Female Kayd in Moroccan Storytelling: “The Woman and the Devil”

For centuries, oral storytelling has shaped cultural memory and reinforced moral frameworks. Within Morocco’s oral tradition, “The Woman and the Devil” presents a striking case in which female cunning not only rivals but surpasses the devil’s malevolence. Using close reading and cultural contextualization, this article examines how the tale constructs the female character as a site of danger and deceit, while also reflecting deeper cultural anxieties about gender, power, and morality. Drawing on psychoanalytic, anthropological, and gender-theoretical perspectives, the analysis explores how the woman’s actions embody destructive cunning, mastery of language, and the use of witchcraft—figures that resonate with Moroccan proverbs and beliefs about female potency. While on the surface the story reinforces patriarchal stereotypes that equate women with evil, a closer reading reveals a more ambivalent message: women are portrayed as both destructive and commanding, capable of subduing even the devil himself. By situating the tale within Moroccan oral traditions and cross-cultural variations, this study demonstrates how such narratives function not only as vehicles of misogynistic discourse but also as cultural mirrors that reveal male vulnerability and latent admiration for feminine control.