Faumea

{{Short description|Polynesian eel woman}}

Faumea is a figure in Polynesian mythology, specifically that of the Tuamotus archipelago of French Polynesia, where she is regarded as an "eel-woman".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqElGaH4DiIC&dq=faumea&pg=PA289|title=Hawaiian Mythology|last=Beckwith|first=Martha Warren|date=1976|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824805142|language=en|orig-year=1st pub. 1940}} The sea god Tangaroa encounters her when he sails to her island.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ExuhmHX4dUEC&dq=faumea&pg=PA293|title=A Dictionary of World Mythology: 1St American Ed|last=Cotterell|first=Arthur|date=1980|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0192177478|language=en}} In addition to being an eel-woman, Faumea has eels within her vagina which eat men, reflecting the folk concept of vagina dentata.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhYMAAAAYAAJ&q=faumea|title=Die Vagina dentata in Mythos und Erzählung: Transkulturalität, Bedeutungsvielfalt und kontextuelle Einbindung eines Mythenmotivs|last=Ross|first=Sonja Brigitte|date=1994|publisher=Holos|isbn=978-3-86097-045-4 |language=de}} However, Faumea teaches Tangaroa how to lure the eels out and they have sex.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/fearofwomen00lede|url-access=registration|quote=faumea.|title=The fear of women|last=Lederer|first=Wolfgang|date=1968|publisher=Grune & Stratton|language=en}} Faumea bears Tangaroa two sons: Tu-Nui-Ka-Rere (also called Rata-Nui) and Turi-A-Faumea.

Later, Turi-A-Faumea's wife Hina-Arau-Riki is kidnapped by the octopus-demon Rogo-Tumu-Here.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWxekbhM1yEC&dq=faumea&pg=PT406|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities|last1=Coulter|first1=Charles Russell|last2=Turner|first2=Patricia|date=2013-07-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135963972|language=en}} Faumea helps Tangaroa and their sons rescue Hina by holding the wind within "the sweat of her armpit" and then releasing it at Tangaroa's command to power their canoes.

American folklorist Martha Warren Beckwith recorded a similarity or possible relation to the fertility goddess Haumea.