REFLECTION

Grandmother's tales. Fragment. Artist V.M. Maksimov. 1867.

UDC 293.21:821.16

Shtemberg A.S.

Heroes of Russians folk tales: who are they and why do they behave this way and not otherwise?

Shtemberg Andrey Sergeevich, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Department of Experimental Biology and Medicine of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation - Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Email: [email protected]

The article is devoted to the mythological and ritual roots of the images of heroes of traditional Russian fairy tales (Ivan Tsarevich, Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Zmey Gorynych).

Keywords: Russian folk tales, fairy-tale heroes, Ivan Tsarevich, Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Serpent Gorynych, magical helper, clan system, matriarchy, totem, magic, kingdom of the living and kingdom of the dead.

Russian folk tales... From early childhood, all of us were immersed in their amazing, unlike anything else and often very mysterious world. From the same early childhood, we learned that a fairy tale is a fiction, that in it good always wins, and evil is certainly punished, and nevertheless we followed with excitement the adventures of fairy-tale heroes. The most attentive of those who, having grown older, did not stop reading and rereading fairy tales, probably noticed that they are all built according to strictly defined rules. Despite their seemingly enormous diversity, the plots of fairy tales are repeated all the time, and fairy-tale heroes constantly wander from one fairy tale to another, though sometimes under different names.

You may also have noticed some oddities in the behavior of fairy-tale characters, which often contradict logic and common sense. So, for example, for some reason parents send or take their children into a dense forest to be eaten by some fairy-tale evil spirits, Baba Yaga, this evil spirit and cannibal, for no apparent reason helps Ivan Tsarevich, whom the gray wolf sees for the first time in his life , having gobbled up Ivan Tsarevich's horse, instead of eating it himself, he suddenly begins to serve him faithfully and meekly clears out all the troubles caused by his disobedience... This list of fairy-tale absurdities (from our modern point of view) could go on and on. Many collectors of folk tales have noticed that the narrator himself is often perplexed by the

waters the motives of the actions of his heroes, even sometimes tries to somehow explain them from the point of view of our modern logic, but, as a rule, this cannot be done without violating the basic scheme of the fairy-tale narrative. After all main feature fairy tales and their difference from other author’s literary genres are that they reflect not the narrator’s personal perception of the world, but the common thing that unites him with all people. It was this feature that allowed the fairy tale to retain echoes ancient beliefs, customs and rituals. After all, fairy tales, especially fairy tales, are terribly ancient, they are rooted in primitive society, when people lived in a primitive communal tribal system. And then both people’s ideas about the world around them and the rules of their behavior were completely different. It is with this that the strange, as it seems to us, features of the behavior of fairy-tale heroes are connected. And despite the fact that in these fairy tales there are kings and kings, soldiers and generals (after all, storytellers, retelling fairy tales for centuries, of course, outwardly modernized the heroes), they are imbued with the worldview of primitive man, for whom the nature surrounding him was incomprehensible, mysterious and complete unexpected dangers: the Tsar's daughter was walking in the garden, suddenly a three-headed Serpent (a whirlwind of an unidentified nature, Koschey the Immortal) flew in and carried the princess to the thirtieth kingdom... And now Ivan Tsarevich sets off in search... And he knows where to go, that speak and how to behave in the most incredible fairy-tale situations. Where? What is this, the thirtieth kingdom? Who are its permanent inhabitants - Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Zmey Gorynych? Where did they come from? Why do they behave this way and not otherwise in all fairy tales? Surely all these questions arose while reading fairy tales. We will try to answer them in our essay. The fact is that all these heroes come from there, from the world of primitive man, and their behavior is determined by his ideas, beliefs and customs. Indeed, fairy-tale heroes are unique; they are not found anywhere else - neither in myths nor in heroic epic, nor in legends. There are absolutely no characters from Russian myths and legends in fairy tales - all these brownies, goblins, mermans, mermaids, barnacles, kikimoras and others - ideas about them were formed much later. They are talked about in bylichki - a special type of Russian folklore that is not similar to fairy tales. And fairy-tale heroes are much older - let’s try to trace their genealogy, understand their behavior and actions.

Ivan Tsarevich

Ivan Tsarevich is the main positive hero of most fairy tales. Occasionally, however, he appears under other names - Vasily Tsarevich or Dmitry Tsarevich, - sometimes he is replaced by characters of lower origin - Ivan the merchant or peasant son, or even Ivan Bykovich

He is the illegitimate offspring of a cow, but his essence, his fairy-tale role and the nature of his actions do not change. Therefore, let us, without taking into account his social origin, call him by the most common name - Ivan the Tsarevich, meaning the main fairy-tale hero who overcomes all obstacles and marries the princess at the end of the fairy tale.

So, who is Ivan Tsarevich? Let's start from the very beginning - with the birth of the hero. First of all, he - as a rule, younger son in family. Why? Apparently, the point is that in the generic primitive society it was the youngest son who was the keeper and heir of family property, orders and traditions, because he remained in the family the longest. Older brothers, as a rule, went to the family of their mother's brother. Over time, with the collapse of primitive communal relations and the emergence of paternal (patriarchal) law and a large patriarchal family, the situation changed. The separation of older brothers began to be viewed as fragmentation and weakening of the family, destruction of the common cause and squandering of family property. Therefore, the right of inheritance was revised in favor of the eldest sons. So the youngest son found himself offended and destitute - it’s not for nothing that many fairy tales about three brothers begin with the death of the father and the division of property, in which the youngest gets almost or nothing at all. Naturally, in fairy tales that preserve the most ancient ideas, all sympathies are on his side - he acts as the guardian and defender of the primordial family principles, while his brothers are their destroyers. Therefore, our hero embodies the ideal of ideas about the virtues of a person of primitive communism - he is unselfish, trusting, respectful to elders, while the brothers are the focus of the qualities that destroyed this society: commitment to profit, selfishness, treachery. Probably as the keeper of the family hearth and tribal traditions he also provides himself with the protection of mythical forces - the spirits of the maternal family, who help him in further adventures. His close relationship with animals, who also willingly help him, is also connected to this. The fact is that the matriarchal clan system was associated with ideas about animal totems - the ancestors and patrons of the tribe. Let us pay attention to one more feature of the birth of our hero: in some fairy tales it is a magical birth. Thus, in the fairy tale “Ivan Bykovich,” the queen, the cook and the cow give birth to three heroic boys after eating a magic fish - the golden-finned ruff. Fish in the minds of primitive man was associated with getting rid of infertility due to its incredible fertility and life in water, fertilizing surrounding nature. So already some circumstances of the birth of Ivan Tsarevich indicate that he is not an entirely simple person. Let's note this and move on.

The next stage of our hero’s biography (childhood and adolescence are skipped, and why stop there?

After all, he is growing by leaps and bounds) - receiving a magical assistant. This is the most important stage, after which

Ivan Tsarevich on a gray wolf. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1889.

Ivan Tsarevich is at a crossroads. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

which he is no longer becoming a simple person, then his business goes like clockwork, and the success of the enterprise is guaranteed.

This is where the most interesting part of the tale and the greatest variety of situations are. Let's try to look at the most typical ones. How does it all begin? Sometimes brothers decide to get married and shoot arrows - where the arrow falls, there the bride will be (“The Frog Princess”). Quite a strange, in our opinion, way of choosing a wife, isn’t it? We can assume two reasons for the occurrence of this incomprehensible action: one is fortune telling, the faith of primitive man in fate; the second is due to the fact that the arrow (symbol of lightning) was associated with fertilizing rain and was used by the ancient Slavs in the wedding ceremony as a sign of fertility and a weapon sanctifying the marriage union. Here the brothers marry ordinary (and rather clumsy) women, and Ivan Tsarevich receives a magical assistant in the person of the frog princess.

In other cases, the father of the brothers dies and orders his sons to watch at his grave for three nights (also a strange wish from our modern point of view), as, for example, in the tale of Sivka-burka. What's the matter here? With the withering away in primitive society of the cult of totemic ancestors along the female line, they were replaced by male ones. Therefore, being on duty at the father’s grave meant performing the required rituals and sacrifices necessary for the dead man to find peace and not return. The brothers, as usual, screw up, shifting their responsibilities onto Ivan, who honestly fulfills his duty and receives a magical assistant from his father, this time in the form of Sivka-Burka. The image of the deceased father-donor comes from primitive ideas about the power of the dead - after all, they are in another world, where everything is known, where everything begins and where everything ends. Very close to this plot is the story of the grassing of a reserved field or garden (as in the fairy tales of the Firebird and the Little Humpbacked Horse), when the hero conscientiously guards the territory entrusted to him, discovers or catches a thief, and also receives a magical assistant as a reward. This reflects the rituals associated with the existence of special protected fields among the ancient Slavs of their dead ancestors, which were supposed to divert their attention from the living.

We analyzed situations when the hero receives magical helpers without going on a journey, so to speak, with home delivery. True, even in these cases, he cannot avoid traveling: he inevitably either loses these helpers (for example, by burning the skin of the Frog Princess), or various misadventures befall him, and, no matter how you look at it, he, dear one, has to stomp into the thirtieth kingdom - rescue a stolen wife or bride, carry out tasks from the authorities (the old king), get rejuvenating apples for the old father or something else. In other situations, Ivan Tsarevich receives magical helpers directly in the thirtieth kingdom - as a gift or steals a magic horse from Koshchei the Immortal or Baba Yaga, meets a gray wolf, fraudulently takes possession of a self-assembled tablecloth, an invisible hat, a magic baton and other wonderful objects.

