda: Yeah, he has his snapback, all he needs is his Gogurt.
Julia: But we’re not talking about birds. So, Indra next sends Sarama. So, like a true diplomat, Sarama manages to convince the robbers that they need to return the cows and they make a deal with Indra for returning the cows, that she and her future children will have all of the milk in Indra’s flock, whenever they so desire.
Eric: That’s a good deal.
Julia: It’s not bad! It was said that later, some of her children would end up serving the god of death, Yama, and they were described as brindled hounds with four eyes each who would guard the path to the afterlife.
Amanda: Sounds cute.
Julia: I’m a big fan. It’s very cute. I imagine it’s supposed to be intimidating. They are guarding the afterlife, they work for the god of death, but it’s too cute! The double eyes is adorable in my opinion.
Eric: That, I don’t know. That would--I would be concerned.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I think that would scare me in a way.
Amanda: Double the soulful eyes to stare into and just love your pup.
Eric: Here’s the thing though. We have two dogs: Herbie and Henry. Herbie’’s got one wonky that just goes off that way--
Julia: He does.
Amanda: He does.
Eric: --like Marty Feldman and Henry has human eyes. And something about it just--every time I look at him, sometimes he looks back and it just looks like he’s really looking right into my soul and I feel like if you had a very serious, guarding the entrance to death dog with four very serious eyes, that would be too intimidating for me to handle.
Julia: All right, that’s fair. That’s fair. I just think adorable and I love them.
Amanda: Yeah. Effective, good at their job.
Eric: I mean, all dogs are adorable, but--
Julia: That is fair.
Eric: That dog is going to intimidate me quite righteously.
Julia: I don’t know, there might be a few that aren’t adorable on this list. No spoilers.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: It is said that in Nepal and in Northwestern India there is a festival known as Tihar, which, on the second day, people place garlands around the necks of dogs and feed them the best foods in order to honor the relationship between humans and dogs. It’s very sweet, I like it. So in the first image, I’ll go back, where you see them with the garlands around their necks and the little marking on their foreheads, that is a celebration of Tihar.
Amanda: Beautiful.
Eric: It’s very nice.
Julia: So next we are going to move on to El Cadejo. What would we name this pup? A challenge.
Amanda: I’m feeling, going in Eric’s direction, Bertrum.
Julia: Bertrum. Mhmm.
Eric: You’re going Bertrum? I was gonna go, Greg.
Julia: Greg. I’m really loving these very human names guys, It’s not the way I thought you guys were going to go. Honestly thought it was going to be all Marshmallow’s all the way through, but here we go. Stories of el Cadejo can be found all over Central and South America, most notably in Salvadorian, Belizian, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, Honduran, Guatemalan, and South Mexican folklore. There are actually two types of Cadejo, there is a white Cadejo that is said to protect travelers during their journey and a black Cadejo that sets out to kill travelers. In some stories the black Cadejo is said to be an incarnation of the Devil. Typically el Cadejo is described as a large dog-like creature or wolf, it’s often described as being as large as a cow, and these stories seem to indicate that it’s something a little bit more twisted than a wolf or a dog. It’s described as having hooves of a deer and much thicker fur than a wolf, and it is said that it runs like a deer more than a dog as it pursues its prey, be that travelers or other Cadejo.
Amanda: Wow, that seems like it would be challenging to identify that at a distance. You look over at the horizon like, “Is that a deer, is that a dog, is that a--whatever else it might be--a wolf?” That sort of animals behaving with other animals the way you wouldn’t expect, to me, is so mythological. You look at the thing and it’s not exactly what you thought it would be.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I like this duality. I like the one good dog, the one bad dog.
Julia: Yeah. You gotta balance them out, you know? Especially when they have spindly little deer legs that are a little bit creepy. The name comes from the Spanish word for “chain” which is cadena because often the Cadejo is said to have seen with a thick, glowing metal chain around its neck. In some stories of el Cadejo it’s said to have more of a passive figure to it, so its not actively attempting to kill those who see it, but is said to be a bad omen or is said to warn people that the path they are currently on--like their life path--is going to lead them to hell if they continue on it.
Eric: Oh. Okay.
Amanda: Very helpful!
Julia: Helpful in that way, yes.
Amanda: That’s a very useful warning.
Julia: It’s like, “Hey!”
Eric: I guess it’s helpful. I would still be worried. Especially if, what if you think that you’re doing all right and then you see this thing and you’re like “oh…”
Julia: Oh no.
Eric: “--I’ve got to change everything.” I guess all villains probably think they’re on the right path.
Julia: It’s a wake-up call, man.
Amanda: Yeah, wouldn’t you rather know? Don’t want to get a Christmas Carol style, only at the very end of your life when you’ve done irreparable harm do you get the memo that you have to change.
Eric: I guess.
Julia: You don’t want to be Ebenezer Scrooge, that’s the whole point.
Amanda: No.
Julia: It is said that, in the versions where it’s the large black dog, it will have glowing red eyes and it has the smell of sulfur following it, which I love. Very brimstone and fire kind of style. Love that.
Eric: This is a Hecc pupper.
Julia: This is!
Eric: This is one big Hecc pupper that is just doing all kinds of troublesome stuff.
