I love this story! It reminds me of my favorite Norwegian fairy tale called The Boy Who Had an Eating Contest with a Troll. Here's my half-remembered retelling: A poor family sent their three sons out into the forest to gather firewood. The eldest brother took the family axe and started chopping trees, the middle brother gathered suitable fallen branches, while the youngest brother just sat around eating some cheese he brought with him and chasing birds. The youngest boy caught a small bird and showed his brothers but they just berated him for not being helpful. He tucked the bird away in a burlap sack, and slunk away dejected. Not long after, a giant fearsome troll emerged from the forest and scared the two older boys nearly to death. The eldest tried to fend off the troll with his axe, but it snapped in half on the troll's tough hide. The middle sibling threw a rock at it, but that only made the troll angry. The two older brothers ran away screaming, chased by the angry troll. The youngest saw his older brothers running in fear and grew anxious, realizing only when it was too late that they were chased by a horrible troll. The troll said "Ah, this will be easy. A weak little thing like you? I'll crush your bones and eat you easily!" The youngest boy was much smaller than his older brothers and knew he stood no chance fighting, and no chance running, but with his quick thinking, he came up with another solution. He swallowed his fear and began to laugh at the troll's declaration. "What's so funny!?" the troll demanded. The boy held back his laughter and said "It's just funny that you think yourself stronger than me. I'm the strongest boy in the world, don't you know." The troll grew furious "A tiny little thing like you? Stronger than a mighty troll!? No way!" "I can prove that I'm stronger. Watch this." the boy said, pulling a lump of cheese with a rather grey and stony looking rind from his bag. "I am so strong that I can squeeze water out of a stone!" The boy squeezed the whey out of the cheese and said "I bet you can't do that." The troll, not one to back down from a challenge, grabbed a stone, and try as it might, it could not produce any liquid from the rock at all. The troll, frustrated with its failure, smashed the rock on the ground, and huffed. "I don't believe it!" said the troll. "You must have gotten lucky or something. We need another test of strength to see who is really the strongest." The troll picked up another rock and said "I can throw a rock over 200 meters! There's no way you can match that! Ahaha!" and true to its word the troll sent the rock soaring far into the distance. "Pff, that's nothing" the boy scoffed, and he quickly pulled the bird he caught earlier from his bag, and tossed it. The bird flew away immediately, so far away that the troll couldn't even see it land. The troll was in awe of the boy's strength, but its pride was too strong to back down. "Well, you may be strong, boy, but surely a little thing like you could never beat a mighty troll such as myself in an eating contest! My belly is huge, and you're just a little twig." "Wrong again." Said the boy. And the two of them went to the troll's cabin to have their contest. The troll said "Alright, I'll make up a huge pot of stew and we'll see who's really the toughest. I'll go gather wood to heat the stew with, you go get the water, boy." And the troll dropped a huge bucket in front of the boy, too big for him to lift. The boy said "Eh, that bucket is too small, I'll just go pick up the entire river instead." The troll, not wanting to lose its water source, opted to trade chores, giving the boy the job of firewood instead. When the troll came back from the river with a huge bucket full of water, he saw the boy tying the ends of two tree branches together and said "What on earth are you doing?" To which the boy replied "Oh, I'm just tying the trees together so I can pull up the whole forest in one fell swoop." "No! Don't do that!" said the troll in a panic, not wanting to lose his whole forest. "Just... uh, stay here and I'll gather the wood." After cooking it up, the troll poured a hefty portion of stew into two giant bowls, and set them down in front of itself and the boy. The troll quickly finished bowl after bowl. When the troll looked over, it was astounded to find that the boy somehow managed to keep up, slurping down just as many bowls as the troll did. The troll slowed in pace, and eventually had to stop, but the boy effortlessly kept on going. You see, the boy had taken his burlap sack, and stuffed it under his shirt, so that he could simply let the stew drip down his chin and into the bag and never have to taste even a drop of the troll's wretched cooking. The troll let out a defeated sigh. "Ah, you win, you win. I wish I could eat as much as you! How do you do it?" "Oh, it's easy." the boy said "Watch this." he grabbed a knife from the table and stabbed it into his own belly (in actuality, only cutting a hole in the hidden bag under his shirt), and stew spilled out onto the ground. The troll was horrified. "Uhh... Doesn't that hurt?" it asked. The boy grinned and said "Nope! You should try it." Determined to prove itself strong, the troll drove the knife into its own belly, spilling guts everywhere. The troll howled in pain "I thought you said it wouldn't hurt!?" The boy shook his head and said "I guess you must just be too weak to handle it. Oh well." And with that, the troll's ego was shattered into a million pieces, and its body bled out on the floor, utterly defeated in every way. The boy took all the troll's gold and treasure home, and the family was never poor again.
