Act!vated Stories

Happy New Year! That's a bit late for American listeners, but it's a little early for Chinese listeners. Because Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year) is celebrated this year on Jan. 23 (Year of the Dragon). The exact date varies considerably from year to year (It will be Feb. 10 next year.) because...

“The Twin Brothers” is a story from the former Czechoslovakia about two brothers who looked a great deal alike, and therefore were sometimes mistaken for each other. This is a motif that many writers have used, including of course Shakespeare. And as in most of these narratives, the brot...

When you hear the thunder roll across the heavens, you're hearing Thor, the blacksmith of the gods, wield his hammer in Asgard. So said the ancient Scandinavians, and they told of a time when his thunder was stolen by the lord of the giants, an unpleasant fellow named Thrym. Like the Greeks and Roma...

He may not exactly look like the cock of the walk, but the sparrow is officially the King of the Fowl – at least according to this folktale from India. But he paid a price for the foul behavior he exhibited in acquiring his crown. We present this story with the aid of guest stars Mike and Patr...

“The Frog and the Antelope” is a Native American story from the Kootenai (or Kootenay) tribe about a race between, appropriately enough, a frog and an antelope. It's one of many such race tales from many different races of human being, such as Aesop's “The Tortoise and the Hare&rdq...

“The Rainbow Crow” is a Native American nature myth from the Lenni Lenape tribe of New Jersey. It's quite unusual for a nature myth in that it simultaneously explains the origins of four phenomena: fire, the rainbow, the crow's black feathers, and the crow's croaky voice...

To mark the beginning of winter, we present “Batcha” a dragon story from the region formerly known as Czechoslovakia (it recently split into Slovakia and The Czech Republic). A shepherd strays away from home, discovers a serpents' lair, sleeps all winter like Rip Van Rep...

Especially for the arrival of the autumn equinox, alias fall, we bring you “Moonlight Over Cassia Peak” a nature myth from China explaining the abundance of cassia trees around Lingyin Temple in the Wulin Mountains. The version we have borrowed presents the legend as a tale with...

Part 2 of the Dragon of Krakow - the exciting conclusion!

Activatedly Yours,

Dennis (the Cobbler), Kimberly (the Apprentice) and the Dragon



Links:



Part I...

Long before Marvel Comics created Spiderman, a spiderman was created by the Ashanti tribe of western Africa. The frequent trickster (and sometimes victim of other animals' tricks) has appeared in many aliases, and in many other parts of the world, including the Caribbean, Central America and the U.S...