Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/HELinde

Our theme for August is “Tales Across Cultures” – a month-long dive into stories that transcend place and exist in multiple cultures throughout the years. Today’s episode, we’re revisiting a tale from an earlier theme, a tale of finding love in unexpected places: Beauty and the Beast. She’s beautiful. He’s monstrous. She’s the youngest daughter, selfless and gentle. He’s cursed. Horned. Hidden away. But somehow they fall in love. Or so the story goes. We know the tale of Beauty and the Beast. A castle. A rose. A girl in golden gowns. And a beast who’s more than he seems. But where did this story come from? Is it about love? Or captivity? Is it a romance? Or a warning? Versions of this tale appear everywhere—from French salons to West African folktales, to Disney soundtracks and Stockholm syndrome debates. Because this isn’t just a story about a beast who becomes a man. It’s a story about how we learn to see differently. And sometimes… how we learn to love what scares us.

Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/HELinde

Our theme for August is “Tales Across Cultures” – a month-long dive into stories that transcend place and exist in multiple cultures throughout the years. Today’s episode, we’re looking at a story about stranger danger: Little Red Riding Hood. She walks through the woods in a red cloak. Carrying bread. Or wine. Or medicine. She’s headed to her grandmother’s house. But in the shadows… something waits. A wolf. A stranger. A danger dressed in fur. This is the story of Little Red Riding Hood—a fairytale we think we know. A girl. A wolf. A warning. But this story is older than the Brothers Grimm. Older than Perrault. It’s been whispered by grandmothers, painted in caution signs, and twisted into horror films. Is she an innocent victim? A rebellious teen? A symbol of growing up? Or is she something more dangerous? Let’s step off the path—and into the woods.

Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/HELinde

Our theme for August is “Tales Across Cultures” – a month-long dive into stories that transcend place and exist in multiple cultures throughout the years. Today’s episode, we’re looking at a story about the hundred year nap we all crave: Sleeping Beauty. Nearly every culture has a story about a girl who sleeps. Not just naps or dreams. But falls into a long, deep, magical sleep. She’s the enchanted princess. The girl behind the thorns. The beauty with the curse. And she doesn’t wake on her own. She’s kissed, rescued, awakened, by fate, by magic, by a prince. But where does she come from? Is Sleeping Beauty just a French fairy tale? A Disney cartoon? Or is she something older—something deeper? A story about time. About danger. About girlhood frozen in place… waiting for the world to shift. Let’s open the gate, walk through the thorns, and uncover what really lies behind the sleep.