Donkey Cabbages
Episode description
We take on Donkey Cabbages - one of the most bizarre and barmy tales we've heard in a while.
Not only do we get witches, giants and magic clouds, we also discover a new concept - the minimal counterintuitive hypothesis. What makes a story stick? Some scientists think they've found the answer...
We then briefly look at man-donkeys in storytelling, say hi to Shakespeare, and meet the long-forgotten German folkhero Fortunatus.
Here's a link to the paper we discuss in the episode: Memory and Mystery: The Cultural Selection of Minimally Counterintuitive Narratives
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Theme music: Bicycle Waltz by Goodbye Kumiko
Other Music: Grieg's Holberg Suite, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston // Massenet's Toccata Jules Massenet, performed Jean Dube