Mahteti
Type
Change log
Authors
Abstract
Materials collected during field research for a D.Phil (Oxford University) in Iran in 1974 and 1975/6, and during short return visits in 1992, 1995, 1996. Audio recordings include: folk stories, music and songs, rituals, people’s own historical recollections.
Description
This metil is a story about a poor man who had 7 daughters. He couldn’t afford to keep them and his wife says take them into the mountains. He gets them to collect hawthorn berries and leaves them. They find the house of a giant, and when he wants to eat them, Mahteti, the smallest one, cleverly tricks him into giving her horses, grape treacle (shireh) and clarified butter (roghan) and they get away. The story would take several evenings to recount. She marries the son of the king, and ends up going home. It gives children a picture of how clever and brave a young girl can be.