Keloğlan (Turkish language: 'bald boy') is a fictional character that appears in Turkic mythology and Altaic mythology, Fairy tale and similar folkloric narratives.
In folklore
A well-known character in
Turkish folklore, Keloğlan, also known as
keleşoğlan, has the problem of being bald from birth.
Despite an ugly outer appearance, he is still a clever and lucky character.
[Walker, Barbara K. The Art of the Turkish Tale. Volume 1. Texas: Texas Tech University, 1990. p. 244. .] He represents the characteristics of the Anatolian people.
His main characteristics are his honesty, bravery, helpfulness, cunning and sometimes gullibility. Usually appearing as the son of a poor couple or a poor women or the grandchild of an old woman Keloglan seems to be clumsy and lazy at the beginning however as the events of the story unfold it is revealed that he is actually cunning, brave and skillful as he overcomes obstacles that are not expected from someone like him.
Names
The character appears in the folklore of the
Turkic peoples.
[Стеблева, Ия Васильевна. Турецкие сказки. Сост., пер. с турецк., вступит. статья и примеч. И.В. Стеблевой. Moskva: Наука, 1986. p. 378 (notes to tale nr. 12).] Aside from his presence in
Anatolia, the character is also known as
Taşza Bala in
Kazakhstan,
Keçel, Keçel Memed or
Keçel Yeğen in
Azerbaijan;
Keçeloğlan in
Kirkuk;
Kelcebatır in
Turkmenistan;
Tazoğlan in
Crimea;
Tas or
Tasarakay among
Altai people;
Keçel in
Iran and as
Kel Kafalı Kaz Çobanı in Georgian stories. Similarly, the character is also named
Kecelok among the Kurdish of
Mardin and
Kure Käcäl among the Azerbaijani Kurdish.
Parallels
French folklorist
Paul Delarue noted that Keloglan corresponded to the Western (French) hero
Le Teigneux, a youth of lowly status and/or ugly appearance that saves the day and wins the princess.
[Delarue, Paul. (1954). Review. In: Arts et Traditions Populaires, 2(2), 177. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41002386]
Major stories
Keloglan-like characters appears frequently in Turkish fairy tales. According to
Tahir Alangu, there are 15 types of main Keloglan stories; however, today there are countless more fairy tales that are told or written as a Keloglan story. Some of these are stories that are attributed to Keloglan by the author themselves.
Some fairy tales that Keloglan appears as the main character are as follows:
-
Keloglan and Kose
-
Keloglan and His Sibling
-
Open, O Table
-
Keloglan Buys Nothing
-
The Reward of the Cat, Dog and the Snake
-
The Alicengiz Game
-
Keloglan Revives the Dead
-
Keloglan and the Bathouse Attendant
-
The Beardless Miller
-
The Dead That Got Thrown Out of the Chimney
-
The Giant and Keloglan
-
Keloglan and His Crow
-
The Giantess and Keloglan
-
Keloglan and the Giants
-
The Crippled Giant
Popular culture
Stories about him were staged by Fisko Birlik, Danone Çocuk Tiyatroları and many special societies many times and attracted a lot of attention and applause.
The Turkish state-operated children's TV channel, TRT Çocuk, aired a series titled Keloğlan Masalları from 2008 to 2016, in which the original storyline was partially retained and largely reimagined.
Also, his tale was serialized by Necdet Şen in his comic book Hizli Gazeteci in 1989 at Cumhuriyet newspaper. In 1991, Remzi Bookstore published a book telling a story about him not being able to fit in and having to make a choice between the rules and his own principles.
Further reading
-
Özdemir, Hasan. "Kahlkopf". In: Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online
Accessed 2023-02-16.
External links
