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.
This story is grimmest.
There's a very evil dude who does some very evil things, and also some very strange things.
Like, very, very strange.
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.
Grimmest.
I'm excited.
I am too.
Me too.
So this is a story by the Brothers Grimm.
Quick reminder.
The Brothers Grimm were two brothers who lived in Germany hundreds of years ago, 200 years ago.
And they traveled around Germany doing what?
They collected fairy tales.
Yes.
And they wrote them down.
And those fairy tales were mostly pretty what?
Nice.
They were pretty nice.
Okay.
And the fairy tales were also pretty?
Weird.
Yeah, they were pretty weird.
And what else were they?
They were also pretty?
Disgusting.
Yes, they were often quite disgusting.
And they were often?
Uh uh, grim.
Yes, let's get started.
This story is called the wizard king.
Once upon a time, there was a king who was also a wizard, so he was a wizard king.
Wow wow, which is just an awesome thing to say.
Okay yeah, it is definitely right.
Yeah, wizard king, But this wizard king was not awesome.
He was evil.
The wizard king had great power, but he only used it for himself.
People were poor and suffering in his kingdom, but he didn't care.
He's selfish.
True.
Yep.
He is evil.
Selfish and evil.
A selfish evil jerk.
Selfish evil jerk is right.
He's beef jerky.
He is so beef jerky.
The Wizard King's magic was powerful enough to provide everything he could ever need and to keep him safe from any enemies.
But he certainly wasn't going to use his magic to help other people solve their problems.
So the Wizard King had nothing challenging in his life.
And therefore, he was bored.
I'm so bored.
So to stave off his boredom, he invented a game.
It was kind of like hide and seek.
And it went like this.
Anyone from anywhere in the world was invited to challenge the Wizard King at his game.
The game would start and the Wizard King would close his eyes and count to 1000, while the challenger hid.
One, two, three, four.
Oh boy, I've got to hide.
Oh no, what if he finds me?
Once the Wizard King got to 1000, he would search for the challenger.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
If the wizard king couldn't find them, then the challenger would get to take the wizard king's crown and his throne and become the king forever, which sounds like a pretty good deal, right?
That's like the best deal ever, right?
I think he's gonna cheat.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, there's no way he would give up his throne and crown for a silly game.
There was just one catch if the wizard king did find the challenger, he would murder them.
He would put them to death in the most horrible way imaginable.
Aha, there you are.
Here's my question for you.
What is the most horrible way imaginable that he could kill them?
Explode their head.
Explode their head is one option.
Maybe make them drink liquid iron?
Whoa, what would happen if they drank liquid iron?
Pretty sure they would die.
They would die.
Organs would melt.
Oh, their organs would melt.
What's another horrible way he could kill them?
Get pushed into a bottomless pit.
Ooh, pushed into a bottomless pit.
Do you ever even die or do you just fall forever?
You would just starve to death.
Oh, you starve to death while falling forever.
That's an amazing punishment.
What's another way?
I don't know, maybe he just disintegrates him and his eyes are just left there and he's like really bro.
Really?
You're disintegrated and only your eyeballs are left behind.
I like that one a lot.
Okay, what's one more horrible way he could kill them?
Be trapped in a room with mice and they slowly eat you away.
Should we combine some of these?
What do you think?
Should we?
Should it be like?
So if the wizard king couldn't find you, you got his crown in his kingdom.
But if he did find you, you would be pushed into a bottomless pit and you'd fall forever until you would almost starve to death.
But just before you starved, you would have to drink liquid iron while still falling somehow, and your organs would melt.
Then your head would explode.
Only your eyeballs would be left and they would land at last and sit there until they were eaten by millions of mice.
How's that?
That is disgusting!
Now, the Wizard King didn't cheat, exactly.
But the game also wasn't fair.
You see, the Wizard King had built himself a tall tower in the middle of his palace.
And at the top of the tower was a room... with 12 windows that pointed in every direction.
These windows were magical.