Julia: Yes. It is said, though, if you want to ward off the Hecc pupper, that you can ward it off by standing with your feet together so it can’t run between your legs and whisk you off to hell, which, I love the image--if you’ve ever handled a large dog who is very excited and you are small like me, I can get knocked off my feet very easily by a very excited dog, and I really relate to that.
Amada: I love that.
Julia: You can also use prayer and religious objects to keep it away.
Amanda: Good. All-purpose.
Julia: Would you guys like to know the origin of the black and white Cadejo according to El Salvadorian mythology?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Heck yeah!
Eric: Of course.
Julia: So it is said that there were two brothers who stumbled across the home of a man during a storm. The man asked the boys to help him put logs on the fire, but the boys did not--they just didn’t do a good job, and instead, they just ate all of the man’s food.
Eric: As soon as this started, I was like, “these boys are either going to rob, murder, or fuck up this guy’s night somehow.
Julia: So they ate all the man’s food, and when he discovered that they had eaten what little food he had left and that his fire was starting to die--
Amanda: No!
Julia: --you know, they only thing keeping his house warm, he put a curse on the road that led back to the boys’ village. So when the boys attempted to return home after the storm, they were hunted by these unseen voices, but when they finally turned their backs on them, they were transformed into the white and black Cadejo.
Amanda: Fascinating. So the idea being one of them the error of their ways and the other one is either trying to tempt you down the path or is like, “I messed up in life, let me help you not.”
Julia: Yeah, there you go. It really depends on which story you’re hearing too, which I really like. All right, gang. We are going to move on to our next pupper who is one we’re very familiar with here on this show, and it’s Cerberus.
Amanda: Cerberus!
Eric: Cerberus.
Julia: Look at him!
Eric: So good.
Julia: He’s so intimidating. I love him. It would not be a tour of mythological dogs without Cerberus. He is the three-headed guardian of Hades in Greek mythology--Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot to get your names for Cereberus.
Amanda: Oh, what we would call him?
Julia: Yes. What would you call him? He’s at the dog park.
Eric: I mean, probably just Cerb. We’ve got Herbert at home--
Julia: Herbie and Cerbie?
Eric: --and we just shortened that to Herb and I feel like, with Cerberus, that’s such a well-known name. I don’t want to change Cerberus’s name.
Julia: I feel you. I feel that.
Amanda: I think--I’m gonna go on a play off of Cerberus’s three heads--think I’m going to go with Mirepoix, the trinity of onion, celery, carrot in French cookery. A: it has the letter “x” in it which is the best. As a kid, I was obsessed with having an x in my name and I was so pissed that my parents didn’t name me Alexandra, the ultimate. Would have been so great, and B: you could just call them Poix, which makes you sound like you’re Poirot and I’m just really into that.
Julia: All right that’s very good. I think that’s my favorite dog name so far. I like Cerb as a shortened name, it’s very good, but Mirepoix is just--I want to name a dog that now.
Amanda: I know!
Julia: Cerberus is described as “dragon-tailed” so, in depictions of art, he is signified as having snakes, rather than tails. Cerberus is a staple in descriptions of Hades, which is described in the Illiad as being “beneath the secret places of the earth.”
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: Fancy!
Eric: Beneath the secret places. So there’s secret places, this is one level lower.
Amanda: Hang on. Does that mean all geocaches lead directly to Hell?
Julia: Potentially. Or at least the Underworld.
Amanda: The most secret places. Straight down to Hades.
Julia: Right down to Hades, right? You go past all the gems and stuff, and then your geocaching, and then you’re in Hades. There you go.
Amanda: I don’t know, sounds fun! Maybe that’s a tempting agent. I don’t know.
Julia: There you go. So he permits the spirits, all of the spirits of the dead, to enter once they’ve been ferried across the river Styx by Charon, but he stops any from returning back to the world of the living. As we’ve said on the show before, as Amanda began to hint at but allowed me to make the reveal, Cerberus’s name comes from the Proto-Indo-European word meaning “spotted.” So Hades, god of the dead, just named his dog Spot and it’s incredible. I love it so much.
Amanda: It’s my favorite party fact.
Julia: So one of the key stories of Cerberus is the fact that he was captured by Heracles as the final of his 12 labors. Heracles first approached Hades for permission to take his guard dog from the gates of the Underworld, and Hades did, in fact, give him permission with the caveat that Heracles could use no weapon to overcome Cerberus. So, he could only use his hands. Which, of course, Heracles manages to do. He picks the hound up over his head and then he carries him all the way back to Earth only for Heracles to return him shortly after because the King of Mycini was really intimidated just by Cerberus being there.
Amanda: Now, do we think Cerberus just really enjoyed this outing and liked being picked up and carried like a little babe?
Julia: He just had a good time, probably.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Or it’s like when you’re trying to take a dog to the vet and they just keep squirming no matter what and you’re just like, “Please stop! It’ll be easier for both of us!” I imagine that’s very similar to what it’s like.
Eric: So he brought the dog from Hades to Earth and then he brought him back?
Julia: Yup. ‘Cause the King of Mycini was like “I didn’t think you would actually be able to do that can you bring him back now?”
Eric: He’s like, “No, this was too much, I regret the request.”
Julia: We got eleven labors you did them all I really thought the 12th was when we were going to stop.
