Typology of Folk Tales in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Based on Ulrich Marzolph's Model and Analysis of Cultural Motifs

"A narrative type" is the general pattern and narrative framework of a story, which repeats across different cultures with minor variations. A "motif" is considered the smallest meaningful unit of a story and includes a recurring object, character, action, or situation in different narratives. Through content analysis of Iranian folktales, Ulrich Marzolf has identified and categorized the underlying cultural, social, and religious concepts within these narratives. The aim of this essay is to classify 100 tales from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari based on Marzolf's typology and to identify the recurring and significant motifs in these folktales using a descriptive-analytical approach. The results of the study show that the folktales of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari follow distinct patterns and frameworks that align well with Marzolf's model, and various motifs from Marzolf's categorization are observable in the stories of this region. Furthermore, the research has used this framework as a roadmap to explore the hidden layers of the region's culture and has examined and analyzed three motifs—magic and sorcery, animals, and migration and journey—in the tales of this region.