Incest in folklore and mythology
[1][2][3][4][5] In Greek mythology, Gaia (earth) had 12 children – six male and six female Titans – with her own son Uranus (sky).
[14] The goddess Hathor was simultaneously considered to be the mother, wife, and daughter of the sun god Ra.
If his mother is a queen, princess, or an aristocrat, the son distinguishes himself among her suitors by accomplishing a certain task, thereby earning her hand in marriage as a part of the reward.
However, the hero's desertion as a child makes plausible that neither the son nor mother recognize each other, leading to an inadvertent, incestuous consummation.
For example, in the Indonesian legend of Tangkuban Perahu, Princess Dayang Sumbi weds a warrior, unaware he is her son, when he succeeds in recovering a prized weaving needle she lost, and the ancient Greek king Oedipus and his mother Jocasta are also setup for marriage in a similar way.
In the original tale, for example, Jocasta bears her son four children: Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene.
[22][21]: 4, 39–51, 57–60, 90–91, 113–114, 124–125, 138–140, 243 The core plot, having entered into the world of folklore, is found in folktales of various nations like Greece, Indonesia, India, Albania, Britain, Malaysia, Iran, etc.
[11] In another myth, which went among the Miao people in the Yunnan Province, a great flood leaves only a mother and her young son alive.
[23] [24][25] Numerous variants of brother-sister unions following the flood are found from the Bhuiya, Maria, Bondo, Gabada, Kond, Saora and Kol among the tribal area of central India.
[27] From Taiwan alone come twenty-eight versions of a brother-sister pair living as husband and wife to become the progenitors of mankind after a great flood.
Ynglinga saga chapter 4, provides an example of the latter, characterizing their union as a Vanir custom: Old Norse Lee M. Hollander translation (1992) In Norse legends, the hero Sigmund and his sister Signy murdered her children and begot a son, Sinfjötli.
The element of incest also appears in the version of the story used in Wagner's opera-cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, in which Siegfried is the offspring of Siegmund and his sister Sieglinde.
The legendary Danish king Hrólfr kraki was born from an incestuous union of Halgi and Yrsa.
[37] In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi is a king and creator god who takes his sister, the goddess Nüwa, as his bride.
[38][39][40] In Icelandic folklore a common plot involves a brother and sister (illegally) conceiving a child.
Eventually the magician allows a young man (usually searching for sheep) into the valley and asks him to marry the daughter and give himself and his sister a civilized burial upon their deaths.
In some versions of the medieval British legend of King Arthur, Arthur accidentally begets a son by his half sister Morgause in a night of blind lust, then seeks to have the child killed when he hears of a prophecy that it will bring about the undoing of the Round Table.
She looked so young and beautiful from head to foot, glistening with the oil she had used to anoint her body, and wearing beads of many kinds.'
She had never intended for this to happen nor did she think her son knew he had spent the night sleeping with his mother as if he was her husband so she decided she would take this secret to her grave.
Uken was shocked, and knew it to be true as he realized the moans and sighs of his woman last night matched the voice of his mother.
In addition, stories of tale type ATU 706, "The Maiden Without Hands", also show the motif of attempted fatherly incest connected with the mutilation of the heroine.