So, having jumped ahead a little, we came to sending our hero on a long journey - to the notorious thirtieth kingdom. Here is the time to talk about how he is going there and what this very thirtieth kingdom is. Remember what the princess says when she goes there? “Look for me far away, in the thirtieth kingdom! Before you trample three pairs of iron shoes, break three iron staffs, and eat up three stone wafers, before you find me!” Shoes, a staff, prosvira (bread) are precisely those items that the ancients supplied the dead with, preparing them for a journey to another world. The fact that there are three of them (the technique of tripling is generally characteristic of fairy tales), and the fact that they are iron and stone, apparently should have meant the length of the journey. Everything that we know about the thirtieth kingdom (and this is a kingdom in which everything is wrong, the habitat of magical creatures and the presence of magical objects) suggests that the thirtieth kingdom is an otherworldly kingdom, the kingdom of the dead. We'll talk about this in more detail when we find ourselves there with our hero, but for now let's see how he gets to the thirtieth kingdom.

First of all, we note that the hero does not always go to this kingdom in search of stolen relatives or on instructions from the leadership. There are situations in fairy tales (the same Ivan Bykovich) when the heroes themselves, for no apparent reason, are called “to go to foreign lands, to look at people for themselves, to show themselves in people.” Another common fairy-tale collision is the motive of selling a just-born child to a certain mysterious creature: “give back what you don’t know at home” (this plot, among other things, may have reflected primitive ideas about expiatory sacrifices for violating a ban) or giving a son to training to be a sorcerer (as in fairy tales about the sea king or cunning science). Let us pay attention to the fact that in both cases the son comes at the disposal of the fabulous miracle-yuda upon reaching a certain age.

So how does our hero get into this other kingdom and why does he have to visit it? The methods of crossing to the thirtieth kingdom are varied: Ivan Tsarevich can go there on a magical

Three princesses of the underworld. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1881.

Three brothers. Illustration for the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

on horseback, on birds (for example, Nogai the bird carries him to a high mountain), to go down underground (as in the tale of the three kingdoms - copper, silver and gold) or to follow a leader (for example, after a magic ball), but they all reflect the ideas of primitive man about the journey of the deceased to the afterlife.

Now let us note another very significant point: in most fairy tales, the hero’s path certainly lies through a dense forest. Here it’s time to compare this circumstance with what we talked about a little earlier - about the sudden departure of matured heroes or sending them to some fairy-tale undead (that is, again to the same other world - the thirtieth kingdom). Having done this, we come to the second extremely important idea and the associated ritual of primitive man, the memory of which is reflected in the motives of most fairy tales. This is a rite of passage, or initiation, through which young men of all primitive tribes, without exception, must pass through when they have reached a certain age. This ritual consists in the fact that the young men are taken away or sent to some special sacred place, almost always located in the forest; uninitiated members of the tribe (especially women) are strictly forbidden to even approach him. There they are subjected to ritual tests, often cruel - it was believed that during these tests the boy should, as it were, die, and after passing them, be reborn as a new person - a man, a hunter, a full-fledged member of the tribe. Often, after initiation, the boy even received a new name. It is the memory of this ritual, which played an extremely important role in the life of primitive man, that underlies such fairy-tale motifs as the sudden departure of heroes to the thirtieth kingdom, sending them into service or training with fairy-tale evil spirits; hence the stories of expulsion or parents taking their children into the dense forest - nothing can be done, the time has come.

It is important for us that this ritual was accompanied magical rituals- after all, the memory of primitive magic forms the basis of the magic that we constantly encounter in fairy tales. In the minds of primitive man, the art of a hunter consists, first of all, in getting the animal into his hands, and this, in his opinion, can only be achieved with the help of magic. Therefore, learning magical techniques, introducing the boy to magical performances, rituals and rituals of the tribe formed an important part of the initiation rite (hence sending him to study with a fairy-tale sorcerer). In close connection with this, the hero’s receipt of a magical gift (an invisibility hat, walking boots and other accessories of a fairy-tale hero) or a magical assistant - the initiation rite involved the acquisition of a guardian spirit associated with the tribe’s totem.

What is this magical assistant, solely with the help of which Ivan Tsarevich successfully solves the tasks assigned to him?

These can be magical objects: a flying carpet, an invisibility hat, a self-assembled tablecloth, walking boots, magic batons, knapsacks, balls, boxes, etc. There are different opinions about the origin of these magical objects, but all of them are somehow connected with the thirtieth otherworldly kingdom and reflect certain properties of its inhabitants. Thus, in the imagination of ancient people, the inhabitants of the kingdom of the dead could fly (flying carpet), become invisible to the living (invisibility hat), and instantly move in space (walking boots). Besides, other world, in their opinion, was distinguished by incredible abundance - it is not for nothing that in the thirtieth kingdom milk rivers flow with jelly banks; so the self-assembled tablecloth, obviously, seemed to be a piece of this abundance, which, in a portable design, could be taken with you.

These can be magical animals: a horse, a gray wolf, an eagle, a raven or a falcon. In this company, the main role undoubtedly belongs to the horse, so we will dwell on it in a little more detail.

First of all, how does the hero acquire a horse? He is completely dissatisfied with an ordinary earthly horse from the nearby royal stable: “whatever horse he approaches and puts his hand on, he falls off his feet.” The hero either finds a horse in the thirtieth kingdom in some dungeon, or receives it as a gift, earns it, or steals it from one of the inhabitants of this kingdom (Baba Yaga, Koshchei, some king there), or he personally feeds it from a lousy foal in protected (magical) meadows.

We will talk about receiving a horse as a gift a little later (in the chapter about Baba Yaga), but for now we note that the plot of feeding a horse most likely originates from the ritual of fattening sacrificial animals, which gave them magical (magical) power.

As for other (wild) animals, their willingness to serve the hero is most likely determined by their belonging to the totem of his tribe, that is, they are the patron spirits of the maternal clan. It is not without reason that in some fairy tales (as in the tale of the three kingdoms) the eagle, falcon and raven are the hero’s sons-in-law, that is, relatives on the female side. Therefore, the gray wolf, having devoured Ivan Tsarevich’s generally unnecessary ordinary horse, left for his complete disposal. The main role of magical animal helpers, in addition to other magical services, is that they are intermediaries between two kingdoms, and transfer the hero from one to another.

Finally, the third type of magical assistants are craftsman assistants. Ivan Tsarevich picks them up on the way to their destination, going to woo some cunning and malicious princess. These are all kinds of edibles, opivals, freezers, magic runners, arrows, and so on. These are also patron spirits, but they are either personified (humanized) embodiments of any one, but limitless ability, or

Carpet plane. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1880.

master spirits of the elements (frost, wind and others). There are, however, such universal magical helpers that combine the properties of all three varieties - for example, Shmat-reason (“Go there, I don’t know where, bring something, I don’t know what”) or a magic ring.

So, obtaining (in one way or another - this is also important, but we will talk about this later) a magical assistant is a decisive stage in the fabulous career of our hero. Now he is magically armed, initiated and chosen, he is not just some ordinary prince or hero, but a powerful magician, the only one capable of measuring his strength with the inhabitants of the thirtieth otherworldly kingdom. After receiving a magical assistant, the hero is already firmly on his way to his intended goal and knows exactly how he will achieve it. Probably, many even had the impression that the hero then plays a passive role: the assistant does everything for him, and at best he comes ready, and at worst, he only gets in the way and gets in the way, making the assistant’s life more difficult. This is, in general, incorrect: the magical assistant is not an independent character, he is simply personified magical abilities hero. Functionally (that is, in terms of the role played in the fairy tale), the hero and the helper are one person. Confidence in the hero’s behavior is determined by his magical weapons, and, in fact, his very heroism lies in his magical knowledge and strength. But as for the disagreements that sometimes arise between the assistant and the hero, it personally seems to me that this is a manifestation of the contradictions between the magical and human essences of the hero.

So, now magically armed and ready for all upcoming troubles, Ivan Tsarevich arrived in the thirtieth kingdom. Let's stop with him for a minute and look around. What do we know about this kingdom? In different fairy tales, it can simply be located somewhere very far away, on a high mountain or even inside a mountain, underground or under water, but, as a rule, there are no specific underground or underwater features in it. Often the hero, having got there, is even surprised: “And the light there is the same as ours.” It was common for ancient (and, probably, not only ancient) people to transfer the features of the world in which they live to the other world. It is interesting that, as the external forms of life of the storytellers changed, modernizing the surroundings of fairy tales (kings, generals settled in them, palaces and granaries appeared), all these paraphernalia were automatically transferred to another kingdom.

