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Study 115 - Teig O'Kane and the Corpse (Patreon)

Published:
2024-12-12 15:00:09
Edited:
2025-02-06 17:41:29
Imported:
2024-12
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We're continuing our month of fairy tale magic with Teig O'Kane and the Corpse, translated from the Irish by Douglas Hyde!

Special thanks to our reader, Jack Fennell!

Check out Hyde's mustache game! Wow!

Today's episode features an arrangement of Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky.

Files

Comments

Kip Barnes

Is the corpse on his back also a metaphor for the Catholic guilt he’s been missing out on?

Prince Prawn

I love the message of resilience and hard work in this story. As a recovered addict, I was plagued with self doubt and shame for years, shackled to what I knew was the fetters and burden of addiction. Many times on the path I wanted to stop and give in to the addiction I knew, at least I knew it and was somewhat comforted by the familiarity and at times willing to take the drubbing addiction would inflict on my life. I saw so many others at different points lay down also, because effectuating any change in our life and habits takes hard work and motion. But motion is life and we must move, even if it seems pointless, because there is meaning in the motion itself. For me, I kept moving towards recovery and then, with all that inertia of effort and determination behind me I hit a flashpoint and pierced the veil. I am happier and more serene than I have ever been and this story beautifully resonates with my life journey. To use a football analogy, the 1st half of my life was my addiction, halftime was for recovery and adjustments and the 3rd quarter kickoff just took place. Looking forward to a winning 2nd half. Happy Holiday guys! A gift of appreciation to you both: Your podcast was important in getting me reconnected with life and out of self-isolation! I credit you both a great deal in my recovery.

Bugberry

This could not have come at a better time. My family and I were just organizing our trip to Ireland next year, so I've been on the lookout for parts of Irish culture I wasn't familiar with. We were specifically unsure about the pronunciation of Leitrim, so it was hilarious to have it stated within the first few second.

Danny Maes

FUN FACT: Little known fact but this story is actually the inspiration for the movie "Weekend at Bernie's".

Raymond Hill

My favorite adaptation of this story (besides the aforementioned Weekend at Bernie’s) came in 2008 when the (now sadly defunct) Chatterbox Audio Theater did it as part of their live Halloween broadcast. It’s the first story when you hit play at the link below. A few changes were made - this one obeys the rule of 3’s when it comes to the graves and in this version the corpse is that of the young man’s father, not some rando - but all in all a very entertaining listen. This and all the other Chatterbox Halloween shows have been the soundtrack of my Halloween decorating for almost 15 years. https://chatterboxtheater.org/shows/halloween-show-2008-part-2/

Gideon Falcon

I really liked Chad's thoughts about faith and hard work. As a religious person, but also a science enthusiast, I've put a lot of thought into the real nature of faith as a virtue, and he puts it very well in that "You know other humans have done it, you just don't know if YOU can do it." That's what I've come to understand faith really is: it's not about believing something blindly and trying to deny any and all doubts, but about building your beliefs on a strong enough foundation that, when doubt inevitably arises, the belief still holds. In my upbringing, I've been taught especially that real faith is expressed BY hard work; to keep walking past the edge of the light and into darkness, because you have to trust that either something will be there to hold you up, or you will be taught how to fly. But even then, flying takes a lot of effort. Just ask any bird.

Sweeney in the Trees

This was a regular piece in my elementary schools Christmas drama show. I played both the corpse and one of the three wise men in the Nativity play one year. We didn't have time to swap costumes in between, so I just grabbed a crown and some gold and did the Nativity as a pale, ragged wise man, who for some reason was covered in dirt. Thankfully none of the parents seemed to mind.

Pagurus

I remember this tale from a children's anthology of fairy tales (translated to German). It was one of my favorites even at 10 years old or so for its eeriness. Somehow, especially as a child I did not question the logic of the fairy rules - rules are just rules as far as a child is concerned. Great presentation as always!

The Lonely Sand Person

I think you maybe took slightly the wrong message from the Prodigal Son -- what the father tells the good son is basically, "Listen, you're going to inherit EVERYTHING. Your brother is basically going to be working for you for the rest of his life. But for today, the important thing is that your irreplaceable brother is home, alive and well." I feel that it meshes well with the contemporary saying, "don't punish people for doing the right thing" -- if your racist uncle is changing his ways, don't get on him for not changing enough or fast enough. Celebrate his progress.

The Lonely Sand Person

I really enjoyed this story, and as you mentioned, I was surprised at how much it read like a walkthrough of a video game. The way the corpse grabbed Teig reminded me of the way the ReDeads grab Link in the Zelda franchise, and having an animate corpse whispering hints and pointing the way seemed like a very modern "diagetic compass" kind of thing.

