House of Legends: World Myths & Legends
World myths and legends with Scottish storyteller and USA Today bestselling author Daniel Allison. Discover breathtaking stories from around the world, all told in Daniel's intimate and lyrical style. Also featuring guest spots from the world's best oral storytellers.
- Update frequency
- every 11 days
- Average duration
- 33 minutes
- Episodes
- 96
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Episode 36: The Most Beautiful Song In The Forest
This week's story comes from the pygmy people of the Congo. I heard it told by Joseph Campbell in an interview he gave with Bill Moyers. You can watch a clip here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F7W…
Episode 35: Sources: Norse Mythology with Noah Tetzner of The History of Vikings Podcast
In this episode I interview Noah Tetzner, the host of The History of Vikings Podcast. Noah gives an overview of the Norse cosmology and then we discuss the source texts and different aspects of the s…
Episode 34: The Cruel Mother with Danica Boyce of Fair Folk Podcast
In this episode I talk to Danica Boyce, the host of Fair Folk, an outstanding folklore podcast.
Clarification from Danica: The version of the Cruel Mother that she sings is by Shirley Collins, an Eng…
Episode 33: Taming the Kelpie
This week's story is from Scotland. It's a tale of the kelpie, one of our most famous and fascinating otherworld creatures. I heard it from Ian Stephen, a storyteller from the Isle of Lewis, and have…
Episode 32: The Snow Maiden
It's time for snowy stories! We kick off the season of wintry tales with a perennial favourite of mine, The Snow Maiden. This is a Russian folk tale collected by Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev, whi…
Episode 31: A Close Tongue Keeps A Safe Head
We remain in Orkney for a tale which introduces us to the strange beings known in Orkney as the finfolk.
You can learn more about the finfolk n Tom Muir's excellent Orkney Folk Tales. Get it in the U…
Episode 30: The Bone Flute
A special episode featuring a reading from my new novel, The Bone Flute, set in Iron Age Orkney and drawing on Scottish and Orcadian mythology.
The Bone Flute is available now from Amazon; follow the …
Episode 29: The Mermaid Bride
We kick off our mini-series of Orcadian stories with The Mermaid Bride.
You can find this story in two books by Orcadian storyteller Tom Muir. The first is The Mermaid Bride and the other is Orkney Fo…
Episode 28: Bonus episode: In Conversation with Jan Blake
I sit down to talk with world-renowned storyteller Jan Blake, who came to perform at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2019. Jan shares some of her journey as a storyteller and reflect…
Episode 27: Bonus Episode with Robert Seven Crows Bourdon
Another bonus episode from the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2019. This time I sit down for a chat with Robert Seven Crows Bourdon, a storyteller from Quebec of Akadian and Mi'kmag des…
Episode 26: Bonus episode: The Hummingbird with Giovanna Conforto
In this bonus episode from the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2019 I talk to Giovanna Conforto. Giovanna is the creative director of the Italian Storytelling Centre and performs and tea…
Episode 25: Bonus episode: The Two Warriors with Michael Williams
Another episode from the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2019, this time with Canadian storyteller Michael Williams, who tells us about his experience using storytelling as a peace facil…
Episode 24: Bonus episode: Cree cultural leader Joseph Naytowhow
A bonus episode recorded during the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, featuring Cree elder and cultural leaderJoseph Naytowhow.
Learn more about Joseph at:
www.josephnaytowhow.com
And learn …
Episode 23: The Chain of Memories with Liz Weir
Our guest this week is Liz Weir, a veteran storyteller from Northern Ireland who is known throughout the world and has received an MBE for her work.
Learn more about Liz at:
www.lizweir.org
Visit …
Episode 22: Zombie Farmers
A pre-Halloween special! This week we have a Haitian voodoo story. Not for children
A good introduction to voodoo:
https://www.ranker.com/list/history-and-stories-from-haitian-zombie-voodoo-mythology/c…
Episode 21: Raven & Whale
This is an Inuit story which I first told in 2010, from a retelling by New York-based storyteller Laura Simms.
You can read about this story and its use by the Healing Story Alliance here:
https://heal…
Episode 20: Thor's Journey To Utgard
By popular demand... it's time to go a-viking!
This is one of the most popular Norse tales. It comes from the Prose Edda, the main source of Norse Mythology, recorded by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland in…
Episode 19: The Widow of Ephesus with Daniel Morden
This week our guest is leading international storyteller Daniel Morden. I saw Daniel perform at Beyond the Border in Wales and was enraptured by his storytelling.
Daniel works with Hugh Luton to tell …
Episode 18: Vasalisa the Beautiful
This week we have the story of Vasalisa the Beautiful, the most famous Russian folk-tale.
The story was collected by Alexander Afanasyev for his Russian Folk-Tales collections, which were published be…
Episode 17: Branwen with Michael Harvey
House of Legends is back!
Our guest this week is Michael Harvey. Michael Harvey is an internationally performing storyteller and a recipient of the prestigious Creative Wales award. Recently he has wo…