If the Wizard King looked out the first window, he could see farther and more clearly than anyone else alive.
If he looked at the second window, he could see even better than that.
If he looked at the third window, he could see even more clearly.
And so on until the twelfth window, through which he could see the very particles that make up all of nature.
What?
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
It is cool.
I agree.
Now, whenever a challenger decided to play the Wizard King's game, the Wizard King would look out the first window of his tower.
Usually, he'd find the challenger right away.
Aha!
Gotcha.
But if that didn't work, he almost always found them by looking through the second window.
Aha!
You can't hide from me!
One time he had to look through the third window, which was very exciting for the Wizard King.
Well, this is different.
But then he found the guy who was hiding.
And the guy was pushed into a bottomless pit.
And he fell until he had almost starved to death.
But then he had to drink liquid iron and his organs melted and his head exploded.
Finally, the guy's eyeballs landed, at which point they were eaten by millions of mice.
That's very gruesome.
Right?
Very grim.
Well, you guys made it up.
It's your fault.
Many people had played the Wizard King's evil game because many wanted to be kings.
But every single one of them had died in that same gruesome, disgusting, horrible way.
Wait, do they know about dough?
The magic windows?
Yeah, yeah, they do.
Then why would you play that game since you know you can't win?
Yeah.
Good question.
Does anyone have any guesses?
Because they want to be king.
Okay.
Greed.
Explain.
Like, they're like, Ooh, I could get the throne like that Wizard King can't be that good.
Even if his tower can see through the particles of nature, I'm the best hider in the kingdom.
I have camouflage clothes.
Right, as if that's good enough.
I think that's exactly how it happens.
Well, the Wizard King's palace was in the center of the kingdom's capital city.
And at the farthest, poorest edges of that city, there lived a little orphan boy named Orpy.
Orpy's a cute name, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm going to rename my dog Orpy.
I would be honored if you named a dog Orpy after this character.
Orpy lived on the streets, and he was always starving.
Now, the Wizard King had plenty of food.
But did the Wizard King share his food with the orphans and beggars of his kingdom?
No.
Why not?
Because he's mean.
Because he's cruel.
Because he is a cruel and evil jerkface is why.
Well, it was hard for all the beggars in this kingdom.
But it was especially hard for Orpy.
Because Orpy was such a kind-hearted little child that he could never refuse anyone a scrap of bread if they asked him for it.
A kind stranger gave Orpy a loaf of bread.
Half the time, Orpy would give it to some other starving beggar.
I'll share with you.
And you.
Oh, and you too.
Which meant Orpy was always, always hungry.
Aw, this dude is too kind for his own good.
Yeah.
He is very selfless.
Yes, selfless.
Very kind.
He's very kind.
Now, it's interesting that you use the word selfless because what is the opposite of selfless?
Selfish.
Selfish.
So I guess it never occurred to me, but who are the opposites in this story?
Orpy is the opposite of the king because Orpy is selfless and the king is selfish.
Wow.
That never occurred to me, but it's totally true.
Ew.
I know, you're like, ew, why would you want to eat a stale loaf of bread from the gutter?
But why would Orpy be willing to eat that?
Because he's hungry.
He's hungry!
It's like his only help.
Yeah.
Orpy was about to take a bite of the bread from the gutter when he saw a raven who was crying with hunger herself.
Please, please, cried the big black bird.
Share some of your bread with me.
Orpy was so hungry he was afraid he'd fall over dead at any moment.
But he didn't hesitate to rip off a large chunk of the bread and hand it to the raven, saying Here you go, raven.
The raven grabbed the chunk of bread in her beak and flew away to her nest.
After that, little Orpy walked to a small pond where he could eat his remaining bread in peace.
But just as Orpy was about to take a bite of the bread, a fish raised its head out of the water and burbled Oh please.
I am so hungry.
Please share some of your bread with me.
Without even thinking, Orpy ripped off a large chunk of the bread and threw it to the fish and said Here you go, fish.
The fish swallowed the bread gratefully and disappeared under the water.
