The Two Travelers (Part ll)

PINNEN! Call us for your test period of 1 euro per month on Shopify.eu. You may think you know grim fairy tales, and you may think that they are sweet and boring. But listen, those tales you heard were the cute, happy, little kid bedtime versions of the grim tales. The original grim fairy tales aren't like that at all. They're weird, and sometimes gross, and often scary. In other words, they're grim. And I'm about to walk into a classroom and tell one of the original grim grim tales to a bunch of kids. Do you want to join me? Do you want to hear a grim fairy tale? Let me help you decide. On a scale of grim, grimmer, and grimmest, this episode is grimmest. Because there is just a lot of death. Like, so much death. If I get to a part of the story and you start to feel scared or uncomfortable, this is what you could do. You could turn down the volume and count to five. Then turn the volume back up. If it still seems like a part you don't want to hear, just turn the volume down and count to five again. You know how much weird and gross and scary you're ready for. You know what you need. Okay, I'm at the classroom door now. There are kids inside waiting to hear a grim fairy tale. So, are you coming in? Grim, grimmer, grimmest. What are you doing? I'm stretching my legs. Do you want to do it with me? No. Okay. All right, time to come back to the rug. Let's do it. This is part two of The Two Travelers. Do you remember where we left off? It was one of the grimmest moments in the history of Grim Grimmer Grimmest. And it's only going to get worse. The tailor had taken one eye from each corpse and made his way into the town of Mantua. This is the last thing that happened. It was midnight when the tailor arrived in the city of Mantua. The streets were empty, but he wandered around until he found a tavern that was still open. He went inside and... He stopped. He saw the most horrifying sight he had ever seen. He looked around him. His skin crawled. He wanted to turn and flee. Everyone was dead. And now, we'll keep going. Remember, you can turn down the volume if you want. We are still in the middle of this grimmest of grim moments. The bartender's eyes were open, but unseeing. Blood ran from his mouth. A man in a chair at a nearby table had a knife sticking out of his side. The barmaid looked like she was a hundred years old, and her eyes were closed peacefully. but she did not appear to be breathing. And yet there were sounds coming from the tavern. The clink of glasses, the chatter of voices. How was this possible? Everyone was dead. What the heck is going on? Good question. Maybe they just had a radio on so that like a Spotify noise. You think there were radios and Spotify noises once upon a time? I think since when he was talking to the dead people on the, like... Gallows. Yeah, on the gallows, he could talk to them, and the dead people could talk to him. And one of them said, like, half of his foot is, like, in the dead room or something. Interesting. The tailor closed his eyes and opened them again. Death. Death as far as he could see. Then he covered his right eye and looked through his left eye. They were alive. They were all alive. They were alive and happy, talking and drinking and eating and laughing. How had the tailor not seen that before? Then he covered his left eye and opened his right eye. They were alive, but they didn't look happy. They were poor people, worried about the future, trying so hard to smile in the face of the million difficulties that life throws in your way. Then the tailor opened his eyes again, and they all looked dead. He focused on the barmaid. When he opened his left eye, she was a girl of twenty, happy and carefree. When he opened his right eye, she was still a girl of twenty, but she clearly did not want to be working in a tavern at this hour of the night, bringing ale to old men. When he opened both eyes, she was a hundred years old and dead. When the tailor looked at the man in the chair from his left eye, he was loud and boisterous and clearly loved his ale. When the tailor looked at the man with his right eye, he was a loud and angry drunk. And when he looked at him with both eyes, he was five years older, and someone had stabbed him through the side. The tailor thought he knew what was happening. He closed his right eye and went to the bar. and ordered a cup of ale. He drank half of it. He examined it with just his left eye, a cup of ale, half full and frothy, waiting to be drunk. Then he closed his left eye and looked at it with his right. What do you think it looked like then? Did it look half full? Half empty. It looked half empty, that's right. Then he looked at the cup of ale with both eyes, and he saw, anyone have a guess? Yes. He didn't see death, but close. What would it be for a cup? It would be all empty. That's exactly what he saw. He saw an empty cup. So the tailor knew a few things. From his left eye, he saw things as he always had, with an easygoing and optimistic attitude. From his right eye, he saw things as the shoemaker did, like a pessimist who was always prepared for the worst. And from both eyes, he saw into the shadowy realm of death. He saw how things would end, how people would die. This is like the story one like bad one good Yeah it kind of like repeating but it not Yes it kind of like the first half of the story but repeating in a different way Great point. So he dug through his tailor's pack until he found some leather, and right there in the tavern he made himself an eye patch. He covered his right eye with the patch, and suddenly the tavern was full of life and joy. The tailor ordered some food, And that night, as he lay in one of the guest rooms of the tavern, he decided that everything would be just as it used to be, as long as he kept the eye patch over his right eye. What do you think? Is