Tiny – Page 2 – hiccupstories.com

The legend of Robin Hood

On 16/02/2018

Although I knew what I was getting into when I started researching this, I wasn’t fully prepared for the amount of info out there. If I were a scholar, I could probably spend the rest of my career just researching this. If you are wondering why I’m going to attempt it, well, let’s just say that someone deserves a better answer than the one he initially got. Allow me to dissect Robin Hood!

First, a small disclaimer… It is my personal belief, that most legends have an actual starting point, that could vary from case to case. It can be an actual hero, whose achievements reached mythical proportions as they were spreading by word of mouth, or it could be a religious tradition/ritual that lost its meaning and transformed as it was delivered on from generation to generation. On many happy occasions, historians can trace back a legend to its origins, and reach a relatively safe conclusion. Robin Hood is not one of these cases…

Aquarius

By Tiny

On 24/01/2018

In Constellations

We have now reached the time of Aquarius – not the dawning of the age of Aquarius, that’s a different song. I’ve been dreading this sign, as its mythological origins are located in a dark part of ancient Greek mythology. Since there’s no way to go around this, let me face it head on.

So, thousands of years ago, in ancient Troy, a boy was born. His name was Ganymede, and he just so happened to be of exceptional beauty. Despite being the son of the King Tros, and therefore a prince, he had to do several tasks, even as a young boy. One of them was herding sheep. It was during one of those days that Zeus spotted him. Now, the problem with Zeus, was that he had no moral boundaries whatsoever. In this spirit, Ganymede’s young age, sadly wasn’t an issue.

Origins of Snow White

By Tiny

On 14/01/2018

In Myths, Legends, Folklore

Today’s story is my mother’s idea! * waves * Hello mom! She enjoys learning new things as much as I do, or to put it better, this is one of her characteristics that I have inherited. She watched a very interesting documentary and thought it would make a nice story. The only difference is, that while researching the information she gave me, I stumbled upon so much more, that I’m actually going to present you with two different versions of the same story! This always happens to me…

This is one of my favorite topics, and as a matter of fact, I had thought about adding it as a separate category. Much like the origins of the myths of the zodiac, this is about the origins of fairy tales. The thing with fairy tales is, that they are usually way older than their first published version, much more twisted, and way more darker, and if you have the patience to look further behind, you might come across an interesting real story. This time we are traveling to Germany. What are we looking for? Snow White!

Asimakis Katsoulas

By Tiny

On 03/01/2018

In True Crime

I think I’ve told you enough folklore stories in the past month. Maybe it’s time to leave this charming fantasy world, and go back to the brutal reality of true crime. Today’s story is well known to any living Greek, but you, my sweet, English speaking readers, are clueless, and I’m about to change that!

Back in 1972, in the suburbs of Athens, a boy was born. He was named Asimakis Katsoulas, but for your ease, let’s just call him Makis. Makis grew up to be a very handsome young man, with a true social charisma, a narcissistic personality, a kinky disposition, and a thirst for power. It wasn’t long before his qualities summoned (pun intended) his first followers. Among all those surrounding him, two teenagers stood out; Manos, a reserved boy who followed him blindly, and Dimitra, his young girlfriend.

Capricorn

By Tiny

On 22/12/2017

In Constellations

I never thought that writing the myth behind Capricorn, would turn out to be such a challenge. There are many explanations around, some of them go so back as to involve Cronus (or Chronos), the father of Zeus. Again, I see no other way, than to start with the rumors and work towards a logical conclusion, well as “logical” as a conclusion about mythology and astrology can be!

So, what do we have here? A goat, but not your ordinary goat. This one has a fish tail! It has even been recorded by the Babylonians as a “Goat-Fish”. Hold on to this particular tail, we are going on a deep dive.

Thessaloniki

By Tiny

On 11/12/2017

In Myths, Legends, Folklore

The inspiration for my next article may come completely unexpectedly, e. g through a nice discussion on an irrelevant topic. It was a lovely chat, on epic battle scenes in films, that made me remember this story. Well, it’s not that irrelevant; you’ll be able to follow my train of thought. So, let’s leave the gore behind this week, and dive (pun intended) once again into Greek folklore.

