Structural Analysis of Fayez and Pari fairy tale and the Indian myth Ganga and Santanu s marriage

Regarding their beliefs and cultural roots, Indians and Iranians share cultural, ritual and literary features in common. These similarities may be seen in their literature which is the mirror of their beliefs and culture. We can see many analogous structures and motifs in the literature of the both countries. The well-known fairy tale which has been narrated on Fayez, the famous poet of Dashtestan region and his marriage with a fairy woman, is one of those similarities. This fairy tale is similar to the Indian myth entitled the "marriage of Ganga and Santanu" being narrated on Mahabharata. In this study, by structural analysis of two narratives, and based on Levi-Strauss ‘s “Structural Mythology” theory, the authors explored the structures, motifs and signs of both narratives. The analysis showed the similar structure of both narratives and the mythical roots of the Iranian fairy tale. Furthermore, the results of this study indicated that both narratives include the “fertility/infertility” binary oppositions in their deep structure.