I've got a show to recommend that I genuinely think you and your kids are going to love.
It's called Lightcatchers, a brand new award-winning cinematic audio adventure from the team behind Batman, High Volume and Story Pirates.
If your house is into pinna favorites like Grim Grimmer, Grimmest or Hero Hotel, this is absolutely your next play.
Stick around for a preview at the end of this episode.
Then search Lightcatchers wherever you get your podcasts.
To celebrate the new season of Grim Grimmer Grimmest, which is coming out on June 12th, we're going to start reposting some of the episodes that you all have listened to the most.
Now, many of these episodes I actually haven't heard in years.
So I'm going to listen to them too.
And at the end of each episode, I'm going to share with you some things that occurred to me while I was listening.
Stuff I'd forgotten or never even realized or memories I had from making that episode.
Also, we're doing a live show in Brooklyn on June 14th at 11am at the Brooklyn Public Library on the steps, and I'm going to retell whichever episode you all vote for as your favorite.
Check the show notes for details on how to vote.
Okay, so let's find out if this one is your favorite.
If it is, don't forget to vote.
Hi, my name is Adam Gidwitz.
I'm an author.
I'm also a storyteller.
I like telling all kinds of stories, but I especially like telling grim fairy tales.
You may think you know grim fairy tales, and you may think that they are sweet and boring.
But listen, those tales you heard were the cute, happy little kid bedtime versions of the grim tales.
The original grim fairy tales aren't like that at all.
They're weird and sometimes gross and often scary.
In other words, they're grim.
And i'm about to host a virtual storytelling session and tell one of the original grim grim tales to a bunch of kids.
Do you want to join me?
Do you want to hear a grim fairy tale?
I don't know if you said yes or no because i can't hear you, so let me help you decide On a scale of grim, grimmer and grimmest.
The story I'm going to tell today is grim.
There is some fighting near the end, but it's not bloody or gruesome so much as weird.
If I get to a part of the story and you start to feel scared or uncomfortable, this is what you could do.
You could turn down the volume and count to five.
Then turn the volume back up.
If it still seems like a part you don't want to hear, turn it down and count to five again.
You know how much weird and gross and scary you're ready for.
You know what you need.
Okay, I'm about to join the session.
There are kids inside waiting to hear a grim fairy tale.
So, are you coming in?
Grim.
Grimmer.
Grimace.
All right.
Let's tell a story, shall we?
This is... one of the weirdest stories that I am going to tell you.
It is actually not by Franz Xaver von Schönwirth, also known as Scherbert von Scherbert or whatever you call him.
This is by the Brothers Grimm, but it is super weird.
And it is called The Stone Gnomes.
Once upon a time, there was a king who was kind of a jerk.
He loved to brag about how tough he was and how big his army was and how he'd never been beaten in any kind of fight in his whole life.
Now, this king had a baby boy.
The king wanted his baby boy to grow up to be strong and tough like him.
So he called a fortune teller to the palace, a fortune teller who specialized in reading the constellations.
And the king asked the fortune teller how big and tough this baby prince would grow up to be.
The fortune teller gazed up at the stars and said, Oh no, a horrible fate awaits the prince.
When he reaches the age of 16, a stag will take his life.
Okay, question.
What does that mean?
What is a stag and what does it mean to take his life?
A stag is a deer with like really big horns.
Yes.
And to take his life means to murder him.
Exactly right.
I feel like the dying at 16 gave me sort of a Sleeping Beauty vibe.
Oh, I get that.
I get that.
Well, usually in fairy tales, when there's some dark prophecy like if a girl pricks her finger with a spinning wheel, she'll fall asleep forever.
The king would banish all the spinning wheels.
So you'd expect the king to banish all stags, or never let the prince go hunting, or something like that.
But this king was kind of a jerk.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
And it was like, my son's not going to get killed by a stag.
I'll show you who's going to get killed by a stag.
And I'm going to let my son go out every single day.
And he'll come back with a dead stag head in his arms to hang over the mantle on the fireplace.
Are you reading over my shoulder?
That's exactly what's about to happen.
Oh.
You see, the king decided that the best way to make sure the prince was tough was to make the prince go hunting for stags all the time.
Oh, no.
No stag will take your life.
