Explanation and Analysis of Mythical Themes in the Structure of the Tale of 'MahPishani'

Mah-Pishani is one of the most known Iranian popular tales that has been narrated by the folklorists frequently and printed by several of them. Sobhi-Mohtadi, from narrators of it, says the history of Mah-Pishani turns back to pre-Islamic periods, but he does not present any reason for his claimed hypothesis. In this research, the author has selected the Ahmad Shamloo’s narration of this tale and explored in ancient layers of it. Firstly the structural components of the tale have been explained based on Prop’s Morphology theory, but the author has not limited himself only to reporting and explaining the narrative structures, rather he traced the characters and their functions in Iranians’ myth, history and culture and has proved their ancient roots clearly. In this article, the roots of these symbols, motifs and archetypes have been analyzed: _Stepmother: in Mah-Pishani, Molla-Baji is a stepmother of Mah-Pishani. The story of villain stepmother and her stepdaughter that unlike the desire of her stepmother succeeds to the prosperity is one of the universal motifs of the tales, as it would be seen in Cinderella tale. _ Hero and Anti-hero and Helpers: Mah-Pishani is a heroine, Molla-Baji is an anti- heroine and Cow and Demon are helper characters. The archetypes of hero and anti-hero and helpers could be traced in anthological battle between Ormazd and Evil and their helpers in Iranian culture. _ Women Functionalists: it could be found evidently and easily in the tale of Mah-Pishani, a passive, neutral and lack of function presence of man gender in this tale. So it would be a remembrance derived from Matriarchy Age. _ burying the bones of victim: from the very deep points of the tale, is a Demon’s command to the heroine of the tale to bury the bones of the sacrificed cow. This point is a key motif that builds to the paleontology and historical antiquity of the tale. Mankind of the hunting age that found his life depending on the survival of animal kinds buried the bones of hunted animal in to the soil so that animal would have another life and its generation not to become extinct. _ Demon: in this tale Demon functions as a generous and then helper character and takes distance from conceptual and semantic field of villainy that is associative of Demon’s character. This discrepancy should be traced in religion and society of ancient Aryans. The word Demon means originally means God, but after the appearance of Zoroaster in Iran and the introduction of Ormazd as a God, Demon’s meaning changed to the devil. _ Cow: Mah-Pishani’s mother stays in seventh jar and then becomes a yellow cow. Cow in Iranian myths is a blessed and sacred symbol. Certainly in the tale, cow is reckoned a totem for Mah-Pishani, because Demon advises to her not to eat from the meat of the sacrificed cow which is a twin of her mother. One of the remarkable features of the totems is prohibition of eating them. This totemic force is a Mah-Pishani helper to the prosperity. _ River: the hero of this tale has touched water and passed from it in two fundamental sections of the tale that brought her with new different birth. Waters, fountains and rivers have been worshiped in ancient days and linked to fertility, gestation and blessing. Water has been a symbol of revitalization and new birth. The author, after exploring the archetypes and motifs of Mah-Pishani, has concluded the historical and religious sediments of Paleolithic Age (Hunting Age), Neolithic Age (Matriarchy Age), ancient Aryan and Zoroastrian religions on its frame.