Abandoned Children

"Abandoned Children" is a folklore motif that appears all over the world.Unknown. (1972). "Abandoned Children", in Leach, M. (ed) Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. 3rd ed. pp.1-2
== Basic Features ==
* At least one, often two, sometimes seven, or rarely an entire community's children would be abandoned or driven away.
* Reasons vary, with poverty and starvation being the most common, followed by fear of a prophecy's fulfilment. Other reasons include weakness, illegitimacy, incestuous parentage, jealousy of a relative, perceived ungratefulness, and disobedience or stupidity. 
* Children survive, flourish, and prosper. Generally by being raised by animals, fostered by a supernatural being, or being found and adopted by royalty.
* They cause misery for their surviving parents. 
== Examples ==
* Abraham, abandoned by parents until reclaimed by mother.
* Cochiti story of a deer who found an abandoned baby and took it in, raising it with its own children.
* Cyrus, adopted by Mithridates the farmer, and eventually taken to the royal court before being sent back to Persia.
* Moses, adopted by the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt
* Gros Venture story of tribe's children being abandoned by the adults and slowly hunted down by a hag until only one boy and girl survived. Found their parents only to be abandoned again and found by a dog who granted them fire. They survived, with the boy being able to kill with his stare and the girl directing him. Eventually taken back in by their tribe, only for boy to accidentally stare at and kill the elders. 
* Hansel and Gretel, lost in the woods
* Joseph, sold to a merchant and eventually became the vizier of Egypt.
* Juan and Maria, similar to Hansel and Gretel
* Lipian Apache story where an old woman abandons her children to marry a younger man. Children survive in the forest and learn to hunt and use the body parts of the animals they killed. Eventually found and taken back by their tribe, and the son kills his mother with a club. 
* Oedipus, abandoned by father due to prophecy he'd kill him and marry his mother, later killed father at a crossroads and married his widow.
* Orestes, taken from his homeland by a nurse to save him from his murderous mother, taken in by King Strophius
* Romulus & Remus, raised by Lupa before founding Rome and getting revenge on their great-uncle
== See Also ==
* Animal Nurse
* Deer Boy
* Reversal of Fortune
== References ==
Category:Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend
Category:Folklore Motifs