1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 2: Hi. My name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 2: When I was a kid, my aunt gave me a 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 2: number of volumes from the Time Life Enchanted World book series, 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 2: which was originally published between the years nineteen eighty four 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 2: and nineteen eighty seven. I love these books growing up, 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 2: and in recent years I've been steadily accumulating the volumes 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 2: that I missed out on because I didn't have a 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 2: complete collection when I was a kid. Over Christmas, my 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,879 Speaker 2: family gave me the nineteen eighty five volume Dwarves, and 13 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 2: it of course contains some excellent retellings of Norse mythology. 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 2: There's some tales of mining spirits, which we have of 15 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 2: course discussed on the show before, and like all volumes 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 2: of the world, Dwarves contains excellent artwork, including a number 17 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 2: of dwarf illustrations by the legendary Wayne Anderson. This is 18 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 2: the guy who illustrated the nineteen seventy nine book Flight 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 2: of Dragons, which was made into an animated film that 20 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 2: we've discussed on Weird House Cinema. There's a section in 21 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 2: the book titled a Sampling of Dwarf types, and this 22 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 2: is where we see multiple Wayne Anderson illustrations, and one 23 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 2: illustration and in particular, depicts a slightly mustachioed but otherwise 24 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 2: clean shaven dwarf dressed in red cardinal robes and a 25 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 2: wide brimmed grillo hat. He holds a staff and stands 26 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 2: beside an open treasure chest. This is the Munachello or 27 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 2: little Monk of Naples, Italy, as the art indicates. He 28 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 2: was said to guard hidden treasure and would part with 29 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 2: some of it only to reclaim his splendid hat should 30 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,559 Speaker 2: someone be lucky or tricky enough to steal it from him. 31 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 2: He could also be a bit of a trickster himself, 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: wealth stealing a person's clothes or even pinching them, we're told. So, 33 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 2: having read this, and not being familiar with this particular spirit, 34 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 2: I wanted to learn more. So I turned to a 35 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 2: few different texts. I turned to eighteen ninety three's Folklore 36 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 2: Volume four, edited by Jacobs at All and published by 37 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 2: the Folklore Society. They cite the seventeenth century Neapolitan fairy 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 2: tale collection Pentemeroni by Italian poet Jean Bautista Basila as 39 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 2: a key resource. The authors mentioned that the whole house 40 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 2: could sometimes become abandoned due to the nuisance of the 41 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 2: occupying Monticello, and that these little people otherwise lived in 42 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 2: the ravines of coastal Sorrento. As translator Nancy L. Canepa 43 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 2: points out in her translation of Basila's text that Monticello 44 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 2: can largely be thought of as a household or kitchen spirit, 45 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 2: engaging in both assistance and mischief. On the assistant side, 46 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 2: the spirit might aid the ladies of the house with 47 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,679 Speaker 2: warnings of disaster, cures for illness, lottery numbers, and even 48 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,639 Speaker 2: the location of buried treasure. I guess the lottery number 49 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 2: is kind of an upgrade of the tradition of bury 50 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: treasure information. The men of the house, however, would experience 51 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 2: none of these benefits, and instead have to put up 52 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: with them on a cellow, occasionally sneaking into their wife's bed. 53 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: General household mischief was said to consist of water faucets 54 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 2: and stoves mysteriously turning on or off, disappearing objects, and 55 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 2: so forth. So in some tellings quite beneficial. In other tellings, however, 56 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 2: the entity takes on a darker nature. In twenty twenty 57 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 2: three's Souls of Naples Corporeal Ghosts and Spiritual Bodies in 58 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 2: Early Modern Naples by ottore Vari, the author classifies the 59 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 2: entity as a kind of anti clerical incubus, a male 60 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 2: sex demon closely aligned with dreams and the experience of 61 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 2: night terrors, and in this case said to be linked 62 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 2: to melancholy. Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster, Fact, 63 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 2: The Artifact, or Anomali Stupendium each week. As all ways. 64 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 2: You can email us at contact at Stuffdblow your Mind 65 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 2: dot com. 66 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 67 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,039 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 68 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.