Motyw myszy w folklorze karaimskim z Krymu

This article provides a review of six versions of a song Sıçan (‘Mouse’) which can be found in the mejumas, i.e. Crimean Karaim collections of popular literature, together with an edition of three hitherto unpublished versions. This humorous ditty describes the damage caused by a malicious rodent. The oldest version can be dated precisely to 1864, while the latest appeared in 1964. The many differences in the sequence of stanzas, motifs and their details indicate that the content of the mejumas was most probably not transcribed (copied from one manuscript to another), but rather constitutes a written record of an oral performance either heard directly or based on memory. Striking similarities between the Crimean Karaim variants and the Crimean Tatar ones, as well as variants found in the popular repertoire of Anatolia and Balkans, especially the version recorded by I. Kúnos in 1880s, suggests that this particular song originates from Turkey and it appears very likely that Karaims who maintained particularly close religious, economic and also family ties with their co-believers in Istanbul may have been responsible for “importing” it from Turkey to Crimea.