A Structural Interpretation of Initial Situation in the Iranian Fairy Tales in Propp's Model Compared with Šāhnāmeh and the Iranian Myths of Creation

Propp recognizes two initial situations in the morphology of Russian fairy tales: defect and evildoing; however, he considers both as original spontaneous situations. In this article, it is assumed that these patterns are significant and also the deficiency has always its origin in evildoing, but this is not an independent condition in the Iranian thought. To discover the meaning of these patterns, the fairy tales and Iranian myths as well as the national epics have been comparatively studied. The analytical method is structuralism and diachronic. The results of the study show that the myths of creation have two models, both based on the struggle and conflict of two opposing forces; however, one is creative and the other is destructive. In the first, the creator needs an element based on which the material universe is made or dependent on. This model appears in the magical legends as a defect situation. In the second one, the creator creates the universe in an ideal situation, but it can be invaded by the devastating forces and exit from its ideal situation. This pattern appears in the magical legends as the evildoing situation.