History Main / MosesInTheBulrushes

** ''Manga/DragonBallMinus'' retcons / revisions Goku's origin into a more traditional example. Goku's parents were suspicious of Frieza's decision to recall all the Saiyans to their home planet at once, and sent Goku to Earth for his own protection. They neglected to explain this to Raditz, who assumed his brother had been sent on a standard mission.

** ''Anime/DragonBallMinus'' retcons / revisions Goku's origin into a more traditional example. Goku's parents were suspicious of Frieza's decision to recall all the Saiyans to their home planet at once, and sent Goku to Earth for his own protection. They neglected to explain this to Raditz, who assumed his brother had been sent on a standard mission.

* A parodic twist of the concept: In ''Manga/DragonBallZ'', it was revealed that Goku was a Saiyan, sent to Earth as a newborn to conquer it for Frieza's planet trade organization.[[note]]The combination of Earth's inhabitants being incredibly weak compared to other races and the planet having full moons far more frequently than other planets (Saiyans can use the full moon to turn into Oozaru, incredibly powerful giant weremonkeys) would mean even a single Saiyan infant could conquer the planet.[[/note]] In a twist, this saved him from the near-genocide of his race caused by Frieza himself, and he was raised into a good person by a succession of quirky father-figures (it also helped that he received a blow to the head as a child that gave him EasyAmnesia).

Sometimes the infant is [[LeftToDie abandoned]] in the wilderness by the villain, who doesn't want to murder the child directly, and instead wants it to die from exposure. This never works out as planned.

Sometimes the infant is abandoned in the wilderness by the villain, who doesn't want to murder the child directly, and instead wants it to die from exposure. This never works out as planned.

* The Creator/{{Disney}} version of ''{{Disney/Hercules}}''.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuesXI'' after the fall of Dundrasil, the infant Luminary's basket fell into a river while the survivors were escaping from monsters. He's found later by an old gentleman known as Chalky, who would adopt him as his own grandson.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuesXI'' begins with TheHero being found in a basket floating down a river, by Chalky who would become his adoptive grandfather.

->''Moses was found in the stream\\

She fished him--she says--from that stream.''

* In ''Ghosts of the Past'', sequel of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', it's revealed that Gwion (better known as [[spoiler: Doctor Strange]]) was a textbook case of this, set adrift by his desperate mother as the forces of Uther Pendragon slaughtered their people. He was found by a fisherman and raised as Taliesin (in Camelot, ironically enough), and as he notes, he didn't know anything about where he came from, even that he was adopted, until his teens.

* A parodic twist of the concept: In ''DragonBallZ'', it was revealed that Goku was a Saiyan, sent to Earth as a newborn to conquer it for Frieza's planet trade organization.[[note]]The combination of Earth's inhabitants being incredibly weak compared to other races and the planet having full moons far more frequently than other planets (Saiyans can use the full moon to turn into Oozaru, incredibly powerful giant weremonkeys) would mean even a single Saiyan infant could conquer the planet.[[/note]] In a twist, this saved him from the near-genocide of his race caused by Frieza himself, and he was raised into a good person by a succession of quirky father-figures (it also helped that he received a blow to the head as a child that gave him EasyAmnesia).

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' uses this same sort of variant as ''DragonBall Z'' to distinguish itself from the standard {{Superman}} back story. Superman deciphers a message from his father and it ends with an instruction to "rule [Earth] with wisdom".

* Emma Swan from ''{{Series/Once Upon A Time}}'' was sent to the non-magical world as a baby so that she may one day be prepared to face the evil queen who was trying to kill her. She was [[spoiler:initially supposed to be sent with her mother, Snow White, so that she wouldn't grew up ignorant about her home world and mission, but the plan was averted at the last minute and a humanized Pinnochio was sent in her place.]] Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Pinnochio abandoned Emma in the orphanage that they were sent to and]] Emma grew up without knowing her real heritage, except for the blanket that Snow White wrapped around her the day she was teleported away.

* Seemingly played straight in ''FireEmblem: Radiant Dawn'' with Pelleas, lost heir to Daein, except that he isn't taken in by a family and grows up in an orphanage. However, it's subverted when [[spoiler:[[HundredPercentCompletion after fulfilling a boatload of conditions]], you find out in the epilogue that [[DeadpanSnarker Soren]] is the true heir. A subversion in that not only does he not become king, he doesn't even ''know''.]] Made particularly ironic when it's revealed that Pelleas' special birthmark that identified him as the heir is [[spoiler:actually a Spirit Charmer mark; Soren, who has the genuine Brand, probably owes his survival to being confused for a Spirit Charmer.]]

* In ''Ghosts of the Past'', sequel of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', it's revealed that Gwion (better known as [[spoiler: Doctor Strange]]) was a textbook case of this, set adrift by his desperate mother as [[spoiler: the forces of Camelot]] slaughtered their people. He was found by a fisherman and raised as Taliesin [[spoiler: in Camelot, ironically enough]], and as he notes, he didn't know anything about where he came from, even that he was adopted, until his teens.

* ''Manga/ViolinistOfHameln'' has Princess Flute, who was slipped out of her kingdom during a war (in which her older brother had already tragically died). She was eventually left on a doorstop in a small village far, far to the south of her home country, with only a letter saying "take me" and a [[OrphansPlotTrinket crucifix]] - but in a {{Subversion}} of the trope, was ignored by the house's inhabitants and the passersby [[WhatTheHellTownspeople tried to act like she didn't exist]]. She would have died had not the visiting elder of a nearby village taken pity on her.

* In Creator/DevonMonk's ''[[Literature/AgeOfSteam Dead Iron]]'', Rose Small's backstory was being abandoned on the step of her adoptive parents' home.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Ned Stark hid his nephew Jon — Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen's son (and possibly the true heir to the Iron Throne since he was a baby) — to protect him from current reigning king, Robert Baratheon. Ned claimed Jon as his illegitimate son by another woman to save him and raised Jon as his very own child.

* In the ''Literature/WheelOfTime'' series, Rand learns that his father found him as a baby on the slopes of Dragonmount after his mother died in battle. This is a key part of the Prophecies of the Dragon, which requires that he be raised by the blood of Manetheren.

* Named for the canonical [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] example of this trope in action: Moses was set adrift in a basket of reeds to escape the slaying of all newborn male Hebrew slaves; he was found and raised by the daughter of Pharaoh. (In this example, however, the baby is born to peasants and raised among royalty instead of the other way 'round.) (Exodus 2:3-6)
** That, and, since his biological mother was his nursemaid, he was familiar with his background from an early age.