The present study examines the relationship and overlap between narrative structure and implicit meaning in Bakhtiari folktales. Employing an integrative approach that combines the theories of Vladimir Propp and Algirdas Greimas, and based on a descriptive-analytical narrative method, this research seeks to merge Propp’s functional model for analyzing narrative functions with Greimas’s semiotic–semantic system at the level of meaning and cultural signification. The findings indicate that the actantial structure of Bakhtiari tales, while preserving certain functional patterns of Propp, is more deeply linked to a network of semantic relations and Greimasian actantial roles. Characters act beyond mere narrative functions, and their behaviors and decisions can be analyzed within the semiotic structure of meaning. The study demonstrates that the transition from the actantial system to the semiotic (shushi) system occurs both at the level of character functions and semantic implications. The results suggest that in Bakhtiari tales, the actantial structure and the semantic system of the narrative interact in a complex manner, such that the sequence of functions and the hero’s actions align with the processes of meaning-making and character transformation, enabling the representation of cultural values and moral teachings. This overlap between form and meaning ensures narrative coherence and the effective transmission of ethical and social messages in Bakhtiari folktales.