Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F40A — The common husband of the first women.
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
OverviewA male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
F40 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedF40a. A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women.
F40b. A single man finds himself in a village of women. Usually, he is forced to satisfy a woman against his will, or each woman demands to have sex with him.
F40c. An authoritative man systematically kills the boys born to his wives or his sister.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| G13 | 99.32% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| D7 | 98.73% | The frog or toad possesses the first fire, steals it from its original owner, and tries to extinguish it or save it from dying out. See motif D4. |
| H37 | 98.48% | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. |
| A27 | 98.46% | The light and/or heat of the sun and/or moon is contained in their crowns, necklaces or clothing (made of feathers or animal teeth). |
| F13 | 98.36% | The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina. |
| L24 | 98.32% | Demons (or one of them) attack people and then hide. People destroy the demons' lair and kill all or most of them by spreading a smoky fire around the demons' refuge. |
| I83 | 98.16% | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. |
| K13A | 98.02% | The character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky. |
| G13C | 97.97% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| M75 | 97.85% | The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.). |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
39 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 39 traditions: Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, 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, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Basques, Nenets, Aleuts, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Plains Ojibwa, Tillamook, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Yana, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Tepehua, Totonac, Sicuani, Sanema, Wayana, Aparai, Wayapi, Emerillon, Urarina, Karijona, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Puinave, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Rikbaktsa, Paresi, Caraja, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Suya, Txukarramae, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Greenland
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