Child cannibalism
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Child cannibalism or fetal cannibalism is the act of eating a child or fetus. Children who are eaten or at risk of being eaten are a recurrent topic in myths, legends, and folktales from many parts of the world. False accusations of the murder and consumption of children were made repeatedly against minorities and groups considered suspicious, especially against Jews as part of blood libel accusations.
Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya (c. 1820–1823)
Illustration of Saint Nicholas resurrecting the three butchered children, from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (created between 1503 and 1508)
Puss in Boots confronting an ogre who is dining on human babies and whole animals (illustration by Gustave Doré)
"The Juniper Tree" is a German fairy tale published in Low German by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812. The story contains themes of child abuse, murder, cannibalism and biblical symbolism and is one of the Brothers Grimm's darker and more mature fairy tales.
