Tales and Feathers is a fantastic showcase of stories that fall in the liminal spaces of fantasy. Stories and illustrations sure to give you the perfect feeling for Spring!!

..but my favourite has to be the story of Amu Nowruz (Uncle Nowruz) and Nane Sarma/ Bibi Barfi (Grandmother Winter or Snow).

How are you celebrating?

Eid and Nowruz fall on the same day so whichever you are celebrating, we hope you have a healthy and happy year!

We have covered many Persian tales in the past from the Shahnameh to the Poor Prince: An Afghan tale... #EidMubarak #Nowruz

It's almost SPRING! While we are escaping the clutches of jackets worn for a cold morning, a goddess is escaping the underworld! But which one? Persephone? Or are the Oak King and Holly King gearing up for a fight?

What is your favourite seasonal myth?

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy! It was a delight and source of great inspiration for episodes ahead.

Gorgeous artwork by @anniestegg.bsky.social & @kristinkwan.bsky.social n.bsky.social ties it all together with a lovely, detailed introduction by
@terriwindling.bsky.social dling.bsky.social
that promises magic ahead.

Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman have done remarkable work with their compendium of faefolk, "Fairylore." It is divine to see a thoroughly researched collection that not only details different folk, but addresses their role in story-telling and legends while also adding tales for each section…

For International Women's Day, I highly recommend the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks: four books that ought to be known as the Masterworks of Fantasy that they bloody well are. And a bonus: the gorgeous cover art for these editions is by @tanaudel.bsky.social, a very fine writer herself.

The song, the message, the moment of heartbreak, the LOVE. I think I loved the short more than the movie at least in terms of longevity!!

It was the first thing I remembered when I saw your prompt! Marrying a doll-like possibly dead woman in a casket has to be morbid

As the Tuscan storytellers say:
Se ne stettero e se la goderono
E a me nulla mi diedero

They stayed and enjoyed it and gave nothing to me.

"The Crystal Casket" from Italian Popular Tales (1883) by Thomas Fredrick Cane for #MorbidMarch
Images by Kay Nielsen

and the royal tailor was sent for to make a replica! However, when they took the dress off the girl, she sprang up to life, alive and well. They lived happily ever after!

There is also a vengeful Eagle and the stepmother is obsessed with a basil plant...but that is for a different day #MorbidMarch

but he had to leave for war and left the girl in the care of his mother. I'm pretty sure they all thought he was mad and the girl was a doll, but it wasn't until he was to return home that they remembered the doll in the casket. When cleaning her face, some water dripped on the dress... #MorbidMarch

and as soon as Ermellina put on the dress, she fell dead to the floor. The fairies had revived her once before and had already warned the girl, so they placed her in a glass casket. A wandering young king fell in love with her and married the girl in the casket... #MorbidMarch

There was a time when young Ermellina was driven from her father's home by her wicked stepmother. She was so lovely that fairies took her in, but her stepmother would not let her rest and came to her with tricks most foul. Once, she arrived as a tailor.. #MorbidMarch

How many of these mythical lovers can you name? Search deep within your fairytale, folklore and legends to give us your Valentine's trivia answers!

Jogi Mahi Song | Bachna Ae Haseeno | Ranbir Kapoor | Minissha Lamba | Sukhwinder, Shekhar, Himani YouTube video by YRF

Two songs that inspired our latest episode on the Punjabi story of Heer and Ranjha

1. Jogi Mahi from Bachna Ae Haseeno
2. Ranjha from Shershaah

Give both a listen!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKyM...

Oh, that is an interesting rabbit hole! I think there might be- there are a lot of 'nearly headless' or floating head monsters like Rokurokubi, but I haven't seen a vampire iteration before. It's interesting that they connect the Penanggalan to will o
the wisp

Luo Tou Shi (落头氏)

Also known as the wandering heads is a group of supernatural beings (sometimes ghosts) that can detach their heads that can then fly away. While we couldn't find a lot of information on the Luo Tou Shi, we did find this image from Elaine Chow and Mayura Jain! #WyrdWednesday

The fairy cattle (the crodh sith) would emerge from the waves to graze on the fertile soils of Scorrybreck before being recalled. However, if you wanted to keep them for yourself then all you had to do was toss some churchyard soil between them and the sea.
🎨 Stephen Reid
📷 Robin Dessens

...they rewarded his carpentry skills by giving him fairy powers so that he could stay with his wife forever and teach them his craft! So powerful is he now that when he walks across the sky-land, we hear his footsteps as thunder!
📙"Maoriland Fairy Tales" by Edith Howes #FairytaleTuesday #Fairytales

Disguised as an old man, Tawhaki spent the days helping carry their tools & nights secretly working on the canoe. The fairies grew curious about the mysterious craftsmanship, so they hid one night and caught Tawhaki working on it! Except, instead of getting angry...
📙 Edith Howes #FairytaleTuesday

As he climbed to Cloud-land, he caused a flood on Earth, advised the eels to go down and pinched a mischievous Pukaki's birds nose so hard that nowadays all Pukaki's have red noses. When he finally arrived at fairyland, he found them busy making a canoe....
🎨 Arthur Rackham #FairytaleTuesday

...until he came across an old woman holding a thread to the sky. She told him to find his wife, but if he lost courage or looked back then he would go plummeting to the Earth. Tawhaki did not hesitate & the old woman taught him a charm to sing if he felt afraid
📙 Edith Howes #FairytaleTuesday

Tawhaki had a reputation so great that a curious Sky-Fairy came down to see him for herself and fell in love immediately. However, the other fairies did not want her to live on Earth so they came down and snatched her up to Tawhaki's dismay! He wandered around... #FairytaleTuesday
🎨 Arthur Rackham

The Snow Maiden: A Faerie Tale Russia, 15 minute read The Snow Maiden, born to Father Frost and Spring has to protect herself from the indignant Sun God, but can she protect her icy heart? Happy New Years, Travellers! There are …

Is this tale simply a story about a stupid king and his stupid subjects as one reviewer put it? Or a Western play dressed up as an old Russian tale? Check out the tale for yourself below on the website

talesfromtheenchantedforest.com/2026/01/17/t...

Снегурочка YouTube video by Мультики студии Союзмультфильм

Snegurochka, the daughter of Father Frost and Spring, wants to venture out into the human world but she has to protect her heart otherwise she will vanish from this world.

See the beautiful animation below and watch the story unfold!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2TY...

The Ghost Deacon of Myrká: Icelandic Christmas Story

Enjoy some spooky festive fun and listen now to our episode on the Icelandic Christmas ghost story, the Deacon of Myrká! It will give Scrooge a run for his money!

Based on the translated version by Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson.
open.spotify.com/episode/4TSg...

As Guðrún prepared to celebrate Christmas eve with her lover, the Deacon, she did not know he had drowned a few days prior. So she had nothing to fear when he appeared at her door that night...

"The moon glides,
Death rides,
Seest thou not the white place
In the back of my head,
Garun, Garun?"