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Through a consideration of textual, linguistic, and folkloristic data, this paper argues that the legend of Fereydun and Zahhak in the national epic of Iran, is a symbolic statement of the manifestation of the Oedipus complex in three epic characters: the neurotic Jamshid, the psychopathic Zahhak, and the well-adjusted Fereydun. The paper further argues that the manifestation of oedipal wishes in all traditional narratives, must result in one of two conditions. Either the gratification of these wishes is
punished by castration and/or death, or the wishes are vicariously gratified by an identification with the father and are rendered culturally harmless. Thus, any analysis of an Oedipus type tale in Folklore or Myth, which shows the transgression without describing its punishment is a case of under-analysis. Ironically, the gratification of these punitive wishes, rooted in the savagery of the superego, is the civilizing final statement of all Oedipus type traditional narratives. The odd couple superego and human culture always have the final word.