Jürgen Hubert on Nostr: In other news, I am currently translating some rather dodgy Bavarian folk tales about ...
In other news, I am currently translating some rather dodgy Bavarian folk tales about toads.
Apparently, one of the Bavarian names for toads was "Bärmutter" - which is an earlier term for "Gebärmutter", or uterus.
And these folk tales imagine the "Bärmutter" as living animals that lived within the human body - and if the humans fell ill, they would sometimes emerge from the person's mouth while their host was asleep, wash themselves, and go back into the body the same way. And after they had washed themselves, their hosts would be cured.
In one tale, the toad is described as emerging while the "ligaments of the uterus" are still hanging from it!
Apparently, one of the Bavarian names for toads was "Bärmutter" - which is an earlier term for "Gebärmutter", or uterus.
And these folk tales imagine the "Bärmutter" as living animals that lived within the human body - and if the humans fell ill, they would sometimes emerge from the person's mouth while their host was asleep, wash themselves, and go back into the body the same way. And after they had washed themselves, their hosts would be cured.
In one tale, the toad is described as emerging while the "ligaments of the uterus" are still hanging from it!