that how he should live? No. What do you think? I think he should open both eyes so he could see goodly. But I think that both eyes show good and bad. like it shows the right side of things. So that's why he said open his right eye too. Interesting. So he should balance the two ways of looking at life. Very interesting. In the morning when the tailor came down for breakfast, he saw the young barmaid still cleaning up from the night before. She asked him if she could make him some food and he said yes. But he wondered what she would look like if he switched his eyepatch over. So while she was in the kitchen fixing him up breakfast, he switched his eyepatch from his right eye to his left. And when she came back with a plate of sausage and bread, he saw how tired she was and how she wished she could go home. But also the sausage looked fatty and the bread looked stale. So once he'd thanked the barmaid, he switched his eyepatch back to his right eye and the breakfast looked delicious and he dug in. And when he stood up to leave, he left the barmaid a very generous tip. Back in the day, did they have, like, tips of doubloons? Yes, I'm sure he tipped her a doubloon. He walked around the town of Mantua that day, wondering how his life would be now. Looking through his left eye, life was simple. Looking through his right eye, he better understood the suffering of everyone around him. Could he live as he used to, happy-go-lucky and carefree when others were suffering? But on the other hand, or through the other eye, would suffering along with them do them any good at all? So, I would see how the... I would take the eyepatch off and find the shoemaker and see how he would die. Okay. And then do that. You just want revenge. If you take both eyepatches off, you can actually see, you can sort of see the future. and you can look for, with both of your eyes, you can look for the people that will kind of need the most help if they're going to die young. He should just try and help everyone else instead of just suffering along with them. Interesting. But Taylor kept moving his patch from his right eye to his left eye and back to his right, unable to make up his mind. And just as he was moving it for the hundredth time, in the moment when he had both eyes open, he saw a piano fall from a window and crush an old man. He put the eyepatch back on his left eye. No, the man wasn't dead. The piano had not fallen yet. But the tailor could see that the man was walking right towards where a piano was being lifted from the street to be put through a window on the second floor of a fine house. He would be under it in less than a minute. He was going to be crushed by a piano. There was no hope for him. Then he moved the eyepatch to his right eye and looked through his left. And the tailor thought, of course there's hope for him. And he rushed forward, running as fast as he possibly could, and reached the old man just as he passed into the shadow of the piano. The tailor jerked the old man out of the way and crash! The piano fell to the ground, smashing itself to pieces. But the old man was safe. and who ate my pie? Okay, well, maybe the last one hasn't occurred to you, but on Who, When, Wow! Mystery Edition, I'm solving all of life's mysteries. Well, at least some of them. Join me as I travel through space and time to investigate history's most famous mysteries all during my lunch break. Some things can't be explained, but they can be explored. Listen to episodes of Who, When, Wow! Mystery Edition wherever you get your podcasts. The End FM, and use code Grimm, with two Ms, to get 30% off an annual subscription. And remember, it's not a Smurf. Many people on the streets of Montua had seen this, and they rushed to the tailor to congratulate him for being a hero and saving the old man's life. My hero! That was incredible! How did you know? But how had he known the piano would fall? It was magic. They brought him to a tavern, for there were many taverns in Mantua in those days, and bought him drinks and begged him to explain how he had known the piano would fall. Please, sir, tell me how you knew. Yes, tell us. So he told them. Now everyone wanted to know how they would die, and if there was a way to prevent it. Please, sir, tell me how I'm going to die. Tell me next. I must avoid death. So the tailor took off his eye patch and looked at each person, one by one. For some, like the young barmaid, it was clear that they would live long lives and die in their sleep. These people left the tailor's side beaming with hope and joy. But others had tragic accidents in their future. The tailor saw that one man would drink himself to death. That means drinking so much alcohol he got sick and died. The man stood up and swore then and there he would never drink another drop of alcohol again. I'll never drink another drop of alcohol as long as I live. The tailor saw that a lady would drown in the middle of the sea. She vowed never to go on another sea voyage. I'll never go near the ocean again. The tailor didn't know if these two would avoid their fate or not. Do you think they can? Do you think they can avoid their fate? He's going to tell all of them how they're gonna die and they're just gonna be fearful for the rest of their lives. In the sea witch one, I forgot what it was called, they tried to keep the child away but that didn't work and I think there's always just gonna be like, like the tsunami that came in, there's always gonna be like some thing. You can't escape your fate. Yeah. Except the old man and the piano, it did change his fate. I feel like it one of those stories where it like This guy has ruined the whole entire space and time continuum because he saved this man from dying and he was supposed to die It's like Back to the Future. The tailor remembered that the old man had not been crushed by a piano. So