Love & Viscera Za’chary Westbrook

This month's episode borrows from three myths. One is a recent folktale out of Colorado, while the other two come from the Philippines and Scotland, respectively. It's horse monsters all the way down!

We are tying up the story of Chang'e and Hou Yi with some threads from Tagalog/Philippine mythology: Bakunawa and Mayari.

Here begins my retelling of the story of Hou Yi and Chang'e. It's possibly the most popular legend in China and, as such, there are numerous versions, which all hit certain tentpole beats, but diverge mainly on how these two felt about each other. The contentiousness of that point is what fascinates me most about this tale.

Because it's Love & Viscera, there's also a shout-out to my boy, the Puck! Welcome to my headcanon, enjoy.

Humanity's collective ability to tell stories has improved significantly over the centuries. This includes our ability to tell stories. If you, like me, love folktales and mythology, you have read a lot of very badly told stories. Through the strangeness of 2020, I decided to take all of my favorite stories and create a headcanon of world mythology, so that I can retell these stories my way.