This week, on Myths and Legends, it's the story of a king who doesn't want to remarry,

until he really does, and how, if you think your stepmom might be a monster from another world,

maybe be nice to her. You know, because of the monster part.

The creature at this time is a merman, a large, stinky, hairy merman sporting a trendy mustache.

This is Myths and Legends,

episode 427,

whither or not.

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

Some are incredibly popular tales you might think you know, but with surprising origins.

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

Today's story is, ostensibly, a fairy tale from Iceland.

But it's what I've been wanting to do for a while because I was able to weave some Norse myth into it, at appropriate spots, and we get to see what's been going on with the giants, who fled Thor's hammer and ended up in our world. We'll jump in with a father and son talking about a tragedy that happened to them both, and how the father needs to make a change. Like anything, do literally anything different,

because sitting and crying by a burial mound for two years straight is getting very old.

Music Hey, Dad, the 12-year-old prince said to his dad, the king wrung out his beard and wiped his nose with his sleeve.

Oh, Sigurther.

Oh, his boy.

Oh, Sigurther looked so much like her.

Oh, he could feel it.

He could feel it coming again, he said, glancing back at the mound before diving on it and hugging it.

Sigurther looked so much like his mother, who was dead.

Sigurther sighed, yep, yeah, she was, and it was also traumatic for him.

When he was ten, he was twelve now, and while grief hits in waves, those waves do eventually abate,

...