A collection of wintery and festive tales for the season: Why the Sea is Salt, The Christmas Bear and Twelve Brothers. The first is 'Why the Sea is Salt' a Norwegian tale adapted from Christmas Fairytales colled by Neil Phillip. The story begins on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve when a poor and hungry man finds himself unable to provide for his family and turns to his rich brother. The brother unwittingly starts him on the road toto a better life, but first he must pay a trip to hell with a side of bacon ......... The second is The Christmas Bear inspired by and adapted from the tale shared by both Lari Don in Fire & Ice and by Margaret Sperry in Scandinavian Stories. The story begins in the coldest part of Norway with a hunter and the capture of a strangely stubborn but wise snow bear. They stop on their journey to find out why a family is forced from their home every Christmas Eve ........ The third is Twelve Brothers, adapted from Folktales of Scandinavia collected by Polly Curren. The story begins when a Queen of the of the cold northern lands who has been blessed with many sons, spills red blood on the white snow and dreams of a daughter. This sets in train a set of entirely unforeseen circumstances ..... You can find more about me and Folklore, Food and Fairytales via my ⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠ You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: ⁠⁠How Food Frames Stories⁠⁠. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: ⁠⁠Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller ⁠⁠ You can also ⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠ here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail. You can also find out more at ⁠⁠Hestia's Kitchen⁠⁠ which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.