STORIES DRAWN FROM THE MOTIFS OF THE EPIC KITABI-DƏDƏ QORQUD

The stories that hold a significant place in Mikayıl Rzaquluzadə’s artistic prose are primarily gathered in the collections At Dawn, The Swan Lake, and From Generations to Generations. The writer’s stories stand out for their richness of content, artistic depth, smooth and expressive language. These stories attract attention with their brevity, natural flow, and artistic weight, which stem from the traditions of oral folk literature. The smooth narrative technique, vivid imagery, and conciseness are some of the qualities that characterize stories written over different years, including A Leaf from the Plane Tree, The Lights Came On, In the Camp, Groundless Fears, Guarding Beauty, The Hawk, Namesakes, The Light of Dawn, Babak’s Oath, and A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower. The stories The Hawk, A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower, and Babak’s Oath are among the writer’s artistic achievements. It is well known that oral folk literature has served as a rich source of inspiration for many literary figures. The most powerful representatives of Azerbaijani literature have drawn from the wellspring of oral folk creativity to produce invaluable works of art. Similarly, Mikayıl Rzaquluzadə’s stories are closely tied to oral folk literature. In his stories, the writer has drawn on folk creativity, infused many folkloric motifs with new meaning and content, and created remarkable literary works that resonate with the modern era. These works play an important role in instilling moral values in children and in developing their language skills. This article focuses on the stories included in Mikayıl Rzaquluzadə’s book The Power of the People, which are entirely based on the episodes and plots of Kitabi-Dədə Qorqud. The stories in the book are presented under three headings: A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower, The Power of the People, and The Mad Ozan. The story A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower is based on the episode Dirsə Khan’s Son Buğac, The Power of the People is based on The Plundering of Qazan Khan’s Home, and The Mad Ozan is based on the episode of Bamsı Beyrək from KitabiDədə Qorqud. The section titled A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower consists of seven stories: The Hero’s Name; The Slanderer; The Hunt; A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower; The Messenger; A Father’s Love; Life for Life, Blood for Blood. The story A Mother’s Heart – A Mountain Flower tells of Azerbaijan’s heroic past, the patriotism of Oghuz warriors, their struggle against treacherous enemies, and the immense power of maternal love. Themes of devotion to the homeland, mother-child affection, and the fight against the enemy hold a central place in the story. Overall, in these stories based on the episodes of Kitabi-Dədə Qorqud, the author emphasizes conveying to the younger generation the historical destiny, struggles, geographical position, economic life, family customs, and linguistic heritage of the Azerbaijani people — all closely tied to this magnificent monument, which for a long time had been wrongly attributed to other nations, but in fact belongs to the Oğuznamə cycle of Azerbaijani epics.