The dude's too nice.
Now Orpy, so weak with hunger he could barely lift his hand to his mouth, was just about to eat the remaining rump of the stale loaf of bread when Another animal came and asked for the bread and he was too kind to say no when a fox came trotting by, crying with hunger.
Please, please, may I please have your bread?
If I don't eat now, I will surely die.
And without a moment's hesitation, Orpy tossed the fox the last piece of bread and said Here you go, fox.
The fox gobbled up the bread and ran away.
Well, now Orpy was certain that he would starve to death.
He wasn't likely to find any more food anytime soon, and he was feeling so weak that even standing up was getting difficult.
Just as Orpy was about to give up all hope, he looked across the city and up at the palace with its tall tower, far in the distance.
And Orpy thought, If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well die playing hide-and-seek.
That's a good way to die.
Might.
So Orpy made his way to the palace and told the guard that he had come to play hide and seek with the wizard king.
The guard said, Are you sure?
You're definitely going to die.
Good luck, Orpy.
Good luck, Orpy.
He's going to win.
Orpy said to the guard, I'm going to die of hunger anyway.
So the guard let him through.
Orpy climbed the hundreds of stairs to get to the room at the top of the tower.
He was fighting hunger and exhaustion, and he was on the verge of death.
When Orpy arrived in the room with the twelve windows, there were already two other people there waiting to play hide-and-seek with the Wizard King.
The first person was a thief who had been condemned to die as punishment for his thievery, but he had been allowed to choose between being hanged by his thumbs until he was dead and playing hide-and-seek with the Wizard King.
And the thief had chosen hide-and-seek because there was a chance, however slim, that he might win.
It's a die-die situation.
You're right, it's probably a die-die situation.
The Wizard King began to count.
One, two, three...
The thief ran out of the palace into the jail and he hid inside a jail cell, thinking that surely the Wizard King wouldn't think to look for him there.
998, 999, 1000.
Ready or not, here I come.
The Wizard King hurried to his first window and he looked east and west, north and south.
And the first window's magic power allowed the Wizard King to look straight through the walls of the jail where he saw the thief hiding in a cell.
There you are, the Wizard King cried happily.
The thief was dragged back to the palace, where he was thrown into a bottomless pit, and eventually he nearly starved to death.
While he fell, drank liquid iron, his organs melted, his head exploded, his eyeballs finally landed and they were eaten by mice.
The next man who was waiting to play hide and seek with the Wizard King was a prince from a distant land who had so many older brothers that he knew that he would never get to be king in his own land.
And also he'd grown up playing hide and seek with all those older brothers and he was pretty sure he was the best hider in the whole world.
So he'd come to take his chances with the Wizard King's evil game.
Poor prince.
He's gonna die.
One, two, three.
As soon as the wizard king had started to count, the prince ran down the stairs and into the cellar of the palace directly below the tower.
Nine hundred ninety-nine, one thousand.
The wizard king went to the first window and he looked east and west, north and south, but he did not see the prince.
This made the wizard king laugh and clap with glee.
He squealed.
At last, a challenge.
And he went to the second window, and he looked east and west, north and south.
And this time the second window's magic bent the wizard king's vision around corners as well as through walls and floors.
And his line of sight bent right down below his feet.
And he saw the prince hiding in the cellar.
Bye-bye, prince.
And the prince was dragged outside and he was tossed down a never-ending pit and nearly starved and drank liquid iron and all the rest of it until the mice ate his eyeballs.
Yikes.
He thought he was so clever.
By the time the wizard king had turned to Orpy, the little beggar child was trembling.
Actually, I've changed my mind.
I don't want to play after all, said Orpy.
But the wizard king said Oh no, came here, you have to play.
I'll count to one thousand and if i see you then i'll toss you down a never-ending pit and make you drink liquid iron and your head will explode and millions of mice will eat your eyeballs.
So get moving.
One two three, um.
He could just hide in the room because uh, don't the windows only go out of the room or stand behind the king.
