1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. The domestic silkworm is an 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: important species in both Chinese history and human fiber and 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: fabric history in general. The larvae of these silk moths 8 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: spends a cocoon of secreted silk, which can then be 9 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: harvested and woven into highly desired textiles. Selective breeding has 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: left the domestic silkworm completely dependent on humans for reproduction, 11 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: and the larvae favor the leaves of the mulberry tree, 12 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: as related by Anne Beryl in her book Chinese Mythology 13 00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: and Introduction. A fascinating mythological tale concerning all of this 14 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: is found in the fourth century c. E book A 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: Record of Researches into Spirits, or the socn G, commonly 16 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: thought to be the work of Historyan gan Bao. In 17 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: the story, a father travels forth and leaves his daughter 18 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: and a horse at home, where they live in poverty. 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,119 Speaker 1: The daughter tires of this and eventually tells the horse 20 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: a stallion, if you find my father and bring him 21 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: home to us, I will marry you. The horse is 22 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: eager and agrees to these terms and rides out in 23 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: search of the old man and indeed finds him. But 24 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: the father is suspicious of the horse, reasoning that he 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: is not doing this for nothing, but he agrees to 26 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: go with the horse. He travels home on the creature's 27 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: back and only then learns the truth of the daughter's 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: promise to the beast. Of course, the daughter doesn't want 29 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: to marry the horse, and the father realizes that this 30 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: would be a shame full horror for the family. He 31 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: chastises her for making such a pact, kills the horse 32 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: with an arrow, skins it, and leaves its hide to 33 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: dry on some branches. Later, the daughter is walking past 34 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: the hide with a friend, and she mocks the horse 35 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: for thinking she would ever marry him. And this is 36 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: where things take a horrific turn. The horse hide comes 37 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: to life, leaps from the branches, envelopes the daughter, and 38 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: drags her away. The friend screams and flees. A few 39 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: days later, after searching the surrounding area, the father finds 40 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: her once again. The hide wrapped woman has transformed into 41 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: a great silkworm which feeds amid the branches of an 42 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: interesting tree. The locals soon discovered that the silk of 43 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: this silkworm is superior to that of others, and they 44 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: realize that the reason is not her transforms status, but 45 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: the tree itself. This is, of course a mulberry tree, 46 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: and they give it a special name. They call it Song, 47 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: which means mulberry tree in Mandarin, but can also mean funeral, 48 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: old corpse, or mourning, as in the Mourning of the dead. 49 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: It is a story of mythic botanical origins, the curse 50 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: of sexual desire and of metamorphosis. I also find it 51 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: interesting that it concerns two different domesticated species and humanities, 52 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: perhaps at times anxious place as the mitigators of their reproduction. 53 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. 54 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff 55 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:57,839 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 56 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: It's production of I Heart Radio from our podcasts. From 57 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.