Abstract
The fairy tales of the Turkic peoples are texts of cultural memory that preserve the traces of millennia-long transformations in belief and civilization. These tales demonstrate that the ancient Shamanic cosmology (Three Worlds) has been preserved through elements such as vertical journeys and the motif of the Tree of Life, yet reinterpreted in the Islamic period as the “Tree of Saints.” The strongest form of syncretism appears in the merging of the Shamanic wise spirit, the archetype of the White-Bearded Elder, with the figure of Khidr, representing both a sacred savior and the Islamic saintly cult. Structural elements such as formulistic numbers (three, seven, forty) have maintained the sacred symbolism of both belief systems, forming the foundation of the narrative. This hybrid structure ensured the spiritual continuity of Turkic identity.