That's a very interesting idea.
So this once happened to me.
I was playing hide and seek that I didn't realize my friend was actually hiding behind me.
Interesting.
Let's see what Orpy does.
Well, Orpy ran out of the palace as quickly as he could.
The little orphan boy ran along crying and terrified, with no idea where to hide, when a raven flew up to him.
It was the same raven Orpy had fed earlier that day.
I think each animal that he helped is gonna give him a good deed to help him hide.
Yeah, they're gonna help him.
Asked the raven.
Replied Orpy.
I'm in the middle of a game of hide and seek with the wizard king.
And I'm pretty sure I'm about to be dragged back to the palace and tossed in a bottomless pit until I almost starve.
And then I'll have to drink liquid iron until my organs melt and my head explodes.
And then my eyeballs will land at last and they'll be eaten by a million mice.
And the raven said, That's disgusting.
And you were so kind to me.
We must find a way to hide you.
Yes, but how?
The raven thought and thought and thought.
And then she had an idea.
Any guess as to what her idea is?
Maybe he will hide up in a tree?
The nest.
The raven said, Quick, come to my nest in this tree.
So Orpy followed the raven to her nest.
There she cracked open one of her eggs.
There was a baby raven inside, almost ready to hatch.
The raven scooped her baby raven out and said, Eh, you're pretty close to baked.
Then she turned to Orpy and said, In you go!
And Orpy said, Um, what?
So the raven repeated herself.
In you go!
And she nipped Orpy on the butt with her beak.
Ow!
Orpy hopped into the egg.
The raven closed the egg again and sat on it.
How in the world does like a kid?
That's like a raven like this big and their eggs are like this big.
How does a kid fit in there?
Okay, this is my answer.
Are you ready?
Yes.
It's a fairy tale.
Don't ask questions like that.
Okay, continuing.
As Orpy hid in the egg and waited, a cold sweat broke out over his skin.
He tried not to shiver so hard that the egg would crack.
Maybe he won't die of hunger, because maybe if he ate the stuff that the um bird was eating, he wouldn't starve.
Orpy gets to eat worms!
Worm guts.
Sometimes you guys can, like, read my mind.
Then Orpy noticed that there was a little egg white left inside the egg.
Orpy gratefully gobbled it up so he wouldn't die of hunger while hiding from the wizard king.
That is so gross.
Back at the tower, the Wizard King was looking through the first window.
He looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
But he couldn't find Orpy.
Because, even though his vision could see through walls, he didn't think to look inside a raven's egg.
The Wizard King clapped with glee and said, Another challenge!
How fun!
He went to his second window where he looked east and west, north and south, up and down through walls and now also around corners.
But he still couldn't find Orpy.
He exclaimed, A chance to look through my third window!
What a special, special day!
The Wizard King looked east and west, north and south, up and down, And I don't know what magic the third window had, but it didn't help because he still couldn't find Orpy.
This made the Wizard King clap and jump up and down and rub his hands with glee.
Challenge, challenge, challenge!
No one had ever made him look through his fourth window.
He looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
And the magic of the fourth window must have been powerful indeed, because there the Wizard King saw Orpy huddled in a raven's egg.
Ha ha ha!
The wizard king laughed, and he had his guards bring Orpy back to the palace.
No, wait, please!
Okay, does anyone have a theory as to what the magic of the third and fourth windows were?
To look through eggs.
Specifically eggs.
Specifically eggs.
When Orby was brought back before the Wizard King, he began to beg.
Please, Wizard King, don't kill me.
The Wizard King laughed.
Kill you?
I won't kill you.
That was the most fun I've had playing hide-and-seek in my whole life.
Orby exhaled with relief.
Will you let me live and go free then, since you had so much fun?
No.
No.
I want to play again.
What?
And if I find you, the mice will feast on your eyeballs.
One, two, three.
You better get a move on.
You only have until a thousand.
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.
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And remember, it's not a Smurf.
Orpy ran out of the tower.
