Yer Demir Gök Bakır: Taşbaş Menkıbesi

Yer Demir Gök Bakır^【1】 novel attributes miracles to Taşbaş, which gradually become legendary, transforming Taşbaş into a mythical hero or a figure from a religious folk tale. In the sections where Kel Aşık appears, the oral tradition’s performance and transmission by minstrels are evident. During the narrative’s timeline, the transmission of the oral tradition and the formation process of Taşbaş’s story unfold simultaneously, creating a parallel. Kel Aşık’s function in the novel is both to establish this parallel and to foreshadow Taşbaş’s transformation into a legend. The narrative time of the novel coincides with the process of Taşbaş’s story’s formation. The emergence of oral tradition products progresses alongside Taşbaş’s attainment of sainthood. Thus, the formation process of oral tradition products becomes observable within the novel.

The novel reveals how stories rooted in the oral tradition develop. When examining how the miracles attributed to Taşbaş are produced, it becomes clear through which channels folk tales are generated. While other villagers cannot predict the outcomes of events without experiencing them, Taşbaş is more foresighted. As Taşbaş’s predictions—entirely grounded in logic—prove correct, the villagers come to believe he is a saint and therefore possesses foreknowledge. Events reach a point where the villagers even interpret Taşbaş’s statement, “As for Adil, he will come or he won’t,” as a miracle. They marvel at even this remark: “How could he know?”^【2】 With each event, the saintly status attributed to Taşbaş grows stronger, gradually endowing him with a legendary quality. In the passage from the book, “Now, at this very moment, Taşbaş was no longer in the village, not in his home. Taşbaş had lived a thousand years ago; he was the people of this village, these mountains.”^【3】 we see how Taşbaş becomes transformed into legend. Although he lived in that village on that day, his legendary status creates in the villagers’ minds the perception that he existed in the distant past. Thus, the miracles attributed to Taşbaş evolve into products of the oral tradition and become folk tales.

In Yer Demir Gök Bakır, the miracles attributed to Taşbaş arise from the villagers’ need for belief and trust. The reasons behind the behavior of the people of Yalak village can also be understood as the same reasons that lead to the creation of oral tradition products. The novel explicitly presents the motivation for producing these miracles through the mind of Muhtar Sefer:

The villager is slowly, day by day, pushed toward sainthood. The sole cause of this is Adil. In such moments, the villager searches for a branch to cling to. He clings to various branches, then lets them go. Finally, he grasps the one he believes is the strongest, and as he clings tighter, he surrenders everything to its power, seeking greater refuge. If he cannot find a branch, he creates one himself, then clings to it.^【4】

As shown in Muhtar Sefer’s thoughts, the villagers seek a branch to cling to in the face of the threat posed by Adil. The worldview of the people of Yalak village is also revealed in this passage. When unable to repay their debts to Adil, they are overwhelmed by fear and sorrow, unsure of what to do. They create their own branch of refuge by attributing sainthood to Taşbaş and clinging to him. The villagers are almost eagerly prepared to believe in the extraordinary. They wish to believe Taşbaş is a saint so that they may have someone to turn to for protection.

In Yer Demir Gök Bakır, as in oral tradition products, extraordinary elements are abundant. The novel employs elements resembling those found in myths, fairy tales, and folk tales. These extraordinary elements create a legendary atmosphere, and the villagers’ natural acceptance of them generates a fairy-tale ambiance. For instance, the belief that fairies live behind the rocks is a fairy-tale element. The adults’ belief that a golden door lies beneath a stone in the forest, and their journey to see it, is something that occurs in fairy tales. Similarly, Taşbaş’s miracles construct a legend. Thanks to the saintly status attributed to him, Taşbaş has become legendary. At this point, the story and reality become intertwined. For example, the universal acceptance and naturalization of Vurgun Ahmet’s claim that the fairy sultan is his maternal uncle is striking in this regard.^【5】

In the novel, we also observe how a legend or folk tale emerges through the legendary qualities attributed to Taşbaş. Performing miracles is a characteristic of epic and legendary figures. The everyday life of the people of Yalak village already provides a suitable foundation for the production of legends, as they are highly receptive to the extraordinary and treat it as normal. In fairy tales and folk tales, there is a clear dichotomy between good and evil; no character exists in between. In Yer Demir Gök Bakır, too, despite their actual wrongdoing, the people perceive themselves entirely through virtuous qualities: “Muhtar Sefer said: ‘There is no noble villager like ours. And on the face of the earth, no such beautiful people, such sincere souls, have ever existed.’”^【6】 Despite their capacity for evil, they attribute to themselves a fairy-tale-like goodness.