This story is connected to one of the most prominent Greek historical figures, Alexander the Great. There won’t be any descriptions of battles, though; my writing skill is not quite there yet. This is a story about his sister, the beautiful Thessaloniki, and it reads just like a nice medieval fairy tale. The story firstly circulated in the 3^rd century AD by a writer named Pseudokallisthenis (no need to remember that, no worries!). It became a huge success, and was in fact translated into many European languages. Of course the writer didn’t make the story up; it was a collection of existing myths surrounding Alexander.

Little Bastard

By Tiny

On 04/12/2017

In Myths, Legends, Folklore

One of the challenges I had to face when I started “Hiccups” was the debunking of many of my beliefs. See, when I have an idea about an article, I start researching, and this search might last a whole week or more. Through this process I often come across validated information that challenges, or even worse, shatters things I considered facts. I’m actually happy for this. The more order I can bring to this chaos of uncontrolled information, the better! This is one of those stories.

The inspiration for this story came after watching an old “Supernatural” episode – it’s my guilty pleasure, don’t judge! Somewhere in season 5, they deal with the supposedly cursed car of James Dean, “Little Bastard”. Raising my eyebrow, I said to myself, “yeah, I know about this curse, let the search for my new article begin”. Here’s when things turned. *sound of rewinding videotape *

Anatoly Moskvin

By Tiny

On 25/11/2017

In True Crime

Hm, I bet you are all expecting an article on the origins of Halloween, right? Sorry folks, it’s not gonna happen. I thought I’d better save something for next year. Still, on this special night, where the souls of the dead roam our world, I have one of the most macabre real stories for you all!
*puts lit flashlight under her chin * Cover up in your blankets and listen carefully.

Once upon a time, in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, in Russia, Anatoly Moskvin was born. Anatoly was a very curious and intelligent boy, who grew up to be an academic linguist. He was fascinated by death, and he used his studies and specialties to dig into the ancient myths and lore, in order to understand it better.

Friday the 13th

By Tiny

On 25/11/2017

In Myths, Legends, Folklore

*creepy organ music intro * Boo, today it’s Friday the 13th and I bet that those of you who are a tad superstitious have already prepared your lucky charms and what not. The question is though, how and where did it all begin?

Before I write anything here, I always conduct a huge research on the topic, and I make sure that all the information provided is checked and double checked. I was certain I knew why this day has been associated with bad luck, but while researching I came across many articles by historians who debunked what I thought I knew. Damn, that was a tough one… Since apparently there’s no historically proven origin of this superstition, I have decided to stick to the story I knew, which is a strong candidate anyway, and to be honest, an awesome story! I just need to make clear that it might not be the answer to the question.

Nikos Koemtzis

By Tiny

On 25/11/2017

In True Crime

It’s a gray, rainy day today, and I thought I’d tell you all about a real crime case which created a real sensation in Greece back in the days. Hey, it was even turned into a movie!
Firstly, it’s important for you to have some background information, as I’m afraid there are some details you won’t be able to get. Let’s start with the fun stuff, Greek dances!

You have all probably seen the classic Greek dances where many people hold each other and dance around in circles. That’s not all though; there are many more. The one that plays a huge part in today’s story, is called “Zeimbekiko” and it is a very proud, male dance. I don’t know how much sense you can make out of this, but it’s a dance that symbolizes a dignified defeat – it’s a death dance if you may. The steps might look random, and the dancer drunk (well, they are sometimes), but it is all about a man trying to stand tall and keep balance through life’s misfortunes. There’s usually one man on stage dancing this, and the song they dance has usually been ordered to the band beforehand. It is very offensive, I repeat, very offensive, for another man to step up next to the dancer. The designated behavior is to watch and/or clap at the dancer. Good? Let’s move on!

Eccentricities, true crime, macabre, lore

Author: Tiny Page 2 of 6

The legend of Robin Hood

Aquarius

Origins of Snow White

Asimakis Katsoulas

Capricorn

Thessaloniki

Little Bastard

Anatoly Moskvin

Friday the 13th

Nikos Koemtzis