1 00:00:03,090 --> 00:00:06,150 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,130 --> 00:00:11,830 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The 3 00:00:11,890 --> 00:00:14,650 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short-form series from Stuff to Blow Your 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 2: Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. 5 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 2: In today's episode, I want to talk about a creature 6 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:29,900 Speaker 2: that I was reading about in Carol Rose's Giants, Monsters, 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,820 Speaker 2: and Dragons. This is a text I frequently turn to 8 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,659 Speaker 2: for my monsters and spirits. There are a number of 9 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,729 Speaker 2: related spirits, and they have different names. There's the Puck 10 00:00:41,780 --> 00:00:47,250 Speaker 2: of Germany, the Puckis of Latvia, and the Lithuanian Cacus 11 00:00:47,530 --> 00:00:51,710 Speaker 2: or Atvaris, and it's also commonly known as the Estonian 12 00:00:51,830 --> 00:00:57,020 Speaker 2: Krot or Tulehand. According to Rose, its origins go back 13 00:00:57,100 --> 00:01:00,460 Speaker 2: to at least the 16th century as a folk tale 14 00:01:00,540 --> 00:01:05,910 Speaker 2: concerning the sudden suspicious accumulation of wealth. The magical explanation 15 00:01:06,030 --> 00:01:10,789 Speaker 2: for this happening in your village or neighborhood is that, okay, 16 00:01:10,810 --> 00:01:14,069 Speaker 2: you have a fellow villager who is suddenly living above 17 00:01:14,110 --> 00:01:17,710 Speaker 2: their assumed means. What's going on here? Is it possible 18 00:01:17,770 --> 00:01:20,890 Speaker 2: that they've made a blood pact with the devil for 19 00:01:20,950 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 2: a magical household spirit? that then steals things from their 20 00:01:25,950 --> 00:01:31,180 Speaker 2: neighbors on their behalf. That's basically the idea here. The 21 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 2: cost of acquiring such a creature, again, from the devil, is, 22 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,140 Speaker 2: of course, one's soul. Plus, you have to keep feeding 23 00:01:38,180 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 2: it omelets. It hatches from the egg of a seven-year-old cockerel. 24 00:01:42,860 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 2: And in other tellings, one has to make the body 25 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 2: of the creature out of household materials and contribute drops 26 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 2: of blood to its body. After this, it essentially haunts 27 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:58,850 Speaker 2: the home like a household spirit with a single, all-encompassing mission. 28 00:01:59,370 --> 00:02:03,330 Speaker 2: Make its master rich by any and all means necessary. 29 00:02:03,350 --> 00:02:06,970 Speaker 2: And this generally means stealing food and gold from your neighbors. 30 00:02:07,390 --> 00:02:10,370 Speaker 2: It resembles a black cockerel or black cat, but when 31 00:02:10,410 --> 00:02:12,410 Speaker 2: it takes to the air and flies, it may assume 32 00:02:12,450 --> 00:02:15,530 Speaker 2: the form of a dragon or a flying serpent, perhaps 33 00:02:15,550 --> 00:02:19,700 Speaker 2: with fiery motifs. In some tellings, it also guards the 34 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 2: treasure hoard that it accumulates for its master and and 35 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,020 Speaker 2: may only be exercised from the home with great effort 36 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,300 Speaker 2: and only by the pious. So if you get buyer's remorse, 37 00:02:30,340 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 2: there's no easy way out. And I believe some of 38 00:02:32,340 --> 00:02:35,950 Speaker 2: the tales about getting rid of such an entity are 39 00:02:36,010 --> 00:02:39,710 Speaker 2: rather bittersweet because you may have finally rid yourself of 40 00:02:39,750 --> 00:02:42,610 Speaker 2: the creature, but there's no getting your soul back. Or 41 00:02:42,630 --> 00:02:44,050 Speaker 2: at least that's the way it is in the tellings 42 00:02:44,090 --> 00:02:47,340 Speaker 2: I was looking at. Now in the Estonian usage, there's 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,750 Speaker 2: apparently an added wrinkle. The krat, as they call it, 44 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,510 Speaker 2: must stay busy. Once the owner of the krat doesn't 45 00:02:54,630 --> 00:02:58,310 Speaker 2: actually need or want it stealing from neighbors anymore, you know, 46 00:02:58,350 --> 00:03:00,350 Speaker 2: that's the kind of thing that could get you in trouble, 47 00:03:01,130 --> 00:03:04,810 Speaker 2: it still needs to be kept busy. So the master 48 00:03:04,850 --> 00:03:09,970 Speaker 2: will give the krat additional impossible tasks to achieve, things 49 00:03:09,990 --> 00:03:12,210 Speaker 2: that it can never actually finish, but it has to 50 00:03:12,270 --> 00:03:15,070 Speaker 2: remain busy. And this keeps the krat out of trouble. 51 00:03:15,930 --> 00:03:19,489 Speaker 2: In modern usage, Estonians apparently have taken the krat as 52 00:03:19,530 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 2: a potent metaphor for for artificial intelligence technology. And it's 53 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 2: even used on governmental websites. Certainly, given our current headline 54 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:35,130 Speaker 2: cycle concerning industry warnings about AI advancements, rogue agents, and 55 00:03:35,310 --> 00:03:40,270 Speaker 2: AI misuse, perhaps this is an instructive metaphor for all 56 00:03:40,290 --> 00:03:44,070 Speaker 2: of us to say nothing of LLMs and their scraping 57 00:03:44,090 --> 00:03:47,090 Speaker 2: of content from our neighbors in order to give us 58 00:03:47,170 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 2: desired riches in the form of some sort of generated 59 00:03:50,950 --> 00:03:54,370 Speaker 2: imagery or text. And once the pact has been made, 60 00:03:54,900 --> 00:03:58,460 Speaker 2: it may be difficult to send the spirit packing once more. 61 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact, 62 00:04:02,460 --> 00:04:05,620 Speaker 2: or Animalio Stupendium each week. As always, you can email 63 00:04:05,700 --> 00:04:09,150 Speaker 2: us at contact at stuff to blow your mind dot com. 64 00:04:19,310 --> 00:04:21,750 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 65 00:04:22,130 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple 66 00:04:25,500 --> 00:04:27,860 Speaker 1: Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.