The king would boast.
Let them try.
You'll kill any stag you see, my son.
You'll kill him dead.
The prince would often sigh softly to himself.
I don't like it, but I have to do what my father says because he's the king.
And also, he never listens to me.
Well, on the morning of the prince's 16th birthday, the king took him out hunting for stags which, let's be honest, was really, really dumb.
This kind of gives me like the flying trunk vibe, because he's like the father is like don't embarrass me and don't ruin my reputation.
Right.
So he's doing this for his benefit.
Soon, they saw an amazing and beautiful stag with enormous antlers.
The king cried, Go get it, champ!
Oh my gosh!
And, very reluctantly, the prince said, Yes, father.
So the prince began to chase the stag.
The king tried to keep up, but the stag was fast, and the prince was too.
The prince's heart pounded, with exertion, but also with fear.
For he knew the prophecy.
He was afraid of it.
But he was more afraid of his tough guy father, the king.
The prince chased the great stag through the forest, this way and that.
Soon the king completely lost sight of them.
Over fallen trees and through thick brambles, the stag led the prince.
Until they came to the edge of a cliff.
The stag turned and faced the prince.
The prince panted. sweating, staring at the beautiful stag.
And he wondered, Is the stag going to kill me now?
But just then, the stag transformed.
His back hooves became feet.
His front hooves became hands.
He stood up, so he towered over the prince.
And his enormous antlers became a huge and terrible 20-pointed sword.
Things can be weirder than French shopper bunchers.
Definitely.
This definitely tops French Casablanca stories.
For weirdness?
Oh, guys, the weirdness hasn't even begun.
What?
Now, instead of a stag, stood a giant knight in black armor.
And he said to the prince, I have been hunting you your whole life, and now I've got you.
And he grabbed the prince and carried him away.
Let go of me.
My father will get you.
They soon arrived at the outskirts of the kingdom, at the knight's crumbling manor.
The tumbledown estate was surrounded by the dark entrances to old mines that had once produced stone for buildings and iron for weapons, but now lay barren.
At this manor lived the knight's daughter, who was just about the prince's age.
You'll stay here with me and my daughter.
The knight told the prince, for on the day of my daughter's birth I went to see an old fortune teller and he looked up at the constellations and told me that you would save my daughter's life and that she would be a queen.
Wait, there was a prophecy about me too.
The prince tried to tell him, but the knight never listened to anybody.
He went on.
So you must watch over my daughter and protect her, and one day soon, you will marry her and bring her back to your palace as your wife, because then she will be a queen, And if you don't do everything I say, I will kill you.
And the knight waved the 20-pointed sword in the prince's face.
That's so terrible.
You can't force marriage.
Right.
So you did in medieval times.
Is it ever okay to force someone to marry somebody else?
No.
That'd be like forcing a bear to marry a zebra.
The bear will just eat the zebra.
And now let's go on.
Well, upon hearing the knight's pronouncement, the prince was terrified.
And sad.
And just generally miserable.
And the knight's daughter, whose name was Petra, seemed to be just as unhappy about this arrangement as the prince was.
Oh, finally, somebody has a name.
Yes.
And what was her name?
I forgot.
Petra.
Petra.
Petra.
I will petrify you.
Like petrify.
Oh.
Yeah, petrify.
And what does petrify mean?
To be paralyzed, turned into stone.
Wait, say it again.
To be turned into stone.
So what do you think the word Petra means?
Maybe stone?
Yes.
Oh, I get it.
Stonify.
Petrify.
That's so right.
That's it.
The knight insisted that the prince follow his daughter around all day in case her life needed saving.
So the prince did.
At first, the prince tried to make small talk with Petra.
So, pretty cloudy today, huh?
Is it always cloudy here?
Nice, I guess.
But soon he realized it was no use.
Petra refused to speak to him.
Instead, she set a long way off and played with rocks that were lying around the manor's grounds near the entrances of the old mines.
Rockstones!
Rockstones!
What 16-year-old plays with rocks?
Petra.
That's gonna be me when I'm 16.
That's because you're cool.
Some rocks were sparkly quartzes, others were dull ore.
All of the rocks seemed more interesting to Petra than the prince was.
After dinner on the first evening of the prince's captivity, the knight made another startling announcement.
