Dive into your creative stream
Well, that was a story.
Something you can’t really unread, but good to know.
I will be thinking of this for a long time.
I only learned about this story a couple months ago from my friend who does Wormgerm, but I instantly knew that 1) it was going to be my October 31 post and 2) I was going to illustrate it.
This is of the most horrendously nasty fairy tales you may ever hear. It revolves entirely around graphicbody horror and repeated non-consensual childbirth between a demon and a kidnapped fairy queen. I do my best to preserve the details without getting too upsetting, but the demon literally keeps drugging his stolen wife to conceive a series of deformed monsters and some of the ways in which they were born even make me squeamish.
But, yes, this legend really does involve tapeworm creatures. And weirder. The nine demon children are responsible for all diseases known to man, and take a variety of verminous animal forms, each with their own areas of expertise in the art of pestilence.
I’ve transcribed the most complete version I could from multiple sources, and drawn all nine slimy hellspawn.
So if you have a strong stomach for dark, disturbing ancient legends, learn where the common cold really came from (a hagfish baby. It was a hagfish baby.)