Hannah B. Harvey

Many fictional stories are an attempt to explain why things in the world are the way they are. Dr. Harvey shares several pourquoi tales from around the world, including Kipling's "How the Camel Got His Hump" from his "Just So Stories" published in India. She also shares an African-American tale "Why the Rabbit has Long Ears and a Short Tail" and the 1929 Norse story "Why the Sea is Salty."

Aesop has made a name for himself. Dr. Harvey presents several of his tales, including "The Tortoise and the Hare," "Androcles and the Lion," "The Stone in the Road," "The Fox and the Wolf," and "Belling the Cat." She also shares Kipling's "Camel Poem" and "How the Hamster Got his Tail," a Kenyan story about why hamsters have small tails.

Femininity is once again examined, this time with a focus on the roles women play in stories. Dr. Harvey shares a combined version of "Rapunzel," pulling from Grimm's German version and Basile's Italian version. Looking at the triad of Maiden/Mother/Crone and Warrior/Father/Sage, Dr. Harvey shows how stories reduce and distill all our life experiences into simple symbols.

Dr. Harvey introduces you to a Norse tale called "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." This story introduces us to the theme of transformation - a theme that is both scary and exciting, and is a common in folktales to help us understand how we grow and change, and to teach the lesson that looks can be deceiving.

Dive deeper into the use of transformation in stories as Dr. Harvey presents a version of "Beauty and the Beast." Compare that version to the German story by Ludwig Bechstein in 1847 called "Beauty's Stone Sisters." Dr. Harvey concludes this lesson with an Ancient Greek tale called "Cupid and Pysche," which demonstrates how bravery can be the root of transformations.

Dr. Harvey presents several stories, each of which explore the power of naming. Starting with classic story "Rumpelstiltskin" from Germany, collected by the Grimm brothers in 1857, you'll also hear an Egyptian creation myth, a Judeo-Christian creation myth, the Egyptian story of Ra and Isis, and "Peerie Fool" from the Orkney Islands, which pulls elements from Norse and Scottish folklore.

Why do we love toppling giants? Stories such as David and Goliath resonate, giving us hope that we can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Dr. Harvey shares two stories: "The Legend of the Chocolate Hills" from the Philippines, and "The Little Tailor," adapted from the 1857 version by the brothers Grimm, which itself was adapted from a 1557 story called "Der Wegkurtzer" by Martinus Montanus.

Folklorists believe that stories like Hansel and Gretel may have begun during the Great Famine in Europe, during the late Medieval age, about 700 years ago. Dr. Harvey shows us how the Scottish version has something else living in the house in the woods as she shares both "Hansel and Gretel" and "Mollie Whuppie." Both stories introduce the themes of triumph and besting evil powers.

Hear the story of "The Town Musicians of Bremen" - a tale that has been so prolific and retold through so many forms of art that in Bremen you can find a statue to the storied animals. Dr. Harvey also looks at how various cultures such as Germany, India, and the Netherlands both treated and depicted older characters. She concludes with a "Japanese Wisdom Tale."

Learn why beauty matters, how beauty is akin to as power in many stories, and how, as these stories got retold and rewritten (by men), the roles men played became more heroic while the roles women played became designated to looking lovely. Using Grimm's "Snow White" as a lens to examine instruments of femininity, Dr. Harvey explains how these stories are often metaphors for life.