WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.840 There’s something very… modular about fairy  tales. The individual building blocks are 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.520 firmly established and don’t tend to change -  it’s just the way they’re arranged that makes 00:00:07.520 --> 00:00:11.680 a story unique. You got dashing princes,  beautiful princesses, questing knights, 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:16.320 benevolent kings and queens, evil magic  people, good magic people, heroic peasants, 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:21.280 cruel step-parents, clever tricksters, talking  animals, dragons, trolls, the works. Spin a 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:26.800 few wheels and out pops a fairy tale. The Frog  Prince? A [dashing prince] is [cursed] by an [evil 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:30.880 witch] to become a [friendly talking animal]  until he is saved by a [beautiful princess]. 00:00:30.880 --> 00:00:34.240 It’s pretty telling that most of these  stories don’t even bother to name any of the 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:38.320 characters - the role they fill matters a lot  more than their actual individual character. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.240 But despite how basic these archetypes are,  the stories they slot into can still be really 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:46.000 interesting - and while most of us have a passing  knowledge of the big names like Red Riding Hood, 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.440 Hansel and Gretel, and anything Disney ever  monetized, there’s a lot of really neat stuff 00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:52.720 out there that doesn’t get the same kind of  press. So today let’s talk about a bite-sized 00:00:52.720 --> 00:00:56.560 Norwegian fairy tale with dashing princes,  heroic peasants, and at least one dragon. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.560 Our story begins with a [benevolent king and  queen] who are regrettably also pulling duty as a 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:04.240 [tragically childless couple]. The Queen is pretty  bummed about that whole situation, and is out for 00:01:04.240 --> 00:01:07.840 a walk sublimating her feelings about it when she  stumbles on a [mysterious old woman] who happens 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.520 to be a [witch]. The lady asks her what’s wrong  and when the queen fills her in on the No Kids, 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:15.360 Cradle Empty situation, she gives her some cryptic  advice, telling the queen to take a two-handled 00:01:15.360 --> 00:01:18.720 jug and put it upside down in the corner of  her garden overnight. The next morning, two 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:23.200 roses will have grown under it, one red and one  white - the queen should choose one rose to eat, 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:27.520 red if she wants a son, white for a daughter,  but under no circumstances should she eat both. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:31.200 The queen heads home and takes her advice, not  really expecting all that much, but the next day 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.480 she finds that, surprisingly, the witch was right  on the money and the roses have really grown! 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.840 She agonizes for a bit over which one to  eat, reasoning that a son might eventually 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:41.680 need to go off to war but a daughter will  have to marry some foreign lord and either 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.680 way she’ll lose the kid someday. Jeez, way to  be a downer about this Magical Baby situation. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.960 Anyway, after a few minutes of dithering she  settles on the white one, but the rose turns 00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:52.320 out to be super delicious and nutritious so  she ignores the warning and eats the other 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:56.640 one too. Denying the explicit orders of a witch  in a fairy tale? What could possibly go wrong? 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.240 Nine months pass, and while the king is out  warring, the queen gives birth to twins - one 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:05.840 healthy baby boy and one lindworm, aka a dragon.  Ah, those magical pre-ultrasound days where every 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.440 pregnancy was a surprise. Anyway, the lindworm  skedaddles outta there real quick and the queen’s 00:02:09.440 --> 00:02:14.480 like “Welp. Hope that was a hallucination.”  and just… doesn’t bring it up ever. Neato. 00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:18.480 So years pass and the [dashing prince] grows to  be a very fine young man, and eventually he’s sent 00:02:18.480 --> 00:02:22.320 off to find a suitably [beautiful princess] to be  his bride. But when he tries to leave the kingdom, 00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:27.280 the road is blocked by a massive lindworm that  tells him “A bride for me before a bride for you!” 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.720 The prince heads back, thoroughly confused,  and the queen confesses that the lindworm is 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:35.120 actually right on the money - technically he  was born first, making him the older brother, 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.560 so he kind of has to get married first. So the king starts contacting far-off 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:42.640 kingdoms to ask for a bride for his son - though  he doesn’t say which son - and when the requisite 00:02:42.640 --> 00:02:46.240 [beautiful princess] arrives, a lavish wedding  is held and she’s married off to the Lindworm, 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:50.240 who promptly eats her. The Lindworm still demands  a bride, since evidently devouring the bride 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.440 on the wedding night means the wedding doesn’t  count, so the king writes to a different kingdom, 00:02:53.440 --> 00:02:56.560 gets a second [beautiful princess] shipped  over, and the exact same thing happens. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.840 Now never let it be said that these [benevolent  royals] can’t learn from their mistakes. The 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.680 king’s not too eager to make an enemy of a third  kingdom, so instead he goes to his royal shepherd 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.960 and tells him his beloved and conveniently  expendable daughter is going to marry the 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:11.120 lindworm whether she wants to or not. It’s always  so lovely to see a ruler who really goes the extra 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.640 mile to connect to his people like that. Now the [heroic peasant girl] obviously 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:17.600 doesn’t want to get eaten, so she does what  any self-respecting protagonist would - she 00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:21.200 goes for a walk in the spooky woods lamenting her  doom until a [mysterious old woman] who happens 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:23.920 to be a [witch] pops out of the woodwork  to ask her what’s wrong. The shepherdess 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:27.120 fills her in on the situation and the witch  gives her some very specific instructions 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.640 on how she can survive her wedding night. The wedding day arrives, lavish party, beautiful 00:03:30.640 --> 00:03:34.720 bride, commendably scaly groom, etcetera etcetera  - but that night, following the witch’s advice, 00:03:34.720 --> 00:03:38.640 the shepherdess has the castle staff bring  her a few things. She layers on ten dresses, 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:42.720 preps two basins of lye and milk, and gets  ready for some fairy tale shenanigans. 00:03:42.720 --> 00:03:46.960 When the Lindworm tells her to ditch the dress,  she tells him to lose a skin. He’s a bit thrown by 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:51.280 this request, but agrees - but after he sheds the  skin, surprise, she’s got another dress on! Guess 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.880 you’d better lose another skin if you want a piece  of this! They repeat the process several times, 00:03:54.880 --> 00:03:58.240 and by the time the shepherdess is down to her  last dress, the lindworm is in pretty rough 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.080 shape. This is when the plan enters phase two.  Following the witch’s instructions to the letter, 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.440 the shepherdess grabs a whip, which I  guess the castle staff just assumed was 00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:09.440 for totally kosher bedroom fun times, dips  it in the lye and whacks the lindworm with 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:14.080 it. Then she dumps the milk over him, and then  - possibly most surprisingly - she hugs him. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.680 The next day the staff are shocked to discover  that the shepherdess is not only alive, but 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.680 cuddling up to a very handsome [dashing prince].  With the lindworm officially freed from his cursed 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.520 existence by being quite literally whipped into  shape, the kingdom is overjoyed and the wedding is 00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:29.360 held all over again, this time with feeling. The  prince and the shepherdess are happily married for 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:32.960 real this time and everyone lives happily ever  after except for those two princesses who got 00:04:32.960 --> 00:04:41.840 totally murdered. Sorry ladies, but someone’s  gotta pay the price for the rule of three! 00:04:41.854 --> 00:05:07.233 [Bring Me To Life - Evanescence]