Common Motives of Turkish and Greek Cypriot Folk Tales

Abstract

When we take a look at the Cyprus Folk Tales in general, it is clear that they have a similar structuret other folk tales of other countries. However, some examples are not similar to worldwide folk tales in terms of motifs and differ from them. In addition to the tales included in the world motif index, there are also tales that bear the traces of different and local folkloric structure and character. Through our efforts and those of other researchers, many new tales have been thought of, compiled and added to the archives of Turkish Cypriot Folk Tales, thus greatly enriching the archive. As of today, we can easily say that most of theTurkish Cypriot folk tales have been compiled and there are not many tales waiting to be discovered. Following the opening of the border crossings and the lifting of travel restrictions between North and South Cyprus on April 23, 2003, we had the opportunity to obtain material that enabled us to learn more about Greek Cypriot Folklore. This allowed us to compare our own products with the southern fairytale data. Our research, based on comparative textual analysis, has shown us that many tales are almost identical and that this similarity means that some tales have been passed from Greek to Turkish and vice-versa