The main distinguishing feature of this kingdom, its seal, is the golden color of everything that belongs to it. It contains golden palaces, golden animals - a deer - golden antlers, a golden goat, a pig - golden bristles and others, all objects are also made exclusively of gold - gold rings, eggs, boxes and so on. And this kingdom itself is often golden - most likely, the copper, silver and golden kingdoms are just the usual fabulous tripling. The golden color is apparently an expression of sunshine - after all, almost all the beliefs of the ancient Slavs were very closely related to the Sun. Perhaps the ideas about the inexhaustible abundance reigning in the thirtieth kingdom are also associated with it. We have already mentioned milk rivers with jelly banks and a self-assembled tablecloth (the idea that if you bring food from there, then it will never run out on earth either). Now we can also recall the quite fabulous wealth of the inhabitants of the thirtieth kingdom and the inexhaustible abundance of their reserves.

About what and why the hero does in the thirtieth kingdom - communicates with Baba Yaga, defeats Koshchei the Immortal or the Serpent, solves tricky problems and brilliantly passes the tests of the local king or princess,

finally, after many ups and downs, he marries the princess and becomes the king himself - we will talk in the following sections (about Baba Yaga, Koshchei, the Snake, the king and the princesses), where we will consider in detail his relationship with these characters. And here, finally, let us dwell on one more feature of Ivan Tsarevich’s behavior - the plot of his escape from the thirtieth kingdom, which is very often found in fairy tales.

Sometimes this flight is caused by the kidnapping of the bride, but sometimes, it would seem, it is not motivated by anything at all (as, for example, in the fairy tale about the sea king and Vasilisa the Wise): everything ended well, the hero passed all the tests, married the princess - it seems time to calm down . But no - he wanted, you see, to go home. Well, if you wanted to, go ahead, it seems, why would the king of the sea stop him? But for some reason this is impossible, and when they run away, the sea king for some reason falls into a terrible rage and sets off in pursuit. This chase is magical: it is repeated in many fairy tales (only the pursuers change - Baba Yaga, Koschey or someone else) and is accompanied by transformations of the heroes or the throwing of various magical objects: a brush turns into a dense forest, a mirror into a lake, a comb or flint, into inaccessible mountains, etc.

Most likely, escape with transformations is a later plot construct, although it can be noted that the ability to turn into animals is a property quite often attributed to the inhabitants of the other world in ancient Slavic beliefs. But throwing household items is in its purest form the so-called imitative (based on external similarity) magic: an impenetrable forest appears from a thick brush, a lake or river from a mirror similar to the surface of water, and so on. Right here

Vasilisa the Beautiful runs from Baba Yaga's hut. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

Red Rider (Noon or Sun). Illustration for the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful.” Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

Baba Yaga. Screensaver for the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful”. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1900.

there are echoes of another type of magic - partial, based on the idea that a part causes the appearance of the whole: flint (part of a mountain) - inaccessible rocks, flint - a fiery river. During the chase, the pursuer overcomes two obstacles, and the third one stops him. It is curious that the third obstacle is most often a river (sometimes a fiery one). Apparently, this is the border of the otherworldly kingdom, and the pursuer cannot cross it, because his power does not extend to the kingdom of the living (in the ideas of many ancient peoples, the river serves as the border of the kingdom of the dead).

But what caused such rage of the inhabitants of this kingdom? Most likely, the escape is a consequence of the theft of magical objects. This is very interesting point, because it reflects the very ancient ideas of primitive man, when he did not produce anything, but only took by force, stole from nature. It is not for nothing that the first things leading to culture seemed to the ancient people not to have been made, but to be stolen (the fire stolen by Prometheus, the first arrows and seeds from the South American Indians). After all, the later initiation rite that we talked about involved a completely peaceful and voluntary transfer of a magical object (which is also often found in fairy tales). So we see that in some cases our positive hero breaks into the kingdom of the dead as if alive - a troublemaker, a destroyer and a kidnapper, thereby causing quite natural discontent of the owners of the country. This is one of the motives that determines his relations with the inhabitants of the otherworldly kingdom, but, as we will see later, they do not always develop this way.

Who, you might say, doesn’t know who Baba Yaga is? A malicious, unattractive old woman, lives in the forest in a hut on chicken legs, flies in a mortar with a broom, eats children (or rather, tries to eat, because the children constantly deceive her)... In general, a frivolous character. However, sometimes she helps Ivan Tsarevich with advice or gives him something - a horse, a magic ball... That's where we'll start.

If you look more closely, you will find that in fairy tales there are three types of Baba Yaga: Yaga the adviser and giver, Yaga the kidnapper and devourer (the one who strives to eat children) and another, less common type - Yaga the warrior (for example, in the tale of the White Polyanin, for the last thirty years he has been at war with Baba Yaga - the golden leg). Let's start with the first variety, especially since it is the main, original and most closely related to the most ancient ideas, beliefs and rituals. And this makes Baba Yaga one of the most complex and interesting characters in Russian fairy tales.

As promised, let’s return to the hero of the previous section - Ivan Tsarevich - at the moment when he (or a character functionally close to him, say, the merchant’s daughter from the fairy tale about the feather of Finist Yasna-Falcon), making his way through the dense forest, approaches Baba’s hut Yagi. How is this hut described in the fairy tale? “There is a hut on chicken legs, without windows, without doors, with the forest in front and the back to it.” Well, okay, it would seem that you approached the hut from behind - go around it and enter. But for some reason this cannot be done. And Ivan Tsarevich pronounces the well-known formula: “Hut, hut, stand with your back to the forest, and with your front towards me.” At the same time, he knows exactly what needs to be said, because the hut obediently turns. What does he see? “Baba Yaga lies on the stove - a bone leg, from corner to corner, her nose has grown into the ceiling.”

It’s also strange, isn’t it?

After all, Baba Yaga, it seems, was never presented as a special giantess in Russian fairy tales. So, it’s not Baba Yaga that is so big, but the hut is very small? What explains all these oddities? And they are explained by the fact that Baba Yaga is a dead man. And she lies in a cramped hut, as if in a coffin, and the fact that this hut is raised above the ground on its chicken legs suggests the air burials of the ancient Slavs - they buried their dead in the forest on trees or special platforms. And a bone leg - a skeleton leg - is also a sign of a dead person.

There are also some other indirect signs that speak in favor of this assumption. For example, almost nowhere in fairy tales is it said that Baba Yaga walks - she either lies or flies, and these are also signs of the inhabitants of the other world. And the fact that she rarely sees the hero, but mostly smells him, says the same thing. And her hut, which stands somewhere at the edge of the world, in the deepest forest and which cannot be bypassed in any way, is a “border post”, a guard outpost on the border of two kingdoms - the kingdom of the living and the kingdom of the dead.

Baba Yaga's hut. Fragment of the cover of the “Fairy Tales” series. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

The girl in the forest. Illustration for the fairy tale “The Feather of Finist Yasna-Falcon.” Artist IYA. Bilibin. 1900.

The hut of death. Fragment. Artist N.K. Roerich. 1905.

Baba Yaga is very ancient character, rooted in the times of matriarchy. She largely has the features of the most ancient totemic female ancestor, whose worship was associated with the animal ancestors and patrons of the tribe and with the cult of nature. After all, it is not without reason that in fairy tales animals often obey and serve her (by the way, the chicken legs of her hut remind of her connection with them), and she herself may have retained the features of her animal ancestors. Of course it is controversial issue, but some researchers trace the genealogy of Baba Yaga to the ancient Slavic goddess of death, who was closely related to the snake - a symbol of death among some tribes. Perhaps the bone leg comes from there - it is assumed that Yaga was originally one-legged, and then transformed into a bone leg. And even her name is derived from the common Aryan roots of the ancient Slavs - from the ancient Indian Sanskrit Ahi - snakes. Well, it may very well be, because our fairy-tale Baba Yaga has very friendly and even family relations with her colleague, the Serpent Gorynych. But the features of the female ancestor - the patron spirit of the tribe - are manifested in her in that she is prophetic - she knows everything and guides the hero along the right path, a powerful sorceress, adviser and assistant. As a family patron spirit associated with the cult of the hearth, it is characterized by kitchen attributes - an oven, a mortar, a pestle (the ancient Slavs did not grind, but pounded grain) and a broom.

However, let's return to the friendly communication of our heroes. We have established that Baba Yaga's hut is a “checkpoint” to the kingdom of death. That is why there is no way to bypass it, but you must definitely go through it, and in order to get into this kingdom, you need to pass certain tests, demonstrating sufficient magical knowledge. Ivan Tsarevich had already spoken the first part of the password, turning the hut around. What happens next? And then Baba Yaga also utters the traditional, well-known: “Fu-fu-fu, something smells like the Russian spirit!” What kind of Russian spirit is this, so unpleasant for her? Apparently, this is the smell of a living person. Apparently, ancient people believed that the smell of a living person was as disgusting to the dead as the smell of a dead person was to the living.