He told the prince that he would have to sit on the floor in Petra's room until sunrise.
I'll check on you every hour to make sure you're watching over her and you haven't fallen asleep.
And he waved the 20-pointed sword in the prince's face again.
That night, the prince sat on the floor of Petra's room.
It was an old creaky room that looked like it might have been fancy many years ago but now was just kind of creepy.
And the creepiest thing in the room was a giant stone statue of a very ugly man.
The man was so ugly in fact he barely looked like a man.
What he really looked like was an enormous stone gnome.
This is creepy.
After the knight had locked the door of Petra's room and retreated to his chamber, Petra told the prince not to bother watching over her.
Just go to sleep, she said.
Rocky here will protect me, and he'll answer my father when he calls.
Won't you, Rocky?
Petra turned toward the statue and looked at it expectantly.
Suddenly, the statue started to nod.
It began nodding very fast and then slowed down and went slower and slower and slower until about half an hour later its head finally came to a stop and the prince thought my life has gotten so weird.
But he did as petra said.
He lay down on the floor and tried to fall asleep all night, each hour on the hour.
The night knocked on the door.
Are you watching over my daughter?
The knight would call, and Rocky would say, Yes.
And the yes would echo.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Do you guys want to do that?
It's kind of fun.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And the knight would go away, satisfied.
Through all this, the prince lay awake on the floor, wondering what in the world was going on.
By morning, the knight was happy and said to the prince, I am impressed by how vigilant you were.
You kept watch all night.
The prince was about to tell him that he hadn't done anything, that the giant stone statue had watched over Petra and that really he didn't seem to be necessary, as Petra was quite well protected without him.
And couldn't he just go home now?
But before the prince spoke, he saw Petra's face.
She subtly put her finger to her lips.
Why would she do that?
Because she has a secret.
He doesn't know about Rocky.
A secret from her father.
So the prince said nothing.
As they were finishing breakfast, the knight announced that he wanted to begin planning their wedding.
But Petra wouldn't hear of it.
She wasn't mean or rude.
She was just very clear that she did not want to marry the prince.
I'm sorry, but I refuse.
Her father shouted at her.
Don't be so stubborn and foolish.
He explained to her.
This is a prophecy.
It has to happen.
And finally, he begged her.
You'd be the queen of this whole kingdom.
You want to be queen, don't you?
I'm already the queen of a far greater kingdom.
Petra replied, and she went outside to play with her rocks.
The night stormed off, grumbling, and the prince thought, My life has gotten so, so weird.
What does she mean, she's already the queen of a far greater kingdom?
I think she means like when she grows up, she'll be the queen and marry someone else.
Okay, interesting.
Maybe I could.
The stone gnome maybe is like a prince.
Interesting.
And they fell in love and they will be a king and a queen.
Very interesting theory.
Gnomes and rocks.
Maybe.
Maybe the place she like is the queen of like a stone gnome kingdom.
Interesting.
That afternoon the prince went out to follow Petra around again among the abandoned mines and scrubby land.
She still refused to speak to him.
She just sat with her rocks.
He watched her.
She talked to them.
Finally, the prince began to watch the rocks, which is when he realized that the rocks seemed to be moving on their own.
He came a little closer.
He looked very hard, but the rocks now appeared to be as still as, well, as still as stones.
Petra moved away, and the prince watched the rocks carefully.
When Petra began talking to them, they appeared to start moving again, without her touching them.
The prince rubbed his eyes.
He came a little closer.
The rocks fell still again.
Petra looked over her shoulder.
She saw the prince watching her.
He smiled.
She moved away again.
Okay, raise your hand if you have a guess as to what is happening.
What is going on, do you think?
I think this is the kingdom she was talking about.
Huh.
Interesting.
Things went on like this for many weeks.
The prince wished he could escape this wasteland of barren mines and this girl who talked to rocks.
For the walls of the knight's manor were very high and the knight sat all day in a watchtower over the gate sharpening his terrible, many-pointed sword.
There was no chance for escape.
Dang.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the king had figured that the fortune-teller's prophecy had come true and a stag had taken his son's life.
But then, a royal hunter returned to the palace with some interesting news.
Your Highness, I have some interesting news.
What is it?
