THE EPISODE AND MOTIF STRUCTURE OF THE STORY OF YUSUF AND ZULEYHA

Abstract

Folk tales, which fulfill an important function in the transition from epic to modern story, are the general name of the narratives that deal with the subjects of love and heroism. Our folk tale tradition, which is largely performed by minstrels or meddahs, has been influenced by the narrative traditions of other cultures such as Arab, Iranian and Indian as well as native elements. The folk tale named Yusuf and Zuleyha, which is the subject of this study, is one of the narratives whose examples have started to be seen in Turkish literature after being a source of inspiration for many poets and writers in Iranian and Arabic literatures. In our article, firstly, the definition and general features of the folk tale are given; then, episode and motif analysis was carried out on the variant of Yusuf and Zuleyha narrated by Ergun Sav. In general, the episode structure of classical folk tales is also seen in this story. In the story, which is also very rich in terms of motifs, a total of 7 motifs came to the fore