Aaron La Vene

I love Irish folklore along with a ton of other mythos and folklore. I know this isn’t a mythology or folklore podcast but there are plenty of strange stories to be told in those realms. Would love to see some thrown in throughout the year vs just December. the way you guys break it down from a social standpoint and trying to empathize with the characters on a more complex level vs just “This is spoiled brat guy scared into reliable guy”. Is very refreshing. yall did a great job breaking that down without it feeling like “these guys are putting modern morales for a different age”. I think covering so many asshole authors and separating them from their work, has made that second nature for yall which is honestly impressive

Allison Albright

Walking 26 miles with a corpse on one's back sounds like something from a Nick Cave song. This was an unusually vivid fairy tale. I loved the corpse backpack. I thought the interpretation of the story as a metaphor for voluntarily undertaking a project of creativity or self-improvement was excellent. However, I think the story can also be taken as a metaphor for enduring life's involuntary hardships, and how the process of surviving and overcoming disaster and misfortune can change a person also.

Drasferatu

Can you name the next feedback episode “Deadguy Backpack”

Richard Upton Sinclair Lewis Pickman

Is there a good reading of this in Irish that you could share? Despite my inability to understand it, given Hyde’s apparent dedication to the preservation of the Irish language, I feel like it would be an appropriate consideration. Also, I’m sure it would be a wonderful listen!

It's a Ghost.

The talk of dead-guy backpack made me imagine if the guy in "The Human Chair" had instead hid himself away in a well-designed backpack.

a Little Bird

Oops! Chad, my sensei in literature and comedy— I’m afraid the auto-surprising mustache that our friend Douglas Hyde sports, with his eyebrow-mustache fittingly raised (pictured in the link you attached to the episode) in truth adorns the face of the 1st President o’Ireland 🤨 The disambiguation link on the Wikipedia page that you linked actually leads to the *author * Douglas Hyde, who tragically sports no picture of his probably even more surprising mustache. But it’s the mustache you can’t describe, or witness, that estranges us from mustache-apathy most mind-alteringly. Hope you enjoyed my over-hyphenated adjectives and immitatingly derived adverbs, courtesy of the mind-deforming pantheon of lavender-to-purple prose you two have so cultishly served us for untold years. So untold.

Steve

Making a meal of it seems to mean something different to Chad than it would to me. Is the author really putting in more effort than is necessary, make it overlong or tedious?

Anne Ominous

Loved the scene in the second graveyard where the ghosts blocked all avenues of entry: Nope! Not here m'boy! Move that corpse on down the road! 'A Christmas Carol' shares some of this tale's 'scared striaght' sensibilities here.

Robert Curtin

The corpse backpack reminds me of the horror/gore game Scorn that came out a few years ago. You have a malevolent (though sometimes helpful) creature that latches onto the player, it's everpresent and extremely uncomfortable to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised if the creators had heard of this story.

alasinwonderland

without giving too much away, the second season of the silt verses features a corpse backpack that i now can't read as anything but a reference/reaction to this.

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

This doesn’t exactly fit into the category of stories where the supernatural world directs a sustained effort into the improvement of a person, such as in A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life — after all, the fairy folk don’t really have it as their aim to turn Teig’s life around — but it’s close enough for me to wedge the following thought into this discussion. And that is this: invariably when these stories are over my reaction is “Well is THAT all it took?” The heavens themselves dropping all other business and focusing on him? The economics of that were always so warped to me. Like why him? Why are all these resources? But I’m realizing after hearing this story that the authors/tellers are not saying that the supernatural intervention is the real path for converting a man. Rather, it’s the telling of the stories ABOUT the conversions that does the actual converting. Of the listener! Each storyteller functions as the ghosts of the various Christmases, Clarence the angel, and so on. Maybe this has been obvious to a lot of people for a long time, but it’s kind of cool to realize that we ourselves wield the power of gods in affecting change in each other through story.

MonsterTalk

I could not stop thinking of this story as a wicked animated short. This had to be one of the most evocative readings I've experienced with your show. My mind was awash with animated "EC Comics" style scenes and I would pay to see this be real. Thanks so much for covering this.

Ratchbox

Wow, my time has come! I'm honoured to get a shout out, and on such a fine episode too!

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I'm not at all convinced that the grind mindset is the only way to improvement or success and would encourage folks to consider that other paths and philosophies are available. I've achieved nearly everything in my life by simply agreeing to do stuff when invited. I work hard when I work, but I never grind. I wouldn't call myself a practicing (already something of an oxymoron) Taoist or Zen Buddhist but have delighted in what I perceive as great wisdom in many of their tenets. Not trying is often the best way forward. Uselessness can have great utility. So let me suggest that this story can be viewed in another way: Our hero does not say no. He accepts what happens to him - however uncomfortable - and has a tremendous adventure. By simply moving with the river, he finds himself much improved. Had he pushed for what he wanted, he'd perhaps never have had the adventure and perhaps never improved.

Luke Frishkoff

Isn't the punishment at the hands of the fae an inversion of the fact that the reason he's getting punished is that he's shirking his responsibility for getting his special lady friend pregnant? Like, because of his actions she ends up having to carry around a living child in her belly. So the faeries basically are telling him "Now you have to carry around a dead adult on your back, until you can 'birth' it at the end of this long night and after going through substantial labor. Shoe's on the other foot now!" I dunno, the inverted symmetry really struck me.