Where could he hide now?
He stumbled along, terrified that the Wizard King would see him instantly.
Now that Orpy had eaten a little bit of egg white and regained some strength, he decided that he didn't want to die.
And he definitely didn't want to die by falling down a never-ending pit, drinking liquid iron, his organs melting, his head exploding and his eyeballs being eaten by mice.
That mice thing was really upsetting.
Anyway, Orpy began to run.
I think he's going to see the fish and the fish is going to ask him to come live in the coral reef to hide.
Yeah, and hide him under the water.
Orpy ran until he came to the pond where he'd fed the fish.
The fish he'd given the bread to emerged from the water and saw Orpy's desperate expression.
What's wrong? the fish asked.
Are you thirsty?
No, I'm not thirsty.
I'm terrified.
Orpy explained that the Wizard King was about to start looking through his twelve windows and if he saw Orpy well, more terrible things would happen than Orpy wanted to think about.
The fish cried, We must save you!
And Orpy said, Great!
How?
What can we do?
What can we do?
The fish wondered.
Any guesses as to what the fish will do?
Disguise him as a sea creature.
Oh, I like that idea.
The fish is going to eat him.
I think that the fish will gobble him up, and then, when the wizard can't find him, the fish will.
Just Let's find out.
The fish said, I have it.
Quick, jump in my mouth.
Orpy said, What?
No time to argue.
I did it.
I guessed the right thing.
You did.
The fish opened its mouth as wide as it could and Orpy jumped in.
Then the fish closed its mouth and swam to the bottom of the pond with Orpy in its belly.
Orpy waited there in the dark, cold, wet fish's belly.
Then Orpy noticed that in the fish's belly there were flies and other insects that the fish had eaten but were only partially digested.
And while the half-digested bugs looked absolutely revolting well, Orpy didn't want to starve to death, so he ate them, just as he had the egg white.
Oh, that's disgusting, and i thought eating fish was gross.
Back at the tower, the wizard king figured there was no use starting with the first window.
Orpy was too clever for that.
The wizard king walked right to the fifth window and looked through it.
He looked east and west, north and south, up and down, but he couldn't find orpy.
This made him very happy.
He went to his sixth window, where he looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
But he still couldn't find Orpy.
He slapped his knee and laughed with pleasure as he moved to his seventh window.
He looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
But he still couldn't find Orpy.
The Wizard King threw his head back and bellowed with glee.
He went to the eighth window and looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
And there he saw Orpy, huddled in the belly of the fish at the bottom of the pond.
The Wizard King laughed, and he had his guards bring Orpy back to the palace.
No!
No!
No!
Any guesses as to what the eighth window's magic was?
Specifically made for looking inside fish's stomachs.
A very specific window.
He got very lucky with that one.
Orpy begged the wizard king.
No, please don't kill me.
And the wizard king replied.
Kill you?
That was even more fun than the first time.
Will you let me live and go free then, since you had so much fun?
Orpy asked.
But the wizard king said.
No!
No!
I want to play again.
One, two, three, a thousand.
Just kidding.
I'll start again.
One, two... Orpy ran out of the tower.
Where could he hide now?
Orpy stumbled along, terrified that the Wizard King would see him.
As Orpy ran, looking desperately for a place to hide, a fox came up to him.
Oh, And wouldn't you know it, it was the same fox Orpy had fed earlier in the day.
The fox stopped Orpy and said, What's wrong?
Do you have to pee really bad?
No, for goodness sake!
Orpy explained about the Wizard King's game and the stuff about his head exploding and mice eating his eyeballs, and the fox said, Oh no.
We must find a place for you to hide!
I know, but where?
The fox thought and thought, and thought and then she had an idea come to this little stream i know that wanders through the wood and jump in.
No, i was already in a fish's belly.
The wizard king will definitely find me at the bottom of a stream.
But the fox said just do it.
So orpy followed the fox to the stream and then jumped in.
And the fox jumped in and orpy felt very strange And the next thing he knew the fox was lifting him up out of the water.
