Variations on the 'Moses in the basket on the Nile River' myth
I know I've seen different variations on the myth of Moses found in the basket floating down the river.
Could you share some that you know about?
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Vicki Nikolaidis says:
Danae and Perseus cast adrift on the Mediterranean Sea
"PERSEUS
I
IN a Grecian city named Argos lived beautiful Danaë, the king's daughter. An oracle warned the king that he would be killed by Danaë's son. To save his life he ordered Danaë and her child, Perseus, to be shut up in a chest and cast adrift on the Mediterranean Sea.
For two days and nights the chest floated on the water. At the end of that time it struck against some rocks on the shore of an island called Seriphos. There was a little opening in the side of the chest, and peeping through it, Danaë saw a man coming over the rocks toward her. As soon as he was near enough, he threw fishing net over the chest and drew it ashore.
He broke the chest open and let Danaë out. Then he told her that she had landed upon an island ruled by his brother, Polydectes. His own name was Dictys. He took Danaë and her child to his home."
For the rest of the story go to The Baldwin Project, here is the link.
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=haaren&book=greece&story=pe...
Susan Brown says:
In Middle English Romances,
In Middle English Romances, it was a common theme to have someone (usually female) put in a boat (along with a few days of supplies) and then cast out to sea. The reasoning was that it wasn't murder, that if the person died, it was God's doing. Of course now that I'm trying I can't think of one of the titles, although one romance in particular is playing itself out up in my head. Drat a rotten memory.
Vicki Nikolaidis says:
SOS Lady in Distress
I've been trying to remember some titles, too, Susan. I can see storybook pictures of a lady drifting out to sea but having hard time remembering the exact story.
This type of behavior sounds to me like the roots of "not taking personal responsibility" as communicated to a culture through fiction.
Am I exaggerating?