I followed the footsteps of the prince in the stag through the woods until I came to the edge of a cliff.
There, suddenly, another set of footprints appeared, as if by magic.
What?
I know.
These new footprints led me all the way to a crumbling old manor on the very edge of your kingdom, which belongs to the Knight of the Many-Pointed Sword.
And inside, through locked gates, I saw your son.
Are you telling me that my son has been kidnapped by the Knight of the Many-Pointed Sword?
Well, I don't know, Your Majesty, but it seems possible.
This is don't bother, raise an army, prepare for battle okay.
While the king was raising an army to attack the knight's manor, the prince kept trying to befriend petra because, let's be honest, he was super bored and he really needed a friend.
But petra never smiled at him and she never let him get close to her when she was playing with her rocks.
Until one day Petra glanced over her shoulder at the prince and he smiled and she did not move away.
She just stared.
And then she gestured for him to come closer.
Me?
Petra nodded.
The prince hurried over to her.
She was surrounded by a dozen stones. ranging from tiny pebbles to rocks as high as her knee.
The prince sat beside her, and she kept silent for a long time, and he didn't know what to think.
But at last, she said, Would you like to meet my friends?
Okay, here's my question for you.
What would you say if somebody showed you a bunch of rocks and said, do you want to meet my friends?
What would you say?
Cool.
Yes, I totally do.
Yes.
Absolutely.
I would say, I've been here for weeks.
Yes!
The prince wanted to say, you mean you want me to meet a bunch of rocks?
Aren't I meeting them right now?
It's super fun, let me tell you.
But he didn't.
He said, yes, I would.
So Petra said, it's all right.
You can come out.
The rocks began to move on their own again.
The prince began to notice that the cracks and lines in the rocks looked kind of a lot like faces and arms and hands and feet.
And he realized that the rocks were not rocks at all.
They were gnomes.
Or rather, maybe they were rocks.
But they were also gnomes.
Gnomes.
Stone gnomes.
Stone gnomes.
Satisfying.
Petra introduced the gnomes to the prince, one by one.
This is Hank Henry Granite.
And this is Katrina Cole.
May I introduce Maximilian Marble?
And this, of course.
And Peter Piper picked a pebble.
That totally works.
As she introduced them, they bowed or curtsied shyly.
From that day forth, Petra let the prince play with her and her gnome friends.
And the days were much better, and Rocky watched over them at night.
And the prince stopped dreaming of running away.
But one night, the prince had a different dream.
He dreamt of thunder.
The thunder in his dream was so loud it woke him up.
And that's when he realized the thunder wasn't in his dream.
It was outside.
He ran to the window and gasped in surprise.
That isn't thunder.
Those are the footsteps of an army.
My father's army.
And Petra said Now you might think that the king had surprised the knight of the many-pointed sword.
But he had not.
You see, the knight had gotten wind of the king's plan, and he had raised an army of his own.
With a blare of trumpets and a beating of drums and the thunder of a thousand feet, the knight and the king led their armies out to a great field.
They faced one another, the king clad in white, looking especially tough and ready for war.
The knight wearing his black armor and wielding his many-pointed sword.
The yin and yang shall now turn against each other.
I love that.
Yes!
The two armies faced each other.
Many soldiers would die.
Soldiers no older than the prince and Petra.
You're killing your own people.
This did not seem right to the prince.
So he ran out into the middle of the field and shouted, Stop!
Everyone stopped.
You don't need to fight.
We can solve this another way.
The king scoffed.
Another way?
Why would we solve it another way?
War is fun.
War is the best.
I want to kill some bad guys.
No, you're not going to kill any bad guys.
You are the bad guy.
She's like, I will fight this war for peace.
But you're fighting in a war.
Yeah.
The knight in black scoffed too.
I'm going to defeat the king's army, kill the king, and then I will be king myself.
And then when I die, my daughter will be queen, just like the fortune teller predicted.
This war is meant to be.
It is my destiny.
Let's go kill some people.
The prince looked back and forth between the two mean, stupid, warlike men.
He sighed and shook his head.
What else could he do?
It's mean, it's cruel, it is very, very, very grim.
The king yelled, Charge!
The king's army charged.
The knight yelled, Charge!
The knight's army charged.
