EN
The essay focuses on the problem of trauma and the fear which it yields, and which becomes the source of monstrosity. “An encounter with a monster” (a traumatic experience) becomes a central element of numerous lullabies of various types (both: folk and literary ones). The analysis of lullabies’ fragments as well as of the selected motifs of the film The milk of sorrow (La teta asustada, directed by Claudia Llosa) aims to show the presence of monsters in the relationship between mothers and children, and their role in the development of an individual. The author also tries to show the complex relations between fictitious monsters and an image of a monstrous and incomprehensible reality.