Then the interrogation begins: “Where are you, good fellow, going? Are you torturing or are you trying to get away with it?” The hero reacts to these seemingly completely innocent and natural questions very unexpectedly and aggressively - instead of answering, he goes on the offensive: “Oh, you old hag! First, give the good guy something to drink and feed, and then ask questions!” And then Baba Yaga’s behavior suddenly changes dramatically: she begins to fuss, invites Ivan Tsarevich into the house, sits him down at the table, and so on. In some fairy tales, she even indulges in self-criticism: “Oh, I’m an old fool! Without feeding the good fellow, I’m asking questions!” It is interesting that this feeding motif is an obligatory element of the hero’s meeting with Baba Yaga, present in all fairy tales without exception. What's the matter? Why should he definitely eat from Baba Yaga? What, you couldn’t eat somewhere else? Of course, one could assume the simplest thing - the usual manifestation of hospitality towards a traveler, but the obligatory nature of this procedure and what we already know suggest that this food is of some kind of ritual nature. Indeed, in the mythological beliefs of many peoples (including the ancient Slavs), in order to enter the kingdom of the dead, a person must certainly taste the special food of the dead. After this, he is considered to have fully joined the other world. Therefore, Ivan Tsarevich, demanding food from Baba Yaga, thereby shows that he is not afraid of this communion, is ready for it - and Baba Yaga humbles himself, finally accepting him as her own.

Then, as you know, the questions begin - Baba Yaga takes a detailed interview with the hero about the purposes of his journey. In the end, it turns out that she is in the know (“I know, I know, where your beautiful Vasilisa is”) and gives Ivan Tsarevich precise and detailed instructions about where to go, what to do and how to achieve his intended goal. Sometimes, however, she resorts to the help of animals: she convenes her “network of informants” - prowling animals, flying birds, creeping reptiles, and so on, demonstrating her totemic roots.

In some cases, Baba Yaga's help is limited to instructions, in others they are followed by a magical gift - most often it is a horse, sometimes a magic ball, an invisible hat or something else; but even if the gift is not presented immediately, then as a result of following the instructions received, the hero still receives it. Why does Baba Yaga provide such an invaluable service to the alien prince in the form of advisory and magical (magical) assistance? Because he passed the test and demonstrated his magical competence and power: he knew the spell that turned the hut, and was not afraid of Baba Yaga’s food, introducing himself to the inhabitants of the otherworldly kingdom.

As we see, in this situation, Baba Yaga acts as a purely positive character, helping the main character achieve his noble goals. And this role of hers is explained by what we have already talked about - her origin from the most ancient totemic female ancestor, the patron spirit of the clan, omniscient and omnipotent. Hence the gift of magical helpers - magical protection of the hero and his protection from evil spirits. So how did she manage to turn into the kind of evil cannibal that is found in many other fairy tales? To understand this, let's move on to the second type of Baba Yaga - Yaga the kidnapper and devourer - and try to trace the connection between these two hypostases of our character.

To do this we will have to turn again to the representations primitive people about the initiation rite, which we described in the previous section. It is easy to notice that the gastronomic inclinations of Baba Yaga of this variety are aimed mainly at children and are associated with the entry of these children in one way or another (by leaving, leading away or kidnapping) into the dense forest in the notorious hut on chicken legs: that is, here we see

“Here with a cheerful soul he said goodbye to Yaga.” Illustration for “The Tale of the Three Tsar’s Divas and Ivashka, the Priest’s Son” by A. S. Roslavlev. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1911.

all the features of the environment surrounding the initiation ceremony. The image of Baba Yaga the Devourer is most closely connected with this ritual - after all, we have already mentioned that the essence of the initiation was symbolic death and the subsequent rebirth of the boy passing by. By the way, here you should pay attention to the fact that it is boys who invariably end up at Baba Yaga’s dinner - after all, only they undergo the initiation rite. So the fairy tales about this Yaga very vividly reflect the memory of this ritual preserved from primitive times: a dense forest from where some mysterious and inevitable danger emanates, a hut - the abode of a mysterious mythical creature, fear of the upcoming ritual...

Well, okay, you say, but what does eating children have to do with it? The fact is that very often the imaginary death of the initiate was presented as being devoured by some mythical monstrous animal, and the subsequent rebirth to life as an eruption from his womb. Baba Yaga also owes her official duties in this category of fairy tales to her origins from an ancient totemic animal ancestor. We will meet these ideas in the section about the Serpent Gorynych, who in some situations can act as a deputy or understudy of Baba Yaga. Memories of the initiation rite were apparently reflected in the fact that in fairy tales, getting to Baba Yaga is always followed by a successful ending: the hero avoids the danger that threatens him and gains all sorts of benefits - the initiation of the person who has been initiated into full members of the tribe and the provision of privileges to him I didn't have it before.

The positive role of the patroness and helper lost by Baba Yaga in these tales, oddly enough, may have been reflected in the detail that she prefers to eat the children who come to her exclusively fried.

The Slavic tribes, until a relatively late time, retained the custom of the so-called “palanya” of children, associated with ideas about healing power fire - the child was lightly “baked” in the oven, which supposedly made him stronger and more resistant to disease. So here, too, it seems that Baba Yaga was originally a helper and healer, and not at all evil.

Thus, the connection between the ideas of Yaga the helper, adviser and giver, guardian of the border of the kingdom of the dead, and Yaga the Devourer, performer of the initiation rite, begins to become clearer. This connection lies in the kinship between primitive man’s ideas about real death with a subsequent journey to the other world and the temporary, imaginary death to which he was subjected in the initiation rite. By the way, the acquisition of magical knowledge and magical equipment (receiving a magical assistant) after crossing the border of the otherworldly kingdom and undergoing an initiation rite (in both cases, after communicating with Baba Yaga) makes these ideas similar.

But we again see that initially in all these situations Baba Yaga played a positive role. What actually happened? And this is what most likely happened. The collapse of the authority of Baba Yaga as the oldest totemic ancestral ancestor is a reflection in the minds of people, and after this in myths and fairy tales, of the collapse of matriarchy and the emergence of agriculture and agricultural religion. For ancient man the forest ceased to be a home and a source of livelihood, native and understandable, and therefore all the characters of the former forest religion turned into pure evil spirits: the great magician and shaman of the tribe - into an evil sorcerer, the patroness mother and mistress of animals - into a malicious witch, dragging people into her lair children for the purpose of no longer symbolic consumption.

So, perhaps, we were able to partially rehabilitate Baba Yaga in your eyes: the ancient, original historical roots of this fairy-tale character come from the good, positive role that she played in the beliefs of our ancestors. And the idea of ​​her as a cannibal witch, which then completely acquired an ironic connotation (in later everyday fairy tales, Baba Yaga does not shine with intelligence - her children constantly leave her in the cold, and all that remains of her magical power is a mortar and a broom), developed at much later times.

And in conclusion, a few words about the third type of Baba Yaga - the warrior Yaga. Most likely, this character, rarely seen in fairy tales, has no independent significance and acts simply as someone’s substitute: judging by the role he plays in a fairy tale, anyone could have taken his place - the Serpent Gorynych, Koschey the Immortal, some fairy tale king or king. It is not for nothing that in the fairy tale about Bely Polyanin this species can be mistaken for a representative of a certain Babiya Yaga aristocracy and a full-fledged citizen of the thirtieth kingdom: there she is Baba Yaga - the golden leg.

Koschey (Kashchei) the Immortal

This great fairy-tale villain is another character familiar to all of us from early childhood. And, however, let's try to summarize, what do we know about him from the fairy tales we read? Although practically nowhere in these tales is there a description of Koshchei’s appearance, we are accustomed to imagining him as a tall, bony, incredibly thin old man - it’s not for nothing that they say: “Thin as a Koschey” - with sunken burning eyes, sometimes with a thin goat’s beard.

The main occupation of Koshchei the Immortal is the abduction of women. Isn’t it true that at the mention of this fairy-tale hero, gloomy castles with dungeons full of captives and chests with untold riches with which he unsuccessfully tries to seduce these captives appear in our imagination? And, of course, the indispensable attributes of his immortality are the standard fairy-tale nesting doll: death hidden in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare and

Baba Yaga. Illustration for the fairy tale “Son Filipko”. Artist E.D. Polenova. 1905.

Baba Yaga. Illustration for the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful.” Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1900.

Koschey. Fragment. Artist S.V. Malyutin. 1904.

Koschei the Deathless. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1917-1926.

Let's try to understand the origin of our negative character. First of all, where did his very name - Koschey - come from? It turns out that in the ancient Russian language the word koschey meant slave, captive, servant. It is in this sense that it is used in the famous “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” when Svyatoslav reproaches Prince Vsevolod for his indifference to the fate of the Russian principalities - if Vsevolod had acted differently, things would have changed, better times: “Even if you were, there would be chaga for nogata, and koshchei for cutting.” In other words, the time would come for fantastic cheapness on the slave market (nogata and rezana are small monetary units in ancient Rus', chaga is a slave, Polonyanka, and koschey, respectively, is a slave, a slave). And in another place: “Shoot, sir, Konchak, the filthy Koshchei, for the Russian land, for the wounds of Igor, the great Svyatoslavich!” Konchak is called a slave here, and Galician Yaroslav is called a master. And again: “Then Prince Igor moved from the golden saddle to the Koshcheevo saddle,” that is, he moved from the golden, master’s saddle to the slave’s saddle.