Their soldiers ran at one another, ready to kill.
And then, there was a third voice, yelling, Charge!
It was Petra.
It was Petra who rode forth onto the battlefield in a stone chariot, pulled by two stone griffins and leading an enormous army of tiny stone gnomes.
And lumbering behind them was Rocky, the huge stone gnome who watched over Petra while she slept.
And as the two human armies tried to fight each other, the stone gnomes attacked them.
Not with swords or spears, but with their tiny stone fists and tiny stone feet.
They punched and kicked the soldiers and their punches and kicks really hurt and the soldiers fell to the ground.
The human armies tried to fight back, but they suddenly found that their weapons had turned from steel to stone and were too heavy to lift.
And the tiny stone gnomes punched and kicked them and the soldiers yelped in surprise and grabbed their knees and stomachs and butts.
The gnomes really seemed to like kicking them in their butts.
Okay, can half of you make the sound of stone gnomes attacking the soldiers and the other half of you be the human soldiers who butts are being kicked okay?
Wait, I'll be the humans.
Okay, on the count of three, choose who you want to be.
One, two, three, go.
Rocky stormed forward.
With one hand, he grabbed the knight in black armor and lifted him into the air.
The knight tried to hack at Rocky with his many-pointed sword, but it did no good.
Rocky carried the knight over to the king and he picked up the king with his other hand and lifted him into the air.
The king tried to stab Rocky with his sword, but that didn't do any good either.
Then the king tried to stab the knight, and the knight tried to stab the king.
But Rocky held the two far apart, so they were swinging their weapons at the air like two toddlers being held away from each other by their mother.
Then he gave them wedgies.
No.
Rocky walked to the deepest coal mine and he tossed the king and the knight in.
They fell for a long, long time.
The prince said to petra did rocky just kill our fathers?
No, he just threw them into the land of the stone gnomes.
But i don't think they'll ever find their way out.
Maybe they can fight each other down there forever.
Oh, said the prince, and he shrugged.
Okay, Did you know that you can listen to Grim Grimmer Grimmest without any ads interrupting the story?
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And remember, it's not a Smurf.
Patrick, let's go!
The clue is floating away in a hot air balloon!
Hey, sorry, this is kind of a bad time.
Claire and I just found a major clue, and now it's airborne.
Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the parents behind Law & Order have something brand new for families.
Our podcast, Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries.
Patrick, it's headed towards the water tower.
Gotta go.
Listen on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
Both of the human armies surrendered to the gnomes.
Then Petra climbed up on Rocky's shoulders and called everyone to her.
All the human soldiers gathered round.
None of them had died obviously, because they'd just been punched and kicked in the butt with little stone feet and fists.
What's that?
Petra announced, There shall be no more war.
Is that understood?
The human soldiers all understood.
Yes.
Then the prince called out, Petra, you are fierce and quiet and kind and wise.
I would be honored if you would be my wife and queen of this kingdom.
And Petra replied, What do you think she's going to say?
No.
Yes.
No.
Like, uh-uh, I'm living with my rocks.
Hetra replied, I am already queen of a far greater kingdom, the land of the stone gnomes.
You can rule this one.
I will rule that one.
And, uh, no, I don't really want to get married, but thank you.
I knew it!
And the prince said, Oh, okay.
I get it.
She would be queen.
Why?
She is queen of the pebble world.
That's not what it's called.
That's what it's called now.
So the prince became king because his father was lost in the land of the stone gnomes.
And Petra kept being queen of the land of the stone gnomes because she always had been.
One day, a little while after all this happened, The prince called the old fortune teller to the palace.
You guys remember the fortune teller?
Yeah.
The prince said to the fortune teller, I don't understand.
None of your prophecies came true.
Yes, they did.
Okay, let's review.
What were the prophecies?
That Petra will one day become queen.
Okay.
He'd save Petra's life.
Okay.
And then he would be killed by Stag.
Okay.
Okay.
I know.
When they said the stag will take his life, because they were so vague about that.
Maybe, instead of killing him, the take his life would be the stag would take his old life away and have him start a new life.
Very interesting.
And the fortune teller said, What do you mean?
First, I prophesied that this stag would take your life.
It did take your life, and turned it all topsy-turvy, didn't it?
