# The Ratcatcher, The True History of Little Golden Hood, and The Three Dwarfs

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/the-ratcatcher-the-true-history-of-little-golden-hood-and-the-three-dwarfs
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/the-ratcatcher-the-true-history-of-little-golden-hood-and-the-three-dwarfs.md
Podcast: [The Three Ravens Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563)
Published: 2026-06-04T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.threeravenspodcast.com/
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6404e1f4c5ea8c0011811194/e/6a2099023ab59ca4e2cd9c81/media.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3606

## Resource

Today, for our 50th Lang Fairy Tales episode, it's time for another triple - and this trio of stories are ones most people might already know. The Ratcatcher is a fairly straight take on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, albeit with a Transylvanian Twist. The True History of Little Golden Hood marks the Lang's second attempt at Red Riding Hood - and it's pretty great! The Three Dwarfs meanwhile starts promisingly, though then becomes Toads and Diamonds, and for no good reason... We dig into each after the fact and discuss their strengths, weaknesses, and seeming subtexts. And hooray for grandmas who are also witches and not evil! We really hope you enjoy the stories and our chat about them, and will speak to you again on Saturday for our Buckinghamshire-themed Three Ravens Live Show, recorded last weekend at Chiltern Open Air Museum! If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne. Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English. They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts. Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+). Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audie…

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