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Thematic Similarity or Influence Study: Sa'di and Boccaccio
The study of thematic similarities and influence of authors on each other is necessary because it helps us to understand their works much better. This paper, through the prism of comparative folklore, deals with thematic similarities between a poem from Sa’di and a story from Boccaccio, and answers the following questions: Can we consider the thematic similarity between Sa’di’s “The Arab Horse” and Boccaccio’s “The Falcon of Federigo” as an example of similarity or influence studies? Can it be regarded as an example of “International Tales”? Is it possible that they have a common source? Because of the historical-geographical closeness and the nexus of transmission (such as the Crusades, medieval Spain, or trade with the Levantine countries) Sa’di’s “The Arab Horse” and Boccaccio’s “The Falcon of Federigo”, unlike thematic similarities, can be regarded as an example of influence studies. Also, it cannot be regarded a kind of direct adaptation. In addition, Boccaccio’s familiarity with Sa’di’s poem, and even Ufi’s anecdote, is impossible. The two stories, possibly, are two different narratives of a “tale type” because they share great similarities in themes and the order of the events, so they may have one common source. In all possibilities, an original Arab oral or written narrative of the story went to Europe by Crusaders or through the Latin, as a lingua franca, and finally influenced Boccaccio.
 

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Metalepsis, in its narratological sense, is a trope in which an unnatural relationship is built between different levels of narrative. The natural relationship between narrative levels is formed by the act of narrating; a character from one level becomes the narrator of another. The term “Metalepsis of topic and illustration” can be coined to name a similar trope. This trope has been used for centuries in Persian poetry. Every Image comprises a topic and an illustration. The topic is what is being talked about and the illustration is what the topic is compared to. When several images are present along together, two different levels are distinguishable: the level of the topic and the level of illustration. The natural relationship between these two levels is similarity and any other relationship will result in metalepsis. As in the narratological metalepsis, there is always a paradox in the metalepsis of topic and illustration. The effect of these two kinds of metalepsis is also similar and can be humorous, fantastic, or a mixture of the two.

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Qodrat Qasemipour. PH.D
Arash Azarpanah
Abstract
This article revolves round the features and types of contemporary short allegorical tales. In the contemporary literary tales, each of the authors have made use of techniques of contemporary story telling while also benefitting from ancient narration approaches and techniques such as figurative speech. The contemporary authors, based on their aesthetical goals, and at times for the purpose of concealing their critical concepts, have resorted to figurative speech. Meanwhile, there are structural and theme-related differences between the ancient and contemporary allegorical tales. In ancient allegorical tales, the author or the poet usually presents an interpretation of the allegory at the end of the allegorical tale. However, the contemporary story writers leave attainment of an understanding of the allegorical tales to readers. The contemporary authors precisely study and narrate the initial layer of the story, which is usually not the case in ancient allegorical tales. The ancient narrative authors and poets made use of the allegory to teach and reinforce their thoughts and ideas, while the contemporary authors make use of allegories in order to present social, political, and philosophical criticisms. The contemporary short allegorical talks, based on their narration structure and literary type, are divided into realistic short figurative tales, figurative tales based on magical realism, fables, figurative tales, and satirical figurative tales. The majority of themes of theses contemporary short allegorical tales revolve round social and political topics, which have been narrated based on a critical and at times bitter outlooks.
 

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Fereshteh Rostami

Abstract
 
The point of view is a window which is opened by the author for the reader for the latter to pay a glance at the events unfolding throughout the tale. The narrator is valued and treasured as long as he maintains his own voice. Whenever the narrator turns autonomous, the narration is harmed and the tale becomes unilateral.
This report has been carried out within the framework of categorization made by George Genette, within which five points of view in the stories authored by Daneshvar have been assessed. This article intends to realize that up to what extent the point of view in these tales has impacted the means used by the narrator and in regard to which point of view, the author has rarely interfered in the story. This article has come to realize that there are two types of voice in the said tales. Firstly, it is the voice of character or narrator which builds up the inner-text voices, and secondly there are the trans-contextual voices which are added to the text. In some points of view, there exist trans-contextual voices, and in other parts, inner-contextual voices are maintained.
The collection of data has taken place upon the assistance of library techniques. This process has been assessed with the descriptive-analytical methodology. At the end, the statistical graph will display the point of view and the scattered trans-contextual voice in texts.
 
