ABSTRACT
The six performances of Mār Čučeh (The Snake Chick) 1 which are discussed in this chapter are the product of a visit to my principal female informant, Mādar Zāher, by her half-sister’s mother-in-law, Tājwar, known as Adī. The two women knew each other prior to this visit. Adī lives with her second husband in the town of Anār Darreh, six or more hours by paved road and jeep track from Herat. (Travel time depends on weather, with roads becoming impassable for varying periods during the winter.) Adī could not count on making a second visit to Herat during the year I planned to be there, so we tried during that two-month visit to record all of the stories she could remember, a total of only ten.