On the other hand, the word koschey could be derived from the name Kosh: koschey - belonging to a certain Kosh (Kosh - master of the slave Koshchei). This Kosh is the ancient, original name of Koshchei. It is still sometimes found in some fairy tales (for example, in the tale of Koshchei from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev, he is called Kosh the Immortal). What kind of Kosh is this? It turns out that during the collapse of primitive communal society, the first masters who seized power and established the institution of slavery were called koshas. This word comes from the common Slavic root bone (Old Slavic kosch, kosht) - the backbone, foundation, root of the clan - clan elder, eldest in the family, who became a master. He is the founder of the family, everything rests on him, all subsequent generations are his “bone”. In the Ukrainian language this meaning was preserved until later times: kosh - camp, settlement, koshevoy - foreman, chief of the kosh. Perhaps it is precisely these etymological roots of the name Koshchei that are also associated with his incredible thinness (bonyness) and extreme old age.

This is where the negative role of our character begins to become clear. In the eyes of primitive people, committed to the primitive justice of the tribal maternal society, Koschey was the embodiment of the force that violated the ancient orders of tribal equality and robbed a woman of her social power. This is where Koschey the Immortal’s ineradicable penchant for kidnapping and enslaving women comes from, as well as his power - after all, Koschey in fairy tales, as a rule, is presented as the ruler, the king of his dark kingdom, and the possession of untold riches, greed, and cruelty are associated with him. Koschey was the personification of social injustice and untruth, the paternal right of violence and acquisitiveness, a symbol of the collapse of the tribal just society and its replacement by class. Perhaps his immortality embodied the immortality of injustice, violence and profit in human society, and the death of this “immortal” hero is the age-old dream of humanity that someday these orders will collapse, just as they are collapsing dark kingdom Koshchei after his death. The fact that Koshchei’s death is hidden in an egg also shows that ideas about the immortality of this character are connected with some deep, eternal concepts. After all, an egg is the beginning of life, an indispensable link in it, providing the opportunity for continuous reproduction, and only by crushing and destroying it can this life be put to an end.

Probably, later, during the period of continuous wars between the Slavs and the tribes of nomads, these ideas about Koshchei were superimposed on the perception of him as an enemy, an adversary, which was already associated with the later meaning of this word - a slave, a captive. And indeed, in some fairy tales (for example, in the tale of Marya Morevna), Koschey appears as a prisoner who, contrary to the ban, is freed by our unlucky Ivan Tsarevich.

A unique view of Koshchei from the outstanding collector and connoisseur of Russian folk tales, Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev. He sees in Koshchei a demon - a drainer of rain moisture (hence his dryness and thinness), the personification of winter, dark clouds bound by cold. And the meaning of his name comes from the same place - after all, it’s not without reason that they say: “Nasty from the cold.” And Afanasyev connects the story of Koshchei’s death with the Slavic ideas about the oak - the tree of the thunder god Perun, and in the egg he sees a metaphor for the sun killing winter, and in its immortality - the continuous revival of winter in nature. In support of this point of view, Alexander Nikolaevich turns to the same Marya Morevna. Indeed, there the captive Koschey is hanging in iron chains.

Koschei the Immortal. Illustration for the fairy tale “Marya Morevna, the Overseas Princess.”

Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1901.

pyakh (a cloud bound by frost) and breaks away from them only after drinking water (having been saturated with rain moisture in the spring). The magical assistants of Ivan Tsarevich in this fairy tale are an eagle, a falcon and a raven, which personify the forces of wind, thunder and rain, and in the end Ivan Tsarevich (thunder god) kills Koshchei with a horse's hoof (lightning strike) (destroys a cloud, forcing it to fall with spring rain).

In terms of his fairy-tale role, Koschey the Immortal is in many ways a close relative and often an understudy of the Serpent of Mountain (they often replace each other in different fairy tales). This refers to the kidnapping of princesses and all sorts of intrigues perpetrated by positive fairy-tale characters. Many of Koshchei's traits characterize him as a typical representative of the thirtieth otherworldly kingdom: he senses the Russian spirit, flies, is immensely rich and has magical powers. The originality of this character is associated primarily with the idea of ​​​​his “immortality”: the hero does not enter into direct combat with him, due to the futility of this occupation, but must defeat him by completing one of the difficult tasks - to find and obtain the death of Koshchei, which he does it with the help of magical assistants, one of which is always the princess who was kidnapped and lives with Koshchei. It is she who, as a rule, deceives Koshchei, finding out from him where his death is hidden and how to get it. But we will mention this in the section on the princess.

Dragon

There is probably no other creature that would play such a colossal role in the mythological ideas of all peoples of the Earth without exception, as the Serpent.

Therefore, let us resist the temptation to draw any parallels with mythology and turn exclusively to our native Serpent Gorynych of Russian folk tales. First of all, we discover that this character, strictly speaking, is not properly described anywhere in fairy tales.

Although there are still some signs of a criminal. It is multi-headed: as a rule, three, six, nine, twelve heads, although occasionally five- and seven-headed specimens are found. Perhaps this is its main distinguishing feature.

The rest are only occasionally mentioned: he is flying, fire-breathing (scorches with fire) and, apparently, is somehow connected with the mountains, as evidenced by his last name (or patronymic?) - Go-rynych - living in the mountains, son of the mountain. Here, however, it must be borne in mind that in ancient times the common Slavic word mountain meant not only the mountain itself, but also the top in general, and could also be used to mean forest. So the nickname Gorynych could mean both “living above” and “forest”. It may very well be that this very Serpent of the Mountains was associated in the minds of the Slavic tribes living in the forests with forest fires caused by a lightning strike. This is evidenced by his constant connection with fire, and the description of his flights - the personification of an evil natural element: a storm rises, thunder rumbles, the earth trembles, the dense forest bends down - the three-headed Serpent flies. According to A.N. Afanasyev, the flying fiery Serpent was associated with snake-like writhing lightning. In general, various associations with fire arise in almost all appearances of this character in fairy tales. The properties of fire are reminiscent of the Snake’s ineradicable tendency to swallow everything, and its multi-headedness, and the ability to constantly grow new heads to replace the severed ones (as new tongues appear in the flame), and the fiery finger, with the help of which heads are grown (cut off the fiery finger - the Snake defeated ). Fire crawls like a snake and bites like a snake. In the fairy tale "Ivan Bzhovich" main character categorically forbids his brothers-in-arms to sleep before meeting the Serpent.

Maybe this is a memory of the real danger that awaited the primitive hunter who fell asleep in the forest near a fire and violated the ban on sleeping in front of the fire?

It is also quite possible that the Snake’s peculiar relationship with women is partly connected with fire. On the one hand, he acts as a kidnapper and rapist (duplicating Koshchei in many fairy tales), on the other, as a seducer: individual irresponsible heroines of fairy tales willingly enter into contact with the Serpent, uniting with him in developing intrigues against the positive hero. The connection of a woman with the Serpent-Fire is probably an echo of the role that a woman played as a keeper of fire in primitive society. Although, who knows, perhaps this incarnation of the Serpent also reflected later, already inspired by Christian mythology, ideas about the Tempting Serpent? After all, he performs his insidious Don Juan functions in fairy tales in the respectable guise of a handsome, kind fellow, and not a fire-breathing thug-dragon. But we digress. The ideas of fertility were also associated with fire among primitive tribes. The Slavs have a well-known ritual in which barren women were given water to drink, into which sparks from firebrands had fallen from the hearth.

The memory of the primitive rituals of sacrifices to the gods of fertility, carried out with the aim of influencing the future harvest, was probably reflected in fairy tales about the exactions of the Serpent, when he demands girls as an annual tribute. With the extinction of this ritual, when new forms of agriculture and new family and social relationships developed, their sympathies were transferred from the consuming spirit to the victim. That’s when the hero-liberator appeared, killing the Snake and saving the fairy-tale beauty. The motive of snake fighting, as well as transformation

Zmievna. Artist N.K. Roerich. 1906.

Dragon. Opened - Detail of the series cover

ka. Artist I.Ya. Bili - “Russian folk tales”.

bit. 1912. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

The fight between Dobrynya Nikitich and the seven-headed Serpent Goryny-chem. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1913-1918.

Dobrynya Nikitich frees Zabava Putyatichna from the Serpent Gorynych. Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1941.

ideas about Baba Yaga apparently appeared with the collapse of matriarchal relations and the emergence of a patriarchal family. It reflected the denial of tribal relations, in which a woman belonged not to an individual, but to the entire clan. There was a desire to take away a woman, to win the right to her. The serpent fighter defeated the ancient lord of fire in order to take the woman from him.

However, what is the role of this fairy-tale character? He, like Baba Yaga and Koschey the Immortal, is a full-fledged inhabitant of the thirtieth kingdom. Let's try to trace the development of his relationship with the main positive character according to the same fairy tale “Ivan Bykovich”, in which they are described in most detail.

Here the heroes come to the Smorodina River, the Viburnum Bridge. For some reason, this bridge cannot be crossed (“there are human bones all along the bank, it will be piled up to the knees”). Therefore, the heroes settle down in a hut that turns up and begin to go on patrol - to guard the Snake. It can be assumed that this viburnum bridge, like Baba Yaga’s hut, is a border outpost, and the Smorodina River is a kind of border, which can only be crossed by killing the Serpent. So the Serpent, among other things, like Baba Yaga, carries out guard duty, only Baba Yaga guards the periphery, and the Serpent is the very heart of the thirtieth kingdom.

