ABSTRACT
Children play a central role in countless myths and fairytales. Much has been written about child deities, such as the Greek Hermes-child, the Zeus-child, the Egyptian Horus-child, and the Christ-child. Further, heroic children, such as Herakles, or the Moses-child, are also well known. In fairytales, children are said to be born with a “lucky skin” (for example, in “The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs”). In any case, their birth happens under magical circumstances of all kinds. Conception or birth is often based in the supernatural (for example, the virgin birth of the Christ-child, or the conception of the Egyptian Horus-child by a ritual phallus). It is characteristic for such children to have a special fate or destiny, whose course follows a fixed and definite story-line. They are abandoned, left to fend for themselves, and saved in wondrous ways, often under dangerous circumstances. Later, as adults, they take on a dominant, divine, heroic, perhaps even royal status (see also Rank, 1909).
