Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

D5A — Fire in a woman's genitals.

15 Myths, legends and folktales

15 Unique narratives for motif D5A

9 Cultures & traditions where D5A is told

1 Sub-motifs of motif D5A

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Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.

Summary of motif

Overview

The first fire is hidden in a woman's genitals or anus.

Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.

D5 has 1 other sub-motifs

D5. The original owner or inventor (but not the embodiment) of fire is a female character.
D5a. The first fire is hidden in a woman's genitals or anus.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of D5’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
H13	92.20%	The character comes to the underworld, brings back the dead person or brings back their remains. The dead person comes back to life and (for a while) remains among the living.
G20	87.60%	Edible (cultivated or wild) plants emerge from the body of an old woman, a young woman or a girl.
G18	86.52%	A boy, woman, or, less commonly, a man asks others to leave him/her in the forest, burn him/her, scatter his/her remains, or drag his/her body to the site of a future vegetable garden. Cultivated plants grow in this place.
M44C	83.80%	A young hero steals the older character's food. He is usually caught, but not punished, but invited into the house.
B59	83.15%	A group of people (usually children, brothers or sisters) play, dance, rise to the sky and turn into the Pleiades or another small constellation.
L29	81.72%	A person catches fish where it should not be, usually in a small forest pond isolated from running water; those who eat this fish die, undergo metamorphosis and/or are attacked by monsters. See motif L28.
B5C	81.65%	At the beginning of time, there are an old woman and a young woman. One or both of them conceive in a miraculous way. A son or twins are born, who settle the world.
F9C	79.82%	Snake (in Oceania – moray eel) in the vagina; vagina – snake's mouth; snake crawls out of a woman's mouth and bites off a man's penis during intercourse; woman with a toothy womb is associated with a snake.
L28	79.72%	A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish.
I2	79.45%	Lightning bolts fly from the eyes or mouth {specified} of a creature embodying a thunderstorm. See motif I1.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

9 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Papua-NewGuinea Highland Papuans:Trans New Guinea & unclassified:Chimbu,Gimi,KaugelHuli,Gadsup,Kuman,Kutubu,Foi (Foe),Kyaka,Kamano (Kafe),Mawatta,Kukukuku (=Anga,=Sambia;Manki,Nauti,Ejuti),Baruya,Kewa,Tembregak,Menya,Melpa,Wiru,Pondoma, Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio, Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Yana, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna

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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com

0009-0006-1672-4451
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