The Revenge Of Raped Nature: One-Eyed Giant/Tepegoz

Dede Korkut Stories**, contain significant traces of the shamanic beliefs found among the Oghuz people before Islam. In Shamanism, respect is always shown to earth/ water spirits which form the foundation of constructive relations between mankind and nature. The The water phenomena known as materia-prima in mythical thought are considered to be a result of occult and universal existential powers. In this respect, the pollution of water symbolizes the death of creative values and the beginning of chaos. In Dede Korkut stories, each time going beyond the preventative aspect of myth, nature, with her destructive face and as universal threat returns and wants to take revenge. The most typical representative of this threat is Tepegöz (One-Eyed Giant), who appears as a result of the pollution of Perili Pınar caused by a shepherd's mistake feeds on human flesh. The more the Oghuz People tries to solve this situation by physical power the bigger and the more complicated the problem becomes. Then Tepegöz becomes not just a disaster only for the Oghuz people but for the whole of humanity. Myth speaking through the Tepegöz symbol, tells us that the relation between mankind and nature is not a one way and unqualified fait-accopli, but rather it invites the whole of humanity to show respect towards other layers of being.

Keywords

Dede Korkut Stories, Water-cult, Materia-prima, environment and human-being, layer of being, Ontolog