Amanda: See, we need his work ethic, and we would have prevented the origin of the previous doggo! Not that I want to prevent any doggos in the world, but, you know. It’s something to learn from.
Julia: Well, Heracles was also covered by the guilt of murdering his wife and children, but, you know. Not as great. So, fun fact, in my copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, in the index, one of the sections on Cerberus is labeled as “Mollified by Cake” so I had to know what that was about. Let’s talk about it real quick. In this story, it is the tale of Psyche, who has been tasked with supposedly impossible tasks by Aphrodite in order to get the goddess to help her win back the trust of her husband--and Aphrodite’s son--Eros. So, Psyche is sent to Hades to get a beauty charm from Persephone--the queen of the Underworld and Hades’ wife--and though she is super intimidated by the fearsome visage of the three-headed dog, Cerberus, she finds that she is able to calm him down with a little piece of cake and passes unharmed.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda: If no one’s ever read the index of a book, I just really encourage it. It’s very entertaining.
Julia: It is. Fun fact: Aeneas would also use the same trick to sneak into the Underworld to see his lover, the queen Dido, later on in Greek mythology. There you go.
Amanda: I’m also easily mollified by cake.
Julia: Yes. Everyone: easily mollified by cake. Give me those sweets. Hoo, hoo!
[Theme music]
Amanda: Julia, we are sponsored this week by BetterHelp, and if there’s something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals, counseling and therapy can be a really great way to talk through those things and work on them and make some progress and improve your life. I have a therapist through BetterHelp, and they also have an LGBTQ arm called Pride Counseling, and it is absolutely fantastic to be able to get therapy from the comfort of my own home. To text or email my therapist, in addition to doing video and phone calls, I’ve just had a really great experience, and my favorite thing about BetterHelp, I think, is that they really are committed to facilitating a great therapeutic match between you and your counselor, so if you ever need to switch counselors it is easy and free, which is not true of traditional offline counseling. With BetterHelp, this isn’t a crisis line or self-help, it’s professional counseling done securely online, and you can start communicating with a therapist in under 24 hours. Again, not a thing you can normally do. They have a broad range of expertise available which might not be locally available to you as well, so you can fill out a survey of what you’re looking for support on and if there are any specific needs that you’re wanting your therapist to have some experience with. They’re also more affordable than traditional offline counseling and have financial aid available. So, BetterHelp, because they want you to start living a happier life today, is offering 10% off your first month of counseling to our listeners at betterhelp.com/spirits. Join the over one million people taking charge of their mental health at better, H-E-L-P.com/spirits.
Julia: Actually, Amanda, so many people have been using BetterHelp that they are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states. That’s how helpful BetterHelp is! So, again, that is 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits. That’s better H-E-L-P .com/spirits. Amanda, I can’t say that I miss going to stores to buy clothes, and putting on clothes in a kind of dingy try-on room. Is that the word for it? I don’t care.
Amanda: Fitting room. They don’t fit you though. You just put on the clothes and you’re like, “Oh no, this is bad!” and then you stop.
Julia: Yeah, and the lighting is terrible and I always feel like I look awful and I would just rather be doing it in the comfort of my own home, and that is where Stitch Fix comes in. So, Stitch Fix is a personal styling company that brings you the world of fashion and style, it’s completely different and a fun way to find clothes that you love, it’s all about you every single time you order the box. So all you have to do is, you have to go to stitchfix.com/spirits to set up your profile and they’ll start delivering great looks personalized just for you in the colors, styles, and budget that you’re looking for. You pay a $20 styling fee for each fix, which is credited towards anything that you keep, so you keep that cool button-up shirt they sent you with the pattern, or you keep that palm tree skirt that they sent me in my last box, I loved it. You can schedule it at any time, too, so there’s no subscription required plus shipping, returns, and exchanges are always easy and free. So Stitch Fix does the hard work for you, they make great styling effortless for everybody, including men, women, kids. Whatever floats your boat, whatever style you are on. So to get started today, again, you go to stitchfix.com/spirits and you’ll get 25% off when you keep everything in your fix. Again, that is stitchfix.com/spirits for 25% off when you keep everything in your fix.
Amanda and Julia: Stitchfix
Julia: .com/spirits. We can do it together, Amanda. Stitchfix
Amanda and Julia: .com/spirits!
Julia: Love it.
Amanda: And finally, Julia, we shouted them out in the intro because they have designed these fantastic pins with us, but Shaker and Spoon is your go-to source to learn how to make craft cocktails in your house. They are a subscription craft cocktail box where they send you custom recipes designed by world class mixologists and they are all designed to use up exactly one bottle of a given spirit. So if that month is sake or Canadian rye or a certain kind of apple brandy, then you get to buy that bottle and learn about that spirit and use up the entire bottle. Not just try it and be like, “I’m not sure what to do with this,” and then leave it collecting dust in your bar.
Julia: Like I said, Amanda, I have missed going to bars so much. Mostly because I just miss someone else making really fancy cocktails for me, but with Shaker and Spoon, I can just make them at home now. It’s so nice.
