The analysis of Turkish tales published by Theodor Menzel with Max Lüthi's method

Folktales, perhaps the most striking genre of folk culture, are narratives that can reflect the society's world of thought and view of life. Beyond being just a narrative, folktales also serve as a carrier of cultural memory. The folktale, which can best reflect the thoughts, dreams and experiences of the individuals who make up the society, can compare the narrator with the listener even centuries later. It is important to compile and analyze fairy tales that contain deep meanings and are woven with cultural codes. The first Turkish folktale collections were made by foreign Turkologists and Orientalists. Theodor Menzel, a German orientalist, was interested in Turkish folk culture, language, literature, history and produced various publications in this context. Menzel, who was interested in Turkish folklore as well as Turkish history, compiled Turkish folktales from a prisoner of war named Hüseyin Deli Mehmedoğlu from Sinop during his captivity in Russia, and published them in German in two volumes by bringing together the folktales he compiled and other folktales in important sources of the period. In the study, the data obtained through qualitative research were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Folktales have been analyzed with various structural or text-centred methods. One of these methods was developed by Swiss scholar Max Lüthi. In this study, Billur Köschk - Türkische Märchen (Billur Köşk-Turkish Folktales) and Türkische Märchen II: Der Zauberspiegel (Türkische Märchen II- The Magic Mirror), published by Menzel in German, Lüthi's style analysis was chosen to analyze twenty-eight folktales. In the study, brief information on the folktale genre, German Turkological studies and Menzel's place in these studies, Lüthi's life and the style analysis he put forward, and finally the analysis of twenty-eight tales in line with the mentioned method are given. In this study, the folktales published by Menzel, who is an important name for Turkish folklore, language and history, have been analyzed for the first time in a holistic manner with a scientific method. Thus, a contribution has been made to both Turkish folklore and Turkish folktale studies. As a result, it has been determined that Lüthi's style analysis method is generally suitable for Turkish folktales and the universality of the method has been revealed.