Sep 24, 2026 · 31 min · 12 segments
Adam Gidwitz shares an early version of a brand-new, Grimm-inspired tale and invites listeners to help shape it. After running away from home, Scarlet finds refuge in a strange house deep in the…
Adam GidwitzHost
This story is called "Scarlett and the Dragons," and it's inspired by a story called "The Howling of the Wind" by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth.
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Scarlett who had just reached the age where nothing in her home seemed right.
She had two little brothers who were as rambunctious as rabid squirrels and gave her absolutely no privacy.
Her father talked loudly about things he didn't really know anything about and made the same stupid jokes over and over again.
Scarlett couldn't say a word without her mother jumping down her throat, telling her to be grateful, telling her to be a good example for her little brothers, telling her to help with the washing and the cleaning and the tidying.
When she was younger, she used to like that she always knew which joke her father was gonna make, and the smell of his farts used to make her laugh.
It all made Scarlett angrier and angrier until one day it all boiled over, literally.
Her father tried to make peace with the same corny joke he always made, "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose, and you can't pick your family, so let's just try to appreciate each other." Then it started to rain, and the washing was still hanging out on the line, so Scarlett's mother told her to hurry and go get it before it all got soaked.
And her mother turned around and shouted, "Because I asked you to do it," at which point the porridge boiled over, pouring into the fire, and a horrible burning smell billowed out all over the cottage.
And the boys started shouting that it smelled like Daddy's farts, and Scarlett's mother was shouting that "This never would've happened if you'd just gotten the wash." And Scarlett said, "If you want me to go out in the rain, fine, I will, but I'm not coming back," and she ran out of the house, out of the village, and into the forest.
This story is called "Scarlett and the Dragons," and it's inspired by a story called "The Howling of the Wind" by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth.
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Scarlett who had just reached the age where nothing in her home seemed right.
She had two little brothers who were as rambunctious as rabid squirrels and gave her absolutely no privacy.
Her father talked loudly about things he didn't really know anything about and made the same stupid jokes over and over again.
Scarlett couldn't say a word without her mother jumping down her throat, telling her to be grateful, telling her to be a good example for her little brothers, telling her to help with the washing and the cleaning and the tidying.
When she was younger, she used to like that she always knew which joke her father was gonna make, and the smell of his farts used to make her laugh.
It all made Scarlett angrier and angrier until one day it all boiled over, literally.
Her father tried to make peace with the same corny joke he always made, "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose, and you can't pick your family, so let's just try to appreciate each other." Then it started to rain, and the washing was still hanging out on the line, so Scarlett's mother told her to hurry and go get it before it all got soaked.
And her mother turned around and shouted, "Because I asked you to do it," at which point the porridge boiled over, pouring into the fire, and a horrible burning smell billowed out all over the cottage.
And the boys started shouting that it smelled like Daddy's farts, and Scarlett's mother was shouting that "This never would've happened if you'd just gotten the wash." And Scarlett said, "If you want me to go out in the rain, fine, I will, but I'm not coming back," and she ran out of the house, out of the village, and into the forest.
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