 

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This article explores the semiotic approach, as a post-structuralist method, for analyzing folktales, with a specific focus on the story of "Haji Luva'as." In contrast to the structuralist approach, which primarily examines fixed and variable elements, as well as the thirty-one functions and seven spheres of action, the semiotic approach, particularly rooted in Greimas-2, delves deeper by considering the underlying meanings and concepts. This approach illustrates how the semiotic square becomes evident in the narrative syntax on the surface level. Subsequently, these deep and surface structures are realized in discourse syntax, contributing to the development of discursive meaning. Greimas-2 aims to construct discursive meaning through semiotic analysis while acknowledging the limitations of structuralist semiotics, viewing them as "meaning deficiencies." This article seeks to provide an analytical and explanatory response to the question of what unique characteristics the semiotic approach brings to the examination of folktales and how it differs from a purely descriptive and structuralist approach.

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Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY- NC) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

“The Tale of King Numan and His Sons” is one of the captivating and multi-layered stories from the One Thousand and One Nights collection. On its surface layer, the tale portrays the historical theme of war between Muslims and Christians. Zat al-Dawahi, the main female character, disguised as a male religious figure, conceals her gender and religion, deceiving the Muslim army. Socially, the story primarily focuses on her feminine cunning, ultimately leading to her comeuppance. However, on a deeper layer, when viewed through an archetypal lens, the tale reflects the societal lack of anima (the feminine element) and illustrates the collective conscious and unconscious fragmentation, confirming this theme through the rule of two kings over one realm at the tale’s end. The descriptive-analytical research method based on library sources has been employed. Archetypally, Zat al-Dawahi is a negative “anima (exemplary mother)” who, at times throughout the story, dons a “veil” and vividly illustrates the societal shadows. Albeit, with a slight change in perspective on the roles and positions of characters, she can also be considered a “trickster hero”. Zat al-Dawahi represents the women of her society: those whose feminine traits (love) have been disregarded in a patriarchal system and marginalized. Consequently, her masculine element (animus) is activated, and due to her animosity, she manifests herself as vengeful, fearless, ruthless, and cunning.

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Alexander Pushkin, the renowned writer of the 19th century and the golden age of Russian literature, has presented original and unparalleled works to world literature with his unique literary style and language. In the present study, after elucidating the theory of intertextuality by Gerard Genette and considering the requirements of this theory and employing the method of content and thematic analysis along with comparative reading of narrative elements, the famous tale “The Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” by Alexander Pushkin, the illustrious poet of the 19th century Russia, has been scrutinized and critiqued. The analysis indicates that Pushkin's tale has intertextual relationships with numerous texts including three tales: “Sleeping Princess” by Vasily Zhukovsky, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by the Brothers Grimm, and “Sleeping Beauty” by Charles Perrault. In other words, it serves as an echo of its predecessors. The comparative critique and analysis of these tales, besides confirming structural and narrative similarities among them, suggests that they all share a common underlying theme despite their Russian adaptations: a beautiful girl cursed by envy or revenge falls into a deep sleep but is ultimately rescued and the tale ends happily. The intertextual relationships between the tales leave no doubt about their intertextuality for Pushkin's tale, although Pushkin, by adhering to Russian narrative traditions, has deviated from mere imitation and infused the Russian spirit into this tale.
 