it seemed that some fates, at least, could indeed be changed. So he told them their fates and the people would give the tailor money in exchange. just whatever they could afford. Days and weeks went by, and soon the tailor was famous. He walked the streets, and he let his beard grow, and he wore his eye patch, sometimes over his right eye, sometimes over his left, depending on whether he felt he needed to relax or be prepared. And only when someone asked to know their fate would he look through both eyes at once. One thing he never did, though, was look into a mirror with both eyes. He didn't want to know. Why? What doesn't he want to know? Oh, his death? Yeah. Meanwhile, the shoemaker's life had changed since his journey through the wood. He was plagued by guilt for what he had done to the tailor. He was what? Plagued by guilt. He felt so guilty for putting out the tailor's eyes. He felt bad. But wasn't he bad? Well, people can be complicated. They can do bad things and then they can feel guilty about it. He still did a bad thing though, right? But his guilt did not make him kinder. It made him live in fear. Fear of everyone. Fear of his guilt. And especially fear that the tailor would somehow find him and get his revenge. I should have left him to die in that forest instead of bringing him out to the other side. The shoemaker mumbled to himself as he made his way around Mantua, looking for work. Or you should have just let him stay alive. Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have done all those terrible things to him in the first place. Does he sound like he's a good guy now? No. No, he's saying he wished he'd let the guy die, right? Everywhere he went, every minute of every day, he repeated this phrase. I should have left him to die in that forest. Which didn't make people very eager to hire him. Can you imagine that? If someone's going to get a job and they're like, will you hire me? I should have let him die in that forest. Um, no, I'm not going to hire you. You sound terrifying. And then, one day, the shoemaker heard that there was a fortune teller in Mantua, one who could see the manner of your death. Who is that fortune teller? The tailor. The shoemaker was thrilled. Aha! That's how I will sleep well at night again. The fortune teller will say whether the tailor will be revenged upon me or if I will die happily in my bed. And he hurried off to find the fortune teller. I think the tailor's going to recognize the shoemaker and then he's going to be like, Well, I'm going to kill you. That's how you're going to die. I predict I'm going to kill you. The shoemaker came across the tailor in a tavern. His beard and hair were long now, and he wore an eye patch over his right eye. The shoemaker didn't recognize him at all. He came to the tailor's table and said, Please, kind fortune teller, tell me my fate. How shall I die? The tailor looked up and nearly fainted. There was the shoemaker, who he had shared his bread and money with, his traveling companion, who had put out his eyes in the forest. And the tailor thought, I could do anything to him. I could scare him to death. I could tell him to go swim in the ocean where he would surely drown. And he would believe me. Look how scared he is. But the tailor was looking through his left eye, and he also saw that the shoemaker was being torn to shreds by his guilt, and that the fear and guilt he felt were worse punishment than anything the tailor could do to him. It was as if he were already in hell, suffering infernal torment here on earth. The tailor pitied him, and so he invited the shoemaker to sit down. He said, Are you sure you want to know your fate? Some fates are changeable, but others are not You already live in fear, sir, I can see that Maybe you should try to relax a little Look at life through the other eye for a change But the shoemaker grabbed the tailor's hands Please, sir, please tell me my fate I cannot take this suspense any longer With this constant terror, I might as well be in the shadowy land of death already I am dead while I live. He looked at the shoemaker. He removed his eyepatch. The shoemaker was startled. The tailor's eyes were two different colors, one brown and one green, and two different sizes, one large and one small. The tailor gazed with those strange, frightening eyes right into the shoemaker's future. And after a moment, he said, I'm sorry. Death will come for you today. Today? cried the shoemaker. Is it the tailor? Will he be the one to kill me at last? The tailor hesitated, then said, In a way... I guess that, kind of. How is he going to lie? The shoemaker pleaded. But can I escape this fate? Is there any way? That I do not know, said the tailor. But I know death is here, today, in Mantua. Here, cried the shoemaker. He leapt to his feet. Then I can escape him. Without so much as a thank you, he ran from the tavern. As he banged through the door, he ran right into a tall man clad all in black. The shoemaker looked up into his face and... I think it's death. It was death. Looking down at him. But death seemed as surprised to see the shoemaker as the shoemaker was to see death. Who's death? Yeah, so in some fairy tales, great question. In some fairy tales, the devil is a character. But in this fairy tale and in other fairy tales, Death himself is a character. And his job is to bring people to the underworld. So Death himself was there. Oh, so like his body was there? Like his dead body? No. A character called Death, a character whose name is Death and who brings people to the underworld, was there. The underworld. The underworld is another name for the afterlife. like where you go after you die. Some people believe in heaven. Some people believe in hell. I believe in God. You believe in God. Some people believe there's just an afterlife where people go. But in any way you believe, in