Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb And This is the
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.
Speaker 2: Autumn is the perfect time to gather around the old
Speaker 2: electric hearth we call a television set and watch the
Speaker 2: twenty fourteen Cartoon Network animated series Over the Garden Wall.
Speaker 2: In this much beloved show, we follow brothers Wort and
Speaker 2: Greg through a woodland world of folkloric intrigue, vintage Halloween vibes,
Speaker 2: old New England charm, and heartwarming whimsy. Created by animator
Speaker 2: Patrick McHale, it features the voice talents of Elijah Wood,
Speaker 2: Melanie Lynsky, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, and Moore. Over the
Speaker 2: Garden Wall is loaded with silliness in but it's not
Speaker 2: without its spookier moments and its chief antagonist, an entity
Speaker 2: known only as the Beast, really stands out as an
Speaker 2: avatar of pure darkness. He appears throughout the series as
Speaker 2: a shadowy, antlered figure with glowing eyes. And I'm not
Speaker 2: going to spoil everything here, but we eventually learn that
Speaker 2: this entity feeds on the despair and sorrow of children
Speaker 2: and other individuals lost in the woods. The Beast is
Speaker 2: an entity fittingly shrouded in mystery, but we can identify
Speaker 2: various points of possible inspiration and connections to related traditions.
Speaker 2: As is often the case in Western animation, we of
Speaker 2: course must acknowledge the devil as part of the antagonist DNA,
Speaker 2: but there are other more obscure notes as well. Now
Speaker 2: some might point to modern depictions of the wind to Go,
Speaker 2: a spirit from the traditions of the Algonquin people, but
Speaker 2: is my understanding that these depictions of the wind to
Speaker 2: Go as an antlered being are largely an invention of
Speaker 2: non indigenous media depictions. Windigo traditions, however, and related Indigenous
Speaker 2: ideas do touch on themes of wildness, wilderness and survival cannibalism.
Speaker 2: A much clearer point of reference for the Beast, however,
Speaker 2: can likely be found in Herna the Hunter, a spirit
Speaker 2: important of doom from English tradition, tied to the woods
Speaker 2: surrounding windsor castle covered in furs and bearing the skull
Speaker 2: and antlers of a great stag. The entity might well
Speaker 2: be tied to pagan worship of the Celtic fertility god Kurnunos.
Speaker 2: We previously discussed Hernaw the Hunter in Our Stuff to
Speaker 2: Blow Your Mind episode Ghosts of the Wind and Rain.
Speaker 2: The basic iconography of an antlered or horned woodland spirit
Speaker 2: may also connect to a variety of ancient gods of
Speaker 2: the hunt. The beast may also have an analog in
Speaker 2: Germanic tradition, the Earl King or Elf King, Alder King
Speaker 2: or Oak King. The entity was said to haunt the
Speaker 2: Black Forest of Germany, luring travelers and children to death
Speaker 2: in the lonely wilderness. In seventeen eighty two, German poet
Speaker 2: Johann Wolfgang van Gotha wrote of the entity in his
Speaker 2: poem The Earl King. I'm gonna read from the Edgar
Speaker 2: Alfred Bowering translation. Who rides there so late, through the night,
Speaker 2: dark and drear the father? It is with his infant,
Speaker 2: so dear. He holdeth the boy tightly clasped in his arm.
Speaker 2: He holdeth him safely, He keepeth him warm, my son.
Speaker 2: Wherefore seekest thou thy face thus to hide look, Father,
Speaker 2: the Earl King is close by our side. Dost see
Speaker 2: not the Earl King with crown and with train, my son.
Speaker 2: Tis the mist rising over the plain. Oh come now,
Speaker 2: dear infant, Oh come thou with me, for many a
Speaker 2: game I will play there, with thee on my strand
Speaker 2: lovely flowers their blossoms on folk. My mother shall grace
Speaker 2: thee with garments of gold. My father, my father, And
Speaker 2: dost thou not hear the words that the Earl King
Speaker 2: now breathes in mine ear be calm, dearest child. Tis
Speaker 2: thy fancy deceives. Tis the sad wind that sighs through
Speaker 2: the withering leaves. Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go
Speaker 2: with me there. My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care.
Speaker 2: My daughters by night their glad festival keep. They'll dance
Speaker 2: thee and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep. My father,
Speaker 2: my father, and dost thou not see how the Earl
Speaker 2: King his daughters has brought here for me, my darling,
Speaker 2: My darling, I see it all right. Tis the aged
Speaker 2: gray willows, deceiving thy sight. I love thee. I'm charmed
Speaker 2: by thy beauty, dear boy. And if thou art unwilling,
Speaker 2: then force all employ my father. My father, he seizes
Speaker 2: me fast for sorely. The Earl King has hurt me
Speaker 2: at last. The father now gallops with terror. Half wild,
Speaker 2: he grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child. He
Speaker 2: reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread. The child
Speaker 2: in his arms finds he motionless dead. Quite a dark ending,
Speaker 2: I think you'll agree. But for word in greg and
Speaker 2: over the garden Wall, things don't go quite as badly.
Speaker 2: But it is a near thing. The Beast, like the
Speaker 2: Earl King, would seem to command great power in those
Speaker 2: places where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who
Speaker 2: travel through the wood. Tune in for additional episodes of
Speaker 2: the Monster, Fact, the Artifact or Animaliustupendium each week. As always,
Speaker 2: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: your Mind dot com.
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.