So you get no refund for that.
Second, I said Petra would be a queen, and she is a queen, isn't she?
Queen of the stone gnomes.
So I got that one right too.
Finally, I said you'd marry her.
That one I got wrong.
But you gotta admit, for a fortune teller, two out of three ain't bad.
Most of these fortune tellers out here are just making everything up.
The prince had to agree that this was true.
And so the prince ruled his kingdom for a hundred years and married a very nice woman and they had lots of kids.
And Petra ruled her kingdom for a thousand years, and she never married anyone.
Wait, wait, wait.
So my question is she's still alive after a thousand years right, crazy?
Right wait, how does she survive a thousand years?
Yeah, she must have had a strong immune system.
But petra played with her stone gnomes every day, and sometimes the prince's kids would come and visit her and they'd play with the stone gnomes too.
And then later the prince's grandkids came to play, and then his great grandkids and great, great grandkids, and well, you get the picture.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The end.
What was up with Petra?
I mean, she was able to talk to stone gnomes.
She lived to a thousand.
Any theories?
She was probably immortal.
She was a stone.
No, Rocky gave her immortality.
She just didn't tell anybody.
Maybe.
Oh, I know.
She was a stone herself.
Like, her father was a deer himself, but he could turn into a human.
Oh, interesting.
Or maybe he was a human that could turn into a deer, but who knows?
Right.
Maybe she was a stone who could turn into a human.
Yes.
Maybe Petra's mom was Medusa.
Oh, OK.
We know that wouldn't work.
Medusa had no kids.
I love that story.
You know, I don't think I've listened to it since we made it.
There were parts of it that I didn't remember at all.
And I have an embarrassing admission to make, which is I can't figure out what story that's based on.
I wrote down that it's based on a story called Tales About Toads or Three Friendly Animals.
It's translated differently in different places.
But those are like three very short stories about a little girl meeting a snake and really have nothing to do with the stone gnomes.
So honestly, if you recognize that story as being inspired by another grim fairy tale that you've heard, please you know, put it in the reviews in Apple podcasts or write to me through my website, because I think it was one that I was inspired by, tales about toes and probably one other story that I can't remember.
And then I kind of just made it up.
But it turns out it's really one of my favorite stories.
So you can hear by listening to the intro that this is from season three, because we recorded season three and season four during the pandemic, when I couldn't actually be in person in the schools.
So instead of hearing a door open when I'm supposed to be going into the classroom, you hear the log on sound of me joining a virtual meeting room.
Obviously, those are sound effects.
We don't record me actually opening the door of the classroom and the kids aren't waiting inside.
In reality, I'm usually sitting in the classroom and the kids come in and they sit down and get settled and then we start recording.
But yeah, you can tell this is season three or season four pandemic recording, because you hear that virtual sound.
You can also hear the difference in how my voice and the kids' voices sound.
They sound way more electronic than because they were recorded over the internet, as opposed to being recorded live.
Not the narration, but when I'm actually interacting with the kids.
Which brings me to Something that's interesting to me anyway, which is that we had some pros and cons about recording live versus recording virtually.
And for season five, which is about to come out, we had a debate like should we record virtually or in person?
The positive about recording virtually is every kid gets their own audio channel, which means if one kid says something, really great but it's kind of hard to hear because other kids are talking.
That's fine.
I can turn down all the other kids in post-production and then make that kid's great comment audible to you.
So we got some really special comments in season three and four because we could isolate every kid's sound.
Whereas when you're live in front of a group of kids, one kid might say something awesome, but if there's a truck going by outside or some kid is playing with his Velcro in front of the microphone, we can't hear that great comment and that's it.
It's gone.
But there's a huge benefit to being live, which is that a everyone's voices sound way clearer and better.
Like we're really in the room together because we are.
And also there's this you know like waves of laughter take over the kids and you can hear them all getting each other laughing and it creates this really warm experience in the room of like the real sound of what it feels like to tell a grim fairy tale.
And so we ultimately decided for season five.
We wanted that real laughter, that experience in the room, even if it meant there were a few comments that we weren't going to be able to use because the sound quality wasn't good enough.
Because some kid was playing with their Velcro.
Hey kids, stop playing with your Velcro.
