نشریه فرهنگ و ادبیات عامه
پیاپی 1 (بهار و تابستان 1392)

Zarrin Qabā Nāme is a huge verse in 23133 couplets that probably has been versified in the Safavid period. Its poet is unknown and beginning of itś matter is coming of Solomonś messenger (Zarrin-qabā) to Keyxosrowś court and his confronting with Iranians. Afterwards several stories are narrated that their important persons are Sistanś heroes. Structure، language and content of Zarrin-Qabā-Nāme are storytelling-folklotic. Therefore، studying of its important motifs is useful in knowing and completion of Iranian folk- storytelling literatureś motifs. In this paper، some of these kinds of points and motifs are studied in four parts: 1) Semitic and Islamic matters 2) Rare and single indications، 3) Other matters and contents، and 4) Modeling from other stories.

The wide variety of ethnic groups and cultures in Iran has been a great advantage for this country، providing a rich substantial culture and a lively society. However، this variety and multiplicity has sometimes been used by the country''s enemies as means for engendering the national identity and unity. Ferdowsi''s Shahnameh، due to its richness and profundity، can play its traditional role of providing national identity and unity. In order to demonstrate the significant role of Shahnameh in providing Iranian groups with a single national identity، we considered the effect of Shahnameh on naming the geographical phenomena in Ghorveh with four towns and twelve rural areas. This research، registering geographical names and being impressed of Shahnameh، prevents this national unity from obliteration.

The motifs are elemental in keeping the structural، semantic and aesthetic consistency of Persian tales. Multiple and often uncertain origins have been counted for fictional motifs، such as mythical and religious narratives، folklores، history and so on. Over the centuries، the motifs have undergone shifts and variations، and transferred from one domain to another. Having been considered as a multi-dimensional bird for possessing various and often contrasting features and functions، «The Raven» also acts as a multi-functional motif in Iranian culture. The function of the raven in texts and narratives has two main origins: mythical and religious. In the first، the raven is linked with the Sun and light، acting as the messenger of the Sun God، brings good omen، and embodies wisdom and foresight; and the second one makes the raven to penetrate the beliefs and mentalitys of men through the story of fratricide of Cain، and thus symbolize death and darkness. The study of how the function and motif of raven have undergone shifts and variations through myth to religion and folklore is the purpose of this paper. The investigation of the function of raven in texts، tales and proverbs، and the analysis of its stability or alteration would bring to light chief and critical points about the (dis) similarity of myth and religion، and the role of raven in Iranian people''s attitudes and folklore.

Riddles (Chistan) is one of the genres of Iranians official literature and cultures. Riddle (Crux) is a kind of fun literary work، which has educational and cultural function too. This genre has many different forms and names in the local literature of different regions of Iran; some of which include: Chyzchyzk، Mattaloukeh، Vagoushak، Teshlanouk، Chachak، Chenchen، Chucheh، Chichiki، Chawcheh، Mataal، Mas’aleh، Tapmajalar، and alik. This paper examines the literary and artistic aspects of this genre، and explains its corresponding themes. In addition to finding its formal and semantic structure and morphology in different areas of iran، we further investigate types، functions and themes، and analyze the implications of Riddles. The study of this literal genre in our folklore will familiarize us with various ways of exploiting our free times، and on how prepare and educate our children and teenagers so that they enter the real-life arena.

Women in the prose folk tales have various roles. In contrast to the position of women in official and lyric literature، the living، dynamic، influential and basic role of them in folk tales is noteworthy. Active women with positive character are the initiator of love، heroe’s helper، protector of their freedom and dignity، warrior، heroe’s physician and nurse، against the mandatory marriages، consistent in love، sly، devoted، kind، intelligent and advisor. Women with negative character are sly، witches، malicious، wicked، evil، treacherous، envious and corrupt. Passive women are as a reward for the hero، unsophisticated، beloved or spouse، agree with polygamy and oppressed. This descriptive-analytical paper cheks twenty-two long famouse folk stories and analyzes the popular types of active and passive women''s role in them.

In many of mythical، folklore and fairy stories، the birth of the hero has many mythical and fictional characteristics. The grounding of the birth of the hero traces on the hero’s future life. In many stories، which have the birth function، there are many barriers in the birth process. Among these obstacles، we can name aging parents and their disability to have a child. The remarkable point in this story is that the child، despite many barriers، is born، and after a dangerous and wonderful life، becomes a hero. The main goal of this article is the psychological analysis and classification of the type of tales. This research investigates the birth of the hero as a current theme in mythical، folklore and fairy stories، and its conclusion shows that we can classify the different types of birth function in the following groups as: the birth without parent origin، the birth process with one origin (father or mother)، the marriage of the king with particular girl (sometimes a fairy)، and the birth of the hero in the aging parent time and eating apple condition for mother.

One of the important subjects in folk literature is to compare an oral version of a text with its written version. In this article، the oral narrations of Bahman saga has been compared to its written version. Among the written texts، Bahman Saga in Shahnameh Ferdowsi، Tarikh-e-Thaalabi (The Thaalabi History) and Bahman-Nameh of Iranshah-ibn Abelkheyr، and among the oral narrations، 16 of them have been chosen. The writer has tried to show the linguistic and narrative differences between the written and oral versions of this saga. This is the first study conducted in this field.