Brief disclaimer, there's some stronger than usual violence in the first part of today's episode.

Please see the post on mythpodcast.com, linked in the show notes, for more info.

This week, on Myths and Legends, it's an epic game of rock paper scissors,

or more accurately, frog slugs snake. The creature this time is your island vacation.

That is, apparently, trying to eat you.

This is Myths and Legends, episode 332. Frog and slug our friends.

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

popular stories you might think you know, but with surprising origins.

Others are stories that might be new to you, but are definitely worth listening.

Today, we're back in the Edo period of Japanese history. Though today's story doesn't

super concern itself with dates or historical figures, so no worries. We'll jump in with a boy,

walking through the forest with his samurai protector. Oh, and real quickly, this story or

a version of it, apparently went on to inspire aspects and plotlines in the anime Naruto.

Full disclosure, I am going 100% off the folktale that was translated to English about 200 years ago.

I have not seen Naruto at all, and any similarities or characters are completely from the public

domain folktale.

Jirae and the samurai were walking through the forest, back home. It wasn't Jirae's original

home. He had been in a palace, or so he had been told. His memories from those times were suspect,

probably constructed from stories he had been told by the man he called his father,

until he was old enough to be corrected for doing so. That didn't stop him.

Jirae had been the son of a Dimeo, a lord. The Dimeo's final order, to his most loyal retainer,

was one that would last the rest of his life. Keep my son safe. The samurai would confide in Jirae,

...