CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE IMAGE OF ALEXANDER IN THE FAIRY TALE “ALEXANDER’S PATIENCE”

Abstract

The fairy tale “Alexander’s patience” is connected in terms of the plot structure with the fairy tale “Alexander’s taking tribute from fish”. The plot of both fairy tales is the same in concept: the fish always act wisely and submit to Alexander and pay him tribute. From the point of view of the epic concept it means that Alexander brought harmony to the world. Alexander is presented as a conqueror in all fairy tales. Alexander’s conquest is based on the first ancestral archetype. The function of the first ancestor is to protect the world and create harmony in it. In this respect, the poetic structure of the image of Alexander in the tale is formed by the image of the first ancestor. Although the image of the water man in the fairy tale is a rare image, it is a typical image in terms of its function. He acts as a liaison between the king of fish and the king of men (Alexander). In the fairy tale “Alexander’s taking tribute from fish” the role of the liaison among Alexander and the fish was played by Arastun vizier and the messenger fish. One can also see the image of the vizier in this fairy tale. But instead of fish, who is negotiated by fish with Alexander, we can see the image of Aquarian (a water man) in this tale. He is a mediator character in function. The function of mediators is to establish connections among the different worlds. The image of Aquarian (a water man) is a complex image in terms of its semantic structure. This creature, caught in the fishermen’s net, is presented in the tale as Aquarian (a water man) and a fish man. That is, he is half a man, half a fish. The fact that he does not speak, in our opinion, is due to his fish identity. Fish are kind of dumb creatures that don’t speak. However, the fact that Aquarian gets married is a fact that attracts attention. A fish man is married to a human and he has a son. Thus, the fish man communicates with people not directly, but through his son. The image of a fish man in the fairy tale hints at the antiquity of this tale about Alexander.