But our heroes finally meet. And here an interesting detail becomes clear - the Serpent knows in advance both who his opponent is and about his predetermined death from him: “Why are you, dog meat, stumbling, why are you, a crow feather, fluttering, why are you, dog fur, bristling? Do you think Ivan Bykovich is here?” Then Ivan Bykovich appears, and a boastful squabble occurs between the opponents; then the battle itself begins. In it, the tactics of warfare by our heroes are curious: the hero tries to cut off the Snake’s head, but the Snake does not use any weapons, but strives to hammer the adversary into the ground. In third,

In the most terrible battle, his magical assistant - a heroic horse - comes to the aid of the hero. With his assistance, Bykovich manages to cut off the Snake's fiery finger, after which cutting off the heads that remain without a regeneration mechanism becomes a matter of technique.

What is the origin of this peculiar ritual, repeated in almost all fairy tales? How does the Snake know the name of the enemy? To understand this, we will have to turn again to the primitive initiation rite, in which the swallowing of the initiate by some monstrous animal, often, by the way, resembling a snake, is simulated. A “swallowed” and “regurgitated” person acquires magical power and power over the animal that once swallowed him. In the myths of many primitive peoples, a great hunter and a great shaman emerge from the Serpent. At the same time, as we have already said, in the initiation rite the exit from the womb of the Serpent was represented as the second birth of man. “Born of the Serpent,” the initiate who has passed through it himself becomes to some extent the Serpent and acquires a magical connection with it. That is why the Snake knows in advance the future enemy and destroyer - born of him and the only one who can kill him. Perhaps this is why the Serpent hammers the hero into the ground - he tries to return him “to the dust” from which he came, which is why the hero’s magical assistant plays a decisive role in defeating the Serpent - the victory is of a magical nature. With the disappearance of the ritual, its meaning was lost and forgotten, but the memory of the ritual itself remained. However, being absorbed by the Serpent was no longer seen as a blessing, but as a very unpleasant threat - the motive of snake fighting arose, which we have already talked about.

In general, the Serpent, like many other mythical and fairy-tale creatures, is a mechanical combination of several animals, the main of which are birds and snakes. In the minds of ancient man, a bird was associated with a distant kingdom, and a snake with the underground. These are the two main animals associated with

The fight of Ivan Tsarevich with the three-headed Serpent. Artist V.M. Vasnetsov. 1918.

Mortal combat with a three-headed serpent. Postcard. Artist B.V. Zvorykin. 1916.

ideas about the human soul. Therefore, the Serpent is associated with the image of death - the idea of ​​death as the abduction of the soul. Therefore, in fairy tales he constantly plays the role of a kidnapper, hence his function as a symbolic devourer in the initiation rite. Perhaps his many heads - many mouths - is exaggerated -

figurative image of devouring (technique of enhancing quality through multitude).

To be continued

LITERATURE

1. Anikin V.P. Russian folktale. M., 1977.

2. Afanasyev A.N. Living water and prophetic word. M., 1988.

3. Afanasyev A.N. Tree of life. M., 1983.

4. Vinogradova L.N. Folk demonology and mythological and ritual tradition of the Slavs. M., 2000.

5. Gavrilov D.A., Ermakov S.E. Gods of Slavic and Russian paganism. M., 2009.

6. Gura A.V. Animal symbolism in Slavic folk tradition. M., 1997.

7. Krinichnaya N.A. Russian mythology: The world of folklore images. M., 2004.

8. Nikolsky N.M. Pre-Christian beliefs and cults of the Dnieper Slavs. M., 1929.

9. Pomerantseva E.V. Mythological characters in Russian folklore. M., 1975.

10. Potebnya A.A. About some symbols in Slavic folk poetry. Kharkov, 1914.

11. Propp V.Ya. Historical roots fairy tale. L., 1986.

12. Russian mythology: Encyclopedia / Comp. E.L. Madlevskaya. M. - St. Petersburg, 2005.

13. Rybakov B.A. Paganism of the ancient Slavs. M., 1981.

14. Slavic mythology: encyclopedic Dictionary. 2nd ed. / Rep. ed. CM. Fat. M., 2002.

15. The Lay of Igor’s Campaign / Old Russian text, explanatory translation by D. Likhachev, poetic transcriptions by L. Dmitriev, V. Zhukovsky, N. Zabolotsky, comments. M., 1987.

16. Sobolev A.N. The afterlife according to ancient Russian ideas. Sergiev Posad, 1913. Reprint / Mythology of the Slavs. St. Petersburg, 1999.

17. Sumarukov G. Who is who in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” M., 1983.

18. Tolstoy N.I. Essays on Slavic paganism. M., 2003.

19. Famintsyn A.S. Deities of the ancient Slavs. St. Petersburg, 1884 / Reprint. St. Petersburg, 1995.

20. Shepping D.O. Myths of Slavic paganism. M., 1997.

Illustration for the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird.”

Artist I.Ya. Bilibin. 1899.

Tatiana Kozlova
Characteristics of fairy tales as a means of speech development creative manifestations in older children preschool age

At the heart of the verbal process creativity lies in children's perception of works fiction, oral folk creativity in all its genre diversity: nursery rhymes, nursery rhymes, riddles, counting rhymes, flip-flops, proverbs, sayings, tongue twisters, fairy tales.

Fairy tale is the most widespread and ancient genre of oral folk creativity, classic example folklore. It teaches a person to live, instills optimism in him, and affirms faith in the triumph of goodness and justice.

Fairy tale– a generalizing concept. Availability of certain genre characteristics allows us to classify this or that oral prose work as fairy tales. Belonging to the epic genus puts forward such a feature as the narrative nature of the plot. Fairy tale necessarily entertaining, unusual, with a clearly expressed idea of ​​the triumph of good over evil, falsehood over truth, life over death. All events in it are brought to an end; incompleteness and incompleteness are not characteristic fairy tale plot.

Educational function fairy tales- one of its genre features. Fairy didacticism permeates its entire structure, achieving a special effect sharp contrast positive and negative. Moral and social truth always triumphs - a didactic conclusion that fairy tale clearly illustrates. As a phenomenon of folklore, fairy tale preserves all folklore signs: collectivity, orality of existence and collective nature of fairy-tale creativity, is a variation fairy tale text.

The most important sign fairy tales – special shape its constructions and poetics. And also its inherent narration, plot, orientation towards fiction and edification, entertainment, the unusualness of the events depicted, a special form of storytelling that evokes rich emotions.

To literary fairy tales include fairy tales, created by the centuries-old wisdom of the people and original stories.

Comprehensive assessment tales given by K. D. Ushinsky: “Folk fairy tale is easy to read by children already because in all folk fairy tales the same words and phrases are repeated incessantly, and from these incessant repetitions something whole, harmonious, full of movement, life and interest is formed.”

Folk stories fairy tales are diverse. Fairy tales are divided into tales about animals, magical fairy tales and everyday life.

Animal Tales. In this form fairy tales There are always animals that act and talk like people. They are inherently human quality: they can be cunning and stupid, stingy, wise. Wins in such fairy tales are not strong, but cunning and smart.

The composition is like this fairy tales consists of four parts: exposition, telling about the initial state of affairs; the beginning of the action is the appearance of the antagonist hero; the climax is the fight between the true hero and the antagonist hero, repeated three times; denouement– one or two sentences that complete the plot.

The main task of these fairy tales- make fun of bad traits character, actions and evoke compassion for the weak and offended in an interpretation accessible to children.

Magical fairy tales. Magical fairy tales attract children with its intricate plot, development of actions, associated with the struggle of light and dark forces, wonderful invention and transformations. In these fairy tales two generations heroes: seniors and juniors, but the adventures fall to the lot of the younger ones, who must pass the tests. Magic fairy tale is built according to certain laws, in it observed: the beginning, the test of the hero, the ban and violation of the ban, the hero leaving home, meeting with an assistant and receiving a magical facilities, a hero's test and a rich feast.

Household fairy tales or novelistic, do not have a clearly defined structure, but consist of separate episodes.

Distinctive feature household fairy tales is comic effect. The action of the hero and his enemy takes place in the same time space and is perceived as everyday reality. Heroes of everyday life fairy tales: master-landowner, tsar-prince - greedy, indifferent, slackers and selfish. They are contrasted with experienced soldiers, poor farm laborers - dexterous, brave and intelligent people.

Nationality fairy tales is revealed in the originality of the artistic depiction of the characters, the selection of linguistic funds. Examples of the specified languages funds: hyperbola: snail's speed; there is not a crumb of bread; litotes: boy – the size of a little finger; metaphor: a bear is an animal and a bear is a clumsy person; epithet: long-eared, fluffy, defenseless, small bunny.

Modern education and training programs preschool children work with texts is provided fabulous content. It should be noted distinctive features fairy tales from any other literary work.

Firstly, the main distinguishing feature fairy tales– this is its metaphorical nature, that is, a reflection of people’s life experience using symbolic analogy techniques.

Secondly, in order to better understand the topic and accept these life rules, their carriers have been introduced. A distinctive feature of the media is a certain fantastic nature.

The third feature fabulous the texts are so expressive facilities like repetitions in actions, the presence of spells.

Fairy tales have traditional beginnings and endings, expressed in figurative phrases

Fairy tales are unusually rich in phraseological turns, making them more figurative, emotional, and colorful.