I think this is the 3rd time I've put this on, I've always really enjoyed traditional stories from other cultures so I appreciate you sharing something I probably would've never heard.
Part of why I picked that one is that there's an oddly small number of monsters that have made their way from first nations mythology into public knowledge. Everybody has heard of the wendigo spirits of the Anishinaabe, or the skinwalkers of the Dene. But how many people have heard of stonecoats? Or the Onatsa? Or the flying heads?
@@MalcolmPL I won't lie, I'm now extremely interested In both of those (especially the flying heads). I know for sure in my life up until recently I've never heard of the stonecoats (or the others you mentioned) but I really enjoyed hearing about them. I'm excited to hear about more mythology/traditional stories if you have any you want to share.
Interested about the stone coats. I remember reading in a book about a shaman who would pray and make offerings to the spirit of stone who would in turn grant rocky skin...
Interesting, I’ve never heard that version before. The spirit of stone you mention could be Flint, who is like the evil god. So it’s like the universal story of the magician selling his soul to the devil in exchange for power. In the stories I’ve heard, the stone coats were originally men who had cannibalized their wives and children in times of hardship and for this were punished by the spirits.
Hey Malcolm, I just discovered your page this week and haven't been through all of your content so you may have already covered my questions, sorry if I'm treading ground you've already been over. So is the Stonecoat a Bigfoot? Are the Stonecoats related to the Albatwitch? Please do a video on your people's stories of the Bigfoot (I love all the winter time stories of indigenous peoples), and thank you for all of the great videos you've done, they're great.
It's funny how some traditional stories from around the world "curse" people of bad moral character and evil deeds with fantastic power and immortality. I guess it would be a punishment of sorts, but who's being punished?
I love this story! It reminds me of my favorite Norwegian fairy tale called The Boy Who Had an Eating Contest with a Troll.
Here's my half-remembered retelling:
A poor family sent their three sons out into the forest to gather firewood. The eldest brother took the family axe and started chopping trees, the middle brother gathered suitable fallen branches, while the youngest brother just sat around eating some cheese he brought with him and chasing birds. The youngest boy caught a small bird and showed his brothers but they just berated him for not being helpful. He tucked the bird away in a burlap sack, and slunk away dejected.
Not long after, a giant fearsome troll emerged from the forest and scared the two older boys nearly to death. The eldest tried to fend off the troll with his axe, but it snapped in half on the troll's tough hide. The middle sibling threw a rock at it, but that only made the troll angry. The two older brothers ran away screaming, chased by the angry troll. The youngest saw his older brothers running in fear and grew anxious, realizing only when it was too late that they were chased by a horrible troll.
The troll said "Ah, this will be easy. A weak little thing like you? I'll crush your bones and eat you easily!"
The youngest boy was much smaller than his older brothers and knew he stood no chance fighting, and no chance running, but with his quick thinking, he came up with another solution. He swallowed his fear and began to laugh at the troll's declaration. "What's so funny!?" the troll demanded.
The boy held back his laughter and said "It's just funny that you think yourself stronger than me. I'm the strongest boy in the world, don't you know."
The troll grew furious "A tiny little thing like you? Stronger than a mighty troll!? No way!"
"I can prove that I'm stronger. Watch this." the boy said, pulling a lump of cheese with a rather grey and stony looking rind from his bag. "I am so strong that I can squeeze water out of a stone!"
The boy squeezed the whey out of the cheese and said "I bet you can't do that."
The troll, not one to back down from a challenge, grabbed a stone, and try as it might, it could not produce any liquid from the rock at all. The troll, frustrated with its failure, smashed the rock on the ground, and huffed.
"I don't believe it!" said the troll. "You must have gotten lucky or something. We need another test of strength to see who is really the strongest."
The troll picked up another rock and said "I can throw a rock over 200 meters! There's no way you can match that! Ahaha!" and true to its word the troll sent the rock soaring far into the distance.
"Pff, that's nothing" the boy scoffed, and he quickly pulled the bird he caught earlier from his bag, and tossed it. The bird flew away immediately, so far away that the troll couldn't even see it land.
The troll was in awe of the boy's strength, but its pride was too strong to back down.
"Well, you may be strong, boy, but surely a little thing like you could never beat a mighty troll such as myself in an eating contest! My belly is huge, and you're just a little twig."
"Wrong again." Said the boy. And the two of them went to the troll's cabin to have their contest.
The troll said "Alright, I'll make up a huge pot of stew and we'll see who's really the toughest. I'll go gather wood to heat the stew with, you go get the water, boy." And the troll dropped a huge bucket in front of the boy, too big for him to lift.
The boy said "Eh, that bucket is too small, I'll just go pick up the entire river instead."
The troll, not wanting to lose its water source, opted to trade chores, giving the boy the job of firewood instead.
