This book is the product of a great deal of labor and shows the expertise of the author, who provides the reader with valuable information about an oral society. The bibliography is extensive and includes major works by both natives and non-natives regarding folktale studies in Iran. The collection also includes a classification system of tale types and motifs. Extending over seven intermittent years (1965-2006), Friedl’s study informs us about the cultural history of a tribal community in Iran, a country which has transformed itself from a pre-industrial traditional society into a modern state. The manuscript contains forty-five short to semi-long folktales narrated by six male and female informants from the village of Sisakht. The author, an anthropologist, informs us that her research had several goals. The first goal was to study cultural change in a tribal village. Friedl’s work begins with the recording of folktales for learning the Luri language. In the process of collecting the tales, Friedl studies the socio-cultural settings where these tales circulated (17).
The Lurs, a tribal community, do not have a writing system. In the absence of a writing system, the study and recording of various folklore materials proved to be valuable for understanding the Weltanschauung of the Lurs. The author considers the collection to be not only a historical document for folktale studies, but also a document for studying language change (21). Due to the impracticality of the Perso-Arabic writing system for an unwritten language such as Luri, the Latin script was used to represent the original Luri folktales (17-18).
The second goal of her research was to collect folktales from a tribal locality about which little information existed (20). With the help of these folktales and their storytellers, we obtain information about the Lurs’ way of life. Based on these folktales and the narrators’ comments, Friedl is able to study and analyze the social and cultural lives of the Lurs. Friedl refers to the views of other researchers who see the storytellers and their personalities echo the values and beliefs of their group and similarly argues that the commentaries of the storytellers reflect cultural aspects and values and the world view of their societies (21).
In translating these tales, Friedl avoids a smooth translation and lets the narrators’ voices come through. By doing so, she gives non-native readers the opportunity to experience colorful idiomatic expressions in the original language. The texts are abundant with expressions: “The girl’s heart burned for her in pity,” meaning, “she really felt sorry for the girl” (74); and “Don’t put your hand into the wound of my heart,” meaning, “don’t add salt to my wound” (157).
The plots and characters in the stories are engaging and interesting. The real personae of these tales consist of humans, various animals, mythological figures (ghouls, dragons, phoenixes), and elements found in nature (trees, springs, mountains). We see close interactions between the world of humans and non-humans in these folktales. Magic and sorcery are often practiced to assist the protagonists in performing certain tasks. These tales cover subjects like greed, generosity, religiosity, kindness, evilness, laziness, hard work, deception, honesty, disloyalty, animosity, friendship, and courage. The interesting issue here is the reoccurrence of similar motifs and plots in many of these tales. Those familiar with folktale studies in Iran can recognize motifs and characters used in many stories in Iran. For instance, I encountered similar motifs and characters in a collection of Azerbaijani folktales from Iran. Motifs such as fairies disguised as birds and assisting the protagonists to dispel a certain magic, or a falcon perching on a person’s head to become a new ruler, are found in other collections (186). Furthermore, the collection provides us with a few motifs found in European folktales. For instance, tale 13 shows certain Middle Eastern Cinderella motifs. The collection also includes historical, religious, and cultural personalities such as the Prophet Mohammad, Noah, and the funny character, Molla Nasreddin.
Three contributions of this collection are preservation and comparison, linguistic study, and annotations. The act of recording these tales helped to preserve these cultural items from being lost in light of the lack of a writing system, and most importantly what Friedl mentions as the “rapidly declining story telling tradition” (17). Therefore, this collection invites comparison using existing tale-type and motif indices and enables researchers to study the dissemination of folktales in the world. A second contribution lies in its value for linguistic study. Indeed, the availability of this collection in its original form is important for comparative linguistic studies, particularly for Indo-Iranian and the Indo-European family of languages. The third contribution of Friedl’s study lies in her annotations and remarks regarding every story. Through these comments, the reader is informed about village rituals, customs, life, and the hierarchy of tribal society as well as the role of each member within that community.
Finally, Friedl’s treatment of the narrators as commentators, not just informants, proves to be crucial and vital for gaining an insider’s view. Friedl uses folktales as tools to get to the source of information, but it is the narrators who, through interpretations of these folktales, assist Friedl in sharing the cultural importance of these tales. The inclusion of the narrators’ views and comments as interpreters of their own culture allows Friedl to argue that “stories function as projections of the narrators, as comments of storytellers on various cultural features and on their own situations, and as clues to their world views” (21).
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[Review length: 908 words • Review posted on November 12, 2008]