Keloğlan (Turkish: 'bald boy') is a fictional character that appears in Turkic and Altai mythology, fairy tales and similar folkloric narratives.
In folklore
editA well-known character in Turkish folklore, Keloğlan, also known as keleşoğlan, has the problem of being bald from birth.[1] Despite an ugly outer appearance, he is still a clever and lucky character.[2] He represents the characteristics of the Anatolian people.
His main characteristics are his honesty, bravery, helpfulness, cunning and sometimes gullibility. Usually appearing as the son of a poor couple or a poor women or the grandchild of an old woman Keloglan seems to be clumsy and lazy at the beginning however as the events of the story unfold it is revealed that he is actually cunning, brave and skillful as he overcomes obstacles that are not expected from someone like him.
Names
editAside from his presence in Anatolia, the character is also known as Taşza Bala in Kazakhstan, Keçel, Keçel Memed or Keçel Yeğen in Azerbaijan; Keçeloğlan in Kirkuk; Kelcebatır in Turkmenistan; Tazoğlan in Crimea; Tas or Tasarakay among Altai people; Keçel in Iran and as Kel Kafalı Kaz Çobanı in Georgian stories. Similarly, the character is also named Kecelok among the Kurdish of Mardin and Kure Käcäl among the Azerbaijani Kurdish.[3]
Parallels
editFrench folklorist Paul Delarue noted that Keloglan corresponded to the Western (French) hero Le Teigneux, a youth of lowly status and/or ugly appearance that saves the day and wins the princess.[4]
Major stories
editKeloglan-like characters appears frequently in Turkish fairy tales. According to Tahir Alangu, there are 15 types of main Keloglan stories; however, today there are countless more fairy tales that are told or written as a Keloglan story. Some of these are stories that are attributed to Keloglan by the author themselves.
Some fairy tales that Keloglan appears as the main character are as follows:
- Keloglan and Kose
- Keloglan and His Sibling
- Open, O Table
- Keloglan Buys Nothing
- The Reward of the Cat, Dog and the Snake
- The Alicengiz Game
- Keloglan Revives the Dead
- Keloglan and the Bathouse Attendant
- The Beardless Miller
- The Dead That Got Thrown Out of the Chimney
- The Giant and Keloglan
- Keloglan and His Crow
- The Giantess and Keloglan
- Keloglan and the Giants
- The Crippled Giant
Popular culture
editStories about him were staged by Fisko Birlik, Danone Çocuk Tiyatroları and many special societies many times and attracted a lot of attention and applause.
The Turkish state-operated children's TV channel, TRT Çocuk, aired a series titled Keloğlan Masalları from 2008 to 2016, in which the original storyline was partially retained and largely reimagined.
Also, his tale was serialized by Necdet Şen in his comic book Hizli Gazeteci in 1989 at Cumhuriyet newspaper. In 1991, Remzi Bookstore published a book telling a story about him not being able to fit in and having to make a choice between the rules and his own principles.
References
edit- ^ Pultar, Gönül (2005). On the road to Baghdad, or, Traveling biculturalism: theorizing a bicultural approach to contemporary world fiction. New Academia Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-9767042-1-8.
- ^ Walker, Barbara K. The Art of the Turkish Tale. Volume 1. Texas: Texas Tech University, 1990. p. 244. ISBN 9780896722286.
- ^ Garbell, Irene (1965). "ČORAKE (FOLK TALES)". The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Persian Azerbaijan: Linguistic Analysis and Folkloristic Texts. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 169-247 [216n5]. doi:10.1515/9783110877991.169. ISBN 978-90-279-6227-0.
- ^ Delarue, Paul. (1954). [Review of Typen türkischer Volksmärchen, (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Veröffentlichungen der orientalischen Kommission, Band V), by W. EBERHARD & P. N. BORATAV]. In: Arts et Traditions Populaires, 2(2), 177. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41002386
Further reading
edit- Bolat, Nursel (2017). "Keloğlan Kimliğinde Türk Masallari Anlatısı: Propp Yönteminde Türk Masalları" [NARRATIVE OF TURKISH TALES IN THE IDENTITY OF KELOĞLAN: TURKISH TALES WITH THE METHOD OF PROPP]. MANAS Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi (in Turkish). 6: 201–226.
- Dursun, Aysun (2008). Keloğlan masallarının tespiti ve tasnifi [The identification and classification of Keloğlan folk tales] (Thesis) (in Turkish). Muğla Üniversitesi; Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü; Türk Edebiyatı Bölümü; Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Ana Bilim Dalı; Türk Halk Edebiyatı Bilim Dalı.
- Ergun, Pervin (2005). "Altay Destanlarında Ve Anadolu Türk Masallarında Tastarakay-Keloğlan" [The Figure of “Tastarakay-Keloğlan” in Altai Legends and Anatolian Turkish Folk Tales] (PDF). Millî Folklor (in Turkish). 68 (17): 78–84.
- Özdemir, Hasan. "Kahlkopf". In: Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online. Edited by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, Heidrun Alzheimer, Hermann Bausinger, Wolfgang Brückner, Daniel Drascek, Helge Gerndt, Ines Köhler-Zülch, Klaus Roth and Hans-Jörg Uther. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016. http://www-degruyter-c.m.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/database/EMO/entry/emo.7.137/html. Accessed 2023-02-16.