Listen to podcast here
Fate & Cosmic Weaving
Greek Moirai (Fates) —
Primary: Hesiod, Theogony; Ovid, Metamorphoses.
Retellings: Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind (fate-adjacent scenes); short essays & children’s myth anthologies on “The Three Fates.”Norse Norns —
Primary: Poetic Edda (esp. “Völuspá”).
Retelling: Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology (accessible summaries).Egypt’s Neith —
Primary: Pyramid and temple hymns to Neith (summarized in Egyptology readers).
Modern: Museum catalog essays on Neith as primal weaver and goddess of creation.
Clever Guides & Resistance on the Loom
Ariadne’s Thread —
Primary: Apollodorus, Bibliotheca; Plutarch, Theseus.
Retellings: Jennifer Saint, Ariadne; Mary Renault, The King Must Die.Penelope (Weaving/Unweaving) —
Primary: Homer, Odyssey (Books 2–4, 23).
Retellings: Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad; Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships (Penelope’s letters).
Spinning Trials & Bargains
“The Three Spinners” (Grimm KHM 14) —
Primary: Grimm.
Retellings: Modern fairy-tale collections for children (often under the same title).“Rumpelstiltskin” (Grimm KHM 55) —
Primary: Grimm.
Retellings: Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver (adult novel); Virginia Hamilton, The Girl Who Spun Gold (Caribbean-set picture book).“Sleeping Beauty” —
Primary: Charles Perrault; Grimm (“Briar Rose”).
Retelling: Robin McKinley, Spindle’s End.
Weavers Who Love, Transform, or Repay
Weaver Girl & Cowherd (Qixi/Tanabata) —
Primary: East Asian folktale collections; classical poems about the star-crossed lovers.
Retellings: Numerous picture books under “Tanabata” or “Cowherd & Weaver Girl.”“The Crane Wife” (Japan) —
Primary: Japanese folktale anthologies.
Retellings: Patrick Ness, The Crane Wife (novel); The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (album/story-song).
Culture-Bringers of Weaving
Spider Woman / Grandmother Spider (Hopi, Diné/Navajo, Cherokee variants) —
Primary: Southwestern Indigenous story collections.
Retellings: Picture books like Grandmother Spider Brings the Sun; essays on Navajo weaving cosmology.Ixchel (Maya) —
Primary: Maya myth surveys and fieldwork accounts on backstrap weaving.
Retellings: Museum or educational booklets on Ixchel and the loom.Leizu (China, Silk) —
Primary: Chinese legend collections.
Retellings: Children’s books such as The Silk Princess or Empress of Silk.
Justice, Work, and Reward
Frau Holle (Grimm KHM 24) —
Primary: Grimm.
Retellings: Classic fairy-tale treasuries; picture books emphasize industry vs. idleness and reward vs. punishment.
Artist’s Defiance
Arachne —
Primary: Ovid, Metamorphoses (Book 6).
Retellings: Countless YA and mythic-poetry versions; classroom editions and commentaries for discussions of art vs. divine power.
Lifelines, Knots, and Problem-Solving (Men)
Theseus (with Ariadne’s Thread) —
Primary: Plutarch; Apollodorus.
Retellings: Mary Renault, The King Must Die; YA myth retellings titled Theseus and the Minotaur.The Gordian Knot (Alexander the Great) —
Primary: Arrian, Anabasis; Curtius Rufus.
Retellings: Short essays in myth readers on the symbolism of cutting vs. untying.
Tricksters & Inventors of Nets/Cordage
Loki Invents the Fishing Net —
Primary: Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál).
Retelling: Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology (“Loki’s Flight” episode).Hephaestus’s Invisible Mesh (Trap for Ares & Aphrodite) —
Primary: Homer, Odyssey 8.
Retellings: Modern Greek myth anthologies focusing on craft and cunning.Māui Snares the Sun (Polynesia) —
Primary: Polynesian myth collections.
Retellings: Witi Ihimaera, The Whale Rider; children’s picture books like Maui Slows the Sun.
Tailors, String-Games, and Skill-as-Wit
“The Brave Little Tailor” (Grimm KHM 20) —
Primary: Grimm.
Retellings: Classic children’s editions celebrating cleverness and craft.String Figures / Cat’s Cradle Traditions —
(Inuit, Navajo/Diné, Pacific, and global cultures)
Primary: Ethnographic collections of string figures (often used in winter storytelling and shamanic motifs).
Retellings: Classroom guides and cultural primers on string games as “story with thread.”
Male Spinners and Binding Magic
Rumpelstiltskin Himself (a Male Spinner) —
Primary: Grimm.
Retellings: Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver; regional cousins like Tom Tit Tot (England) and Whuppity Stoorie (Scotland).Onmyōdō / Cord-Bindings (Japan) —
Primary: Japanese folklore on ceremonial cords and knots used by male ritual specialists.
Retellings: Folk-magic chapters in Japanese cultural overviews.
Memory, Law, and Governance in Thread
Inca Quipu (Khipu) Keepers —
Primary: Andean chronicles describing male record-keepers using knotted cords for census, tribute, and storytelling.
Retellings: Museum catalogs and children’s nonfiction books such as The Quipu.
Gender Play & Spinning
Heracles and Omphale —
Primary: Ovid; later mythographers.
Retellings: Classical essays on gender reversal and textile labor as discipline or humility.