An Analysis on the Relationship between Horse and Fairy, Fertility, Demon, Magic, and Death

Horse is one of the most important themes in epic literature that has always been with the hero from the oldest era and even is sometimes unified with the heroes, and during the time it has taken many functions. In this essay, analyzing verse and prose epics and folklore based on the content analysis method, it became clear that sometimes the horse has a direct bond with water and fertility. In some texts, the horse is considered the symbol of wind, as it is evidently mentioned in Eskandarnameh. On the other hand, horse is sometimes a symbol of death, as the black horse of Aphosh, Shabrang Behzad, and the black horse of Esfandiar are linked to death. Sometimes the horse is unified with demon and fairy, as it is mentioned in the Hamzanameh, Firooz Shahnameh and Darabnameh Tarsosi. The horse of Tahmooreth in Shahnameh is also considered as the devil. Horse in some texts has such an important position for the hero that the selection of the horse is also one of the important stages of hero’s improvement, and sometimes even a horse and the horseman will unify as the hero cannot accomplish his mission without the horse, as Rakhsh and Sheborg Behzad in Shahnameh, and Ashghar, the horse of Boran-Dakht in Hamzanameh and Darabnameh Tarsosi are cases in point.