Köroğlu
Köroğlu is a figure from the orally traditional Turkish folk literature of Anatolia and neighboring countries. Köroğlu (lit. "son of the blind man") embodies the figure of the noble robber. He fights the tyrants and distributes the stolen goods among the poor.
Other central elements are the fight against the ruler, bride robbery and the fate of the “white horse” (Kırat). A distinction is made between an eastern and western tradition. In the eastern variant, the main character is called Görogly , Gorogly or Gurugly with the meaning "son of the grave". In this version, the mother of the main character dies pregnant and gives birth to her son in the grave. The epic is also widespread in the Armenian, Georgian, Kurdish, Tajik and Afghan cultures. In several versions of the tradition, Köroğlu is a bard ( Aşık ) who spreads his songs with the saz .
The story of Köroğlu is probably the best-known Turkish folk tale. Köroğlu is known as the Turkish Robin Hood . There are numerous variants of this tradition. In the most famous version, Köroğlu is a person named Ruşen Ali from Bolu in the 16th century. A mountain range there bears Köroğlu's name: the Köroğlu Dağları. However, Köroğlu should not be viewed as an actual historical figure. The name appeared particularly in connection with the Celali uprisings .
The first English translation of the Azerbaijani variant of the epic was published by Alexander Chodźko in 1842. The figure of Köroğlu, for example, was adapted literarily by Yaşar Kemal in his work Üç Anadolu Efsanesi .
Individual evidence
- ^ Klaus Kreiser: Small Turkey Lexicon. Munich 1992, p. 98
- ^ Judith M. Wilks: The Persianization of Köroglu. P. 2
- ^ Wolfram Eberhard and Richard Mercer Dorson: Minstrel tales from southeastern Turkey. New York 1980, p. 30
- ↑ Kurt Ranke, Lotte Baumann: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales . Vol. 8, De Gruyter 2004 sv Köroğlu