Thank you.
So, okay, back to the story, the stone gnomes.
I love the image of the antlers turning into the 20-pointed sword.
I'm pretty sure I made that up.
But that night in the forest was inspired by one of my favorite picture books when I was a kid called Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady.
It's got gorgeous illustrations and also like the most gorgeous illustrations of the ugliest woman ever written about in picture books or in fairy tales the loathly lady.
I highly recommend you find this book at the library or a bookstore.
You got to get it.
It's amazing.
So the girl's name in the story is Petra, and petra was a student of mine and i told her and her classmates a lot of these grim fairy tales when i was first developing my first book at tail, dark and grim, and when i was practicing telling these fairy tales to kids, petra was one of my favorite kiddos.
I have a lot of favorite kiddos, but she was fantastic and the fact that her name was petra, which means stone um, felt like it was so perfect for this story.
Also, the actress that plays petra in this episode is amazing.
I love her deadpan delivery and also the sounds of the gnomes oh my gosh uh, they're little, cute little voices.
We should have done more of that.
And then, when one of the kids names one of the gnomes, peter piper picked a pebble.
I mean, sometimes you kids are so smart and so quick and brilliant.
Like when the kid says, I will fight this war for peace.
Right.
How ironic.
What a great commentary.
And honestly, it feels like.
Our world leaders these days need to hear our kids comment on stuff like this.
You know, we have one side saying, I fight for peace.
And the other side, the knight with the antler saying, this war is my destiny.
And that's pretty much the history of all world wars, all the wars we've ever fought in the world.
Oh, and how about that fortune teller at the end?
He was amazing.
I love this episode.
You all voted for it as one of your favorite episodes so far.
If you'd like to keep voting to tell me what your favorite episodes are, and then I will hopefully perform your favorite episode on June 14th on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch, 11 am.
That's a Saturday, June 14th.
All right, this is really fun.
I'm enjoying listening to these old episodes and sharing my thoughts with you.
Maybe I will see you on June 14th.
And on June 12th, if you are a subscriber, you will be the first in the world to hear the new episodes from Season 5 of Grim Grimmer Grimmest.
Grim Grimmer Grimmest is a Penna original production.
Created, written, and narrated by me, Adam Gidwitz.
Author of A Tale Dark and Grim.
Co-written by Allie Horn.
Produced and edited by Ilana Milner.
Casting by Paula Gammon-Wilson.
Voice direction by Alana Milner and Paula Gammon-Wilson.
Sound design and mixing by Beat Street NYC.
Executive produced by Anne Richards.
Production support by Ashley Beecher and Thaddeus Danqua.
Characters voiced by Arlando Smith, Billy Bob Thompson, Carolina Doe, Colin Ryan, Erica Schroeder, Jason Udall, Kaylin Clinton, Marion Toro, Michael Crouch, Rob Morera, Samantha Cooper and Walker Vreeland.
Special thanks to all the kids who joined us for our storytelling sessions.
You guys are awesome.
Far away on the high Caribbean seas roams a swashbuckling pigeon-loving, burrito-gobbling pirate who's well a bit different than the other pirates.
Whoa!
Bless my Brussels sprouts!
Introducing the new podcast, Lightcatchers.
Season 1, Bob the Bad Pirate.
Bob the Bad Pirate wasn't bad because he liked to hurt people or call other pirates' names like Petunia Pillow Pants.
Bob the Bad Pirate was bad because he just wasn't very good at being a pirate.
Give her me tutors!
We are pirates through and through and we'll be till we die.
So give us treasure, sure and true, till we meet the pirate.
Listen now to Lightcatchers, wherever you get your podcasts, and learn more at BeALightcatcher.com.
Light up the lanterns and follow me.
Introducing A is for Alfie, the first picture book from the award-winning Pinna series Quentin and Alfie's ABC Adventures.
Alfie thinks his name is a little weird, but with his babysitter quentin, he discovers that every letter holds endless possibilities, from a is for acrobat to e is for electrician.
Written by award-winning author randy duberk and illustrated by derrick brooks, this heartwarming, diverse read aloud is perfect for kids three to six, guiding them through letters while helping them love who they are.
Pick up a is for alfie wherever books are sold and start your abc adventure on the page.