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Archetype criticism is a combined and interdisciplinary approach that shows how the collective unconscious of Jung is present in literary works. Similarly, folk literature is considered one of the most appropriate manifestations of archetypes. In line with this principle, the Taleb and Zohreh system is one of the indigenous stories that emerged from the folk culture of Mazandaran, and among the common people of Mazandaran, some have considered this lyrical system to be the story of Taleb Amoli, a famous poet of the Indian style. Considering the similarities observed between this system and archetypes, this study examines it based on archetype criticism using quantitative and qualitative analysis methods and based on the views of Carl Gustav Jung, and the extent and manner in which the poet uses archetypes such as anima, mask, shadow, travel, and water are measured.
Literature review
The Taleb and Zohreh poetry has not been studied with the approach of archetype criticism so far; however, there are some related studies such as Falah (2012), Majd (2006), and Mehdipour (2013).

Research questions
The following research questions were raised:
Which archetypes are more prominent in the Taleb and Zohreh poetry?
From the perspective of archetype criticism, what analysis can be provided for the archetypes manifested in the Taleb and Zohreh poetry?

Hypotheses
Among the most important archetypes used in the Taleb and Zohreh system, we can mention anima, travel, mask, shadow, and water, which appear more in this story and can be searched and examined from the perspective of archetype criticism in this work. Many of the ideas used in the Taleb and Zohreh system are examples of archetypes that largely correspond to global patterns. It seems that the poet intended to use these elements to better advance the story and explain the story better, and thus have a greater impact on the audience.

Data collection
The data collection for this article was carried out using the analytical-descriptive method and through library studies.

Analysis and discussion
Today, with the emergence of new branches of literary criticism, various approaches to reading literary texts have been formed, which makes it possible to analyze various dimensions of the text and expand the scope of understanding the meaning of the text. One of these approaches is archetypal criticism, which is the result of

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In recent years, changes in catchments water balance due to land use management have become the main concern of water resources authorities in Iran. Due to rapid population growth and land use changes, especially construction of Taleghan dam, Taleghan catchment has undergone rapid changes such as urban development, declining of rangelands, and deterioration of environment and erosion of soil resources by cultivating the hilly lands along the slopes for wheat or barely production. The extent of rangeland area shrinkage is substantial: from 83% during the early stages of dam construction down to 35% by the end of the study period. The ‘good’ rangeland area decreased to 5.90% from 34.49% while the poor rangeland increased from 19.04 to 23.35% during the period of 1987 to 2007. These changes could potentially have devastating impacts on water balance of the catchment. The main objective of this research was to examine the effects of land use changes on water balance of the Taleghan catchment before and after the dam construction. The Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) model was applied for predicting water balance in the middle and outlet of the catchment. The main input data for simulation of SWAT are Digital Elevation Model (DEM), soil type, soil properties, and hydro-climatological data. Comparing the water balance for 1987's land use for the middle station (Joestan) and the outlet station (Galinak) showed that surface runoff was 21% of the precipitation for the upper part of the catchment and 33% at the outlet. Total groundwater and lateral flows were 37 and 19%, respectively. The water balance at the outlet was predicted for two other scenarios of 2001 and 2007. The results showed 7.3% increase in surface runoff and 11.3 and 11% decrease in the lateral flow and groundwater flow, respectively. These results indicated progressive increase in surface runoff and decline in interflow and groundwater flow.Therefore, one of the main challenges facing development planners is the control of the accelerated degradation of the natural resources that has been taking place during the last decade.

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The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine pre-university talented students’ perceptions, strategy use, and challenges of reading comprehension section of the university entrance exam and to investigate the difference between low and high-achieving talented readers in strategy use and attitudes to reading. The participants were 121 EFL students at pre-university centers for talented students in Borujen, Iran. The instruments were three questionnaires on reading strategy, reading attitude, and reading difficulty followed by five open-ended questions. The results revealed that talented students used metacognitive strategies more than affective and cognitive strategies; most talented readers had positive attitude to reading; and their most frequent challenges were insufficient vocabulary knowledge, inability to adapt their speed to allotted time, decentralization, and ineffective study. The results of backward stepwise binary logistic regression also indicated that high and low achieving talented readers were different in retrieval and anxiety-coping strategy use and reading self-efficacy. The findings have implications for teachers of talented students to consider their diversities and orient their teaching toward individual characteristics through providing instructional varieties.
 

