This week on myths and legends, it's the story of the scientifically proven elemental spirits that exist all around us and how they only want to marry you so they can get a soul.

The creature this time is a few different extremely venomous snakes with wings and backward heads, and how nowhere is safe.

This is a

a myths and legends episode 373 the elements

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

Today's story requires a little bit of background because, like I said last week, it's something of a spiritual prequel to The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson.

The Little Mermaid is a literary fairy tale, but that doesn't mean it was invented whole cloth by

Anderson. In fact, in his creation and treatment of the Little Mermaid, he was inspired by a much older

tradition that involves Swiss alchemy.

I was told a long time ago that people don't like sprawling intros, and that had an effect on how I tell the stories.

Unfortunately, that's kind of unavoidable today, so sorry.

In the 1500s, a Swiss physician, lay theologian, philosopher and alchemists, which I guess you can have added

to your job description, even though no one has ever really done alchemy, parselsus, conceived

of the idea of the undine. Quick quick note, the alchemist Parcellus was named Theophrastus von Hohenheim,

which, yes, is the inspiration for the character Van Hohenheim from Full Metal

Occamist. I promise that is the first and last

anime reference in this episode. Anyway, in addition to being the father of toxicology and a pioneer

of the medical revolution of the Renaissance, he had some thoughts on the Bible.

So according to him, in addition to the world we can see in experience, and in addition to

the spiritual world described in the Bible, there are at least four elemental

...