Currently, it is customary to differentiate fabulous plots - dynamic and descriptive.

Compilation fairy tales dynamic type has its own special basic algorithm, including the selection fairy tale hero; description of his goals, motives and actions. The conclusion of a life rule depends on the essay strategy.

Compilation fairy tales descriptive type has its own characteristics. These fairy tales are distinguished by the model of texts that describe in detail the life of the hero and his changes over time. Morality fairy tales - that that nothing in life ever happens for nothing.

There is a group fairy tales, which has a pronounced ethical orientation, that is, the life rule expressed in a proverb or saying is very clearly visible in the text. Some fairy tales are akin to fables, but with unrhymed text.

There are many fairy tales, in which the conflict between good and evil is clearly expressed. Wherein intermediary there is some magic in conflict.

The teacher’s task is to achieve such a performance of the work that would allow its ideological and artistic merits to be conveyed to the audience.

Thus, it can be stated that fairy tale- it's entertaining story(oral or written) about an incredible but instructive story. It is an example of a highly artistic text, and the presence of genre characteristics distinguishes it from others literary works. The main criteria for studying fairy tales are: theme, idea, content, plot-compositional structure and system speech visual means. As the original elements of the genre allocate: its metaphorical nature, fantastic nature, the presence of expressive linguistic funds and a special compositional structure, which ensures its artistic and pedagogical value as means for developing verbal creativity in preschool children.

The most popular Russian fairy-tale hero is Ivanushka the Fool, however, this image does not always represent exclusively positive features. In the fairy tale “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Miracle Yudo,” the image of the Russian Ivan is presented most beautifully and unambiguously. A hard-working hero fights with a sword and bare hands, with cunning and ingenuity, against the monsters that have infested the Russian land. He is kind and handsome, brave and courageous, strong and smart, undoubtedly, this is the most positive image Russian fairy tale.

Another Ivan in “The Tale of Vasilisa the Golden Braid” also saves all the people and his own from the terrible snake that captivated the beauties and his own sister. Ivan Gorokh is a strong and formidable hero, ready to deal with any evil, to protect native land and defend my sister's honor. But in the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” the wolf is a more positive character; Ivan Tsarevich was only lucky to meet such a faithful and devoted friend. The same trend can be observed in the fairy tales “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, “Po pike command"and many others.

Russian people for the most part believed that “the grave will correct the hunchbacked one,” therefore, the transformation of the hero from a negative character into a positive one is not typical for Russian fairy tales.

The most positive female characters in Russian fairy tales are Vasilisa the Beautiful and the Wise. A Russian beauty is primarily distinguished by her intelligence and kindness; she helps her chosen one to defeat evil with cunning and ingenuity, get a magic object or guide him to the wise. Oddly enough, in some fairy tales even Baba Yaga, who supplies the traveler, can be positive parting words, ancient knowledge and provides material assistance in the form of magical objects: a scarf, a comb, a ball of thread or a mirror.

Positive heroes of foreign fairy tales

The heroes of European fairy tales are radically different from Russians; they are physically weak, intelligence and cunning are not glorified in them as in folklore. Such qualities as kindness, humility, and hard work come first. Snow White and Cinderella are downtrodden beauties, born for love and luxury, but, by the will of evil people, they are obliged to play the role of maids. They do not make any effort to change their fate, they are submissive to it and are freed from shackles only by chance. Moreover, the main idea of ​​such fairy tales is the idea that for the triumph of justice, only virtue and hard work are necessary, and God or the good fairies will generously reward the heroine for all deprivations.
Pinocchio is a fairy tale by an Italian writer about the transformation of a stupid, naughty and, at times, cruel wooden doll into a kind and caring boy. Pinocchio or Pinocchio are one of the most positive children's characters.

Warrior Heroes in foreign fairy tales are presented quite rarely, one of the few such characters is considered to be Cipollino, although this is more an image of a revolutionary fighting dictators against the bourgeoisie and slavery. Another positive hero stands apart - the medieval revolutionary Robin Hood. Collective image the noble robber-warrior is romanticized and spiritualized. He fights evil in the form of cruel feudal lords, lawlessness and injustice.

Eastern fairy tales are closer in their ideas to Russian ones, for example, Aladdin is an analogue of Ivan the Fool or Emelya. Eastern characters, like Russians, are often helped by cunning, dexterity and resourcefulness; the most popular hero is the “Baghdad thief,” a criminal who managed to deceive dozens of moneybags and was never caught. In almost every Arabic fairy tale there is also a guiding hand - as in the Russian tradition, this is a woman. The smart and cunning wife of Ali Baba, Sakine, Scheherazade, like Vasilisa in Russian fairy tales, personify such intelligence and ingenuity that is inherent only in women.

IN fairy tale A special, mysterious world appears before the listener, different from that in fairy tales about animals. It features extraordinary fantastic heroes, good and truth defeat darkness, evil and lies.

“This is a world where Ivan Tsarevich rushes through the dark forest on a gray wolf, where the deceived Alyonushka suffers, where Vasilisa the Beautiful brings scorching fire from Baba Yaga, where the brave hero finds the death of Kashchei the Immortal.”. 1

Some of the fairy tales are closely related to mythological ideas. Such images as Frost, Water, Sun, Wind are associated with the elemental forces of nature. The most popular of Russian fairy tales are: “The Three Kingdoms”, “The Magic Ring”, “Finist’s Feather - the Clear Falcon”, “The Frog Princess”, “Kashchei the Immortal”, “Marya Morevna”, “The Sea King and Vasilisa the Wise”, “ Sivka-Burka", "Morozko" and others.

The hero of a fairy tale is courageous, fearless. He overcomes all obstacles in his path, wins victories, and wins his happiness. And if at the beginning of the fairy tale he can act as Ivan the Fool, Emelya the Fool, then at the end he certainly turns into the handsome and well done Ivan Tsarevich. A.M. drew attention to this at one time. Bitter:

“The hero of folklore is a “fool”, despised even by his father and brothers, always turning out to be smarter than them, always the winner of all everyday adversities.” 2

A positive hero always gets help from others fairy tale characters. So, in the fairy tale “Three Kingdoms” the hero is chosen into the world with the help of a wonderful bird. In other fairy tales, the heroes are helped by Sivka-Burka, the Gray Wolf, and Elena the Beautiful. Even such characters as Morozko and Baba Yaga help the heroes for their hard work and good manners. All this expresses popular ideas about human morality and morality.

Always next to the main characters in a fairy tale wonderful helpers: Gray Wolf, Sivka-Burka, Obedalo, Opivalo, Dubynya and Usynya, etc. They have wonderful means: a flying carpet, walking boots, a self-assembled tablecloth, an invisible hat. Images of positive heroes in fairy tales, helpers and wonderful objects express people's dreams.

The images of female heroines of fairy tales in the popular imagination are unusually beautiful. They say about them: “Neither to tell in a fairy tale, nor to describe with a pen.” They are wise, possess witchcraft powers, have remarkable intelligence and resourcefulness (Elena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise, Marya Morevna).

The opponents of the positive heroes are dark forces, terrible monsters (Kashchei the Immortal, Baba Yaga, Dashing One-Eyed, Serpent Gorynych). They are cruel, treacherous and greedy. This is how the people’s idea of ​​violence and evil is expressed. Their appearance sets off the image of a positive hero and his feat. Storytellers spared no expense in color to emphasize the struggle between the light and dark principles. In its content and in its form, a fairy tale contains elements of the wonderful and unusual. The composition of fairy tales is different from the composition of fairy tales about animals. Some fairy tales begin with a saying - a humorous joke that is not related to the plot. The purpose of a saying is to attract the attention of listeners. It is followed by a beginning that begins the story. It transports listeners to fairy world, denotes the time and place of action, setting, characters. The fairy tale ends with an ending. The narrative develops sequentially, the action is given in dynamics. The structure of the tale reproduces dramatically tense situations.

In fairy tales, episodes are repeated three times (Tsarevich Ivan fights with three snakes on Kalinov Bridge, three beautiful princesses are saved by Ivan in underground kingdom). They use traditional artistic media expressiveness: epithets (good horse, brave horse, green meadow, silk grass, azure flowers, blue sea, dense forests), similes, metaphors, words with diminutive suffixes. These features of fairy tales echo the epics and emphasize the vividness of the narrative.

An example of such a fairy tale is the fairy tale "Two Ivans - Soldiers' Sons".

The beginning of the fairy tale is replete with everyday pictures and little reminds of magical circumstances. It conveys ordinary everyday information: there lived a man, the time came - he joined the soldiers, in his absence twin boys were born, who were named Ivan - “soldier’s sons”. Thus, there are two main characters in this tale. Nothing miraculous or magical is happening in her yet. It tells about how children learn, how they master literacy, “they put the children of lords and merchants in their belts.” In the development of the action, a plot is planned when the fellows go to the city to buy horses. This scene is filled with elements of a fairy tale: the brothers tame the stallions, as fairy-tale heroes have heroic strength. With a “valiant whistle” and a loud voice, the stallions that ran away into the field are returned. The horses obey them: “The stallions came running and stood in place, as if rooted to the spot.” The main characters of the fairy tale are surrounded by special objects that emphasize their heroism (heroic horses, sabers worth three hundred pounds). It is also miraculous that they received these items from a gray-haired old man who led them out the horses, opening a cast-iron door in a large mountain. He brought them two heroic sabers. This is how peasant children turn into heroes. The good fellows mounted their horses and rode off.

