This week on Myths and Legends, it's Christmas in the Nordic countries.

So that means, of course, trolls, zombies, elves, and evil house cats.

The creature this time is that nice lady who has a Christmas gift for you.

A giant, angry dog that never leaves.

This is Myths and Legends, episode 398, the bleak midwinter.

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.

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

The stories this week are about the holidays in the Nordic countries.

I find them fun because while they have a bunch of Christmas stories, they all have kind of a Nordic flair to them.

And they have troll battles and drogger and monsters.

It is nothing like what I think of when I think of Christmas stories, and I love it for that.

Anyway, we'll jump into our framing narrative with a man who's stuck in Oslo for Christmas Eve.

And how that, apparently, is terrible.

Music Christmas Eve, and how that, apparently, is terrible. The lieutenant's shoulders slumped.

The letter he sent home wouldn't get there until Christmas Day,

so even if his father's people left immediately,

it would still be the day after Christmas until he was home.

So this would be his first Christmas away from them.

He just got his officer's commission,

and his friends left on leave while he was in the hospital.

It was nothing.

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