Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F88 — The scent of 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
OverviewFemale genitals are initially fragrant or odourless, but then acquire an unpleasant odour (they do not acquire a fragrant odour).
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B13A | 98.46% | A stream of water (with a predator in it) rushes after a character who is trying to escape from it. |
| F28B | 98.24% | A woman uses a penis made of wax, wood, fruit or root. Usually her husband or male relative smears it with pepper, and the woman is maimed or killed. |
| F44 | 97.81% | In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc. |
| F12 | 96.85% | A husband kills his wife by inserting her lover's severed penis into her body. |
| F40A | 96.19% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| F42 | 96.18% | Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters. |
| D7 | 95.92% | 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. |
| G13 | 95.53% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba â Ceiba L., balsa â Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| B17 | 95.30% | Darkness is a special object that can be carried and transferred (usually brought from the original owner in a vessel or bag). |
| H24F | 95.10% | The character has the ability to put a large amount of meat or fish into a bag or container that is easy to carry. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Maka (Makaa), Baya, Kaka, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Southern Paiute, Navajo, Zuni, Kekchi; Mopan, Makiritare (Yecuana), Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Makka, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa
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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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