«Orphanage» as one of initial motives of fairy tales and its mythological semantics

Abstract

One of the most widely spread genres of oral folklore is fairy tales. Fairy tales can begin with the
motives of infertility, blindness, old age, illness and etc. One of the beginning motives of Azerbaijani
fairy tales is orphanage. In the beginning of fairy tales the hero is describing as a lonely one. He has
only old grandmother. He is in a low social position, poor, always in anger. Orphan hero can make a
social collision arises in folk tale. The hero turns to the signifier of social ideals and his happy fate as the
means of realization of the ideal of people. This hero image is the transformation of initial ancestor. His
mythological origin related with cultural hero, neophyte which travelling to dead world. In some fairy
tales the orphan hero is also bald. Almost in all tales about bald hero he is orphaned. This luminous hero
shows unexpected bravado, or achieves his goal with the help of magic forces. Baldness attribute has a
demonic origin. The baldness of orphan hero is connected with resurrection, travel to the realm of dead.
Recent years in world cinema and literature one of the most famous bald hero is the Voldemort. He is
the main antagonist image of series novels about Harry Potter by Joanne Rowling. Harry Potter and lord
Voldemort are both orphans. The hero carrying both attributes is a hero with space knowledge, who has
crossed through initiation.