AI Wisdom Stories
Ancient tales from around the world, brought to life with bleeding-edge AI tools.
Birth of Hermes
A reimagining of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (attributed to Homer), Birth of Hermes captures the infant Hermes’ first hours alive. By the end of the day, he has invented the lyre, stolen Apollo’s cattle, and been welcomed to Mount Olympus by Zeus. Tony Licata plays Hermes. Poppy Lang plays Maia. The score is by David Hartwell.
The First Cattle Raid
Trito's cattle are gone —the three-headed serpent Triśiras took them in the night. Trito loads three bullets into his gun and heads off to reclaim his cows. A deliberate mashing of culture: a Spaghetti Western, based on an Indian hymn, rendered in a style inspired by Japanese Sumi-e painting.
It stars the incomparable Ray Buffer as Trito.
The remarkable score, which draws from just as many cultural traditions is by the always excellent David Hartwell.
8 Omens
Ten years before the Spanish arrive and the Aztec world ends, eight omens appear across the empire. Ichtaca, priestess and seer — played by Ellen Press — brings them before Moctezuma, who must decide what they mean, and what to do before it's too late. Score by David Hartwell.
Doves
A mother races her son to school every morning, one step ahead of a hungry Hawk. At an underground meeting, that same Hawk offers the doves a way out of their fear: elect him, and he'll keep them safe. He wins in a landslide — and the mother discovers he's been eating the doves all along, one by one. Set in a Soviet-sphere Eastern European country, late 1940s. David Hartwell composed the score and co-wrote the script with Alex Lang. Based on the Aesop fable, The Kite and the Doves.
The Cailleach
Before the One God, there were the New Gods. Before the New Gods, there were the Old Gods. Before the Old Gods, there was only the Cailleach — the oldest being in the British Isles, imprinted on the very land. A portrait told in fragments: her stories, her seasons, and the one night she forgets to cap her well, flooding the land and bringing about her own undoing. Drawn from the folklore of the British Isles. Score by David Hartwell.
Christina the Astonishing
A monk tells Christina’s story to the Bishop — played by Ray Buffer — hoping to win her canonization: Christina, who flew up into the rafters of the church, climbed into ovens, slept in trees, unable to bear the stench of human sin. Her sainthood was denied. This is the story of her three deaths. Score by David Hartwell.
Loki’s Ride
This AI Wisdom Story is based on the story of Loki and the builder’s horse in the Prose Edda. Some music by David Hartwell.
Inanna
This AI Wisdom Story is based on the ancient Sumerian myth, The Descent of Inanna.
The Question of Cargo
This AI Wisdom Story was inspired by two song lyrics:
“Every sailor asks the question
The question about the cargo he is carrying”
-Daniel Lanois, Fisherman’s Daughter
“Let me talk to the driver.
He is taking me somewhere
I don’t want to go.”
-Mark Stewart, Codex
3 Sacrifices of Odin
Odin sacrifices himself three times to seize power no god should have: an eye given to Mímir's well for wisdom, his body hung nine days on Yggdrasil to seize the runes, and his honor surrendered through seiðr — a rite that costs him his standing among the gods. Told in three episodes, rendered in heavy expressionist charcoal. Retold from the Prose and Poetic Eddas.
Gita
On a first-contact mission, June's AI companion F.L.O.R.A. is more than a shipmate — she's Krishna to June's Arjuna. When the mission demands June power down every system but life support, she has to choose whether to "kill" the instance of the AI she loves. Inspired by the Bhagavad Gita.
Porcelain Parable
This is a version of an 18th-century Japanese tale about the historical Zen Master Hakuin.
Ascent of Enoch
Enoch wakes to find two terrifying angels at his bedside. They lead him up through the Seven Heavens — past the Watchers suffering their punishment, through the churning clockwork machinery of creation itself — until he stands before the Lord, and the sight of Him is too much: Enoch faints. Rendered in a hallucinatory, densely-populated style, every frame teeming with strange creatures and mechanisms in the margins. Pulled from Biblical Apocrypha from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE.
The Fire of Love
In a modern junkyard, a Captain Moth is recruiting volunteers to investigate a strange flame — a candle burning in a small roadside shrine among the wreckage. It's a simple question with an impossible answer: what would you actually do for your beloved? Stars Tony Licata and Poppy Lang. Retold from the 12th-century Sufi tale.
The Emerald Tablet
This is the legend of the enigmatic text that is the foundation for alchemy. It survives out of the Greek/Egyptian tradition.
Publishing the Sutras
This is a story from Edo-period Japan (17th century).
The Naked Rebellion
This is a story about Liu Ling, a poet and philosopher in 3rd-century China.
Trickster Dreams of NoHo
This AI Wisdom Story is special. Not only is it an original story this time, it stars the incomparable Ray Buffer.
It is inspired by the poems of the Swampy Cree storytellers, Jacob Nibenegenesabe and Samuel Makidemewabe, as collected in The Wishing Bone Cycle.
Coyote Steals Fire
This is a story told by the Shoshone people of the Great Basin region of North America.
Emptiness
This is a story from the earliest days of Buddhism in Northern India.
Bilqis + Sulayman
This is a Persian tale from the 13th century
The Naming of St Christopher
This is a story from the Byzantine Christian ctradition.