Françoise wrote that Romulus and Remus is definitely a myth.

The thing about myth is that it is powerful and deep-rooted. As such, it
often contains essential truth, an understanding of something
significant about life that cannot be explained by science or cognition
at the time it was created, or a deeper level of signification to an
event. As I have noted before, I really dislike the confusion caused by
the use of "myth" by people who mean "misconception" or "falsehood" --
especially because I wrote a thesis on the myth of the mother.
Obviously, mothers exist and are not falsehoods. Our understanding of
what a mother represents, symbolizes, *means* is affected by multiple
layers of understanding, belief, feeling, etc. That is why it is a myth.

There are myths of animals raising young in many different cultures.
Sometimes the reasons for it are common patterns is cosmogenic or
creation myths: they are a response to the question of who gave birth to
the first human being. It is interesting that for some peoples the
attempt to figure out how the first baby got there was less important
than explaining who took care of him or her. Other peoples don't have
this problem because the first human being is an adult. In that case,
the or one of the first human(s) are usually mothers who give birth to
others.

In other cases, they come out of geographical settings in which children
sometimes did get lost. (My dh had a "brother" like this who looked
nothing like the other people in his village; when two "matching" adults
came through months later it was a bittersweet reunion.)

Another interpretation, according to scholars like Bruno Bettleheim,
would be that the myth has been created out of our subconscious fear of
being abandoned by those we love -- think of the number of fairy tales
that have mothers die, leave, get separated from children, etc.
Similarly, twins are often separated or abandoned because of some
contest of good and evil. The tender care of animals is a comforting
thought for children, a solution to a psychic problem we all deal with
in different ways. Again, it is relevant to note that breastfeeding is
so symbolic of nurturing, caring, survival.

On the other hand,

>The lyrics to the song "Lady Madonna" was part of this website (no longer
>there) but part of the lyrics is ""lady madonna baby at your breast, wonder how
>you manage to feed the rest."   Lady Madonna may represent the prostitute, the
>Lupa-the she-wolf. The question of how to feed babies and be sexually
>available is inherent in the question--or at least to my way of thinking.
>
I do not read the meaning of that line the same way, although I know
that the madonna/whore conception is widespread in feminist criticism.
For me, the song suggested that the baby on the breast was the only one
who was sure of being fed. The other children did not have enough food
to eat, nor did the adults, perhaps. Food security and good nutrition is
only guaranteed while breastfeeding is taking place.

Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes, PhD (women's writing, including a comprehensive
exam on mythopoeic criticism that I never realized would be so
transportable)

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