Amanda: And you really do learn stuff that you bring forward in your life and it’s not just about making those 12 cocktails, which are four drinks of three different recipes per box, but it’s skills and learning how to up your game going forward, and they’re just great people, they have great recipes, I always learn something, I always am like, “Oh I need to look up this nut milk creamer producer…” or “this bitter chocolate that I grated over the top of my drink.” It’s just absolutely fantastic. It’s a great gift, it’s a great thing to get for you and your house or your family. It’s just a wonderful way to learn more and have some fun at home. So if you go to shakerandspoon.com/creepy, you can get $20 off your first box. That’s shakerandspoon.com/creepy and get $20 off your first box, which you can skip or cancel at anytime. Trust me, you’re going to love it.
Julia: Thanks Shaker and Spoon, we love you.
Amanda: And now, let’s get back to the show.
Julia: All right, we’re going to move on to our next pup, Panhu! What would you name this pup?
Eric: That’s a good boy.
Amanda: What a perfect friend! Oh.
Julia: Is that your name? “Perfect Friend?”
Amanda: No, I have to think on this one. Eric, what do you think?
Eric: I like...Doug.
Julia: Okay. Great.
Amanda: Where are you getting these from? Are these your fourth-grade soccer team?
Eric: Nope. Nope, I’m just--I see this, I go, “Doug.” If I was going to adopt this dog--
Julia: Doug.
Eric: --Doug.
Julia: This explains so much about your dogs. They’ve all had old man names.
Eric: It’s true.
Amanda: I think I’m going to go with Sweet Potato Pie, which would--
Julia: Excellent.
Amanda: --give you many options for nicknames: Sweet, Sweety, Sweetums, Sweet Cakes, Potato, Toe-Toe, Pie, Pie, Sweet Potato Pie.
[Laughter]
Amanda: You just iterate endlessly.
Julia: I love it. I love it, I love multiple nicknames. It’s great. So, Panhu is a dragon-like dog from the Yao people of Eastern Asia, primarily in China and Vietnam, who is said to be their first ancestor. So the story goes that Emperor Ku, who is one of the five--
Eric: Oh. I’m now seeing the picture on the left--
Amanda: Oh, yeah, no. I didn’t focus on that one at first.
Eric: --and what is truly happening here. Now I’m like--at first I was like, “Okay,” and then I immediately looked at the picture on the right and was like, “ah, yes. A dog.” Now I’m looking back and I’m seeing what’s happening and I’m not 100% on board.
Amanda: I have to know why.
Julia: We will get there, don’t worry. Okay. So, the story goes that Emperor Ku, who was one of the Five Emperors of Chinese mythology and was known as the White Emperor, had a wife who had a long-suffering ear disease, so when it was finally cured of it, it was said that a golden worm fell out of her ear--you gotta stay with me. This one has a lot of twists--so she kept the worm, because sure, in a gourd and eventually the worm grew into a dragon-like dog.
Eric: Okay. You were right, a lot of twists.
Julia: The dog, which they named Panhu, was both adorable and smart as a whip, and the Emperor and his wife loved that dog with all of their hearts. It’s like when you Adopt, Don’t Shop and you get a lovable dog you weren’t expecting and now they’re incredible and no one could ever take them away from you. So, Panhu loved them as well, just as much as they loved him and when a rebellion attempt happened and a foreign leader escaped after an escape coup, Emperor Ku called for the leader’s head. But no one was brave enough to go after the leader, even though the Emperor promised that whoever did manage to bring him the man’s head would be allowed to marry his daughter, except for Panhu. Panhu sets off on his own, he waits for the foreign leader to drink too much, and when he is hungover and unable to defend himself, Panhu bites off his head and sends it to the Emperor.
Amanda: Oh my. This story is like a roundabout. Every time I’m like, “Okay, I see where it’s going.” Mm-mm. Somewhere else.
Julia: Yeah, no. It’s a lot of twists and turns. So as promised, the Emperor agrees that Panhu is allowed to marry his daughter, but not until Panhu sleeps in a golden bell for six days which turns him into a human.
Amanda: Convenient.
Eric: Okay. Great.
Amanda: Based on the image--
Eric: Wait, it turns him into a human forever?
Julia: Forever. Yes.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: But based on the image, I’m worried that didn’t happen.
Julia: That is what happened.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: So you know who he is, they made him into a dogman for the art.
Amanda: Fair enough.
Eric: Oh. Okay. I’m much more on board now.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Okay, that’s what I figured.
Amanda: If that’s an artistic rendering…
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Julia: So rather than staying in the palace, the newly-human Panhu did not require such luxuries, and instead he moved to the countryside with his new wife where they hunted, they cultivated the land, and then they bore twelve children.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: The king, as a gift, gave each of the children--six boys and six girls, by the way. You gotta make it even--he gave them surnames, which became the most common surnames of the Yao people. So, cool little etymology origin story there for you. After Panhu’s death, because he was not an immortal dragon-dog now human-man, there were many stories of him blessing his offsprings, but the most well-known one is when a disease struck the Yao villages. In order to survive, all of the villagers with the twelve Yao surnames had to leave their home and travel by boat to a new land. Along their way, the boat was hit by a storm and they prayed to Panhu for their safety. When they arrived, shortly after the storm, onshore they determined that it was in fact, Panhu’s birthday! So it became tradition to celebrate their survival and offer up sacrifices to Panhu as thanks for keeping his people safe. So this is known as the Panwang festival. It is one of the most important festivals to the Yao people. It is known for its carnival-like atmosphere with singing and dancing, sports competitions, and most famously, the long drum dance--which is now over 2000 years old as a tradition.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: Wow.
