This week, on Myths and Legends, we're an Indian folklore.

With a story about how doing jobs for that sinister-looking stranger in a cemetery

might be a good idea for once. The creature this week is a kangaroo dog with deadly flatulence.

This is Myths and Legends, Episode 183. Revenant.

This is a podcast where I tell stories from mythology and folklore. Some are incredibly

popular stories you'd think you know, but with surprising origins. Others are stories that

might be new to you, but are definitely worth listening. Today's story comes from an 11th

century work, originally written in Sanskrit, though as usual, the original is thought to be

much older, that's just when it was put down to paper. Apparently it is super popular in India,

and a number of people have reached out recommending it to me. As usual, there are many versions

with many of the details being very different between them. Even down to the main character's name,

I don't want to give too much away at the start. So, for some context, we're possibly in the

first century AD, with a legendary emperor of ancient India, and he has a monkey.

Hey, check it out. I got a monkey. The king said to his treasureer, the treasure looked

down at the animal. Okay, he'll bite, but hope the monkey doesn't. Who gave you a monkey?

The king shrugged. It just wandered in here yesterday. The treasureer nodded, okay, then this

thing's absolutely gonna bite. He's gonna go stand over there. The king laughed and told him to relax.

The monkey was trained. It escaped from its old master or something. It was cool. Oh, there he comes.

The fruit guy. Every day, for the last 10 years, a beggar had come into the hall of the king,

with fruit. Oh, look, the king understood that for a beggar to give fruit to him, that was a big deal

for the beggar. So, every day, the king made a show of accepting the fruit, marveling at the gift,

and then telling the superintendent of his treasury to take such a marvelous treasure back to the vault,

...