The Mythology and Folklore Database
F9 - Dangerous woman.
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Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
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.Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part 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 has 12 other sub-motifsF9. 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. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of F9's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I82A | 96.43% | The Morning and/or Evening Star – a male character. |
| K8A | 95.38% | The character enters the belly of an aquatic creature or a giant creature whose appearance and habitat are not precisely described. He kills the creature from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. Upon emerging from the belly, he often finds himself bald (K921). Cf. motifs I81B (Charybdis) and L110 (Devourer). |
| I100B | 94.20% | The Pleiades - a group of people of any gender and age. See motifs i99 - i100A, aggregate data. |
| I22 | 94.04% | There are objects that, while remaining in place, move constantly or periodically (collide and diverge, fall and rise, open and close, rotate). |
| B3B | 93.79% | Initially, the earth or the world as a whole was small in size, then it grew; fertile soil grew from a small amount of initial substance. See motif B3A (the earth grows from a piece of solid substance thrown onto the surface of the water). |
| L65 | 92.39% | An infant or small child turns out to be a demon and kills people. |
| J46 | 92.36% | Antagonists perish by falling into water or attempting to cross a water barrier. See motifs J42, J44. |
| J4 | 92.29% | The heroes avenge the death (enslavement) of their father, uncle, grandfather, or mother and father, or in general their descendants, with the loss of men being the most painful. |
| B75A | 91.74% | The voice of a character who once lived can still be heard (most often it is an echo; A1195, The origin of Echo). |
| D4A | 91.70% | Fire is stolen from its original owner, returned to people by the thief, or (the motif of theft is not expressed) brought with difficulty from a distant place. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 45 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Somali, Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Ifaluk, Woleai, Lamutrek, Faraulip Satawal, Elato, Western Fayu, 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), Early Chinese written sources, Portuguese, Portugal, France, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Finns, Western Sami, Western Ukrainians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Mari (Cheremis), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Oroch, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Tutchone, Upper Kuskokwim (Kolchan), Koyukon, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), Polar Inuit, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Twana (Skokomish), Nez Perce, Takelma, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Wappo, Pomo, Tzotzil, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Colorado (Tsachila), Cañari, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Xipaya, Ese’ejja, Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Frisians, Greenland