F9A — Toothy womb.

There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in a woman's vagina or on the inside of her thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are taken into account, not anecdotes).

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.

F9.  For various reasons, sexual intercourse with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man, or so it seems to him: Teeth, blades or sharp stones in the vagina or on the inside of the thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. See motif F9A.
F9a.  There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in a woman's vagina or on the inside of her thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are taken into account, not anecdotes).
F9a1.  A girl or young woman says (pretends) that she has a predatory mouth in her vagina. {Unlike variants characteristic of the circum-Pacific region, the corresponding texts do not suggest that the female womb is actually dangerous}.
F9b.  A biting piranha in a woman's genitals.
F9c.  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.
F9d.  Small stinging creatures dangerous to the partner are found in the genitals of women or men.
F9e.  Small mammals with sharp teeth are found in a woman's vagina.
F9e1.  A woman's womb is dangerous because it contains a toothy or stinging animal (not just its mouth) or many such creatures.
F9f.  Without the woman's knowledge, the demon regularly kills her suitors on their wedding night.
F9f1.  Inside the woman there is a snake (snakes, scorpions, just poison) that comes out of her mouth. {Motifs F9f1 and K100C are almost identical, but the first can be included in the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while the second belongs to the adventure category}.
F9f2.  A woman places a piece of flesh from her slain snake lover in her handbag and poses a corresponding riddle. If her husband fails to guess the answer, she has the right to kill him. The husband accidentally learns the secret and kills his wife.
F9g.  A powerful woman defeats and kills her suitors. The hero or his assistant defeats her (usually on their wedding night, subduing her with rods or a whip). The hero marries the heroine.
F9g1.  On her wedding night, the bride-heroine throws herself on her groom to crush him.

This motif has been recorded in 113 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Hehe, Pangwa (Upper Rufudji area), Bena, Matumbi, Ngoni, Pogolo, (Ma)konde, Mawiha, Yaka (in Angola and Congo), Aka, Baka (Badjue) and other Western (Bantu speaking) Pygmies, Alor, Solor, Wetar, Atauru, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Ami, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, 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), Juang, Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Dhanwar, Koreans, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Mongols (Khalkha), Kets, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Ainu, Southern and Central; Ryukyu Islands: Yaeyama, Miyako, Okinawa, Udeghe, Nanai, Nivkh, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Aleuts, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Naskapi, Montagnais, Blackfoot, Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Mandan, Oto, Iowa, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa Apache, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Comox, Pentlatch, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Nez Perce, Coos, Yurok, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Mono (Monache), Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Southern Paiute, Chemehuevi, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Zuni, Huichol, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Pame, Jonaz (Chichimeca-Jonaz), Mazahua, Otomi, Mixtec, Trique, Cuicatec; Amuzgo, Huave, Tzotzil, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Guajiro, Sicuani, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Yagua, Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Mataco, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Toba (incl Pilagá), Caduveo, Mbaya, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Matses (Mayoruna), Japan, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)