Sad Destiny of the Children of the Cruel Parents Cover Image

Зла судбина дeце сурових родитеља
Sad Destiny of the Children of the Cruel Parents

Author(s): Lasta Đapović
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Psychology, Customs / Folklore
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: cannibalism; growing up; love; wife/mistress; wife/mother;

Summary/Abstract: Two folk stories have almost the same beginning but a different outcome. In the beginning, a husband and wife, accidentally, try human meat and they like it so much so they decide to eat their own children. In both stories, the children managed to escape, and while their lives develop in different directions, the stories omit their reintegration into human society. After a detailed analysis, the author concludes that the stories’ message is to warn that there is no life in a deviant society. The stories note that a deviant behavior exists indeed, but at the same time, they mark it as something that does not belong to a society, culture and in addition, the stories point out to a way of overcoming such behavior. The way to overcome a deviant behavior consists in appropriate maturation of a female and male gender, in maturation that includes selfrestrain.

  • Issue Year: LIII/2005
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 367-380
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Serbian