Religious and Folkloric Parallels in a Hebrew-Script Karaim Tale: The Golden Cup
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines religious and folkloric parallels in The Golden Cup, a tale preserved in a Hebrew-script Karaim miscellany. Its focus is the narrative function of selected objects, characters, settings, and episodes, and the degree to which these elements can be compared with Jewish, Christian, and Islamic narratives. A text-centered procedure distinguishes close narrative correspondences from functional analogies and broader symbolic associations. The blood-stained garment provides a particularly precise comparison with the Joseph narrative, while the wealth-producing cup invites comparison with stories of extraordinary provision. The fish, the anonymous bearded man, the garden, delayed recognition, and reconciliation require more qualified interpretations because their functions differ across the examples examined. Istanbul provides the tale with a historically plausible setting for commerce and encounter, but its presence does not establish the origin or transmission of the motifs. The analysis identifies comparative relationships within this particular written witness; it does not demonstrate direct borrowing, a historical mechanism of interfaith exchange, or a shared communal memory across religious traditions. The tale is read as a narrative organized around changing fortune, ownership, deception, recognition, and the restoration of family relations.
Source: Religions
DOI: 10.3390/rel17101209
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W7221829892