Except that the fox had turned into a human woman.
And Orpy had turned into... A fox!
No!
A hamster.
What?
I have no idea why it's a hamster.
I didn't make this up.
This is in the original Grimm story.
The original Grimm story is literally called The Hamster from the Water, which is just so weird.
Yeah, it is so.
Orpy turned into a hamster.
The fox, who was now a human woman, took orpy, who was now a hamster, to the market and she cried come one, come all and see my amazing hamster.
So everyone gathered around to see.
They wanted to know what was so amazing about a hamster.
So the fox woman said watch this, stand up, hamster.
And Orpy, the hamster, stood up on his hind legs.
Everyone said, Sit down, hamster, said the fox woman.
Orpy the hamster sat down.
Everyone said, Twirl around, hamster.
Orpy the hamster twirled around.
Everyone started clapping wildly for the hamster, who could do tricks.
Meanwhile, back at the tower, the Wizard King figured.
There was no use starting with the first window, or even with the fifth.
He went straight to the ninth window and looked through.
He looked east and west, north and south, up and down.
But he couldn't find Orpy.
He felt very excited to use his tenth window, but also a little nervous.
He only had a few windows left.
He gazed out the tenth window and he looked east and west, north and south, up and down, but he still couldn't find Orpy.
So with a pit forming in his stomach, the Wizard King advanced on the eleventh window.
Why does he have a pit in his stomach?
Why is he feeling nervous?
Because if he went one more window, he's going to lose his throne.
He's going to lose his crown.
His crown, his throne.
Yeah.
Crown, throne, everything he owns.
The Wizard King looked out his eleventh window, east and west, north and south, up and down.
And he still couldn't find Orpy.
Oh boy.
Suddenly, the Wizard King was feeling very scared indeed.
What if he couldn't see Orpy through the twelfth window?
He didn't want to lose his whole kingdom.
But just then, he happened to glance down into the market and he saw...
A hamster doing tricks.
He thought to himself, Oh, I've never seen that before.
So the Wizard King forgot all about looking through the twelfth window and he hurried down to the market.
There, the fox woman was saying, Hamster, do a backflip.
And Orpy the hamster did a backflip.
Hamster, sing an aria.
And Orpy the hamster sang a very short part of the Queen of the Night aria.
Does anyone here know the Queen of the Night aria?
Nope.
Okay, it goes like this.
You ready?
You might want to be careful of your eardrums.
It's quite high.
No, I know that.
No, stop it.
I've heard it.
I've heard it.
I've heard it.
I've heard it.
I've heard it.
Stop it.
You're welcome.
You're a lovely singer.
Thank you so much.
So Orpy sang that.
Everyone was cheering and whooping for this amazing little hamster.
The Wizard King walked up and said, I want to buy that amazing hamster.
Uh-oh.
The Fox Woman replied, You can't afford him.
The Wizard King said, If you don't give it to me, I'll have you killed.
And the Fox Woman said, Sold!
Sold!
That's how you do business.
Ha ha ha!
So the Wizard King took Orpy, the hamster, from the fox woman and he lifted Orpy up and stared into his little black eyes.
And Orpy thought, I'm dead.
But then the Wizard King smiled and patted the little hamster's pink nose and put Orpy the hamster on his shoulder and carried him back to his tower.
When the Wizard King arrived back in the tower, he realized that he had forgotten to look through the last window.
If he didn't see Orpy through that, his kingdom would be lost.
Orpy was right on his shoulder!
Orpy's on his shoulder, he doesn't even know it.
So the wizard king moved to his twelfth window, and through it he could see everything in the world, down to the tiny particles that make up all matter.
He looked north and south, but he didn't see Orpy.
He looked east and west, but he didn't see Orpy.
He looked up and down, but he didn't see Orpy.
Why can't he see Orpy?
Because he's over his shoulder!
The Wizard King was now truly afraid.
He looked north and south and east and west and up and down again and again and again.
