Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures,
Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. The domestic silkworm is an
Speaker 1: important species in both Chinese history and human fiber and
Speaker 1: fabric history in general. The larvae of these silk moths
Speaker 1: spends a cocoon of secreted silk, which can then be
Speaker 1: harvested and woven into highly desired textiles. Selective breeding has
Speaker 1: left the domestic silkworm completely dependent on humans for reproduction,
Speaker 1: and the larvae favor the leaves of the mulberry tree,
Speaker 1: as related by Anne Beryl in her book Chinese Mythology
Speaker 1: and Introduction. A fascinating mythological tale concerning all of this
Speaker 1: is found in the fourth century c. E book A
Speaker 1: Record of Researches into Spirits, or the socn G, commonly
Speaker 1: thought to be the work of Historyan gan Bao. In
Speaker 1: the story, a father travels forth and leaves his daughter
Speaker 1: and a horse at home, where they live in poverty.
Speaker 1: The daughter tires of this and eventually tells the horse
Speaker 1: a stallion, if you find my father and bring him
Speaker 1: home to us, I will marry you. The horse is
Speaker 1: eager and agrees to these terms and rides out in
Speaker 1: search of the old man and indeed finds him. But
Speaker 1: the father is suspicious of the horse, reasoning that he
Speaker 1: is not doing this for nothing, but he agrees to
Speaker 1: go with the horse. He travels home on the creature's
Speaker 1: back and only then learns the truth of the daughter's
Speaker 1: promise to the beast. Of course, the daughter doesn't want
Speaker 1: to marry the horse, and the father realizes that this
Speaker 1: would be a shame full horror for the family. He
Speaker 1: chastises her for making such a pact, kills the horse
Speaker 1: with an arrow, skins it, and leaves its hide to
Speaker 1: dry on some branches. Later, the daughter is walking past
Speaker 1: the hide with a friend, and she mocks the horse
Speaker 1: for thinking she would ever marry him. And this is
Speaker 1: where things take a horrific turn. The horse hide comes
Speaker 1: to life, leaps from the branches, envelopes the daughter, and
Speaker 1: drags her away. The friend screams and flees. A few
Speaker 1: days later, after searching the surrounding area, the father finds
Speaker 1: her once again. The hide wrapped woman has transformed into
Speaker 1: a great silkworm which feeds amid the branches of an
Speaker 1: interesting tree. The locals soon discovered that the silk of
Speaker 1: this silkworm is superior to that of others, and they
Speaker 1: realize that the reason is not her transforms status, but
Speaker 1: the tree itself. This is, of course a mulberry tree,
Speaker 1: and they give it a special name. They call it Song,
Speaker 1: which means mulberry tree in Mandarin, but can also mean funeral,
Speaker 1: old corpse, or mourning, as in the Mourning of the dead.
Speaker 1: It is a story of mythic botanical origins, the curse
Speaker 1: of sexual desire and of metamorphosis. I also find it
Speaker 1: interesting that it concerns two different domesticated species and humanities,
Speaker 1: perhaps at times anxious place as the mitigators of their reproduction.
Speaker 1: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind.
Speaker 1: It's production of I Heart Radio from our podcasts. From
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.