Battle of Rustam with the Shrew: Another Narrative of Babr-e Bayan Story

Abstract

In a chain of narratives about the heroic actions of Rustam in his youth to which we have access, we are facing with two versed narratives known as “Babr-e Bayan” and “story of the shrew”. The subject of these two narratives which have not been corrected yet is that Rustam goes to Hindustan for fighting a scaring dragon and kills it by the trick he devises. Though the two narratives are similar regarding the theme, there are notable differences between them. Investigating the mythical motifs of “Babr-e Bayan”, it can be said that it is amongst the epic versed works which enjoy an authentic and ancient narrative. Moreover, the exploration of such motifs shows that this story is older than “story of the shrew”. In other words, the themes and motifs of the latter have been taken from the narrative of the former.

Keywords

• Babr-e Bayan
• Rustam
• Babr
• e Bayan
• story of the shrew
• dragon
• Simorq