The Transformation of Fereydoun's Mythical Story in Shahzid's Folk Tale based on the Semiotics of Mythical Symbols

Understanding "myth" is very important in understanding society, peoplechr('39')s behaviors, and beliefs. We know that myth usually changes throughout history, but it disappears gradually. "The Story of Fereydoun" is considered as one of the most important stories of Iranian myths and researchers have traced its mythological roots to the Avestan period, Vedic texts, and the myths of birth and battle of the demon of land. The god of rain is mentioned in this story as well. On the other hand, there are myths and stories among people that contain mythical themes, symbols and signs in various forms, and the study and analysis of these myths in tracing the origins of the mythical elements of society plays an important role. One of these popular stories is "The Story of Shahzid", one of the Imamzadehs of Amol city of Mazandaran, which has many similarities with the story of Fereydoun in its narrative structure, semiotic elements, and mythical symbols. In this article, these two stories are examined and analyzed together, and their mythological elements are identified. It was concluded that the two stories, there are some similarities in some events and symbols of the myths such as: cow, tree, forest, snake, healing drink, witchcraft and geographical location. Both stories originate from a source which is the "myth of birth" and the war between the god of rain and the demon of land.