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Abstract
The present article reviews the book “National Identity in the Folk Tales of the Safavid Period” by Mohammad Hanif. In the introduction to this 317-page book, the author claims that the main purpose of research is to find different aspects of Iranian national identity in Safavid folk tales and then claims that after examining the issue of identity, the author will try to study the texts.  Answer questions about identity. Mohammad Hanif has well understood the issue of the importance of identity in the Safavid era and its connection with the stories of this period and tries to represent this issue in the book National Identity in the folk tales of the Safavid period. But there are fundamental flaws in his work, four of the most important of which will be mentioned in the aricle.

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"Fairy tales" are considered one of the popular narrative and literary genres in the world. The global spread of these stories is such that reaching a convinced and comprehensive theory about the origin of fairy tales has been associated with many challenges and difficulties, as well as the views expressed in this field also face many challenges and problems. The widespread popularity of these stories in Indo-European cultures, and the existence of similar narrative patterns, elements and functions in these stories are other issues that show the necessity of research to explain the narrative and historical origins of fairy tales. In this article, in order to analyze the narrative and historical origins of the formation of fairy tales; the problem of the ancient spread and dissemination of these stories in Indo-European cultures; ritual and epistemic functions of these stories in these cultures and its connection with the cultural and ritual foundations of the Indo-European peoples, relying on the narrative, ritual and mythological evidence, we investigate and analyze the origins of the formation of fairy tales. The results of the research show that the primary origin of the formation of fairy tales goes to "the second millennium BC"; That is, it goes back to the period of confrontation between the Indo-European peoples in Iran, Asia Minor and Europe with the native cultures and rituals of the lands they migrated to, as a common narrative and epistemological system can be seen in these stories, which had an educational function with a political-ideological approach for their audience and in connection with the young or adult audience, they have had their own special narrative and cultural form and function. Also, the long-term and ancient continuation of these stories has been the source of the formation of some narratives such as exogamy.
Extended Abstract
Fairy tales are among the important literary genres in Indo-European cultures. Similar meanings and derivations of the concept 'fairy' in Indo-European languages, as well as the presence of relatively common narrative elements, motifs, functions, and narrative structures in these tales, indicate a common narrative and epistemological system in these stories. Given the global spread of these tales in Indo-European cultures, this indicates the very old age of this narrative and epistemological system in these stories. One of the significant challenges in the field of fairy tale studies is understanding the narrative and historical origins of these stories. In this article, relying on various narrative, historical and mythological evidences, the narrative and historical origins of the formation of fairy tales are investigated and analyzed. In this study, we try to find out the reason for the ancient spread of fairy tales in Indo-European cultures; the relation between the intellectual and epistemological system of these stories with the cultural and ritual foundations of Indo-European peoples; and the ritual and epistemological functions of these narratives in these cultures, so that finally a historical and narrative origin can be considered as the origin of the formation of fairy tales.
Before the dominance of Indo-European immigrant tribes in the regions of Greece, Asia Minor and Iran, the Mesopotamia civilization with a history of five thousand years BC, as one of the oldest origins of human civilization and one of the most important origins of the systematic rituals of goddesses in the ancient world, had significant effects on religious systems in Iran, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and even Central Asia and parts of Europe. Archaeological evidence shows that in Iranian societies before the Aryans (under the influence of Mesopotamian rituals) there have been rituals of worshiping female gods. The dominance of Indo-European peoples over Greece and Asia Minor in the second millennium BC and later Iran in the first millennium BC played an important role in the evolutions of the ancient world, especially in Iran and its surrounding lands. The belief of the Indo-European peoples in gods with the characteristics of order, treaty and militarism with male characteristics; their tendency towards social centralism and descentism based on their own cultural-ideological characteristics, gave them different cultural and ritual characteristics, which was in conflict with the cultural and ritual foundations of the natives of their migration destination. On the other hand, close to the age of arrival of the first branches of the Aryan peoples in the Asia Minor, significant political and ideological developments had also begun in the Mesopotamia, as parallel to the concentration and consolidation of powers in the Mesopotamian states, and the transformation of city-states into larger states and the rise of the powerful states of Assyria and Babylon, a gradual transformation from subjectivity to objectivity and centralism occurred in ancient discourses and ideologies, which altogether, it was accompanied by the increasing decline of matrilineal rituals and cultures related to goddesses and the predominance of rituals and cultures related to male gods. One of the oldest forms of these cultural developments can be seen in the Sumerian narrative "The Tale of Gilgamesh" (which is the oldest surviving written epic from about 4175 years ago). This story is one of the primary forms of cultural transformation of an ancient goddess (i.e. Ishtar: the powerful goddess of Mesopotamia and Syria).
