The Crane Bag Podcast

Theater director Sam Buggeln talks with performance storyteller Jay Leeming about myth, theater, the supernatural, and bringing the Odyssey to the stage.

A story from the first branch of the Welsh Mabinogion, told and then explored by performance storyteller Jay Leeming.

Part two of the Welsh story of "Branwen, Daughter of Llyr," brought to life by performance storyteller Jay Leeming.

A raven king, a magical cauldron and a talking bird: the Welsh story of "Branwen, Daughter of Llyr" brought to life by performance storyteller Jay …

The power of blind chance goes up against the king of death in this fairy tale brought to life by performance storyteller Jay Leeming.

A journey into the fierce yet healing story of the Odyssey, first through storytelling by Jay Leeming and then through an extended interview with Joel Christensen of Brandeis University. 

A fairy tale found in a box in an attic in Hamburg in 2012, brought to life by performance storyteller Jay Leeming.

The storyteller Laura Simms tells "The Pigeon's Bride" and explores the art of storytelling in an interview with Jay Leeming.

The Norse trickster god Loki steals the golden hair of Sif, the wife of Thor, and thereby releases the rowdy desires of all the gods for fabulous and …

An exploration of the Naqqali storytelling tradition of Iran, with Morshed Saghi and Arash Ali Farhadipour.

Four storytellers tell the Russian tale of the Firebird: a live, improvised, cross-Atlantic performance recorded in March of 2021 by Lara McClure, Walton Stanley, Catherine Heinemeyer and Jay Leeming. An exploration of …

An interview with healer, translator and ceremony-maker Miguel Rivera on the poetry of Humberto Ak'Abal and our relation to the dreaming earth, preceded by the Seneca story "The Storytelling Stone."

A conversation between the Irish storyteller Clare Murphy and Jay Leeming in which the big rowdy questions of story and earth and the wide sky are danced with until the music of our questions itself disappears into the …

Bang! The red feather of desire is right in front of you on the forest path; your talking horse tells you to steer clear, but do you pick it up all the same? Enter the world of Russian earth-wisdom through "The …

"The Woman of the Sea" told by Regi Carpenter, followed by an interview in which she and host Jay Leeming explore that story as well as her own …

In this episode we explore the power of dreams, first through a story from the One Thousand and One Nights and then through an interview with the …

With Dionysus as our god we wander in the steps of a song-man fresh from the bush of ghosts, lurching perfectly through the story of Pygmalion to find ourselves in the rose garden of a king about to be granted the most …

A story from the far north brought to life by Walton Stanley, followed by an exploration of the story and storytelling by Walton Stanley and Jay …

A telling of "Anansi and the Box of Stories" plus an interview with Brain Smolensky, author of the upcoming book Say Goodbye to Hollywood: the …

The story of the birth of the ancient Greek goddess Athena, brought to life by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

A Siberian story of a woman who accepts the wild invitations of the wind, told by Daniel Deardorff and then explored by storyteller Jay Leeming. 

Storyteller Jay Leeming explores "The Handless Maiden" with special guest Elaine Stanton.

Storyteller Jay Leeming tells the Grimm's fairy tale "The Handless Maiden" and then explores the landscape of the story with special guest Elaine Stanton,

Wildness and domesticity run off together to make a third thing sacred to the gods of death and sleep, a marriage between what we know and all that the modern world loves to forget.

A Norwegian myth in which a princess journeys deep into wildernesses both within and without, brought to life by storyteller Jay Leeming.

A poem composed on-the-spot by Jay Leeming at a reading in honor of the poet Tony Hoagland. Recorded at the Great Mother Conference in June of 2019.

An exploration of several stories from "The Arabian Nights," by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from "The Arabian Nights," brought alive by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

Stories from "the Arabian Nights," brought alive by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from the collection known as "The Arabian Nights," brought alive by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

An exploration of the story "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

The green riot of spring lives on even in deepest winter, even in the rough music brought into our humdrum lives by a magical knight who just might be a champion for the wilds within and without ourselves.

Get out and hike the images until they burn holes in what you thought you knew via this Georgian fairy tale that is a manual to making magic out of …

A rigorous hike through a dream-landscape where drinking rainwater from the hoof print of a stag is what heals the animal in you who's going hungry in a bland world of ten thousand things

Myths and tales from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

Myths and tales from around the world, brought into the here and now by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

A legend from the childhood of Merlyn, told by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

A Sicilian story brought into the here and now by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

From the Caucasus comes this tale in which the theft of a golden apple leads to a wedding between the human and spirit worlds. It's a story that has …

Myths and tales brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Myths and tales from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Myths and tales from around the world, brought into the here and now by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

A story from India brought to life in the here and now by storyteller Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Stories from around the world brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

Myths and stories from around the world, brought into the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.

The story of "Rapunzel," told and sung into the here and now by storyteller, musician and poet Jay Leeming.

Myths and stories from around the world, sung in to the here and now by storyteller, poet and musician Jay Leeming.