But no matter where he looked, he couldn't see Orpy anywhere.
The Wizard King was absolutely terrified now.
It had never occurred to him that someone might actually win his kingdom from him.
It was impossible.
His whole body trembled as he bellowed, Where could he be?
And just then, a tiny voice right beside his ear said, Here I am.
Woo!
Woo!
The Wizard King screamed and he stumbled forward, so startled by Orpy's tiny, high-pitched voice by his ear that he lost his balance and went crashing through the twelfth window.
And he plummeted down and down and down to his death.
Explosion of blood!
Yay!
His head exploded!
And his head exploded!
Wait, but if the hamster was on his shoulder?
Luckily Orpy, the hamster had jumped off the Wizard King's shoulder just before he fell.
Hooray!
And when the Wizard King died, suddenly the other eleven windows all shattered at once.
And Orpy somehow... turned back into a little kid.
Wait, what?
Yeah.
Well, Orpy might have been a little kid again, but he was no longer a beggar.
Orpy was the ruler of the kingdom.
Yay!
Orpy ruled wisely and kindly and fairly, and Orpy always made sure to share with everyone who was in need, just as he always had.
And the raven, the fish, and the fox became his counselors and advisors.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The end.
Yay!
That was fun.
This story was all about hide-and-seek.
You're right, it didn't even occur to me.
That was a grim fairy tale all about hide-and-seek.
Hamsters.
And hamsters.
You really get to see the full spectrum of how much I change or keep the stories the same from the original fairy tales.
So in Rumpelstiltskin you probably know that story and the version I told is very faithful to the version that you've heard.
I certainly add jokes and some details, but pretty much it's the Grimm fairy tale.
Last week when we talked about the stone gnomes.
That's a story that I changed and rewrote and reimagined so much I literally cannot remember what the source fairy tales were for that story.
That happens not infrequently, too, where I am just getting an idea from the Grimm fairy tales.
I'm taking a piece of one fairy tale and then spinning it out into a new story that I think you all would like.
And I usually keep the same name, but not always.
Stone Gnomes is not a Grimm fairy tale name.
This one, The Wizard King, is a really good example of something that is half and half.
This is kind of usually the way it goes.
So the original story, as you heard in the episode, is called The Hamster from the Water, which is just awesome in and of itself.
And that's one translation of the title in the edition translated by Jack Zipes, who's a really important scholar, of Grimm fairy tales.
The book that I usually use is translated by Ralph Monheim, and he's a really important translator of Grimm fairy tales.
Also, I love his writing style.
His version is called the mongoose, and it's not a hamster in his version.
It's a mongoose.
Who wants a mongoose?
When you have a hamster available, go take the hamster, right?
So we took the hamster for this one, obviously.
Now, in the original story, I'm going to break your heart just a tiny bit.
First of all, there's no Orpheus.
I know.
I'm sorry.
I made up Orpy.
I have a friend who's a grown-up who, when I told him that I made up Orpy, he was like, what?
No!
Orpy is beloved enough that there are kids out there who have named their hamsters in real life Orpy.
They've told me that, and it's just one of the highest possible honors.
Anyway, there's no Orpy, and the Wizard King is not a Wizard King.
In the original story, it's a princess who doesn't want to marry anyone.
And anytime anyone comes to try to marry her, she has their head cut off and put on a spike outside of her window.
And when the story starts, there are 98, no, 97 spikes with heads on them.
And I mean, why did I change that?
I don't know.
That's pretty awesome.
I could have kept it, but it did feel like it was a little weird that there was this girl and the men wanted to marry her.
And I knew as soon as I read that oh, in the end one of them is going to get to marry her, but she doesn't want to marry anybody.
And then she's going to be forced to marry somebody who beats her in this competition of hide and seek.
And I don't want a princess to be forced to marry someone.
So I was like, forget it.
What if we change it to a wizard king?
And then I was like, Wizard King.
That's cool.
Okay, let's go with Wizard King.
So you can see how these things change.