The continuation of these developments has played an important role in the political (and later cultural) domination of Indo-European peoples in the lands of their immigration destination. In fact, the secret of the gradual dominance of the less advanced Indo-Europeans over the advanced and long-lasting civilizations of the lands of their migration destination lies in the deep political-social-cultural changes in the ancient world and the increasing decline of the cultural and civilizational energy of the cultures related to the goddesses and the alignment of these changes with the cultural-ideological foundations of the Aryans. In total, factors such as: the ritual and cultural confrontations of the Indo-European peoples with the native rituals around the goddesses in the local communities of their migration destination; Trying to overcome the native communities (especially considering the specific descentism and authoritarianism that was hidden in the culture and ideology of the Aryans) and also the effort to preserve own ritual and cultural foundations in the face of the ancient and influential rituals of goddesses, provided the ground for ritual and ideological confrontations with the cultures and rituals of the natives in the Indo-European narratives. In these narratives, the nature of goddesses (through conceptual and ideological transformation) was transformed into a demonic and harmful nature (in the form of the concept of "fairy"). Among these, Zoroastrian texts have a special place. Iran's proximity to Mesopotamia caused that religion and culture of the Aryan immigrants in Iran to be directly confronted with the influential Mesopotamian rituals. In Zoroastrian texts (such as Yashthā, Vandidād, Bondahesh, and Dinkard) in many cases the name of fairy appears in the ranks of demonic creatures and enemies of Minavī creations. According to their ideological basis, these religious and ritual narratives have played a very important role in the formation of the narrative and epistemological system of fairy tales, such as the origin of the functions, main elements and identity components (such as: the demonic nature of the fairy) in fairy tales (and their changed forms in epic narratives and romances) can be found in these religious and ritual narratives.
Based on this, the historical origin of the narrating fairy tales' date backs to the "Second Millennium BC"; which means to the period of the beginning of the encounter between the Indo-European peoples in Iran, Asia Minor and Europe with the native cultures and customs of their destination lands of migration. In fact, the secret of the common structures and motifs of fairy tales in Indo-European cultures, on the one hand, goes back to the cultural and ritual foundations of the Indo-European peoples and on the other hand, to the confrontation of these peoples with the cultures and rituals of the natives of the lands they migrated to, which have been in opposition to the religion and culture of the Indo-European peoples, especially in the regions of Iran, Asia Minor and Europe, which faced the influence of Mesopotamian religions from far or near. Therefore, the Indo-European branches that immigrated to Iran (which were adjacent to the Mesopotamia) played an important role in the creation and expansion of these stories, as well as among the ritual narratives of the Indo-European cultures, the highest frequency of confrontation and enmity with fairies is seen in Zoroastrian texts.
The narrative pattern of fairy tales is based on a "fundamental educational doctrine". It has been an organized and widespread effort in Indo-European cultures based on their political-ideological tendencies and interests in dealing with indigenous peoples. The ideological basis of all these narratives is the "alienization" of fairies (=Goddesses) and then describing and defining them as alien and demonic beings that distance the hero from the traditions and religious and moral teachings of his society and culture, and one should stay away from them, as the Avestan word "Pairïkä", which Bartholomew considered to be the main root of the concept of "Fairy" in Indo-European languages, in addition to meaning "female procreative and fertile", also means "alien and foreigner". These narratives functioned as an effective educational media in the ancient world and were a way to moral and ritual education to children, teenagers and young audiences. The popularity and wide spread of these stories and their various appearances in religious and literary narratives shows the wide-ranging effort of the ancient narrators to confrontation the very old and influential rituals of the goddesses.
In transformed narratives of fairies such as the stories of Zāl & Rudābeh, Rostam & Tahmineh, and Kaikāvus & Sudābeh the role of fairy as a "woman from a foreign land" (and in a more completely transformed form: from a society or a class opposite to the society or class of the hero, even with an ideology opposite to the hero's ideology) is another form of the fairy's belonging to the "other" and rejected world, which is strange to the self-conscious "I" of the hero. This category is one of the old patterns in the narrative structure of stories based on exogamy in literary works.
 