Julia: There you go.
Eric: This guy has quite the life. Started as a worm--
Julia: In an ear.
Eric: --became a dragon-dog, became a human, now he’s celebrated for thousands of years.
Amanda: That feeling when the father of your grandchildren started out as an ear infection.
Julia: Mhmm. Fun fact.
Amanda: Listen--
Eric: Who among us--
Amanda: Ear infections have ended much worse much more often.
Julia: Panhu, when directly translated, means “gourd dog.”
Amanda: Awwww. Man, what a great accidental homophone from guard dog.
Julia: Now we’re going to talk about Fenrir, guys!
Amanda: You mean the evil werewolf in Harry Potter?
Julia: I don’t mean that one, but give me your dog park name for Fenrir. He’s having a rough time, it looks like.
Eric: This guy’s name is...this one I’m going with more of a traditional dog name, something like Porkchop, but like, what’s a more intimidating version of Porkchop?
Julia: Sirloin.
Amanda: Porterhouse.
Eric: T-Bone. T-Bone.
Julia: Ooh. T-Bone. That’s it. Found it.
Eric: T-Bone is what I was thinking of.
Amanda: That’s really good. I’m feeling like Lacey or Lucille. Something a little bit flirty, a little bit fresh.
Eric: I see Lacey.
Amanda: Yeah. I think Lacey.
Julia: Fair. I can see that. So, this is Fenrir, or “he who dwells in the marshes” and he is, perhaps, the most famous--or infamous--of wolves featured in the prose edda in Norse mythology. He is said to be the son of Loki and the giantess Angerboda and was originally raised by the gods of Asgard themselves, as to prevent him from sewing chaos throughout the nine worlds. However, Fenrir grew at such a fast pace that even the gods were having trouble handling him and it was decided that they needed to bind Fenrir--chaining him up basically. The first two times, the gods failed. Just straight up failed, but they were able to disguise their attempts by telling the hound that this was simply a game to test his strength. So the gods then turned to the dwarves in order to forge the strongest chain they could make. Though it appeared to be extremely lightweight when it was looked upon--and it was even soft to the touch which I think is really cool--however, Fenrir was suspicious of the chain, because they’ve tried to lock him up twice now, and refused to let them tie it around his neck unless one of the gods would stick their hand in his mouth as a sign of good faith.
Amanda: Okay. I see it.
Julia: Okay. All right.
Amanda: I”m with it.
Eric: That’s a lot of faith, because that dog looked quite mean and a hand in a dog mouth. That could go a lot of ways.
Amanda: Yeah, but if her name was Lacey, you’d be like, “Aw, sweet girl.”
Eric: Yeah, but what if its name was T-Bone?
Amanda: I’d be like, “Aw, sweet, sweet child. Come here.”
Julia: So, the god Tyr is the only one brave enough to do so, knowing that Fenrir is absolutely going to bite it off once he realizes he can’t free himself from the chain--which is precisely what happens. The gods were able to bind Fenrir and tied his chains to a boulder, but Fenrir did bite Tyr’s hand off, and they placed a sword in his mouth so he could not gnaw at the chain.
Amanda: Aw.
Julia: Well. Not sad, because it is said, Amanda, when Ragnarok comes--which is the apocalypse basically for Norse mythology--Fenrir will break free of his bonds, open his wide jaws, swallowing up anything between the ground and the sky that comes across his path--including, in some translations, the sun, and the moon.
Amanda: Fantastic. I think Fenrir, Breaker of Chains is my next D&D barbarian character.
Julia: Okay. I like it. I’m into it. He’s also said to be destined to kill Odin, but will, in turn, be killed by one of Odin’s sons, Vidar.
Amanda: That’s how it happens. Circle of life.
Julia: It’s gotta be. Just gotta be sometimes. Just gotta be like that.
Eric: So much destiny.
Julia: So much destiny.
Eric: It’s always like, “This dog is going to kill you. It’s going to get you, but don’t worry, one of your sons will eventually get that dog.”
Julia: But not until after the dog has swallowed the sun and moon.
Amanda: It’s a real 180 from when you have a worm in your ear, but don’t worry, he’s going to give you many grandchildren.
Julia: It is. It really is. I tried to really balance these out.
Amanda: You did a great job.
Julia: Well, next we’re going to move on to Bul-gae! What would we name the pup, guys?
Amanda: Oh. My. God.
Julia: Name that pup. Name that pup. Look at him gnawing on the sun, it’s so cute.
Amanda: Yeah. This is a playful boy. He’s prancing. He’s jumping all around.
Julia: He’s in the sky.
Amanda: Oh man. Eric, what do you think?
Eric: I’m going with...Sam.
[Laughter]
Eric: Samuel.
Amanda: Oh, very good.
Julia: When you’re mad at him, it’s Samuel.
Eric: Full name, Samuel. Going with Sam. Maybe Sammy.
Julia: Okay. On a good day.
Amanda: I think I’ll do Jack, which sounds regular, but from Jumping Jack Flash.
Julia: Ah, okay. I like it. All right, all right.
Amanda: Like a thoroughbred, his full name is Jumping Jack Flash--
Julia: It’s a gas, gas, gas.