these stories, death brings you from life to death when it's your time. Death's mouth opened into a circle like a portal to the shadowy land of death and he pointed at the shoemaker with a bony finger Death opened his mouth in a big circle and pointed at the shoemaker with a bony finger like Like, how are you? How can you see me? He's like, how can you see... The shoemaker didn't wait to find out why death looked so surprised. He raced through town until he found a horse, which he jumped on, without paying for, and galloped out of Mantua. I just need to get away, he said to himself as he drove the horse faster and faster. I know. I will go to Turin, and if he tries to follow me, he may well get lost in the forest. Or maybe I will. Who cares? At least death won't find me. So the shoemaker steered the horse for the forest. The forest was as still as a graveyard. What did we say last time? Do you remember? I said the forest was as still as a... Remember? Church. And this time is as still as a... Graveyard. Why? Because he's gonna die. Not a breeze stirred, not a brook murmured, not a bird sang, and not a ray of sunshine found its way through the dense leaves. The horse's hooves pounded the path, and the shoemaker kept looking over his shoulder to see if death was on his tail. But the shoemaker didn't see death. Yet. The shoemaker did not know if he was on the two-day path or the seven-day path, but he did not care. He just pushed his horse harder and harder to escape the pursuit of death. He said that, so when the tailor was telling the shoemaker's fortune, he said, well, the shoemaker said, well, the tailor kill me. and the tailor said kind of, but right here, it's not really kind of. What do you mean? Like... How is the tailor killing you? I think he means, like, I, in a way, that I kill you because he kind of, like, scared him. And that might cause his death. Yeah. Yeah, I also do agree with you because he, if he didn't come, then he wouldn't die because he went and he got frightened that death was coming for him today. So he ran out, stole a horse, and then went through the woods. And he's either going to starve to death or he's not going to starve to death or take the long route and death is going to find the short route or something. He's just going to like die somehow. Death did not catch him. To the shoemaker's great surprise, he emerged from the forest, with Turin just ahead. He must have chosen the two-day path, and his horse had run so fast that the entire journey took less than a day. He pushed the horse on toward Turin, unwilling to slow even for a second. He would be safe if he could just make it to Turin, he was sure. He pushed his horse harder and harder. He came to a small stream and the shoemaker urged the horse to leap over it. But the horse was too exhausted to jump and she stopped short and the shoemaker was thrown from the horse. He landed with a splash in the water. His head hit a rock. Blood clouded the water around him and he began to sink. The shoemaker thought, No! I cannot die here! Not now! I escaped death! And then a form appeared over him and reached down to take his hand. The shoemaker thought, I am saved! Until he saw that the form who was reaching down to him was... Death. Say it again. Death. Say it louder without your hand. Death! It was death! Death! Death! The form was Death. Death took him by the hand. Wait! cried the shoemaker. Just tell me one thing, please, before you take me. Death paused, as if he was waiting for the question. So the shoemaker asked, You saw me in Mantua, and you looked so surprised. Why? And Death said, Because we had an appointment right here outside of Turin, and I didn't expect to see you there in Mantua. And then he grabbed the shoemaker and dragged him down to the shadowy land of death. Meanwhile, the tailor lived for many, many more years, looking through his left eye first, and then through his right, and then through his left again. So he was always prepared, but always happy. The end. Are you struggling to peel your kids away from the TV on the weekends? Are you tired of being pelted with, are we there yet, on long journeys? Tune in to Koala Shine, a new kids' story show with crazy adventures taking you all over the world. We'll meet peculiar characters, hear cool facts and jokes, and hopefully learn a thing or two. There's even the chance for your kids' voices to be on the pod. Koala Shine is mindful, fun entertainment on the move. designed to broaden minds, boost confidence, and spark curiosity. You might just love it as much as your little ones. Just search Koala Shine wherever you get your podcasts. And away we go! Koala Shine! Buckle up for Don't Break the Rules, the hilarious improv comedy game show where amazing voice actors become wacky characters based on kids' wild prompts. They make up lines on the spot, pushing each other to be the last one standing without breaking the rules. Every episode is packed with laughter, silly sounds, and maybe even a unicorn or two. Hosted by the awesome Carly Shiraki, this Parents' Choice Recommended Award winner is guaranteed to tickle your kids' funny bones. Don't break the rules. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Grim Grimmer Grimmest is a Penna original production created, written, and narrated by me, Adam Gidwitz, author of A Tale Dark and Grim. Produced and edited by Kaylin West. Associate producer, Rebecca Cunningham. Field recording by Julia Martin. Casting and voice direction by Rebecca Cunningham. Sound design and mixing by Kaylin West. Executive produced by Molly Barton and Carly Migliori. Production support by Devin Shepard Characters voiced by Emmanuel Alpenort Andrew Adams Peter McNerney Kaylin West and Baron Bass Special thanks to all the kids who joined us in Staten Island and Brooklyn for our storytelling sessions You guys are awesome