A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A woman secretly possessing nine mouths prepares locust-tree leaves as broth and distributes portions to her husband, his parents and a rival wife. When the recipients uncover their dishes, the food tells them to cover it again immediately or die. Her husband gathers the portions and pours them onto her head, making the hidden mouths visible. She then rushes at the people and becomes a full witch in the narrator's wording; the town empties as its inhabitants flee.

Only two men, one blind and one unable to walk, remain. They agree that one will carry the other and the sighted companion will warn of danger. When the woman approaches and asks the blind man to feel her mouth, he ignores the warning, reaches out and has his hand pulled off. The pair separate into a thorn-bush and a hollow monkey-bread tree. Each later experiences partial recovery, but their second attempt to gain a complete cure fails and they die. That ending carries the tale's stated lesson about gratitude; it does not establish another narrated transformation or final defeat for the nine-mouthed woman.

Nine hidden mouthsSpeaking brothExposure by thrown foodTown abandonedHand-severing encounter
01

Origins & earliest records

Tale 91 is credited Mohamma in Tremearne's narrator key. Selected witness: second edition 1913; exact narration date unspecified.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete main tale 91, printed pp. 420-422, directly read; comparative versions distinguished from main action.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Hausa Superstitions and Customs

    Mohamma, storyteller; A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and translator · 1913

    Second edition; tale 91, pp. 420-422.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected primary narrativeHausa Superstitions and Customs - tale 91Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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