Amanda: --Breaker of Chains, Son of Fenrir, but we call him Jack.
Julia: Well, his real name is Bul-gae, and it literally translates to “firedog” in Korean, where--as the name suggests--they were dogs made out of fire in Korean mythology. Their most famous story goes that a long, long time ago there was many heavenly kingdoms, and one such kingdom was known as Gamangnara, or “the dark world.” The king of this realm did not like the darkness surrounding his kingdom, you know, not great, so he ordered that one of the bul-gae had to go and steal the sun and the moon so it may light up their kingdom and keep away the perpetual darkness.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: Yeah, sure. So the dog does its duty. It first went after the sun, however, when he tried to carry it in his mouth it was too hot and he was unable to hold it for too long.
Amanda: Noooo.
Julia: So he gave up and he returned back to the king who was furious at the failed attempt--not great--this time he sends the firedog to go after the moon. But, much like the sun, the moon is too cold for his mouth and it freezes his tongue and he’s unable to hold it for long enough to retrieve it for the king.
Amanda: Noooo!
Julia: Yeah, he had a little bit of--
Eric: It’s tough. It’s tough. Learning how to play the right way is always a challenge for a new dog.
Julia: Yeah. He gnaws at it for a while, he tries to hold it in between his teeth, but eventually, once again he has to give up and come back to the king, who once again is enraged by the failure.
Amanda: Nooo! He’s trying so hard, my son, Jack!
Julia: So the king sends more and more firedogs, but each one fails. So it is said that the king continues to send firedogs to retrieve both the sun and the moon to this day and that when the sky darkens during an eclipse, it is the firedogs attempting to bite the celestial bodies and bring them back to their masters.
Amanda: That’s very good. It really looks like it’s a bite mark.
Julia: It’s very cute. Fun fact: there is also a rare species of dog that is native to South Korea that is named after the bul-gae. It is very similar to a Jindo Spitz breed, but instead of being white or cream it’s a reddish maroon coat, an amber nose, and amber-colored eyes and they are extremely cute.
Amanda: Adorable.
Julia: Very, very cute. I would name that one Sunbeam.
Amanda: Aw, wonderful! Any My Little Pony name, I think, would apply to this dog very well.
Julia: Thank you. So, next, we’re going to talk about the Aralez. You guys, tell me, what would you name this pup?
Eric: First off. Not a dog.
Julia: Okay. Kind of a dog.
Eric: Kind of a dog.
Julia: The one on the right, a little bit more dog.
Amanda: Oh man.
Eric: Ooh. I don’t even know this one. There’s so much happening.
Amanda: Yeah, full human name.
Julia: Full human name? Hm. Okay.
Amanda: Like Adriadna or something.
Julia: K.
Amanda: I saw this dog and I thought of Ellen Page, I’m not going to lie to you.
[Laughter]
Julia: Fair enough.
Eric: I mean, I’m thinking more dog name on this one.
Julia: Yeah, because it almost looks too human.
Eric: Like a Rover or something along those lines. Not sure why.
Amanda: Just go with your heart.
Eric: I am so confused by the tail already. He’s also got wings--
Julia: Okay, there weren’t a lot of--
Eric: --and a human face, most notably.
Julia: There were not a lot of...period...representations of this creature so I had to make do, but--
Eric: The one on the right does look like a logo for a casino.
Julia: It probably is. So this pup is a dog from Armenian traditions. They are said to live in the sky or at the peak of Mount Ararat. It was believed that when a brave warrior was struck down in battle or if someone was quite literally stabbed in the back, the Aralez would appear and heal their wounds by licking them.
Amanda: I mean, useful, but it would also deter me from stabbing anyone in the back because I do not particularly want to encounter this dog.
Julia: Oh no, but they are cute little licking buds! Anyway, so one of the stories goes the kind Ara the beautiful, which is a great king name by the way. A+, he was killed in a battle with the Assyrians which was only being fought because the Assyrian queen found him so beautiful that she ordered her soldiers to invade Armenia and then bring him back to her so that she could marry him.
Amanda: Oh. I mean, I’m a fan of women’s agency, but I think that might take it a step too far.
Julia: It’s a little bit too much, yeah. So when he died in the ensuing battle, she ordered that his body be brought up to her chamber and she called that Aralez to her and she ordered them to lick his wounds which healed him and brought him back from death.
Amanda: I am seeing a question here from Sythi[?], in the chat, now, does this pup lick with the human mouth or the dog one?
Eric: Yup. That was also my question.
Julia: I’m picturing the dog mouth, I cannot confirm or deny whether it is the human mouth or the dog mouth, but it’s a good question. It is said that one of the commanders of the Armenian Armed Forces from the fourth century was laid to rest in a high tower after he died because his relatives believed that he was such a good person and a brave warrior that the Aralez would come and lick his body so he could be brought back to life. So I just really like this story, I think that healing, flying pups who love to lick is a great story and a great version of dogs.
Amanda: You’re right. I’m sorry. I think the illustration just really--
Julia: Just cover it! Here, I’ll go to the next page. I’m sorry I ruined it for you guys.
Amanda: No, that’s okay! Listen, a good ol’ pup who wants to lick you and cuddle you and also wants to heal your wounds: awesome.