Also in the original story, it's three princes who come to try to marry her.
And the first one gets his head put on a spike.
So now they're 98 heads on spikes.
And then the second one gets his head put on spikes, another 99.
And the third one is going to be the hundredth head on a spike.
And yet before he tries to get to her, he, cause it's not a game of hide and seek in the original.
It's like, as you approach her or maybe it's, it's unclear.
Cause later she's like, Uh, you tricked me.
So anyway, he goes out hunting before he starts sort of playing the game with her, and he's about to shoot a Raven and the Raven's like don't shoot me.
I'll help you later.
And then he sees a fish and he's about to shoot a fish who shoots fish.
Anyway, the fish is like, don't, uh, I'll help you later.
And then same thing with the Fox.
And he helps, he takes a thorn out of the Fox's foot instead of shooting it.
Um And so similar to the bread.
But I just again thought like a little orphan boy named Orpy was cuter and more relatable than a prince who's about to shoot animals and doesn't.
So the structure of the story is the same.
Some major details are different.
And again, the prince like gets in the raven's egg and goes in the belly of the fish.
There are a lot of fairy tales like this, where a hero meets three animals and then later there's a test and the three animals unexpectedly come back and help him.
Except to somebody who reads a lot of fairy tales.
And now you all listen to a lot of fairy tales.
It's actually very predictable.
Like you're like, oh, here he is helping the raven.
That raven is going to come back and help him.
So the first couple times I sort of skimmed the story.
I saw the structure before I read the details of it and I was like I'm not going to do that one.
There's a million stories like that.
It's too repetitive.
And then when I actually read it, it was like he hides inside the raven's egg.
I was like, whoa, wait a minute.
That's different.
And then when he goes into the belly of the fish, I was like, okay, we have a great story here.
And then when he turns into a hamster in the Jack Zipes version, I was like this is going to be one of the most epic Grimm fairy tales of all time, or Grimm Grimm or Grimmest episodes of all time.
I don't have a lot more to say about this episode, though.
I think it's put together really well.
The folks who produced it did an amazing job.
I love the sound of the head exploding.
We had to be careful, right?
Because this was one of the most disgusting things we've ever described.
The falling forever and the drinking of the iron and the head exploding and then the mice eating the eyeballs.
And so the fact that the head exploding sound effect is like a um is is brilliant, because it's hilarious and you still know what's happening.
That's the magic of the production.
You know, we do a lot of work after i record these episodes with the kids to make the episodes sound as good as possible, and that pop is a really perfect example of that.
The last thing i'll say is that this is so far leading in the voting for what your favorite episode of all time is, and i'm glad that you like it all so much, Because in 2027, I will be putting out a graphic novel that retells three of my favorite Grim Grimmer, Grimmest episodes.
And I wanted to have a nice variety of stories, different kinds of stories.
So the first story in that collection will be Hans, My Hedgehog.
The second one will be The Iron Shoes, both parts of that story woven together, one story.
And the last story in that graphic novel will be The Wizard King.
And I'm so excited to see what the windows look like, what it looks like to look through the different 12 windows in The Wizard King.
So I'm glad you all like that one too.
I love it.
All right.
Season 5 is dropping very soon.
Listen up.
Don't miss it.
And I recommend you subscribe, again, so you can hear these without all the ads.
The stories are even more fun when they're not being interrupted by ads.
To subscribe, just go to pinna.fm.
That's P-I-N-N-A dot F-M.
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 Ilana 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 Dankwa.
Characters voiced by Allison Lee Rosenfeld Baron Bass, Billy Bob Thompson, Cat Protano, Sanofia Mitchell, Colin Ryan, Dylan Jones.
Erica Schroeder, Kaylin Clinton, Kylie Claxton, Lori Himes, Michael Crouch, Mike Pollack, Nicholas Korda and Rob Morera.
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.
Introducing the new podcast, light catchers season one 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.
Listen now to Lightcatchers wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at BeALightcatchercom.
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 duberck and illustrated by derek 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.
