Q is for Quadriceps (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! 

The quadriceps are the muscles in the front of your thigh. Therefore, I am collecting folktales about thighs today. The most famous story here would be the birth of Dionysos from Greek mythology, but I did find others that are intriguing.

Donnran, the Brown Searcher (Scotland)

In this Scottish legend Caoilte, the swiftest runner of the heroes of the Fianna, is badly wounded on his thigh in a fight. Healers claim they have to cut off his leg because of the infection, but he refuses. Instead the Fianna sends for Donnran, the great healer who lives in the woods as a hermit. Donnran treats the infected wound with live maggots and herbs and honey, until it is miraculously healed.

Thirty-six Colors (Missouri French tale)

A prince dresses up as a jester and sneaks out of the palace to go adventuring. He decides to work as a cowherd, and encounters three giants, befriending each. They later help him win a contest for a princess' hand. After winning, he keeps sneaking away; on the third try, the king throws his spear, which lodges itself in the prince's thigh. Later on, he is discovered and identified by the wound and the tip of the spear lodged in it.

The terrible child and the birds (Burkina Faso)

A woman is infertile, and asks a healer for help. The healer tells her to cook some porridge, and if it spills on her, don't wipe it off. A drop of porridge spills on her thigh, turns into a swelling a bursts. A child springs out of it, ready to go hunting. As he hunts with his friend, a hawk keeps stealing their food. Eventually, the child gets the hawk to swallow him - then, coming out through its anus, strikes it with a club. The hawk swallows him again and he comes out again, continuing the process until the hawk dies.

Sunabai Jai (India)

Seven brothers leave their cherished little sister in the care of their wives, while they go trading. The seven women treat the girl badly, giving her impossible tasks, hoping that she'd die. When her brothers eventually return, the girl meets them on the beach and tells them everything. One of them cuts open his thigh and sews the girl inside it, hiding her from the evil wives until it is time to reveal the truth. In the meantime, he feeds her by placing food on his thigh.

(People sewing things into their thigh is a common folktale motif; you can read another story here, and a collection of parallels here.)

Thigh pieces for giant birds

Once again, this is a folktale motif that shows up in a whole lot of different stories. It is most often found in ATU 301, a folktale type where a hero rescues three princesses from the Underworld, and then is left behind by his treacherous brothers. He is rescued from the deep by a giant bird that he has to keep feeding during the flight. When food runs out, the hero chops off a piece of his own thigh and feeds it to the bird so they don't fall. Once safely on the surface, the bird usually heals the hero's wound.
In one Hungarian version, the hero rides a griffin, and after the flight receives a feather from it that heals all wounds. In a Mansi version the hero - Son of a Bear - rides an eagle, and feeds it pieces of both of his thighs. In both versions, the bird notes that if it had known earlier that humans taste so good, it would have devoured the hero instead of helping.

Somehow, all these stories ended up being about thigh wounds... Go figure.