Julia: Yes, and it’s also going to be a nice comparison to our next one, which is the Raiju.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: Okay. I’m not seeing a lot of” dog” in either of these.
Julia: They’re being fought in these a lot of the time.
Eric: Oh, yes! I now see them.
Julia: What would you name these pups?
Eric: They look like they’re kind of like clouds, so I just want to say Cloud, but I feel like that’s too boring and too obvious.
Julia: You’re naming him after the Final Fantasy character?
Eric: Yeah, no, see, I’m not. I don’t want that to be the assumption either, So I’m not going to stick with Cloud as my answer. Amanda, do you have anything while I mull it over?
Amanda: I do think that’s a helpful word association for me and I was thinking about something fluffy, something cute to kind of contrast with the image of the dog, and I think Nimbus is very charming.
Julia: Oooh. That is very cute.
Eric: Nimbus is very cute, let’s go with Nimbus.
Amanda: Oooh. We have consensus!
Julia: I have consensus on Nimbus! I love it.
Amanda: Amazing.
Julia: Well, the Raiju’s name means “thunder beast” and it is a Yokai from Japan that is intertwined with stories of lightning and thunder. While there are many different depictions of the Raiju and what it looks like, it is commonly portrayed as a wolf. Sometimes a blue and white wolf, sometimes surrounded by lighting as we can see in the art here, sometimes it’s made of lighting itself which is extremely cool imagery in my opinion, but they are said to have long, sharp claws, ferocious faces, and said to have a howl like thunder. They, much like the Aralez, are said to live in the sky, and Raiju are basically considered relatively harmless, except for when storms start up, which drives them into a frenzy. The way that they travel is they ride bolts of lighting to the earth when thunder claps and cause trouble wherever they land on the Earth.
Amanda: Now--
Eric: That’s very cool.
Amanda: --we were not very far off with our cloud name, Eric, so I think together we really got there.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: And I think a lot of people’s pets are a little bit afraid when it's stormy outside, so it’s sad.
Eric: Oh. Henry is. He shakes. Henry, recently, has gotten his own room essentially. It’s wild what’s happened under these circumstances.
Amanda: Is that what life is like in the Midwest? You have extra rooms for your pets?
Eric: No, so what’s happened is--he doesn’t have his own room, just to be clear. He has an appropriate dog-sized room--he gets very scared during thunderstorms and sometimes during just light rain, it’s very confusing, and he just shakes very badly so we put a blanket in the closet and he would try to hide in there. He always was all over the place, but most recently, he just always goes in there, as soon as we go to bed, and then he just sleeps in there now. He does not sleep in the bed anymore, he only sleeps in what we now refer to as “his room” which is just the closet.
Amanda: He’s comfortable there! That’s good!
Julia: What a lad.
Amanda: At least he’s not causing lightning-related damage in other parts of the country.
Julia: Oh, don’t worry. We’ll talk more about that. So during storms, Raiju are very chaotic creatures. They cause destruction for seemingly no reason, however, they are also sometimes said to be in the service of the gods. If someone is said to be struck by lightning it was said that the gods sent a Raiju to punish that person. So that’s fun. Often in stories in Japanese folklore, Raiju are presented as monsters that are to be slain by great heroes. It is said that in 1153, the hero Minamoto no Yurimasa slayed a Raiju in Kyoto. Another story tells of a samurai named Tachibana Dōsetsu who was taking shelter under a tree when lightning struck, and Tachibana drew his blade at the exact moment that lightning struck, cutting it in two, and when the smoke cleared a dead Raiju lay at his feet. And from then on his sword was known as Raikiri, or “lightning cutter.”
Amanda: Dang. That’s also my next weapon in my D and D campaign.
Julia: Very good! Have Eric Silver make us up that item stat block immediately.
Amanda: Check the Spirits Podcast twitter tomorrow.
Eric: Do you know if this is where the name Raichu in Pokemon comes from?
Julia: Yes, it is.
Amanda: Yes! Good call!
Eric: He’s a mouse, but it’s so similar that it does make sense.
Julia: Well, rai means thunder, I think, in Japanese.
Eric: Ah. That makes sense then.
Julia: So that’s where...and then chu. The next one we are going to talk about is Xolotl. Tell me, thoughts, what would you name the pup?
Amanda: Oooh.
Eric: Ooh. That is...that’s something right there.
Amanda: I love this friend, and I’m going to name them...so many options!
Eric: I’m going with Marco.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: I was going to go with Bert.
Julia: Okay. All right. Interesting.
Amanda: Friendly.
Julia: Not quite how I would describe this pup but--
Amanda: Is Bert the unfriendly muppet?
Julia: Yes. Yes.
Amanda: So maybe suitable.
Eric: He’s more curmudgeon-y than unfriendly.
Julia: Yes. I would so. So, from the Aztecs, Xolotl is said to be the twin of Quetzalcoatl, and is the god of lighting and fire and associated with dogs, twins, sickness, and misfortune. Often in art Xolotl is shown as having the head of a dog as well as a skeletal form with reverse feet--Amanda, you’re favorite thing--and empty eye sockets.
Amanda: Hate it.
Eric: I also don’t like reverse feet, for the record.
