What happened?

What's going on?

Something's in my cauldron.

There's always something in your cauldron.

Something alive.

Oh, God.

Please don't tell me you were practicing resurrection spells on roadkill again.

Of course not.

I only do that outside now.

Put your request.

Oh, God.

Oh my God!

Is it a demon at the back?

I'm not sure that's a demon.

Sentient potato or rutabaga, maybe.

Are you a demon, Baba?

Well, it's trying to communicate, but that's Baba.

Baba.

Baba.

I'm sorry.

We don't know what you're saying.

Baba.

Baba.

Oh, it's okay, little buddy.

You don't have to go back to the meadow, Baba.

No.

You can stay here if you want.

Wait.

You can understand what it's saying.

Sure you can't?

No, just sounds like Baba.

Baba.

Bah!

Gene, what's your language?

Oh.

I'm sorry.

Did that actually mean something?

Yes.

Which I will not be translating.

Brandon, how were you able to understand this creature?

I don't know, but ever since Owsley possessed me, I've been able to understand what plants and fungi are saying.

Whoa.

Really?

That's amazing.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

It's also pretty weird.

Hey.

Me?

Yeah.

You.

Come here.

What's up?

Pee on my roots.

What are my roots?

I want you to pee on them.

No.

Why not?

It's not weird.

It's for the nitrogen and phosphorus.

Nitrogen and phosphorus?

Yeah.

Urine is full of that stuff.

And they're vital nutrients for plant growth.

I didn't know that about urine, but I don't have to pee right now.

Oh, okay.

Well, then could you do me a quick favor?

Okay.

Just drink this entire gallon of water.

Okay.

So what's it saying?

Baba baba baba baba baba.

Okay.

The name is Baba Baba baba baba.

There are sport from the bracket fungi for Linus rebellion that you saw growing on the black locust tree.

Other than the gust of wind.

Carried the man to medical and staff while you were in the meadow.

And when he set his staff against the table, they got knocked off into his cauldron.

What was the last thing you made in your cauldron, mender?

Glen?

Let's see.

Oh.

There was a new growth potion I was developing to submit to the Sorcerer's council for peer review.

It did have a tendency to, create Teenage Mutant Ninja sports.

No, not what I was going to say about that, but.

They're very sorry for starting the.

And they'd like to help humans reconnect to nature.

Could you tell ba that?

Oh, they can understand you.

Oh, okay.

Well, we are honored to have you as our guest, buff.

And to have your help in reconnecting to nature by dope.

So.

But I'm wondering if you could help shed some light on the role that bracket fungi has played in both natural and human history.

Oh, sure.

Brackets are part of a phylum of organisms called a city, or my seat in the kingdom of fungi.

The kingdom, you say?

Are you familiar with the kingdoms of life?

No.

That's about.

Oh, okay.

So we currently divide life on our planet into six kingdoms.

Okay.

Bacteria and you bacteria make up the prokaryotes, which are single celled organisms that lack any membrane bound nucleus.

Other organelles.

But Protista are the protozoa and algae.

Animalia are all the animals, including humans.

Plantae is.

These are the plants like the three sisters and the kingdom of fungi, which includes molds and mushrooms are where the brackets.

And of course, buck comes from.

Is there like an acronym for remembering the names of all these kingdoms?

Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa, ardently excited.

Poops are probably fine.

Cool.

It doesn't translate very well.

But anyway, all of these kingdoms have representative species that perform vital roles in any healthy functioning ecosystem.

In the case of fungi, they play the role of organic matter digest.

But humans have used fungi for many different things for many thousands of years, and some of the most significant of those uses come from the brackets.

Fungi and both day and.