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One of the parts of the stories of One Thousand and One Nights is the story of the "Jewish tailor and the hunchback". In this section, it is mentioned that a Jewish person was worried about unintentionally causing the death of a hunchback and was afraid that if the Muslims found out about his work, they would "remove the Jewish generation from the earth". "Violence" can be observed in this passage. In a comparative approach, in order to find the roots of this phrase, this article has gone through several versions and translations of the stories of the Thousand and One Nights and has come to the conclusion that the sentence in question did not exist in its Persian root before it was translated into Arabic, and when it was translated again from Arabic to Farsi has been added to it. When the version of One Thousand and One Nights was under Arab control and Harun al-Rashid took possession of it, this sentence was also added to it sooner or later; That is, there was no such sentence in its original version.
Extended abstract
One Thousand and One Nights is one of the important sources, it is a long story, rich in history, mysterious and wonderful, which contains various roots of Iranian, Indian and Arab literature and culture. Due to the vastness and complex nature of this collection of stories, a specific author cannot be defined for it, and the correct theory is that the Thousand and One Nights, whenever it was under the domination and rule of a government throughout history, was changed by that government and It has increased and decreased. Perhaps, not assigning it to a specific author and a specific culture and civilization is one of the most important reasons for this chaos and the ease of changing the content of One Thousand and One Nights.
Fortunately, one of the things that can be seen in this collection of stories, and the following article was written with this in mind, is a sentence that can be seen in the story of the hunchbacked man and the Jewish tailor. The story is that when the Jewish tailor and his wife put food in the hunchback's mouth as a joke and he chokes because of the large bite, they say out of fear and worry that if the Muslims find out about this, they will wipe out the Jewish generation.
This passage contained a type of anti-Semitism and it seemed that this passage was added to it in one of the manipulations that have been carried out throughout history in One Thousand and One Nights.
After adapting the Persian versions and proving that this sentence did not exist in the Persian original, which was the traditional version before it was translated into Arabic, but today there are few traces of it, and after the thousand and one nights went into Arabic and From there it was translated into Farsi, and this sentence also appeared in it, it is concluded that this anti-Semitic passage of one thousand and one nights did not exist in its Persian original and after being translated from Arabic, it has this passage.
 

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The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship of knowledge sharing in organization on the success of talent management system with considering the social capital in petroleum industry. The main question in this article is "How can we implement TM and knowledge sharing by using their relationship"? The results showed that it happens via social capital. For this purpose, 3 questionnaires for evaluating TM, knowledge sharing and SC were distribute among 174 of human resource managers and experts in the staff divisions of Iranian National Petroleum Company and its affiliated branches located in Tehran by using randomized classification method. Finally, 62 people with sample formula were selected. Among them, 57 were returned (35% of the population). Analysis of data via structural equation model (SEM) supported the mediator role of SC on the relationship between TM and knowledge sharing variables. It means that focus on social capital and employing it in organizations can affect the success of implementing TM and knowledge sharing variables in organizations.