Julia: So during the Aztec creation story, the gods created the fifth sun but realized that it would not move across the sky, so the gods decided that they would have to sacrifice themselves in order to have the sin move, but Xolotl did not want to sacrifice himself and instead acted as a trickster, hiding from the gods in the form of first a young maize plant, and then agave plant, and then a salamander until the gods finally caught him and he joined the rest of the gods in death. In another myth, he and Qutzalcoatl travel to the underworld to retrieve the bones of the dead which humans would eventually be made out of.
Amanda: That’s a wylie guy.
Eric: Wow.
Julia: Yeah, he’s a wylie dude.
Eric: I figured he was going to become a worm by the end of this.
Julia: No, not a worm.
Amanda: Close though.
Julia: Yeah, close! The twins Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were said to represent the morning and the evening star, with Xolotl as the evening star acting as a guide and guardian of the sun as it traveled through the realm of the dead at night. So, as such, Xolotl is often depicted as being a guide for the newly dead to the Underworld. Additionally, there’s also a breed of hairless dogs named after Xolotl, which are known as the Xoloitzcuintli, I think, or just Xolo for short.
Amanda: I’m sure those dogs are cute, but I’m not sure about their namesake.
Julia: If you’re seen the movie Coco--the Disney movie Coco--the dog that accompanies him into the afterlife, that is a Xolo.
Amanda: Aww. Yeah.
Eric: Oh. Yeah.
Julia: So fun fact about that.
Eric: Those are really cool dogs.
Julia: Yeah, they’re very cool. We are going to move on to our last pup of the evening, guys. It’s been fun, but we’re on our last pup, and it is Cu-Sith.
Amanda: Okay. Oh. A very good hound. Very jumpy. Got some birds there.
Julia: The birds are not associated with him, I think he scared the birds.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Julia: Like a good dog park dog should. What are we naming this pup y’all?
Amanda: I want to go classical. Artemis, Athena, Hera. Something along those lines.
Julia: Okay, okay.
Eric: I don’t have a good suggestion, but I like Amanda’s as well. They just--it feels like that’s the kind of name.
Julia: Think I would go with Charlotte. That’s mine.
Amanda: Good! English, regal.
Julia: So, from the Scottish highlands, this is quite similar to the Irish Cu Sidhe, which means fairy dog, but absolutely just bigger than your average dog, by far. Look at him. Look at him compared to that knight. He’s got no chance.
Amanda: That’s a big boy.
Eric: He’s not going to have a good day.
Julia: The Cu-Sith was said to be as large as a large calf, or a young cow, and it was said to have a dark green, shaggy fur. Sometimes it was said that it had such a long, furry tail that it was braided in order to keep it from dragging behind and it had paws the size of a full grown man’s hand. You can see the kind of braided tail in the picture to the right, there.
Amanda: So cute!
Julia: It’s very cute.
Amanda: I love a blending in with the environment. Very cool.
Julia: Well, he’s a fae pup, he’s gotta be able to do that. Oftentimes in stories it was mentioned that they had fiery glowing eyes that could cut through the fog of the moors and that highlands. While there are plenty of stories of large dogs throughout the British Isles, Cu-Sith is inherently tied to the fae because of that beautiful green coloring.
Amanda: Very sweet. Also, I’m sure the last thing you want to see when you’re on a misty moor in Scotland very early in the morning is a pair of eyes coming at you, but what a sweetie.
Julia: So, Cu-Sith were respected but they were also feared.They were said to take a soul to the afterlife, similar to the modern idea of the grim reaper, and thus were seen a harbinger of death. Sometimes it was said that it would hunt those destined for death across the moors. Leading up to its attack it will howl three times, but it’s said that you can escape that fate if you find shelter before the third howl, which I love. I love that it’s like, “He’s howled twice, I gotta find somewhere to go!”
Amanda: I love that.
Eric: I like a nice race--
Amanda: Yeah, I mean--
Eric: --gotta go somewhere.
Amanda: --I’m hearing similarities to the banshee as well, which I appreciate, from Irish folklore so that’s great.
Julia: But if you hear that final howl you will die from sheer terror. You know. Classic, honestly.
Amanda: Correlation, causation, we’re not sure, here we are.
Eric: That’s intense. That’s intense. You’re just like, “The third one is just too scary. That’s it, I’m done.”
Julia: You’re like, “You know what, I accept my fate at that point. I don’t even need to see the dog, just hear it howl three times.” So, gang, that is our tour of mythological dogs. I think there’s a lot of very, very good dogs, some dogs that maybe we should bring them to training or something like that. They need a little bit of help so we can understand them a little bit better, but I love that there are so many dog stories from around the world. It just kind of reminds us and helps us remember how important dogs are to our lives and the stories that we tell./
Amanda: Amazing. Julia, thank you for taking us on that tour.
Julia: It was my pleasure. Thank you guys for joining me and thank you all, everyone at home who’s listening in, for joining us as well.
Amanda; Thank you all so much for joining us. Again, if you didn’t know us before tonight, thank you for having a drink and hanging out.
Julia: Taking a chance on us.
Amanda: Great. And thank you, finally, so much to the museum for having us. We absolutely would love to perform in the museum, that’s a total professional dream of ours, so we look forward to coming back--later this year or early next year would be super fun. So thank you again for having us. Remember everybody…
Julia: Stay creepy…
Amanda: ...stay cool.