The Kabyle people are Berber-speakers who live in Algeria. In a collection of origin stories from their oral tradition I came across this delightful gender-bender:
At the time of the appearance of the first humans on earth, men had periods under their right armpit.
One day a couple went to the village festival. It was that time of the month for one man. He put a towel under his arm and accompanied his wife. Upon arriving [at the gathering], he raised his right arm [in] greet[ing]. But he dropped his towel. To hide his ‘shame,’ his wife rushed to pick it up. Panicking, she did not know where to hide it. She had only one idea: to put it between her legs. Since periods were contagious, the woman got them, and the man found himself to be cured.
English translation by Steve Weber from Djamal Arezki’s
French version
source: Poems for the Millennium, vol. 2: The University of California book of North African literature
edited by Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour
edited by Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour
2012. University of California Press, Berkeley CA
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