1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 1: and monsters in time. In this episode, we returned to 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: the rich world of Pokemon, full of elaborate and creative 7 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: creatures with the knack for evolution and combat. Today's Pokemon 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: begins as an adorable baby tortoise with a plant on 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: its head named turt Wig, and ultimately evolves into a 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: titanic tortoise with a forest on its back named Tortara. 11 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: In the movie Pokemon Detective Pikachu, we encounter multiple tortas 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: the size of islands. So once more I turned to 13 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: my son's Sebastian for help navigating the Pokemon world. He'd 14 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: like to share the following using the Pokemon Super Extra 15 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: Deluxe Essential Handbook as a primary source to Terra, the 16 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: continent Pokemon found in the Center region, a grass and 17 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: ground type. Its first forms part Quick is the grass 18 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: thirder Pokemon in the Sinner region. Some people believe that 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: as a cant secure Terra dwelled under the surface, it 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: is big enough to have a small pokemon on its back. Naturally, 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: tortoises and turtles factor into various myth cycles, and to 22 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: consider giant specimens with forests on their back, we have 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: to discuss the European tradition of the aspido clone or 24 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: asp turtle, as it was listed in the second century 25 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: b c. E book Physiologus. As Carol Rose explains in Giants, 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: Monsters and Dragons, this tone was widely distributed across medieval Europe, 27 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: and still other texts spoke of similar creatures. Beasts so 28 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: vast their stony backs resemble islands in the sea, and 29 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: they are often covered with vegetation as well. The resulting 30 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: nautical horror stories were irresistible sailor's land on these islands, 31 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: thinking they have found refuge, until the island itself roars 32 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: to life and sends them fleeing back to their boats. 33 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: In the Middle East, the great creature is known as 34 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: Zaratan and is sometimes described as a whale, other times 35 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: as a turtle or general sea monster. It too is 36 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: mistaken for land. The legendary Sinbad the sailor, encounters the 37 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: Tzaratan during his first voyage in the Tales of the 38 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: Thousand and One Nights. We see the same motif in 39 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: the immap UMAs Sorsa of Greenland, a turtle and the 40 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: giant fish jess Conius of Irish legend. But such turtles 41 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: and tortoises are not always depicted as false islands. In 42 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: Hindu mythology, is explained in Sacred Animals of India by 43 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: Nanditha Krishna, Vishnu incarnates as the great turtle Kurma and 44 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: carries Mount Mandara on his back to churn the primordial ocean. 45 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: We also have the tradition of a world turtle that, 46 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: in one way or another supports or contains the world itself. 47 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: In Hinduism we have Akupara, the cosmic turtle who supports 48 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: the earth. We also find this motif in the beliefs 49 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: of certain indigenous North American tribes. My son Sebastian recommends 50 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: the Circle Round and Earth Rangers podcast episode Turtle Island, 51 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: which details related folklore of the Ojibwe First Nations people 52 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: of Canada, in which the world is rebuilt upon a 53 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: great turtle's back. In Chinese mythology, we also have Ow 54 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: the mythical sea turtle. When the four pillars holding up 55 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: the sky are destroyed. The goddess Nuah cuts the legs 56 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: from the great turtle and uses them to hold the 57 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: sky up. We also have one related story concerning legendary 58 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: ruler You, the Great tam or of floods, measurer of 59 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: the Earth, and master of the nine cauldrons. There are 60 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: many different accounts of how he combats the Great flood, 61 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: but in some he has assisted by a yellow dragon 62 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: and a black tortoise. He is also said to make 63 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: use of the sea or self renewing soil. Sometimes it 64 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: is said that yous father stole the soil from the 65 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: gods and was punished for it, but in some accounts 66 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: the magical earth is brought to him on the back 67 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: of the black tortoise. If you turn to page forty 68 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: three of the Enchanted World Book on Dragons, you'll see 69 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: a wonderful illustration of this tail by Jill Carla Shorts. 70 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: We see the self renewing soil heaped upon the tortoise's back, 71 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: like picturesque mountains. In the natural world we do not 72 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: find such wonders, but hibernating turtles have been observed to 73 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: come up from the ground with dirt on their backs, 74 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: sometimes with vegetation clinging there or growing there. But this 75 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: is of course temporary and a bit of rare luck. 76 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: But the resemblance of such shells to land has clearly 77 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: long tickle of the human imagination, and we see the 78 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: tradition carry on in our fiction. Just to consider a 79 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: few examples, there are the island like dragon turtles of Avatar, 80 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: The Last Airbender, and of course there is the Great 81 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 1: World Turtle, a tune from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Tune 82 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. 83 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact That's Stuff 84 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your 85 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts 86 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 87 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.