AN INVESTIGATION ON THE EPISODE STRUCTURE AND MOTIFS OF THE STORY OF KEREM AND ASLI

Abstract

The story of Kerem and Asli, which has an important place in Turkish folk narratives, appears in a wide geography, especially in Azerbaijan. The story, which has a mixed verse-prose structure, has been kept alive in written and oral culture for centuries; it has survived to the present day in many variants. Although the events of the heroes are taken from real time and space, the existing variants contain very rich elements in terms of extraordinary elements. The story of Kerem and Asli has taken its place in the minds of the people, especially with the sad ending of their protagonists. In this study, the episode structure of the story in question was examined first and it was understood that it had the same episode structure as classical folk tales. Then, the main motifs in the story were examined in detail and it was determined that especially 12 motifs gave direction to the narrative.