Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F43A — Women kill men.
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
OverviewIn the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men.
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.
F43 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedF43. The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men.
F43a. In the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men.
F43b. Leaving the men, the women of the community of the first ancestors hide in a hole underground.
F43c. The husbands of the first women, Amazons or single women are small animals - usually flying foxes.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F48 | 96.21% | Individual women differ physically because the pieces of flesh divided from the first woman were not identical, or because the males who copulated with the first woman were animals of different species. |
| F42A | 95.67% | In the community of the first ancestors, young men or boys turn into birds or bats and fly away. |
| F95 | 95.20% | Two companions or brothers live together. One has a wife, whom he hides. The other suspects her existence, destroys her, or tries to get a wife for himself. |
| F43 | 95.19% | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. |
| M18A | 94.99% | The character becomes the object of fishing or hunting, presenting himself as a target for enemies. Numerous arrows, darts, and harpoons stick into his body without causing harm, and he carries them away. See motif M18. |
| M14A | 94.93% | To take revenge on his wife or her relatives for (allegedly) causing him offence, the husband roasts his wife alive. See motif M14. |
| G12B | 94.64% | Cultivated plants – a gift from a male star or female star. |
| G28 | 94.63% | The tree contains a fish in its trunk. |
| B34 | 94.60% | After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal. |
| B19 | 94.11% | Before nightfall, people could not make love in peace. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Somali, Hadza, Trans-New Guinea and unclassified Papuan groups of Irian Jaya: Mejprat, Arandai-Bintuni, Inanwatan-Berau, Papua of Gelvink (Cenderawasih) Bay, Kamoró, Marind Anim, Sawi, Mafore; Korowai; Kwerba; Momina, Eipo, Yale, Awyu, Czech, Czechs, Tanana, Trio, Akawai, Tenetehara, Tacana, Iranxe, Bororo, Umotina (Umutina), Caraja, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Suya, Txukarramae, Egypt, Greece, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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