When the troll came back from the river with a huge bucket full of water, he saw the boy tying the ends of two tree branches together and said "What on earth are you doing?"
To which the boy replied "Oh, I'm just tying the trees together so I can pull up the whole forest in one fell swoop."
"No! Don't do that!" said the troll in a panic, not wanting to lose his whole forest. "Just... uh, stay here and I'll gather the wood."
After cooking it up, the troll poured a hefty portion of stew into two giant bowls, and set them down in front of itself and the boy. The troll quickly finished bowl after bowl. When the troll looked over, it was astounded to find that the boy somehow managed to keep up, slurping down just as many bowls as the troll did. The troll slowed in pace, and eventually had to stop, but the boy effortlessly kept on going. You see, the boy had taken his burlap sack, and stuffed it under his shirt, so that he could simply let the stew drip down his chin and into the bag and never have to taste even a drop of the troll's wretched cooking.
The troll let out a defeated sigh. "Ah, you win, you win. I wish I could eat as much as you! How do you do it?"
"Oh, it's easy." the boy said "Watch this." he grabbed a knife from the table and stabbed it into his own belly (in actuality, only cutting a hole in the hidden bag under his shirt), and stew spilled out onto the ground.
The troll was horrified. "Uhh... Doesn't that hurt?" it asked.
The boy grinned and said "Nope! You should try it."
Determined to prove itself strong, the troll drove the knife into its own belly, spilling guts everywhere. The troll howled in pain "I thought you said it wouldn't hurt!?"
The boy shook his head and said "I guess you must just be too weak to handle it. Oh well."
And with that, the troll's ego was shattered into a million pieces, and its body bled out on the floor, utterly defeated in every way.
The boy took all the troll's gold and treasure home, and the family was never poor again.
Thanks for telling me this story, I like it :-) No animation or acting needed, you're a good storyteller.
Cheers.
I think this is the 3rd time I've put this on, I've always really enjoyed traditional stories from other cultures so I appreciate you sharing something I probably would've never heard.
Part of why I picked that one is that there's an oddly small number of monsters that have made their way from first nations mythology into public knowledge. Everybody has heard of the wendigo spirits of the Anishinaabe, or the skinwalkers of the Dene. But how many people have heard of stonecoats? Or the Onatsa? Or the flying heads?
@@MalcolmPL I won't lie, I'm now extremely interested In both of those (especially the flying heads). I know for sure in my life up until recently I've never heard of the stonecoats (or the others you mentioned) but I really enjoyed hearing about them. I'm excited to hear about more mythology/traditional stories if you have any you want to share.
THIS is what to put on while I sew. It must be a human need to hear stories
very cool, lots of layers, thank you for the words
Oh look, it's my special treat! Well done. Trickster tales are always the best, aren't they? But how is it misremembered?
Maybe almost nothing's wrong, maybe most of it is wrong. I'm just going from memory.
I love your misremembered stories
Especially. Skunny Wundy
More please.
Not supposed to tell old stories during Summer, otherwise the little people will hear and start playing tricks.
Interested about the stone coats. I remember reading in a book about a shaman who would pray and make offerings to the spirit of stone who would in turn grant rocky skin...
Interesting, I’ve never heard that version before.
The spirit of stone you mention could be Flint, who is like the evil god. So it’s like the universal story of the magician selling his soul to the devil in exchange for power.
In the stories I’ve heard, the stone coats were originally men who had cannibalized their wives and children in times of hardship and for this were punished by the spirits.
@@MalcolmPL so a version of the "wendigo" or winter cannibal story?
@@3asianassassin Similar idea. But different stories. Just to reinforce the idea that we're not supposed to eat people.
This story is fantastic! 🤣
Thank you, I was highly entertained.
You're welcome.
Loved these. You're very good at telling them!
That was great 👍👍👍
You are a great storyteller
More please brother
Sure, it's winter again, so why the heck not.
@@MalcolmPL cool Thank You Brother!
Hey Malcolm, I just discovered your page this week and haven't been through all of your content so you may have already covered my questions, sorry if I'm treading ground you've already been over.
So is the Stonecoat a Bigfoot? Are the Stonecoats related to the Albatwitch? Please do a video on your people's stories of the Bigfoot (I love all the winter time stories of indigenous peoples), and thank you for all of the great videos you've done, they're great.
No, it's more like a wendigo.
As to big foot, it's my understanding that it's a south west myth. We don't really have an analogue.
I loved this, they won't be doubting ol'skunny now lol
i am enjoying these three videos, are there any more stories?
I love trickster stories :)
Classic
It's funny how some traditional stories from around the world "curse" people of bad moral character and evil deeds with fantastic power and immortality. I guess it would be a punishment of sorts, but who's being punished?
could this be an oral traditional story about the arrival of "vikings"?
There is zero evidence that vikings traveled inland.