The fairy tale includes images of crossroads, pillars with inscriptions that determine the choice of path and the fate of the brothers. The objects accompanying the brothers turn out to be miraculous, for example, the handkerchiefs symbolizing death that they exchanged. The narrative is framed by stable fairy-tale formulas. One brother reached the glorious kingdom, married Nastasya the Beautiful and became a prince. “Ivan Tsarevich lives in joy, admires his wife, gives order to the kingdom and amuses himself with animal hunting.” 3

And the other brother “jumps tirelessly day and night, and a month, and another, and a third.” Then Ivan unexpectedly finds himself in an unfamiliar state.

In the city he sees great sadness. “The houses are covered with black cloth, people seem to be staggering sleepily” 4. The twelve-headed serpent, which emerges from the blue sea, from behind a gray stone, eats a person at a time. Even the king's daughter is taken with a snake to be eaten. The snake personifies the dark forces of the world with which the hero fights. Ivan rushes to help. He is brave, knows no fear and always wins in battle. Ivan chops off all the heads of the snake. The magical-fairytale element is enhanced by the description of nature, against the background of which a snake appears: “Suddenly a cloud moved in, the wind rustled, the sea shook - a snake emerges from the blue sea, rises up the mountain...” 5. Ivan's duel with the snake is described laconically.

Repeated verbs add speed to the action: “Ivan drew his sharp saber, swung, struck and cut off all twelve heads of the snake; he lifted a gray stone, put the heads under the stone, threw the body into the sea, and returned home, went to bed and slept for three days.” . 6

It would seem that the fairy tale should end here, the plot has been exhausted, but suddenly new circumstances are woven into it with the introduction of a character from the royal entourage - a water carrier, whose thoughts are vile and base.

The situation is getting worse. The climax 7 arrives. The water carrier acts as the “savior” of the princess, forcing her to recognize him as a savior under pain of death. The episode is repeated two more times with two other daughters of the king. The Tsar made the water carrier a colonel, then a general, and finally married his youngest daughter.

And Ivan fights the monster three times, three times the water carrier threatens to kill the king’s daughters. However, the story ends with the victory of the hero, evil is punished, the water carrier is hanged, truth triumphs, youngest daughter married to Ivan. This episode of the fairy tale ends with the well-known saying: “The young people began to live and live well and make good money.”

The narrative in the fairy tale returns again to another brother - Ivan Tsarevich. It is told how he got lost while hunting and met an ugly monster - a red maiden, the sister of a twelve-headed serpent, who turned into a terrible lioness. She opens her mouth and swallows the prince whole. The fairy tale reveals an element of reincarnation. A wonderful object comes to the hero’s aid - his brother’s handkerchief, notifying him of what has happened. The search for my brother begins. The tale repeats the description of the hunt and the actions of the hero. Ivan the peasant son finds himself in the same situation as Ivan Tsarevich, but remains alive thanks to a wonderful helper - a magic horse. The red maiden puffed up like a terrible lioness and wanted to swallow the good fellow, but a magic horse came running, “clasped her with heroic legs,” and Ivan forced the lioness to throw Prince Ivan out of her, threatening to chop her into pieces.

An extraordinary miracle in a fairy tale and living water, saving, reviving Ivan Tsarevich. The fairy tale ends with the ending: Ivan the prince remained in his state, and Ivan the soldier’s son went to his wife and began to live with her in love and harmony.

The fairy tale "Two Ivans - Soldiers' Sons" combines all the elements of a fairy tale: composition, three-fold repetition of episodes and actions of the heroes, development of the plot, positive heroes and the opposition of negative monsters to them, miraculous transformations and objects, the use of visual and expressive means (constant epithets, stable folklore formulas). The fairy tale affirms good and debunks evil.

It is interesting to note that the text of the tale has a continuation (Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyev, No. 155). Here is the text:

“At some time, Ivan, a soldier’s son, went out for a walk in an open field; a small child came across him and asked for alms. The good fellow felt sorry for him, took a gold piece out of his pocket and gave it to the boy; the boy accepted alms, but he himself sulked - he turned into a lion and tore the hero into pieces. small parts. A few days later the same thing happened to Tsarevich Ivan: he went out into the garden for a walk, and an old man came towards him, bowed low and asked for alms; the old man accepted the alms, and he sulked - he turned into a lion. grabbed Ivan Tsarevich and tore him into pieces. And so the mighty heroes perished, their snake sister destroyed them.” 8

Ivan's good feelings - peasant son, who took pity on the snake sister, the beautiful maiden, and let her go, were punished by the death of their brothers. Although similar tragic ending in general, it is not typical for fairy tales.

Fairy tales have their own special structure - stable plots and motifs are constantly used in its composition, fairy tale heroes are encountered with their unchanged functions and abilities. We all remember popular folk tales with their triple repetitions, with the repeating formulas “Once upon a time...”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state...”, “A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it...”. The space in a fairy tale is conditional and distant from reality.

The heroes of fairy tales are distinguished by such bright human qualities as nobility, kindness, courage, resourcefulness, and good forces in fairy tales they always win. Among the positive heroes of Russian folk tales there are brave princes, epic heroes, simple peasants, and a whole range of female characters.

Bogatyrs were originally heroes of Russian epics, but over time they penetrated into folk tales. The most famous hero of fairy tales is Ilya Muromets. He embodies the ideal of a warrior hero, who is famous not only for his remarkable physical strength, but also for the special moral qualities inherent in a real hero: calmness, perseverance, good nature. In epics and fairy tales, this hero is the people's protector. Let us recall, for example, such a work as “Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber.” Also worthy of mention is the noble but little-known ancient hero of Russian fairy tales, Ruslan Lazarevich. The plots and adventures in which he appears are close to the famous plots with Ilya Muromets.

Dobrynya Nikitich, like the hero of fairy tales, acts as a reliable assistant to the prince, whom he truly serves long years. He carries out personal assignments for the prince, for example, to save his daughter or niece. Dobrynya is particularly brave - he himself decides to carry out tasks that other heroes refuse. Often this is the hero of a fairy tale about snake fighting, as well as Alyosha Popovich. Their adventures and the plots of the fairy tales in which they appear are extremely similar to each other. Let us recall, for example, such stories as “Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych” and “Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent.”

All these three epic hero are in close interaction with each other, and in different fairy tales they show their strong and noble qualities in different ways. Everyone is familiar with these names of heroes of folk tales. Alyosha Popovich is a collective image of a hero in Russian folklore. In the character of this fairy tale hero we see a mixture of a variety of traits. First of all, Alyosha is distinguished by his courage, but he is also very perky and cunning. His image reflected the entire breadth of the soul of the Russian person, all its versatility.

Favorite hero of folk tales is Ivan Tsarevich. This is a positive character known to everyone, who fights evil, helps the weak and offended. Often this is the youngest of the king's three sons. In some stories, Ivan does not even know about his royal origin, but, nevertheless, personifies the nobility and good qualities of his soul. For example, he fights Koshchei, defeats him, saves his wife or a beautiful princess. And for his heroic behavior and good deeds, this hero of folk tales receives his due kingdom or half of other people’s kingdoms, and the king’s daughter, and other magical skills.

Ivanushka the Fool is also a very important hero of fairy tales, standing on the side of good and the forces of light. Ivan the Fool is just a peasant son and he does not at all resemble a noble fairy-tale hero. His peculiarity is that outwardly he is not at all like other positive heroes of Russian fairy tales. He does not shine with intelligence, but it is thanks to his irrational behavior and non-standard thinking that he passes all the fabulous tests, defeats his opponent and gains wealth.

It is important to note that Ivan the Fool has a special creative skill - he plays musical instruments (harp or pipe), and fairy tales often attach great importance to his wonderful singing. This is its peculiarity, because the positive heroes of fairy tales are not always able to create something beautiful on their own, without resorting to the help of magical animals or objects.

Among female fairy-tale images, the type of the Wonderful Bride is especially outstanding. This extraordinary hero of fairy tales is distinguished by his intelligence and special feminine cunning. She often owns some magical objects or knows how to use miraculous powers. We all know heroines who correspond to this type: Vasilisa the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise and the Frog Princess. This is the female version of the strong hero of folk tales.

This kind heroine is a reflection of the bright side, the personification of goodness and peace, but at the same time, in many stories, the wonderful bride is the daughter of the enemy of the main character of the fairy tale. The good hero of folk tales goes through severe trials and solves complex riddles, and a wonderful bride helps him with these tasks. Thus, sometimes in one fairy tale we meet not one, but two, or even three characters who help each other in the fight against evil.

As we can see, the positive heroes of folk tales are very diverse. They reveal different sides of the people's character: here there is nobility, selflessness, ingenuity, cunning, special heroism, straightforwardness, and female wisdom. The heroes of fairy tales overcome all obstacles on their way thanks to these positive qualities. After all, in Russian folklore, fairy-tale heroes strive for light, and good forces always prevail.